The good Apertus model is too large at 70B, unfortunately. The 8B model is much too small to be useful for what I need.

Yeah, it seems the llama.cpp changes have been merged in the last 24 hours. I’m hoping ollama makes them available this week.

Merzweckeier!

Thank you very much, I hadn’t heard about this model coming out anywhere!

Seems like I’ll need to wait just a bit more for it to be available in Ollama. As soon as it’s there I’ll try it out :)

I’m really hoping Soofi models are going to be good. Because afaict they’ll be the first (and so far only) open source (not just open weight) models in the ~30B parameters range.

German neoliberals (which most CEOs of our larger corporations are) and empirical data don’t really mesh well. It’s why most of them still clutch the neoclassical “school” of economics, which has zero empirical data behind its basic assumptions.

If only there was a mechanism for new companies to challenge and outcompete dinosaurs. Unfortunately, the regulatory capture emerging from capitalism and explicitly supported by our electorate means barriers of entry are drawn such that it’s almost impossible to challenge entrenched wealth, unless being backed by rival entities of comparable wealth.

Ah, yes, the duality of USA’s foreign policy w.r.t to the EU: We want you to pay (us) more and take on more responsibility for your own defense, but only in such a way that we still get to keep all our soft and hard power over you.

This may have become more obvious under Trump, but this is nothing new to anyone paying attention since the late 90s / early 00s.

if someone is unhappy with the German rail network, they could just drive too.

Can’t speak for everyone, but at least for me: And pay the considerable high upfront cost for the license, car itself, insurance, parking, etc.?

I complain about the rail in Germany a lot, because I see how much better it could and should be, given our economic capabilities. Not because I think cars are better. The only thing I can imagine pushing me to willingly go through all the financial and temporal hassle of cars would be moving out into the countryside.

It’s frankly hilarious that the author specifically calls out everyone but Green voters as the problem and in the next sentence identifies Schröder as the root (the infection vector in Germany for neoliberal shitfuckery was actually Kohl, but close enough):

Ultimately any German who has ever voted for any party other than the Grüne also deserves what they get. The Third Way / Die neue Mitte of Gerhard Schröder from the late 1990s is at the root of all of this […]

Who, again, were the coalition partners of Schröder’s SPD and whose voters are thus just as responsible for Germany’s catrastrophic neoliberal course? Toot, toot, it’s the Greens.

The only major party we can (as of yet) count on the make-things-better-for-normal-people side of this is Die Linke; as usual, unfortunately, 'cause they have their own issues.

What did you expect people to say? Here in Germany, at least, this lines up with what any reasonable person would expect from our government parties. It’s not like people didn’t know what they were voting for.

The data is very clear. See in particular in terms of how people need to be relieved:

1. Lower the value added tax, 0% for staple foods.
2. Lower social contributions.
3. Lower the income tax.

In that order. Note that lower social contributions can (and should) just be balanced via the federal budget.

But since people vote for parties that will never do this and all but ignore parties that would, people will continue to get screwed.