Something Random

Humans are always doing disgusting things and technology certainly has had unintended negative consequences. For example I doubt that the inventors of the internet thought of all the terrible uses we know today. I don't think that silly headset will make any particular difference.
 
In recent history, porn drove the creation and adoption of video streaming and E-commerce and it is one of the first ways that any communication, storage or artistic medium is used.

The only person I know who has one of those funky 5.2mm stereo lenses uses it to make money via Manyvids.com. Anyone who thinks porn is not a driver for expensive tech need only look at what happened with early video cassette recording or, you know, the entire history of photography.
 
Photography was not invented to make filthy images. The criminals and degenerates saw it as a way to make money so they used it.
 
Do you guys all work with Wide Narrow AI? Is this one of the tools that will be replacing us?
 
Sometimes it gets used internally at work as more internal tools implement focused uses of AI for things like writing code or summarizing discussions or emails but so far it hasn't done much to replace the day to day work I've been doing in development.
 
I use it as inspiration for most writing projects. Any time I'm doing a proposal or sales letter I have ChatGPT put together something and then I work from there. It is unlikely that any of the AI phrases or concepts survive to the finished product, but it gives me a framework if I am stumped.
 
I'm talking specifically about the "wide narrow" type of AI, which seem to be at odds.
 
Mercutio said:
I don't understand this "get stumped by writing" concept.
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I agree. A business document should follow a common template that has been pre-approved if necessary. It's not a good place for "creative AI" writing. :LOL:

If AI bots have access to confidential or secret info, it can be a bad news scenario since usage generally does not include enforceable confidentially agreements. I have taken any classes on that yet but I see it coming.
 
Where to start is frequently a hurdle for me. I find it much easier to start with a page that has some words on it, even if I end up changing all of them.

I am very grateful that I don't have to worry about my documents conforming to someone else's template, doubly-grateful that it doesn't need pre-approval. That sounds a bit oppressive, IMO.

I also never feed the AI anything other than a hand-typed general concept, I agree that this is a very easy way to lose control of information (as has already been demonstrated many times).

The most common thing I hit up ChatGPT for is when I need to explain something that I understand too well. It is likely that I'll make assumptions about pre-existing knowledge and gloss over something that requires more detail. It is also really useful for creating scenarios to use as examples or in role-playing exercises.
 
ddrueding said:
The most common thing I hit up ChatGPT for is when I need to explain something that I understand too well. It is likely that I'll make assumptions about pre-existing knowledge and gloss over something that requires more detail. It is also really useful for creating scenarios to use as examples or in role-playing exercises.
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I built an application about 25 years ago that was originally created in Object Pascal and rewritten by others to be an ASP.net project. The person who did this (and prevented anyone from changing anything) just retired, so the three of us who are left are finally in the process of rebuilding it using contemporary development tools. We've found that it's incredibly productive to say "based on this code sample, provide code in C# that does the same thing." That's been a good use of time; even when the result isn't perfect, it's usually a solid start to get where we need to go. I appreciate that, especially since I wouldn't say that I knew enough C# to do anything productive with it until maybe six weeks ago.

I'm wary of using the LLM systems to communicate. I don't like business-speak and I haven't come across a subject where I've been happy enough with output to consider reading it aloud or sending it to other people. That being said, I don't really get involved in business meetings or deal with money people, so that may be a personal bias.
 
ddrueding said:
Where to start is frequently a hurdle for me. I find it much easier to start with a page that has some words on it, even if I end up changing all of them.

I am very grateful that I don't have to worry about my documents conforming to someone else's template, doubly-grateful that it doesn't need pre-approval. That sounds a bit oppressive, IMO.

I also never feed the AI anything other than a hand-typed general concept, I agree that this is a very easy way to lose control of information (as has already been demonstrated many times).

The most common thing I hit up ChatGPT for is when I need to explain something that I understand too well. It is likely that I'll make assumptions about pre-existing knowledge and gloss over something that requires more detail. It is also really useful for creating scenarios to use as examples or in role-playing exercises.
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If you know something well you should be able to clearly explain and justify it to others. You don't manage or mentor people at all in your positions over the years? Does someone else train your staff?
 
Mercutio said:
I'm wary of using the LLM systems to communicate. I don't like business-speak and I haven't come across a subject where I've been happy enough with output to consider reading it aloud or sending it to other people. That being said, I don't really get involved in business meetings or deal with money people, so that may be a personal bias.
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Your written communication is quite good, so there is no need for AI nonsense.
 
Training someone is easy. The two-way communication helps quickly identify holes in their knowledge base and get them up to speed.

The hard part is in one-way communication. If you need to describe a complex topic in a brief to someone outside that industry, assuming nearly no prior knowledge, without the back and forth of a conversation, it can be much harder. Fitting all the technicalities that will be needed to make an informed decision into an executive summary without missing anything is challenging.
 
Apropos of nothing, I love it when major media sources have to report reddit and twitter users as sources for breaking news, including their hilariously inappropriate user names. We live in a dystopian media hellscape where we have to take Elon Musk's stinky poo garbage site seriously, but it's all worthwhile when the people on PBS Newshour have to talk about a post attributed to MC.Nuggets42069.
 
DIY Perks also did a really cool video using a Baguette pan for building high CRI string LEDs to make a light panel bright enough to make an artificial sunlit window.

I'd worry about the long term lifespan of that many 40mm fans though. All any 40mm fan has done for me is suck and die.
 
My trinitron TV is dying and I don't have the energy or motivation to fix it or pass it on. I guess I'm going to be taking it to recycling. This kind of segues into what I'm planning for my stagnant console collection -- without the proper display, I can't say that I have much of a use for them, and I don't have framemeiser or OSSC money to adapt them to more modern displays. Honestly most of my stuff I'm starting to realize I accumulated because it was cool in the moment or nostalgic rather than actually having much of a desire to actually use it. I need to go through my hoard and decide what I'm keeping, what I'm passing on to people with more time and enthusiasm than me, and what is going to the great landfill in the sky. Some things have actual sentimental value at this point, and likely aren't going anywhere. That would be my 486, my Dimension 9200, and my Geode build. Maybe the PIII if I can get it to behave once it's in a case. I'm not holding my breath. I think it might have some board warpage -- it's fine on the test bench but cracks the sads when I have it in a case. Honestly I could repurpose my Geode into more or less filling the role the PIII does now, really. Hm.

My living room TV -- I bought it when I moved in, don't really use it, I'm probably going to give it away when I move. I'm likely moving to a smaller place and using the living room as an office space and saving the money going from a 2br to a 1br. I don't know specifics yet but I do know my current place is unsustainable -- I can't really run the AC any lower than 78F and that's not comfortable. For what I'm paying I damn well ought to at least be able to lounge in proper clothes without sweating.
 
sed, I make enough money that I don't have to worry about expenses but I feel where you're coming from. I have no desire at all to own a home, but my rent has increased by about 30% in the last three years, and I always justify the two bedroom place where I live by offering to share my space with someone else. My partner does make enough money that should could (barely) afford to live on her own as well, but since she's around your age I definitely see how real the struggle is right now. We've talked about moving to a nicer place together, but given our age difference, I'm not under any illusion that she's going to stay. I don't want a place I can't afford on my own, either. It's a real pain point for both of us. Housing prices are absolutely out of control, and so much of what's out there is geared as luxury rental units for new retirees rather than starter homes for younger people.
 
I can't complain, really, the bills are paid, food's on the table and gas is in the tank. Where I come from that means you're doing well enough. My objection is that I pay far too much for the space I have to want to boil myself through the summers. My AC unit is older than I am by a good few years and I suspect it was never adapted to the newer refrigerant, and it's likely got a leak somewhere. I have essentially no insulation -- this is a cinderblock building -- and I don't have much in the way of tree cover directly over my unit, though I am a middle unit, so I at least have things better than the folks on edge units.

I want to own a home but have made peace with the fact that pricing will likely always outpace my income. I think I'm compensated quite fairly on up to outright generously all told, so it's not a situation of asking the boss for a raise, but I just don't think home ownership is in the cards for me, and certainly not down here in Florida. Down here I'm not even really worried about the mortgage itself -- home insurance has gotten frankly ridiculous since most providers have left the state at this point. I wonder what'll happen if the last few leave, too. Will the state government have to somehow force lenders to lend to people who can't insure the property they're buying?

I refuse to ever allow myself to enter into a housing arrangement where I can't afford the whole deal easily by myself again. I've been hung out to dry twice, but that's twice too many. I generally don't want housemates either at this point -- I've grown to enjoy having more tangible privacy, though I wouldn't say no to housing a friend in need if such a need arises. I'm at the point where I'm ambivalent about my lack of love life; it'll either happen at this point or it won't, I don't have the energy to waste on caring about it anymore. I'm not a fan of all the chores falling on me, but that comes with the bonus of not really having deadlines to complete said chores by other than those set by my own comfort and, possibly in a different place, some sort of home inspection done by the landlord. The current one doesn't seem to care as long as I don't leave this place looking like a sty, which I'm perfectly happy to do. Some stuff goes rather long between being dusted, but I have no one to impress.
 
Housing prices weren't the reason we left the US, but coming to a place that isn't crazy was quite the revelation. Denmark is considered an expensive place as far as the world is concerned, but housing is about 20% of what it was in coastal California. There are 3 bedroom houses on plots of land for less than $100k. We're currently evaluating living in Portugal or Malta for a while, and both of those are about half Denmark.

I'm not saying moving is easy or cheap or for everyone, but at least entertain the idea for a bit ;)
 
Love lives are something we all have to figure out on our own but I will say that I put part-time job hours into dating apps for years and that me vastly more harm than good, and I'm different enough from other people who live where I do that going to a bar wasn't going to work either. Whether or not you find a person, make sure that you find your people, whatever that means for you. Get out of the house and travel when you can, even if it's by yourself. The younger you are, the easier it is, and it does not happen if you don't make some kind of effort.

I'm actually going to be in Tampa over next weekend. It's my best friend's birthday. Speaking of crazy housing prices, she pays a 1/7th share of a $9000/month lease. Her roommates include a pharmacist and an RN. Full ass adult professionals with white collar jobs who did the math and figured out they're collectively better off renting a McMansion with an in-ground pool than trying to cough up $3.5k/month for a "nice" two bedroom apartment down there. I remember hearing of high income earners in places like San Francisco having to do that, but it's not like Florida has anything but flat land to build crappy houses.

ddrueding said:
We're currently evaluating living in Portugal or Malta for a while, and both of those are about half Denmark.

I'm not saying moving is easy or cheap or for everyone, but at least entertain the idea for a bit ;)
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My brother lives in Prague, one of the less expensive of the big European cities. He likes Greece (the whole country is a beach) and off-season Marmaris, Turkey for longer stays.
 
Home price inflation is a problem for almost everyone. As I mentioned a while back, if my siblings insist on getting their share of the market price of the house, I'm out on the streets. Basically, I need $600K or more live on for the rest of my life. I might end up with $275K from my third of the house, and another $100K from 1/3 of my mother's assets. The total of my savings and retirement accounts at this point is roughly $500K, but if I had to liquidate that to come up with money to buy a place, I'd clear maybe $400K after taxes. So do the math. Maybe $775K total, but after accounting for what I need for living expenses at best I'd have ~$200K left. You can't buy anything for that price anywhere, much less in a place where you don't need a car, which is really the only feasible living arrangement for me. And if I had to buy a car, then figure that adds another $200K I'd need for lifetime living expenses, basically leaving me with nothing to buy a place.

If I get the house free and clear, of course I'd give my siblings my share of my mother's assets. They can think of it as a $50K down payment each on their share of the house. If things go well for me in the future of course I'd give them more, but they couldn't count on it. If I stay here, my total expenses, including food, fall around $1,600/month. That'll drop to $1,300 when I get the senior citizen's real estate tax break when I turn 65. I can comfortably handle that without putting myself in the poor house.

Merc, the advantage to owning a home, assuming you can afford it, is that it's cheaper than an apartment once it's paid for (i.e. rents now in my area are well over $3K/month plus utilities), and you're not on pins and needles when lease renewal time comes up. The latter is a big reason I'd never rent, even if it cost only $500/month. If the landlord raises your rent beyond what you can pay, or simply refuses to renew your lease, it's moving time with all the hassles that implies. Then you often have to deal with vermin from slobs in other apartments. We had a major roach infestation when we lived in a housing project back when I was a kid.

I have my mother's bedroom spare, so I could in theory get two housemates if I wanted to. For now I don't need the money, plus in NYC it's a hassle to kick people out if they don't pay the rent.

Sed, I'm totally onboard not ending up in a housing arrangement I can't easily afford by myself. In fact, that was why I stayed with my parents. Back in the late 1980s average rents were 75% of my take-home pay. Add in my student loan payments, and there would be nothing left for food. I banked most of my pay, the goal being to save up, and move out once I could buy a house with cash. Unfortunately, home prices kept rising faster than I could save, so I never left home. Also, I really don't like living alone. The only thing which might have got me to leave was a significant other. Besides the company, we would be able to split expenses. Even better, if we both stayed with our parents and saved, buying a home outright with cash in less than 10 years might have been realistic, even with home prices going up faster than inflation. After the housing project, there was no way I'd ever want to live in apartment again. Unfortunately, my love life ended up a big fat zero, so here I am at 61 depending upon the good graces of my siblings to continue to have a place to live.
 
I feel incredibly lucky I got my house just before the pandemic. When I look at it's estimated price now, without them knowing how much I've remodeled and improved it, I would feel pretty uncomfortable trying to buy this same house now for what it may list for. It's insane how much prices have gone up here also and that's not to mention how terrible mortgage rates are.
 
Handruin said:
I feel incredibly lucky I got my house just before the pandemic. When I look at it's estimated price now, without them knowing how much I've remodeled and improved it, I would feel pretty uncomfortable trying to buy this same house now for what it may list for. It's insane how much prices have gone up here also and that's not to mention how terrible mortgage rates are.
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Totally agree, Doug. The high prices don't just hurt people looking to buy. They hurt those like me who might face buying out their siblings if they want to stay in their parent's house. My parents bought the house for $52K in 1978. Had prices kept up with the CPI, it would be worth about $250K now. So after giving my siblings my share of my mom's assets. I would have needed to come up with maybe another $60K. That would certainly have been possible. But another $500K? No f-ing way.

It's a combination of equity firms treating private homes like the stock market, individuals who own and rent multiple homes, flippers, and restrictive zoning which keeps more housing from being built. All these things have resulted in us not having a true free market for housing. The end results are prices are 3 to 5 times what they should be on the coasts, and at least double everywhere else. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be much desire to fix any of these things because our politicians are bought and paid for by big real estate and investment interests.
 
sedrosken said:
I have essentially no insulation -- this is a cinderblock building -- and I don't have much in the way of tree cover directly over my unit, though I am a middle unit, so I at least have things better than the folks on edge units.
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I don't know if any of these helps, but an ongoing project I'm doing is to get the house better insulated. For now, I did the following:

1) Installed cellular shades (the double-cell ones) in my bedroom and the kitchen. I'll probably eventually get them for all the windows. Windows are by far the largest source of heat leak or heat gain. We have double-pane windows installed in 1994. At best they're R3. The cellular shades double that. In the warmer weather I keep them down during the day to prevent solar heat gain.

2) Added cellulose insulation to the attic. We already did this around 1980, but I suspect it lost some of its effectiveness. Based on measuring ceiling temps compared to room temps in the winter, maybe the ceilings were around R9. I put 36 25-pound bags of insulation in the attic. It needed to be fluffed up. so I used a garbage pail and concrete mixer. It took all told maybe 15 hours and $400 plus tax to install the insulation. Based on the depth, I'd say I went from R9 to around R40. It's already paying dividends. Today was 85°F. Normally the house would get into the high 80s at least without A/C on day like this. My bedroom stayed around 80. My mom's bedroom is maybe 77. Chalk up the difference to my body heat and the computer.

I'm thinking of putting 2" of polyisocyanate insulation on top of the outward facing interior walls when each room comes up for repainting. This would be a big job involving putting panels or sheetrock on top of the insulation. But it'll bring the exterior walls from around R6 up to about R20. If I can get vacuum insulation panels fairly cheap, those would be even better. A 1" thick panel is around R40, about 6 times the value of the best foam board per inch.

I also turned the boiler off back in March. The boiler makes heat and hot water but I figured I'm wasting at least 12 gallons a month of heating oil leaving it on when I don't need heat. I just turn it on about 15 minutes before I shower, then turn it off when I'm done. My only other use of hot water is to do dishes. For that I bought a 4 gallon water heater and put it under the kitchen sink. It uses about 30 kW-hr a month, costing about $10, compared to the extra 12+ gallons of oil costing at least $70 I'd waste just keeping the boiler warm. Besides that, the boiler is essentially a ~500W heat source right under my bedroom, which makes things hotter. Great in the winter, but a negative most of the other 9 months.

Anyway, look at what you can insulate given the bounds of your lease. You can at least get cellular shades to insulate the windows and keep out sunlight. As for the cinderblock walls, if your landlord is amenable maybe put 2" to 4" of polyisocyanate foam board covered by siding. It'll make the place look better outside, plus it'll get you to around R30. And see if you can get a better A/C. Look into the ones with inverters. We got one last year for the living room. Much quieter, plus it easily saved us 100 to 150 kW-hr/month.
 
I'm not bound by a lease, haven't been for almost a year now. Knock on wood, but my landlady hasn't been real interested in jacking up my rates or anything. I personally think she's just glad I don't cause trouble or damage stuff and doesn't want to ruin a good thing. She's had some pretty poor luck with the folks in the units on either side of me. So I'm not terribly interested in putting a bunch of money and work into a place I've already decided I'm leaving, I just need to figure out the when and where to. So far, not using my main desktop helps out the power bill quite a bit -- I've figured out that it's kind of a vicious cycle of it dumping heat into my office which makes my AC work harder. Without running it, my electric bill hasn't yet broken $100/mo this year, but it's getting close as summer's intensifying. Then again, it's 85-90 and sunny most of the year here. I hate it.

ddrueding said:
I'm not saying moving is easy or cheap or for everyone, but at least entertain the idea for a bit ;)
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I hold no delusions that I'm special enough to ever get out of the US on anything more than maybe a vacation. I wouldn't make it through any of the Euro countries (fairly and rightly so) relatively strict immigration. It'll be a rough enough prospect just to move states. I suffer pretty badly from impostor syndrome and don't think I could get the same or better employment anywhere else. So it's really probably just going to become a balancing act of expenses to income and just trying to keep pace. I'll be doing better once I'm out from under a couple debts -- I'm really going to be breathing easier once my car is paid off, and not to be a fanboy or anything, but Toyota has a reputation for reliability if you take care of it, and I do just that. I'm rounding my first 100k miles and I'm told I should easily expect another 150, possibly 200 with luck and persistence. Once I can drop the comprehensive collision coverage that'll save me a fair bit on insurance, too. By that point, it wouldn't be worth keeping the collision coverage anyway as there wouldn't be much value for them to pay out for in event of a total loss.
 
Toyota has a reputation for reliability if you take care of it, and I do just that. I'm rounding my first 100k miles and I'm told I should easily expect another 150, possibly 200 with luck and persistence.
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My Toyota EZ went 320k. Bought it cash. Great investment.
After that, my cars seemed to have trans that blew around 180-180k, and the cost of the trans replacement is more then the value of the car: 3-4K.
EZ didn't like SF hills. Trans went.
 
sedrosken said:
So I'm not terribly interested in putting a bunch of money and work into a place I've already decided I'm leaving, I just need to figure out the when and where to. So far, not using my main desktop helps out the power bill quite a bit -- I've figured out that it's kind of a vicious cycle of it dumping heat into my office which makes my AC work harder. Without running it, my electric bill hasn't yet broken $100/mo this year, but it's getting close as summer's intensifying. Then again, it's 85-90 and sunny most of the year here. I hate it.
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I hear you. Honestly, I wouldn't want to put a bunch of work or money into a place I don't own, either. I was suggesting your landlady pay for it, given it would make the place more attractive, as well as save energy.

Where you are you obviously don't have to worry about heating given the cooling season is probably 10 out of 12 months. Unless you can take it with you when you move, not worth investing in a newer A/C.

Electricity must be really cheap there. My last bill was $165. I only used 333 kW-hr and 3 therms of gas. ConEd's delivery charges are ridiculous. $35 for the gas and $89 for the electricity. I don't think it's mathematically possible for me to get a bill under $100. Just the gas part alone is going to be around $35. The minimum delivery charge if I used no electricity would be around $21. Maybe if I used less than 100 kW/hr a month I might barely get under $100 but there's no way I could use that little. Just the fridge and kitchen water heater alone are about 75 kW-hr.
 
Given she can rent these units just fine from people desperate enough to take anything, she's not likely to be interested in any major renovations that come out of her pocket. At best she'd turn around and jack up rents minimum 50%. Put simply, she doesn't have to care, so she doesn't.

It's less that energy's really cheap (the kWh rate is, but the insane delivery charges make it moot -- gotta love Florida for allowing a power monopoly across all of the state) and more that I just don't use any bit of electricity I don't absolutely have to. I don't have gas anything so bear in mind I don't have a separate gas bill, either. I keep my thermostat set to 78F which is not comfortable but is the absolute highest the temperature can be with me still being able to sleep at all. I made sure to save as much power as I could in my network stack -- it's functionally equivalent to leaving a 60W lightbulb on outside times I have the server actually doing some work, which isn't terribly often. I don't use my main PC much anymore and rarely boot up any of my fleet because I can't justify the power it uses for anything except the Geode. I keep power strips turned off or unplugged when I'm not using what's attached to them. I try and only cook one big meal per day if that.

Everything I do at home revolves around saving as much power as possible because when I first moved in and was using my things in a way I'd consider normal, I got hit with a big, fat, $250 electric bill. For an 850ft2 apartment.
 
I've lived in many places in many countries on various continents. It seems like the cost of living and income only partly correlate. When you are young it may be necessary to suffer, but that gets old after a while. IT is a portable occupation so you should have many options.
 
Got my fiber installed today. Not thrilled about needing AT&T's little box to get it, but at least setting up WAN passthrough to my pfSense router was relatively straightforward. I pay for 300/300 and so far that's been a worst case scenario -- usually in my testing I'm trending around 450/450, but to be fair, I initially signed on for 500/500 by accident and called to lower it later, so that might just take a bit to clear up. I called to cancel my Cox and they're not open today, fair enough. I'll get them tomorrow.
 
No, but I've heard of companies giving allowances to their employees if they're remote for internet connections and such.

Testing today, it's a lot more in line with what I'm actually due to pay for -- I'm getting about 370/370 now. That's still, what, 23% more than I'm paying for? More generous than I ever expected to see from AT&T, though I suppose it's not exactly hard to prioritize traffic going to Ookla or whoever's doing the speed test. Real world numbers seem to just about line up, though, which is the really interesting part.

Another interesting part is that my local fiber terminal is so new they haven't run all the lines to the residences yet so my line is currently just draped in front of the parking lot and stuck to the sidewalk with orange duct tape. They have AT&T "proposed underground route" flags all over it. Supposedly someone should be here by the 11th to bury the line.

We'll see what the bill ends up being -- the rep made sure to say the monthly bill was $60 plus taxes and fees. Remains to be seen whether they consider the box they make me pay for a fee or if they've baked it into the base cost. They supposedly sent me one of those newfangled "Broadband facts" pages but it never made it to my email. To be fair, I don't have a standard gmail anymore, so the rep likely just misspelled it or something. I don't mind paying a little more than I was for Cox if the service is demonstrably better -- I consider the actually competent upload speed to be exactly that -- but I don't want to be paying a hundred bucks a month for internet. Who knows, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Cox gave me the usual runaround about cancelling until I (quite rudely, for which I apologized) interrupted their rep, said that while I understand he has a job to do in the retention department, the competitor's equipment was already installed and this wasn't a decision I was going back on, and asked him to please stop wasting both our time with this and just cancel my service already.
 
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