Tech Nightmares: Ghostline the flux

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Tech Nightmares: Ghostline the flux

How many quarters after Q1 2016 till Marissa Mayer is unemployed?
	1 or fewer
	2
	4
	Her job is guaranteed; what are you even talking about?

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Epic High Five posted:

I've always assumed that any piece of art I can actually like, go and look at, isn't involved in the big money laundering stuff but rather maybe just pettier schemes if any schemes at all. Anything valuable enough to be used for criming seems like it'd live entirely in a heavily guarded freeport which has more or less been converted to serve tax dodging schemes exclusively

My perception is that at least some of the stuff that gets loaned or given to museums for display is part of a tax write-off scheme or an attempt to increase the visibility and perceived value of the piece. Collecting under capitalism has a lot of dimensions though and the 'impress other collectors' angle another poster mentioned is definitely one of them. Presenting competence in taste adjudication is a form of symbolic capital that's used in power games, and conspicuous purchases of high-priced objects are taste-setting moves which influence other collectors' priorities.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2022 22:07

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 09:34

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

PT6A posted:

I don't understand what the point of this is. If you have two vehicles each with their own engines, why does one need to "tow" the other? And if you don't have two vehicles each with their own engine, this can't possibly work. The only use case I can think of where I've seen one operable vehicle towing another operable vehicle is RVs that tow a car, but presumably it would still be better to simply... tow the car, rather than burning the extra fuel of having the car drive a foot behind you or whatever.

Is it just to save the labour of exact one (1) truck driver, who would otherwise drive a second tractor-trailer combo? How will it be parked at a loading dock, if so? What happens if you attempt to do a lane change that would cause the trailing vehicle to sideswipe something? Does it decouple, or drive itself into whatever's next to it? Are the mirrors on the vehicles large enough to even have adequate visibility of the full combined length of two large vehicles? Also, and I can't stress this enough: *ENDLESS SCREAMING*

The point is also to temporarily be able to expand your carry capacity while still driving your sedan. Like if you rent a moving truck you wouldn't have to have a second person to drive the truck you could just have it auto-follow you.

On the professional end you could have one 'truck' driver piloting a specialized beacon vehicle that shepherds multiple headless engine cargo trailers. Mirrors would be designed accordingly, rear/side cameras on the trailers would feed to the driver, parking at loading docks could be done via self-driving or remote operator, etc.

edit:
For delivery drivers too, especially with other self-driving tech. One driver could go out with a little train of small delivery cargos pods which could decouple and return home after delivery. Pods could rendezvous with a delivery driver in the field to replenish their cargo or simply remain at the drop-off locations until sent back.

MixMasterMalaria fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Sep 14, 2022

# ¿ Sep 14, 2022 18:47

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Motronic posted:

Oh yeah, this will work out great because the 36,000 lb UHAUL straight truck I rented surely will be able to stop just as quickly as my passenger car. No chance of literally causing myself to get run over there.

Yeah I mean there's certainly issues. I assume however that such hypothetical vehicles would take a different and smaller formfactor than the current UHAUL trucks. Maybe just scale up capacity with modular headless vehicle pods?

# ¿ Sep 14, 2022 19:00

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Thomamelas posted:

They made a big deal about having Rob Leefield handle this project. And we all warned them, but did they listen.....

# ¿ Oct 14, 2022 18:55

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

DeathSandwich posted:

Musk is doing an LBO, but 13 billion of that is the leveraged part. The rest of it is his own money (or private backers like the Saudis) because he's a dumb poo poo. So it's like the worst of both worlds because the company has to service a loan to the tune of 1 billion a month AND if it fails he's out like 20-30 someodd billion of his own money / Tesla stock.

He's not going to be able to extract that much money by striping the copper out of the walls before it gets shuttered.

I think I've seen it quoted at 1 billion a year plus operating costs he has to overcome.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2022 01:23

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Meaty Ore posted:

Surely the Great Coder will arise out of this sincere coding patch if he stays up all night waiting for it!

I appreciate this contribution to the forums.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2022 00:54

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Epic High Five posted:

There isn't a breed of dog that is more terrifying than those Boston Dynamics kill bots

Spoken like someone who hasn't worked as a dog walker for the demented offspring of a pitbull and a truck modified for rolling coal.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2022 05:04

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

C.H.U.D.: cannibalistic humanoid underground dweller.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2023 00:27

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Blue Footed Booby posted:

Oblivion used generation, not Morrowind. They generated terrain then tweaked it by hand so they wouldn't spend half the dev cycle hand-crafting erosion marks in hillsides. The dungeons were still constructed by hand.

The dungeons in Daggerfall were generated, along with towns and so forth.

Oblivion's world was super bland after a couple of hours because of it.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2023 16:27

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Arivia posted:

that's me, i'm subscribed to like 400 channels of varying special interests but the front page does a pretty good job of showing me the ones related to whatever i've been watching recently so it's actually a useful browsing tool.

e: to be clear, i have youtube premium and aggressively tell it to stop recommending channels/videos i'm not interested in. it has rarely shown me chud stuff, but occasionally it does. i also generally don't watch anything political, hbomberguy at like the most.

This is similar to my experience, I have tons of subs which it usually draws from but I click though videos from friends etc. so occasionally I have to blacklist some poo poo. It's OKAY for mindless browsing from the TV, but I would pay extra to just have it pull exclusively from my subscriptions and provide baseline sorting/organizing tools. On PC I just bookmark channels and videos. Still a thousand times better than tv.

MixMasterMalaria fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Feb 6, 2023

# ¿ Feb 6, 2023 05:38

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

His Divine Shadow posted:

Ah Discord. I tried to register there, hit wrong key by accident and submitted without a password (can't believe it allowed it).

Tried to reset my password so it wouldn't be nothing, was immediately flagged as suspicious behaviour by some AI. Account / phone number banned for life, no appeal it said.

So make another account?

# ¿ Feb 13, 2023 21:00

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

You also have a claim on profits. Stocks pay out dividends and split into more shares.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2023 22:40

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

shoeberto posted:

Google's growth was all about exploiting data, but to their credit, they at least did diversify and had a few hit products beyond search/ads. They have room for a soft (if bumpy) landing with all of this regulatory pressure.

Meta's only play for real revenue is harvesting data and being unethical, and everyone is sick of it. There is no soft landing. It's astonishing that there isn't a single person at the executive level who can talk Zuck down from VR as their pivot.

VR/AR has potential as a pivot but they're fumbling the bag. Horizon worlds is a dumpster fire, they've killed customer trust by first abandoning their pcvr early adopters then the first generation of quest (in only a year), and nobody trusts their data practices. The weird price increase then reversal, shutting down their most popular eSports title, etc. make it look like they have no idea what they're doing.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2023 20:07

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

evilweasel posted:

you're describing stuff that's existed for 20 years or more

in fact 20 years ago you could even feel the stuff virtually too

This is like pointing at Photoshop / digital art tools and laughing because we have pencils, ink, paints, dyes, brushes, mosaic tiles, resins, etc. for 2D art which could just be scanned. There's huge advantages to working in digital space (and major tradeoffs) for many workflows, esp now that we have destinations like game engines, accessible 3D suites, and 3D printers.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2023 22:13

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

For people who might be interested in this kind of thing, I suggest doing a life history interview with your parents and loved ones instead. It'll help you to understand your position in the process of your family's history and leave a legacy for future generations. The conversation involved could help both you and your parents.

MixMasterMalaria fucked around with this message at 19:25 on Apr 10, 2023

# ¿ Apr 10, 2023 19:21

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Mercury_Storm posted:

There really needs to be a way to opt out of anything but automatic security update. Haven't been forced to use Windows 11 yet, but 10 is still a step down from 7 for that and many other reasons IMO.

It updated me to 11 overnight somehow after years of opting out. Not sure if I clicked something to give permission or it just decided it was time.

# ¿ May 2, 2023 22:29

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Was that beer commercial 'generated' from a series of prompts and assembled algorithmically, or was it a bunch of clips generated individually and put together by a human? HUGE difference imo.

# ¿ May 3, 2023 16:50

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Twerk from Home posted:

Harley is heading rapidly towards brand-only and I wonder how long the Harley lifestyle division can persist after the company has fully divested itself from building or selling motorcycles.

# ¿ May 23, 2023 16:39

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

The whole pitch of Disney plus was how it was an archive of their back catalogue.

# ¿ May 31, 2023 19:06

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

quote:

Google Bard Posted:

Sure, here is a story in the style of Dashiell Hammett using the prompt you provided:

It was a hot, muggy day in Los Angeles, and Terry was sweating profusely as he searched the alleyways for his missing frog, Hopkins. He had been gone for two days now, and Terry was starting to lose hope.

"Hopkins," he called out, his voice echoing off the walls of the alley. "Hopkins, where are you?"

There was no answer. Terry sighed and wiped the sweat from his brow. He had been searching all day, and he was starting to feel defeated. But he couldn't give up. Hopkins was his best friend, and he had to find him.

Terry continued his search, turning over trash cans and peering into dark corners. He was about to give up when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was a small green frog, sitting on a piece of cardboard.

"Hopkins!" Terry cried out, and the frog hopped over to him. Terry picked him up and hugged him tightly.

"I'm so glad I found you," he said. "I thought I'd lost you forever."

Hopkins croaked happily and licked Terry's face. Terry laughed and put him down.

"Now," he said, "let's go home."

# ¿ Jun 16, 2023 22:12

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

cat botherer posted:

Smoking is cool, vaping is not.

Counterpoint: the ability to clandestinely get stoned at the movies, concerts, etc.

# ¿ Jun 21, 2023 01:42

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Elukka posted:

It doesn't really matter to me that it used to be worse, it matters that it's not good enough for me now. I didn't pay for any kind of pay TV in the old times anyhow. At the end of the day, the increasing fragmentation, unpredictable removals and general nonsense like hiding what they have and don't have has mostly made me stop watching shows. I think I've probably paid for about four months, total, on all streaming services combined, because the experience is just too annoying. Most of the time what happens when I think I might want to watch a few things is that first I must consult third party sites that may or may not be wrong on where they're available, and invariably they end up each being on a different service, and then I just give up.

Have you tried going down to your local library and grabbing the dvd box set?

# ¿ Jul 29, 2023 15:35

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Self checkout def has a convenience factor but I've witnessed scenarios where people are trying to check out with hundreds of items, spending long periods of time trying to make it price-match online retailers by scanning their phones with the barcode scanner, get stuck waiting for 20 mins for an attendant to approve their age for an alcohol scan, and many other ridiculous slowdowns. The single attendant at a target 8-register self checkout bank typically looks extremely stressed whenever it's near capacity. Stores where the ratio are 4 per attendant seem to run much smoother.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2023 15:39

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Anyone who lives in an apartment complex will probably tell you that electric cars would be a lot more appealing if they had roof solar panels capable of charging substantial range. Is that capability on the horizon?

# ¿ Aug 13, 2023 13:50

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Jesus III posted:

Hahahahaha! You ever seen the apartments I'm talking about? Two floors, 100s of units? That's what I'm talking about. Lluxury apartments will totally have chargers if you are paying 3 grand a month (Dallas TX prices, btw I think that's a city), but 1000 a month places won't have that anytime soon and some bartender can't afford an EV. I'm sure you'll bring up bar tenders that make a million a year.

Are you aware that D&D doesn't mean derision and dismissiveness in the context of these forums?

# ¿ Aug 14, 2023 01:27

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

How many more pages of self-checkout talk before we get back to robot dogs that pair with AR glasses to simulate your childhood pet or something?

# ¿ Aug 25, 2023 19:20

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Rand Brittain posted:

A language learning model's ability to bullshit is genuinely impressive. I've seen people play around with these things and it's extremely entertaining to watch it spit out "a version of Hamlet where Claudius is fifty feet tall and invulnerable to all harm" and then "a version of Hamlet where every character is a himbo".

The problem is that the model, as I understand it, is basically incapable of making content you can actually trust because it doesn't actually analyze what it's saying at all, and no matter how advanced it becomes it never can or will. A language model doesn't even try to come up with an answer to your question; it just correlates data to find something that looks like the right answer. It would be insane to ever let it work on anything important (not that anyone would ever do that, ha ha, ha ha, ha ha, weep).

"Please formulate a strategy for defending the earth from an impending alien invasion."

ChatGPT posted:

Defending Earth from an impending alien invasion is a challenging scenario, but here's a comprehensive strategy that combines diplomatic, technological, and military approaches:

1. **Gather Intelligence:**
- Utilize advanced satellite and telescope systems to monitor and analyze alien activity.
- Establish international collaborations to pool resources and share intelligence.

2. **Diplomatic Outreach:**
- Initiate communication efforts to establish peaceful contact with the alien civilization, demonstrating our willingness to peacefully coexist.
- Use linguists, anthropologists, and cultural experts to understand their language and intentions.

3. **Global Unity:**
- Create a unified global organization to coordinate efforts, share information, and develop a collective strategy.
- Convene an emergency United Nations assembly to address the threat and formulate a joint response.

4. **Technological Advancement:**
- Mobilize the world's best scientists, engineers, and researchers to develop advanced technologies based on recovered alien technology (if possible).
- Focus on enhancing defense systems, energy production, and communication tools.

5. **Defensive Measures:**
- Develop a multi-layered defense system that includes space-based platforms, ground-based installations, and cyber-defense mechanisms.
- Repurpose existing military assets and design new ones specifically tailored to the threat.

6. **Collaborative Research:**
- Collaborate with the scientific community to understand the alien's biology, technology, and weaknesses.
- Share findings globally to expedite research progress.

7. **Public Awareness:**
- Inform the public about the situation to prevent panic and promote global cooperation.
- Encourage citizens to contribute ideas and support the effort in various ways.

8. **Crisis Management:**
- Establish emergency response teams to manage potential fallout from alien actions.
- Develop contingency plans for evacuation, resource allocation, and communication breakdowns.

9. **Unconventional Strategies:**
- Explore unconventional tactics that might exploit the invaders' potential vulnerabilities, such as exploiting environmental factors unique to Earth.

10. **Last Resort Measures:**
- Prepare for worst-case scenarios, such as a failed peaceful resolution or overwhelming force.
- Develop and maintain a network of underground bunkers and shelters to protect essential personnel and the survival of humanity.

11. **Humanitarian Focus:**
- Prioritize the safety and well-being of Earth's population, regardless of nationality or status.
- Establish protocols for assisting affected regions and refugees.

12. **Learning from History:**
- Study historical conflicts and encounters to identify patterns and potential strategies that could be applied to the current situation.

Remember that the success of any strategy relies on international cooperation, advanced technology development, and a balanced approach that prioritizes both defense and diplomacy.

"Thank you, I will bring this to the committee. Let's hope it works!"

ChatGPT posted:

You're welcome! I'm glad I could help. Best of luck with your committee discussions. Remember, adapting the strategy to the evolving situation and being open to new ideas will be key. Stay united, stay informed, and stay prepared. If you have any more questions in the future, feel free to ask. Good luck, and may your efforts lead to a successful defense of Earth!

# ¿ Aug 30, 2023 06:40

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Platystemon posted:

We should identify drivers who are worse than today’s autonomous cars and make it illegal for them to drive themselves. Then we should identify the drivers who are better and make it illegal for them to cede the wheel.

What if we could calibrate the ai to exactly match each passengers' safety profile? Or charge them based on the gap in safety between them and self-driving default?

# ¿ Oct 27, 2023 01:26

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Shooting Blanks posted:

Allow people to pay to turn the winning/losing teams' uniforms into any other team. Let every team win/lose.

Society will soon face the awkwardness of a gamer forgetting to turn off his nude mod before the thanksgiving football watch party.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2023 22:05

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Agents are GO! posted:

I save my distrust for that inscrutable Algebra

Variables can be anything they want? And they're teaching this to kids?!

# ¿ Dec 2, 2023 00:21

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Nervous posted:

When the dreams became me flying a battle cruiser from StarCraft 2 around, I knew it was time to start smoking weed again.

Now we know why those unfortunate Terrans in that broodwar cinematic never got their air support.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2023 23:30

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Bitcoin over 42k, up more than 150% this year.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2023 21:50

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

VideoGameVet posted:

Horrible move. There are apps I use on my EV, from CarPlay that don't have equals from GM, Tesla, or Ford.

Waze is just one example. Add to that Podcasts, Google Maps etc.

Awful reader

# ¿ Dec 19, 2023 04:13

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Evil Fluffy posted:

Elon Musk watched the Marge vs. the Monorail episode of The Simpsons and decided to get in on that grift.

Unfortunately he never ends up back in his own North Haverbrook so we're still stuck with him.

The Mr Plow episode except it's a Tesla killing people at the trade show.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2023 23:20

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

An prim is way off base for the reasons listed, but I have the sense that humans generally would be happier in lifestyles that more fit what our natural history adapted us to. That doesn't mean abandoning tech, medicine, or farming, but it probably means building a society where we arent sitting in traffic or an office all day every day. There's a tremendous amount of woo around the 'back to nature' stuff and obviously the reactionary/grift hydra has its tentacles thoughout that space, but threading that needle in a way that keeps tech while rejecting consumerism could have huge benefits.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2023 20:14

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Whoever is running YouTube is a drat fool. People are getting sooooooo sick of commercials on TV, streaming issues, etc. and they could vacuum up tons of market share from people who just want vaguely interesting background noise attuned to their interests but instead they're killing the goose that laid the golden egg. I've been a heavy YouTube user for years and pay for premium, but paying to remove ads sucks and id be happier to pay more for the ability to access indexed content directly and bypass / customize algorithms.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2024 00:04

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

I'll give up on the Internet before I accept ad blockers not working.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2024 16:05

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

mobby_6kl posted:

Yeah I don't see any way of putting this back into the bottle. The models are out there, the papers have been written, and now that the principle is well understood, any techbro in the basement can make their own "AI" with a bit of effort and some ebay GPUs.

Even if we (the US, EU) somehow managed to effectively ban it... China or russia or North Korea are going to go ahead anyway.

This isn't a "only outlaws will have AI" argument, but more like what can realistically be done and in a way that won't cripple our development.

How is it not an only outlaws argument? Please distinguish the two for me.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2024 18:25

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Main Paineframe posted:

Systemic measures still require people to accept a lower standard of living!

You're right that individually sacrificing your own standard of living is unlikely to have much impact on climate change. That's because we need to force everyone to sacrifice part of their standard of living. That's what systemic measures are. But if people are unwilling to sacrifice their own standard of living, then they're unlikely to support measures that will force a reduced standard of living on them and everyone they know (even if the needed reduction this way is significantly smaller).

We are absolutely going to need to make real sacrifices to stop climate change. They will need to be society-wide sacrifices shared by everyone and supported by government action, but a decent chunk of the populace will still need to be willing to sacrifice in order for that to happen.

More resource use != better standard of living. People could live healthier, happier, more fulfilling lives with far smaller carbon footprints if we invested in the right infrastructure and cultivated healthy mindsets.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2024 17:26

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 09:34

MixMasterMalaria: Jul 26, 2007

Electric Wrigglies posted:

Of course it doesn't need a camera in the same way we don't need vending machines at all. It is a luxury item so the getting nose out of joint that it is not "needs based" based enough is weird.

Vending machines are luxury items?

# ¿ Feb 25, 2024 14:24

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