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Captainant

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by Captainant

  1. You'll get no argument from me that there's entirely too much idiot VC money chasing AI and inflating market valuation of various projects. It's the new buzzword that effectively replaced "blockchain" in the conversations I have where I'm educating a decision maker so they can form an opinion for their board. And just like blockchain, there's not all that many actual validated business use cases being pursued with lots of AI investments (that I've seen at least) - just a POC that's being upsold as the next big thing and used to leverage a play somewhere else in the business

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  2. 1 minute ago, immamac said:

    Unironically I was watching Channel 5 news with Andrew Callaghan on youtube the other day, he is a gonzo journalist who talks to people all over and he went to Mexico and talked to folks in the migrant caravan trying to get in etc and his conclusion after talking to some of them and some people who had actually come over both legally and illegally from Mexico is a driving force for people wanting to come is they think there is an opportunity for a better life here, but when they arrive they realize you just actually become a wage slave with nice things and no time or money to spend freely.

    He is genuinely one of the best reporters out there right now. He's done some incredible boots on the ground reporting on a whole shitload of different topics ranging from silly to deadly serious. I haven't watched all of his recent Mexico and border coverage yet, but that's a real dark ending for those people who risked life and limb to make the crossing just to realize that our working class has a pretty raw deal

  3. 30 minutes ago, Smax said:

    Thought this was pretty cool

     

     

    Now just imagine if we were banking that power in storage rather than giving it to Chinese bitcoin miners and then paying them to turn off when there's a pinch. 

    Really exciting to see so much growth in renewable energy though

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  4. I guess I just don't get your extreme reaction and rush to validate replacement theory talking points. A LLM is an engineered and designed product - and this is a bad version of a product that's being replaced. It's not some almighty and on high entity that dictates the future of all of Google. Dial back the rhetoric a bit, imma. It's close to getting toxic. 

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  5. 3 hours ago, HenryJames said:

    Just the dumbest shit.

    36014577-7ba9-4256-b837-571751d2d853.png

    Holy shit a supreme Court Justice posts on surly! I've heard that argument alllllll over the place in defense of letting the fascists have the run of the joint

  6. 1 hour ago, Surly Bevo said:

     

    58 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

    I rarely eat fast food these days anyway.  But when I do, one of the reasons is basic, manageable pricing.  I know I can get a cheeseburger combo most places for $10-$12.  But if I show up and it's $18?  Fuck off.

    And whyyyy do the companies use surge pricing? Because it's an excuse to gouge consumers, and there will be enough idiot whales to make it worth their while and validate the business model.

    And don't you dare criticize those companies, it's their DUTY and RIGHT to price gouge their customers!

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  7. Just now, Bevo said:

    The funny thing about insurance premiums is that they go to insurance companies. Insurance companies have lobbyists and by design, they have power over individual providers. So insurance companies have been able to increase their rates to people such as yourself so that they can pay their employees and their stockholders, but providers have not seen any of that increase. In fact rates to doctors have been declining over the last few decades including through this rapid surge in inflation. So when a doctor only takes a minute to speak with a patient, it is by design of the system and not necessarily what the doctor or the patient would prefer.

    It's just too bad that it costs orders of magnitude more to work directly with my medical provider and that I am forced to go through a private, for-profit death panel to dictate which treatment is profitable enough for them to approve. 

    It's almost like some systems should not prioritize profitability, and blindly ignoring that to chase PE cash-outs has extremely deleterious effects on health outcomes. But hey man, they have a RIGHT to extract profits from any entity that they own! It's the American dream, social consequences be damned!

     

    And this isn't directed at you - you're as much a victim of the healthcare industry as anyone else that owes a literal life debt of medical costs to them. But hey, those quarterly profits aren't going to grow themselves! 

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  8. 3 minutes ago, Bevo said:

    That doesn't change the fact that I have people coming into my office stating that their insurance says that a procedure costs $12. Well, when my employees make over $25/hr my only choice is to tell the patient to get bent and find a new provider. $12/5 employees doesn't cover much, probably not even supplies.  And for some reason putting a tip line to help pay for staff is frowned upon.

    So what is the solution for us? Put in add on charges? Join groups to help combat insurance monopolies? Price gouge non-insurance patients? Which would you as a patient be happy about? What services would you expect at $12? After all, all your asking is for an increase in employee pay.

    Well, I would imagine that some of the thousands of insurance premiums and copays that my wife and I pay each year would help to cover those costs, but fuck me I guess. I'm sorry your industry has been enshittified by private equity so thoroughly. 

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  9. 14 minutes ago, Bevo said:

    Inflation has played a big part in this. Prices rose and costs to employers rose as lower level employees now make probably double what they were making before inflation.

    It should be remembered when talking about "doubling wages!!!" That you're talking about people going from $7.50/hr to $15/hr. $15/hr is fucking poverty wages these days - you're bringing home like $1200 after taxes every two weeks. If you're extremely lucky, rent is gonna be more than half your monthly income if not almost all of it - nevermind food or medical expenses or little indulgences like clothes and children. 

    It is really remarkable how stagnant wages have historically been compared to overall economic growth and per capita economic contribution. Just look at dollar amount. Wage earning raises over the last decade didn't come close to touching executive compensation increases over the last couple years. 

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  10. 42 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

    What does your mental help say about denial of basic reality?

    Is this report real? Was this a normal state of affair in your childhood to require a one-on-one shopper to buy a screwdriver? Or is this the mega-conglomerate “Fredricksen” faking theft for sympathy?

    You’re so mentally compromised you can’t recognize what’s actually happening. Sad. 

    You've got the vibes of a gated community Karen getting worked up over shit that doesn't affect them. You are so singularly focused on shoplifting as some sort of weird rhetorical "parry" to confronting the reality of enshittification, it's amazing. 

    Reminds me of a few years ago when cops were opening fire on protesters and strangling people to death on video and you and yours were desperate to deflect the threads to property crime instead of police brutality, and simply retreated to that position as a matter of course.

    It doesn't matter how much data is shown to you in this thread that shoplifting is vastly overstated, you'll just power through with anecdotes and culture warring. 

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  11. Man that NYT article is excellent thank you for sharing the gift link! The last few paragraphs are really the thesis of the whole piece IMO

    Finally, we can’t forget the intense emotion of Christian nationalism. Most believers don’t follow ideological and theological arguments particularly closely. In the words of the historian Thomas Kidd, “Actual Christian nationalism is more a visceral reaction than a rationally chosen stance.” It is tied, in other words, to a visceral sense that the fate of the church is closely tied to the outcome of any given political race.

    That fervor can make believers gullible and potentially even dangerous. Its good-versus-evil dynamic can make Christians believe that their political opponents are capable of anything, including stealing an election. It artificially raises the stakes of elections to the point where a loss becomes an unthinkable catastrophe, with the fates of both church and state hanging in the balance. As we saw on Jan. 6, 2021, this belief invites violent action.

    Committed Christian nationalists represent only 10 percent of the population, according to a 2023 PRRI/Brookings Christian Nationalism Survey. But even members of a minority that small can gain outsize power when they fold themselves into the larger Christian electorate, casting themselves as “just like you.” That’s why we cannot conflate Christian activism with Christian nationalism. One can welcome Christian participation in the public square while resisting domination, from any faith or creed.

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  12. 2 minutes ago, Cap33 said:

    I wish the media were better at interviewing. She should have followed up by asking what the fuck difference does the number make, and why won't he answer the question. 

    And it never ceases to amaze how bad he is at talking. Such an insincere and dumb man.

    So many of our social problems would be better addressed if our "public" sources of information were better about actually getting useful information and not just repeated soundbites ad nauseum

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  13. 28 minutes ago, ajax said:

    Various reviews have said the same thing about the steam deck and every handheld gaming devices on flights. 

    It's the issue of the display being at hand level. You either hand to bend your neck down to hand level to view the screen or hold the display up at eye level for hours and hours, which sucks.

    I think I have an idea, other than the ar glasses. I'll get a stand to keep the deck on the food tray and an external controller so I can keep my hands low and relaxed.

    tbh that sounds pretty bulky. The deck as it is is not a small thing in a backpack, and a controller with it would take up most of my backpack

    I've brought it along for a 5 hour flight and it was nice to split up my time between watching something and playing something so I could be active or inactive brain - and I didn't really get fatigued since I wouldn't be in one posture for the whole flight

  14. What the fucking fuck, man. This is just power grabbing at this point - it's out of fucking control. The ruling that all this idiocy hinges on CITED THE FUCKING BIBLE and was authored by a "vaccines are mind control and russia is saving Ukraine from pedophiles" lunatic judge.

     

    What the fuck.

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  15. Those commies at the IEEE pointing out that rampant profiteering is obstructing baseline infrastructure improvements because they don't have enough immediate profit impact

    https://spectrum.ieee.org/transmission-expansion

    Quote
    Profiteering Hampers U.S. Grid Expansion
    Share
     

    Profiteering Hampers U.S. Grid Expansion 

     

    Private utility companies are blocking new interregional transmission lines

    22 FEB 2024
    6 MIN READ
     

    Transmission lines and wind turbines in an open plain with grazing cattle.

    The planned SunZia 500-mile transmission line would carry wind power across the Southwest.

     MINESH BACRANIA/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
     
     
     
     

    The United States is not building enough transmission lines to connect regional power networks. The deficit is driving up electricity prices, reducing grid reliability, and hobbling renewable-energy deployment.

    At the heart of the problem are utility companies that refuse to pursue interregional transmission projects, and sometimes even impede them, because new projects threaten their profits and disrupt their industry alliances. Utilities can stall transmission expansion because out-of-date laws sanction these companies’ sweeping control over transmission development.

    As we increasingly electrify our homes, transportation, and factories, utility companies’ choices about transmission will have huge consequences for the nation’s economy and well-being. About 40 corporations, valued at a trillion dollars, own the vast majority of transmission lines in the United States. Their grip over the backbone of U.S. grids demands public scrutiny and accountability.

     

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  16. 10 hours ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

    It's a shame no one had the foresight to write down all the steps we took to do this 55 years ago.

    They literally did that with NASA-SP-287

    https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19720005243

    It's a publication by NASA titled "What Made Apollo a Success?" It's an 86 page playbook that does not really track to any of our current mission planning or strategy. 

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