terran57

I think it's a very reasonable ask to charge for access to a premium version of ChatGPT considering the infrastructure required behind the scenes. Otherwise, they'd have to offer an ad-supported version at some point. My hope is that a free version continues to be offered though.

I firmly believe that we're not alone in the universe, but advanced alien civilizations capable of interstellar travel would probably look at us like we look at mold - at best, with indifference and at worst, something to remove. But, it is fun to imagine how our belief systems would have been shaken up if scientists were able to show Oumuamua was an interstellar probe ("Rendezvous with Rama" anybody?)

Been living in New York for the past 20+ years. Sadly, inflation has diminished the quality and quantity of the average corner pizza shop's slice. Yes, the Artichoke Basil slice the author refers to is much more expensive, but it's also bigger than the average slice of pizza in NYC - and the quality of ingredients seems better. The $1 slice shops (now more like the $1.50 slice shops) live on low margin and high volume. I can attest that it's great when you're in a hurry and just want to get something in your system. For quality pizza slices, well, you're just going to have to pay $3-$5 for a slice nowadays ($1 or more for toppings).

One must remember that US corporations are bound only to the interests of shareholders. DTO is a shareholder-friendly policy as it does wipe accrued wage liability from the books (which for a large company can be substantial). Worker loyalty is (largely) no longer appreciated - what only matters to the company is how well you perform in your job in the most recent year (or so). As a worker, if you perform well, you get rewarded, if you don't, well you run the risk of being replaced.

re: unrelated - I too thought this was a forest-related post.

This post, and all the comments here, brought back lots of memories for me. I too have the faint scars from hand-propping these things ... or was it from the roman candle exploding in my hands in the midst of a roman candle war with other kids in the neighborhood? Estes rockets, chemical sets, control line planes, all part of my lived experiences as a kid in the 70s. It was certainly a unique time to be a kid - very little direct supervision during play time - few rules - basically be home when the automatic porch light came on. You could do stupid things like take your parents car out for a spin after midnight at age of 13. Then having the only consequence of getting pulled over by the police being a stern lecture and having the cop follow you home with a warning to never do it again...

I was playing around with ChatGPT to generate a rather humorous story (well, at least I thought it was) which got me thinking along these lines. Excited to see what comes out of these technologies.

Yes, in his earlier life he did, but he had really cut down on drinking in the preceding few years. Reflecting back on that time, I would say he knew something was wrong but was in denial about it.

Two very personal experiences to relate. --- My father died 7 weeks after he was diagnosed with liver cancer - 11 days past his 62nd birthday. Prior to the diagnosis, he was going to take early retirement at 62 and travel with my mother. He had lots of other plans for post-retirement that he never got to realize. --- A close friend of mine died of heart cancer (well, technically, he died from complications of having an artificial heart - but cancer ruined his natural heart). He had thought he'd beaten cancer before (in the leg) and after repeated clean-bills of health, he finally thought it was safe to marry his fiancé and have a couple of children. But instead, cancer re-emerged and claimed his life. He left behind his fiancé', grieving parents, sisters and left a large hole in the community.

So yeah - fuck cancer.

I was late on the chatbot bus and only got access to it yesterday. I've spent the morning using it and am just simply awestruck by its potential.

We live in NYC. Beginning of 2020, my partner and I entertained a friend who flew in from France. Shortly afterwards, we both got sick with what was the most persistent "flu" that we ever had (lasting 3 weeks or so). No tests available, so no confirmation if it was Covid.

there's an app called JackPocket

What people fail to see is that this is an opportunity (albeit forced) to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels to renewables. To slow and hopefully reverse the effects of carbon emissions we need to massively invest in new wind and hydro projects, energy storage technologies, and tighten energy efficiency rules.

While staying active and eating healthy are very important contributors to a longer life, it seems one also needs to have a healthy social life and sense of purpose to foster the will to live longer.

Excellent advice!

In my 2nd job out of college I found myself taking a position with a startup to shepherd along a neglected project while the core team worked furiously to deliver their signature project. That project team was led by what can only be described as a sociopathic madman. He'd throw items around in his office and scream profane insults whenever a problem came up (QA finding bugs app crash/bug/missed graphics/etc.). He'd dress-down he responsible party with no pity in front of others. The team feared him - but nobody quit because there was a significant bonus promised to them on delivery.

The management team tolerated his exploits as they desperately needed the project delivered as there were substantial performance bonuses for early delivery, and significant penalties for late delivery. The team was cajoled into a "death-march" in the last few weeks with unlimited drinks/snacks and free meals for staying late and classical psychological manipulation for attempting to leave "early" (anything before a 12hr day). (I can still hear him saying to people "we're a team - how can you let your teammates down, you p** of sh*t")

In the end, the project was delivered on-time, but as the company had bet on an early delivery and so, had spared no expense in throwing resources towards that project, there were no bonuses. Instead, the team's extraordinary work was rewarded with layoffs...

I'm optimistic that that in today's environment (assuming you work in a free and open society) such behavior is no longer widely tolerated. First, I think that society has evolved and with the emphasis on work/life balance, people will refrain from subjecting themselves to a boss like the one described above. With high attrition, companies will remove people like that from oversight positions. Also, companies themselves can face consequences if they don't address such behavior immediately. Nothing like a surreptitiously recorded video or audio recording appearing on the internet to bring a public shaming.

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

> For the most part, people enjoy it, but there’s a growing cluster of outdoor house cat owners who are dismayed when nature does its thing and Sir Fluffsalot meets his end after an encounter with a fox or eagle.

Outdoor cats do far more damage to wildlife populations than they receive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_predation_on_wildlife

Thanks for the info.

For some reason, I felt compelled to google the subject of the news article regarding the murder of Dallas Morning News photographer, Larry Provart, age 29. It appears that his murder remains unsolved to this day.

I too, used to think that we'd be a species that would head to the stars, but it appears that will be just one of a long line of species that cannot get past the great filter of Fermi's Paradox.

if you're "lucky". The last (pre-pandemic) interview I had at a certain NYC-based market data provider ended with a tour of what would be my work environment - an open-office hellscape consisting of rows of long tables with barely a meter of distance from your neighbor. I declined the offer.

Or, hear me out, move closer so that one dies instantaneously rather than slowly due to radiation or starvation.

I remember seeing an episode on how some doomsday preppers were burying prefab underground shelters on their property and stocking it with food/water/weapons/etc. There was this guy being interviewed who smiled and said he wasn't stocking anything, but he wasn't too worried. He said he'd mapped out all the prepper locations around his property and if things went south - his sons would harden their tractors with steel plates and pull those things out of the ground to "harvest" the goodies within.

yep - similar situation for me too.

My ex-wife and I divorced in 1999 during the height of the craze. She was an avid Beanie Baby collector and I gladly let her have the entire collection in exchange for a quicker divorce.

I could see the predator chasing them to the ground theory being the truth here.

Completely agree with this statement.

The danger cannot be dismissed out of hand, but I don't believe nations that have nuclear weapons will be able to let go of them. Do you believe that Ukraine would be facing the threats today if it had not given up the nuclear weapons it inherited from the USSR? Treaties mean nothing without the ability to defend.

I was looking into boat living when I had graduated college and was thinking about taking a job in LA. Unfortunately, a non-existent credit file at the time meant that I was out of luck getting anyone to finance me.