Off-Topic / Dumping Thread

[+mizapf]

I'm a bit ambivalent about her videos. Some are very good and insightful, but for some topics she mainly criticizes almost everything that research has come up with during the last decades without proposing a better way (main example: string theory). It's easy to say that this and that sounds like utter nonsense if you don't have to come up with a better idea.

Her main argument (I think she published a book on that) is that the pursue of a simple explanation of the world (Theory of Everything) may be futile, in contrast to authors like Brian Greene ("The Elegant Universe"), because there is no obligation for Nature to follow simple rules.

 

[In case you wonder, her first name is pronounced like suh-bee-nah, stressed on bee.]

[+OLD CS1]

AI writing insecure code.  THIS is how the war with the machines begins.  It looks like the huge advancement brought about and reduction in time applied by AI is actually bringing about the swift collapse of the AI bubble.

 

Watching her is difficult -- she talks through her teeth.  Meh.

[jrhodes]

Oh deer 🦌

 

[GDMike]

On 10/5/2024 at 1:37 PM, OLD CS1 said:

It may sound racist, but the point being is that it does happen that immigrants are granted CDLs and licenses fraudulently, many of them do not speak English beyond simple greetings, and they do have accidents.  It does not help that in some states, driving "farm use" vehicles, which can include personnel transport, does not require a driver license at all.  In Florida, a farm use vehicle can operate pretty much anywhere if it is small enough, or within 150 miles if it falls into the larger gross weight category.  Whether or not it increases rates can be a point of argument since we are given more and more incomplete statistics, but this was not a claim in the first place, only that things happen.

 

Frankly, finding statistics for this, one way or the other, is a futile task to most laymen without access to better than commodity search tools.  You can find anecdotal evidence, as I have in a few trucker forums and sub-reddits.  I heard from the owner of a transportation company, someone for whom I would vouch as a straight-shooter I have know my entire adult life, that one of his competitors works some shenanigans to get his immigrant drivers CDLs, with just enough skill to put the truck in gear and steer it, including having another employee go to the test with them as an "interpreter."  If something happens, like say a roll-over on an Interstate off-ramp, well, he had the right credentials so far as the state is concerned.

 

To the point of legal drivers doing stupid shit, too: yes, that happens, but I cannot abide the idea that illegal drivers, whether immigrant or otherwise, helps the situation any.  If x is the number of native English-speakers with inadequate skills having accidents and y is the number of immigrant non English-speakers with inadequate skills having accidents, obviously x + y > x.  An objective fact with no racism involved.

I think it's up to the insurance companies to insure them or not Don't you think. We may I may not like the fact as it is but it's up to the insurance companies, not us.  If they hit me they better have insurance

[+OLD CS1]

11 minutes ago, GDMike said:

I think it's up to the insurance companies to insure them or not Don't you think. We may I may not like the fact as it is but it's up to the insurance companies, not us.  If they hit me they better have insurance

I am not up on insurance in other states, but in Florida I have what is called "uninsured/under-insured" coverage.  It pays out if the other driver lacks insurance or does not have enough to cover injuries or liability.  Well, that is what is supposed to happen, anyway.  I had a woman hit me and she had the bare-minimum of 10/10 ($10,000 liability and injury coverage,) and I wound up having to sue my insurance company to cover not only my medical expenses but also the change in lifestyle caused by injuries.

 

By the way, on the topic of insurance, if you want to make sure insurance pays out when you get injured, you had better had a recent (within the past two years) examination of every part of your body which could be injured.  Nationwide tried hard to deny my claims for the back injuries because I did not have a recent MRI.  Which is stupid, since you only get MRIs if you are suspected to have an injury, anyway.  It settled before we took it in front of a jury.

 

I remember the phone call before I got my attorney: "We'd like to offer you $2,500.  Is that a number you're comfortable with?"

 

"Ma'am, that's a number I'm insulted by and I think it's time we went to the lawyers."

[+dhe]

2 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

"We'd like to offer you $2,500.

That wouldn't cover the MRI you are talking about! 😃

[+dhe]

Helene dropped a huge tree on my fence (from my neighbors yard). I'll probably have to end up eating the entire cost of humongous tree removal and fence replacement.

 

Had the adjuster out today. He asked if he could come in to my house and take photo's. I said no way in hell.

 

Whether it's a camper, trailer or house. It greatly cuts down on life's hassles to own something outright. Praise God for property rights.

[GDMike]

2 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

I am not up on insurance in other states, but in Florida I have what is called "uninsured/under-insured" coverage.  It pays out if the other driver lacks insurance or does not have enough to cover injuries or liability.  Well, that is what is supposed to happen, anyway.  I had a woman hit me and she had the bare-minimum of 10/10 ($10,000 liability and injury coverage,) and I wound up having to sue my insurance company to cover not only my medical expenses but also the change in lifestyle caused by injuries.

 

By the way, on the topic of insurance, if you want to make sure insurance pays out when you get injured, you had better had a recent (within the past two years) examination of every part of your body which could be injured.  Nationwide tried hard to deny my claims for the back injuries because I did not have a recent MRI.  Which is stupid, since you only get MRIs if you are suspected to have an injury, anyway.  It settled before we took it in front of a jury.

 

I remember the phone call before I got my attorney: "We'd like to offer you $2,500.  Is that a number you're comfortable with?"

 

"Ma'am, that's a number I'm insulted by and I think it's time we went to the lawyers."

And you still have the right to sue her... If she has anything.. but I don't think you're supposed to sue your insurance company..

It's her you have to go after, right?

 

 

Edited Saturday at 06:18 AM by GDMike

[GDMike]

6 minutes ago, dhe said:

Helene dropped a huge tree on my fence (from my neighbors yard). I'll probably have to end up eating the entire cost of humongous tree removal and fence replacement.

 

Had the adjuster out today. He asked if he could come in to my house and take photo's. I said no way in hell.

 

Whether it's a camper, trailer or house. It greatly cuts down on life's hassles to own something outright. Praise God for property rights.

Hmmm..tree from neighborhood... Can't you claim that against your neighbors homeowners insurance? 

Just wondering 

[+OLD CS1]

23 minutes ago, GDMike said:

And you still have the right to sue her... If she has anything.. but I don't think you're supposed to sue your insurance company..

It's her you have to go after, right?

I could have sued her civilly, but it would have been a futile effort as she had nothing and it would have taken years to get any judgement.  That is why I pay for the UIM.  But Nationwide refused my claim when it was perfectly righteous, so I sued.

 

33 minutes ago, dhe said:

Had the adjuster out today. He asked if he could come in to my house and take photo's. I said no way in hell.

Yeah, nah.  Tree did not fall in my house, it fell on my fence.  There is no need to inside photos.

 

26 minutes ago, GDMike said:

Hmmm..tree from neighborhood... Can't you claim that against your neighbors homeowners insurance? 

Nope.  Now, he might be able to sue the neighbors civilly if there if proof they were aware of something wrong with the tree which posed a danger.  I have seen a case in which a tree was rotting and fell onto a neighbor's car, and the property owner of the tree was successfully sued for damages, and others similar in which the proximal cause of the damage was a neighbor's inaction to prevent the damage.

 

When Tropical Storm Faye came through, it dropped 28 inches of rain on my neighborhood within the course of six hours or so.  My giant oak tree could not handle the force and split in two, and what the arborist called the "subdominant trunk" separated and fell onto my house and against my neighbor's house.  Her insurance had to pay for the removal and damages, and she was pissed enough that she had someone come out and mark exactly where our property line was and cut the fallen trunk right at it!  Because this was such an extraordinary circumstance and my tree showed no evidence of rot or disease, I was pretty much untouchable.

[+dhe]

[GDMike]

Just something I saw

Featuring 9958 Yamaha chip

https://hackaday.com/2024/10/11/c64-gets-a-graphics-upgrade-courtesy-of-your-favorite-piano-manufacturer/

[GDMike]

30 years ago commodore Amiga went bankrupt 

https://www.heise.de/en/background/30-years-ago-When-the-C64-and-Amiga-pioneer-Commodore-went-bankrupt-9702746.html

 

"When the Asian suppliers also put pressure on the calculator sector, Commodore expanded its portfolio to include pocket calculators. Tramiel had seen the then new devices on a trip to Japan and came back with the idea of bringing them onto the market himself. Commodore purchased the corresponding processors from Texas Instruments - when TI, of all companies, brought its own calculators onto the market at dumping prices, Commodore was determined to become less dependent on suppliers".

 

[Gary from OPA]

Sadly, the creator of the BBS and XModem died recently:

 

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/ward-christensen-co-inventor-of-the-bbs-and-internet-pioneer-has-died/

 

Ars Technica reports that Ward Christensen, the co-creator of the computer bulletin board system—a sort of precursor to the internet as we know it today—has died at age 78.

[+OLD CS1]

23 minutes ago, Gary from OPA said:

Sadly, the creator of the BBS and XModem died recently:

 

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/ward-christensen-co-inventor-of-the-bbs-and-internet-pioneer-has-died/

 

Ars Technica reports that Ward Christensen, the co-creator of the computer bulletin board system—a sort of precursor to the internet as we know it today—has died at age 78.

Funny.  I have been re-reading the MODEM protocol specs (later known as XModem,) Chuck Forsberg's ZMODEM specs and write-up on XModem-1k, -CRC, and YModem.

 

This guy is the hero we never knew we had, spawning an industry and hobby which helped catapult land-line data communications for consumers into the Space Age.  BBS magazines, conferences, trade shows... oh, the days.

 

Boys, put on your taking-off caps.

[Gary from OPA]

Hell has frozen over...

 

As AMD and Intel have joined forces to take down ARM...

 

Today, AMD in partnership with Intel, have announced the creation of the x86 ecosystem advisory group, bringing together technology leaders to shape the future of the world’s most widely used computing architecture.

 

https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-10-15-intel-and-amd-form-x86-ecosystem-advisory-group-to-accelerate.html

 

[+OLD CS1]

1 hour ago, Gary from OPA said:

Today, AMD in partnership with Intel, have announced the creation of the x86 ecosystem advisory group, bringing together technology leaders to shape the future of the world’s most widely used computing architecture.

Pffftt.  Intel is still dying a slow and agonizing death.

[+chue]

10 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

Intel is still dying a slow and agonizing death.

Imo the last time they did anything significant was Sandy Bridge. Those cpus came out around 2011.

[Gary from OPA]

Almost the 24 year anniversary of when the Internet was going to fade away because it was just a fad.

[+TheBF]

On 10/13/2024 at 8:02 AM, dhe said:

I don't get it.  (  ) 

[+TheBF]

On 10/16/2024 at 3:43 AM, OLD CS1 said:

Pffftt.  Intel is still dying a slow and agonizing death.

Maybe because of "backward compatibility" ??

I was amazed by this video.