…or the OP believes the myths, isn’t trying to be funny, and is legitimately confused?

world governments currently waste $13B a year on publication fees -that’s money that should be in labs doing research.

And only a tiny fraction of that $13B can buy a lot of lawyers, lobbyists, and favors to make sure things don’t improve.

But now the surveillance capabilities of both the state and large corporations have been ramped up to infinity and beyond. I’m expecting a partnership announcement between Micron and Raytheon any day now, where Raytheon gets free DDR5 and Micron gets armed and autonomous security drones.

Kind of \s, kind of not

I don’t think most of them will.

1. They will use enterprise editions internally, where their IT team will have much more control over behaviors they don’t like at the group policy level than home users do.

2. The executives at the big software conglomerates have the same AI boners that Microsoft does. They’ll be looking for ways to integrate new Windows features and use them as selling points for their own products.

3. They don’t care about the privacy nightmare Windows has become because they implement and benefit from the same telemetry and data collection practices with their customers.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gish_gallop

I think people who haven’t been been the target of insults since high school (or maybe ever?) forget how petty and uncreative it often is.

The point insulting someone isn’t to be truthful, it’s to be hurtful or put them down.

can’t properly explain the differences between an OS, a browser and a search engine

Which, of course, was the goal of manufacturers all along. First computer you used a lot was a Chromebook? Google is all of those things. Was it a Windows 8 or later system? They damn near are the same thanks to web search integration with the start menu that only nerds like me care about disabling.

Not concerned about porch pirates at all

Not everyone has been blessed with the same gift of blissful ignorance that you have.

I agree that people shouldn’t order Ring, it’s a shitty product for the reasons laid out in this thread and article. But “just be nicer to everyone around you” is not a viable alternative, and suggesting it is dismissive of the realities other people are living.

If you’re still talking about getting shit stolen off your porch, anyone within driving distance could be responsible for it.

Do you really think it’s possible to try to become friends with or “help out” every asshole within a 10 minute drive of where you live? Or even identify everyone in that range who might have sticky fingers?

The weapons are outfitted with a smaller barrel to accomodate.

The different barrel requirement doesn’t apply to all systems. AR-15/M16/M4 rifles in 5.56 can use a drop in bolt carrier group with Simunition mags and ammo, with no other changes.

I almost had a moment that satisfying.

But that particular training op was only supplied with blanks and blue body grenades. No one knows they’ve been “hit” unless you yell at them, which means you have to give away your awesome hiding spot. Also, they sometimes just can’t hear you, so you might have to let a whole disorganized squad bumblefuck their way by without any reprocussions for their utter lack of situational awareness.

But it was still better than the time everyone else had sim rounds in their M16s but I was issued an M9 and a SMAW which they didn’t provision any kind of simulated ammo for. I had to yell “BANG BANG” and hope my target played by the rules (they didn’t).

What will I see?

The fall of all the rest of us.

My favorite is when it actually says “out for delivery” on the day it’s supposed to arrive, never shows up, then changes to “could not be delivered” after not showing up.

I called FedEx last time this happened because the delivery was a firearm, and I needed to know what’s happened. The person said it was loaded on a truck that morning, which triggered the status change to “out for delivery”, but they didn’t actually have anyone scheduled to drive the truck that day so it never even left the lot. It did arrive the next day, but I learned to not even trust “out for delivery” from them.

Awesome system, guys.

i just don’t know what keeps these guys in business.

I’ve never heard of this company in the US, but I assume they have super cheap rates. That means they will continue to be the first choice of shippers that are covering shipping costs. This is especially true for high-volume businesses that move so much product it’s cheaper to replace a couple of lost packages than to pay a better shipping company for every one.

I think that’s because in the first case, the amp modeller is only replacing a piece of hardware or software they already have. It doesn’t do anything particularly “intelligent” from the perspective of the user, so I don’t think using “AI” in the marketing campaign would be very effective. LLMs and photo generators have made such a big splash in the popular consciousness that people associate AI with generative processes, and other applications leave them asking, “where’s the intelligent part?”

In the second case, it’s replacing the human. The generative behaviors match people’s expectations while record label and streaming company MBAs cream their pants at the thought of being able to pay artists even less.

its up to a parent to deal with it

What a nice cherry on top of the hypocrisy pie. The party of “personal responsibility” and “small government” is perfectly happy when government is used to regulate sexuality and help out the irresponsible parents that don’t want to spend time monitoring their children’s Internet usage. Now young teens are going to learn how to use VPNs or just find the shadier sites that don’t give a shit about U.S. state laws.

Both of which would be adequately addressed by parents learning how to use the tools that are probably already built into their router.

Having watched from the outside as other people make this transition, it never looks fun. At least in large organizations, it just looks like a ton of added responsibility without enough additional authority to make meaningful change.

I remember having a period of time like this when I was enlisted - I was held responsible for the completion of tasks but not given authority to reward or correct the behavior of those in my charge. I would absolutely loathe being in that position again in the civilian world.

I don’t think that’s quite accurate.

The “understand it well enough to explain it to a professor” clause is carrying a lot of weight here - if that part is fulfilled, then yeah, you’re actually learning something.

Unless of course, all of the professors are awful at their jobs too. Most of mine were pretty good at asking very pointed questions to figure out what you actually know, and could easily unmask a bullshit artist with a short conversation.

latest pew

Heh. Pew go pew pew.

…why not just use the CC on Amazon?