oblong

His VP and cabinet like this. It keeps us distracted so they all can do the other stuff. 
 

nothing is ever going to happen to him Or them. 

Yeah I call ChatGPT “Chad”.  Just a thing we do 

I’m using Chad to help me make French onion soup along with smoking a Chuck roast for sliders.  If it turns out ok then I will get some oven safe bowls to make it perfect. It’s especially useful when it’s a sustained process and you need a quick answer.  Last week I made tortilla soup and needed a quick “packets of taco seasoning vs bulk measurement” conversion. Or if you don’t have a certain spice or ingredient and what would be a good substitute. Online recipes are a mess to sort thru.  The options it presents are great. Traditional vs steakhouse vs quick… and offering guidance during the caramelizing process. 

1 hour ago, casimir said:

This reminds me of a yard campaign sign I saw.  To paraphrase, it said “In this house we stand for virtue and dignity and righteousness and humility and civility and servitude and faith….”   And it was for the orange asshole.  I mean, come on, seriously?  WTF.

There’s a corner lot house we run by with a nice pool and on their fence around the pool they have a sign listing all the things they proudly do, which are things nobody ever told them they could no longer do. (Like say Merry Christmas). 

Sky’s? 

52 minutes ago, antrat said:

I just can't believe that even a lot of his voters wanted this madness. Every ****ing day something awful happening. Dementia Don ranting on Truth Social at three in the morning.

They don’t want it for themselves. But the #1 requirement to be a trump voter is lack of empathy. So who cares if others are hurt. They’ll be fine.  They won’t lose their farms or businesses over tariffs. The Chinese will pay for it. 

I could see cases where he gets the DoD to seize ballots and once that happens…. All bets are off. We will have elections like Russia does.  There will be a declared winner but the accuracy will be in doubt. 

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

I’m with you on zero credit card debt. I’ve practically never carried any, training myself to avoid it by carrying Amex charge cards instead of interest-charging credit cards, and going without instead of going into debt. It’s been good training for managing my spending during retirement.

I have only one credit card, a high-quality Chase bank card, and again, I pay it off every month like a charge card and pay zero interest. I use the card for (1) convenience; (2) points (cash value of 1% of spend); (3) benefits like automatic warranty extensions; (4) protections in situations like travel and car rentals mishaps; and (5) running interference against dodgy vendors trying to screw me out of refunds, and I did so just this week against the streamer Britbox, which offers zero human contact on their side.

I don’t know how much longer Chase and the majors are going to provide these advantages, since the more powerful and concentrated industries become the less customer service they feel compelled to offer, but I’m going to take advantage of them while I can.

I would advise anyone to read the benefits guide that comes out with their credit cards at least annually and get familiar with what they are and when to leverage them.

I have a lot of friends and peers who retired recently so it’s a common topic. I have a few more years but I recognize time flies.  I’ve started making changes. One friend told me “you don’t realize how much you piss away when you are working”. He meant it as “it’s easier than you think”.  The hardest part will be keeping my wife still. Today’s a good example.  It’s cold. Nothing going on. It’s ok to just be home all day. But she has this restless need to “be productive” which I counter with “yeah but that usually means spending money”.    I once suggested we watch a show but she couldn’t wrap her head around doing something like that in the afternoon.  Like we are being lazy.  We worked all week.  It’s ok.  

The rollout of the SLS for Artemis II to launch pad 39B

You could with a 10% penalty. 

He has a limited shelf life.  They all do.  Why give up one of his great years?

If we are being honest, how good do you think he'll be in 2029 and 2030?

1 hour ago, romad1 said:

Speaking of Virginia, the Gadsden license plate has to go.   Just noticed in the parking lot that one of my buddies from grad school has one.   I'm much less likely to call him now.  I like that it tells you who is a knucklehead but I also don't like them flying their freak flag so conspicuously.   

They've really thwarted the meaning, right?

Sam Seaborn had one in his office on The West Wing.

5 hours ago, StrangeBird said:

If I recall correctly, some sort of statement regarding improper use of AI was incorporated into our university’s academic honesty policy. But other than that, it’s up to each instructor to decide how much to allow AI in the classroom, or whether to allow it at all. My school’s president has encouraged us to try to find ways to use AI in the classroom.

Many of my colleagues, including at other schools, are very anti-AI and completely ban it. I see its value and usefulness, so I’ve tried to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI for student work. It’s an ongoing process.

Last semester, I tried an assignment requiring students to engage in a philosophical dialogue with ChatGPT, using a specially designed prompt. Overall, the dialogues weren’t as interesting as I’d hoped, but maybe it’s something I will try again in the future.

I'm not an educator but it seems to me like the right path is to figure out your approach.  It's not going anywhere.  

2 hours ago, guy incognito said:

You really don’t want to know what I hope happens to certain people.

 

I bet every person who issued a threat has a cross or Bible version in their  social media bios. 

A kick.

Yes, because these ICE folks are doing nazi stuff. 

This isn't that complicated.  Smart people get it.

Not sure if this has been brought up here but McCosky had a thing in the News saying that the Tigers were prepared to negotiate  on a deal, that the $19M was their first offer but Boras "shut that down" and was only interested in going to arbitration.  He says that's why they filed $19M but I think the reasons outlined earlier in this thread are more true.  Of course I'm not sure where his sources come from.

What interests me more about this story is the unwillingness to negotiate a deal.  

Fighting nazis is noble.

Good for them.

Anybody who still works for ICE is a nazi who deserves whatever happens to them.

29 minutes ago, romad1 said:

Which of the 1989 endings does Trump want for himself 

• Tiananmen Square (military crackdown which succeeds - likely because strong internal borders and no opposition to the PRC army)
• Romania (failed crackdown which resulted in execution of the dictator and wife)
• Poland, Hungary, East Germany (more or less peaceful color revolutions which resulted in the former leaders leaving the scene with some degree of truth and reconciliation for former regime elements)
• Yugoslavia (a decade of ethnic warfare/ethnic cleansing because regime fractured)

I know which one I want.  And make sure you film it this time.

46 minutes ago, romad1 said:

Was just doing a webinar on AI and project management.  Two bullets stood out: 

• Hallucinations are a real problem
• Sycophancy is a real problem. 

Telling you only what you want to hear is not usually a good strategy for successful outcomes. 

I think about this kind of thing a lot with regard to media/entertainment in general.  For the last 20 years or so as we've moved into an On Demand reality.  We watch and listen and consume that which we've specifically asked for.  Movies, music, TV shows..... I think that's messed with our brains.  Sometimes its good to be bored and pushed things because that's your only choice.

This was crazy.  Can’t blame the forecasters. Everyone got it wrong. It reminds me of the rain we got on  Oct 7, my birthday.  The Tiger playoff game.  Alll day long it was supposed to stop anytime.  It didn’t. 
 

I had a Tiger event downtown and driving home it looks like nothing was touched yet. Even 94 was 30 mph.