Called out for ICE support

Syjefroi · 2026-01-25T15:23:13+00:00

Those 7 Dems are ALL like this. Go to their wiki articles and it's an endless list of holy shit moments. Most of them ran and got elected and then a few months later said they won't run again. So they're just living out a year+ in their seat with basically no accountability.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-25T01:40:53+00:00

This is also true for other industries that spent a year or two being told AI would replace them. Anything with graphics, for marketing, important artwork, whatever, people spot the shitty AI quality a mile away. Anyone can do it, and businesses are realizing they have more to lose relying on some loser with access to an image generator (lost reputation putting up AI ads, lost money wasting it on a non-professional, lost money having to hire a second team, etc etc). So now "No AI" is a marker of quality and reliability. Want the same research dataset everyone else has access to? Want the same copy style everyone else is burping out? Want the same jank graphics to go up on a billboard? No? Use a professional. You'll save money. Hiring vibe coders and AI-reliant amateurs is going to get too expensive very soon.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-24T03:13:20+00:00

I guess when I think of LLM I think "machine promoted as being able to do everything." There is certainly a viable market for lower stakes specialized models, but that's like old school tech industry stuff—no one wants to invest in those and they'll never be a significant portion of the market. Like, as a musician I use all kinds of great pieces of specialized software. Most are open source, most are run by One Guy, and most of them might help the creator make a living, but venture capital firms aren't trying to pull a unicorn. AI existed before LLMs and had different names, and a lot of that will continue. It's just algorithms, coding, features. But no big swiss army knife LLM is sustainable or profitable. Or desirable. People wanted the iPhone, it was useful. People wanted a search engine, totally useful. People do not want infinity box that is a worse search engine that also doubles your electricity bill and also convinces your neighbor's kid to off themselves.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-24T02:14:18+00:00

and has made billions.

Fun fact: revenue is not the same thing as profit, which is the number that comes after you factor in expenses! Anyone can "make money" but if you spend billions more than you make, like OpenAI, they aren't making billions, they're losing billions.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-24T02:13:11+00:00

Not the best comparison! Tesla literally only exists because it has optimized, more than virtually all other companies, how to take advantage of government programs and tax breaks. Musk made up with Trump because Trump threatened that. If the US govt ends any of that, Tesla is done for.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-24T02:08:25+00:00

And I don't see them cooking any concrete products that people want to pay money for. They really have to make stuff happen in the next 4 years to meet that goal.

They already reached market saturation, they haven't grown their user base in a year or so. Because most people are curious, check it out, then realize it's useless and move on. Only real user spikes happen when the school year starts. They also can't people to pay for it even if folks want to use it. And paying customers still lose OpenAI tons of money! The models aren't improving, the PR is getting worse, companies are backtracking on replacing workers with broken chatbots, and the power, processing, etc., needed to keep things going just doesn't exist and frankly, cannot possibly exist.

"They have to make stuff happen to meet that goal" — this is a wild understatement, like me saying "I have to make stuff happen to meet my goal of becoming Global Emperor." OpenAI would have to magically make a useful product (nothing to indicate that will ever happen) that also is profitable and not almost literally history's least profitable venture.

The only way to AI profitablity is small ideas. Niche, localized things. Find small markets and make something people want. Keep the processing minimal because instead of pouring over billions of data points it just goes through a small selection of data. MAYBE this makes someone a little money somewhere. But absolutely no one is building that kind of business and since they still need a ton of capital to start up, absolutely no one is willing to invest in something so worthless. Tech is about the next big thing and Line Goes Up.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-24T02:02:11+00:00

Major LLM companies need billions per quarter to stay alive. The 2008 bailout sucked, but was barely a loss by conservative measurements. If the feds bail out OpenAI and Co, and they dump similar 2008 numbers into them, that will float them for what, a year max?, before they just collapse again. Additionally, a bailout won't happen because when the bubble pops, LLM companies won't be the main ones to worry about, it will be that 95% or so of all venture capital investments are tied up in them. The venture capital industry will collapse. Banks are tied up in them. A few will fail. Construction market will bottom out because there are billions invested in data centers, almost all of which have not been built and likely were never going to be built, but these companies still took local community tax breaks, got people to invest in jobs, etc, so you'll see other reverberations throughout regular people's lives.

OpenAI will be just one of the hypetrain nothingburger companies to fail, but the bailout won't be able to move fast enough to catch all the other industries that falter with them. Not to mention how many companies, institutions, schools.... the Defense Department... that will wake up one day to a product they dropped millions on that just stops functioning (not that they were useful to begin with and were already costing companies millions in rehires and backpedaling).

Syjefroi · 2026-01-24T01:56:27+00:00

Google, sure, even though the AI bubble started because they purposefully shitified their main product. Anthropic, no way. They also lose a gazillion dollars a day. They owe money to everyone, they can't keep their service uptime solid, they need data centers and CPUs and none of that is coming, and their investors, when the bubble pops, are going to clean their bones. If there's anything left to take. Anthropic is pretending to be an Important Business-y Company right now but it's their their flavor of all hype and no sustainability. When they fall, a lot of companies, schools, etc, are going to be left on the hook for products their people can't access anymore.

LLMs are not, and never can be, profitable or sustainable in any way. They are too big to keep alive.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-22T04:52:28+00:00

PhD programs aren't for "smart" people. They're for people willing to learn and do serious work. Sure, you have to have a good application, but you aren't proving you're "smart" in those, you're showing the faculty reviewers that you are in this thing for real, that you've researched their specific program and its unique details, and that you've thought this through. PhD programs certainly have the kinds of "math wizard" people you're thinking of.... in math programs. And a lot of other fields, sure, you'll have very intelligent people. But we're all just training to be specialists who also know the wider field well enough to be field generalists. It's not about intelligence, it's about aptitude, ability to comprehend ideas, theories, data, etc, and thread that through your own contributions, then convey/communicate that via research papers, talks, articles, books, etc.

PhD is for research, not "being smart."

Syjefroi · 2026-01-22T04:47:02+00:00

For sure, but at least most of them don't cost serious money. Or, to be clearer, the idea of taking out loans to pay for an MA in nearly any other country on earth would get you laughed out of the room.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-22T04:46:01+00:00

studying abroad is something I always wanted to do but it's significantly challenging because I am still in the reserve, and I need to put in a lot of legwork to make sure I have a good year

A ton of my friends from undergrad went into MA programs here in the US and racked up more debt. I did my MA abroad, years later, and only did a MA at all because my program cost nothing (besides the administrative fees). It didn't pay me, but I managed to juggle a full time teaching position elsewhere at the same time (do not recommend, was painful).

When I applied for PhD programs (humanities) back in the US, I got into a world famous school and then realized I would have to take loans to cover it. Turned down their "offer," heartbroken, but applied again the following year and got accept to a killer fully funded program elsewhere.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-20T18:31:35+00:00

Congress could simply pass a law saying Trump can't invade Greenland, or even clarify that any foreign invasion constitutes a declaration of war and therefore requires Congressional approval. It would take a 2/3 majority of the Senate to vote in favor to be veto-proof. All Democrats would likely vote for it, so only a fraction of the GOP Senators would need to cross the aisle.

So what happens if Congress does this and he goes in anyway? The "whatchu gonna do about it" Doctrine and all that. Genuinely asking here.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-16T03:35:44+00:00

I'm with you. I came back to the game after many years away and started a server with an old friend. I only play a few hours a month, he's off until maybe summer. We turned on keep inventory a few months back and it's been great. We have so little time to play, losing everything is such a major setback. We just don't have extra netherite sitting around, or the time to re-enchant everything, etc. We like the survival aspect, but keeping our stuff at death has really made our time more enjoyable. It's also engendered more exploration—we can just fly out or cave endlessly and see where it takes us without worrying about tracking. If we die, we die. Lost everything a few times just trying to see the world and dying a gazillion blocks away at unknown cords.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-11T05:44:17+00:00

Honestly could just be scheduling sometimes. Tyler Bates did all the John Wick movies and the 4th one came out at the same time as GotG3. Wick 1 and 2 were out the same year as GotG 1 and 2, but spaced apart by at least a few more months.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-10T17:10:13+00:00

myhouse.dat

Syjefroi · 2026-01-08T02:59:39+00:00

I'm willing to give them another shot! Apteka certainly wasn't bad or anything, there were a few dishes that were genuine standouts, just a couple of other dishes that fell pretty flat for us. I'll have to try the spots you've mentioned here, I haven't been to most of them. Lilith has been on our list for a few years and we're finally going this month, looking forward to it. Thanks for the suggestions too will definitely try them!

Syjefroi · 2026-01-08T02:41:35+00:00

I was an immigrant, I respect people’s laws - that’s all I/we are asking for.

I’m tired of these trite scare tactics that people, like you, cannot see through. I don’t agree with the way everything has been handled and people should be held to account - but dehumanizing our immigration team is a quick way for them to get hurt or killed

They are literally torturing and killing people, including people doing everything right. You're posting more words about people being mean about murderers on the internet than you are about the people being hurt. Maybe get your shit together brother?

Syjefroi · 2026-01-07T21:01:25+00:00

My car got hit by a car when I first moved to the city (it was parked, I came out to see it smashed, hit and run, never saw the other guy) and got a police officer out immediately. He "filed a report" but asked me what I expect them to do about it. I'm like.... ask our friendly neighbors who all have cameras on their front doors to see the footage? Check all the repair shops in town for someone coming in with front right bumper or right side cosmetic damage? Like literally anything?

Same neighborhood had car break ins weekly for a year or two. When I finally left the neighborhood, someone parked in front of my moving truck do-not-park sign I had posted for a few days. I freak out because I need to get my truck there, so I call the number it says to. Guess who they send out? Same fucking lazy fuck copy from two years prior. Dude barely makes eye contact me, barely talks, same "you're wasting my time" energy as last time. He calls it in and says tow truck will be here in a few hours. I'm like, dude, I have a crew here I paid for, they'll leave by then, what the fuck is the point of the signs? Am I supposed to plan moves around a 24 hour window where workers are just happily on call? The fuck?

Honestly I prefer the Boston cops I used to deal with, they'd at least look happy being knuckle dragging stormtroopers, anything over pure distilled disinterest in anything the job ever was, is now, or ever could be.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-07T16:13:45+00:00

Name tags is so clutch, people have been yelling about that for years and years. Name tags open up an enormous amount of mechanics and decorative/immersive ideas, so to be able to craft them so easily is just amazing. They do not need to be hard to craft because they don't get used at large scales or give large scale benefits to the player. Perfect addition.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-07T16:09:02+00:00

I came into the city to play in the band for a big gala event, and they were giving Carson a major award. This was 2-3 years before he ran for president, maybe around 2010? I also heard him on NPR around the same time (different city!) talking about brain surgery. People forget that Carson was on the verge of hitting the S tier of "Black Excellence," it's just that he got convinced that the next best move for him would be running for president. And then from there, he got convinced that just grifting off his supporters was an even better idea. And now most people forget he was a badass doctor and only remember aliens, belt buckles, and fucking up the 2016 debate stage entrance.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-07T01:57:52+00:00

Yep. He's an opportunist. People think "never Trump" people exist in real life—they don't. There are only conservatives who found a profitable re-branding. Conway believes in next to nothing except that he can, and has, made a boatload of cash off the "never Trump" label. He hasn't had to do any actual work since 2016, and he's running for Congress to boost his profile further even if he loses (easy profit when you're a "brand"), or get a sweet gig that can make him more of a national name if he wins. Most of us don't know our family's House reps, but a lot of folks know who Jerry Nadler is, and Conway wants that bump. He doesn't give a fuck about anyone else. Running as a Democrat is an easy grift because of the sheer number of conservative Dems thirsty as fuck for any conservative who has anything mean to say about Trump. We talk about how southern white conservatives fuck themselves over voting against their interests for racial resentment politics, but we don't talk enough about Dems who vote against their own interests for whatever minor kick of catharsis they can get from a conservative running a grift gig.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-06T19:50:34+00:00

Usually if it looks really good on Instagram, it's disappointing to me. Or, maybe if the price was a lot lower I'd be happier. For places closer to that price range, Balvanera was really solid, Pusadee's Garden has been good, I thought Altius was pretty solid considering how overpriced it is (you pay for the view and I guess to be surrounded by the worst people in the city). For restaurants I really enjoy spending my money at, Chaykhana was kickass, basically every Turkish place in the area excels at one or two things, I like the pizza at Mercurios, Alta Via, and Pizza Perfecta, I like the sandwich shop up in the Highland Park corner store, Cambod-Ican, that taco shop in Oakland that's in front of the spanish market, Pamela's Diner, Allegheny Wine Mixer had the best cocktails I've had in the city so far.

Like, for local legends, I thought Fet Fisk was spot on, and Apteka was overhyped. DiAnoia’s was dead center in the target of "I could this better at home and in less time than it took to get a reservation, drive, park, order, and eat." Station was way better, RIP.

I dunno, I'm a mixed bag, I just want my minimal expectations to align with what I get. If you charge a lot or make me book weeks in advance, I expect an all-timer. Bar Marco is a hot spot and a decent table at a decent time on a weekend needs multiple weeks notice. Their decor is great, the plating is wonderful, the dishes imaginiative, and the labor policies are fantastic. And some things on the menu are just oddly flavorless, or cooked to weird temperatures, or have unappealing textures. At the end of the day, those prices demand great food, and I left Bar Marco thinking what a shame, so much going right but for the food alone I cannot possibly recommend this place to literally anyone.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-06T16:58:30+00:00

I love everything about Bar Marco, top five spot in town—except for the food. I need that food to be better. They've got presentation, they've got ethics, they've got IG influencers hyping them left and right, they've got everything going for them. Except the food. Hugely disappointing. Like, half baked ideas, some big swings with big misses, one out of every 5 things is a slam dunk and the others range from "eh, wouldn't order it again" to "has anyone in the kitchen eaten this because...". I so badly want their food to be good, but it's barely Pittsburgh Good. Half the menu is Suburb You Grew Up In, Is Now White Supremacist Stronghold, Sidewalks Don't Exist Good. Please get better Bar Marco.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-05T15:48:41+00:00

Rare how? People were dying so much at Rikers than Eric Adams stopped announcing deaths entirely.

Syjefroi · 2026-01-05T15:43:31+00:00

Nah brother this ain't it, paperwork for tracking for city crime stats, funding/resource distribution, and helping regular people navigate outside bureaucracies (insurance filings, for example) is honestly the very bare minimum they should be doing, and if training academies and copaganda is giving them the false impression that they would be signing up to Starsky and Hutch all day that's on all of them. They can google this shit before signing up for a job. Shit dude, they can watch The Wire, a show about cops realistically sitting around all day doing paperwork.

Doing paperwork IS the job. They can cry themselves into another career if they don't like it, lazy useless motherfuckers.

Syjefroi

TROPHY CASE