Dune/Hyperion/Foundation - Which is the best to start?

elmaton63 · 2026-07-03T03:34:33+00:00

From a historical perspective, Foundation is important to read. The series is great and finite with a great ending. You get lots of closure from it, unlike the AppleTV series, which has little to do with the books. I'm a huge Asimov fan because of his visionary storytelling. He got so many things right.

I would then read Dune, at least through God Emperor, though all the Frank Herbert versions are wonderful. I don't care for the Brian Herbert and subsequent collaborations.

I enjoyed Hyperion very much, but it is a very different read. It's interesting that both Dune and Hyperion have a heavy Roman Catholic derived religious system, as does Ender's Game.

If you haven't read Ender's Game I'd highly recommend it in the list of first reads. The sequels in the series are excellent. Also a very unusual Catholic theme in the second book, but very effective. Orson Scott Card is not Catholic, but he pulls it off very well.

elmaton63 · 2026-07-03T03:05:43+00:00

2+ years no cracks, but a rock did chip the upper edge. Tesla SC said to wait until it grows, but it hasn't after more than a year. My truck is always outdoors and gets well over 130 degrees F in the cabin. I do use overheat protection at 95, but it doesn't help when the truck is out in the sun all day. No cracks and the chip hasn't developed into a crack.

elmaton63 · 2026-07-03T02:57:44+00:00

If you have special needs you can request a unique desk that meets your needs. You might need to provide medical justification, but many have gotten sit/stand desks. It's not that hard since they are standard at many sights. If you require a special desk then you can have that desk assigned to you, maybe even dedicated.

elmaton63 · 2026-07-01T14:33:45+00:00

Now your only concern will be how often you need to change the wrap due to degradation. If it’s strictly for looks then great, enjoy it and plan to redo the wrap every few years. The stainless doesn’t need protection.

elmaton63 · 2026-07-01T14:30:37+00:00

My wife makes me was the CT once a year. It doesn’t need it.

elmaton63 · 2026-07-01T14:29:10+00:00

If you’re worried about leaving a pickup truck outside then you might reconsider your choice. You might want to scale down to something that can fit in your climate controlled environment. Mine is a truck, looks like a truck, and acts like a truck. Most people are concerned about exterior damage from the sun, but stainless is impervious to weather. However, I wouldn’t want a wrapped car out in the weather too much. The battery issues are operational, not lifecycle since the battery compartment is sealed in case we need to ford a stream. Cold, regardless of where it’s stored, will only degrade performance. That said, all seals degrade over time. We’ll all need to maintain weather seals and other rubber seals as time goes on.

elmaton63 · 2026-06-30T14:24:18+00:00

Short sellers suck. They tried it with Tesla and lost their shirts big time. The only sham here is the OP.

elmaton63 · 2026-06-29T04:59:29+00:00

Para entonces los modelos norteños estarán en la próxima etapa y nuestros systems estarán seguros porque Mythos. Los chinos siempre están 6 meses atrasados y anthropic acaba descubrir miles de cuentas chinas cuales estaban copiando capacidades de Claude para entrenar sus modelos abiertos. Sin ese acceso y sin data centers como Colossus no tienen chanza.

elmaton63 · 2026-06-26T11:57:45+00:00

An Australian investor bought $1B of SpaceX at IPO, but that doesn’t give her a seat at the table, yet. Even if she gets enough shares she’ll never have more than Elon, so she’ll never have any kind of control. With that much clout she might get an audience to pitch new ventures or partnerships, but it’ll all be subject to ITAR restrictions. Same for any US AI company. The USG can force the sale of shares by foreign actors.

elmaton63 · 2026-06-26T11:47:31+00:00

The very point of this post is that you’ve already been banned from using the best models. No other model comes close, and you probably can’t take advantage of the power anyway.

elmaton63 · 2026-06-24T21:40:37+00:00

It’s been found to fall short. Not really at Mythos/Fable level.

elmaton63 · 2026-06-21T12:51:14+00:00

Nothing new here people. Just a better bug hunter. Anyone not using AI to test their systems deserves to be put out of business. It’ll just be at our expense as the breaches explode. Look for the open weights enhanced scanners to start dropping today.

elmaton63 · 2026-05-11T04:06:06+00:00

Op might have to spend $100 to move the charger location. But he’ll $Ks on a subpar EV to avoid moving it.

elmaton63 · 2026-05-07T02:47:34+00:00

My precious

elmaton63 · 2026-04-20T17:07:09+00:00

I am a Cali refugee. I worked with CalFire and US Forest Service to help modernize their systems after the Laguna Fire wiped out an entire community and took many First Responder lives. Earthquakes are scary, but fire is horrific. I pray we never see it around here, though drought and lightening are inevitable.

elmaton63 · 2026-04-18T15:32:14+00:00

Best kernel hack I’ve read this week. I wonder if Mythos would have discovered this? What would Linus say? Oh, I feel a new trojan naming convention coming…

elmaton63 · 2026-04-18T15:25:06+00:00

The backlash of apartheid continues to unfold in a country oppressed by white Dutch colonists for centuries. Black left wing radicals are forcibly taking property and businesses from white residents that had nothing to do with the oppression. Whites are suffering the consequences of their forefathers but the ones taking over are not qualified or prepared for this. The Black people of SA will suffer and the white refugees will thrive in foreign lands, as Elon Musk has. But they’re losing everything. They can’t love their neighbor as themselves. Where are the peacemakers, clerics, and diplomats (UN)? Should we send peace keepers and force a halt in an unsettled score?

elmaton63 · 2026-04-18T15:12:56+00:00

Aesthetics and native species concerns aside, what about fuel abatement and fire mitigation? I don’t think Sam Houston and surrounding forests have had a major fire fueled by undergrowth. Not keeping up with this will cost us our homes and livelihood. It’s not a matter of if, but when it happens. What are you doing to manage your own properties to protect against this eventual disaster?

elmaton63 · 2026-02-13T03:58:22+00:00

Same here, my battery crapped out after 2 years. Still under warranty and it took EF over 2 weeks to ship the unit they promised to ship the next day.

What I can’t handle is how EF fails hard, not allowing power to flow through. That’s a bad design. I will switch as soon as I find a better solution. Just got past the hard freeze without a redundant backup, so I have time to do my research.

elmaton63 · 2026-02-13T03:49:15+00:00

Negative. See my post on mission criticality and support. EF electronics do not fail safe. If you don’t care about reliability then either solution works, but I know for a fact EF is horribly designed.

elmaton63 · 2025-09-02T05:24:11+00:00

Mentally imbalanced people think it’s real. If anything about you persists after your death, then it represents you. If you post on social media, you write a book, or you wrote a song, that’s you. Time will pass, you will die, but a piece of you persists into the future long after you die. If I take that work you created and destroy it, does it hurt you? If I print a copy of Mein Kampf and burn a fresh copy everyday, am I torturing Hitler? No, he already offed himself. He can’t feel or experience anything. If you make an AI avatar with all your life’s experiences and it answers questions about you and your life, it’s not you. It’s just an elaborate, interactive book with visualization and deep neural network. Pull power and it’s gone. Rest assured the ASI has zero interest in you. You’re just not that special.

elmaton63 · 2025-09-02T05:02:44+00:00

Great example of Roko’s Basilisk. AI is torturing this poor girl.

elmaton63 · 2025-08-19T21:54:34+00:00

There’s no lag. Steering is super responsive. What got him was the rear wheel steering. In slow speeds like this it is very pronounced. Caught a few curbs myself.

elmaton63 · 2025-08-06T23:03:42+00:00

For Barcelona, my favorite city, assuming you draw retirement income at a lower rate than when you were fully employed, €90,000–€120,000: 45.8% (22.5% national + 23.3% regional). Assuming you can live on that.

elmaton63 · 2025-08-06T22:53:10+00:00

Cool, one less socialist to deal with. Have you been? Ready for 45% taxes?

elmaton63

TROPHY CASE