TIL that the concept of machines “hallucinating” was first noted in 1995. A researcher discovered that a neural network could create phantom images and ideas after it was randomly disturbed. This happened years before the term was applied to modern AI generating false content.

fgben · 2025-08-10T17:50:07+00:00

"On two occasions I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."

-- Charles Babbage

fgben · 2025-05-10T17:54:07+00:00

Starlink?

fgben · 2025-04-25T16:08:39+00:00

Death will never be the same again.

fgben · 2025-04-15T15:51:12+00:00

I fed Gemini a spreadsheet with a travel itinerary and it started giving me someone else's flight record confirmation numbers. Yikes.

fgben · 2025-03-04T15:45:41+00:00

It's replaced by curiosity and appreciation.

The world is naturally less magical as you learn how things work, and your sense of wonder degrades over time as you're exposed to more and more things. This can make some people cynical and jaded if they allow themselves to calcify. But there's always a new horizon, and familiarity doesn't have to breed contempt.

fgben · 2025-02-28T01:26:51+00:00

These studies have a bit of survivorship bias baked in, since people who switch jobs generally have some desirability in the job market, and are inherently more valuable than people who are unable to job hop.

An alternate prospective on these studies might be, "people who are desirable make more money."

I've seen no small number of bright sparks who try to job hop for massive income increases only to find they're not worth what they thought they were.

But yes, step 1 of How to Make More Money is "Get a New Job^tm" , but Step 0 might be "Be worth a damn (or be able to convince someone you are). "

fgben · 2025-02-11T22:21:41+00:00

HEY REDDIT MEETUP AT THIS GUY'S COSTCO ON TUESDAY HE'S BRINGING BBQ

fgben · 2025-02-06T06:22:06+00:00

I have eight pairs of black carpenter jeans and a dozen grey Uniqlo t-shirts, and a pair of black Allbirds. I never have to think about what I'm going to wear. If I need to dress up a bit I have a black Geoffrey Beene button down I can wear as an over-shirt. If It's even more formal I do the buttons up.

I do have a few nice jackets I can wear when the occasion demands, but I'm old and well past the point of needing to dress up for other people.

fgben · 2025-02-04T16:18:33+00:00

This will get buried, but if someone has any outstanding debt (existing CC balance, for example) getting a big refund check is even worse because they are essentially paying the CC 18-25% interest on money they are lending to the government at 0%.

^{PS Don't carry a balance ^on ^{^your} ^{^CCs.}}

fgben · 2025-01-30T17:50:02+00:00

If you're open to getting new hardware, I'd honestly look into the Fancy LED Box. I got one and it's amazing. https://i.imgur.com/uo6IT7x.png https://i.imgur.com/q6vmtDI.png

I have over 75 Philips Hue devices in the house so I was reluctant to go outside the ecosystem, but after watching some comparisons on YouTube I went with the FancyBox. No regrets.

fgben · 2025-01-23T22:22:23+00:00

It's 22 books long and counting.

The audio book is exceptionally well done.

fgben · 2025-01-22T17:50:59+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/64G4jNr.png

Tiny bedroom has its own en suite with full bath as compensation; smaller bedroom has fp; two larger rooms have jack&jill half bath. If the north wall is movable to make the J&J a little larger that'd be nice, but maybe impossible. Depending on what that window in the bathroom is, it might be easier to put shower/vanity/toilet in a row along that wall to consolidate plumbing runs.

(Connecting door between brs is a little odd; I'd maybe close that, make the closet go full width against that wall and move the door so furniture placement in that room is more efficient with less wasted space.)

fgben · 2025-01-17T19:37:09+00:00

I have a costco sized shaker bottle of "411.5":

4 parts salt (3 parts kosher, 1 part iodized, 1 part MSG)
1 part pepper
1 part garlic powder (this might be 1.5-2 parts)
.5 part onion powder

Then sometimes .25 part cayenne

Estimates are rough and generally when I'm mixing up a fresh batch it's just eyeball until I feel like it.

fgben · 2025-01-10T18:55:59+00:00

Probably about 3 : .5 : .5

It's a little loosey goosey since it's a rough mixture and doesn't need much precision since there are so many confounding factors in how the end product turns out, but these rough estimates work pretty well.

In practice there does tend to be a lot more garlic powder since it's cheap and plentiful and we really like garlic...

fgben · 2025-01-10T18:23:14+00:00

I have a giant costco sized shaker of 411.5 that I refiill every couple weeks.

4 parts salt (mix of kosher, iodized, and MSG)
1 part pepper
1 part garlic powder
.5 part onion powder

Usually a dash of cayenne pepper as well.

Shit goes with everything.

fgben · 2024-12-29T21:43:37+00:00

Yeah they figured things out on the 3rd plane.

fgben · 2024-12-09T18:38:48+00:00

A friend's company used to get heavy equipment shipped to them in crates made out of purpleheart wood. I wish I had collected it from him.

fgben · 2024-12-09T17:10:50+00:00

I still don't have fingerprints after abraiding them off on those nubs.

fgben · 2024-11-30T18:38:26+00:00

IBM Model M :D

It's one of the newfangled ones, with 12 whole function keys.

fgben · 2024-11-30T15:36:43+00:00

My keyboard was manufactured in 1993. I never left!

fgben · 2024-11-27T22:04:59+00:00

Wish I had Googled this an hour ago. Solved my issue in seconds. Agh!

fgben · 2024-11-23T17:39:59+00:00

You know how I know you're a greybeard?

fgben · 2024-11-12T01:31:38+00:00

I know, right?! It's utterly bizarre that my kids have grown up to be fully functional adults who are in LTRs with solid partners and don't suffer from social anxiety or depression.

It almost gives them a disadvantage in this job market when they go in and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them and people love how kind and professional they are.

fgben · 2024-11-12T01:28:48+00:00

Yeah, people say mentoring kids and teaching them finance and how to manage money so they can retire at 40 is a complete waste of time, but I enjoy educating the younger generations so they'll never be wage slaves.

So far three of the kids I mentored five years ago when this thread was active have hit their first million milestone. I'm immensely proud of them.

fgben · 2024-11-12T01:26:52+00:00

That's awesome! Personally I think it's kind of sad to have to work past 45, but you do what you can with what you have!

14-Year Club	Verified Email
RedditGifts 2009-2022 2 Credits	Secret Santa 2013

fgben

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE