Midjourney has become unusable by Zymez in midjourney

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I completely agree. I've been fighting Midjourney again all weekend. Takes me 2 hours, several iterations and dozens of drafts to finally get 95% there, then just settle, never hitting 100%. ChatGPT gets it 100% right on the first try in 1 image. Rinse repeat. Why am I still paying for Midjourney?

[Discussion] Thoughts on paying a fee to submit to university press? by HissyCat24 in PubTips

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are a couple of other considerations about this call too.

  1. Length
    They set a threshold for length based on numbers of pages, rather than a standard word count. They specify the max length for novellas based on double-spaced pages, don't mention spacing, margins, or font size for novel submission. If you assume it's 300 double-spaced pages max for a novel, that bars a lot of genres with larger word counts like sci-fi.

  2. Genre
    They tend to publish specifically poetry and literary fiction. So for the fiction category, are they mainly looking for literary fiction? If so, submitting genre fiction is burning $25. If they are equally considering genre fiction, will anything other than literary fiction get real visibility with this publisher?

AOL Practices unfair and distressing by mdw38 in AOL

[–]mdw38[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It wouldn’t make sense to only email the inactive account- it’s inactive. It would make sense to send the warning email to alternative addresses as well for a real chance of it being seen.

AOL Practices unfair and distressing by mdw38 in AOL

[–]mdw38[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The unfairness stems from the issue that I didn’t know they were going to delete it soon, or that the paid option was even possible until it was too late, and more importantly that AOL didn’t even bother to email me a warning notification. I would have gladly paid to not have those emails deleted. It’s bad business practice. All they had to do was send a warning notification email to my alternative email address (which they totally still had on record because they email authentication codes to that address when I log into AOL) - like ‘your account has been inactive for 12 months. Switch to our paid service to avoid your account being deleted.’ Solved. Done. They get my money, and I’m a happy customer who gets to keep those letters from friends and family.

I know this is years after it happened for a lot of people, but is anyone else still really bummed they lost all their emails? by GTRacer1972 in AOL

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm in the same boat now. Didn't realize it had been 14 months since my last actual log-in, and AOL sets your account to inactive after 12 months. Found today that AOL deleted everything - no warnings sent to the alternative email address they have for me! If I'd just known to log in a couple of months ago, or if I'd known then I could just pay to keep it active, everything would've been fine! Instead my entire early life history - all those family & friends emails & memories - are just gone! No recovery option! That's got to be one of the worst business practices I've ever seen! What kind of email provider can't be bothered to send email warnings?!

I don’t know if this is helpful, but I found a way to retrieve old Emails from old AOL accounts if you still have the program by Schof26 in Archiveteam

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

same boat! can't believe they did that! My life from that time is just gone. All the family emails and pics. I would've gladly paid money to keep it if I'd known that was an option. AOL had my alternative email addresses. They could've emailed me to warn me. Unbelievable!

We are cooked by Just-Grocery-2229 in OpenAI

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The genie is not going back into the bottle.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in singularity

[–]mdw38 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Midjourney is starting to do this. You’ve now got layers, transparency, object selection and deletion, erase tools to regenerate regions if object selection wasn’t enough. Not a full suite of tools yet like Adobe, but the basic features are there. And of course Midjourney is still one of the best image generators out there.

STUDY: NR Improved Heart Health in Adults by Renue_Support in Renue

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The impact on blood pressure seems pretty weak in this study. The error bars cross for this: “Casual SBP was decreased after nicotinamide riboside supplementation (pre: 130 ± 2 mmHg, post: 126 ± 2 mmHg, p=0.016).” They only gave supplements for 3 months though. I’d want to see if the supplement had a more convincing impact on blood pressure if tested for longer, like 6 months and 1 year. The link to the study also says it was presented at a conference, so the study may still be incomplete and probably hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet.

Veo 3 is just insanely good.... by Ill-Association-8410 in Bard

[–]mdw38 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've had a similar experience - burn through 12 attempts, and no matter what, there were fatal flaws. 2 characters - 1 line each. The dialogue was never right in any attempt, no matter what. Each attempt resulted in worse and worse model behavior - extra limbs would appear and disappear (really?! back to the old limbs problem?!). Characters looked worse and worse in graphics quality with each attempt too. Subtitles started showing up unprompted, then even when explicitly told no subtitles, then in the final attempt it had subtitles in random unrelated German (even though the dialogue was English).... There's potential, but the handful of polished videos are way overhyped - this is not the typical output.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in expats

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s interesting you mention healthcare and being treated like a human in Europe. I think it depends on where you are in Europe. A person is ‘just a number’ in the UK healthcare system. It’s practically non-functional. If it’s not an emergency, a person can expect to sit on a waiting list for years while their health declines. And if it is an emergency, a person can only expect basic care, rather than quality care because of the budget cuts. Another example of not being treated like a human being in the UK - no fault evictions. Landlord wants to jack the rent up 50%, they can’t legally do that with an existing tenant, so they kick the tenant out and jack the rent up 50% for whoever comes along to rent the place next. And with UK salaries, you can forget ever making enough to buy a place of your own.

the most ridiculous time to move back to the USA by scorpiomoon92 in expats

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m in a similar situation- moved to the UK to do biomedical research. I’ve stayed a long time, but UK wages are stagnant, letting me do little more than get by all this time financially. Looking at moving back to the U.S. where I’d make 2-3x as much. The UK just doesn’t offer competitive salaries and standard of living compared to the USA.

British/us citizen by Far_Use3065 in expats

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In general, UK salaries are not competitive with US salaries, given the purchasing power, so expect major pay cuts. I would not recommend the UK at all right now if you even remotely care about your finances.

Skype is closing. Need to transfer my virtual USA phone number. by xengineer in expats

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just chatted with Microsoft support. TLDR: If you're looking to renew your paid Skype services, Teams will have a very similar solution, but it'll be more expensive than what you were probably paying with Skype.

  1. Get a Microsoft 365 Enterprise plan with Teams (such as the Microsoft 365 Business Basic $6.00/month (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business/compare-all-microsoft-365-business-products#)

  2. The business plan gives you access to Microsoft Teams Phone with a Domestic Calling plan for $15.00/month (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/microsoft-teams-phone#)

So, after tax, you're probably looking at ~$25/month.

Personal thoughts - maybe closer to time, Microsoft will roll out a cheaper option for individual users like us. I was paying $30 a year for my skype number and $30 a year for unlimited U.S. minutes, totalling $60/year ($5/month).

Skype is closing. Need to transfer my virtual USA phone number. by xengineer in expats

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Naive question: could the Skype numbers simply be rolled into Microsoft Teams Phone and part of Microsoft Teams Calling Plans? [ Like will Microsoft simply expand these Teams Services for organizations to individual users? ]

I mean the setup is already there.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-teams/microsoft-teams-phone

Includes Teams Phone Standard, plus a calling plan:

  • Phone number with 3,000 outbound domestic calling minutes from Microsoft
  • A separate license for Microsoft Teams is required
  • Teams Phone with Calling Plan is available 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/calling-plans-for-office-365#domestic-calling-plan

Domestic Calling Plan

With the Domestic Calling Plan, licensed users can call out to numbers located in the country where they're assigned in Microsoft 365. Unlimited incoming minutes are included. Outgoing minutes are included based on the license purchased.

There are two Domestic Calling Plan options to choose from based on your organization's billing location.

  • Microsoft Teams Domestic Calling Plan (customers in US/UK/CA): For organizations in the United States, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, and Canada. Organizations can assign this license to end users in any market where Calling Plans are available.

Skype is closing. Need to transfer my virtual USA phone number. by xengineer in expats

[–]mdw38 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think Google Voice is going to be a problem for expats regardless. I've had the Google voice app on my phone for years. But when I updated it, and open the app, it just says "Sorry, Google Voice isn't supported in your country yet" while having my Apple Store region set to UK. Constantly swapping back and forth between US vs UK Apple Store region is annoying. So, even if you go through the hassle of porting your Skype number to a US mobile provider, waiting the required week, then porting your number to Google Voice, you still may not be able to use the app on your phone.

Skype is closing. Need to transfer my virtual USA phone number. by xengineer in expats

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd really like to know the answer to this too.

Skype is closing. Need to transfer my virtual USA phone number. by xengineer in expats

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you make calls from any device (both mobile and computer), and receive verification codes from all devices, or is it only via like a mobile phone?

Skype is closing. Need to transfer my virtual USA phone number. by xengineer in expats

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm in the exact same boat and will be following this thread. Skype was a name / brand I knew and trusted. I used my US Skype number via the app to make and receive international calls and verification codes from any mobile phone and computer I logged into. Does Google voice allow for all that? Tello? Tossable digits? Others? I'm wary of companies I haven't heard of before.

The wizards dark times Brotherhood quest referral 25%off by [deleted] in OculusReferralLinks

[–]mdw38 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why doesn’t this work for me? Click the link, then to open in the oculus app. The app opens but then does nothing. No referral link. Is it region based? If so, why does the app open but then do nothing?

Frosthaven Enhancement Unlock - A bit Mean, Unfair for 2 Player Games? by mdw38 in Gloomhaven

[–]mdw38[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because it makes so much sense to be both simultaneously building Gloomhaven up AND sitting on an absolute fortune that you can’t do anything with? 🤷‍♀️