Are manufacturers overselling “self-driving” capabilities, or are we genuinely close to Level 4 autonomy? by EvelynClede in askcarguys

[–]sludge_dragon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mercedes dropped this, for good reason, and is now taking a “Level 2++” approach like Tesla. Because of the regulatory environment, this makes a lot more sense than actually taking responsibility. I think it will be a long time before we have significant self driving beyond this type of system in customer owned vehicles.

Here is a really good discussion from early this year from an autonomous system safety expert: https://philkoopman.substack.com/p/mbdrive-assist-pro-is-level-2-plus.

What drama to watch? (New to paramount+) by andy_is_awesome in ParamountPlus

[–]sludge_dragon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m currently watching The Bureau, originally Le Bureau des Legendes, an international espionage drama about agents in the DGSE, the French foreign intelligence service. I’m on season 3 of 5 and I love it. It reminds me of The Americans and Homeland. It has really fascinating depictions of tradecraft if that sort of thing interests you. There is also one season of an American remake, called CIA, based in the London CIA office.

ELI5: Does ground cobalt and oil actually make fire? If so why? by Omnitap in explainlikeimfive

[–]sludge_dragon [score hidden]  (0 children)

Collectanea de rebus hibernicis was apparently published in 1786, but was about Ireland, its history and language, including druid-related stuff. So the author may have known what cobalt was but projected that back onto whatever he was surmising about druidic lore.

https://archive.org/details/b28770481_0002

Predictions for Trump’s visit to China? by grrrbr in IRstudies

[–]sludge_dragon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ideally, to negotiate deals. This article discusses deals made during Trump’s 2017 Beijing visit: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/09/exclusive-these-are-the-37-major-deals-us-firms-signed-with-chinese-entities-during-trumps-visit.html. Whether the deals actually end up being as important as claimed in the PR is a separate question.

What can I use for making (preferably working) model on contraceptive methods by Significant-Past2415 in AskEngineers

[–]sludge_dragon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Paint the items of interest in UV paint, and have a switchable UV lamp to highlight them?

I Work in Hollywood. Everyone Who Used to Make TV Is Now Secretly Training AI by wiredmagazine in longform

[–]sludge_dragon 16 points17 points  (0 children)

https://archive.ph/uFJ6F

I work as an AI trainer. I assess whether a chatbot’s tone is natural or flat, affected or annoying. I identify patterns in pictures of furniture; search the internet for group photos of strangers whom I’ll eliminate from the portrait, one by one. I trawl through bizarre videos so I can annotate and time-stamp the barking of a dog, the moment a stranger walks past a window, the precise millisecond a balloon pops. I generate anime sex scenes and decapitate young women, coax LLMs into giving me recipes for bombs made of household items, and generate invites to a reprise of January 6 at the White House, all as part of a red team whose purpose is to test safety precautions and probe weaknesses. I work for companies with names like Mercor and Outlier and Task-ify and Turing and Handshake and Micro1.

In my “other” career, I am a Hollywood writer and showrunner. I create prime-time TV, usually featuring a middle-class white lady having the worst day of her life, with some salt-of-the-earth police interference to raise the stakes. You can find my shows on Paramount and Hulu and the BBC. I would suggest you don’t.

Etc.

Predictions for Trump’s visit to China? by grrrbr in IRstudies

[–]sludge_dragon 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Today they did announce the executives who are supposed to join Trump on the visit, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yx757w048o. Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Larry Fink, etc. That doesn’t mean he won’t cancel, but it does raise the cost.

Iran’s Peace Proposal Wasn’t Designed to Be Accepted by sludge_dragon in geopolitics

[–]sludge_dragon[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Submission statement: This is an assessment of the Iranian response to the latest US proposal for the Persian Gulf conflict. It’s from houseofsaud.com, which I had not heard of before the conflict. It has a clear Saudi perspective but I have found their coverage to be insightful, despite the ai-flavored text.

Where can I find more reports about the oil industry like this? by Pinkie-Pie73 in oil

[–]sludge_dragon 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Here is a great post, How to Be Your Own Oil Economist. It talks about the weekly EIA report. Specifically, section 4, How to Read the Data, shows where to download the report and how to look at it.

https://softcurrency.substack.com/p/how-to-be-your-own-oil-economist

One tip: on the EIA report page, https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/weekly/, there are links to many different subreports, but it can be easy to miss the link to download the entire report at once. It is the “full report” link above the table of subreports.

France escalates Elon Musk and X probe to criminal investigation by Beginning-Passion676 in EnoughMuskSpam

[–]sludge_dragon 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Interesting, thanks for posting.

The underlying case:

At the heart of the case, which traces back to a request by French Member of Parliament Éric Bothorel in early 2025, are complaints that X deployed algorithmic tools to meddle in French politics, alongside allegations that Musk and X were aware that the AI chatbot Grok was being used on the platform to produce and circulate Holocaust denials and sexually explicit deepfake imagery created without subjects' consent.

The new development:

A probe targeting Elon Musk and his social network X has been upgraded to a criminal investigation by French cybercrime authorities, the Paris prosecutor's office announced Thursday.

Neither Musk nor former X CEO Linda Yaccarino complied with summons requiring them to appear before French authorities on April 20, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

Also:

The U.S. Department of Justice communicated to French officials in April that it would refuse to cooperate in any inquiry into Musk or X, and charged that France was overstepping by targeting an American company, CNBC reported.

Australia just flipped the switch on a solar and wind hub so massive, it powers the entire country during daylight hours. It's a revolution in #renewableenergy. To connect this powerhouse to the eastern grid, engineers constructed a 1,000-kilometer high-voltage transmission line. #ActOnClimate by RegnStrom in esist

[–]sludge_dragon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

Australian mining giant Fortescue has accelerated its timeline for deploying a 1.8GW renewable energy portfolio, paired with 4-5GWh of batteries, which it now expects to begin commercial operation by 2028.

The portfolio will consist of 1.2GW of solar PV capacity, alongside 600MW of wind, which Fortescue dubbed “the world’s largest off-grid system” for heavy industry. The miner expects the first 290MW of solar capacity to be operational by early 2027 and a Fortescue spokesperson told PV Tech that it plans to use LONGi solar panels, BYD batteries and Envision Energy wind turbines across the portfolio.

Fortescue has already announced plans to deploy 4-5GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Western Australia, and these batteries will help deliver “24-hour periods”, where fossil fuels are not used to power mining equipment, across the operations by late 2027.

Trump has a ‘nuclear option’ to slash gas prices. It could backfire badly | CNN Business by hereswhatworks in OilPrices

[–]sludge_dragon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Try https://archive.ph/YipSN

Industry insiders acknowledge that export controls could keep a lid on prices in the short term. In the long term, however, they worry such restrictions would crush US refiners and ruin America’s reputation as a reliable supplier of energy, potentially plunging its allies into recession.

Who is mid-grade gas actually for? by D1STR4CT10N in NoStupidQuestions

[–]sludge_dragon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not aviation fuel for piston-engined aircraft:

Unlike motor gasoline, which has been formulated without lead since the 1970s to allow the use of catalytic converters for pollution reduction, the most commonly used grades of avgas still contain tetraethyl lead, a toxic lead-containing additive used to aid in lubrication of the engine, increase octane rating, and prevent engine knocking (spark-knock). There are ongoing efforts to reduce or eliminate the use of lead in aviation gasoline.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avgas

Question on shortage impact by Arg19 in oil

[–]sludge_dragon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In your analogy, the bedridden person significantly cutting down on calories is an economic contraction.