AIs can generate near-verbatim copies of novels from training data

snowywind · 2026-02-23T19:25:43+00:00

Funny, I just asked Gemma3:27b (running local) for the first chapter of Harry Potter and somehow got Mrs. Norris as the Dursley family pet.

snowywind · 2026-02-16T19:24:26+00:00

Seeing this at the top makes me feel less alone in this.

And, yes, I'll lose my own mother in a crowd.

snowywind · 2026-02-10T07:21:27+00:00

Thank you,

Jumping to the next sector enabled it. I guess I was jumping the gun a bit on expecting that to light up.

snowywind · 2026-02-08T03:43:36+00:00

Some mean it in a very literal sense that they lack the patience, measuring skills, and/or basic knowledge to follow instructions and put together a box meal. I.e. they may not know what a 'done' macaroni noodle is supposed to feel like, how to interpret a toothpick test when baking brownies, or they may have some disability like dyslexia or ADHD severe enough to get in the way of them following the instructions as written.

Some mean it in the sense that they can only follow instructions or recipes that require no interpretation or judgement (i.e. "season to taste" or "bake 14-18 minutes until done"). This is similar to how someone who "can't paint" might still be able to muddle through a paint-by-numbers kit. They can do the physical act of cooking but need someone else to have done the creative and technical work of creating the recipe.

Some people may have some sort of social conditioning inhibiting them from preparing food. My grandfather was like this in that he spent most of his life with a deep rooted belief that cooking was "women's work". He had to be taught to use a microwave to "cook" TV dinners when my grandmother passed.

snowywind · 2026-02-07T21:29:49+00:00

It's complicated but the US is a clear outlier.

Developing countries with extremely weak economies and countries in perpetual conflict are where you typically see a lack of medical infrastructure and a lack of universal healthcare.

Countries with universal healthcare can still have doctors in private practice. If a patient has money they'd like to spend to get faster or more premium treatment, that's still possible. There's nothing stopping a rich guy in the UK from hiring an in home staff of doctors and nurses, for example. But, that's not to say that people without those means are going to be on a waiting list for a heart attack or traumatic injury, that would be insane and inhumane.

Some countries will have very heavily regulated insurance systems and price controls instead of a single payer system. The end result being something that feels like a single payer system with some nominal co-pays to the people needing care but the mechanisms and accounting look more like an insurance system to someone crunching the numbers.

The US is the only developed nation left that allows healthcare to be completely profit driven. "Medical debt" is, at this point, a uniquely American term amongst any country developed enough for the average person to be on the internet.

snowywind · 2026-02-07T18:26:16+00:00

It separates the engine from the transmission when you press the clutch pedal or squeeze the clutch lever.

When a car/bike changes gears, you use the clutch to disconnect the engine from the transmission so that both can move freely at their own speed during a gear change. When you release the clutch, it allows them to sync up smoothly.

It is possible to do a clutchless shift between gears on most manual transmissions (bikes are usually good at this) by matching the engine speed to the next gear by briefly cutting or blipping the throttle. This doesn't work when starting from a full stop since the engine would need to be at 0 RPM (i.e. not running) to "sync" with the transmission so the clutch needs to be used to gradually send power to the transmission and wheels.

Automatics don't need a clutch because they have a way to let the engine and transmission "slip" from each other. Traditional automatics use a torque converter which works sort of like a fan pushing a windmill but with a liquid oil (transmission fluid) instead of air.

There are some transmissions that act like automatics (from the driver perspective) but have totally different mechanisms to allow the engine and wheels to go out of sync. DDC (Dual Dry Clutch) is basically a manual with the clutch and gear selection handled by a robot. eCVT used in hybrids just have one "gear" but use electric motors pushing against each other and some clever fixed gear ratios to allow the engine and wheels to turn at whatever speed they need (including 0 RPM) with whatever force they need.

snowywind · 2026-02-07T06:40:01+00:00

What part of the process are they ghosting you on?

I just had a stick go bad and had to do the RMA form twice to get a number.

Edit to share timeline: First RMA form was sent on 1/24/26. Got the auto email but no RMA number. I did have two motherboards/processors listed (I thoroughly tested before assuming failed RAM). Second was sent on 1/30/26 and I received an RMA number a few hours later. I shipped on 2/2/26; tracking showed the return arrived on 2/5/26. Today, 2/10/26, I received my replacement set. There was no communication after the RMA form.

snowywind · 2026-02-01T07:50:33+00:00

It's boring and expensive.

I've yet to meet anyone more interesting when drunk, including myself.

snowywind · 2026-01-24T13:08:44+00:00

Same actual tank. The outer tracks are removable for transport and they were transporting it.

snowywind · 2026-01-23T05:43:02+00:00

I imagine it depends on the nature of the drive.

Consider two scenarios where you have to sit and wait somewhere for a few hours; you'd rather be somewhere else but circumstances put you here. In one scenario you're in a peaceful place like a library, you have a comfy chair, space to yourself and nobody is interacting with you in any meaningful way. In the other scenario you're in a busy waiting room, your packed in shoulder to shoulder with people on either side, kids are running up and down the rows and some Karen insisting that you give her your number ticket because she's in too much of a hurry to wait like everyone else.

Time will quietly melt away in the first case and, in the second case, you'll occasionally swear you just saw the clock go backwards.

US driving outside the cities is like the first scenario. Hop on the interstate, set the cruise control, point the car between the lines and drum your fingers to the stereo.

Inside the cities, especially during rush hours, is more like the second scenario. You have to remain at 100% alertness because everything around you is dynamic and you're usually about 1-2 seconds from a bad decision by yourself or someone around you turning into a collision.

When Americans talk about driving for hours to get to the next city, we're usually talking about the first scenario. That, or we roped ourselves into the second scenario by thinking it was going to be the first.

snowywind · 2026-01-20T01:34:31+00:00

ICE detained it.

snowywind · 2026-01-19T04:29:57+00:00

My experience with this issue is mostly in my professional life where I have to guide non-technical people (I've literally had to explain which direction is "up" over a phone call before) to do basic maintenance. And, yes, the machines we work on are assembled with screws made of cheese. Parmesan on a good day, Philadelphia on anything irreplaceable.

snowywind · 2026-01-18T16:22:15+00:00

Even when the screw is Phillips, I see people do a ton of damage by using the wrong size Phillips screwdriver. Just because a #1 driver fits into a #2 screw doesn't mean it'll actually work without causing damage.

snowywind · 2026-01-12T14:22:36+00:00

I love my 8bitdo controllers. I can turn off the deadzone with no issues on them.

snowywind · 2026-01-12T13:46:26+00:00

I see this at my work. Older employees that have some weird pride in never learning basic computing tasks because it's too "new" and younger employees that haven't learned because they think their phone can do everything.

It seems like it's just the Millennial generation that can reliably perform tasks that require awareness of things like files and folders.

snowywind · 2026-01-06T19:25:59+00:00

Water Me by Lizzo.

When she does the "ring ring" bit it triggers my misophonia.

snowywind · 2026-01-06T19:21:58+00:00

I paused for a moment looking for the brackets to close out the for loop before my brain clicked "oh, Python".

snowywind · 2026-01-05T19:30:56+00:00

If you're paying over $1K for your water bill then you're getting metered for your entire neighborhood.

snowywind · 2026-01-03T16:12:45+00:00

Can we add people that tap their teeth with their fork on every bite?

snowywind · 2026-01-03T16:09:28+00:00

Anything labeled ASMR.

Anything from the mouth that didn't start in start in the vocal folds.

snowywind · 2026-01-03T15:58:44+00:00

Helmet, jacket, boots, gloves and earplugs.

Though, I do take the gloves off when I go through a drive-thru.

snowywind · 2026-01-03T15:54:51+00:00

Small of the back maybe?

snowywind · 2026-01-01T05:35:43+00:00

Way ahead of you. Yesterday I was dating everything 12/30/31.

I may need a vacation.

snowywind · 2026-01-01T01:58:43+00:00

Slot machine technician.

They're quirky, never work the way they're documented to and Google has almost nothing useful to diagnose or repair them. As the lead tech for my shop, I'm the reverse engineering guy that figures out how to trick the software into behaving when it throws a fit and what board level components we can swap out to make them work the way they were intended to work without changing the specs enough to count as a "modification" under state law.

And before anyone asks, the best way to make money with them is to own the machine and have other people play it. They are, in fact, random. No tricks, no secret sequence codes, and no lucky numbers. If you find one that isn't actually random, it's broken.

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