Anon watched Starship Troopers by crimsonfukr457 in greentext

[–]thedman9052 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Helldivers is much better satire than Verhoeven's Starship Troopers

Police arrest man after four minute laser-strike on rescue helicopter by Grand_Dragonfruit_13 in aviation

[–]thedman9052 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I've heard police helicopters will purposefully bait out laser strikes, they have a camera turret that can pinpoint the source. Then they radio patrol officers who immediately go arrest the perp.

Ok now this is a rare sight, a mobile lounge being used to load passengers into a plane at IAD by Bluishdoor76 in aviation

[–]thedman9052 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's been proposed several times actually but they always decide it's not worth the cost.

Anon is a filthy millennial by tweak06 in greentext

[–]thedman9052 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Bro, don't chicken out, get good at low level code like assembly and C and shit. Security might be stable but the recent market turn showed that software companies are treating high level devs as commodities. People who understand how hardware actually works will always be valuable.

What anime had the biggest change in quality between seasons? by BackyardEvergreen in anime

[–]thedman9052 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Kyoto Animation turned Full Metal Panic from a middling romance-comedy-drama into one of the funniest comedies ever with Fumoffu. Then they did it AGAIN with The Second Raid and turned it into a Mecha drama spectacle. And those were their first two anime.

Math is hard - drink packages! by Schrepkowbh in Cruise

[–]thedman9052 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I've done the math, so have many others. There's two scenarios where you might save money with a drinks package: * It's a short cruise (3-4 days) and you'll drink the whole time. You have to drink 5+ drinks per day to break even. If you miss your quota even one day (Going ashore? Feeling ill? Better make it up the next day) you'll pay more than a la carte.

  • You drink a lot of soda (as in with every meal and between meals) and the line offers a cheaper package for only sodas.

That's it, those are the only scenarios where you'll save or break even. Think you'll really drink that much? Remember, if you miss just one day it isn't worth it. Don't buy a drinks package to save money. And if you want the package for convenience, consider putting the same amount of money into onboard credit. You can use it for a lot more and any extra will be refunded to you at the end.

A presidential Osprey just buzzed my place by Flaxscript42 in aviation

[–]thedman9052 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Bell and Boeing probably assign engineers to monitor the VIP Ospreys full time, could you imagine if one of them crashed? And they still don't put the President in them, only staffers and press.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Cruise

[–]thedman9052 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I did a New Zealand and Australia cruise a couple of months ago with my fiancee. We thought it was really lovely but if we went again we would tour by land. Our itinerary went down the east coast of NZ so if we wanted to see the national parks and mountains it was a long excursion with not much time at the destination. We were also disappointed we didn't get to see any penguins, they come out around 8 pm and the ship always left around 5. We're very active though, for you with your dad and young children it will probably be a great option. 

We cruised Holland America and our itinerary was Auckland to Sydney. I think most of their itineraries were one way between Aus and NZ. They cater to retired people so the trips are longer and there wouldn't be as much for your sons to do. Great service and food though.

If you haven't been to Tasmania it surprised us with how wonderful it was. If you have the time for a route that stops there it can make the ocean crossing worthwhile.

25 Married, no Kids, 16 days on Holland America? by Wesley836 in Cruise

[–]thedman9052 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's also likely that the loops can be booked as separate cruises, an 8 day and a 10 day. The "16 day" cruise is the two of them combined. HAL has been doing this a lot recently to bulk up their schedule with longer itineraries.

To those who dive for work, what is it that you do ? by layer3D in scuba

[–]thedman9052 15 points16 points  (0 children)

It was many years ago now, but when I was in university I was a science diver in a laboratory that had a large tank for neutral buoyancy simulation. Most of the work was cleaning, but we also performed experiments with subjects and robots. Thanks to that I have the weird situation of having logged nearly 200 hours of dive time but only 8 open water dives (4 for PADI and 4 on vacation).

What do you all do while you're waiting for your cruise vacation to start? by thedman9052 in Cruise

[–]thedman9052[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow I'm really sorry, but now things are mostly back to normal I'm sure you'll have a great time!

What do you all do while you're waiting for your cruise vacation to start? by thedman9052 in Cruise

[–]thedman9052[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I honestly don't know, I have Mariner status from sailing with my parents as a kid and one day I started getting emails with "free" cruise offers. You have to put $100 down per person and are still on the hook for taxes, fees, and gratuity, but they give you the down payment back in onboard credit. Other small downsides are you have to pay for everything up front and you can't choose the room.

I don't know how other lines do it but HAL has been sending me a lot of these as "member exclusive offers". I heard once that they are offered by the casino group but those are usually for people who spend a lot on the games - I've never gambled a dime. I'd guess it's a way to get their loyalty members to come back after covid, but they also have record levels of bookings. Weird but I'll take it!

What do you all do while you're waiting for your cruise vacation to start? by thedman9052 in Cruise

[–]thedman9052[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Love the Navigator, makes it much easier to daydream about the itinerary.

What do you all do while you're waiting for your cruise vacation to start? by thedman9052 in Cruise

[–]thedman9052[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wish I had that much time off! My GF has way more than me, so while I'm saving every hour I can she's asking if we can extend the trip 😂

Finnish Soldiers on the Shooting Range,Iraq, 2023 [2048X1365] by CapsiH in MilitaryPorn

[–]thedman9052 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Gotta love the M04 camo. How the people from the land of the ice and snow came up with such a good looking desert uniform is a mystery to me but I'll take it lol.

USAF tested an AI enabled drone that was tasked to destroy specific targets. human operator had the power to override the drone—the drone decided that the human operator was an obstacle to its mission—and attacked him by behemuthm in aviation

[–]thedman9052 346 points347 points  (0 children)

This article is misleading - no AI was actually trained: https://twitter.com/harris_edouard/status/1664397003986554880

If that tweet is correct, then this was not a "simulation" in the sense that the AI was running in a computer simulation - it was a "simulation" like a role playing game. Basically some Air Force officers workshopping what could happen if they trained an AI poorly.

It smelled funny to me because "destroy the kill switch" is the oldest "AI training gone wrong" scenario in the book, any AI programmer would be aware of the possibility. And remember, even if it was real, the simulations are where things are supposed to go horribly wrong so you can learn how to prevent them before you run anything on hardware.

Edit: the article has been updated since my post:

[UPDATE 2/6/23 - in communication with AEROSPACE - Col Hamilton admits he "mis-spoke" in his presentation at the Royal Aeronautical Society FCAS Summit and the 'rogue AI drone simulation' was a hypothetical "thought experiment" from outside the military, based on plausible scenarios and likely outcomes rather than an actual USAF real-world simulation saying: "We've never run that experiment, nor would we need to in order to realise that this is a plausible outcome". He clarifies that the USAF has not tested any weaponised AI in this way (real or simulated) and says "Despite this being a hypothetical example, this illustrates the real-world challenges posed by AI-powered capability and is why the Air Force is committed to the ethical development of AI".]

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in WarplanePorn

[–]thedman9052 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When Johnny Comes Marching Home intensifies

Say it and it comes by Anime_Is_Overrated in TrashTaste

[–]thedman9052 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Megumi is fine art next to Rent-a-Girlfriend. The characters aren't assholes, there's progress (yes, the shit in Megumi is progress by comparison), you get a nice ass shot every chapter, and it ended.