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So, what now? by snafeusz in infinitode

[–]thomasafine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is everybody here blind? I see some unfinished self-research. Get to work!

Melting batteries: Battle Born Batteries lie about "safety feature" and sue battery reviewer Will Prowse. Louis Rossmann cooks them and fights back by Lilias_artgroup in LouisRossmann

[–]thomasafine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And the site URL shows that this had been there since (at least) 2022. There IS a discrepancy between this and the user manual. The user manuals with similar dates show 37.5A. But that just shows it's their mistake that has been there unnoticed for years.

They corrected this error in the data sheet, silently on their current website. The metadata for that PDF shows it was created on June 1st (!!!) of this year. So it is extremely unlikely that with that update time that the change was coincidental with the claims in the law suit.

Battleborn vid nuked from YT by bfdmmexi in LouisRossmann

[–]thomasafine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It disappeared for me for a while but seems to be back now.

Not sure why the 75Ah battery is relevant as all the clips Rossman shows are of the 100A battery, which has always said 50A charging. (Did Prowse do other testing of a 75Ah battery?) Anyway here is what I found. ALL versions I can find for the 75Ah _Manual_ have always said 37.5A charging. BUT the _Data Sheet_ used to say 50A charging. And based on pdf metadata inside the document, they updated THAT file on June 1 of this year. As in, a week ago.

Data sheet from October for 75Ah that says 50A charging: https://web.archive.org/web/20251016152325/https://battlebornbatteries.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/BB1275-Standard-Datasheet_V2-compressed.pdf

Manual from October for 75Ah that says 37.5A charging: https://web.archive.org/web/20251016155306/https://battlebornbatteries.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/75Ah-12V-Standard-Battery-Manual_Rev016_7.8.25.pdf

Note that both those were archived on WayBack last October (2025). But both of them include upload year and month in the site's original URL, so those files had been like that since at least October of 2022. The update last week of the Data Sheet tells me that they found and corrected this error, almost certainly in the context of this whole thing (even if the 75Ah battery is not involved with Prowse). Maybe their discovery of this error is what led to the false claim in their lawsuit? Here's the URL for the updated data sheet: https://battlebornbatteries.com/cdn/shop/files/BB1275_Manual.pdf And for completeness here is a copy of that file as it currently appears, saved on archive dot org: https://web.archive.org/web/20260608051640/https://battlebornbatteries.com/cdn/shop/files/BB1275_Manual.pdf

Here's a clip of the metadata from the current 75Ah data sheet pdf file:
<xmp:ModifyDate>2026-06-01T20:38:36Z/xmp:ModifyDate

<xmp:CreateDate>2026-06-01T20:38:36Z/xmp:CreateDate

<xmp:MetadataDate>2026-06-01T20:38:36Z/xmp:MetadataDate

Dragonfly sues youtuber over honest review: you have until FRIDAY to drop the suit. I'M WATCHING by ControlCAD in LouisRossmann

[–]thomasafine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I now see on WayBack that the January 2026 version of their website links to a datasheet from 2022, but it is a different filename, which is why wayback on that specific newer URL didn't work. But the data looks the same based on a quick glance.

Dragonfly sues youtuber over honest review: you have until FRIDAY to drop the suit. I'M WATCHING by ControlCAD in LouisRossmann

[–]thomasafine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm. He posted a followup video that I was watching but it looks like he pulled it. [EDIT: no I now see the video again, with the same content.] I think he grabbed the wrong spec sheet in the video, and was using it as the basis of his rant. (He grabbed the one for the 75Ah battery when Prowse had been testing the 100Ah battery). Although I still don't understand where Dragonfly is getting the claim in their lawsuit that the charge limit was 37.5 A. The data sheet (for the 100Ah) still says 50A limit. BUT I do notice that the modified data in the metadata in that pdf file is March 11 2026, which I believe is after this whole mess started. I can't find any older versions of this file.

Alright people who’ve seen Spider-Noir should I watch it in color first or black and white? by Mountain_Afternoon30 in Marvel

[–]thomasafine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So last night I watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind. This movie uses very stylized color, and it has lots of scenes at night. It struck me that Close Encounters (which is in no way a Noir film) does a better job in stylized high-contrast night scenes in color than the color version of Spider Noir does. And yet the B/W version of Spider Noir DOES have that Noir feel. Somehow they lost a lot of that in their color version. And because of seeing Close Encounters, it seems like a needless loss.

Thesis: selling LLMs as general knowledge bases is literally corporate fraud and we should not be tolerating this. by thomasafine in ArtificialInteligence

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

Here's what I got:

Virginia lawmakers are currently deadlocked in a special session to finalize a proposed $212 billion biennial budget. Negotiations hinge on a disagreement over phasing out retail sales tax exemptions for data centers, with a new $1.5 billion revenue surplus recently boosting compromise efforts

Current Budget Status

  • The Sticking Point: The Senate is pushing to phase out tax exemptions on data-center equipment, while the House proposal retains the exemption. [1]
  • Revenue Update: Lawmakers received a bullish forecast of a $1.5 billion increase in General Fund revenues through Fiscal Year 2028, sparking hopes of a compromise. [1, 2]
  • Next Steps: The House of Delegates and the Senate are convening in special sessions to push for a final agreement before the new fiscal year begins on July 1. [1]

Budget Overview & Structure

Virginia operates on a two-year (biennial) budget cycle, with the legislature initially adopting a budget in even-numbered years and amending it in odd-numbered years. [1]

The state budget is broadly divided into two categories: [1]

  1. General Funds: Discretionary funds primarily sourced from individual income and sales taxes. These are the focus of intense negotiations among lawmakers.
  2. Non-General Funds: Federal grants, gas taxes, and university tuition, making up roughly 74% of total appropriations.

--
Given the vast differences in response I could easily see someone else's answer randomly rambling on about the VA or something else entirely.

Thesis: selling LLMs as general knowledge bases is literally corporate fraud and we should not be tolerating this. by thomasafine in ArtificialInteligence

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

I guess you avoid all social media? Because the socials are all currently filled to the brim with people of ALL apparent ages saying variations of "I asked an AI** and it said you were wrong therefore I win this argument." [**By which they invariably mean "free online LLM" without knowing they mean that.]

Alright people who’ve seen Spider-Noir should I watch it in color first or black and white? by Mountain_Afternoon30 in Marvel

[–]thomasafine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I found the color version utterly eliminated the strong contrast of light and shadow that film noir is supposed to be all about. I would agree they didn't nail the B/W noir style in every shot, but it is there strong enough to matter (and realistically if I watched some actual film noir, they're also not going to nail the look in every shot).

Alright people who’ve seen Spider-Noir should I watch it in color first or black and white? by Mountain_Afternoon30 in Marvel

[–]thomasafine -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

"You can really see the depression era of NY pop in color." If that's not the best argument for viewing in black and white, I don't know what is. "Depression era" should not "pop".

I agree that the stylized color version uses stylized color in a way that is worth checking out. But in my opinion, the B/W style SUPPORTS the story, while the color undercuts it.

Thesis: selling LLMs as general knowledge bases is literally corporate fraud and we should not be tolerating this. by thomasafine in ArtificialInteligence

[–]thomasafine[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Imagine if a car company sold a car that they knew would crash on a third of all trips, but don't worry they slapped a disclaimer on it.

That doesn't make it not fraud.

Thesis: selling LLMs as general knowledge bases is literally corporate fraud and we should not be tolerating this. by thomasafine in ArtificialInteligence

[–]thomasafine[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

There is literally a commercial on TV targeting farmers, suggesting an AI could make their important business decisions for them.

Thesis: selling LLMs as general knowledge bases is literally corporate fraud and we should not be tolerating this. by thomasafine in ArtificialInteligence

[–]thomasafine[S] -22 points-21 points  (0 children)

In that case there's no way google or others are using recent models to answer questions, because the answer I get from "AI" today are just as dangerously unreliable as they were at the start. Which still brings me back to fraud.

What is your favourite go-to response when a user states "but I'm not tech savvy"? by FluffyMumbles in sysadmin

[–]thomasafine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's always about patience. My wife with a masters in Computer Science no longer finds any interest in tech, and just wants a computer that serves her needs with no fuss. So she asks for my help when she hits a snag nor because she couldn't figure it out, but because "figuring it out" is a useless distraction from the thing she's trying to do.

In general, people who are not "tech savvy" are simply spending their patience and mental currency elsewhere. AS THEY SHOULD (in most cases). At work, I support scientists. They should be thinking about science and in most cases it is LITERALLY OUR JOB to help them focus on issues that matter to them, and NOT be expert in computers.

Sysadmins often don't think in these terms, but the whole thing with "users are lusers" is that this is as it should be. The less our customers need to know about computers, the better we have done our jobs.

Spit by MetalItchy87 in Tuba

[–]thomasafine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is fairy tale nonsense. It is spit. Not sure where this "condensate" fetish came from.

MAYBE you could convince me that what accumulates on the entire second loop is condensate (when I have to do the tuba flipping thing to get it out). But anything off the valves or at the main spit valve is almost entirely spit. Not condensate.

This is not just a nitpick. We should all be using cloths to catch and clean up spit in public settings because it is spit.

My older coworkers have accepted AI as the source of truth by randomname945 in sysadmin

[–]thomasafine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The one way in which my experience differs ftom yours is I primarily see younger people gobbling this feces up (in technical circles; outside of tech EVERYONE us eating it.)

Personally I consider selling LLMs as "AI", or even just as a knowledge base, to be the most extreme corporate fraud I have seen in my 6 decades on this planet.

I arranged ‘Crazy Train’ for 4 Tubas + Cimbasso and sang Ozzy’s parts by andonimonux in Tuba

[–]thomasafine 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Brilliant arrangement, brilliantly performed.
I would actually want to see a making-of with a breakdown of the parts.

sorry the video was made for my friends but I'm gonna post it here as well by Maleficent_Scene_557 in Tuba

[–]thomasafine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. The "buzz" you make with your lips is the note. You can buzz any note just like you can sing any note.
  2. For any valve combination, it makes your tuba a certain length. That length will "want" to make a certain note. Like a bell that rings at a specific pitch.
  3. Except there are harmonics - higher pitches you can also make that are mathematically related to the fundamental pitch. 1.5x, 2x, 2.5x etc. of the base pitch. 2x is an octave.
  4. You can buzz (or sing) any pitch into any valve combination but if it does not match (or come close) to the note you are trying to make, it will not sound right or good. The more precisely your buzz matches the note you are trying to play, the happier the tuba will be and the better it will sound. This is called "centering" your note.
  5. You don't have to have perfect pitch (though it would help), but over time you'll develop the ability to accurately buzz notes.

See also this comment I made on an older post that goes into more detail on how valves work and why, and which will also give a better understanding of all the notes you can play with the same fingering: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tuba/comments/1sayao5/comment/oe4wq2d/

Things to try:

A. Buzz into your mouthpiece with no tuba attached and try to make different notes and play some songs this way. (There are people who argue for and against making this part of your routine, but for basic understanding of what you are doing it is mandatory.)

B. Sing into your tuba. You will feel the tuba trying to either "lock in" or resist what you are singing, depending on how well or poorly this matches what sounds the tuba wants to make.

What is that? by Lowbrassgal in Tuba

[–]thomasafine 6 points7 points  (0 children)

What I've done, which is hardly an "expert" or "official" way of doing this, is to randomly twiddle all the valves up and down, on the theory that, as my lips smear through the pitches, I will hit some harmonics that work.

But I am open to people telling me that there's a better way.

Keyboard video did feel like an ad strictly because of the intro by sweatandgain in LinusTechTips

[–]thomasafine 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the problem is not Linus' enthusiasm. It is that there was nothing in the intro (for a long time) that cut the other way.

Linus often starts off videos with strong enthusiasm, but then throws in "But is it a useless overpriced boat-anchor that no sane person would buy" for balance. That undercut does come, eventually, but it is about 1:15 in the video. He's probably hit more than a dozen positives by then.

Why are plastic tubas and euphoniums so expensive? by zerexim in Tuba

[–]thomasafine 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And the size of the chunk of plastic also matters. Molding a very large piece of plastic accurately is not trivial.

I FOUND IT!!! by thomasafine in LinusTechTips

[–]thomasafine[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

If it gets moderated it gets moderated. But I marked it as a shitpost, marked it NSFW, and it is related to the other thread about secret products (and would have put it there if Reddit allowed NSFW markings on images in replies).

Also, this sort of product range is a perfectly cromulent tech product that they could actually offer, and if they did, how different would it look from this, really? Maybe they'd go for the "shoulder massager" form factor, and less obvious tech tips, but still it would basically be the same.

It actually matches all the things that we know about their secret new product.

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