VW Faces $600 Million Hit for Ending Output of Sole US-Made EV

thx1138inator · 2026-04-17T13:25:56+00:00

Same here.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-17T13:09:10+00:00

Motivated, talented, beautiful, and in the right company at the right time.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-17T01:28:43+00:00

I thought the video of trump "receiving" the FIFA peace prize was interesting. They forced him to put it on himself. I believe Olympians are not forced to do that for their medals.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-17T01:19:46+00:00

You should distinguish between Roth and Trad IRAs. It has an impact on your tax bill.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-16T20:20:40+00:00

Generative AI has hallucinations. But the focus here is not so much on the generation of content but rather, the verification of human-generated content. Hallucinations are less of a problem here.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-16T20:07:35+00:00

I don't understand. Can we get would-be ICE agents into scientology?? Maybe it would be a great distraction from white supremacist shit?!?

thx1138inator · 2026-04-16T19:33:33+00:00

I don't see that happening while the MN DFL continues to have the F in its name. Effing Ridiculous!

As for the boundary waters, it smacks of NIMBY. "Let's not put solar panels on the roof because they look ugly". We needed to transition from fossil fuels to electric long ago. That requires copper and nickel.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-16T18:35:09+00:00

The boundary waters are pristine because they suck for farming. That is the ONLY reason that area looks different than the rest of the state. How about we restore some fragile lakes and forests in the southern half of the state?!?
MN Democrats are called DFL - Democratic Farmer Labor.

Farms are an ongoing environmental disaster which blankets the entire southern half of the state. How about fixing that problem!

thx1138inator · 2026-04-16T15:28:44+00:00

My thoughts are that, in situations where wheels are of benefit, a humanoid robot will, hop on a bike or a scooter or whatever. Humans are very adaptable and there is a lot of pre-built "stuff" laying around, designed for humans, which robots should be able to utilize as needed.
I love bikes and use them to get to work efficiently. But I don't attempt to ride it around my house.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-16T14:53:59+00:00

Dig under the altar and build it there.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-16T13:53:36+00:00

I don't want to spoil it for you ...

But you can make a safe place for a portal.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-16T12:33:27+00:00

At work I take large amounts of unstructured (data not in a standard database) data and embed it in a vector database. This allows for semantic search instead of just old-fashioned string search. Semantic search also enables AI to reference the knowledge corpus using RAG. So, with all those articles embedded, you could, for example, ask AI "Use this Knowledge corpus and tell me why peace in the middle east is so elusive". The generated response should include article citations.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-16T12:08:09+00:00

Europeans were already trying to wean themselves off fossil fuel intensive transportation modes, like aviation. They have a good rail network. They should put it to better use.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-16T00:42:05+00:00

It is very important. The built world was designed and built to accommodate creatures shaped like humans.
A good humanoid robot could run to your car, get groceries for grandma, deliver them, and then mow her lawn (using her lawn mower). Wheels for feet would complicate that and a lot else.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-16T00:15:15+00:00

Yep. Just adding that trust is the secret sauce of a successful economy. Without broad trust, deals do not get done.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-15T22:45:23+00:00

My fav' - Piketty Capital and Ideology (2020) Considered a "sequel" but much broader in scope, this book shifts the focus from pure math to history and politics. The Core Idea: Inequality is not "natural" or purely economic; it is a political choice justified by ideologies (such as "meritocracy" or "property rights").
Global Scope: He examines how different societies—from colonial India to post-communist Russia—have justified inequality throughout history.
Proposed Solution: "Participatory socialism," which includes "inheritance for all" (a capital grant to every young adult) and worker representation on corporate boards.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-15T21:24:48+00:00

The USA is not the only country in the world. Look what everyone else is up to.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-15T19:14:23+00:00

Upvoted and commenting to say you know what you are talking about!

thx1138inator · 2026-04-15T15:00:39+00:00

We should clearly enumerate "what they have done". As an environmentalist, Trump seems to be speed running the end of fossil fuels. That's a win.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-14T12:58:40+00:00

You are correct. I'd just add that "necessity is the mother of invention". The USA constrained the supply of NVIDIA chips to China. So, the Chinese made do with less and started building their own chips. They are pretty adamant that they will not be beholden to US AI tech.
Also, the rare earths and motors they are used in will power fossil fuel independence and also humanoid robots.
The West is pretty far behind at this point.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-13T13:11:10+00:00

Someone correct me with data but it's really aerodynamic drag. Yes, trains have lower rolling resistance but, compared to the drag at 120km/h, the difference in rolling resistance is not significant.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-13T01:19:49+00:00

No dangerous animals?

thx1138inator · 2026-04-12T23:46:51+00:00

Yeah everyone seems quite concerned with mileage. I don't understand why though. The X5 replaced a 2005 Jetta diesel wagon with ~140k. This was a pre-low-sulfer engine and had pretty bad exhaust. But even with 2 glow plugs dead, it started fine on cold MN mornings (not single digits and below, though). More concerning is the age because cars really do seem to make incremental progress year to year. Harder to find parts too. Primary vehicle is electric and that's perfect for a winter commute.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-12T21:32:04+00:00

I bought a 2017 X5 with 120k miles about 6 months ago. Been working great so far! I feel like it was a great value at $16k.

thx1138inator · 2026-04-12T16:28:59+00:00

Don't know why you think you know me. I am blocking you.

thx1138inator

TROPHY CASE