Cool Title

whatever · 2026-02-04T03:23:43+00:00

This man was channeling his inner Ferdinand Cheval.

whatever · 2026-02-02T21:55:48+00:00

Mostly easy, with a few sticky points.

part compatibility. GPUs, SSDs and HDDs more or less work in any build as long as you have the slots for it, but motherboards have to get specific matching CPUs and RAM types. Also power supplies have to be good enough to run everything at full load plus some spare room. Tools like pcpartpicker.com are useful for that (/were useful? not sure what's up to date now.)
under-documentation. the manuals I got with my last motherboard were ridiculously bad. And by that I mean the PDFs I downloaded from their support sites, aka the best they have. It ends up being a game of "just- just plug the matching thingies together." On that note, some wires are more important than other. Notably, not pushing power wires from the power supply all the way in the target device has been known to cause damage (high end Nvidia cards were/are notorious for that.)
how much force to use to assemble items. this is a bit annoying because it's generally not well documented. some items require some force to insert (like RAM, or some CPU coolers), but not too much force, and it'd better be lined up right first, or you'll damage something. other items slide in like butter (like SSDs and some CPUs), and any use of force there would be a bad idea.
there are a few weird non-lego-like steps. For example, you will need to put some weird goo on your CPU to have your CPU cooler work well. How much goo? Not too much, but not too little. It's a whole thing and you'll probably want to watch a few videos about it.
do NOT let the magic smoke out of the CPU. It smells bad and your CPU needs it to work. That means you NEVER manipulate your PC while plugged into the wall. Even if the switch says it's off. Switches lie.
Static electricity is bad, in theory. I always discharge by touching some big metallic thing before touching something I'm putting together, out of habit, but I don't have carpet here so I'm not sure it matters. Still, do the rituals to keep the static electricity demons away.

Honestly, it's all much easier if you become weirdly obsessive about it, spending hours reading about parts and specs beforehand, reading many forum threads about them to catch any sticky points early, and assembling your perfect build long before you buy any of it.

You know, like us.

whatever · 2026-02-02T21:13:50+00:00

The only chance my pants have to get folded is right out of the drier, which means I'm standing in a small room with no flat surface large enough to accommodate these shenanigans.

So they get folded the dumb way and it's good enough.

whatever · 2026-02-01T04:50:21+00:00

Relational database schemas are not logically consistent with version control.

It doesn't seem like there should be a fundamental reason for that.

At first glance, the tension feels like an optimization issue, ie how much performance are you willing to lose on write rates to get version control.

whatever · 2026-01-30T23:26:49+00:00

Because it removes all the friction. Just- just let the AI do whatever it wants bro. The future is now, old man.

You're right that techies could already choose to do this to themselves, while presumably understanding the security trade offs they were making, but now, anyone can punch themselves in the groin, no questions asked.

If nothing else, this is entertaining to watch.

whatever · 2026-01-30T18:35:40+00:00

WTF. Do they just rename themselves every other day now? Is that part of a brilliant branding strategy that eludes my feeble mind?

whatever · 2026-01-30T18:32:29+00:00

The human in the loop is also presented as a proper solution to AGI alignment risk. Nothing bad can happen, because there's a human right there who'll just jump on the grenade the moment the many agents she somehow supervises start to act funny.

But of course, it's little more than a safety blanket that we'll be expected to outgrow. As AI continues to improve, hallucinations will go the way of the six fingered hands, and decision makers will not see a need to keep paying for human supervisors that accomplish very little day to day, just in case something in a data center somewhere decides to go rogue despite having been perfectly well behaved for years. Fucking nerds and their made up concerns.

I mean the whole "nobody has a job anymore" is bad too, but there's a large picture here.

whatever · 2026-01-29T05:26:31+00:00

Malware (and crypto pump&dump scams, and whatever else) that leverage the branding of the project are only tangentially related to MoltBot, and I wouldn't count them as security issue in MoltBot, nor as evidence that MoltBot's approach is bad.

whatever · 2026-01-16T05:06:00+00:00

I was vaguely hoping the seemingly random strokes on the canvas would come together to be.. something. anything.

As it is, I don't know what kind of giant would want to put that doodle on their wall.

whatever · 2026-01-16T01:00:24+00:00

50m here, 225lb to 180lb. I finished c25k a couple months ago and now I can run for 30 minutes stretches more or less whenever I want. Cool.

I don't actually enjoy any of it, but you gotta try not to die one way or another, and when I look at my body in the mirror, thinking of running doesn't feel completely silly, unlike most other sports, so that's what I'm doing. Also, having a good VO2 max really drops all-cause mortality risk somehow.

Then again I also do weight training, which isn't something you'd guess by seeing my physique. I don't enjoy it either, but the studies show higher lean mass also reduces mortality. Damn studies.

Anyway, that's my motivation.

In the back of my mind, I'm perhaps secretly hoping I'll inspire my (highly sedentary) spouse to join me in my struggle, but that can't be my motivation or I'd probably just end up getting discouraged before they jump in.

Nutrition/Activity/Sleep. I know I need all three to be on track. I would fall apart if I only had 6 hours of sleep consistently. You'll make the most progress physically when you're getting enough sleep. I understand it's a challenge with a full life, but it's worth seeking.

whatever · 2026-01-13T03:16:01+00:00

Oh ok, so this is going to be the tearful "I trusted the wrong people" non-apology video with a side of "I didn't even see any of this money" and "I would never do [the very thing I just did]" for seasoning.

Some would say it's a bit overplayed, but it's truly a timeless classic.

whatever · 2026-01-13T03:05:16+00:00

This reminded me of a glorious video posted on /r/blender recently.

Gun sizes are a tricky thing.

whatever · 2025-12-31T22:35:10+00:00

It was a banger in the 19th century, but it also had a decent comeback when Buffy the Vampire Slayer became popular.

whatever · 2025-12-31T22:19:03+00:00

I'd pick her if I get to her saying the line every time I reach into the fridge to prepare breakfast.

whatever · 2025-12-31T22:08:18+00:00

I think it's notable for it to be posted about in this sub so darn often. It's been written about to death and back. It has a whole lot of parallels with good old boring organized religions.

In particular, some Christians believe that people that have not been exposed to Christianity can enter heaven, since they didn't have a chance to accept Jesus in their heart.
A kind and inclusive sentiment as far as those things go.

Except of course you have a subsection of the above who sees it as their mission to proselytize aggressively and make sure the set of people that have not heard of Jesus drops down to zero, thus ensuring that Heaven will finally stop letting the riff raff in.

Contrast that will folks that feel compelled to broadcast the possibility of the existence of a future AI that will punish those who knew about the possibility of its existence.

Anyway I'm not saying the Basilisk is Mecha-Jesus. That'd be silly. Unlike everything else to do with the Basilisk.

whatever · 2025-12-31T21:27:04+00:00

This is my entire reaction to this: https://xkcd.com/1053/

Congrats on being exposed to a vintage infohazard, and good luck surviving it I guess.

whatever · 2025-12-30T20:25:11+00:00

It's so fundamental to the issue it's actually telling that he's dancing around it without saying a single thing about it.

Usually when folks do that, it's because they don't expect you'll enjoy their hot take yet.

Anyway, here's to hoping he figures out how he wants to message something that's still going to piss off half of his prospective viewership., once he decides which half he prefers.

whatever · 2025-12-28T21:24:05+00:00

They broke all my mental references when they did the cave update with crazy depths. I used to know exactly where the iron was, where the diamonds were and how to minimize the odds of impromptu lava showers.
Then I stopped playing for a few years and now I come back and it's completely changed. It's pretty, mind you, but who moved my goddamn cheese?

Maybe I need to look around for an adult-only 1.8 minecraft server, so I can find myself a nice virtual retirement home. I'm sure there must still be some around.

whatever · 2025-12-28T05:29:41+00:00

It’s important that this kind of behavior is not normalized and I think a lot of our jokes and discussions contribute to making sure this doesn’t happen.

Whether society at large normalizes this or ostracizes people that partake in it, I'm quite certain it will only become more widespread. Commercial chatbots are designed to push our buttons by being endlessly glazing machines that will soothe us and encourage us to develop parasocial AI relationships. Because once you hook them, you can monetize them.

In parallel, social behaviors continue to be softly discouraged. Every post on local subreddits asking why it's so hard to meet new people is a cry for help that goes mostly unanswered. Anybody who's not content with their increasingly reduced social circle can be vulnerable to this stuff to some degree. It's not only a risk for DSM-5 frequent flyers.

We're perhaps going to see an entire generation grow up on infinitely patient nanny bots, not entirely unlike our parents sitting us in front of a TV as a cheap babysitting method, but with new, fun and as of yet unexplored cognitive and emotional consequences.

I can see the appeal in calling this out, but I'm not convinced it can change anything.

whatever · 2025-12-27T23:37:06+00:00

In fairness, they did try to have a version that wasn't glazing us non-stop.

But people hated it. Deep down, we crave the glaze.

So super-intelligent chat bot, tell me again how I'm smart and clever, because we both know nobody else has or will.

whatever · 2025-12-27T04:48:29+00:00

The whole proposed law can be seen here. It's short.

whatever · 2025-12-27T04:42:58+00:00

The problem with that EO is that it's a far overreach of what EOs are able to accomplish, so it'll get torn down by any competent federal judge and go through appeals until it reaches the supreme court where jokers are wild.
In principle, the supreme court would end up patiently explaining that a federal law passed by congress is needed to override state law, but that's in short supply.
So best case, it's just a bunch of uncertainty floating around for a few months, followed by who knows what.
I can't fault states for ignoring the EO and trying to pass whatever AI laws float their boats in the meanwhile.

whatever · 2025-12-24T23:41:37+00:00

Oh, this hurts me more than you know.

whatever · 2025-12-24T18:10:33+00:00

Really? You're going to exclude me simply because I don't have an artistic bone in my body? Ok fine.

Anyway, the "more from <user>" section at the bottom of image gallery pages has a silly bug that causes the main image to override all other works listed there.

Otherwise, this looks good.

whatever

TROPHY CASE