I would like to once again thank the motion picture and recording industry associations for their contributions to both the sophistication of media piracy and the quality of content.

Without their efforts, we would probably all still be playing Russian Roulette on Limewire for a low quality copy of Zoolander. The first person to record a movie on Betamax would probably shit themselves if they could have seen what could be accomplished with some arrogance, incompetence, and blind greed. There’s no doubt that you guys are the real MVP when it comes to promoting media piracy.

The anti-piracy industry couldn’t be more Mickey Mouse if it were run by the Marx Brothers.

This kind of highlights the difference between correlation and causation.

The root cause of ADHD is not currently fully understood but it’s unlikely that it’s a vitamin B deficiency. People with ADHD also routinely have an iron deficiency in their brains during childhood – which scientists theorize could be a contributing factor – as well as a genetic anomaly, which appears to be hereditary. It’s still not known if either of those things actually causes ADHD. Unfortunately, by the time symptoms are present, the damage is already done.

Taking vitamin B supplements won’t necessarily hurt any but I don’t know that it would help much either, outside of giving you an energy boost.

Yes. Washing isn’t that hard on them. Hang dry only. Putting them in the clothes dryer is what causes them to shrink and wear out faster.

I have a few pairs of jeans that are probably ten years old and have been washed many times that still look nice.

Tesla originally had some star power because they were doing things that traditional automakers claimed were impossible. A litany of poor engineering decisions and Elon showing his true colors have worn off any remaining novelty.

My experience was more like:

I would just like contacts that work well with my astigmatism. Then I wouldn’t have to wear glasses at all which would be fantastic.

“I remember doing the time warp. Wocka Wocka!”

A contributing factor in all of this is that US manufacturers have spent the better part of the last 30 years turning their engineering departments into glorified parts replacers. A complaint I have heard from nearly every electrical/electronics engineer that I’ve known is that “We don’t design things anymore. Now we just spend most of our time trying to find replacements for chips that we can no longer get.”

From what I can tell, from my very limited perspective, there has been a significant lack of investment in engineering capabilities and a resulting lack of innovation for a long time. As usual, short term thinking is expensive in the long run. We’re only just beginning to find out how expensive.

Toy Story 4. The scene where Woody says goodbye to the rest of the toys and goes off on his new adventure with Bo Peep. Gets me every time.

The original Toy Story was the first movie I remember seeing in a theatre so maybe there’s some nostalgia contributing to that.

One major problem with the current generation of "AI"seems to be it’s inability to use relevant information that it already has to assess the accuracy of the answers it provides.

Here’s a common scenario I’ve run into: I’m trying to create a complex DAX Measure in Excel. I give ChatGPT the information about the tables I’m working with and the expected Pivot Table column value.

ChatGPT gives me a response in the form of a measure I can use. Except it uses one DAX function in a way that will not work. I point out the error and ChatGPT is like, "Oh, sorry. Yeah that won’t work because [insert correct reason here].

I’ll try adjusting my prompt a few more times before finally giving up and just writing the measure myself. It does not have the ability to reason that an answer is incorrect even though it has all the information to know that the answer is incorrect and can even tell you why the answer is incorrect. It’s a glorified text generator and is definitely not “intelligent”.

It works fine for generating boiler plate code but that problem was already solved years ago with things like code templates.

I’d rather have both on a single unit. - Obviously the 230V 16A capability as that’s what they’re wired on and even if I don’t have 3kW elements on the floor it’s what’s needed to meet the code

I have a feeling that finding a smart thermostat with this kind of load capacity, on three separate circuits no less, is going to be a tall order. Are you savvy enough that you could wire up a system that uses a regular thermostat to control your floor heating via relays or contactors?

My wife and I formed a revokable trust and put all our assets into it, in addition to creating our wills. The main advantage to a trust is your assets don’t have to go through probate and the trustee(s) can basically start executing your wishes right away. You (the grantor) specify what the trust should do with your assets.

Very useful if you have minor children that will need to be cared for.

JC Penney went through a period where they did away with their perpetual “sale” and normalized their pricing. Their sales tanked as a result. Apparently a lot of people who shop there are idiots.

Christian, Presbyterian. I was raised an IFB (Independent Fundamental Baptist) which nearly soured my opinion of organized religion altogether.

Long story short, I actually read the Gospels and came to the conclusion that the version of Christianity I grew up in was essentially the opposite of what Jesus taught.

My religious beliefs are important to me and shape a lot of my thinking. But, I also understand a lot of the anger and distrust that gets directed at the church because I’ve been there and it’s unfortunately well deserved.

Edit: Apparently you can still order an updated print edition of the World Book Encyclopedia for the low price of $1,259.00.

Can I up vote this more than once? Quality print journalism is absolutely vital and it will die without the support of its readers.

Personally I like a happy medium. Our 2200 sqft house is plenty big for our family of five. Any bigger and I would have a hard time maintaining it by myself. Larger houses definitely require more effort to upkeep.

We like having a little room to spread out or entertain guests. I also love having my shop in the basement. That was something I really missed when I didn’t have it for a few years.

It’s a personal preference that really depends a lot on your lifestyle, hobbies, and what you can afford.

We still have a landline (technically VoIP) phone. There’s also a list of important phone numbers written on the fridge. Good for emergencies.

There are few things more nerve wracking than frantically trying to find your cell phone and the number for poison control after your kid just swallowed something they shouldn’t have.

NGL, at first I was kind of concerned that you had a “geyser” so close to your house until I realized it was probably another term for what my American brain calls a “water heater”.

Someone else suggested a water softener which would help a lot. Aside from that, does your geyser have a sacrificial anode? If so, when was the last time you replaced it?

Imagine being the one who has to explain that Putin died when another person burst forth from his body like an alien.