InitialLastName (u/InitialLastName)

InitialLastName commented on Amazon has mostly sat out the AI talent war businessinsider.com/amazo... · Posted by u/ripe

dmboyd · 6 hours ago

I wonder if 2) is a result of published bias for positive results in the training set. An “I don’t know” response is probably ranked unsatisfactory by human feedback and most published scientific literature are biased towards positive results and factual explanations.

InitialLastName · an hour ago

In my experience, the willingness to say "I don't know" instead of confabulate is also down-rated as a human attribute, so it's not surprising that even an AGI trained on the "best" of humanity would avoid it.

InitialLastName commented on We regret but have to temporary suspend the shipments to USA olimex.wordpress.com/2025... · Posted by u/CTOSian

InitialLastName · 7 days ago

This whole tariff circus boils down to regulatory capture by manufacturers at the 10+-figure market cap scale. Olimex (and other small and medium businesses) can't reasonably be expected to calculate the exact material composition of their products (much less their suppliers' products); the only people who can are on the scale of Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and Google whose volumes can amortize the cost of doing so on a per-product basis (and who have probably already done that analysis as part of their process control).

InitialLastName commented on Have you ever noticed that people dressed better in the past? twitter.com/dieworkwear/s... · Posted by u/surprisetalk

InitialLastName · 18 days ago

In a less "everyone is s**" take than siblings, this could be a number of biases:

- Availability/survival bias: People took fewer pictures in the past and were more likely to be taking those pictures on special occasions (when they were dressed nicely).

- Now that we live in a world of generational fashion, the previous generation's "casual" wear becomes the next generation's "dressy" (read: stodgy) wear.

- People owned less clothing, had less access to varied clothing, and laundry processes were harsh, so they wore sturdier (and heavier) clothing that more easily supported "dressing well".

- "Back in my day, people conformed" isn't exactly a novel take.

InitialLastName commented on CPS investigated her 4 times because she let her kids play outside reason.com/2025/08/09/chi... · Posted by u/leephillips

potato3732842 · 22 days ago

It's not that it's subsidized so much as that 1-500k of hoop jumping makes financial sense when your goal is to turn a forested lot on the side of the highways into a Costco or Target or some other Mecca for people with lots of money to spend.

The amount of hoop jumping is the same if you're putting in a family mini golf with a restaurant and bumper cars. But you'll never make it back so the development never happens...

InitialLastName · 22 days ago

Municipalities and states frequently offer tax abatements, pay to build the road and utility infrastructure to the middle of nowhere, and rebate sales taxes in ways that they never would for even a non-brand-name store, much less a store that could fit in the middle of the town.

InitialLastName commented on CPS investigated her 4 times because she let her kids play outside reason.com/2025/08/09/chi... · Posted by u/leephillips

mschuster91 · 22 days ago

> Kids should just be able to walk to stores without getting hit by cars.

The problem specifically for stores is, small classic mom'n'pop stores cannot compete with big retailers like Walmart, Costco and whatnot - they simply cannot get even close to the scale of purchase that the big ones do, and so people prefer to use cars to get to a big retailer because it is more economical.

InitialLastName · 22 days ago

It's not just purchasing scale that prevents smaller businesses from competing; the infrastructure that supports those big box stores is heavily subsidized at the municipal, state, inter-corporate and federal levels in a way that is unattainable for local businesses.

InitialLastName commented on AOL to discontinue dial-up internet nytimes.com/2025/08/11/bu... · Posted by u/situationista

criddell · 22 days ago

Are they wrong?

InitialLastName · 22 days ago

As far as I can tell, yes. AOL pretends that the subscription offers other services (tech support, "security" etc) but you definitely appear to be able to keep access to your email address without paying the $50/month subscription.

InitialLastName commented on The enduring puzzle of static electricity pubs.aip.org/physicstoday... · Posted by u/EvgeniyZh

magicalhippo · 22 days ago

Similarly dry air can be a literal component killer when working with electronics. Sometimes a humidifier is needed to ensure static build-up doesn't go too far.

InitialLastName · 22 days ago

This is actually an interesting challenge for places that work with electronics assembly at an industrial scale; they have competing drives to keep humidity high for ESD mitigation, but also deal with a lot of moisture-sensitive components whose acceptable exposure to free air (after baking, but before reflow) is measured in hours (and substantially worse with higher humidity).

InitialLastName commented on AOL to discontinue dial-up internet nytimes.com/2025/08/11/bu... · Posted by u/situationista

londons_explore · 22 days ago

Probably people who have had a recurring payment set up since 1995 and never questioned what they're paying $23.99 per month for the last 30 years for.

InitialLastName · 22 days ago

I know at least two people who are still paying for an AOL dial-up subscription despite not using because they use an @aol email address and think it will be discontinued if they don't continue to pay for it.

InitialLastName commented on How to Avoid Personalized Pricing pbs.org/newshour/economy/... · Posted by u/jbrins1

treetalker · a month ago

Not to claim any of these professions is perfect (far from it), but we have medical ethics; legal ethics; and even business ethics.

I know that legal ethics is both required as a course in law school and tested as part of licensure. Likewise, every day attorneys get delicensed for violating legal ethical standards. I presume that the same is true of medical school and licensing, and business school at least. (Though I always found "business ethics" to be a near contradiction in terms, and there is no ethical licensing requirement to practice business that I know of — and very little way to stop unethical business people from continuing to practice.)

We have coders/programmers who repeatedly refer to themselves as "architects" or "engineers". Yet there is no professional licensing requirement to practice programming, let alone ethical licensing or even training.

Is it any wonder that society ends up with huge data leaks; violations of personal privacy; surveillance states; and the like?

The world of software appears to be tolerant of slipshod work and blithe to its lack of professional standards — particularly ethical ones. It seems unable or unwilling to self-police. And one result is unethical conduct, this time at scale.

If software is eating the world and technology is so great, why haven't they solved their own ethical problems? (Tantamount to "doctor, heal thyself" — and I'm looking at you, Andreesen, Thiel, Musk, Palantir, Tesla, and your ilk.)

InitialLastName · a month ago

To pick a closer analogy, the professions that engineering in the traditional sense (electrical, mechanical, civil) also have professional licensure that includes ethical training in their licensing requirements. However, the goals of both the licensure and the ethical training are centered around "follow standard practices and processes to minimize deaths and avoid undermining the public trust in the competence of your field", not "don't slowly degrade the society around you through your decisions".

InitialLastName commented on The death of partying in the USA derekthompson.org/p/the-d... · Posted by u/tysone

lr4444lr · 2 months ago

My kids asked for them. They are under 10. (They asked me to write down my number to give to their friends. Business card is just as good.)

We don't have a landline, and there's no way in hell they're getting their own phones at that age.

InitialLastName · 2 months ago

This is something I think about with my kids when they get to that age. I was calling my friends (on their landlines, using our landline) regularly by then, talking to their parents en route to getting them on the phone, and arranging visits. My kids won't grow up in a world where that's something that happens, and I'm not sure how to support their social independence in a world where (as you say) it seems nigh-on-negligent for them to have their own phones.