mentalpiracy (u/mentalpiracy)

mentalpiracy commented on Google is killing first and second gen Nest Thermostats support.google.com/google... · Posted by u/eyeareque

ElijahLynn · 4 days ago

Damn...

And also,

> We’ll reach out to eligible users in the US and Canada for the Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) at a special price: $149.99 [219.99 CAD] (nearly 50% off).

However, we got a Nest from the Oregon Energy trust for $50 I think. So, not a great price.

mentalpiracy · 4 days ago

Telling me that you’ve unilaterally decided to lobotomize a product I already paid you for, and then thinking that I’d like the privilege of purchasing additional goods from you - even at a discount - is certainly something.

Gotta juice those numbers before moving on to the next role.

mentalpiracy commented on Food, housing, & health care costs are a source of major stress for many people apnorc.org/projects/food-... · Posted by u/speckx

aprilthird2021 · 22 days ago

Costco used to be cheaper bc of the bulk factor, but nowadays I think of it as a good curator. The products are usually good quality. Even if more expensive

mentalpiracy · 22 days ago

A good example of this is their meat department, specifically beef as an example. You will generally find that Costco is not any cheaper than your regular supermarket, but the product you’re getting is graded USDA Prime or better.

There was a great comment on Reddit from someone who worked in the meat department that highlighted this comparison with specific examples but alas I am unable to find it.

mentalpiracy commented on What went wrong inside recalled Anker PowerCore 10000 power banks? lumafield.com/article/wha... · Posted by u/walterbell

Abishek_Muthian · a month ago

I've had my share of spicy pillows ranging from iPad to power bank from upstart company which became spicy after using it for just 3 times[1].

I've been overly cautious of batteries for several years now, I charge my devices with 1A charger and keep it between 40% to 80% . I now carry a single 18650 cell power bank instead of those 10,000 mAh, 20,000mAh power banks.

I don't sleep with phone, tablet or kindle on bed and I force my partner to do the same to her irritation. Last week her MacBook became spicy overnight and I had to rush to Apple Store morning, the price for battery replacement was more than the price of that MacBook in used market so I had to buy a new MacBook.

I miss the good old days where I could take the battery of the Nokia phone and spin it on the table to see if it's become spicy. I pray to EU gods to please force the manufactures to bring back user replaceable batteries.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/spicypillows/s/fMNcm07aT2

mentalpiracy · a month ago

This honestly sounds like the electricity service line into your place is fucked slightly and it is gradually destroying your electronics.

mentalpiracy commented on ChatGPT agent: bridging research and action openai.com/index/introduc... · Posted by u/Topfi

twalkz · a month ago

The "spreadsheet" example video is kind of funny: guy talks about how it normally takes him 4 to 8 hours to put together complicated, data-heavy reports. Now he fires off an agent request, goes to walk his dog, and comes back to a downloadable spreadsheet of dense data, which he pulls up and says "I think it got 98% of the information correct... I just needed to copy / paste a few things. If it can do 90 - 95% of the time consuming work, that will save you a ton of time"

It feels like either finding that 2% that's off (or dealing with 2% error) will be the time consuming part in a lot of cases. I mean, this is nothing new with LLMs, but as these use cases encourage users to input more complex tasks, that are more integrated with our personal data (and at times money, as hinted at by all the "do task X and buy me Y" examples), "almost right" seems like it has the potential to cause a lot of headaches. Especially when the 2% error is subtle and buried in step 3 of 46 of some complex agentic flow.

mentalpiracy · a month ago

> "I think it got 98% of the information correct... I just needed to copy / paste a few things. If it can do 90 - 95% of the time consuming work, that will save you a ton of time"

"Hello, yes, I would like to pollute my entire data store" is an insane a sales pitch. Start backing up your data lakes on physical media, there is going to be an outrageous market for low-background data in the future.

semi-related: How many people are going to get killed because of this?

mentalpiracy commented on The Death of the Middle-Class Musician thewalrus.ca/the-death-of... · Posted by u/pseudolus

HPsquared · 2 months ago

UBI would introduce massive inequality between those who work and those who don't. Much tension would arise.

mentalpiracy · 2 months ago

a definitive assertion offered without elaboration

mentalpiracy commented on Falsehoods programmers believe about aviation flightaware.engineering/f... · Posted by u/cratermoon

sandworm101 · 3 months ago

Sounds like a list of edge cases just like any other area.

Myths programers believe about cars:

Cars in the same lane always travel in the same direction.

Each street has a name.

Each street has a unique name.

Each street has only one name.

Cars have four wheels.

Cars never move vertically.

Roads never move.

Roads never cross water without bridges.

When two roads cross, the do so at an intersection.

Take any field in human experience and one can make such a list.

All boats float. Ships are bigger than boats. Boats are slower than airplanes. Boats only travel on water.

mentalpiracy · 3 months ago

ships use ports, boats use docks.

mentalpiracy commented on Uber's new shuttles look suspiciously familiar to anyone who's taken a bus grist.org/transportation/... · Posted by u/Improvement

nickff · 3 months ago

>” Sometimes basic science research funding is framed in terms of "this program generated $10 of economic activity for every dollar spent."”

This type of cost-benefit analysis (or economic multiplier calculation) is also used to justify public subsidy of sports stadiums and the like. Unfortunately, these analyses always use overly optimistic assumptions, and fall victim to the broken windows fallacy.

mentalpiracy · 3 months ago

that’s very true, good point

mentalpiracy commented on Uber's new shuttles look suspiciously familiar to anyone who's taken a bus grist.org/transportation/... · Posted by u/Improvement

silotis · 3 months ago

It doesn't need to be a cash cow (and probably shouldn't be), but public transit should be able to break even because that is the only reliable signal that a service is providing enough value to justify its cost.

mentalpiracy · 3 months ago

If that is the only reliable signal in this context - what signals of measuring value are available in this context that you feel are unreliable?

mentalpiracy commented on Uber's new shuttles look suspiciously familiar to anyone who's taken a bus grist.org/transportation/... · Posted by u/Improvement

xnx · 3 months ago

> it should not need to be profitable, and framing it terms of profit at all is wrong imo.

What is the right way to frame it? Total cost per passenger mile might be good. The transit systems that move the most people efficiently would do well on that metric.

mentalpiracy · 3 months ago

public transit benefits the community/region more so than any individual benefit, so I don't think cost per passenger is appropriate either.

Sometimes basic science research funding is framed in terms of "this program generated $10 of economic activity for every dollar spent." Social programs sometimes measured this way too. The term for this escapes me at the moment, but I think it would be more useful?