pstuart

19 ms·

541.
by pstuart 7mo ago
> But what does that actually get us? Who said anything about "us". Every action taken by this administration is specifically for self-enrichment (directly or to cronies/patrons), the destruction of things that they deem &
542.
by pstuart 7mo ago
Agreed. My point was that it will forever be some kind of moving target and to expect a policy framework to guarantee "good behavior" is a mistake. I emphatically believe that understanding the incentives of all the players is par
543.
by pstuart 7mo ago
> people can become real monsters It's being consistently verified in real time if you track current events.
544.
by pstuart 7mo ago
A simplistic answer would be to ensure that incentives are aligned with safety and success. Then that leads to the evergreen problem of Goodhart’s Law (when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure). Even if it can't
545.
by pstuart 7mo ago
I am in no way suggesting that the freight traffic be diminished, in fact it should be increased. We can have both but the rail owners only care about their immediate profits and have shown to be reckless with their management via deferring
546.
by pstuart 7mo ago
We should nationalize the rail lines, ensure Positive Train Control is mandatory, invest in the rails and sidetracks to allow for faster trains and less traffic jams. It could be structured so the current owners don't lose money on the
547.
by pstuart 7mo ago
These dialogs always prompt me to chime in with my solution: make the police be self-insured, backed by their pension fund. The police today have zero incentive to serve the public, they have zero skin in the game and can literally get away
548.
by pstuart 7mo ago
When there's an OVERproduction of energy, that really means there's an UNDER-availability of storage. Battery tech continues it's march towards cheaper prices, and alternatives such as thermal storage are making inroads as we
549.
by pstuart 7mo ago
I maintain that the series "24" back in the day did us all a great disservice by promoting the value of torture to "save the world". I'm hard pressed to find any reason for any citizen to be compelled to share their
550.
by pstuart 7mo ago
I take no pleasure in my assessment at all, and I would love to be proven wrong. Let me give you one of countless examples of why I said what I did: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/26/hegse
551.
by pstuart 7mo ago
It was about America. I think the only overlap between "conservative" Republicans and religious fundamentalists is the "social conservatism", e.g., "family values", "law and order", etc. The quotes ar
552.
by pstuart 7mo ago
"One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz" -- Lou Reed. I remember there was a whole debate about Lou being a sellout for appearing in an ad for a Honda Scooter. Such innocent days...
553.
by pstuart 7mo ago
Well, it was a public domain picture of pulsar, and I remember seeing it in Scientific American before the band used it. I had the shirt, loved it. Had tix to see them on their first tour of the states and then Ian had to go and off himself
554.
by pstuart 7mo ago
It's an algorithm issue. When people hold a media consumption device in front of their face all day and the algorithms are played, then it's literally a brainwashing device.
555.
by pstuart 7mo ago
I believe that highly intelligent people can do incredibly stupid things -- I've seen it first hand. The correlating factor for those two acquaintances is that they are both devout Christians . I find that to be beyond ironic but also
556.
by pstuart 7mo ago
Watching helplessly from the inside is painful. What makes it worse is I know people who are intelligent and appear to not be hateful SOBs that voted for the clowns, and would do so again. It breaks my brain, and my heart.
557.
by pstuart 7mo ago
All these are true, but just as it happened before the internet, it's accelerating even further. There are clear costs that cannot just be hand waved away.
558.
by pstuart 7mo ago
That's a great point, and I believe that it remains that way because the incumbents like it to keep the competition out. If we had a real DOGE that would have been a prime target. That, and making the Pentagon an auditable entity.
559.
by pstuart 7mo ago
I recently had a chat with a young person who'd recently graduated with a degree in marketing, found the work entailed unsatisfying, and left that to become an apprentice electrician. He said that with the tariffs situation work had s
560.
by pstuart 7mo ago
Would redirecting them to a website where they can go through a guided intake and get some confirmation of a callback? A well designed UI that allows them to ID their vehicle (make/model/year) and the issue they're having? HT
561.
by pstuart 7mo ago
Yes, understanding algos is valuable, and implementing them of the top of one's head is a nice party trick, but in the end we're paid to solve problems and it's much faster and easier to identify existing solutions and adapt
562.
by pstuart 7mo ago
We need a military that is well-equipped but also cost-conscious in how they are provisioned. The Military Industrial Complex is designed to extract as much cash from the coffers as possible without regard for the value added to national de
563.
by pstuart 7mo ago
I get the hate on AI for many reasons (hype, resource greediness, threat to civilization, etc), but having a local LLM that could help guide and reason about the data within seems like a win, especially if it's optional.
564.
by pstuart 7mo ago
Any more interesting tidbits to share about working with the man?
565.
by pstuart 7mo ago
I was similarly reminded but couldn't recall the source. Thanks! It seems like it might be a worthy adaptation to commercial chest freezers/fridges.
566.
by pstuart 7mo ago
The moment "think of the children!" enters the chat is when suspicions should be heightened.
567.
by pstuart 7mo ago
Sorry to disagree -- stupidity and self-centeredness have a plan in that too.
568.
by pstuart 7mo ago
I'm not a fan of the tablet as a pacifier approach but it's not my business. What is my business is when the parents do so without providing a way for the child to indulge without annoying everybody else. I consider that to be abs
569.
by pstuart 7mo ago
I do try to keep abreast of where they're at. It's pretty much a one-way street. C'est la vie.
570.
by pstuart 7mo ago
Agreed. It's not nature vs nurture, it's nature (with nurture sanding off some rough edges).

More ›