Captain_Wacky's recent activity
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Comment on That book you remember some details but can't recall the title in ~books
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Comment on That book you remember some details but can't recall the title in ~books
Captain_Wacky Link ParentIt's been so long ago, I can't even be certain about the cover, but elements of it seem like that could have been it. The internet continues to amaze.It's been so long ago, I can't even be certain about the cover, but elements of it seem like that could have been it.
The internet continues to amaze.
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Comment on That book you remember some details but can't recall the title in ~books
Captain_Wacky LinkSome paperback fantasy novel about the exploits of a teenage Marco Polo. It was a spare afterthought of a book placed in a third grade classroom for anybody to read. The only thing I remember was...Some paperback fantasy novel about the exploits of a teenage Marco Polo.
It was a spare afterthought of a book placed in a third grade classroom for anybody to read.
The only thing I remember was an offhand account of them fighting/defeating(?) a wizard. Mentioned offhandedly in what had to have been one of the opening chapters.
Edit: I had to have encountered this book in the year 2000, this thing was old, easily some 80s fantasy pulp.
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Comment on How accurate have Ed Zitron's AI skeptic predictions been? in ~tech
Captain_Wacky Link ParentI mean, I wouldn't take Jensen Huang seriously, but.... https://mashable.com/tech/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-says-agi-achieved-is-meaningless .....there is an industry leader, the industry leader,...I haven’t seen any serious estimate that AGI is six months away.
I mean, I wouldn't take Jensen Huang seriously, but....
https://mashable.com/tech/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-says-agi-achieved-is-meaningless
.....there is an industry leader, the industry leader, who said "AGI is already here" on the 28th of August, and it's currently Sept 2nd. People are going to take that seriously and at face value, even if he did immediately follow that up with "AGI as a metric is now largely irrelevant." (Heavily paraphrased)
I have a feeling this is why Ed Zitron's messaging has been so doggedly aggressive. People with everyday experiences in the field say one thing, the industry leaders say something else completely outlandish that contradicts the everyday experts, (the Holy Grail of this field has already been achieved but it was also irrelevant the entire time when you think about it, so let's stop thinking about it) and the markets keep pounding inexorably forward because said markets can afford to be irrational longer than any one individual can remain solvent, and barely anybody really questions the whiplash in the messaging.
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Comment on What workplace absurdity are you forced to live with? in ~life
Captain_Wacky LinkPostman: Bureaucratic nonsense is my lifeblood. We have so many instances of nonsense, it's hard for me to conjure and isolate exactly one thing, but not impossible as I can at least bring up the...Postman: Bureaucratic nonsense is my lifeblood. We have so many instances of nonsense, it's hard for me to conjure and isolate exactly one thing, but not impossible as I can at least bring up the current nonsense we'll be dealing with in the near future.
Call offs and holidays.
Management, in their infinite wisdom, have made it a mission to penalize mail carriers who call off the day before a holiday. On the surface it makes sense, workers need to quit trying to cheat the system to eke out a free midweek-weekend, or an extended weekend, etc. All it serves to do is to shunt more work onto the letter carriers, who in turn have to stay out later to cover all the holes in geographic coverage made by those absent, the day before a holiday.
Thing is, the mail never stops. Most federal holidays land on a Monday, leaving Tuesdays with a massive backlog. Sure, skipping out on Saturday does add to the problem, but that Sunday/Monday mail is still coming. The smarter ones (the fewer of the call offs) tend to call off the day after a holiday, when there's the unreasonable amount of work to be done, and avoid a penalty.
Frankly, (ignoring the multitude of other reasonable scenarios that might have someone call off) penalties should be awarded to whoever calls off before and/or after a holiday, but if only one had to be chosen, it should be the day after a holiday. But management's sticking with their choice, because management cannot be wrong.
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Comment on ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ snags no. 2 with $15.4m as ‘Spider-Man’ nears ‘Avatar 2’; ‘Dog Stars’ put to sleep in ~movies
Captain_Wacky (edited )Link ParentIt's so totally doable, though, because the characters are still so totally relevant. Hell, I'm not even trying here: take Speedy Gonzalez, along with the Roadrunner and Coyote and have them take...It's so totally doable, though, because the characters are still so totally relevant.
Hell, I'm not even trying here: take Speedy Gonzalez, along with the Roadrunner and Coyote and have them take on the border wall, reskin the "Gashouse Gorillas" Baseball team to be ICE agents and Porky Pig in a trench coat is Greg Bovino. Bugs Bunny keeps popping in and out trying to find Albuquerque and inadvertently frees an entire ICE facility with one of his tunnels, all the newly freed detainees meet up at the wall with Gonzalez and RR and company and flatten the wall and the goons for good. Slapstick abound.
The smoke settles and looming on the horizon is the signs of an actual, non-manufactured emergency (a hurricane or something) which then prompts Daffy Duck (as Ted Cruz) to fly off to his vacation home.
In the credits, Porky Bovino has quit, and is sipping red wine in Vegas, acting full of himself with the crazy laugh and being generally off-putting to everyone else who slowly leaves out of the bar, grossed out.
Warner Bros would never have the balls, though. It would absolutely take all the air out of MAGAs sails overnight, and Trump wouldn't even have to be explicitly named.
Edit: Foghorn Leghorn as the facility warden, because I want to hear him stumble through the word "security."
2nd Edit: Hell, completely unrelated to the above, but could you imagine Bugs spoofing on the Silicon Valley Billionaire archetype?
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Comment on ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ snags no. 2 with $15.4m as ‘Spider-Man’ nears ‘Avatar 2’; ‘Dog Stars’ put to sleep in ~movies
Captain_Wacky Link ParentIIRC, I want to say the reputation (or lack thereof) of Warner Bros contributed (and still contributes) more to the lackluster sales of Looney Tunes, rather than the perception that Looney Tunes...IIRC, I want to say the reputation (or lack thereof) of Warner Bros contributed (and still contributes) more to the lackluster sales of Looney Tunes, rather than the perception that Looney Tunes is 'outdated.'
The Space Jam reboot is a great example of this. I remember the common sentiment being "Damn, do we really want/need a reboot of this? The OG Space Jam is still practically timeless!" and plenty of critics essentially calling the film a vulgar display of IP ownership/braggadocio by WB. Follow it up with the shelving of Coyote v Acme and the market audiences can't help but be pessimistic about any current and/or future Looney Tunes releases as a result.
Even then, despite the black mark that is Warner Bros, Coyote v Acme getting 2nd place shows me that Looney Tunes isn't outdated, otherwise it wouldn't have gotten such a strong opening, despite the 'handicap.'
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Comment on Chimpanzees have been hurling rocks at the same trees for more than a decade in ~science
Captain_Wacky Link ParentIt's just not a good 'rock-throwin' tree, y'know?It's just not a good 'rock-throwin' tree, y'know?
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Comment on What theme do you use with Tildes? in ~tildes
Captain_Wacky LinkGruvbox Dark, I just like the warmer tones.Gruvbox Dark, I just like the warmer tones.
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Life’s ‘last universal common ancestor’ may predate life itself
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Comment on ‘It finally feels like we’re back in 2019’: US movie theater owners rejoice over $4 billion summer. Can the fall keep the momentum? in ~movies
Captain_Wacky LinkIIRC, weren't theater owners lamenting their 2019 numbers, right before COVID hit?IIRC, weren't theater owners lamenting their 2019 numbers, right before COVID hit?
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Comment on Trying to identify a Yixing Teapot, need help in ~arts
Captain_Wacky Link ParentYeah, was posting to here, hoping to get a second opinion, or more information in general.Yeah, was posting to here, hoping to get a second opinion, or more information in general.
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Trying to identify a Yixing Teapot, need help
I have found a yixing teapot at a consignment store in the US, and despite the usual advice of "assume it to be bootleg," it seems to be handmade, and from yixing clay. However, I am having...
I have found a yixing teapot at a consignment store in the US, and despite the usual advice of "assume it to be bootleg," it seems to be handmade, and from yixing clay.
However, I am having trouble ascertaining identity beyond "yep that's a handmade clay teapot." It has some bamboo motifs that do not seem to fit in any of the online examples I have found concerning teapot shapes, and I have also had trouble in identifying the 3 makers marks present on the teapot. The marks themselves are under the lid, under the main body, and at the 'root' of the handle. Took pictures at multiple orientations for lighting purposes, and frankly, because idk which side is "up" for the characters. I have also included some images to indicate that it's made from clay, and that it's handmade, or at the very least not something pulled from a mold. The black and white and red flecks in the up close shots, the grooves in the bottom interior of the pot indicate it was made with hand tools, no dimples in the interior wall facing the handle to indicate use of a mold, as well as the bamboo branch 'loops' themselves all indicate to me that this had to be made by hand.
Link to the album to the teapot in question: https://ibb.co/album/Zp9BnC
It's a nice mystery to have. I can't imagine it to be anything worthy of a museum, the bamboo motifs certainly do make it seem like it's something quite special, however they also make it hard to discern what the exact geometry of the pot to be when looking at a chart like this: https://www.cnteaspirit.com/shapes-of-yixing-teapot-the-ultimate-guide/ (the closest I think is "Fang Gu" but it could easily be the "Zhu Gu" or "Zhu Duan" special forms, due to the bamboo). I have not seen any bamboo branch loops in any of the examples I have found, so my curiosity is piqued even more.
I am curious to see what anyone can make out of the translations!
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Comment on I'm not ready to let this place go in ~tildes
Captain_Wacky Link ParentThe latest round of invites disbursed on the Tildes subreddit is also only a month old, and has been done at least 46 times since the Reddit API situation.The latest round of invites disbursed on the Tildes subreddit is also only a month old, and has been done at least 46 times since the Reddit API situation.
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Comment on Waving goodbye, carrying my bundle on a stick in ~talk
Captain_Wacky Link ParentI got in by emailing Deimos, in-between /r/Tildes invite waves during the Reddit API panic. (I think it was Deimos, anyway) Finding the email wasn't terribly difficult, just a tad buried in the...I got in by emailing Deimos, in-between /r/Tildes invite waves during the Reddit API panic. (I think it was Deimos, anyway)
Finding the email wasn't terribly difficult, just a tad buried in the FAQ.
Idk if he would still answer those emails today, but between that being a potential option, Tildes invites distributed between current users and the sporadic "invite request rounds" on /r/Tildes, (46 rounds total, latest being a month old) I would have dared to say that Tildes was growing at a rate that was successfully combating the "Eternal September" syndrome.
I guess I would just watch /r/Tildes to see if another batch of invites gets distributed in the following months.
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Comment on Waving goodbye, carrying my bundle on a stick in ~talk
Captain_Wacky Link ParentThat's what I'm wondering as well. I wonder if they do realize that wasn't some announcement of placing the website on life support, right?That's what I'm wondering as well.
I wonder if they do realize that wasn't some announcement of placing the website on life support, right?
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Comment on The US is recruiting gamers to solve its air traffic controller shortage in ~transport
Captain_Wacky LinkWith the relaxing of rules, I can see this going badly. A lot of the current training is to instill a professional mindset, and I can only assume that they're targeting gamers with the idea of...With the relaxing of rules, I can see this going badly. A lot of the current training is to instill a professional mindset, and I can only assume that they're targeting gamers with the idea of bypassing/reducing some aspects of training. Sure, gamers may be adept at picking out patterns and potentially having quick reflexes, but they're operating on an entirely different set of principles. I can't realistically see this current administration doing anything to address that discrepancy.
Will the gamer actually stick it out when it no longer feels like play? Will they remain vigilant, and not divide their attention onto farming on passive games, and/or shitposting on Reddit/4chan? Will they not turn the ATC tower into a gooner cave? How will they handle themselves in an emergency? What if that emergency gets worse, beyond their control? Will they not inadvertently compromise security over the promise of a vial of gamer girl bathwater?
As the article alluded to, you can't just "rage quit" out of a bad situation, and I really, really hope they're filtering those kinds of guys out. I know that not every person who lives with the label "gamer" is that far gone, but is a two-year training program really going to be effective enough to weed out the dummies?
Lastly, none of this is still addressing the main problem: atc guys are being overworked and underpaid. Now they're just doing the same thing but with gamers at a reduced training regimen.
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Comment on As Reddit stock falls, CEO questions value of Google’s AI Overviews in ~tech
Captain_Wacky Link...a member of the Silicon Valley upper crust, speaking ill of AI? I would have thought someone like Huffman would have become an unflinching AI sycophant. Interesting to see any of those guys......a member of the Silicon Valley upper crust, speaking ill of AI?
I would have thought someone like Huffman would have become an unflinching AI sycophant. Interesting to see any of those guys openly complain about how AI is actually making their businesses worse. I guess that adage "no honor among thieves" rings true in this case.
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Comment on What’s a must-buy item you get when traveling internationally? in ~travel
Captain_Wacky Link ParentWhat state are you going to, in the US? If able, find a quality BBQ place, and order the ribs. Preferably from some place that isn't a chain restaurant.What state are you going to, in the US?
If able, find a quality BBQ place, and order the ribs.
Preferably from some place that isn't a chain restaurant.
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Comment on Wildfire smoke from Canada will soon spread across the Midwest and East United States in ~enviro
Captain_Wacky LinkIt's already noticeable in the Ohio sunrises. The morning "golden hour" now casts light as red as a sunset.It's already noticeable in the Ohio sunrises.
The morning "golden hour" now casts light as red as a sunset.
Admittedly my search wasn't terribly deep, but my search results kept repeating "The Journeyer" and "The Dragon's Pearl."