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Sorry about the random post. I was bored at work and scanning some stuff I had on my iPad and came across that. Thought I’d share.

I've been offered a vasectomy on my son's birthday, which is ironic as he's the reason i want one.

Today the cardiologist, the sweetest female doctor I have ever met, asked me what I do for a living. I told her I worked in leadership development. Ah so what kinda software do I develop? It’s not software, basically we train the management. Ah and whatever does one develop on them? Well… Ah is it like communication and the like? Yep, communication and the like. Ah. Imagine, this poor woman with her vast knowledge that she applies every day to save lives must have never heard anything so dumb, insignificant and meaningless to make a livelihood as developing managers in communication and the like. The sheer dumb corporate hubris to spend 50 hours of several people every week on these things.

Thank you Chats, DMC, Toth, and Liffguard. I just need to say it again outloud, it really sucks to feel a deep and meaningful connection with someone and think you found the one, but they are with someone else (it was all just emotional, nothing physical). She worked from home and I would sit with her when I was able and we'd talk for 8hrs+ every day. Frankly it's made me seriously doubt myself and my ability to discern how I'm seen by the people around me. Like am I even capable of having someone reciprocate these feelings? I had convinced myself many years ago I was happy alone, and then I met this person. Now all I want is someone to love me and care about me, and it's just like I'm putting too much pressure on any new woman I potentially meet. I think it's only fair to myself and others to not be trying to meet anyone right now, but I hate the loneliness so so much.

Is that a question?

See also Blood in the Machine, Brian Merchant's latest book.

I completed the main story in Horizon Forbidden West and now I've started the Burning Shores DLC story. I'm 63 hours in the game. At one point I got bored with all the side quests and just shot for finishing the main story. I found the last act of the main story less challenging than in HZD.

Imo, the show did a good enough showing that John loved Mariko. OTOH it's less clear how much Mariko loved John, because she certainly didn't put their love ahead of duty or even her desire to die.

I certainly hope so.

Not to mention a possible greyscale plague.

What Larry said.

Not enough apparently, when he's taking more votes from Trump than Biden.

This essay should be required reading on the broad topic of the ethics of technology, automation, and how we think about reactions to it, and is rather prescient for being written 40 years ago, particularly the conclusion: Is it ok to be a Luddite?

Just been reading up on Alleras / Sarella. If there is any doubt left that they are one and the same, then there is one clue which I think has been overlooked. Sarella's mother being captain of the ship Feathered Kiss is more than just an allusion to her being a Summer Islander, and therefore captaining a Swan Ship (swans have feathers, etc). Because Alleras is famed for his archery, as we see in the apple scenes. And what better ASOIAF-style metaphor for an arrow hitting its target could there be than .. a feathered kiss? Arrows use feathers in their fletching in the world of Westeros, as we see many times in the story, e.g.: Jon hung a quiver from his belt and pulled an arrow. The shaft was black, the fletching grey. As he notched it to his string, he remembered something that Theon Greyjoy had once said after a hunt. "The boar can keep his tusks and the bear his claws," he had declared, smiling that way he did. "There's nothing half so mortal as a grey goose feather." - Including those used by Alleras: Far and fast the apple flew . . . . . . but not as fast as the arrow that whistled after it, a yard-long shaft of golden wood fletched with scarlet feathers. And kisses are often used as metaphors when using a piercing weapon: Ebben drew his dagger. "A steel kiss will keep her quiet." Kurleket grabbed a handful of hair and yanked his head back in a hard jerk, baring his throat. Tyrion felt the cold kiss of steel beneath his chin. "Shall I bleed him, my lady?" So it's fitting that the daughter of the captain of the Feathered Kiss would be skilled at producing ''feathered kisses of a more deadly kind.

How much is the Trump campaign paying this asshat to be a spoiler?

As of now, the only other two confirmed are Utah and Hawaii (there was just a ruling in his favor on the latter). Here’s a good rundown of his camp’s reported efforts:

A lotof books knocking around. Let's try the Kingsguard history.

You're just realizing this now? Silly Sox fan...

OH NO! Not the tower of joy This is starting to feel like a scavenger hunt... a little bit here, a little bit there.

Reports that Florentino Perez is initiating an ownership restructure at Real Madrid to ensure that the club can never be sold to a State, Hedge Fund, High Net Worth Individual or Consortium. As a contingency measure, should the club ever find itself in serious financial difficulties in the future that would require a cash injection, the club would be allowed to convert the 100,000 socios membership into shares to sell with a market limit of 49.9% thus going from 100% fan owned to a 50+1 model.

It is art, it just sucks. The product itself is ugly, it contributes to a flattening and smoothing of our collective culture, and it increases economic precarity for working creatives. It's bad art with negative social effects, but that doesn't make it not art. PS: I also just want to push back a little on the variations of "I'm not a Luddite but..." type statements. I want to make it clear I explicitly am a Luddite.

I was just coming here to post that, but see I was too late. Eventually 3rd (and more) party support does wane towards November, so we'd expect the effect, whichever way it goes, to also be smaller down the line. Still, every bit helps, and RFK Jr is actually on the ballot in Michigan (havent checked other swing states).

Nope. I found the recent solar eclipse to be awesome in the literal sense of the word. My dad is pleased emotionally watching baseball. Neither of these things are art. Art is more than just something that produces an emotional response. This premise here, that the rest of your post is based on, simply isn't true. I'm not going to argue that art requires the creator to have an intentional message, or that it be understandable. But I think (so this is just my opinion) that one of the differences between art and something else, is that art requires an intention to create on the part of the person doing it. I'd argue that not all photographs are art. Not all books are either. The artist is in some way marking the art by taking something that is inside themself and putting it outside into the world. Art predates written language. We've found bone flutes over 100,000 years old. There is an element of self-expression in art that makes it what it is. You could argue that we're all just meat robots and that anything we do is a byproduct of our programming and our experience at that specific moment of action, that there is no such thing as originality, that everything created is simply a reassembly of things that came before. As a person and maybe a Luddite, I disagree. AI-created stuff isn't art. It might be a really good facsimile thereof, but we're going to need a new word for it. It's not the same thing when the creator is removed. I think we might already be at a point with graphics and music where we can't necessarily discern if something is AI generated or not, where we can't actually tell if it's art or not. I can't tell the difference between a fake diamond and a diamond simply by looking at them. It doesn't mean they're the same thing.

Echoing others, I've been there as well. It suuuuucks, no doubt about it. I think @Toth is right, cutting off contact might be the right idea for now, but it definitely doesn't have to be forever.

No. It’s coming at them through a dating app. They are convinced it is real despite all evidence to the contrary. Can a human have real love for a bot? Can that love be real the way people defending AI “art” claim AI output can be “art”?