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RTDNTOTO šŸ» Random Thoughts Deserving No Thread Of Their Own 20 (2025)

Annoyed that the A's are using the moniker "ATH" rather than "SAC" in their schedules, and will go by simply "The A's." Why not "Sacramento A's?"

I don't know it bothers me so much, but it does.

With that said, we haven't been to an MLB game in years, but we are thinking of heading over the mountain to see CHC@ATH for the first MLB game ever played in Sacramento.

I went to a lot of minor-league games there when I lived in Sac decades ago.

Jim
 
Wannaplan? said:
Recent news reported some advanced AI thingie coming out of China, with capabilities that leave US AI developers in the dust. A related news item from this morning had said that stocks are now tumbling because of that Chinese AI. I am struggling to understand the connection - why do stocks tumble if there are tech advances in another country? Makes no sense to me. Unless stock traders universally have gone "all in" with AI investments? If true, seems way lopsided to me.

Can someone help out and be a Stock Market and AI whisperer so this Cyburbian that's somewhere on the spectrum for money management understand the scope of what's going on? Thanks in advance!
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More specifically, reports are that the Chinese firm did for $60million (with an "m") what US firms have been unable to do for billions (with a "b"). Investors apparently don't like that ...
 
Gedunker said:
More specifically, reports are that the Chinese firm did for $60million (with an "m") what US firms have been unable to do for billions (with a "b"). Investors apparently don't like that ...
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You mean $6 Million...

However, I think there is a lot more to this and some think they are under-reporting their expenses.
www.fool.com

China's DeepSeek AI Model Shocks the World: Should You Sell Your Nvidia Stock? | The Motley Fool

www.fool.com www.fool.com

My question is the the are referring to this as a Sputnik Moment. In that situation, the US got pissed that the Russians beat them to space without the US realizing how far along they were. So we doubled down and surpassed anything they could dream of in a very short period of time. The competition was just taken to a whole new level and the advancement obtained was greater than what would have otherwise been realized.

My question is have we entered in to a space race like situation to achieve real self-aware AI? Or is the technology not really there and this is more of a 'deep fake'
 
Wannaplan? said:
Cool, got it, thank you! Dumb question, is AI use that widespread that it disrupts stock market investments, or is this all reactions to speculative investments? (When it comes to AI, I have my tinfoil hat on, I donā€™t see how it is useful, ergo, my dumb thoughts that everyone else thinks itā€™s useless.)
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It's extremely useful. Last year it was a mere party trick. Now I use it pretty much every other day, whether it is to clean up an email, proof read for me, hell i fed it an entire 100 plus page permit and had it spit out what details needed special inspections on the pages, which I turned around and slapped a developer around and called out their BS.
 
arcplans said:
Last year it was a mere party trick. Now I use it pretty much every other day
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I'm sorry, but all I can say is yikes. Though I think I can see where you are coming from... are you in the private sector? If so, I can see how using AI can speed up office time on the project, thus reducing your billable time on that particular client, and thus, allowing you to take on more clients, and thus, enabling you to bill more time
 
arcplans said:
It's extremely useful. Last year it was a mere party trick. Now I use it pretty much every other day, whether it is to clean up an email, proof read for me, hell i fed it an entire 100 plus page permit and had it spit out what details needed special inspections on the pages, which I turned around and slapped a developer around and called out their BS.
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Ironically, I just rewrote my post using AI so that it was clear and concise.

I use AI for summarizing large reports, articles, and letters, provided they don't contain any personal information. However, I'm uncertain about the security of various AI systems. Additionally, my brother-in-law, who works in IT for the banking industry, shared horror stories about data breaches resulting from employees inputting spreadsheets with sensitive information into AI systems.
 
Wannaplan? said:
I'm sorry, but all I can say is yikes. Though I think I can see where you are coming from... are you in the private sector? If so, I can see how using AI can speed up office time on the project, thus reducing your billable time on that particular client, and thus, allowing you to take on more clients, and thus, enabling you to bill more time
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The google audio AI program can take an entire video or audio recording and turn it into a two-person podcast talking about the key points. We tried it and it was surprising accurate and hit all of the marks.

I've used AI to take certain public technical reports and create a lay person highlight. It is good at digesting information into a concise bullet point, but you do have to peer review the information. Otherwise you could end up with awkward language like how Trump defined man and women in his Executive Order.
 
Wannaplan? said:
I'm sorry, but all I can say is yikes. Though I think I can see where you are coming from... are you in the private sector? If so, I can see how using AI can speed up office time on the project, thus reducing your billable time on that particular client, and thus, allowing you to take on more clients, and thus, enabling you to bill more time
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Nope, public sector. As a matter of fact there are start-ups now using it to help ensure plan checks are ready to be reviewed to ensure expediency of plan review to ensure basic items are there. Hell I even used it as a basis for starting objective standards. This is a tool. The kids are starting to use it, and use it well. It's the next wave, either embrace and morph and learn how to incorporate, or fall behind. Sorry but it's how i feel about the whole AI thing.
 
arcplans said:
Nope, public sector. As a matter of fact there are start-ups now using it to help ensure plan checks are ready to be reviewed to ensure expediency of plan review to ensure basic items are there. Hell I even used it as a basis for starting objective standards. This is a tool. The kids are starting to use it, and use it well. It's the next wave, either embrace and morph and learn how to incorporate, or fall behind. Sorry but it's how i feel about the whole AI thing.
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I am a slow adopter if it, but I think you are correct. I just fed a few details for a proclamation and it spit it out. 95% of it was there and only required some minor changes. Now if I can just find a way for it to review the stack of RFQ's for a project in another department that are sitting on my desk in paper format.

Unrelated, I am fascinated with the population distribution of the country by Time Zone... Almost half the US lives in the Eastern Time Zone, followed by Central, then Pacific, then Mountain. (not including AK or HI)
 
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arcplans said:
either embrace and morph and learn how to incorporate, or fall behind
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Well, I don't see it that way. I think you have it backwards. Society needs to have a set of ethical principles in place to guide us before we unabashedly go down this road of widespread AI acceptance.
 
Wannaplan? said:
Well, I don't see it that way. I think you have it backwards. Society needs to have a set of ethical principles in place to guide us before we unabashedly go down this road of widespread AI acceptance.
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We have not operated that way in over 100 years. Sure, it would be amazing if we did, but we don't.
 
Wannaplan? said:
Well, I don't see it that way. I think you have it backwards. Society needs to have a set of ethical principles in place to guide us before we unabashedly go down this road of widespread AI acceptance.
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While I agree an ethical principles need to be in place to guide us, I want to go out in a limb and say the majority of use is a positive one.
 
michaelskis said:
I am a slow adopter if it, but I think you are correct. I just fed a few details for a proclamation and it spit it out. 95% of it was there and only required some minor changes. Now if I can just find a way for it to review the stack of RFQ's for a project in another department that are sitting on my desk in paper format.

Unrelated, I am fascinated with the population distribution of the country by Time Zone... Almost half the US lives in the Eastern Time Zone, followed by Central, then Pacific, then Mountain. (not including AK or HI)
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Never thought about it, but that makes sense since the east coast is so heavily populated.

I know this wouldnā€™t happen, but I wonder how it would work if they theoretically did a ā€œrealignmentā€ every ten years after the census to keep the four time zones evenly populated, like they do in Congress.
 
I'm headed out to Sacramento for a conference at the end of May and was looking forward to catching an A's game while am in town. Unfortunately, it looks like I'd have to show up two or three days before the conference or stick around two or three days after in order to get a home game out there. I'm sort of bummed.
 
luckless pedestrian said:
Jimi Hendrix was once asked what it was like being the world's greatest guitar player. He replied, ā€œI don't know, go ask Roy Clarkā€
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MD Planner said:
Roy Clark was one of the greatest guitar players ever. It's a shame that a lot of the non-rock guys don't get their due in the mainstream. It's like when someone asked Eddie Van Halen what it was like to be the greatest guitar player. He said, "I don't know, you'll have to ask Glen Campbell."
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that's a bunch of bullsh!t. We all know the world's greatest guitar player is clearly Roger Smith of Langley Falls, Virginia!








The actual guitar work there is Australian Tommy Emmanuel, who may have a legitimate claim to that "World's Greatest" title.
 
Random news, Arizona State is #12 nationally in hockey. No follow up questions. I don't really follow college hockey. Just read the paper.
 
DVD said:
Random news, Arizona State is #12 nationally in hockey. No follow up questions. I don't really follow college hockey. Just read the paper.
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Can AZ even generate naturally occurring ice?

;)
 
Tax season -
You need several forms & schedules to fill out other forms.
Some you collect & hold while others you have to submit
 
Washing the car at the drive through a few days ago. Three lanes that merge into one and the center lane was blocked off with a cone. Left lane (VIP) was backed up into the internal shopping center drive. I went to the unoccupied right lane (pay) and proceeded to be fourth in line. All three have the windshield barcode scanner. Meanwhile the 8 cars in the left lane just remained in place. This is a facility where you can pay a one-time or monthly/unlimited. Perhaps a few in the line were one timers but I did see a few that had the barcode window sticker. Similar happened many years ago when a new James Bond movie came out and tickets were at a demand. There were two box office windows and a very long line at one and nobody at the second. All were purchasing at the window. My friends and I walked up to the empty window and purchased without waiting.

People tend to follow others without thinking. I'm sure there is a term in psychology for this behavior.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I'm headed out to Sacramento for a conference at the end of May and was looking forward to catching an A's game while am in town. Unfortunately, it looks like I'd have to show up two or three days before the conference or stick around two or three days after in order to get a home game out there. I'm sort of bummed.
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Let me know when you are heading out. I grew up in Sacramento, and live just over the mountain in Reno nowadays.

The River Cats are likely playing during the time you are there if the Aā€™s arenā€™t. Iā€™d join you at the stadium.
 
jumbach said:
Let me know when you are heading out. I grew up in Sacramento, and live just over the mountain in Reno nowadays.

The River Cats are likely playing during the time you are there if the Aā€™s arenā€™t. Iā€™d join you at the stadium.
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Happened to me last year at the MN NPC. I wanted to catch a Wild game or Twins game. Both were out of town the days I was there. A Timberwolves game was available and tickets were available to conference attendees but NBA basketball does nothing for me. I'll watch NCAA but not NBA.
 
SlaveToTheGrind said:
Happened to me last year at the MN NPC. I wanted to catch a Wild game or Twins game. Both were out of town the days I was there. A Timberwolves game was available and tickets were available to conference attendees but NBA basketball does nothing for me. I'll watch NCAA but not NBA.
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Same here. I always look at the schedules to see if a game is possible. At least we did go by Target Field. The Loons were in town (MLS) but it conflicted with meeting up with some friends.


The Rockies aren't in town during NPC this year, but the Rapids (MLS) have an afternoon match.
 
Weird fact: I mailed our February mortgage check on January 6 to a PO Box in Calabasas, CA.

The check was just cashed YESTERDAY.

I wonder if the LA Fire had anything to do with the delay.

Never got a "Hey, you forgot something!" e-mail or phone call from them, either. (Btu then, technically it wasn't due until Feb 1, with a "Late Fee After" date of Feb 16.)
 
jumbach said:
Never thought about it, but that makes sense since the east coast is so heavily populated.

I know this wouldnā€™t happen, but I wonder how it would work if they theoretically did a ā€œrealignmentā€ every ten years after the census to keep the four time zones evenly populated, like they do in Congress.
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Have you seen hunger games?

Population Density, Wealth, and Resources are not equitable over geography. Moving people would not go well.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
I'm headed out to Sacramento for a conference at the end of May and was looking forward to catching an A's game while am in town. Unfortunately, it looks like I'd have to show up two or three days before the conference or stick around two or three days after in order to get a home game out there. I'm sort of bummed.
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Depending on the game there is an interest list going. I signed up for the opening weekend games against the cubs, and the 4th of July games against the giants. The tickets will be stooopid expensive.
 
DVD said:
I said no follow up questions!
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stop that too silly meme_2.jpg
 
I went to the MicroCenter in the large city to my southeast on Saturday. I had an hour to kill and it would have been easy to spend multiple hours in their. I went in just to browse and ended up dropping nearly $100 on 3d printer filament and other things that I didn't know that I needed until I saw them.
 
Moved from the political thread (I don't know why I posted it over there):

I like to use the "free" toiletries (aerosol deodorant, hairspray, after shave, shaving cream, shampoo, etc.) in the locker room at the gym. Last week they swapped out the brand of hairspray they've been using for years for a new brand and I've been using it thinking it was doing a really good job. This morning I had my glasses on and realized I've actually been using deodorant on my hair this past week. I actually really like the results so now I have to decide whether or not to keep using it! :rofl:
 
luckless pedestrian said:
Carry on
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AIB & thought of this quote from the TV show MASH

I'll carry your books, I'll carry a torch, I'll carry a tune, I'll carry on,
carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, cash-and-carry, carry me back to Old Virginie,
I'll even ā€œhari-kariā€ if you show me how, but I will not carry a gun.
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Hawkeye Pierce
www.inspiringquotes.com

Funny and Heartfelt Quotes From M*A*S*H

With its unique combination of comedy and wartime drama, "M*A*S*H" managed to make audiences both laugh and cry in spades.
www.inspiringquotes.com www.inspiringquotes.com
 
Getting our last swims in before our HOA pool closes for extensive renovation for a few months. Supposed to reopen mid-summer.

Havenā€™t heard what kind of discount we will get off our dues. In the meantime, city pools/gyms await, but thereā€™s nothing like having this one a two-minute walk from the house.

Not ADA compliant, and since itā€™s not open to the public it doesnā€™t have to be, but I think a zero-entry or lift would be nice.
 

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How did we miss this -

2010 Ig Nobel Prize Winner

TRANSPORTATION PLANNING PRIZE: Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Atsushi Tero, Seiji Takagi, Tetsu Saigusa, Kentaro Ito, Kenji Yumiki, Ryo Kobayashi of Japan, and Dan Bebber, Mark Fricker of the UK,
For using slime mold to determine the optimal routes for railroad tracks.

REFERENCE: ā€œRules for Biologically Inspired Adaptive Network Design,ā€ Atsushi Tero, Seiji Takagi, Tetsu Saigusa, Kentaro Ito, Dan P. Bebber, Mark D. Fricker, Kenji Yumiki, Ryo Kobayashi, Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Science, Vol. 327. no. 5964, January 22, 2010, pp. 439-42.
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