Hello, Sailor!

I'm a bit of an obsessive Infocom fan, including having run a multi-year RPG that, among other sources, uses all of the Infocom games as source material. And I don't know of anything in any of it that says that the postal services on Zork have the exact same rules and regs as the USPS, or that rule in particular. Admittedly, other materials in the games would probably lead one to believe that, if anything, the rules and regulations there are probably even MORE restrictive. But we have no proof of that, either. The *only* thing we really have to go on is that AFGNCAAP (the player) takes the leaflet in Zork I with no apparent negative consequences.

I find myself spending a lot of time with old consoles and computers that I still have from before games started having online components, lately. They were fun then, and they still are.

There might actually be an argument to be made that for *classical* compositions, AI or other technically "perfect" computer driven instrumentals are closer to what the piece *should* be than when it is played by humans. Bach wanted what he put on the paper to be what was heard, not that damned clarinet player that insists on bringing their own "charm and style" to the way they play it. ;)

I'm actually fine with the results possibly being "hallucinated"... but that's because I'm mostly using LLM to help me flesh out details in the Dungeons and Dragons game that I run. Doesn't matter much if facts are inaccurate if they're about something that was imaginary in the first place, as long as I make sure they're used in a consistent way and they help me make the game fun.

I guess it was just you... but hey, a happy audience of one is better than an angry audience of thousands. ;)

Author to LLM: "Edit this for spelling, punctuation, grammar, general clarity, and punch up the tone a bit so it's more interesting for the reader."

Reader to LLM: "Distill this to the briefest form you can that will allow me to still absorb all of the facts presented."

LLM: "Hey, it's a living."

...but the freaking doctors that did my colonoscopies over the last year did a job they *could* have done in a single procedure in three separate procedures in part because the insurance companies changed guidelines for how much anesthetic can be given for a single procedure. In other words, doing it in 3 was the only way they could keep me from waking up in the middle of it, and there was no *medically* necessitated reason for that. Like I said, anecdotal, but if it is in any way typical, those statistics on the number of those procedures may be skewed.

They say it's about reaching Mars. And I guess it is. But I'll tell you a "secret", that you can easily see is true from what happened when we first sent humans to the moon: It is a LOT more about the things we will learn and the technologies we will develop in the attempt, which will then be turned around for application here on Earth. You're literally kvetching about a "wasteful" space program using technology developed in part because of it.

Your style looks sharp. It's going to be a real problem if we start having to make our own writing less perfect in order to avoid being accused of it being AI generated.

Maybe we refuse to own it... because it has never been ours to own? You yourself just pointed out that there was a concerted effort by polluting companies and politicians to hide and obfuscate the truth - seems like there are some known targets that should be facing scorn and justice, not necessarily an entire generation that could also mostly be regarded as victims. You think I *want* the world that it is becoming clearer is being left to the kids? And I was one of the ones that actually listened to the BS we were being fed about ways we could individually help and tried to comply as much as possible.

This got modded "funny" but it really is worrisome how strong (powerful in our government) they actually are considering how utterly and often willfully ignorant they are.

We will no longer need to fear the banana.

If I were Apple, I might embrace this, especially as it looks legally inevitable. I mean, yes, it will hurt their bottom line in the short term, but in the long term, the logic of this legal decision will mean that phone manufacturers will each pre-install their own app store. For Apple, that's just them. For Google, that's everybody who makes Android phones. Google is about to take a huge hit on their revenues from the Google Play store *and* watch their app ecosystem splinter into a thousand pieces, many of which will be less secure, as well. And yes, I know this requires the platforms to open up to allowing other app stores, but really, that will also mainly target Android, because Apple users buy Apple because "it just works" and they mostly don't *want* to mess around under the hood.

Some nerds also like law. Nerds come in different flavors, you know.

It probably wouldn't work all that well, or it would require a complexity that would make it too cumbersome for most. First, what percentage of the materials were gathered in the US from mining, farming, etc? What percentage makes the product "American"? What if no materials came from here, but manufacturing was performed here? Or manufacturing wasn't, but final assembly was? Or none of that was, but Americans were employed packaging it here? Or transport provided jobs for American freight and parcel haulers? What if an entertainment product such as a movie or album was made in the US, but packaged elsewhere?

Globalism makes it all tricky. You could probably make a site with only 100% American everything - but then don't expect to have a broad selection of products, and be ready to watch people buy elsewhere on price, because people say they care a lot more than they actually do when it's their wallet.