Comment Re:Organizers (Score 1) 64

by cayenne8 on Wednesday August 19, 2026 @09:41AM (#66296456) Attached to: Top Album Releases Linked To Rise In Fatal Crashes

Is that an indirect way of saying you spend an inordinate amount of time and money performing maintenance on your old clunker to keep it running? Cars haven't sold with CD players for a really long time.

I know a 2017 Mazda that still has a factor CD player in it.

And then again, often people put new stereos in cars...aftermarket, etc.

Comment Re:Organizers (Score 1) 64

by cayenne8 on Wednesday August 19, 2026 @09:39AM (#66296450) Attached to: Top Album Releases Linked To Rise In Fatal Crashes

I wonder how many fatalities "Radar Love" has racked up over the many years it's been out?

I have to admit, my foot to this day gets VERY heavy when that song comes on...among some other choice "driving" songs.....

Comment Re: Correct alert? (Score 1) 113

by sjames on Wednesday August 19, 2026 @05:39AM (#66296238) Attached to: Sainsbury's Store Pauses Facial Recognition After False Shoplifting Claim

BOTH screwed up. The system shouldn't have made the match and the human should have done a better job seeing that the match was wrong. I'll go one larger and say the people who created the procedures screwed up because they didn't make allowances for the possibility of the first two screw-ups.

Comment Re: pay for the environment (Score 1) 177

by cayenne8 on Tuesday August 18, 2026 @03:28PM (#66295222) Attached to: Solar Power and Batteries Have Been Keeping Europe's Grid Stable

If you let out apartments and houses, you're also going to have to make your properties "greener', or you get penalized in some way. For instance in Belgium you can't raise rent with inflation unless your property reaches a certain level of compliance.

Glad we don't have to deal with that type of overregulation over here in the US.

I mean, it's great if a property owner wants to do it and it is feasible for them.....but I don't like the govt mandating crap like that.

Comment Re:Trust But Verify (Score 1) 113

by sjames on Tuesday August 18, 2026 @11:33AM (#66294778) Attached to: Sainsbury's Store Pauses Facial Recognition After False Shoplifting Claim

The problem is, people have been over-trusting technology since technology was invented. Consider the '70s when corporate representatives were so fond on the phrase "But the computer says...". Yes, you could hear the bold italics in their voice, as if it was the infallible final word on everything.

If THE COMPUTER says you shoplifted, rest assured, some dolt in a suit will treat that like God's own word booming from the clouds.

Comment Re: Correct alert? (Score 1) 113

by sjames on Tuesday August 18, 2026 @11:23AM (#66294766) Attached to: Sainsbury's Store Pauses Facial Recognition After False Shoplifting Claim

But every person who sets foot in that store probably "kinda" looks like someone who has shoplifted. And since shoplifters look like everybody else, everyone COULD be a shoplifter.

Comment Re:vote Democratic Socialist in the primaries (Score 1) 135

by cayenne8 on Tuesday August 18, 2026 @09:37AM (#66294538) Attached to: 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Lenders Pitch Loans For Needs Like Electricity and Rent

There are still a few primaries coming up: https://www.fvap.gov/guide/app... [fvap.gov] If you don't see a DSA candidate see who Bernie recommends https://www.youtube.com/@Berni... [youtube.com]

Sorry I'm just NOT for dismantling the US like the DSA is promoting.

I don't want to get rid of the senate (although I would vote for making them appointed by state governments instead of popular vote like they used to do)....

I don't want to get rid of prisons.

I don't want to get rid of ICE and open our borders to anyone....

I don't want to stop deporting people that are here illegally.

I don't want to get rid of the Supreme Court.

I don't support govt taking over the means of production.

There's a LOT I don't want to do that leads to the complete upheaval of the US and how it was set up by the founders.

Comment Re:An Earned Future, is Earned. (Score 1) 135

by cayenne8 on Tuesday August 18, 2026 @09:27AM (#66294510) Attached to: 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Lenders Pitch Loans For Needs Like Electricity and Rent

There is only so much an individual 'needs" when the needs of others are considered.

Why should I consider the "needs" of others?

I mean, aside from myself, family and friends.....why should I give a fsck what others need when considering my purchases and the support of my preferred lifestyle?

I don't purposely try to hold anyone back, but I certainly don't pause to think "what do others need" when I'm saving for a necessity or even a fun purchase that will buy me something I WANT...not need, WANT.....

Who the fuck stops and ponders others in this manner in life.....?

Comment unpopular opinion (Score 1) 135

by argStyopa on Tuesday August 18, 2026 @07:46AM (#66294374) Attached to: 'Buy Now, Pay Later' Lenders Pitch Loans For Needs Like Electricity and Rent

Given
I submit there are an increasing number of people unqualified to spend their own money.

I see young people (in their 20s) COMMONLY using door dash and buying $8 coffee, who talk about the cool shows they saw on the 5 premium channels they subscribe to.

If you're door-dashing McDonald's, you need your head examined or simply a grown-up to control your spending.

Comment Re:"On the bright side" (Score 1) 90

by argStyopa on Monday August 17, 2026 @07:30PM (#66293840) Attached to: Anthropic Criticized For Adding Watermarks to Text that Claude Generates - or Processes

Yes, in a sane society allegations must be proved, not innocence. Your stance is ridiculous.

I've asked in the multiple repostings of this story - what ACTUAL RARE BOOK has been destroyed?
Name one.

Old books? Sure. The dumpsters of public libraries are FULL of books constantly thrown away. "Old" could mean a book from 1965.

All of this is vague, the original story is full of insinuations and hysteria.
The original title of the book with the airtag and the other ~1,000 titles in that specific Biblio bulk order were conveniently kept "confidential" (why? Wasn't it munched?).

A discussion on r/technology points out the strong implication that priceless artifacts or sole-surviving historical manuscripts were being shredded, when in fact the actual bulk stream largely consists of uncommon, out-of-print, and mundane non-fiction (such as mid-to-late 20th-century technical guides or regional softcovers).

This is hysteria fuelled by carefully fact-free bullshit.

Comment Re:"On the bright side" (Score 1) 90

by argStyopa on Monday August 17, 2026 @07:13PM (#66293812) Attached to: Anthropic Criticized For Adding Watermarks to Text that Claude Generates - or Processes

And?
"This post is for paid members only"

Comment dupe (Score 0) 140

by argStyopa on Monday August 17, 2026 @07:11PM (#66293804) Attached to: Tracking Rare Books Leads to an Amazon AI Training Facility

Maybe in those rare books is the secret technique to slashdot not reposting the same fucking story?
https://news.slashdot.org/stor...

Comment Re:China will beat the US (Score 0) 165

by cayenne8 on Monday August 17, 2026 @01:39PM (#66293126) Attached to: China's Moon-landing Plans And Why the US Is So Worried

Anyway, the actual reason why China is doing so well here is that they have a proper plan that doesn't keep changing, a realistic timeline for it, and are putting in the resources. They have methodically built up the technology they need.

This is easier to do in what is basically a dictatorship where the people have no say in the government and what it does....

Comment Re: perhaps we could observe (Score 1) 165

by argStyopa on Monday August 17, 2026 @11:04AM (#66292818) Attached to: China's Moon-landing Plans And Why the US Is So Worried

Oh look, politically-motivated snark on slashdot. I couldn't have designed a better reply myself.

I don't like Elon much as a person, but please - go ahead and let me know who ELSE in the US (or "the west" generally, lol) is *anywhere near* competitive with an aggressive, dynamic, and far more risk-tolerant Chinese space program?

This is precisely my point. This is barely even a tech-adjacent site any more, and for people here - who literally can't stop injecting Trump (or proxies) into every goddamned issue - to wring their hands over how the Chinese can manage be so much further ahead ... well, I think we have the reason. Maybe they're focusing on something other than scoring political points on social media?

Ever consider that, my brave, courageous social warrior?

Comment Re: "On the bright side" (Score 1) 90

by argStyopa on Monday August 17, 2026 @10:56AM (#66292802) Attached to: Anthropic Criticized For Adding Watermarks to Text that Claude Generates - or Processes

Genuine question, what rare books have they destroyed?
I'm absolutely serious. You refer to it as if it's a proved thing but every single story I've traced back to the source has ended up with (more or less) "well someone told me they were doing it".

Meanwhile, it makes no sense and doesn't pass the reality test.

1) the value LLMs get from books is almost entirely vernacular, idiom, and patterns of credible speech. Facts they can get in abundance and vastly easier/cheaper/faster from the bajilions of sources online than literally chewing through books. "Rare Old Books" are going to have stilted, obscure language, weird constructions, and (in many cases) barely-comprehensible syntax if before 1800ish.
2) old books are fucking HARD to read. Look at the paper and typefaces used before 1800. Why would you OCR those when you can invariably find modern copies in clean print ?
3) just the cost. Again, why specifically hunt down 'old rare books' when modern copies are almost certainly available. Why would LLMs benefit from scouring RARE old books? What benefit would the rarity serve, when likely the texts are reprinted in umpteen subsequent editions that - to put it bluntly - nobody wants? Are they buying an original copy of Samuel Pepys diary (first printings $4000) when they can get the umpteenth reprint for 17 cents? So yes, they're "destroying an old book" but rare? Why would they pay for rare?

You know how I know? Because I've been trying to unload a cache of 'rare old books' for a decade and nobody wants them.

1935 Platt & Munk Indian Series 3 pics Ã" IÃ(TM)ve only ever seen sets of 8, this is 16
https://photos.google.com/shar...

Maximilian I., der Grosse (2 pics) 1876
https://photos.google.com/shar...

Massive Norwegian Bible 1891?, rough shape, 7 pics gorgeous rebinding candidate, probably 14Ã x 10Ã x 4Ã?
https://photos.google.com/shar...

WorldÃ(TM)s Great Classics, The Federalist Papers 3 pics, 1901
https://photos.google.com/shar...

Roman London Ã" 1926? 1 pic (contents on web at https://archive.org/details/in... )

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