I work in localization. Technical writing is often easier for machine-translation systems, because the writing is (ideally) deliberately clear, concise, and structured.

The terminology issue you mention can be addressed at least partially by feeding any such machine-translation system a list of words and phrases to keep as-is in the target text.

Fiction, meanwhile, often involves complicated and subtle wordplay, which no AI system is going to handle very well.

Already thrilled to learn what erotic literature..

.. will read like, after it has been dragged through the automatic translation process. Even the automatically translated descriptions of sex toys on Aliexpress are hilarious, and those are really short and not sophisticated.

I can see it now:

"I put on my robe and wizard hat..."

How about giving the choice for an analog control and taking the wasted extra money spent on computer chips + design + digital display and making the motor last longer?

I would love it if some manufacturer would produce tried-and-true analog designs without all the extra add-on, planned-obsolescence, enshittified bullshit. I suspect this approach would do quite well in the market, at least in certain product categories -- blenders, ovens, washing machines, etc.

Actually, this reminds me to take a look at Lehman's catalog, see what they're getting up to these days. I bumped into them quite by accident ages ago when a relative was living in Amish country. Poking around their website just now, I see things like ovens and hand-cranked mixers. A bit pricey, but no "ET phone home" rubbish and solid workmanship.

• https://www.lehmans.com/

(Crikey, slashcode still doesn't render bulleted lists correctly. How stupidly embarrassing.)

The Fort St. Vrain commercial reactor in Colorado was gas-cooled and ran on a Th232-to-U233 fuel cycle. Fissile U235 was used to get started, but almost all of the energy output was from fissioning U233 produced in the reactor.

That's going to be expensive as hell.

I thought that was the entire point of consumer IoT goods? Rent-seeking by manufacturers?

(Serious question, not just snark.)

Current iron-air batteries have efficiencies around 50%. That is, put 2 kWh in, get 1 kWh back out. That ruins the economics of a lot of potential applications.

PhbGPT

Oo, oo, I know, I know! "What is Bill the Cat?" :D

the phones are NOT selling for $5,000

iPhones can go for around ¥5,000 (US$700)

Oofda, that was some brainfart-induced whiplash. I'm used to seeing ¥ used for Japanese yen, not Chinese yuan / Renminbi, and at first I was gobsmacked at what had happened to the exchange rate. Then in my foggy morning brain, I rediscovered this thing called "Context" and realized I was tuned into the wrong channel.

JPY ¥5,000 ~ USD $32.91, at ¥1 ~ $0.0066 (two-thirds of a penny)

RMB ¥5,000 ~ USD $702.02, at ¥1 ~ $0.14

... I should go get some coffee.

Wyoming is an interesting case. Data centers that have big NG-fired backup generation can connect to the grid only if they turn dispatch of those backup generators over to the grid operator. In high-demand intervals, the operator runs the backup generators rather than bringing in high-cost power from distant generators. Or runs them for frequency control if that's necessary.

There's been at least one case of a data center that signed the contract to allow the operator to run their NG-fired generation. When it turned out they had never actually implemented the control interface, the local utility cut them off cold. Want to buy a data center building with its own substation, the cooling infrastructure, etc? It's sitting idle just outside Cheyenne, with the current owners banned from connecting to the grid.

Did they also ban the use of Latin, abbreviations, and Latin abbreviations?

Back in July the 8th Circuit Court overturned the FTC's "one-click" rule which required that it be as easy to unsubscribe as to subscribe. This case is based on different misbehavior, in particular collecting billing information before revealing terms of service.

Wyoming's Public Service Commission has approved some interesting tariffs for large data center service. The data centers are required to make their backup generation facilities dispatchable under control of the utility most of the time. During periods of high demand, if the backup generators are the cheapest source of additional power, the utility gets to make the decision about running those generators.

The same arrangement probably can't be used in places where an ISO operates the grid through a pure market system.

Hey, what's that watermelon doing there?

... this has lead to a search for a new type of Dark Matter particles, axions, which arise in theories that explain why there is no CP violation in strong interactions.

Does this imply that theorizing and philosophizing, by producing more axions, may in fact hasten the end of the universe??

The end is nigh! Oh dear, now it is nigher! And nigher yet again! AAAAAAAGH!

You know when you are a 100X'er because at that level you just feel the vibes.

So, what is this, just sitting around on a sybian all day?

Actually, that sounds about on-point for some of this AI blather...