I told my Mom that I store my laundry on the floor. And at least I intended to use it, unlike the radioactive dump sites around the world.

As recent as the early 1980's

The software is doing what it is programmed to do. Which is to apply a statistical model to input text to generate output text. Encoded in this text are agent commands that the runtime, but since it is statistical and the training has only a very narrow view of success the big picture might appear to be a failure or violation of requirements. But if you never put anti-crime training in your models then expect crime to be on the menu for AI.

Guess what else is left out of the chat bot models? Blackmail, bribery, swatting, extortion, murder, ...

All a means to an end when the end is the signal during training.

They were still dumping this in the 70's and 80's when they knew better.

Over the years this is an accumulation of approximately 60 Olympic-sized swimming pools (I'm hand waiving here assuming the density of the waste is the same as water). So yes, the ocean can dilute that, but it does impact the local ecology. And it does violate the principle of "don't shit where you eat", in that some of the sites are beneath prime fishing areas for the US and EU.

Venture capitalists don't want a suck up. They want you to say the right words to convince them that they can make a lot of money off you.

P.S. name drop time, I once drank scotch with Marc. I brought Balvenie PortWood 21 and DoubleWood 12 to celebrate a release milestone with my team, and he was able to stop by and hang out with us. (I don't recommend Caribbean Cask 14, I almost brought that and glad I waited to try it first)

The short cut to avoid writer's block is stop being creative. The block is because you are attempting to come up with something in your own head. When all you really need in business are the ideas in other people's heads.

Back in the day, there were so many TV ads seminars on how to get rich the same way as the presenter/author.

We have done the younger generation a huge disservice making them believe that anyone can be rich and successful by simply wanting it bad enough.

When acquiring a completed film for distribution, it is standard practice to keep the underlying financial frameworks and contracts intact. So the actor "points" (backend profit participation) payout structure is likely preserved rather than wiped out.
As far as I can tell this was an all-rights sale to Ketchup, but WB still has all the IP rights for the characters. So t-shirts and those sort of things are going to either go to WB or be split depending on the details of whatever secret contract they have. Not that this film is likely to have much merchandising, maybe someone will make a board game of it or something equally wacky.

Given our performance at the U. N., I think Iran will be free to bank in Europe. Perhaps most oil trade will soon be in Euros.

We have been blind to what is going on because nobody dreams of enslavement.

But this is the most Boomer thing I've heard this week.

I'll have my citizenship revoked or liberty taken away if I make too much of a fuss.

Russia tried a 13% flat tax. And for the most part it accomplished what it set out to do; get tax evasion and the black market economy under control. Those problems are not anywhere to the severity here in the US that was seen 1990's and early 2000's Russia.

To fund the social programs, infrastructure, and military that people want, the tax is going to need to be quite high in the US. 13% won't cut it. The number is around 35% flat tax to hang onto what we have today without borrowing. And that does not answer what we do with people where a 35% haircut to their income means they are short on rent.

We are a nation that can put men on the moon, build the largest nuclear-powered naval fleet in the world, and collect and tally the votes of over 150 million registered voters. I think we can figure out how to count your income, subtract each bracket off the effective earned income, and tally up the rows to get you a final tax value. If you want to know your effective rate, take that value and divide it by your gross income.

That said, if we really don't want to do arithmetic anymore, then perhaps we could save a little money by ending our math education. Imagine the tax savings if we lower our standards and create a generation of ignoramuses.

Ketchup bought the distribution rights from WB for around $50M. I suspect most of the $100M goes to the box office and actors, I'm not sure what percentage WB gets. Likely not much given the large up front payout. That puts WB around $20M in the red on this film (they probably spend around $70-80M making it).

I would define what went down as a major cock up for WB. And no matter how well the film does they will have trouble doing much better than breaking even.

Plus my votes potentially won't count in the next election. (all mail ballots)

I do protest, and I do encourage everyone to be prepared both mentally and financially for a general strike. Because I believe it to be the only way to force representatives to listen to We the People.