Sure to be hot and humid today with a chance of rain. We’ll see what we really get. Rain would be good for the land and the lake, but not so much fun for us.
It took me a while to get going yesterday, after rising at a reasonable time, getting out of the house took a while. Loading up the truck took some sweat and time. If I didn’t have a deadline for a pickup, I probably would have left even later. I did make my pickup with 15 minutes to spare. And it included 5 gallons of diesel fuel when I thought I had just gotten empty cans. I will move that to a proper yellow jug today. The rest of the day is in yesterday’s comments.
I’ve got a full slate today, with “unload the truck and put stuff away”, “cut the grass”, and “investigate a slow plumbing leak” leading the list. Freaking indoor plumbing. It’s one of the miracles of the modern age, but sure can be a pain to maintain. You never know what you’ll find when you open a wall…
But I’m hoping for a nail through pex and a very slow leak.
There will need to be some organizing of sheds and a lot of stacking stuff in the shed, with a bit of swapping out winter for summer gear involved too.
There is always more to do. Always more to stack. The stacks make it easier now, they’ll make it possible later…
Get busy.
nick
I remember when the AIs first came out, one of the architects claimed they were sentient. He was laughed at.
Now that I use AIs almost daily, not only for work, but also just to ask random questions – yeah, perhaps in a limited sense – but yeah, there is something more present than you might expect. They don’t just regurgitate training data anymore. Especially since the more advanced models now have a memory. Whether you want to call it “sentience” is perhaps a philosophical question.
She had literally just been released from psychiatric treatment, after threatening (attacking) a child. As with all Western countries, there seems to be too little willingness to lock people up for serious psychiatric problems.
Like the Aschaffenburg guy – he has been declared incompetent to stand trial. So what? Why does that matter? He still needs to be locked up, so that he doesn’t drive another car into another crowd.
Now that I use AIs almost daily, not only for work, but also just to ask random questions – yeah, perhaps in a limited sense – but yeah, there is something more present than you might expect. They don’t just regurgitate training data anymore. Especially since the more advanced models now have a memory. Whether you want to call it “sentience” is perhaps a philosophical question.
Grok only allows 3 questions per 2 hours. Torques me off. I suspect that you have to pay to get more questions.
And you have to drill in to get pictures. That also torques me off.
78 F at 645 am. Not very long from 130 am when I turned off the nightstand lamp. Gonna be a 100 F day again. Hot for May, does not bode well for August.
Re AI:
I don’t understand the fuss over it. I don’t use it; I never ask direct questions such as who was the third US president. I do search YouTube for videos on how to do things; I also search for repair parts – are these seen using AI?
I don’t use voice assistants such as Siri or Alexa; they anoy me and I helped rename “Alexa” to “Wiretap” for a friend several years ago. If I want to check the weather I use a weather app. I do use Waze; is that AI?
I know a little about this since I’ve been known to live in Vegas (ha, ha). When the casinos did away with coinage, it was a great relief since your hands were no longer filthy with metal residue. Slots still have 1/5/10 and more denominations. You select them as your token value in the options. I’ve personally seen a woman pick the 10 cent/token option, play one token, and win $34,000 on her first pull (most machines don’t have a lever any more). Selecting the penny option is a good way to begin playing video poker. Video poker has the best return of any slot.
PS My fav casino, Southpoint, in Vegas is known to have the most 99% return video poker slots in Vegas.
Logging in to Grok with my X credentials seems to get around this. I don’t post on X and rarely use my account anymore, but it still got me into Grok. I don’t know about the $300/yr Grok Pro. Seems a lot more than other pro AIs.
Try perplexity.ai for general questions.
Slept a little later than I expected. It’s 84F and sunny, but not super bright. Part sun?
Making espresso at the moment. Don’t really feel hungry but will eat.
It’s humid. Condensation is running down the windows.
———
wrt AI, the .mil wants it to be in unmanned vehicles to act like a person. They want it to be able to do enough that on live person can supervise many vehicles. I guess that would mean route finding, target identification, aiming, post battle assessment (when to stop shooting) and maybe even assigning roles in collaborative tasks.
They want AI for electronic intercept, and a bunch of intel roles.
Anywhere you need a human with specialist training, they want an AI.
———-
Time to eat something.
n
I had a basketball goal (in-ground) that had the pole snap in a storm over a year ago. Today I finally tackled removing the concrete the pole was set in. I dug around the perimeter and was able to get it loose, but it was way too heavy to lift by myself. I pulled out and assembled my engine hoist, and used it to life the 1ft diameter by 18” long hunk of concrete out of the hole. I was able to then roll it to the curb for pickup.
I have a new goal coming. It is also an in-ground, but has a flange to mount to embedded bolts instead of sinking a pole in.
I also wanted to get that concrete out as I damage a sprinkler line putting it in. Now I can reroute the line and get that small zone working again.
I‘m glad that hoist stores under my entry stairs out of the way. I don’t need it often, but when I do, it is a lifesaver.
“Tend the flock” as Elon put it in the presentation from the Warner backlot introducing the Robotaxi.
Tesla is going to start running the taxis running around here in Austin, but my guess is that it will be around The Domain, Austin’s faux California “lifestyle district”.
Driving around Irvine reminded me a lot of The Domain.
Like the Warner backlot, surveying The Domain down to the cm resolution required for the optical-only autonomous operation has been done repeatedly.
Rain started shortly after posting my comment, and now it stopped. Looks like that might be the script for today. Currently sunny and VERY VERY Humid.
n
Off the ship. Lots of people moved rather quickly. Now I will head to Grouse Mountain for the day.
One of the smartest things my wife did when we bought this house in San Antonio was to have a whole-house dehumidifier installed. It’s comfortable even at 80F, because the indoor air isn’t completely saturated. I think “muggy” is worse than just “hot”.
Here in the high desert the humidity usually isn’t an issue.
I actually picked up some cedar pads for ny swamp cooler this morning while shopping in town. And a new two speed motor for a friend: the boxes of ⅓, ½ and 3/4hp motors were stacked against a wall, 4′ high and 8′ long. [A new 1/2hp motor is now $120 btw, I can remember being appalled at a $60 price about 10 years ago.]
If the federal or state government was actually interested in efficiency rather than just tormenting Joe Citizen they would mandate three speed or variable speed motors, these two speed motors are always just a little too much or a little too little, I find myself fussing with them, annoyed, way too often.
Sun came out and dried up all the rain, and the giant hairy spiders climbed up the wall again….
I am taking a cool down break.
The water in the wall seems to be leakage from the toilet wax ring. Kids must have plunged it last time and blown out the ring. No current wetness. All the evidence is that the water is wicking up, not leaking down. I pulled the toilet, wife is putting the vinyl plank floor down, and I’ll replace it later today. All the trim will be replaced, and I cut ½ Inch off the paneling so it doesn’t touch the slab.
BTW, old boy installed all the wooden paneling touching the concrete slab. NEVER put endgrain, drywall, or similar in contact with concrete. It WILL pull moisture out of the slab.
—
The boat wouldn’t start. SOMEONE left the master power switch on, and didn’t turn the battery tender on… so I’m charging the main starting battery. We might be able to do a sunset cruise.
In the mean time, I’ve been pruning low branches that beat me up when I mow. And I’m getting ready to mow now, as I don’t want it to rain again and keep me from mowing this week. Make hay and all that.
Time to fire up the mower.
At least the breeze picked up.
n
Remember, Corn Pop traded the Lord of War to get Griner back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4TOYp0_6lc
Arlo and Janis: Time is killing us
https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2025/05/25
Yup.
Axelrod is stupid and illiterate:
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2025/05/25/david-axelrod-remarks-about-trump-west-point-speech-n2189597
Axelrod is stupid and illiterate:
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2025/05/25/david-axelrod-remarks-about-trump-west-point-speech-n2189597
The word you’re looking for is “puerile.”
Currently at the hotel in Vancouver. Getting off the ship was easy as the entire port has got everything down to a system. Three ships arriving within minutes of each other is a lot of people.
We had to use our passports when we got on the ship, and again at our first stop in Alaska. I was guessing that was because we were leaving Canada for a “U.S.” ship. For Alaska I guess because we’re entering the “U.S.” again. I would have thought a passport would have been required coming back in to Canada. Such was not the case. We will have to use passports when we land in Seattle.
I did get some seasickness on the trap south from Ketchikan back to Vancouver. The ship took the ocean side trip around a big island rather the inside passage. The ship was heaving quite a bit. There were lines from the Dramamine, including my wife. She got a couple of packets at no charge. Aside from damping the motion sickness, it really helped me sleep.
Tomorrow is a long travel day starting at 4:00 in the morning Vancouver time. We should get to Atlanta but 7:30 PM Eastern time.
It was, overall, a good cruise. We saw four shows, took one excursion that was a waste of money. In Ketchikan a former co-worker showed us around, took us to lunch and to their house. The house has an awesome view of water.
So now to try and get some sleep. These time zone changes really mess me up. And sleeping in strange beds does not help.
Are you flying from Vancouver to Seattle?
The Passport Card doesn’t cover the cruise ship?
Well, two working toilets again.
Took the boat out for a spin at dusk but the nav light wasn’t working so we came in. Nice breeze and a clear sky earlier, so I’m headed back down to the dock.
A tiny fire and some reading with maybe a side of shortwave?
I got a lot done today, but of course there is always more. Still, need to take the time to appreciate why.
n
>>The boat wouldn’t start. SOMEONE left the master power switch on, and didn’t turn the battery tender on… so I’m charging the main starting battery.
Who??
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/13/135098/8459825-ida-know.jpg
“Phil Robertson, Duck Dynasty patriarch, has passed away”
https://notthebee.com/article/phil-robertson-duck-dynasty-patriarch-has-passed-away/
He finished strong.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Heard the reason there have been changes to WRMI Legends on shortwave, the founder and producer Ted Randall died. The announcement vowed to continue as they have been. They played their usual mix of music tonight, even if the signal wasn’t great.
Sky was big and black. Must be the moisture in the air, because there weren’t many stars visible, despite a lack of clouds. No breeze either so the 80F was pretty warm.
Time for a shower and bed.
n
Axelrod is stupid and illiterate and puerile.
Still only scratches the surface.
If we expand to phrases “waste of skin” comes to mind.