Some day, kids using social media will be child abuse…

Sorry, Bungie. You fucked up Destiny 2, no more money for you.

Even with humans, there are good translations and bad translations.

Some of my favorite authors did not natively write in English and the translators did a stellar job of capturing the nuance of the original.

I can’t imagine AI giving anything other than a straight denotative translation. It would be readable, but with no soul.

Here’s a passage from Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s “The Shadow of the Wind” in Spanish (“La sombra del viento”):

“En una ocasión oí comentar a un cliente habitual en la librería de mi padre que pocas cosas marcan tanto a un lector como el primer libro que realmente se abre camino hasta su corazón. Aquellas primeras imágenes, el eco de esas palabras que creemos haber dejado atrás, nos acompañan toda la vida y esculpen un palacio en nuestra memoria al que, tarde o temprano —no importa cuántos libros leamos, cuántos mundos descubramos, cuánto aprendamos u olvidemos—, vamos a regresar. Para mí, esas páginas embrujadas siempre serán las que encontré entre los pasillos del Cementerio de los Libros Olvidados.”

The English translation:

“Once, in my father’s bookshop, I heard a regular customer say that few things leave a deeper mark on a reader than the first book that finds its way into his heart. Those first images, the echo of words we think we have left behind, accompany us throughout our lives and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later - no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, or how much we learn or forget - we will return. For me those enchanted pages will always be the ones I found among the passageways of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.”

Google translate:

“I once heard a regular customer at my father’s bookstore comment that few things leave a lasting impression on a reader as much as the first book that truly makes its way into their heart. Those first images, the echo of those words we think we’ve left behind, stay with us for a lifetime and sculpt a palace in our memory to which, sooner or later—no matter how many books we read, how many worlds we discover, how much we learn or forget—we will return. For me, those haunted pages will always be the ones I found in the aisles of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.”

Can’t tell if 4/1 gag or not! Brilliant!

Phone functionality is the least of my problems, I need an open source replacement for Android Auto / Apple CarPlay.

Not sure how that would work, you’d either have to emulate it to talk to the infotainment system, or get all the infotainment producers to add an open source layer… Sounds like a nightmare either way.

There wasn’t much thought behind it other than “is it fun” or “is it new”.

There was huge word of mouth whenever a new machine dropped and kids would ride their bikes from store to store to see the new ones.

This was before arcades started collecting them. Arcade machines were just at the local bars, Pizza shops, 7-11s, and grocery stores.

Bars would set them up in non-age restricted areas so kids could play.

One of my favorite bits teaching Hex Ed was writing it on the board and saying it out loud:

0 - Zero
1 - One
2 - Two
3 - Three
4 - Four
5 - Five
6 - Six
7 - Seven
8 - Eight
9 - Nine
A - Ten
B - Eleven
C - Twelve
D - Thirteen
E - Fourteen
F - Fifteen

It is so hard writing the letter and saying the number.

Of note:

"One of the notable issues is that this process also won’t delete all of your data — according to 23andMe’s privacy disclosure, your genetic information, date of birth, and sex will be retained for an undisclosed amount of time to comply with the company’s legal obligations, alongside “limited information related to your account,” such as your email address and communications around your data deletion request.

23andMe did not answer our questions regarding what specific data actually is retained or deleted when a user removes their account. Some posts have appeared online that encourage 23andMe users to scramble their data before deletion by replacing things like name, date of birth, ethnicity, sex marker, and height with false equivalents. This will supposedly render any information that is retained useless, but will likely be ineffective if 23andMe only stores the data that was used to create your account — something that the company also did not clarify to The Verge."

It also has no impact on research studies you’re already part of, all it does is prevent your DNA from being added to new studies.

The Nav system on my Audi Q7 BLOWS compared to Android Auto. It can’t seem to understand a damn thing I say.

I ran into this with my 2013 Kia Sorento ICE (which was subsequently totalled. :( )

When you replace the on-board infotainment system, there’s an interoperability package that has to be installed to make sure the existing functions of the vehicle continue to work.

Think of it like a translation layer, everything on the dashboard that went through the old system, has to be hooked up to the new system. Also complicated by steering wheel controls.

When it was all said and done, I had the full array of cameras that I wanted (turn signal cameras are amazing!) and everything worked…

Except the one little button that changed the interior lighting. It was forever stuck on red.

Now, for an EV, it’s essential everything work properly. I can totally see GM shutting that down.

This is kind of like the complaint about EVs not having AM radios… yeah, there’s a reason for that!

https://www.autosinnovate.org/posts/blog/not-cheap-a-3.8-billion-fix-for-am-radio-in-evs

Blueprints here:

https://cyberneticzoo.com/walking-machines/1894-1914-electric-man-perew-american/

The mechanics were all in the cart, it pushed the figure forward rather than having it pull the cart.

Still, a neat bit of kit!

2 hour video, is there a tl;dw?

When I’m on camera, I never do a background replacement and I’m always in front of bookshelves. Anyone can ask “What’s that thing behind you?” and I’ll take it down and show them.

Also a good idea to have a password or code phrase. This is something that’s been advised for child abductions for years now.

“Your mom sent me to pick you up.”

“What’s the password?”

“. . .”

https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/national/article231037078.html

The hand in front of face thing is interesting, and in the video you can see clear distortion around the headphones which could have been a result of a replacement background.

I’d have requested they turn off all filters and see how they react to that. “Oh, I’m not running any filters.” would be a clear lie and a reason to end the interview.

Basis for a super fun movie last year:

Thelma:

https://youtu.be/RFAFsDEM0j4

Bonus: The actress, June Squibb, is legit 95 years old(!)

Don’t get me started on Xfinity “10G”.

https://www.highspeedinternet.com/resources/xfinity-10g-internet

I started with Pico. ;)

NANO is life.

https://www.nano-editor.org/

Came here to say this, the total number produced could probably easily fit in a U-Haul moving box.