If you click on this thread you must post on it...

The best ways of earning money require one to have no integrity, no values, no principles, no conscience. If there's a new way to cheat and steal, there will always be the same people looking to take advantage.

I stay away from the gen AI threads and didn't know about this suggestion for contest judging. Can't imagine a worse idea. I think a lot of people would stop entering them, including myself, were that to be implemented.
 
Set2Stun said:
The best ways of earning money require one to have no integrity, no values, no principles, no conscience. If there's a new way to cheat and steal, there will always be the same people looking to take advantage.
Click to expand...
That is true. Amazon and other such big companies thrive partly through extremely shady and terrible behavior. Didn't Jeff Bezos recently claim that he is looking to replace all his warehouse workers—not just in America, but worldwide—with robots? I mean, it makes perfect sense for him, but little sense for the rest of humanity.

My biggest fear with the current AI stuff is the wealth gap getting even worse than it already is. I really hope that my hunch turns out to be false for the sake of all of us.

But it is very much true that to do serious and highly profitable business, you have to turn at least a little unethical. For the really big players and those who want to go for the big grabs, you have to do some really nasty stuff to achieve success. If we go back to the AI stuff, for those models to actually exist, mass piracy theft had to be committed by these companies. That's not just unethical, it's straight up illegal, but I of course don't see Sam Altman getting arrested or anything.

There was a recent cookie manufacturing explosion here in Greece from a company named Violanta (Βιολαντα). There was a propane leak that didn't just go unnoticed—the owners were informed of it multiple times—and ignored it until it finally caught spark from the furnaces and caused a big explosion. Five women lost the lives. And for what? For the greed and egoism of higher ups (those who actually get the big profits) who didn't want to spend the cash for a proper investigation and the security measures that would have prevented this in the first place.

I'm not saying that all businessmen are neglectful pieces of trash like them, but doing good in business does seem to require casting aside your humanity at least a little.
 
Last edited:
Set2Stun said:
The best ways of earning money require one to have no integrity, no values, no principles, no conscience. If there's a new way to cheat and steal, there will always be the same people looking to take advantage.

I stay away from the gen AI threads and didn't know about this suggestion for contest judging. Can't imagine a worse idea. I think a lot of people would stop entering them, including myself, were that to be implemented.
Click to expand...
I don't think it was like an official suggestion, but some were commentating that they might be using AI for their markings. I'm not a fan of the judging system in general but they have a massive operation over there.

In other news, improv is very difficult. I've had a few classes now and found that my writing skills are useless. It is the antithesis of writing. But it's a lot of fun. In my last scene the word was "pumpkin" so I got to be a witch (the who), in a Dunkin Donuts drivethru (the where), complaining about the cultural appropriation of pumpkin lattes (the what). Thankfully the other two in the scene with me were better than I and didn't let me drown. So many funny, talented people.
 
All aboard ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Ai, ai, ai, ai, ai, ai, ai
Crazy, but that's how it goes…
 
Okay. I'm sharing this because the juxtaposition made me giggle . The following excerpts are from consecutive reviews on Goodreads:

#1 with 5 stars: This book had a little bit of everything!

#2 with 3 stars: The writing in this was beautiful but the plot felt very one note to me.
 
Reached the first step of the hiring process for a job I applied for. And...ugh. It was carrying on conversations with AI voice chat bots for ten minutes each. The future sucks !
 
JLT said:
When you're wishin' to speak
Of a market in Greek
That's agora
That's where old Socrates
Bought his lamb chops and peas
That's agora

(This is what happens when I work the crossword puzzle and find "agora" for the umpteenth time)
Click to expand...

Funny, I wrote a similar one the other night.

When you're bit in the thigh
as you go swimmin' by --
That's a moray!
Well, his name isn't Keith
six feet long with sharp teeth --
That's a moray!
(etc.)
==========
And speaking of which -- here's a song I wrote many years ago, when I first upgraded from Windows 2000 to Windows XP.

"Running On XP"
(parody of "Running On Empty" by Jackson Browne, 1977)

Looking out at my screen with my cordless cam
Wondering when I can stop buying more RDRAM
Well Windows ME needed a lot of RAM, and XP needs much more
I think I was better off with what I had before

Oh no - running on XP
Oh no - the salesman lied
Oh no - running straight into Hell
And my CPU's fried

Gotta do what you can just to keep your machine afloat
My resources are tied up in Windows services - bloat!
Win98, it would just inflate, and crash eight times a day
I don't know when I started saying "No crashing? Yay"

Oh no - running on XP
Oh no - the salesman lied
Oh no - running straight into Hell
And my CPU's fried

(nice guitar solo)

If I just play Pong, it can still go wrong
And I need some reason - this is quaint
I don't know why this goes in my machine!
I'll stay up all night, it'll be all right
If I can get it to work before I faint

Looking out at my screen with my firewall
Windows XP's security measures are pretty abysmal
I look around for Microsoft's customer service, I've had my fill
Gotta stop before I turn into a drooling imbecile

Oh no - running on XP
Oh no - the salesman lied
Oh no - running straight into Hell
And my CPU's fried

WinXP used to tempt me
You know the way it's clean and shines
I'd love to stick around but my LAN just went down
Running on - you know I don't even know if I'll get out alive
The salesman lied!
Running straight into Hell and my CPU's fried
 
  • Like
Reactions: JLT
The other night (about 10pm) I was on a tram home and overheard a teenage girl explain internet-based acronyms to her tired-looking mother.

It was nearing my stop when she said "... BRB is Be Right Back. And AFK is ..." and hesitated, trying to remember.

I got to my stop, tipped them my hat, said "Away From Keyboard. So long", and left, but noticed the mother giving me a grateful smile. :)

And that got me thinking. Why does the current generation think they invented all this stuff? I started using the internet when dial-up was just coming in, and we had wires going all over the house to connect to it. I remember losing my connection when someone wanted to make a phone call. Does anyone remember that? Come to think of it, does anyone remember touch-tone phones? Or rotary phones? ;)

Now I feel old. I can only surmise that when I'm a grandfather, I shall tell my grandchildren: "Back when I was on the internet, we weren't--" *makes quote marks with fingers* "'surfing the web' with cat videos and pretty pictures. It was all TEXT!" *mumbles defiantly* "An' we LIKED it that way." ;-P

And they will roll their eyes and say "Sure you did, grandpa..." ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: JLT
Rath Darkblade said:
Funny, I wrote a similar one the other night.
Click to expand...
We could do a whole thread on song parodies:

Downtown (with apologies to Petula Clark)

If you don't like the radio in your car
You can always go
Downtown
Just leave it parked in front of any old bar
For half an hour or so
Downton
Some punk will steal your radio
But don't you go a'stewin'
Just call up your insurance firm
And they'll buy you a new one
But if you like that new stereo
You can take it all over
But don't ever go back to
Downtown
You're gonna find it gone
Downtown
Just like the other one
Downtown
You're gonna be tuneless again
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Madman Starryteller
Workshop Copy/Paste Formatting Tip
Replies
6
Views
209
DBwrites
DBwrites
big soft moose
  • Sticky
How to use this board
Replies
4
Views
124
Homer Potvin
Homer Potvin
Madman Starryteller
Do you have a hard time imagining people's faces based on descriptions?
Replies
13
Views
211
Rath Darkblade
Rath Darkblade
Schism
If you click on this thread, you have to create a character.
Replies
7
Views
207
Naomasa298
Naomasa298
Username: required
Do you have aphantasia?
Replies
11
Views
223
Username: required
Username: required
Back
Top