AI as auto complete is exactly what I was thinking.

I’ve seen lots of cases where AI appears as an auto complete suggestion and I can just hit <TAB> and it finishes the current line. It’s essentially filling in the boilerplate text. Heck in some cases it isn’t even right, but it’s close enough that I can change a few values.

I also want to point out that this isn’t particularly new technology. This existed before AI. It has perhaps expanded more, but it isn’t a revolutionary improvement, it’s an incremental one. So when we talk about usefulness, I think it is actually more useful.

Now if it could do all the magic planning and thinking, that would be more useful, but we’re not there yet.

I wonder if having a robots.txt file that said to ignore the file/path would help.

I’m assuming a bad bot would ignore the robots.txt file. So you could argue that you put up a clear sign and they chose to ignore it.

I would but I don’t have the inside knowledge. For all I know the director made exactly what they intended and that was apparently terrible. Maybe they cut scenes, maybe they added unnecessary scenes, maybe there was push from the studio.

Ultimately a film is what the director creates. If the writing wasn’t good it’s up to them to figure something out how to improve it. If the producers try and force changes it’s up to the director to either make them fit or convince them otherwise.

Obviously you pick your battles and a film is a collaborative project, but the director is the captain, they guide the ship, they guide the film.

Yeah I wasn’t even going to touch on that. AFAIK he was just a “regular dude” when this film came out. But chances are he was just hiding it. If the DCEU didn’t die I suspect the future of these films and the lead actor would be a huge problem.

That sounds absolutely plausible.

The film also has the most egregious bit of product placement I’ve ever seen in the film, which I have to imagine is a push from the studios/finance.

For those who haven’t seen the film, the film deals with gods and other mythical creatures. One of those creatures is a unicorn. One of the characters, a young girl, loves unicorns. However these unicorns are less friendly horses and more fantasy war machines. Luckily they can be tamed by “ambrosia” aka “nectar of the gods”. So when the unicorns appear and begin to attack everyone, good or bad, the little girl tames them using… SKITTLES. And I swear a character even says “Taste the Rainbow”. Basically Skittles save the day and defeat the bad guy in the film. They are core to the story.

At the time of its release the first Shazam film was solid and generally fit in the “good” section of the DCEU.

However by the time Shazam 2 came out it was bad and generally fit in the “bad” section of the DCEU.

I don’t think Shazam 2 was poorly directed, but the story didn’t work at all and was ultimately a mess. So with that, it’s difficult to blame anyone other than the director.

I’m glad Sandberg is taking another swing at something big because they seem like a nice person and I think they can do a good job.

Two days?

A friend worked at a company with a one-man IT crew aka “the friend”. Technically they worked part time, but occasionally had to come in and fix things that broke overnight. So they were “always” on call, but things mostly ran smoothly and unless it was super important it could wait until business hours/the next working day. Basically computers working was useful, but not a requirement for this company.

Anyway I was looking for a job, friend convinced the owner they needed help, so the job was mine, no interview needed.

So day one I get a look around, get a jist of how things work, get accounts setup, get HR-type stuff setup, take long business lunch and talk shop.

Day two, meet the owner and eventually the conversation turns to, “So let me know which days each of you are covering.” As in a single 30 hour per week job for one person, is now two 15 hour per week jobs for two people.

Needless to say my friend was mortified. Obviously I wasn’t going to screw them over, so I quit. I found a job shortly after that was way better and my friend got a small (although not nearly enough) pay bump. So guess it worked out.

Knoppix. I didn’t see it listed yet so I had to chime in.

I saw it and was confused that computers could run something that wasn’t Windows and wasn’t Mac. Then I was handed a Knoppix LiveCD and suddenly MY computer was Linux. Absolutely blew my mind.

I then explored Mandrake (now Mandrivia?) for a while but it never really stuck.

A few years later Ubuntu was handing out LivdCDs to everyone running Warty Warthog and soon after window managers started to use Beryl (?) which let you have a fancy cube desktop. Absolutely pointless but that’s how it all started.

I think that’s a pretty great summary. When it comes to unnecessary/years later sequels most are just garbage. I think Matrix 4 is still bad, but I have to give it credit for trying something interesting. It doesn’t work ultimately, but it tried something.

I think anarchy chess allows for such rulings.

Exactly, Chess is Mario Kart.

Anyone can learn how to play Chess. Anyone can learn how to play Mario Kart.

You slap a controller in someone’s hand tell them “A” is go and they can play Mario Kart. Sure they have to learn the track, where to collect power ups, where the shortcuts are, and eventually they have to learn about and master drifting.

But being a genius in Mario Kart doesn’t make you a genius. No heist movie ever said, “And this genius over here? They scored first place in 200cc Special Cup.”

I expect they’ll patch both. Start with patches to the Switch and then, if the game can be patched, patch that.

Yes, when I was much younger I won 2nd place in a Diablo II fan site giveaway. You had to answer 5 difficult trivia questions about Diablo II to be entered into a drawing and my name was selected second, so second place.

Unfortunately, I never received my prize. The prize was shipped to the wrong state, they used the wrong two letter abbreviation. If I recall correctly the city & street was a valid address in the other state. I tried to contact the organizers and the post office (obviously they couldn’t help) but it never planned out.

I think my prize would have been a small Diablo figurine.

This reminds me of a short story/presentation by computer scientist Ken Thompson titled, “Reflections on Trusting Trust”.

It’s worth reading but basically we use software to create software. We trust that the software we use to create software can be trusted. We have the source code, but that’s just words on paper, it doesn’t do anything. We have to use software to turn that code into software.

To light a campfire take a burning stick and apply it to the pile of tinder and dry wood. Where do you get a burning stick? Place one in a campfire.

I don’t mind going out to a theater on occasion, but honestly I usually prefer to watch films at home. I can start them whenever I feel, pause if needed, have plenty of food/drinks, and can invite a friend or two over if they’re interested.

I’m still confused by what happened with this film. I knew it was coming out, but I didn’t get around to seeing it opening weekend, then by Wednesday of the next week the headlines stated that it was leaving theaters and heading to streaming.

I would have seen it in theaters, but once the streaming was announced I didn’t mind waiting another week or two.

I just saw it and enjoyed it.

I feel like it didn’t have any time to build momentum, just kicked almost straight to streaming.

If you watched Sonic 1 & Sonic 2, it’s a no brainer to watch Sonic 3. I think Jim Carrey is the best part of all three films.

Additionally, the story loosely follows the 3D Sonic games storylines, so if you grew up with those games it’s fun to see them come to live action.

If you have no attachment to Sonic or his games, you’ll still enjoy some parts, like Jim Carrey, but otherwise you’ve just got to accept the premise and be fine with whatever is happening.

If your main draw is Keanu, I mean he’s in the film, but he’s a talking hedgehog so… You know… Set expectations.

Mine was when Master Chief showed up in the post-credits and suggested he and Steve should team up and then both shouted “It’s time to play Xbox™ One™”

Let’s start with Vodka. What a fucking waste. Vodka, at it’s best, is supposed to be flavourless. So you’re already off to a terrible start. If you’re asking for a Vodka Martini you’re asking for Strong Vermouth.

So let’s get that out of the way. You need the standard gin. Gin is delicious. There are many different Gins to choose from. Gin has actual flavor. I like Hendricks, but try and figure out which Gun you like best. Beefeater is great for a gin & tonic, might not work as well in a Martini. Try a few different options.

Now we’ve got Gin and vermouth. Those two work together beautifully.

Now I like a good olive. I say make that fucker dirty. Extra dirty. OLIVE ME THE FUCK UP! That’s what I want. You want it straight up? Fine. I think it’s packing but it’s the traditional way and I won’t complain. You want a cocktail onion? That’s called a Gibson and I ain’t complaining.

But GIN THAT FUCKER UP. Fuck off with your weak ass Vodka Martini. I don’t care if it’s Grey Goose or some other “fancy” shit. That ain’t no Martini.