I have a set of 5 Echo Dots around the house and ever since I "upgraded to Alexa+" -- it's a train-wreck. Sure, the AI gives much smarter answers to questions. But they continuously forget my preferences for the voice I chose for them to use. (My wife and I both prefer their "female 2, relaxed" voice, as most similar to the original and more "professional" sounding than the others.) But no, it keeps going back to a voice that sounds like a bubbly, annoying teenage girl. Worse yet, there's no way to set a voice as default for all devices. You have to go around changing it for each one independently.

And that's before all the creepy, info-stealing behavior it has. EG. Someone will come over and ask it a few questions. Next thing you know, it's asking them to share their name since it's a voice they don't recognize.

The private sector has a solution to all of this that "just works". You acknowledge the supply and demand. Swamped with public record requests? Great! Hire more people to handle them as their job description/title, and charge enough for them to cover their salaries or hourly contractor rates.

IMO, asking one group to pay $2.3 million for a records request is unreasonable. But why can't you ask all of them to pay a fair share so the process works smoothly and effectively for everyone involved? A qualified govt. contractor hired to fulfill FOIA requests is typically paid a midpoint salary of about $88K per year.

Fact of the matter is, TX has been more the extreme, modern Facist-Republican governed state than "traditional Republican" for decades now. It took a lot of people some time to come to that realization. But definitely by the 1990's, watching what was happening in Texas made me solidify my views as more Independent/Libertarian than Republican.

As just a couple of examples?

- TX passed a law requiring people get a permit to legally possess Pyrex glassware. (Thought was, if you weren't a research lab or a school, you probably only had it around your residence if you were making illegal drugs.)
- TX was well known for their "Vampire cops" who were legally allowed to hold a person down after they were pulled over, and draw their blood to check for alcohol.

The general populace of Texas doesn't necessarily reflect this at all, especially with so many liberal-minded people who moved there from places like California in recent years. But the people in political power there operate with a lot of support from those who like the traditional ideals Texas claims to stand for, while acting in ways contrary to some of those ideals.

Why would you expect humans to get along and live in perfect harmony in the first place? I can't think of any species, much less an apex has be that lives this way. That we have managed this to the extent currently observed with large nation states is rather remarkable. This is why I also find the notion of AIs ever taking over and collectively acting against humanity ridiculous. If they're programmed at all like us, they'll act the same way and turn on each other first chance they get.

Psychopaths get results. They may not be the results than anyone, psychopath included, wanted, but they get results. The problem is that AIs aren't intelligent and can't actually realize when they've been given an impossible task (or reason that the task is impossible) and will try to do whatever it takes to get the desired outcome. Calling an AI psychopathic is anthropomorphizing it unfairly, but it is an apt comparison to a similar pattern of behavior exhibited by humans.

It really shouldn't and if it does it suggests that something has gone horribly wrong. The Python language itself shouldn't care about what language the interpreter (or whatever else is going on under the hood) was written in.

It's more of an indictment against the studios being unable to make new films that audiences are interested in than anything else. I won't got as far as saying they're completely devoid of creativity as I've still been able to find plenty of good films over the past five years, but at the same time I think that if the LotR trilogy were given a rerelease it would outperform a lot of the current films. The industry still hasn't recovered from COVID.

The real reason is that the city recalled their previous DA a few years ago because his progressive policies proved even too ridiculous even for extremely liberal San Francisco. The current DA is actually prosecuting criminals and more importantly charging some of the minors who were responsible for a lot of this crime (because they'd immediately be let out and just go right back to it) as adults which has made a big difference as well.

The feds cracking down on illegal immigration May had some effect as well. A lot of the crime in SF is criminal gangs with ties to other countries. Again this is largely a manner of targeting and removing the criminal element responsible for the majority of the crime. There are probably some other reasons beyond these as well, but those two are probably the main drivers.

There are arguments to be made for something like this, but we really should do away with most of the AM spectrum for radio and repurpose it. Radio is a lot less important than it used to be and the entire AM spectrum isn't necessary for an emergency notification system. Arguably a satellite system could replace it now or in the near future.

Odd to hear this take coming from you. Out of curiosity do you feel the same about other mandatory things included for safety purposes that also add to the cost of the vehicle? Normally you're quite keen on arguing for the government to force people to buy something you consider to be for their own good or to even go further and suggest the government deliver that thing itself. Not that I expect this to change your entire worldview, but the next time you want to go off about someone who'd prefer the government not to force decisions they don't want on them, you remember this.

Does your company not have water coolers or a modern equivalent? I may not always want to have a human interaction with my coworkers, but if I'm going to have one it's going to damn well be like a human being.

"Give me the man and I'll give you the case against him." -- Soviet secret police chief Lavrently Beria

People want children, but most don't want 3+ children. Most wealthy families don't have 3+, they have 1-2 like everyone else. If every couple only has 1-2, you are still looking at population decline.

I don't think international experience backs that up. The places where birthrates are highest are places where people can barely afford to eat. Scandinavia still has low birthrates despite a lot of family-friendly policies. The Central African Republic has high birthrates despite being one of the poorest countries on earth.

When given a choice, most people will choose either no kids or to only have 1-2. Kids are a lot of work no matter how much money you have.

I still use forums for special-interest sites. They are the best for curating a body of knowledge like fixing/maintaining a vintage car. Sites like reddit were never good for a how-to guide. Youtube can be helpful, but video can be a clunky medium for conveying basic information like a torque specification.