h a l f b a k e r yThe leaning tower of Piezo
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Somebody honks at you, ask yourself, what would
Einstein,
Aristotle or Socrates do? Honk back immediately while
flipping the bird of course. But what if you're busy
texting?
Announcing AutoHonkBack. Microphones in your car pick
up
the offending car honk and immediatly trigger your horn
in response. If enough of these get installed, you'd get a
chain reaction, similar to when a dog barks and other
dogs
within hearing distance bark as well.
How far would the chain reaction go? When would it
stop?
Would it stop? In areas with enough cars so equipped you
might honk at somebody in Manhattan and a half hour or
so
later, Chicago is alive with car horns.
Hmm, that gives me an idea that's actually sort of
interesting.
Never mind.
Cassava
https://en.wikipedi...#Potential_toxicity
"Cassava... should not be consumed raw... contains two cyanogenic glucosides" [8th of 7, Dec 08 2020]
[link]
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Excellent! - I can’t believe this product is not already available |
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I think it might be where I live. You've never seen a more
self entitled group of Tesla driving precious richi riches
whose time is so incredibly valuable they can't abide by
losing even a second to somebody in front of them who
isn't
moving through that green light fast enough. That light
turns
green the horns are honking. |
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I've got another idea, scolding horns. If the light turns
green and the horn is activated by the driver in less than
2 seconds, the horn doesn't sound and a recording says to
the driver "Calm down asshole!". |
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Maybe a lower tech version would just be a recording that
plays after you hit the horn where a Hal9000 voice says
"Was that really necessary?". |
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When I retire I am so moving away from Silicon Valley. |
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I think it must have been a more relaxed place when
I lived there (more than 20 years ago now) |
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It's so different you wouldn't recognize it. I used to love it
here, but it's so based around money now that it
represents
everything I hate, including being stuck here because it's
the
only place I can make this kind of money. Ironically. |
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The local high school has been called "suicide high"
because here the students are so driven to success,
bringing home an A- meaning you might not get into
Harvard and will have to settle for Yale, is reason to jump
in front of a train. |
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It's become a disgusting culture. I've told my kids
basically, fuck money beyond having enough for personal
freedom but working for prestige among people you don't
even like? What a horrible treadmil to live your life on.
I've gone to parties here where people compare their
Teslas and one gal at a gorgeous estate on the hill
overlooking the bay seemed embarrassed to say "We have
the exact same house in Sweden." after I complimented
it. |
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Can you imagine the embarrasment of having duplicate
mansions in different countries? An oh yea, those Andy
Warhol prints in the living room
were real. |
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Nice people and I'm not talking smack about them, I'm
just critical of the value system I guess. Maybe I'm just
wired not to trust rich people being from the ghetto in
my youth or something. Maybe I'm just jealous because
my home is smaller and lower down in the valley. Plus
looking at an art collection that probably cost more than
my house is a little weird. |
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Anyway, I hate it here and am looking for property on the
beach where I'll be on of those old guys surfing. |
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//scolding horns...a recording says to the driver "Calm down asshole!"// Surely that could be easily implemented in software and remotely uploaded to all the Tesla cars? I bet if they did that their share price would rocket. |
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Isn't an anti-scolding 'Om' horn on the Halfbakery R&D proving table? |
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I can confirm that everything [doctorremulac3] says
about silicon valley is spot-on. It's not all like that:
there are fools like me who do non-software
engineering work here, and I tell myself that it's
worth it for the joy of working with the other
wonderful people who were smart and lacking in
common sense enough to move here, and I think for
me it is actually worth it. But yes, particularly at the
lower end of the "rich" spectrum that mixes with the
plebs, there are some people who seem to have
shallow and questionable morals, and fundamentally
a goal of personal enrichment rather than the noble
nerd goal of making war on the unknown. I think this
is not unexpected, for if these lower-rich were better
people them they would be busy with their own
class. |
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I never felt the appeal of buying art like that. I have
seen one or two houses like described, and sure it
may be impressive to some people to own things
that other people agree are great, but from a nerd
perspective if everyone agrees it's great then it's
probably boring. Sure, a rich person can decorate
their house as a carbon copy of the height of 1965
or 1865 or 1665, but it's unoriginal. If a house is to
be personalized, then the personalizations should be
interesting, not mere originals that have become
cliches. (For myself, I would install reproductions
and original work by new artists, and use the savings
to build a house combining the best parts of
"Biosphere II", Netherfield Manor, and a radio-
telescope facility.) But, same as classic cars are
cheaper than new luxury cars, classic paintings are
cheaper than, say, central banks, so it is
understandable to cope by buying original paintings,
and criticizing the unoriginality of others'
acquisitions would be strategically foolish. I am glad
that my relative poverty allows me the freedom to
speak, though in the manner of a court jester. |
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In traffic, everyone gets there at the same speed. |
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To young people thinking about moving to the Bay
Area: take a lesson from the Wright Brothers and
don't. The Wright Brothers were doing so great when
they worked in a cow field, but then they had all
kinds of problems after going to 1900s Paris which
is like 2020s SF. To build your grand plan I think you
just
need one young person who's as crazy as you and
one old person who's done it before for occasional
wise advice. No need
to move here to find that. My .02c |
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In any case, when driving around here I tend to play
rock music inspired by videogames and pretend that
any honking is not directed at me. Seems to work
ok. |
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//Would it stop? In areas with enough cars so equipped you
might honk at somebody in Manhattan and a half hour or so
later, Chicago is alive with car horns.// |
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It would be capped at the speed of sound no? and you'd be
limited by oceans, so the whole phenomenon would be
confined to the hellish continent upon which it was first
deployed. |
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//To young people thinking about moving to
the Bay Area: take a lesson from the Wright
Brothers and don't.// |
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Yup. There's no affordable housing anyway. |
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If my rants about my home sound like a bitter
person talking about an ex wife that used to be
loved, that's an apt analogy. I used to love this
place. The reason so much of
the modern world was invented here was due to
very philosophy about the valley created by Leland
Stanford, who not only started the University here,
but after visiting Harvard to donate a building in
his son's name, realized that they were a bunch of
useless elitist idiots and decided to build his own
university build not on elitism, but on dedication
to the practical application of new technologies in
the surrounding area. |
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He was a practical railroad man and was dedicated
to getting stuff done, not sashaying around in a
toga pontificating about how precious he was like
the east coast hoi polloi. That's why the areas
surrounding Stanford was so
instrumental in creating the modern world. The D
in R&D was emphasized. |
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But it's a god forsaken money grubbing shithole
now and I'm looking for new homes by the beach
this week. I can't put up with this rat race forever.
I've done my part to keep the world connected,
now the world can kiss my ass. I'm going surfing. |
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"To be wroth with one you love doth work like madness in the brain." |
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Now, ironically, the world seems to be one giant Stanford prison experiment. |
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The term of art is "capture"; those with ideals and vision and drive, but maybe a bit too much trust, build something beautiful, and bullies, meddlers, and bureaucrats slime their way in and not only wreck it, but act like nothing of value could have been done without their "help". (Bitter? No, I'm not bitter. That's probably just the smell of this special gourmet coffee I made just for you. It's - err - marzipan flavour. Drink up!) |
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Is that cyanide certified organic? I won't take it otherwise,
you know. |
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Organic cyanide. There's a philosophical idea to be
explored with that concept but I don't know know
exactly how. The title to a chapter in a book on
philosophical sociology maybe? I'd read it just to see
what it was referring to. Certainly would get your
attention. Nobody would say "Another exploration of
organic cyanide, I can skip this chapter.". |
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// Is that cyanide certified organic? // |
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Cyanide or its precursors is present in toxic quantities in apple seeds, almonds, and cassava. <link> |
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Chewing apple seeds in quantity has proved fatal on occasions. They're intended to pass through the gut undamaged by digestive processes, but if the coating is compromised then cyanide is released. |
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There's no problem with producing those plants "organically" and the cyanogenic glucosides can probably be extracted without undue "chemistry", so yes, "organic" cyanide can be a thing - if you want it to be. |
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Would you like to try some ? We'll prepare a sample for you to consume. |
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//while flipping the bird of course. But what if you're busy
texting?// |
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Very funny, well not of course if you are actually "too busy
texting", in which case not funny. But I still laughed, so it's
funny. |
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Yes, but your humour threshold is notably low. |
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Then again, since you're female, any sort of a sense of humour - however feeble and erratic - is to be commended. |
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Wait, was that a *kinda* compliment from you??? Uh
oh...Something is very wrong. Are you ill? Do you have covid?
Is the Earth still round? Did a giant space ball smash into the
planet? (I could easily continue but must go paint.) |
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If you examine it closely, you'll see it's very much a Micro$hit complement ... a thin, almost molecular layer of gold leaf concealing the unreconstructed dog turd within. |
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For your information, your planet is in fact hemispherical (just like your moon - you can't see all the scaffolding round the back, holding it up ...) |
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Bit like yourself then.... a sculpted turd, coated
with a thin veneer of normality and secretly
supported by an entanglement of chaotic
scaffolding that acts as a playground for an army
of feral cats. |
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[doc] your rant was revealing. We always figgered SV was
the pinnacle of IT existence on Planet Earth for up-and-
coming technonerds looking to stand the world on end
and retire in glorious Hotel California style. I suppose
every bubble will burst? |
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Well, to be fair, there are good things and bad
things about SV. Here are the good things about SV: |
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Here are the bad things about SV: |
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2- No really, it totally sucks. |
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Although I did see a smiling person who passed me
on the street the other day and said "Beautiful day
isn't it?" Just
kidding obviously. |
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My concern is that when I'm traveling I need to
sync up with actual humans (not money machine
automatons) who say stuff like "How are you doing
today?" As a Palo Altan, I say "Fine." Then I have to
remember to say "Thank you." then after a few
moments I need to remind myself to say "How
about yourself?". Humans can be very confusing to
us SV dwellers. |
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Their actions and traditions are
confusing in that they create neither wide ranging
diversified
capital investment for a long-term growth strategy
or implemented specific targeted capital
investments in order to ensure future growth by
increasing long term operational capacity in one
sector. They just like, smile and stuff. |
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Now excuse me, I need to go make money, this
time I spent here has cost me valuable capital. |
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I see the system as working (sort-of) like this:
Good person has good idea, works to implement it & benefit
humanity.
Money-hungry "alpha"-type gets wind of it, muscles their
way in as "business consultant" or some crap.
Good person gets pushed out as money takes over.
(See, in particular, the story of MakerBot 3D printers.) |
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// Good person has good idea, works to implement it & benefit humanity. // |
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We think you meant to write "Good , but sadly naïve and unworldly person ..." |
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I wonder if SV is deliberately set up as a closed loop system: |
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Individuals work diligently.
Individuals become so depressed over the state of things in their
money-grubbing shithole that they visit mental health professionals.
After many visits the individuals become aware that they now have
less money than before they sought professional help and
subsequently increase their working hours to make up the deficit.
The additional work requires additional visits.
Round and round. |
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I'll say ONE good thing about this place. If
somebody tells you they live here and have tech
skills and can't get a job, they're full of it. |
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And if you have engineering skills that are what I'll
call "old tech" electrical, mechanical etc, it's a
labor seller's market here. |
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That being said, people are moving away from
here in droves. I'm shopping myself. Just checked,
in my city the average home price went up to
well over 3 mil, and that ain't for a palace, that's
for a
3/1, 3/2 maybe. There are many cities in the US
where there are
NO homes that are that expensive. And you'd look
at it and say "THAT'S 3 million dollars?" Most over
valued real estate in history. Bland little boxes
that cost millions. |
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But if you want to work in an office at Google,
Apple, Facebook, Tesla, etc etc, this is the place.
Bunch of overvalued glorified tulip fund companies
in my opinion but what do I know. |
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Genius idea [+]. Sorry I’m late, I was out posting a
letter. Class comments! |
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