MotoGP had it's last race before the summer break in Brno, Czechia. This race saw the return of Jorge Martin to the grid after his series of brutal wrecks and injuries.
A wet Friday gave way to a drying/dry qualifying 2 where, of all people, Francesco Bagnaia earned pole position! Admittedly, he did so only because Marc Marquez tucked the front on a burner of a last lap which, had he not done so, would have seen him some three tenths faster. Quartararo was behind the 93 in 3rd, Bez up in 4th, Joan Mir a season high (I think) 5th, and Raul Fernandez 6th.
In the sprint Bagnaia plummeted back through the field to 7th after a botched slowdown for tire pressure reasons led to many more than the one or two riders he intended pass him get by as he failed to fend off attackers. Marc Marquez also dropped a position after being two seconds ahead and would pace Acosta until he was certain he wouldn't be penalized. At that point, he passed Acosta and still finished almost a second ahead in just a few laps' time. Acosta and Bastianini, who has struggled until now on the KTM, finished second and third. Quartararo ran solidly and only lost two positions. Bez and Fernandez held their own. Jorge Martin made up one position from 12th but clearly has his work cut out after missing so many laps compared to competitors and Aprilia mates this season.
In the race proper Marc, Bagnaia, and Bez fought it out over a couples of laps before Bez and Marc made a clear break. Alex Marquez crashed into Joan Mir and took both of them out of the race and ended Mir's hopes for a solid race weekend. Acosta passed and held off Bagnaia until Bagnaia was unable to keep up. Acosta managed to stay with the two front runners until around lap 9 where Marquez took the lead and Acosta started to fade. Bagnaia was able to secure fourth. He did this despite being passed by Bastianini who would take himself out of the race, and by fending off the riders behind and maintain his gap. Bagnaia didn't run poorly but he didn't run particularly excellently either. Jorge Martin finished not only in the points, but in the top ten which is a promising return.
Absolutely no one had anything for Marc Marquez as he is now 3 races and 3 sprints (and then some) ahead of his brother Alex in the points standings.
The next race is Austria at the Red Bull Ring in mid-August.
Your comment about StopTech sent me down a rabbit hole because they used to be a good company (in my opinion). Tech papers from Carroll Smith, James Walker, and others on the site. Then at some point I realized their marketing had changed and they had been purchased by Centric. Then Centric was bought out by some other entity and the products continued to degrade. Now I see that they shut down all operations in the US a few years ago and shipped off mfg stuff to cheap corners all over the world. Sad. And such a familiar story.
I still remember years ago when they had a display at the SEMA Show to show how much stiffer their calipers were than the competition.
Yeah, what the fuck happened to SIG? My former-Marine ex-brother-in-law swore by them and carried one back around the turn of the century. Now they can't make pistols that don't go off without trigger pulls, and they still can't get the grip angle right.
For reference, here's what a good grip angle looks like:
Steyr makes a fine pistol. I admit SIG should have included a trigger safety however, the only clear video I've seen of a 320 going off clearly showed the shooter's finger being caught between the kydex holster and the trigger as he was reholstering the weapon. The shooter of course swore he had not pulled the trigger...the video showed otherwise.
John Moses Browning, who died in 1926, helped win WWII.
Besides the 1911 sidearm, and the BAR, the M1917, M1919, and M2 machine guns were all Browning designs, the M1919 and M2 being the primary heavy machine guns the U.S. used in WWII. The AN/M2 .50 caliber was the primary machine gun for U.S. aircraft, with four, six, or eight mounted on fighters like the P-51 and P-47. Browning's 37mm cannon was also used in the P-39.
Browning was a smart businessman too. He never manufactured his own guns, preferring to license them. He also was adept at filing broad patents, as well as incremental iterative patents to more or less force his licensees, like Winchester, Colt, and FN, to license them even if they never used them just to keep them from competitors.
Browning may have been a bit of a player too. He traveled to Belgium dozens of times to meet with FN and eventually stationed his son Val there, to look over his interests. When John Browning was in Belgium, though, he stayed at a different hotel than his son. As you mentioned, he was a Mormon and had apparently once broached the topic of polygamy with his wife, who made it clear she wouldn't stand for it.
Nathan Gorenstein's book, The Guns of John Moses Browning is very good.
Patents are a bitch. It's not like the FBI warning you can't fast-forward through (THAT was a distinct advantage VHS tapes had over DVDs) that says $250,000 fine and 5 years in prison for a violation of a copyright. There aren't any patent cops. They don't protect your invention, they only give you the exclusive legal right to sue somebody for stealing your design.
I don't know what the time & cash aspects are these days, but 20 years ago they were about $30,000 and five years. EACH. And if you (or somebody else) changed the tiniest little thing, the patent didn't protect the refined item.
They really only benefit beltway bandits and other hyper-rich organizations that can afford legal departments to go after thieves.
I think what the market was looking for in a service pistol, and what Sig loyalist liked about them diverged significantly. Similar to legacy can makers and new EV makers, once it has to be polymer frame and striker fired, a lot of the instructional knowledge was unimportant, which is not to say a legacy pistol manufacturer couldn't develop a world class pistol for the new world, they just didnt have a leg up anymore.
I enjoy my p229, mostly because it can be taken down each individual piece and put back together, down to the last screw and spring. I enjoy manipulating it, cocking and de-cocking either by hand or with the lever. I enjoy both trigger pulls for their purpose.
I have a Wilson Combat EDC 9 that I like even more, but like the Sig it is a range toy.
If I were to design my own range toy, it would be similar to the EDC9 with a 1911 trigger and no grip safety. I think it would be fun to combine that with the fully cocked striker fire mechanism from an older Walther. In my perfect world the gas pedal thumb safety from a 1911 would double as a cocker/de-cocker so that it was SAO.
But if I wanted to sell pistols, I would just keep cloning a Gen 3 Glock and molding in various tacti-cool finishes.
“If I were to design my own range to, it would be similar to the EDC9 with a 1911 trigger and no grip safety. I think it would be fun to combine that with the fully cocked striker fire mechanism from an older Walther. In my perfect world the gas pedal thumb safety from a 1911 would double as a cocker/de-cocker so that it was SAO.”
I too went down a recent rabbit hole w/brakes. My 2010 E550 coupe was due for rotors and pads. I asked on the MB forums what folks use... which apparently is akin to asking what oil people use. That coupled with the fact that drivers of 15+ year old mid-level MBs run the gambit from: "wannabe rappers & influencers" to "40 something year old man who really wanted a Jaguar XKR but bought an E-Class instead".
I thought I could just buy my old favorite: Raybestos Element3 EHT's. GG rated, Ceramic, good bite, and low dust... but last few years they too have gone to China. Quality has suffered, pads separating from the backing plate, failing early, noisy, etc.
Then I found Akebono Euro - which are American made. I tried them out, and I think they are focused too much on reducing noise and dust, at the sacrifice of initial bite. They stopped OK - but I didn't really like the feel.
StopTech, PowerTech, pretty much anything under the Centric umbrella is China.
Looked into a couple niche ones like Porterfield and Carbontech - I think they were overkill for my needs (and were priced as such) - but they looked good.
In the end I went back to EBC (UK made). If I can't buy US - UK, Germany, or Japan are next on my list. I've used EBC Redstuff pads in the past and was satisfied. They've been on the car for a few weeks now, likely still bedding in, but I'm happy with them so far. Hopefully they maintain their (low-ish dust) and I get a few years out of them.
For future reference, are there any remaining American pad manufacturers??
Many years ago, PF brake pads scared the hell out of me. I put them on my 1990 or 1992 SHO. (I had both, stick and automatic, don't remember which one I used the PF pads on. Also don't remember exactly which pad, but it was a street pad, not track.)
I was driving from NYC to Vermont in winter, in a snowstorm. As one does when one's season pass is in VT. A tree had fallen across the road and was not visible in the snow until I was fairly close to it. When I drive, I do not allow my stopping distance to exceed my visibility range. At least, for what I think my stopping distance is. Turns out those pads lose most of their grip in cold weather and I came to a stop two feet from the tree. The PF pads came off that week.
0-Stunning erasure of the “Barkcast;” we are all eagerly awaiting episode two, a decade later.
1-Why do people listen to podcasts? It’s a disentermediated, low barrier to entry, long tail content medium. Prior to the advent of YouTube podcasts (which are really just … talk shows), podcast feeds were neither algorithmic nor suggested, and there was no comment section. I listen to hours of podcasts every day, primarily about my manifold, esoteric interests. I listened to 15 podcasts on Sunday (on 1.5X, of course).
Life is too short to waste it on music, movies, Netflix, or reading fiction!
2-The Substack raise at barely Unicorn status was overall disappointing. Substack has the same business model as Onlyfans, but their ability to attract new paying customers is flagging, for a variety of reasons: Most people don’t read anything, don’t want to read anything, and if they do read anything, they are happy to read it from ChatGPT.
3-This Uber kerfuffle will be moot when everyone is riding in a Waymo. I have done so multiple times without issue over the past few weeks, and I would prefer it to having to interface with a typical Uber driver.
The door lock on a Waymo is controlled by the account user’s phone. I presume there is some family account that can incorporate two parents in two locations.
13-17y/os? I dunno. I frequently let my 13y/o daughter walk, with friends, all around our suburb. Granted, we were just named Safest Place to Live in IL (#12 nationally), but I don’t know that letting her walk is safer than sticking her in a driverless cab.
My 12 and 14 year olds roam all over on bikes and foot, and have for a while, usually with friends but sometimes alone. They also roamed Tokyo and Osaka without an adult.
They're able to move, duck into a yard, stop at a friend's house if a creep follows them, and generally know where and how they're going from point A to B, what's 'normal' on the route vs what's not normal, and multiple alternate ways should the primary route be unavailable.
You don't know what route a Waymo will take because you're depending on the computer and remote operators, overlayed with the added danger of criminals looking for an easy mark by standing in front of the thing.
I would suggest Uber is now pushing “women’s preferences” because of Waymo. Waymo is for real, and in time will destroy Uber, if Waymo keeps the high quality cars and a decent safety record. I take a lot of Ubers when I travel and seems like for the last year the cars/SUVs are all trashed. It is not a luxury experience and Waymo seems ready to provide that, since, as Jack pointed out, people who use Uber tend to be upper middle class.
Even if you pay for one of the premium classes, it's a crapshoot. Could get a newish Escalade, could get a 15-year-old Tahoe with aftermarket seat covers and a clapped out suspension. I think Uber maintains higher standards in some cities, but Boston is grim. Still better than taking a taxi, though, so I continue to use the service.
It is much worse now than a few years ago. The stock market has changed and companies need to not loose billions of dollars per quarter, so Uber apparently has decided the way to profitability is to maximize the number of vehicles, not the quality of vehicle.
When I worked close to an airport, I wanted to test the Uber waters by picking up a traveler (not like that) once a day (after my workday) and bringing them home to the same suburb in which I lived. Why not make a buck or two (literally, as it turns out) while driving home anyway, I thought.
But I got shut down, since my bigass beautiful Lexus was over 10 years old. Meanwhile, the raggedy ass Altimas and Rogues <10 years old pass muster and weave down the freeways at will.
My Uber career ended before it could even begin. Meh.
My daughter in law is super picky about how clean her nearly new car is, she drove for uber for a few months, I've never asked her why she quit, had she asked me first I'da said ' don't do it' .
When I was younger, a CPA I worked with figured he could deduct his 70+ mile commute if he was actively looking for pickups to and from where he lived - the nearest large city with an airport - and the office. Once or twice a month, he'd also seriously pick up rides to demonstrate he was actually driving for money.
He did this for a few years and actually got a few rides while writing off thousands of empty miles.
When we had out stupid Genesis it was in for a recall and they didn’t have any loaners so sent me home in a POS Lyft driven by someone akin to that “I’m your captain now” pirate. Air con off and driving like a maniac. Gah.
I needed an Uber to get me from Phoenix Sky Harbor to Mesa back in June. After a 30 minute wait and two cancellations, I get picked up in a clapped Cadillac SRX and paid $80 for the privilege.
For the return trip, I’d have my 94 year old Uncle so I looked at pre-booking an XL. It was like $135 and who knows if they’d actually show.
I booked a black car through the local limo service and it was only $170 with the mandatory gratuity. Out driver didn’t let me touch a bag, helped my uncle into the car, and flagged down our wheelchair escort when we got to the airport. Zero hassle. I slipped our driver an extra $50 and still feel like I got a deal compared to the Uber drive.
1. As a Xennial, I listen to podcasts mainly as they've replaced talk radio. Some podcasts really are still just reformatted talk radio shoved out on XM and then uploaded to Spotify. Some podcasts I listen to are also like talk shows in a way, but associating any of the podcasts I listen to as the same format as "The View" would be blasphemous.
2. There seems to be a bunch of gen Xers I know who still love reading long form. My own issue with Substack is really the same issue I have with streaming services. By the time I'm done I'd be 100 bucks in the hole every month to get the content. Substack needs to allow for bundling if they don't already.
3. I remember Elon talking about how self driving Tesla's would be the future, and you could lease out your Tesla as a Waymo like service. I'm sure we will get there, until doing a riot all the Tesla's are hailed and then burned to the ground.
Lol, or colloquial, my wife calls it the #aint between Gen X and Millennial. My own opinion is that there seems to me a more cultural delineation around 1984 or 1985. I'm not sure why they chose 1981.
I was born in '76 but don't consider myself a Gen Xer because I always hated grunge music. And I'm hopelessly out of touch because to me, "#" is pronounced "pound sign."
I used to listen to talk radio all day and then switched to some Sirius shows and now mainly listen to a few podcasts and when I do listen to radio shows its never live because they cut the commercials out of their recordings. One local 4 hour radio show turns into a 2 hour almost commercial free stream. Live radio is awful because of the chopped up formats and commercial interruptions and Sirius has become almost as bad. The worst thing Howard Stern ever did was to tech Sirius that they can sell commercials on shows that listeners have to pay for.
"...sell commercials on shows that listeners have to pay for."
Which is secondary reason I have never subscribed to cable television. That's insulting to me. The primary reason is there's 500 channels and almost nothing on.
But Altima drivers will find out about them eventually.
Altima drivers use and abuse Ubers. I’ve had an Uber driver tell me he won’t under any circumstances go to do a pickup in Anacostia, DC at night because the hoods call an uber just to trap and carjack the driver. He went on one such “sacrifice to moloch funded by Sequoia™️” mission and had to drive over 6 inch curbs somehow, in a CAMRY, to escape with his life.
Waymo has no name recognition now. I don’t see how if they had Lyft level name recognition they wouldn’t face similar issues, unless they intentionally charge high prices, thereby minimizing addressable market.
I found it in the TST archives on Spotify a couple years ago. Is it not still there? It was separate from the BarkCast from Detroit, as this is the first I'm hearing of THAT.
I think Farah’s took the old TST episode down because the Brethren Baruth’s behavior was incommensurate with the host’s current image as a respectable, middle-aged grandee of American automotive media.
I deliberately waited to reply because this is directed at you specifically and everyone else will have moved on. I subscribe to a corollary of "the medium is the message". To wit: The amount of care and effort you put into something determines how seriously I take it; and you. Your posts are always well-thought and well-written. (Unlike, say, Sean, whose posts are almost unintelligible). You have no fear of poking the ACF bear and, ah, bearing the ensuing abuse, much of it ad hominem. I hope you continue to do so. You attenuate the echo in this silo. (And you have admirable insight into F1). But I am curious about which entity has officially approved you. Not the FIA!
I grew up reading a lot, because there was nothing else to do in small town Appalachia in the ‘90s. And I had carte blance at Barnes & Noble, because we had to go to Atlanta most weekends to shop and buy groceries (beyond the bare minimum).
I went to college and studied Classics (I forgot all of the Greek and most of the Latin) and Economics (I retained some of that). Then I went to work as an M&A banker, and I learned a lot about arguing / selling ideas. I became an investment banker for money, as does everyone else. In retrospect, the takeaway was the skills and relationships, however.
I am happy to stand up to the hivemind because (1) it amuses me (at times), (2) and I have fairly high conviction about my beliefs.
"women riders and drivers have told us they want the option to be matched with other women on trips"
ive never used an uber nor do i ever want to but the whole thing sounds awful and i still dont have a zero percent chance of someone getting raped in one. i think ill just pretend to be a woman and if anyone says anything ill just call them sexist or pretend i hit the wrong button like when you hit 2 for french becuase its the only way to ensure youre talking to someone who speaks english
"sent me a dozen or so instant-photo nude snapshots of his female customers — and in most cases, the photos were snapped during some sort of outrageous activity"
so is this when he was driving the taxi or in the back of the taxi with them or what
"the media has to identify rioters and flash-mob criminals as “teens”"
i had leanings before but the 2020 summer of love permanently changed my views on things
"crappy Chinese Stoptech brakes"
wait i though those were supposed to be good yet kinda pricey. is the better option wilwood or is that just as bad?
"bargain-basement KW suspension"
yeah the plastic adjusters and stainless bodied shock didnt thrill me but the competition grade stuff looks alright
"they fully expected that the US Government would make them whole on that"
down here its all “press 2 for spanish” though its said in spanish. but maybe I should try that some day and then start talking in english. can’t be much worse than the “english” speakers we get.
In my fraternity days, one of the brothers I was friends with procured and distributed drugs he obtained from silk road (rest in power), all of his shipments came from spain. So maybe don't exclude them from that list lol
“when you hit 2 for french becuase its the only way to ensure youre talking to someone who speaks english”
If you do speak any French, I would highly recommend selecting “2” every time. Wait times are typically shorter and you’ll be speaking to someone in Canada, rather than someone reading a script in some oversees call centre.
"a 35% decline in profits in the second quarter, continuing a trend of devastation..."
Decline in profits.
Not "we're running in the red because of this."
They're just not gonna make as much of a profit as they expected. So the stockholders will be put out. Sad times, I know.
This would not be a problem except for the fact that, in a very real sense, the primary stockholder in General Motors is the American taxpayer. Had the federal government not shovelled a few billion of your dollars and mine into their coffers some years back they wouldn't be here to gripe about not getting enough cheddar. We, the people, bailed 'em out, and we, the people, have a right to expect a return on OUR investment which takes the form of something other than bigger bonuses for the fat-cats who fucked it all up in the first place.
Something like, y'know, a few thousand decent-paying jobs in this country so we can earn some of our own cabbage back.
This is good stuff and I'm looking forward to more.
I'd like to see the numbers they cherry-picked for that 35% figure, too.
This is the same company touting its Bow Tie division as "America’s fastest-growing EV company.”
Never mind Tesla’s 40+% market domination on more than 100,000 sales per quarter. The General’s volume manufacturer grew its sliver of the electric market from 5.2% to 6.5% in Q1 of 2025... compared to ‘24’s cumulative total.
In reality, Chevy’s EV numbers fell significantly from 28,193 in Q4 ‘24 to 19,186 in Q1 ’25 (a 31% decline), while GM’s overall EV portfolio was down 27% from 43,439 units to 31,886 during the same stretch.
Total loser behavior on their part. Though, I'd finally finish the Blackwing purchase and add a Z07 for good measure tomorrow in the case of an unexpected windfall, so maybe the joke's on me - it's like an abusive relationship at this point.
I find it overall attractive though, much better than the spaceship Toyotas. I have a friend with one, who is the classic Acura/Lexus stealth wealth, retire early type who buys a new one every few years and drives it into the ground. It’s quite sharp looking in person, even in a dark grey but doesn’t stand out too much.
I’d have strongly considered one over my Volvo (even as a Volvo nerd) if they had still made a wagon like the TSX was, that with the V6 would be hard to overlook.
Drove one for a few months ages ago. Could not get it to pass emissions. Had 242k on it as I recall, was driven around the country many a time by the prior owner who bought it back. Was eventually sold to an Acura tech, hope that guy got it back into shape
I'll second that. Couple of years ago I test drove the TLX. I really Wanted To Like it. In the end, I just couldn't.
I could perhaps ignore that ugly front end when I'm driving the car, since I cannot see it.
But the torque converter on a DCT? It's like an ice cream made out of sardines.
And that "touch area controller" for the media screen? A schizophrenic on acid.
These are things I could *not* ignore when driving the car.
Finally, the interior appeared "crowded" with "features" that were added over time, without taking the time to re-think the layout.
I still remember driving the third-gen TL circa 2005 as a loaner, and it was everything I expected an Acura to be. Should've bought the Type-S manual of that variant. Probably would still be driving it, too.
Alas, Acura kept "fixing" it until it was broken enough that no one wanted it. I once read a review of a TV mini-series being described as "James Bond on estrogen." For whatever reason I was reminded of that phrase when I test-drove the TLX almost two years ago.
Speaking of tariffs and Acura, have they moved production of the ADX to our fine country? I saw an ad on a TV out of the corner of my eye this week that I thought was for the ADX, and it had a graphic saying "made in America". I thought the ADX was Hecho in Mexico like the HR-V from which it's based. I suppose it could've been for another model but I thought it said ADX at one point.
GM, they used to make and sell Buick, but now they sell ick! When is the last time you seen a genuine Buick Electra 225, they killed off the LeSaber, the Lucerne, the Park Avenue, and too many other American models, and they sell these faberge egg cars that are nothing more than transportation, with 3 cylinder engines…
GM, which had the most bulletproof v8 engines, that now eat camshafts and bottom ends, GM, who buys transmissions from ZF and installs there own valve bodies, and then the customers are on the side of the road because the valve bodies warped, GM deserves to go out of business, not just bankrupt and bailed out by the General Public via the federal government.
I've always liked Sean Penn but liked him even more when I learned he drove one in the early aughts. To have that kind of money and say, "I'll take the Grand National, thank you" is just so badass.
Well, kids, we're getting our Bladerunner/Tron/Sci-fi-looking cars that I swear will look sweet, we're just not getting the pretty "transition" generations of design. That ES. Good God, car companies, STOP IT. That's not an ES, that's a Camry's design language. I keep thinking of the buyer/driver of an ES, and they absolutely do not drive a car that looks like that. The current ES350 has a lot of flare, and honestly looks more like its LS stablemate than the monster-truck-front-ride-height-LS500 does (they are easily confused, which is tragic as a former LS owner), especially at a glance. Why does it look like it's basically an "ES" shell on a Crown's chassis (because it is)?
The TLX is a fetching car, inside and especially outside. For a front-driver, and on its own, it is a striking, cohesive, and handsome (IMO) design. I prefer it over an ES aesthetically, but you can't outdo Lexus for what they do best, so for cruising and commuting, it's hard to beat a (used) Lexus.
But what no one is talking about--because it was sadly discontinued five years ago--is the former sweetheart of the Lexus lineup (according to ME): The GS.
The same problem I had with the TLX as I did with the Accord a few years ago: The center console intrudes too much into the driver's knee/leg area . I did enjoy driving the TLX though. Would have purchased if the console wasn't so large.
“You can't be expected to have a successful AI program when every single article, book, or anything else that you've read or studied, you're supposed to pay for,” Trump said. “We appreciate that, but just can't do it— because it's not doable.”
Maybe Googs will see this as a sign it should provide the answers users are seeking rather than what the Machine wants to push.
VW uses ChatGPT to help "personalize" the way I use the infotainment in my new hot hatch, a screen fully as large as the black and white TV we had in the basement to watch as we shelled peas for canning. Helpfully Volkswagen car-net can also report my good drive habits to my insurance company for better rates. It will all be shut off; no F&I Lady, I won't be adding your helpful app to my leash.
A week after delivery I'll be driving to Georgia with the adaptive cruise set at 90. With car-net running as I sit on the beach likely my GTI will be impounded and an ID.4 left for my sins.
If only. Yesterday (or very recently) the World Court declared climate change a real danger to, the world. I’m not sure why anyone gives a damn about the World Court, but nevertheless they have declared we are all in grave danger of greenhouse gases caused by humans. Because, of course, science has nothing to say about greenhouse gases that occur naturally in very significant quantities.
Americans thinking we are the only people on the planet again. The “world” series the “world”
Court. What do china and russia think? Are we going to have global thermonuclear war over this? Because that’s what it would take to stop “climate change”
Actually I believe the world court is somehow tied into the United Nations. So, if it were an American invention it would have more credibility, because no one takes the UN seriously.
Ok. But!!!!! That was America of 70(?) years ago. Whatever good intentions were present back then have collapsed into a cesspool of 3rd world dictators and their 1st and 2nd world enablers.
But the trillions of gallons of water vapor spewed in the atmosphere by the Hunga Tonga underwater eruption in 2022 has had NO EFFECT AT ALL on the climate. You can tell because there was almost no reporting on it.
How this plays out with copyright law is going to be fascinating.
My thought is the AI company’s are going to find some silly end-run around it — like buying a single subscription to each journal or a single copy of each book. This would amount to a rounding error for them, and likely create some fun fair use arguments.
There will be some solution though. Trump is right, the “buy everything at current price” is not doable, but modern problems require modern solutions. Way too much has been put behind “AI” for them not to come up with a scheme and leave themselves open to lawsuits later.
Clearly my legal attentiveness has been totally focused on tariffs since weee not exactly using AI much this way in my day job.
I knew the fair use argument was going to be hard for the publishers to break. After all, what’s the difference between a person and a machine reading the work? If it’s “posted” somewhere online it’s all fair game.
There are already many class actions, and almost all are ending up in the AI companies' favor. The AI companies are citing fair use in their arguments, and judges [ie, word-salad literate hyper-luddite boomers] are buying it.
You know far, far more about this space than I do so I can’t speak on it with any sort of educated mind really other than:
1) Trump is a moron pedophile
2) This is a sin. People should be paid for their work. Unbelievable sums of money being used to transfer yet more money from NVIDIA to like four other companies that is somehow the backbone of the economy when it should be used for pretty much anything else.
3) The Great Leap Forward into putting all eggs into the AI basket when it has never once produced a real profit NOR has it demonstrated a tangible use case beyond helping write emails, making terrible photos, and Being Google But Worse has creates a bubble so large that when it pops will destroy the economy we have left
4) Every AI CEO sounds like a foaming-at-the-mouth charlatan who I’d like to fistfight in the street. Fuck those guys.
So what do you think is “right” at the moment? Obviously a lot of money is there to be made — which is where I’d assume you and your compatriots come in — but if you were to peer into a crystal ball what would you say the outcome of this is?
From this *very* ignorant outsider’s perspective, it seems to be a giant scam led by the sorts of people who would serve the world a whole lot better if they just offed themselves instead.
RE #2: what does NVIDIA have to do with this? They make hardware and the software to control their hardware, they are not taking IP from anyone. And they pay their employees. Just because their stock is unstoppable does not make them evil, at least from a free market way of seeing things.
Just feels not… brilliant that a substantial part of the global economy is built around SoftBank scrounging up pennies to give to OpenAI to give to NIVIDIA to buy GPUs to build more data centers that there really isn’t a demand for.
The demand is incredible. I think you can’t necessarily see the demand, but the processing power and storage required for AI is exponentially higher than search. And it is an arms race, so to speak, so there will probably some bubbles bursting when losers are identified and they give up or fail.
Nah I get the demand for the GPUs from the AI companies for their infrastructure.
What’s the consumer demand for the things they’re putting out currently though? Do people actually WANT what they’re selling in large enough numbers to justify the investments?
Everybody was worried that the grid couldn’t handle the load from all the electric cars. How’d that work out? The load from all the Bitcoin and AI data centers is orders of magnitude—OK Jack, perhaps not arithmetically accurate—greater than any threat from Teslas and e-stangs. It’d be funny if it weren’t so serious.
Ok, not the same thing. The AI data centers are each individually using a ton of energy, and theoretically built in locations that can handle the load. EVs, especially if the government forces us to buy them, would be distributed all over the country. In the big cities the infrastructure is not there to charge tens of thousands of individual vehicles, most parked in public (street or parking garage). Out in the suburbs it would be much easier to accommodate as many people have garages and driveways.
lol- asking for money in the first sentence. Shortly after explaining that he doesn’t own stocks and is simply worried about the destruction of our planet. This clown and I are not the same type of person.
He's right that it isn't doable. AI is scraping absolutely everything. That genie is not going back in the bottle. Think every Nigerian/Indian/Chinese internet scammer and IP thief everywhere, all the time in every device, and on meth. Random stupid internet forums are all locking users out with javascript, 2FA and Cloudflare.
Also, the irony of destroying our energy and auto industries to appease Gaia while 'AI' datacenters hoover up every available bit of electricity.
I remember reading an interview with some too-smart-to-realize-how-stupid-he-was Big Computer guy who couldn't understand why the automobile was invented before the integrated circuit.
Eh, I don't know. I'll counter your position by saying understanding how computers work is easier for me than understanding how someone figured out all the tightly coordinated pieces of an internal combustion engine.
The same applies to any refined analog machine. How the hell does the shuttle move so fast on high-speed looms?
Or vinyl records. Some guy (who Edison ripped off, most likely) figured out that microscopic valleys in plastic could contain an entire spectrum of enjoyable sounds. Damn. This seems far more complicated to me than digital music files.
Or the SR71 Blackbird. Some guy figured out how much metal would expand when heated so that the fuel tank which leaked on the ground would stop leaking in flight. Damn.
Thanks—NOT! I was, on active duty, at Whiteman AFB when the first B2 flew in. That’s today’s reminder of how old I am. At least they finally got to use all those billions in combat.
And the development started in the early 1980’s. (maybe earlier; it was a very very classified program for a long time; people who weren’t cleared were not allowed to know the program existed).
I like how the Air Force eventually refused to even consider Lockheed when looking for new fighters because they couldn't stand dealing with Kelly Johnson's loud-mouthed bombasticism anymore.
Why does genius always come packaged with ego and a flair for showmanship?
A few nights ago I went to Atlanta Hartsfield airport to pick wife up (coming back from trip to her mom's). I got to airport at 10:30pm (her plane due about an hour later). I went to Hourly parking. The scene is straight out of some zombie movie(substitute cars for people). The rideshare lanes at that late hour was flooded with vehicles trying to get in(Atlanta airport is always busy). It is so crowded you have to be careful and get by them to get to either economy or hourly parking lanes. Even before you get to that area, on ramps to airport terminal/parking area, at that late hour, cars are dangerously parked on the side of road (rideshare people) waiting for unknown reason.
I have a feeling rental car business is not what it used to be any longer. Certainly Taxis are hurting.
But let's not get rid of Uber. In a city like Atlanta where I have lived for 40 years, taxis were non existent anywhere but airport. You had to have a car or rent a car. Now with proliferation of Uber, we can go from anywhere to anywhere. That is liberating. And these employments give flexibility of working when you want (as opposed to my fortune 50 employer mandating five days in office and monitoring hourly and daily presence via reports, true story that even office space misery never equaled). Also these gig services allow my over 80 year old sister to live independently, order on Amazon and get grocery home.
There are lots of benefits. You just may not fit the profile that may see that, even if you have used the services.
I have never driven to / parked at Hartsfield. For good reason.
I have a friend who is a (1) car guy (multi-generation Detroit / Ford family) (2) who makes good money (tenure track PhD professor at Georgia Tech who consults for hedge funds and, um, McLaren (!) for thousands of dollars an hour on the side); he lives near Piedmont Park and does not own a car by choice. Can just Uber everywhere.
By car guy who does not own a car by choice... so, is he a motorcyclist? Does he rent one of the one-make series whips? How can a car guy (who is not a useless journosaur) not own a car?
Ahh, the "if I need to get somewhere that is too far to walk, I will hail a black car / get a driver" life hack.
I wonder at what level of cab- and black car-utilization would having your own driver make sense. Surely that's a not a highly paid job? I think you could keep annual expenses well under six figures, though hard to get under $60 large
He can easily walk to GT from his place in Midtown Atlanta; I can also get by on foot with ease. Two of the three office spaces in which I worked at earlier junctures in my career are less than a mile from where I live now.
The level of safety that women expect in the US, even before it was on track to third world status in many cities, is flabbergasting. I think of those poor Scandi girls who went camping in North Africa and got themselves raped and decapitated on camera, and then of that stupid 'Fearless Girl' statue on Wall St. As I've said before on these pages, this is Disney World for them, with honest men running things in the underground warrens beneath them for occasional pussy.
I had never seen the Twitter discussion that produced the "private taxi for your burrito" meme. It's truly amazing that people feel entitled to have restaurant food delivered to their door on demand at no cost.
Oh, Acura. Just unable to get it right since the 2008 TL type S ended the continuous line of pragmatic, enjoyable, great to drive three pedal cars stretching unbroken going back to spring of ‘86. I have so much love for them- before getting rich and buying a stunning nogaro over white B5 S4 brand new off the showroom floor, my uncle would tool us around in his teggy GSR and “let” us help him clean it. In the late 20teens I bought and commissioned the restore of my own TL-S (sold, regretfully, to totally cleanse myself of an ex).
What IS it that prevents them from making a true contender these days? They finally make the Japanese S4 we all begged them to make and then they imitate the worst S4 to date, execute slightly worse, and we all kept buying the S4 instead. Lexus tried their hand at it in 2008 and built an honest M3 alternative (albeit one without an LSD for two model years). Well, RIP Acura. I’ll buy an ITS 20 years too late and make it nice then, too.
I went looking for exactly this type of Acura after not paying attention for a few years and was shocked (shocked, I say!) to find nothing but meh. It's all lease/resale colored, autotragic or (dry heaves*) CVT now with regard to TL and teggie, aside from hen toof numbers of God's pedal equipped teggies. And the teggies are now former TL size, while the TL is now 90s Coupe DeVille size (waves at Klockau*).
I guess everyone in that segment is now only buying or leasing in a fear based mode instead of "I'm gonna buy the best car I can in a color I love with the performance I want and I'm gonna keep it for eleventeen years."
The times have changed for Acura and not for the best. Can't have an enthusiast brand when you let the enthusiasts down and then the enthusiasts go across the street- leaving you with the salesmen and assistants to the various regional managers.
It's strange, isn't it? If you had told me 20 years ago that I wouldn't even look at a Honda vehicle when considering a new car purchase, I would've considered you insane. Yet here we are.
Somewhere deep, deep down inside, I have this feeling that Honda started "divesting" themselves of competence a while back, and now is reaping the dividends.
Most sexual assaults are either rapes or attempt to rape. I don't know why we say "sexual assault". When Jake Zedong tried to fingerbang a woman at a press event, to me that counts as a rape.
I don’t think that is historically the same thing though. Attempted Robbery ≠ Successful Robbery, and I don’t think we treat them the same either legally.
If you’re going to rely on - ‘On my substack its whatever I feel is equivalent’ then maybe a forced hug is also rape?
I’m curious as to how much of the readership agrees what the words mean?
That being said, we should treat an attempted but unsuccessful rape as equivalent to a successful rape for the purposes of *addressing the underlying cause*.
If you and I stand at the top of a hill in San Francisco and start rolling box trucks down that hill with no drivers in them, we will eventually be arrested even if nobody gets hit by those trucks.
In 2025 nobody cares if someone gets hit by the box trucks. It's the price we pay to live in San Francisco.
An attempted but unsuccessful rape would require some degree of attempted disrobing, I'm still not convinced the overarching legal term used to report these is that narrow, so to inflate all of them to the maximum would be disingenuous .
You could go full Islam and chop off hands, legs and appendages that are used to commit acts that are haram, but that's a different conversation.
Let's not get hyperbolic. Marysville Accords often get as much as... two swipes of the paint sprayer!
What I really want is one of the Acuras they pulled all the way off the line to East Liberty for the special paint jobs. With my luck I'd drive behind a gravel truck on the way home from the dealership.
Has anyone noticed whether or not the PMC edition cars have held their values better than the regular versions? I'd hope they have a more robust paint chemistry and process at the PMC versus the standard line.
MotoGP had it's last race before the summer break in Brno, Czechia. This race saw the return of Jorge Martin to the grid after his series of brutal wrecks and injuries.
A wet Friday gave way to a drying/dry qualifying 2 where, of all people, Francesco Bagnaia earned pole position! Admittedly, he did so only because Marc Marquez tucked the front on a burner of a last lap which, had he not done so, would have seen him some three tenths faster. Quartararo was behind the 93 in 3rd, Bez up in 4th, Joan Mir a season high (I think) 5th, and Raul Fernandez 6th.
In the sprint Bagnaia plummeted back through the field to 7th after a botched slowdown for tire pressure reasons led to many more than the one or two riders he intended pass him get by as he failed to fend off attackers. Marc Marquez also dropped a position after being two seconds ahead and would pace Acosta until he was certain he wouldn't be penalized. At that point, he passed Acosta and still finished almost a second ahead in just a few laps' time. Acosta and Bastianini, who has struggled until now on the KTM, finished second and third. Quartararo ran solidly and only lost two positions. Bez and Fernandez held their own. Jorge Martin made up one position from 12th but clearly has his work cut out after missing so many laps compared to competitors and Aprilia mates this season.
In the race proper Marc, Bagnaia, and Bez fought it out over a couples of laps before Bez and Marc made a clear break. Alex Marquez crashed into Joan Mir and took both of them out of the race and ended Mir's hopes for a solid race weekend. Acosta passed and held off Bagnaia until Bagnaia was unable to keep up. Acosta managed to stay with the two front runners until around lap 9 where Marquez took the lead and Acosta started to fade. Bagnaia was able to secure fourth. He did this despite being passed by Bastianini who would take himself out of the race, and by fending off the riders behind and maintain his gap. Bagnaia didn't run poorly but he didn't run particularly excellently either. Jorge Martin finished not only in the points, but in the top ten which is a promising return.
Absolutely no one had anything for Marc Marquez as he is now 3 races and 3 sprints (and then some) ahead of his brother Alex in the points standings.
The next race is Austria at the Red Bull Ring in mid-August.
It appears Mark and Pecco's tire pressure issues were fake - a tech messed up the computer.
Poor Mir, can't buy a fucking break this year.
Betting the tech got an earful for that one...
Your comment about StopTech sent me down a rabbit hole because they used to be a good company (in my opinion). Tech papers from Carroll Smith, James Walker, and others on the site. Then at some point I realized their marketing had changed and they had been purchased by Centric. Then Centric was bought out by some other entity and the products continued to degrade. Now I see that they shut down all operations in the US a few years ago and shipped off mfg stuff to cheap corners all over the world. Sad. And such a familiar story.
I still remember years ago when they had a display at the SEMA Show to show how much stiffer their calipers were than the competition.
their trophy calipers looked great and i wanted a set for the miata
shame what happened to them so im off to find something better
See also: Sig Sauer
Yeah, what the fuck happened to SIG? My former-Marine ex-brother-in-law swore by them and carried one back around the turn of the century. Now they can't make pistols that don't go off without trigger pulls, and they still can't get the grip angle right.
For reference, here's what a good grip angle looks like:
https://www.steyr-arms.com/en/military-law-enforcement/service-pistols/pistol-a1/
I have one of these. The angled sights are amazing. It points naturally, and I can print tennis-ball-sized groups at 25 yards.
Yep.
- a Glock guy
Beretta M9 here.
I have a dog 229 and a p365. Both are nice. I will be staying away from the 320
Sig*
I’m an M&P guy, in FS and Shield (carry) sizes. If I had any guns, of course.
Nice .
-Nate
Steyr makes a fine pistol. I admit SIG should have included a trigger safety however, the only clear video I've seen of a 320 going off clearly showed the shooter's finger being caught between the kydex holster and the trigger as he was reholstering the weapon. The shooter of course swore he had not pulled the trigger...the video showed otherwise.
That's a shame .
-Nate
I didn't hear about this until recently. Impressive levels of self-own here.
https://xcancel.com/Rightanglenews/status/1947772007010931012#m
Best comment:
"Didn't a Mormon basically solve handguns like 110 years ago? How are we here?"
Lol-worthy, but I find it hard to believe that a Browning Hi-power wouldn't FTE once every 500 rounds. YMMV
Not just handguns.
John Moses Browning, who died in 1926, helped win WWII.
Besides the 1911 sidearm, and the BAR, the M1917, M1919, and M2 machine guns were all Browning designs, the M1919 and M2 being the primary heavy machine guns the U.S. used in WWII. The AN/M2 .50 caliber was the primary machine gun for U.S. aircraft, with four, six, or eight mounted on fighters like the P-51 and P-47. Browning's 37mm cannon was also used in the P-39.
Browning was a smart businessman too. He never manufactured his own guns, preferring to license them. He also was adept at filing broad patents, as well as incremental iterative patents to more or less force his licensees, like Winchester, Colt, and FN, to license them even if they never used them just to keep them from competitors.
Browning may have been a bit of a player too. He traveled to Belgium dozens of times to meet with FN and eventually stationed his son Val there, to look over his interests. When John Browning was in Belgium, though, he stayed at a different hotel than his son. As you mentioned, he was a Mormon and had apparently once broached the topic of polygamy with his wife, who made it clear she wouldn't stand for it.
Nathan Gorenstein's book, The Guns of John Moses Browning is very good.
Patents are a bitch. It's not like the FBI warning you can't fast-forward through (THAT was a distinct advantage VHS tapes had over DVDs) that says $250,000 fine and 5 years in prison for a violation of a copyright. There aren't any patent cops. They don't protect your invention, they only give you the exclusive legal right to sue somebody for stealing your design.
I don't know what the time & cash aspects are these days, but 20 years ago they were about $30,000 and five years. EACH. And if you (or somebody else) changed the tiniest little thing, the patent didn't protect the refined item.
They really only benefit beltway bandits and other hyper-rich organizations that can afford legal departments to go after thieves.
It's blocked now.
it's an X link via the libre/ad-free service xcancel. Just worked for me right now.
You can just change "xcancel" to "x" if it does not work for you. May need to log in
I think what the market was looking for in a service pistol, and what Sig loyalist liked about them diverged significantly. Similar to legacy can makers and new EV makers, once it has to be polymer frame and striker fired, a lot of the instructional knowledge was unimportant, which is not to say a legacy pistol manufacturer couldn't develop a world class pistol for the new world, they just didnt have a leg up anymore.
I enjoy my p229, mostly because it can be taken down each individual piece and put back together, down to the last screw and spring. I enjoy manipulating it, cocking and de-cocking either by hand or with the lever. I enjoy both trigger pulls for their purpose.
I have a Wilson Combat EDC 9 that I like even more, but like the Sig it is a range toy.
If I were to design my own range toy, it would be similar to the EDC9 with a 1911 trigger and no grip safety. I think it would be fun to combine that with the fully cocked striker fire mechanism from an older Walther. In my perfect world the gas pedal thumb safety from a 1911 would double as a cocker/de-cocker so that it was SAO.
But if I wanted to sell pistols, I would just keep cloning a Gen 3 Glock and molding in various tacti-cool finishes.
“If I were to design my own range to, it would be similar to the EDC9 with a 1911 trigger and no grip safety. I think it would be fun to combine that with the fully cocked striker fire mechanism from an older Walther. In my perfect world the gas pedal thumb safety from a 1911 would double as a cocker/de-cocker so that it was SAO.”
Be still my heart.
Does no one make precisely this?
I was also just about to make a StopTech comment.
I too went down a recent rabbit hole w/brakes. My 2010 E550 coupe was due for rotors and pads. I asked on the MB forums what folks use... which apparently is akin to asking what oil people use. That coupled with the fact that drivers of 15+ year old mid-level MBs run the gambit from: "wannabe rappers & influencers" to "40 something year old man who really wanted a Jaguar XKR but bought an E-Class instead".
I thought I could just buy my old favorite: Raybestos Element3 EHT's. GG rated, Ceramic, good bite, and low dust... but last few years they too have gone to China. Quality has suffered, pads separating from the backing plate, failing early, noisy, etc.
Then I found Akebono Euro - which are American made. I tried them out, and I think they are focused too much on reducing noise and dust, at the sacrifice of initial bite. They stopped OK - but I didn't really like the feel.
StopTech, PowerTech, pretty much anything under the Centric umbrella is China.
Looked into a couple niche ones like Porterfield and Carbontech - I think they were overkill for my needs (and were priced as such) - but they looked good.
In the end I went back to EBC (UK made). If I can't buy US - UK, Germany, or Japan are next on my list. I've used EBC Redstuff pads in the past and was satisfied. They've been on the car for a few weeks now, likely still bedding in, but I'm happy with them so far. Hopefully they maintain their (low-ish dust) and I get a few years out of them.
For future reference, are there any remaining American pad manufacturers??
performance friction is usa made i think
https://pfcbrakes.com/
Many years ago, PF brake pads scared the hell out of me. I put them on my 1990 or 1992 SHO. (I had both, stick and automatic, don't remember which one I used the PF pads on. Also don't remember exactly which pad, but it was a street pad, not track.)
I was driving from NYC to Vermont in winter, in a snowstorm. As one does when one's season pass is in VT. A tree had fallen across the road and was not visible in the snow until I was fairly close to it. When I drive, I do not allow my stopping distance to exceed my visibility range. At least, for what I think my stopping distance is. Turns out those pads lose most of their grip in cold weather and I came to a stop two feet from the tree. The PF pads came off that week.
Down here in TN, they used to show a PSA in the winter with a state trooper advising drivers to "Not let your giddy up exceed your whoa."
I’m sure all the Chinese factories observe all of the same environmental safeguards as US manufacturers.
How many Blinky's are swimming around the Yangtze ?
https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Blinky
Or in trees near the river:
https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Multi-eyed_squirrel
I liked this squirrel better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xJ4u9YtDDo
When I had my '95 Volvo 850, I fitted it with Zimmermann rotors and Akebono pads.
I swear those parts didn't wear AT ALL for 40,000 miles.
0-Stunning erasure of the “Barkcast;” we are all eagerly awaiting episode two, a decade later.
1-Why do people listen to podcasts? It’s a disentermediated, low barrier to entry, long tail content medium. Prior to the advent of YouTube podcasts (which are really just … talk shows), podcast feeds were neither algorithmic nor suggested, and there was no comment section. I listen to hours of podcasts every day, primarily about my manifold, esoteric interests. I listened to 15 podcasts on Sunday (on 1.5X, of course).
Life is too short to waste it on music, movies, Netflix, or reading fiction!
2-The Substack raise at barely Unicorn status was overall disappointing. Substack has the same business model as Onlyfans, but their ability to attract new paying customers is flagging, for a variety of reasons: Most people don’t read anything, don’t want to read anything, and if they do read anything, they are happy to read it from ChatGPT.
3-This Uber kerfuffle will be moot when everyone is riding in a Waymo. I have done so multiple times without issue over the past few weeks, and I would prefer it to having to interface with a typical Uber driver.
Is the gap since the last BarkCast officially longer than a loan term from Ed Bolian Lamborghini?
We are getting close, since that was - memorably - characterized as “144 month bitchass financing.”
That podcast appearance predated the ill-fated Barkcast, however.
I think there was a bit on those on both, then. I'm definitely thinking of the BarkCast (when was that, Detroit 2015? 2016?)
https://www.avoidablecontact.com/p/barkcast-1-the-canadian-menace-ft-matt-farah-and-sam-smith?utm_source=publication-search
"144 month bitchass Montel Williams MoneyMutual financing" IIRC :)
Yes there was a reference to Montel Williams financing schemes.
3-Just wait until the Waymos get a taste for pot.
https://youtu.be/BYOWdUiflTg?feature=shared
The eloi already use them as baby delivery vehicles.
https://www.threads.com/@wehavethedata/post/DMdspOfS2TB?xmt=AQF0xH6XmQA32cOJPSXxq86tluBvkdUOsdCsvKjj64BDYg
Zero percent chance i would do this
Anyone who does should be thrown in jail. It's reckless child endangerment.
Not to be a dick, but satire is an IQ test. Pretty sure you whiffed this one.
This likely is (though the willingness of techbros to blindly trust whatever SV spews is mind-boggling), but unsupervised minors in Waymos are definitely real which is why I posted it. https://www.ktvu.com/news/waymo-kids-some-sf-parents-sending-kids-school-driverless-vehicles
People thinking shit is safe because they can track it is one of the most mind boggling stupid things people do.
85 IQ criminals aren't thinking that far ahead.
The door lock on a Waymo is controlled by the account user’s phone. I presume there is some family account that can incorporate two parents in two locations.
Babies is retarded.
13-17y/os? I dunno. I frequently let my 13y/o daughter walk, with friends, all around our suburb. Granted, we were just named Safest Place to Live in IL (#12 nationally), but I don’t know that letting her walk is safer than sticking her in a driverless cab.
Naperville Moms hardest hit
My 12 and 14 year olds roam all over on bikes and foot, and have for a while, usually with friends but sometimes alone. They also roamed Tokyo and Osaka without an adult.
The significant difference between them on foot/bike vs trapped in a Waymo is the agency they have over their movement - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY1oLFr-XCg.
They're able to move, duck into a yard, stop at a friend's house if a creep follows them, and generally know where and how they're going from point A to B, what's 'normal' on the route vs what's not normal, and multiple alternate ways should the primary route be unavailable.
You don't know what route a Waymo will take because you're depending on the computer and remote operators, overlayed with the added danger of criminals looking for an easy mark by standing in front of the thing.
a century ago they were shipping children in the mail by train
little has changed
Right next to the COD guns.
I though satire was the lowest form of humor.
Oh wait, that's DECONSTRUCTIVE satire.
They’ll just be “camping” in the Tenderloin.
I would suggest Uber is now pushing “women’s preferences” because of Waymo. Waymo is for real, and in time will destroy Uber, if Waymo keeps the high quality cars and a decent safety record. I take a lot of Ubers when I travel and seems like for the last year the cars/SUVs are all trashed. It is not a luxury experience and Waymo seems ready to provide that, since, as Jack pointed out, people who use Uber tend to be upper middle class.
Give the usual suspects time to destroy waymo. We cant have nice things
Even if you pay for one of the premium classes, it's a crapshoot. Could get a newish Escalade, could get a 15-year-old Tahoe with aftermarket seat covers and a clapped out suspension. I think Uber maintains higher standards in some cities, but Boston is grim. Still better than taking a taxi, though, so I continue to use the service.
Definitely, with Uber it is all about convenience for me.
I had a Honda dealer rip me off for some warranty service, they sent me home in an uber, the poor car was beat to death and over ten years old .
I'm Blue Collar but I was amazed and disappointed to say the least ~ I thought uber didn't allow third worlders to use their hoopty family rides ? .
-Nate
It’s all third worlders here with the occasional Eastern European
It is much worse now than a few years ago. The stock market has changed and companies need to not loose billions of dollars per quarter, so Uber apparently has decided the way to profitability is to maximize the number of vehicles, not the quality of vehicle.
When I worked close to an airport, I wanted to test the Uber waters by picking up a traveler (not like that) once a day (after my workday) and bringing them home to the same suburb in which I lived. Why not make a buck or two (literally, as it turns out) while driving home anyway, I thought.
But I got shut down, since my bigass beautiful Lexus was over 10 years old. Meanwhile, the raggedy ass Altimas and Rogues <10 years old pass muster and weave down the freeways at will.
My Uber career ended before it could even begin. Meh.
Yeah ;
My daughter in law is super picky about how clean her nearly new car is, she drove for uber for a few months, I've never asked her why she quit, had she asked me first I'da said ' don't do it' .
-Nate
When I was younger, a CPA I worked with figured he could deduct his 70+ mile commute if he was actively looking for pickups to and from where he lived - the nearest large city with an airport - and the office. Once or twice a month, he'd also seriously pick up rides to demonstrate he was actually driving for money.
He did this for a few years and actually got a few rides while writing off thousands of empty miles.
When we had out stupid Genesis it was in for a recall and they didn’t have any loaners so sent me home in a POS Lyft driven by someone akin to that “I’m your captain now” pirate. Air con off and driving like a maniac. Gah.
Any time someone else is driving it's a real crapshoot .
I have never wrecked when I had passengers aboard but I certainly got asked to slow the fuck down a lot .
-Nate
If you think Boston ubers are grim, try Philly!
I needed an Uber to get me from Phoenix Sky Harbor to Mesa back in June. After a 30 minute wait and two cancellations, I get picked up in a clapped Cadillac SRX and paid $80 for the privilege.
For the return trip, I’d have my 94 year old Uncle so I looked at pre-booking an XL. It was like $135 and who knows if they’d actually show.
I booked a black car through the local limo service and it was only $170 with the mandatory gratuity. Out driver didn’t let me touch a bag, helped my uncle into the car, and flagged down our wheelchair escort when we got to the airport. Zero hassle. I slipped our driver an extra $50 and still feel like I got a deal compared to the Uber drive.
That’s the only way.
I've also been waiting for episode 3 (I think?) of Bark's Listening Room for years now....
We will keep waiting because Bark is busy making money hand over first. He barely has time to text me pictures of his new watches!
[Free Press article link here]
Does he swim in his money like Scrooge McDuck?
He doesnt keep it long enough to swim in it.
I can no longer blame your father for any aggression he may have displayed given his difficulties imparting the lessons of future time orientation
Gonna need a trust for the patek ohillipe
1. As a Xennial, I listen to podcasts mainly as they've replaced talk radio. Some podcasts really are still just reformatted talk radio shoved out on XM and then uploaded to Spotify. Some podcasts I listen to are also like talk shows in a way, but associating any of the podcasts I listen to as the same format as "The View" would be blasphemous.
2. There seems to be a bunch of gen Xers I know who still love reading long form. My own issue with Substack is really the same issue I have with streaming services. By the time I'm done I'd be 100 bucks in the hole every month to get the content. Substack needs to allow for bundling if they don't already.
3. I remember Elon talking about how self driving Tesla's would be the future, and you could lease out your Tesla as a Waymo like service. I'm sure we will get there, until doing a riot all the Tesla's are hailed and then burned to the ground.
Dare I ask what a "Xennial" is?
Like 1980 ish
Elder millennial or Oregon trail generation
Lol, or colloquial, my wife calls it the #aint between Gen X and Millennial. My own opinion is that there seems to me a more cultural delineation around 1984 or 1985. I'm not sure why they chose 1981.
I was born in '76 but don't consider myself a Gen Xer because I always hated grunge music. And I'm hopelessly out of touch because to me, "#" is pronounced "pound sign."
I used to listen to talk radio all day and then switched to some Sirius shows and now mainly listen to a few podcasts and when I do listen to radio shows its never live because they cut the commercials out of their recordings. One local 4 hour radio show turns into a 2 hour almost commercial free stream. Live radio is awful because of the chopped up formats and commercial interruptions and Sirius has become almost as bad. The worst thing Howard Stern ever did was to tech Sirius that they can sell commercials on shows that listeners have to pay for.
"...sell commercials on shows that listeners have to pay for."
Which is secondary reason I have never subscribed to cable television. That's insulting to me. The primary reason is there's 500 channels and almost nothing on.
Sounds like a Springsteen lyric.
Love your books!
Only in my dreams do I have 1/10 the talent of GMF.
"Life is too short to waste it on music, movies, Netflix, or reading fiction!"
Very sad to hear .
-Nate
But 15 hours on podcasts = good? Dude is a caricature.
I listen to podcasts when working out, walking the dog, or driving. That’s it.
He's too busy making money to have a wife and kids.
Amusingly he sees that as a flex.
The only reason i make money is for the kids.
! What about Motocycles ? .
-Nate
I had a lot of interviews I needed to get through.
Driving is another waste of time. I love cars - obviously - but commuting, etc. is just a dreadful waste of time.
Another sad reply, you either need to get a different vehicle or maybe move .
-Nate
A good point but you're asking me, who has never listened to a podcast yet .
-Nate
I too was there for the Baruth Boys appearance on TST. Probably Matt's best episode ever.
All the best TST episodes were 10+ years ago.
That was the only time I ever listened to it.
Re: Waymo: how do the cars get cleaned between rides?
How does Waymo corporate respond when people who trash the car and get banned from future rides end up being uhh disparately impacted?
I presume magic elves clean them while they’re charging.
Every Waymo I have ridden in had a spotless, new car quality interior.
But Altima drivers will find out about them eventually.
Altima drivers use and abuse Ubers. I’ve had an Uber driver tell me he won’t under any circumstances go to do a pickup in Anacostia, DC at night because the hoods call an uber just to trap and carjack the driver. He went on one such “sacrifice to moloch funded by Sequoia™️” mission and had to drive over 6 inch curbs somehow, in a CAMRY, to escape with his life.
Waymo has no name recognition now. I don’t see how if they had Lyft level name recognition they wouldn’t face similar issues, unless they intentionally charge high prices, thereby minimizing addressable market.
Waymo has amazing name recognition!
“Waymo” = Self-driving taxi
Good name for a dog, too.
Wayne gets free advertising whenever the news reports of one being vandalized
The secret sauce may be the Costco method....charge a yearly fee.
I recall seeing a semi-automated vacuuming station for Waymos in Phoenix on a recent trip… don’t have any details beyond that anecdote.
Re: 1, I can no longer find the full TST episode without a paywall? Or is this the BarkCast?
With paywall: https://www.patreon.com/posts/jack-baruth-mark-125708895
Excerpt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0BCSij4Ckc
I found it in the TST archives on Spotify a couple years ago. Is it not still there? It was separate from the BarkCast from Detroit, as this is the first I'm hearing of THAT.
I think Farah’s took the old TST episode down because the Brethren Baruth’s behavior was incommensurate with the host’s current image as a respectable, middle-aged grandee of American automotive media.
I’m in LA right now. We’re hoping to get a Waymo at least once, just to experience it. And then never again.
Just close your eyes and you’d never know it wasn’t a competent human driver ferrying you about.
Assuming one has ever had a competent human driver ferrying one about...
I would recommend it. A bit jarring at first, but after a few minutes - totally normal.
Disintermediated. I hold you to a higher standard
For whatever reason, I have more typos on here than anywhere else.
Dementia!
I deliberately waited to reply because this is directed at you specifically and everyone else will have moved on. I subscribe to a corollary of "the medium is the message". To wit: The amount of care and effort you put into something determines how seriously I take it; and you. Your posts are always well-thought and well-written. (Unlike, say, Sean, whose posts are almost unintelligible). You have no fear of poking the ACF bear and, ah, bearing the ensuing abuse, much of it ad hominem. I hope you continue to do so. You attenuate the echo in this silo. (And you have admirable insight into F1). But I am curious about which entity has officially approved you. Not the FIA!
I grew up reading a lot, because there was nothing else to do in small town Appalachia in the ‘90s. And I had carte blance at Barnes & Noble, because we had to go to Atlanta most weekends to shop and buy groceries (beyond the bare minimum).
I went to college and studied Classics (I forgot all of the Greek and most of the Latin) and Economics (I retained some of that). Then I went to work as an M&A banker, and I learned a lot about arguing / selling ideas. I became an investment banker for money, as does everyone else. In retrospect, the takeaway was the skills and relationships, however.
I am happy to stand up to the hivemind because (1) it amuses me (at times), (2) and I have fairly high conviction about my beliefs.
"women riders and drivers have told us they want the option to be matched with other women on trips"
ive never used an uber nor do i ever want to but the whole thing sounds awful and i still dont have a zero percent chance of someone getting raped in one. i think ill just pretend to be a woman and if anyone says anything ill just call them sexist or pretend i hit the wrong button like when you hit 2 for french becuase its the only way to ensure youre talking to someone who speaks english
"sent me a dozen or so instant-photo nude snapshots of his female customers — and in most cases, the photos were snapped during some sort of outrageous activity"
so is this when he was driving the taxi or in the back of the taxi with them or what
"the media has to identify rioters and flash-mob criminals as “teens”"
i had leanings before but the 2020 summer of love permanently changed my views on things
"crappy Chinese Stoptech brakes"
wait i though those were supposed to be good yet kinda pricey. is the better option wilwood or is that just as bad?
"bargain-basement KW suspension"
yeah the plastic adjusters and stainless bodied shock didnt thrill me but the competition grade stuff looks alright
"they fully expected that the US Government would make them whole on that"
if you think you hate gm enough no you dont
“hit 2 for french” to get an English speaker. ha
down here its all “press 2 for spanish” though its said in spanish. but maybe I should try that some day and then start talking in english. can’t be much worse than the “english” speakers we get.
it was a coinflip as to whether i was going to put french or spanish
I figured there is a law up there requiring the french option.
probably is
way too much has a french equivalent and its basically pointless and expensive
Better French than Spanish.
Let's be honest here: Spanish is basically the official language of poverty, crime and narcoterrorism EVERYWHERE BUT SPAIN.
Yikes .
I actually mostly enjoyed living in Centro-America decades ago .
-Nate
Let me guess: You could always see the ocean.
I’m sure that MX is still fine in some areas, but unfortunately the description above is rampant throughout the country.
In my fraternity days, one of the brothers I was friends with procured and distributed drugs he obtained from silk road (rest in power), all of his shipments came from spain. So maybe don't exclude them from that list lol
I didn't hear nothin!
I could see some reptile outsourcing Option Two to the Magreb
Learn to play the obo
“when you hit 2 for french becuase its the only way to ensure youre talking to someone who speaks english”
If you do speak any French, I would highly recommend selecting “2” every time. Wait times are typically shorter and you’ll be speaking to someone in Canada, rather than someone reading a script in some oversees call centre.
french would be pretty easy to learn given where i am and the many similarities between the two
"a 35% decline in profits in the second quarter, continuing a trend of devastation..."
Decline in profits.
Not "we're running in the red because of this."
They're just not gonna make as much of a profit as they expected. So the stockholders will be put out. Sad times, I know.
This would not be a problem except for the fact that, in a very real sense, the primary stockholder in General Motors is the American taxpayer. Had the federal government not shovelled a few billion of your dollars and mine into their coffers some years back they wouldn't be here to gripe about not getting enough cheddar. We, the people, bailed 'em out, and we, the people, have a right to expect a return on OUR investment which takes the form of something other than bigger bonuses for the fat-cats who fucked it all up in the first place.
Something like, y'know, a few thousand decent-paying jobs in this country so we can earn some of our own cabbage back.
This is good stuff and I'm looking forward to more.
I'd like to see the numbers they cherry-picked for that 35% figure, too.
This is the same company touting its Bow Tie division as "America’s fastest-growing EV company.”
Never mind Tesla’s 40+% market domination on more than 100,000 sales per quarter. The General’s volume manufacturer grew its sliver of the electric market from 5.2% to 6.5% in Q1 of 2025... compared to ‘24’s cumulative total.
In reality, Chevy’s EV numbers fell significantly from 28,193 in Q4 ‘24 to 19,186 in Q1 ’25 (a 31% decline), while GM’s overall EV portfolio was down 27% from 43,439 units to 31,886 during the same stretch.
Total loser behavior on their part. Though, I'd finally finish the Blackwing purchase and add a Z07 for good measure tomorrow in the case of an unexpected windfall, so maybe the joke's on me - it's like an abusive relationship at this point.
I wonder if Uber will let male customers specifically request male drivers.
about as likely to happen as white people asking for white drivers
"Do you have any drivers who speak Estonian?"
Oh now you are REALLY going to get people riled up. Just give the driver your needful destination and don’t worry.
And if you just bought a scratch-off ticket before you hailed it, do NOT redeem no matter what.
i did say i was an online agitator
I see what you did there! 😂😂
The B nails it again:
https://babylonbee.com/news/uber-to-begin-offering-not-an-asian-option
https://babylonbee.com/news/uber-to-begin-offering-riders-choice-of-woman-driver-or-good-driver
That Acura TLX front end is UGLY.
I find it overall attractive though, much better than the spaceship Toyotas. I have a friend with one, who is the classic Acura/Lexus stealth wealth, retire early type who buys a new one every few years and drives it into the ground. It’s quite sharp looking in person, even in a dark grey but doesn’t stand out too much.
I’d have strongly considered one over my Volvo (even as a Volvo nerd) if they had still made a wagon like the TSX was, that with the V6 would be hard to overlook.
I think its gorgeous. I apologize.
why can't they make something as beautiful as this: https://www.edmunds.com/acura/legend/1990/vin/JH4KA3248LC003267/?radius=6000 ??
why does it need to look like a bad anime drawing? and cripe, that large 5 sided Acura grille was ugly decades ago.
My dad had basically this one
https://rnrautoblog.com/2014/10/04/1994-acura-legend-ls-coupe-and-gs-sedan-review/
With a 5 speed manual. 30 years later and it's probably still his favorite car. I learned to drive stick on that.
Drove one for a few months ages ago. Could not get it to pass emissions. Had 242k on it as I recall, was driven around the country many a time by the prior owner who bought it back. Was eventually sold to an Acura tech, hope that guy got it back into shape
TSX wagon. I turned my nose up at them when they were new because they were automatic only. Now I would not be so picky.
It’s a shame they are dropping it. I really like that car and always wanted one. Hard to find around here though, especially speced the way I want it.
I'll second that. Couple of years ago I test drove the TLX. I really Wanted To Like it. In the end, I just couldn't.
I could perhaps ignore that ugly front end when I'm driving the car, since I cannot see it.
But the torque converter on a DCT? It's like an ice cream made out of sardines.
And that "touch area controller" for the media screen? A schizophrenic on acid.
These are things I could *not* ignore when driving the car.
Finally, the interior appeared "crowded" with "features" that were added over time, without taking the time to re-think the layout.
I still remember driving the third-gen TL circa 2005 as a loaner, and it was everything I expected an Acura to be. Should've bought the Type-S manual of that variant. Probably would still be driving it, too.
Alas, Acura kept "fixing" it until it was broken enough that no one wanted it. I once read a review of a TV mini-series being described as "James Bond on estrogen." For whatever reason I was reminded of that phrase when I test-drove the TLX almost two years ago.
Speaking of tariffs and Acura, have they moved production of the ADX to our fine country? I saw an ad on a TV out of the corner of my eye this week that I thought was for the ADX, and it had a graphic saying "made in America". I thought the ADX was Hecho in Mexico like the HR-V from which it's based. I suppose it could've been for another model but I thought it said ADX at one point.
I don't know... I didn't think we had any Fit-width stuff in the US yet.
IIRC the new one is on the Civic platform so I suppose Greensburg would be the place to move it to.
I think the most likely answer is that this was an RDX not an ADX.
I wonder if they’ll throw the 2.0T/10-speed back to the Accord now. Prayers are welcome.
Alternatively, I wonder if they drop back to a Civic-only car line, meaning the Accord goes away.
Naaahhh. They will have a "many cars" lineup, where all the "cars" are EVs.
GM, they used to make and sell Buick, but now they sell ick! When is the last time you seen a genuine Buick Electra 225, they killed off the LeSaber, the Lucerne, the Park Avenue, and too many other American models, and they sell these faberge egg cars that are nothing more than transportation, with 3 cylinder engines…
GM, which had the most bulletproof v8 engines, that now eat camshafts and bottom ends, GM, who buys transmissions from ZF and installs there own valve bodies, and then the customers are on the side of the road because the valve bodies warped, GM deserves to go out of business, not just bankrupt and bailed out by the General Public via the federal government.
The most recent Buick I actually wanted was the GNX.
That was what, two GENERATIONS ago?
The rear drive regal platform was a nice car! The Grand National was awesome and legendary.
I saw a Regal Grand National with absolutely gleaming paint last weekend and the want was strong.
I know!
Grand Nationals are like Bigfoot - seeing them is a thrill!
I've always liked Sean Penn but liked him even more when I learned he drove one in the early aughts. To have that kind of money and say, "I'll take the Grand National, thank you" is just so badass.
Well, kids, we're getting our Bladerunner/Tron/Sci-fi-looking cars that I swear will look sweet, we're just not getting the pretty "transition" generations of design. That ES. Good God, car companies, STOP IT. That's not an ES, that's a Camry's design language. I keep thinking of the buyer/driver of an ES, and they absolutely do not drive a car that looks like that. The current ES350 has a lot of flare, and honestly looks more like its LS stablemate than the monster-truck-front-ride-height-LS500 does (they are easily confused, which is tragic as a former LS owner), especially at a glance. Why does it look like it's basically an "ES" shell on a Crown's chassis (because it is)?
The TLX is a fetching car, inside and especially outside. For a front-driver, and on its own, it is a striking, cohesive, and handsome (IMO) design. I prefer it over an ES aesthetically, but you can't outdo Lexus for what they do best, so for cruising and commuting, it's hard to beat a (used) Lexus.
But what no one is talking about--because it was sadly discontinued five years ago--is the former sweetheart of the Lexus lineup (according to ME): The GS.
/rests case
The same problem I had with the TLX as I did with the Accord a few years ago: The center console intrudes too much into the driver's knee/leg area . I did enjoy driving the TLX though. Would have purchased if the console wasn't so large.
TLX is an okay car but for my money the Integra Type-S eats its lunch in every way for the ~same money. If ITS had a sunroof I might have one today.
It's too small for me.
Discuss:
https://www.wired.com/story/president-trump-ai-action-plan-speech/
“You can't be expected to have a successful AI program when every single article, book, or anything else that you've read or studied, you're supposed to pay for,” Trump said. “We appreciate that, but just can't do it— because it's not doable.”
To my mid-witted mind AI seems to be the new Global Warming and is far more successful at suckering people into quaffing the Kool-Aid.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/technology/alphabet-google-earnings-ai.html
$10BN add’l incremental CapEx from Alphabet.
Granted, one reason all major tech companies - except TSLA! - should beat handily this earnings season is USD weakness.
Maybe Googs will see this as a sign it should provide the answers users are seeking rather than what the Machine wants to push.
VW uses ChatGPT to help "personalize" the way I use the infotainment in my new hot hatch, a screen fully as large as the black and white TV we had in the basement to watch as we shelled peas for canning. Helpfully Volkswagen car-net can also report my good drive habits to my insurance company for better rates. It will all be shut off; no F&I Lady, I won't be adding your helpful app to my leash.
My car insurance went up cause i brakesd too hard or went 80mph on the highway or some nonsense when i had the tracker in my car
A week after delivery I'll be driving to Georgia with the adaptive cruise set at 90. With car-net running as I sit on the beach likely my GTI will be impounded and an ID.4 left for my sins.
I always decline to put the insurance company’s GPS tracker in my car as a matter of principle.
This was a long time ago and I wasn't paying for my insurance at the time so I could suck it up and have the app or pay myself.
The insurance companies will never understand that sometimes, the right thing to do is floor it and swerve.
If only. Yesterday (or very recently) the World Court declared climate change a real danger to, the world. I’m not sure why anyone gives a damn about the World Court, but nevertheless they have declared we are all in grave danger of greenhouse gases caused by humans. Because, of course, science has nothing to say about greenhouse gases that occur naturally in very significant quantities.
Both exist to create new revenue streams for Big Corp while mandating consumption.
Americans thinking we are the only people on the planet again. The “world” series the “world”
Court. What do china and russia think? Are we going to have global thermonuclear war over this? Because that’s what it would take to stop “climate change”
Actually I believe the world court is somehow tied into the United Nations. So, if it were an American invention it would have more credibility, because no one takes the UN seriously.
The United Nations is also an American invention.
Ok. But!!!!! That was America of 70(?) years ago. Whatever good intentions were present back then have collapsed into a cesspool of 3rd world dictators and their 1st and 2nd world enablers.
I don’t believe Americans are the only ones here, I just believe we’re the only ones who matter.
I'm just not going to worry about my road trips, plastic straws or fire pit causing climate change when the Orient exists.
Or AI data centers.
I'm more worried about paper straws in plastic wrappers.
if it was actually important china and india would be nuked
Should have done that when we had a chance!
or at least not try to bring them up to our level
World Court? Is that like those daytime TV shows but for the tote-bag crowd?
But the trillions of gallons of water vapor spewed in the atmosphere by the Hunga Tonga underwater eruption in 2022 has had NO EFFECT AT ALL on the climate. You can tell because there was almost no reporting on it.
Or the natural gas released when Putler's Nordstream 2 was sabotaged.
How this plays out with copyright law is going to be fascinating.
My thought is the AI company’s are going to find some silly end-run around it — like buying a single subscription to each journal or a single copy of each book. This would amount to a rounding error for them, and likely create some fun fair use arguments.
There will be some solution though. Trump is right, the “buy everything at current price” is not doable, but modern problems require modern solutions. Way too much has been put behind “AI” for them not to come up with a scheme and leave themselves open to lawsuits later.
They already have found run-arounds.
See recent Meta (LibGen) and Anthropic rulings.
The Cloudflare response is the only compelling pushback I have yet encountered.
Clearly my legal attentiveness has been totally focused on tariffs since weee not exactly using AI much this way in my day job.
I knew the fair use argument was going to be hard for the publishers to break. After all, what’s the difference between a person and a machine reading the work? If it’s “posted” somewhere online it’s all fair game.
https://stratechery.com/2025/training-ai-is-fair-use-product-protection-versus-llm-liability-piracy-and-competition/
https://stratechery.com/2025/training-ai-is-not-fair-use-llms-and-scale-pushing-on-a-string/
There are already many class actions, and almost all are ending up in the AI companies' favor. The AI companies are citing fair use in their arguments, and judges [ie, word-salad literate hyper-luddite boomers] are buying it.
You know far, far more about this space than I do so I can’t speak on it with any sort of educated mind really other than:
1) Trump is a moron pedophile
2) This is a sin. People should be paid for their work. Unbelievable sums of money being used to transfer yet more money from NVIDIA to like four other companies that is somehow the backbone of the economy when it should be used for pretty much anything else.
3) The Great Leap Forward into putting all eggs into the AI basket when it has never once produced a real profit NOR has it demonstrated a tangible use case beyond helping write emails, making terrible photos, and Being Google But Worse has creates a bubble so large that when it pops will destroy the economy we have left
4) Every AI CEO sounds like a foaming-at-the-mouth charlatan who I’d like to fistfight in the street. Fuck those guys.
Sounds like you’ve been reading Ed Zitron!
He makes a compelling case!
Also, since podcasts are another topic, he’s got a pretty decent one of those too!
I listen to his podcast, of course.
Ed is *persuasive* but he’s not right, at least at the moment. I’d respect him a lot more if he but a big fat short on NVDA.
So what do you think is “right” at the moment? Obviously a lot of money is there to be made — which is where I’d assume you and your compatriots come in — but if you were to peer into a crystal ball what would you say the outcome of this is?
From this *very* ignorant outsider’s perspective, it seems to be a giant scam led by the sorts of people who would serve the world a whole lot better if they just offed themselves instead.
It’s a bubble, but it’s got plenty of time and space to run.
OpenAI will probably IPO next year.
Can I join you for #4?
RE #2: what does NVIDIA have to do with this? They make hardware and the software to control their hardware, they are not taking IP from anyone. And they pay their employees. Just because their stock is unstoppable does not make them evil, at least from a free market way of seeing things.
They aren’t doing anything wrong i suppose.
Just feels not… brilliant that a substantial part of the global economy is built around SoftBank scrounging up pennies to give to OpenAI to give to NIVIDIA to buy GPUs to build more data centers that there really isn’t a demand for.
The demand is incredible. I think you can’t necessarily see the demand, but the processing power and storage required for AI is exponentially higher than search. And it is an arms race, so to speak, so there will probably some bubbles bursting when losers are identified and they give up or fail.
Nah I get the demand for the GPUs from the AI companies for their infrastructure.
What’s the consumer demand for the things they’re putting out currently though? Do people actually WANT what they’re selling in large enough numbers to justify the investments?
Everybody was worried that the grid couldn’t handle the load from all the electric cars. How’d that work out? The load from all the Bitcoin and AI data centers is orders of magnitude—OK Jack, perhaps not arithmetically accurate—greater than any threat from Teslas and e-stangs. It’d be funny if it weren’t so serious.
Ok, not the same thing. The AI data centers are each individually using a ton of energy, and theoretically built in locations that can handle the load. EVs, especially if the government forces us to buy them, would be distributed all over the country. In the big cities the infrastructure is not there to charge tens of thousands of individual vehicles, most parked in public (street or parking garage). Out in the suburbs it would be much easier to accommodate as many people have garages and driveways.
When it collapses they can always mine bitcoin.
See this:
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-haters-gui/
lol- asking for money in the first sentence. Shortly after explaining that he doesn’t own stocks and is simply worried about the destruction of our planet. This clown and I are not the same type of person.
Ed is a worthwhile read. I just opened my wallet up for him earlier today to read his paywalled dispatches.
Thank you Sir .
-Nate
you speak the truth, sir.
He's right that it isn't doable. AI is scraping absolutely everything. That genie is not going back in the bottle. Think every Nigerian/Indian/Chinese internet scammer and IP thief everywhere, all the time in every device, and on meth. Random stupid internet forums are all locking users out with javascript, 2FA and Cloudflare.
Also, the irony of destroying our energy and auto industries to appease Gaia while 'AI' datacenters hoover up every available bit of electricity.
Gaia's a fickle cunt.
I remember reading an interview with some too-smart-to-realize-how-stupid-he-was Big Computer guy who couldn't understand why the automobile was invented before the integrated circuit.
Utter moron, that one.
Eh, I don't know. I'll counter your position by saying understanding how computers work is easier for me than understanding how someone figured out all the tightly coordinated pieces of an internal combustion engine.
The same applies to any refined analog machine. How the hell does the shuttle move so fast on high-speed looms?
Or vinyl records. Some guy (who Edison ripped off, most likely) figured out that microscopic valleys in plastic could contain an entire spectrum of enjoyable sounds. Damn. This seems far more complicated to me than digital music files.
Or the SR71 Blackbird. Some guy figured out how much metal would expand when heated so that the fuel tank which leaked on the ground would stop leaking in flight. Damn.
The first flight of the B2 bomber was…….36 years ago!
Thanks—NOT! I was, on active duty, at Whiteman AFB when the first B2 flew in. That’s today’s reminder of how old I am. At least they finally got to use all those billions in combat.
As long as you look as modern as the B2 you’re fine!
People see that futuristic plane and think it’s 5 years old.
I can’t imagine what we have today that’s new.
And the development started in the early 1980’s. (maybe earlier; it was a very very classified program for a long time; people who weren’t cleared were not allowed to know the program existed).
this is a very interesting read: https://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/dp/0316743003
I have that book. I LOVE that book.
I like how the Air Force eventually refused to even consider Lockheed when looking for new fighters because they couldn't stand dealing with Kelly Johnson's loud-mouthed bombasticism anymore.
Why does genius always come packaged with ego and a flair for showmanship?
you don't notice the quiet geniuses. they're out there!
A few nights ago I went to Atlanta Hartsfield airport to pick wife up (coming back from trip to her mom's). I got to airport at 10:30pm (her plane due about an hour later). I went to Hourly parking. The scene is straight out of some zombie movie(substitute cars for people). The rideshare lanes at that late hour was flooded with vehicles trying to get in(Atlanta airport is always busy). It is so crowded you have to be careful and get by them to get to either economy or hourly parking lanes. Even before you get to that area, on ramps to airport terminal/parking area, at that late hour, cars are dangerously parked on the side of road (rideshare people) waiting for unknown reason.
I have a feeling rental car business is not what it used to be any longer. Certainly Taxis are hurting.
But let's not get rid of Uber. In a city like Atlanta where I have lived for 40 years, taxis were non existent anywhere but airport. You had to have a car or rent a car. Now with proliferation of Uber, we can go from anywhere to anywhere. That is liberating. And these employments give flexibility of working when you want (as opposed to my fortune 50 employer mandating five days in office and monitoring hourly and daily presence via reports, true story that even office space misery never equaled). Also these gig services allow my over 80 year old sister to live independently, order on Amazon and get grocery home.
There are lots of benefits. You just may not fit the profile that may see that, even if you have used the services.
I have never driven to / parked at Hartsfield. For good reason.
I have a friend who is a (1) car guy (multi-generation Detroit / Ford family) (2) who makes good money (tenure track PhD professor at Georgia Tech who consults for hedge funds and, um, McLaren (!) for thousands of dollars an hour on the side); he lives near Piedmont Park and does not own a car by choice. Can just Uber everywhere.
Car guy who does not own a car by choice.... I guess that makes me a Cat guy.
By car guy who does not own a car by choice... so, is he a motorcyclist? Does he rent one of the one-make series whips? How can a car guy (who is not a useless journosaur) not own a car?
He doesn’t need one for anything, so he is sensible and spends his money on high end cigars and (ultra) high end audiophile equipment.
To be frank, I don’t “need” a car either.
Ahh, the "if I need to get somewhere that is too far to walk, I will hail a black car / get a driver" life hack.
I wonder at what level of cab- and black car-utilization would having your own driver make sense. Surely that's a not a highly paid job? I think you could keep annual expenses well under six figures, though hard to get under $60 large
He can easily walk to GT from his place in Midtown Atlanta; I can also get by on foot with ease. Two of the three office spaces in which I worked at earlier junctures in my career are less than a mile from where I live now.
The fellow who hired me in Chicago had a driver.
Edited, I meant “if I can’t get there on foot,”
The level of safety that women expect in the US, even before it was on track to third world status in many cities, is flabbergasting. I think of those poor Scandi girls who went camping in North Africa and got themselves raped and decapitated on camera, and then of that stupid 'Fearless Girl' statue on Wall St. As I've said before on these pages, this is Disney World for them, with honest men running things in the underground warrens beneath them for occasional pussy.
On Doordash and the like: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/private-taxi-for-my-burrito
Jones' pic is some variety of Soyjack.
Ann Coulter was right. Women should be armed, but not allowed to vote.
I had never seen the Twitter discussion that produced the "private taxi for your burrito" meme. It's truly amazing that people feel entitled to have restaurant food delivered to their door on demand at no cost.
Oh, Acura. Just unable to get it right since the 2008 TL type S ended the continuous line of pragmatic, enjoyable, great to drive three pedal cars stretching unbroken going back to spring of ‘86. I have so much love for them- before getting rich and buying a stunning nogaro over white B5 S4 brand new off the showroom floor, my uncle would tool us around in his teggy GSR and “let” us help him clean it. In the late 20teens I bought and commissioned the restore of my own TL-S (sold, regretfully, to totally cleanse myself of an ex).
What IS it that prevents them from making a true contender these days? They finally make the Japanese S4 we all begged them to make and then they imitate the worst S4 to date, execute slightly worse, and we all kept buying the S4 instead. Lexus tried their hand at it in 2008 and built an honest M3 alternative (albeit one without an LSD for two model years). Well, RIP Acura. I’ll buy an ITS 20 years too late and make it nice then, too.
I like watching the Tyson Hugie channel to see all the classic Acuras.
I went looking for exactly this type of Acura after not paying attention for a few years and was shocked (shocked, I say!) to find nothing but meh. It's all lease/resale colored, autotragic or (dry heaves*) CVT now with regard to TL and teggie, aside from hen toof numbers of God's pedal equipped teggies. And the teggies are now former TL size, while the TL is now 90s Coupe DeVille size (waves at Klockau*).
I guess everyone in that segment is now only buying or leasing in a fear based mode instead of "I'm gonna buy the best car I can in a color I love with the performance I want and I'm gonna keep it for eleventeen years."
The times have changed for Acura and not for the best. Can't have an enthusiast brand when you let the enthusiasts down and then the enthusiasts go across the street- leaving you with the salesmen and assistants to the various regional managers.
It's strange, isn't it? If you had told me 20 years ago that I wouldn't even look at a Honda vehicle when considering a new car purchase, I would've considered you insane. Yet here we are.
Somewhere deep, deep down inside, I have this feeling that Honda started "divesting" themselves of competence a while back, and now is reaping the dividends.
Are we just being loose in calling sexual assaults rapes or did I miss some new equivalence or modern dictionary meaning?
Yes
Most sexual assaults are either rapes or attempt to rape. I don't know why we say "sexual assault". When Jake Zedong tried to fingerbang a woman at a press event, to me that counts as a rape.
I don’t think that is historically the same thing though. Attempted Robbery ≠ Successful Robbery, and I don’t think we treat them the same either legally.
If you’re going to rely on - ‘On my substack its whatever I feel is equivalent’ then maybe a forced hug is also rape?
I’m curious as to how much of the readership agrees what the words mean?
Rape is penetration (by anything). Attempted rape is attempted penetration. All else is something else altogether.
Yeah I think a lot of those 'sexual assaults ' as reported fall under the something else, which Jack is deliberately conflating.
Empirically, I'd say you are correct.
That being said, we should treat an attempted but unsuccessful rape as equivalent to a successful rape for the purposes of *addressing the underlying cause*.
If you and I stand at the top of a hill in San Francisco and start rolling box trucks down that hill with no drivers in them, we will eventually be arrested even if nobody gets hit by those trucks.
In 2025 nobody cares if someone gets hit by the box trucks. It's the price we pay to live in San Francisco.
An attempted but unsuccessful rape would require some degree of attempted disrobing, I'm still not convinced the overarching legal term used to report these is that narrow, so to inflate all of them to the maximum would be disingenuous .
You could go full Islam and chop off hands, legs and appendages that are used to commit acts that are haram, but that's a different conversation.
A car Honda bothered painting. What a luxury.
Let's not get hyperbolic. Marysville Accords often get as much as... two swipes of the paint sprayer!
What I really want is one of the Acuras they pulled all the way off the line to East Liberty for the special paint jobs. With my luck I'd drive behind a gravel truck on the way home from the dealership.
You can take the factory Honda paint off with your nails on a new car. Not scratch, take off.
Yeah, I know, I've done it accidentally.
Has anyone noticed whether or not the PMC edition cars have held their values better than the regular versions? I'd hope they have a more robust paint chemistry and process at the PMC versus the standard line.
Slightly more but not worlds more.
There’s a 2020 red PMC TLX near me with 50k miles for like $30k. Not significantly more cash than a run of the mills ASPEC with AWD would be