Category: Pureawesomeness

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a variant of the GPT-3 language model developed by OpenAI that is specifically designed for generating text in real-time chat environments. As a language model, ChatGPT is trained on a vast amount of text data and is able to generate human-like text by predicting the next word or phrase given a prompt.

In my opinion, ChatGPT represents a significant advancement in the field of natural language processing. Its ability to generate coherent and relevant text in real-time makes it a valuable tool for a wide range of applications, from customer service chatbots to language translation services.

One of the most impressive aspects of ChatGPT is its ability to adapt to different contexts and styles of conversation. This makes it a useful tool for generating text that is tailored to a specific audience or situation. For example, a customer service chatbot powered by ChatGPT could use the model to generate responses that are friendly and helpful, while a language translation service could use ChatGPT to generate translations that are fluent and accurate.

Of course, ChatGPT is not without its limitations. As with any language model, it is only as good as the data it was trained on, and it may produce biased or inappropriate output if the data it was trained on is biased or contains inappropriate content. Additionally, ChatGPT is not capable of understanding the meaning or context of the text it generates, so it is not a substitute for human intelligence or judgment.

Overall, ChatGPT is a powerful and versatile tool that has the potential to revolutionize the way we use natural language processing in a variety of applications. While it is not a replacement for human intelligence, it represents an important step forward in the development of artificial intelligence and natural language processing.

I didn’t write the above review of ChatGPT, one of the biggest AI phenomenon of 2022 (right up there with DALL-E 2 and digital art)… it’s what it said of itself with the prompt “write an opinion column about ChatGPT.” I’m definitely not the first nor will be the last to say that what it represents is huge for many aspects of our culture. And as has always been the case with tech like this, we will be years behind in knowing how to reign in its use. Good luck to the middle school/high school/college teachers out there for grading homework from now on, you’ll need it!

Viva los carpinchos!

Stand strong comrades! 🙂

https://gizmodo.com/capybaras-are-waging-class-war-in-argentina-1847549080

Capybaras Are Waging Class War in Argentina

Groups of the rodents have been tearing up a fancy gated community in the wetlands of the Lujan River Delta near Buenos Aires

By Dharna Noor 8/24/21 3:20PM

Photo: Mark Metcalfe (Getty Images)

You know how capybaras always seem to have a slightly skeptical look on their faces? Turns out what they’re skeptical of might be rich people’s bullshit. Now, in Argentina, they’re fighting back. Groups of the charismatic rodents have been causing a ruckus in the fancy-pants gated community of Nordelta, crapping in the streets and hacking up manicured lawns like magnificent little punk asses.

Naturally, the hoity-toity residents aren’t too thrilled about being the objects of the animals’ scorn. Capybaras, known locally as carpinchos, are the world’s largest rodents, measuring up to 3 feet (1 meter) in height and weighing as much as 175 pounds (79 kilograms). They can do some serious damage stomping around a garden, and they’ve also apparently bitten Nordelta residents’ dogs.

Some residents have reportedly brought out their guns to ward off the animals. But if we’re picking sides here, I stand with the capybara comrades. The rodents are native to the region where Nordelta now stands, in the wetlands of the Lujan River Delta near Buenos Aires. The fancy community was just erected there in 2000. Experts say that means this can hardly be considered an invasion. Instead, it’s a reclamation project.

“It’s the other way round: Nordelta invaded the ecosystem of the carpinchos,” esteemed ecologist and activist Enrique Viale told the Guardian. “Wealthy real estate developers with government backing have to destroy nature in order to sell clients the dream of living in the wild—because the people who buy those homes want nature, but without the mosquitoes, snakes, or carpinchos.”

Viale has been a prominent voice in a decade-long campaign demanding Argentina pass a law to protect wetland areas from development—perhaps not as flashy a strategy as the capybaras’ guerilla campaign to take back the land, but a good idea nonetheless. By paving over land on which capybaras and other wildlife depend on, developers were essentially inviting trouble. There have been other devastating ecological implications of the Nordelta development, too, including building out vast stretches of impervious surfaces, which invites flooding. Destroying waterways has ushered in more forest fires as well. Paving over paradise hasn’t just affected the capybaras either, and it’s not Nordelta’s rich residents who suffer most when these environmental disasters hit; it’s the poor.

So while this may at first blush seem like an infestation, it’s really more like class warfare; a struggle for land justice. ÂˇEntonces, solidaridad con los carpinchos!

iPhone 5

Oh yes, I was one of the “early” adopters for this phone… and I am incredibly happy. From beginning to end, it was as seamless a process and any could hope for.

This latest model went up for pre-order at 2am Central on Friday 9/14, similar to the roll-out for the 4S from back in October 2011 (which I was up for back then, too). Before heading to bed I had my laptop browser set on the Apple store home page, ready for a quick F5 when the time came. For some time now, the Apple Store app has been available, and I had read a blurb recently from a writer that had used it last year to order his iPhone, so I decided to see if it was a viable option for getting the 5. I fired it up before heading to bed and used it to verify that I was eligible to get the new phone without having to pay an early upgrade fee… so everything was looking good and I set the alarm for 1:57am.

Next thing I knew it was a few minutes to 2am, and I grabbed my phone and headed to the laptop. Top of the hour rolled around and Apple’s page was not refreshing, just spinning. Decided to see what AT&T was offering, but their page just showed the countdown page (I think), and also wasn’t doing much. So I hopped on to the app on the phone and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was letting me jump through page after page of options, with hardly any lag. Was able to pick the 32GB Black slate iPhone 5 and submitted the order… and it was only 2:10! I almost couldn’t believe my luck. It felt like I had used a Most Glorious Fast Pass to jump to the head of the line! So within a few more minutes, I was tucking myself into bed again, very much content and feeling a little smug, too.

From that Friday (from later daylight hours, anyway) through the 21st, lots of stories were coming out from everyone’s experiences with the pre-order. The biggest news was that within an hour after pre-order started, Apple was showing ship time slipping from one to two weeks, or more. Last year I didn’t get in until like 4am so I was glad I got in and out so fast. And again, like last year, I am SO glad I didn’t try the process through AT&T’s site, since it sounded like they were being inconsistent with the ship time, even for those who ordered early. My phone didn’t show as shipped until Wednesday 9/19, but was set for mid-morning delivery on Friday 9/21. It arrived right on time (thank you, wonderful UPS drivers!), and I had to wait until getting home from work to see my beauty. Was so hard not to take off early for “personal development”!

And a thing of beauty it is. Don’t think I am still not fond of the 4S, it’s very classy with its good proportions and glass back. I’ve appreciated it’s awesome screen, speed, and reliability for the past year. But the iPhone 5 just ratchets up the exquisiteness by another factor. Sure, just looking at it only shows that it’s taller than the 4S, but it’s also thinner (front/back) and lighter and just feels even better in the hand. I thought I was “protective” in using the 4S, but this thing makes me even MORE paranoid! It is a lovely design, and combined with the new features of iOS 6, it is now the top contender in all things cell phone. There is NO way any android will match its elegant grace for some time to come, if ever.

Just an aside here: Early Friday evening, after firing up the phone for the first time, it activated right away (unlike last year when it was several hours before it could connect up and get activated) and I set it up as a new phone so that I could use it right away. I also have to give kudos to the local AT&T store… Because last year I was upgrading on my personal line (from the 3gs to the 4S), I had to use my wife’s line this year to get the new iPhone. She had the 3gs and she was also going to get to “upgrade” to my 4S, which was one of my selling points when convincing her earlier on that I “needed” the new iPhone 5! 🙂 So we both went over to the store around 6:30ish and I was wondering how busy THEY were going to be with also getting the 5’s in stock that day. Turns out they were very UNbusy, having rolled out 80 iPhones at opening and another 40 some time in the afternoon. We got right up to the counter and a very helpful girl got us a new set of nano- and micro-SIMs for our phones, and only a few minutes later we were walking out with our “own” phones. I could not have asked for anything easier to do to get the phones configured.

The only thing I’m missing is a nice case to put the phone in… I hate using it naked! Sure it looks spectacular in its bare sleekness, but I am so afraid of any kind of drop… I’m even afraid to leave it laying around. Some people are reporting that the new aluminum black backside is prone to scratching easily, so I don’t even want to leave it on its back, let alone on the front glass. Aside from that issue, it’s not all peaches and cream right now, as there have been major issues with the new Maps app (I don’t really care… I have Navigon, and Google will be getting their maps app approved through Apple some time soon) and probably other issues will come up. But I am incredibly happy with this new phone. It’s not “revolutionary” as everyone wanted, but Apple indeed hit another one out of the park. Heck, even out of the parking lot.

I do pause to wonder, though, what next year will bring… 🙂