Fair points, but this is obviously a prototype.

Ultimately, the price of these will come down and even if you need to swap out the batteries, there's no reason that can't be automated too. Hell, a roomba basically does that now. The point is it doesn't need sleep or meal breaks and it doesn't care about working hours. Or you just leave it connected to a permanent power source (if you can teach it to drywall, you can teach it to avoid the cable).

And yeah, my numbers are obviously estimates, since this isn't commercially available yet, and you'd need to factor in capital investment, maintenance, etc. But you don't have to pay it a salary, it doesn't need medical and it doesn't have to comply with health and safety regs (at least, not for the robots H&S).

I find it difficult to believe that something like this could ever be less cost-effective than a human.

Of course, that's assuming a steady rate of improvement. Bipedal robots (like self-driving cars) have been "90% there" for many years now. It might be that the last 10% is REALLY, REALLY difficult.

My gut feeling is that we will see a tipping point. There will be some really challenging engineering/programming obstacle that stops these going mainstream, but eventually, someone will solve it and then the rate of progress will be exponential.

But you're right in that, that's certainly a few years away yet. I'm fascinated as to how we as a society/civilisation deal with mass automation.

You must acknowledge that the great cops that stand with and protect the bad cops are also bad cops. Sadly, that's almost certainly > 98%. It's incredibly rare for a cop to testify against other cops, and the few that do are run out of the profession.
That needs to change before any progress can be made.

I'm pretty sure that if the tables were turned and somehow Hillary ran as a Republican, the Democrats would have voted for Trump as well. We tend to overlook things like reason and sanity in the USA when it comes to people/teams/etc that we hate.

Plus Trump was selling a message that a lot of people bought into, that they were somehow going to go back to a time when factory and coal jobs were a thing for middle class union type people. People who didn't work in those fields knew it was bogus from the get go, but when you live in a shitty area and desperately want to scroll back progress so that you can get your guaranteed 30+ an hour job/lifetime pension without a college education, you tend to overlook small things like guys grabbing pussies.

You are right, in a sane country Hillary probably would have been elected. She also probably wouldn't have been eligible to run because she would have beaten out Obama in 2008. She didn't because people were so desperate for something, anything to change in our fucked up government that they went with Obama. Hell, I even voted for him the first time. But, we lost our sanity sometime around the period when elected an actor over a generally 'nice guy' kind of president. Said actor/governor then instituted the following amazing things:

* The War on Drugs - utter failure
* Reaganomics - depends on who you ask, but it pretty much fucked us for years to come.
* Wonderful changes and cuts to education - See previous. They are still trying to undo the fuckery that was done to education in the 80's.
* Increased military spending to astronomical levels - pretty much fucked anyone not working for defense contractors.
* Destabilized Nicaragua and pissed off Iran worse at us - yeah, that didn't work out for us.
* Largely ignored the AIDs epidemic - tragedy on multiple levels.
* Etc

That fucker is still viewed as one of the best presidents and Carter as one of the worst.

So you now concede he tried to rape Ford? Wow, that's progress.
It's not once, there are a minimum of 3 public accusations known, and if they're true, probably dozens unreported since the MO was drug them into unconsciousness. Most wouldn't know what happened or who did it to ever accuse anyone.
These acts have destroyed one career, family, and life....Ford's.

We are, however, all doomed, thanks to the kind of politics that let people support probable drunks and rapists (and incontrovertibly those with no decorum, professionalism, or self control) for the highest court in the land if those rapists will push their politics from the bench.

I agree, there's no proof the accusations happened.
There could easily be proof that contradicts her story, though, and if there is, it makes an FBI investigation dangerous for her.
If she/they can prove he lied under oath about details that can be proven, even if the underlying charge can't be, he should be disqualified to be a judge imo.

Far more worrying to me is the accusations he helped his mentor, Kozenski, hide his decades of sexual misconduct, abuses he was removed from the bench/forced into early retirement for but that Kavanaugh, his close friend and confidant, claimed to know nothing about, even though Kozenski had public websites dedicated to racially and sexually inappropriate materials and many accusations of inappropriate behavior at work, including forced pornography viewings in his chambers by female clerks.
Edit: if he's willing to hide one bosses crimes, what's he prepared to do for Trump?

Yes, I hope we've made some progress since the way Anita Hill was attacked for coming forward at great personal cost, but I doubt it. It's clear those in control are unphased by the accusations, true or not, because he's their only chance to drive the court far right. Nothing else matters to them. That is a sad state we find ourselves in.

*dance *art *geek

"With Macintosh 128k & Macintosh SE computer, MacPaint & Macromind VideoWorks/Director software.

Total working time: 3 months
Total file size: 1.8MB
Total frames: 1300 frames

The complete progress (Twitter thread)
https://twitter.com/pinot/status/1005491222448926720"

Your video, Tattoo - Nice Suit in Progress, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

sweet. they created a hype video to distract people from their slow progress.

I feel like I'm making progress here, because you're finally acknowledging that a plant-based diet is healthy instead of calling it vegan propaganda.

I'm thinking this is probably the most well written and perfectly delivered bit that Seth has done. Ever.

Had tears of laughter forming in my eyes as the bit progressed.

People like this, Bob, most of my family, and most Trump supporters are why I hate Christianity. It shows just how full of hate they are. I love them as people, but I hate everything about them... this of course is exactly what they say about the gays. They don't hate them, they just hate their sin... not that they are sin free themselves, but they'll ignore that. Anyhow, they'll say "hate the sin, love the sinner" but don't understand how hating everything about a person doesn't show the love of Christ. Christ spent His ministry hanging out with the very sinners that most Christians today try to separate themselves from and react with vile towards. They act like the Pharisees that Christ spoke out against, and are the main reason people are turned off the faith... they are doing more harm than good. And in the end, that's probably a good thing. Let them show how full of hate Christianity is, how they don't actually love the way Christ said to love, and more and more people will leave their faith, then perhaps we'll start to make some progress in this world towards a true loving society that is more akin to the one Christ preached.

Oh FFS. Seriously?

It's 1000x more common for people to believe the words "liberalism" and "socialism" to be seen in a derogatory light by Americans, even though the overwhelming majority of people subscribe to classical liberal ideas, such as freedom of speech, religion, and basic human rights, or in *some* socialist ideas, like a basic safety net in some way shape or form. I mean, hell, because of Glenn Beck and Fox News, there's even a move to make "Progressive", as in the "Progressive Movement" a dirty word. You know, the movement that, while it did overstep its bounds, also helped to institute meritocracy within government, cleaned up corruption, began conservation efforts, and ensured for the first time widely basic safety with food, buildings, etc.

Just stop. Nobody gives a rat's ass if you come to work and say a prayer. Trump Supporters get beaten up?! Yeah, it's almost like they're black in the South, or they're Muslims somewhere in the US. Oh poor white Christians! They've never had it so hard!

Absolutely ridiculous.

Just stop. Nobody is buying your BS.

Hey BSR, I appreciate your question.

It's hard to overstate the impact that Christ has had on my life. Since I was saved He has transformed me into a new person. Not a perfect person, mind you; I am a work in progress.

Before I knew that God existed, I was totally secular in my beliefs. I didn't believe in anything supernatural. When I found out that God was real, it was completely mind blowing because it meant that everything I knew about reality was in some way wrong or incomplete.

I didn't immediately become a Christian, however. I didn't know who God was, but I did know He was all powerful and personally loved me. Actually the last thing I wanted to be was a Christian.

However over the years I received revelation that showed me that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the bible is His book. It all kind of culminated one day when God showed me my spiritual beliefs were delusional and my choice was either to give my life to His Son or deliberately deceive myself. I didn't want to give my life to Jesus but I didn't want to believe a lie either. So I kind of begrudgingly asked the Lord to come into my life. He answered and did show up almost immediately.

I knew I was a sinner, no one had to convince me of that. I knew that if God was holy I needed forgiveness because that meant there would be a judgment. I knew that was the reason that Jesus was sent, to save us from that judgment.

As Christians, our goal is to grow closer to Christ. I am getting to know Him a little better in the last few years. Jesus has come to me not just as Lord but also as a friend. He has given me joy and peace which cannot be described and doesn't come from this world. If you had one second of His joy you would never be the same and never see this world the same way again. Everything you can gain in this world is dust and ashes in comparison.

Jesus Christ is God, but also an intimate friend, and He sincerely cares about our lives. He came to reconcile us to the Father and that is His heart for every person. Because He was human, He understands our weaknesses and doesn't condemn us for it. He knows we need help and has provided everything we need to live a godly life pleasing to God.

His revelation has taught me that there is hope which is real, substantial, and available every day of our life. He has taught me to love sacrificially and lay down my life for another. He has wiped every tear from my eyes and helps me with every problem and situation. He has shown me that He is all the bible says He is, and even more. I know He is faithful and eternally, He will always be there.

My wife and I carry a recessive Gene that causes the disease NPC type C
It's got the horrible nick name of "Alzheimer's for little kids"
We found out we carry said Gene when we had our daughter and have this to look forward to https://nnpdf.org/the-disease/the-progression-of-niemann-pick-disease/

A few years ago, Indiana passed a law making it illegal to have an abortion because of genetic abnormalities. You can only have an abortion of a healthy pregnancy. The law was stopped by a federal judge, but other laws have lined up to take it's place, enough that working with insurance has become a nightmare. There are 4 other laws that are hindering us moving forward.

So, again, if we could more easily have an abortion, rather than watch a child slowly and needlessly die, we would, and then wait until we had a healthy fetus.

"Just move to another state" oh, yeah that's so fucking easy


If we had easier access to legal abortion, my family would already be bigger. Not that any of this is any of your business, but people have unique situations that you may not have considered.

Nothing wrong with the officer pulling him over. Dude was a full SUV length past the stop sign. If someone was coming from the officer's direction, turning left, it would have impeded their progress. Not saying they still couldn't have made the turn, or it would have been dangerous or anything, the signs are there for a reason. The stop was probably more to see if this was a dui, but he had reason to stop him. Just be cool, don't be an ass, and probably would have gotten a warning and let go, unless he has a long history of infractions...then he deserved it.