Some 'experts' recommend powering off the fridge for travel. Their argument being: 1. the parts are not expressly designed or built to handle the stresses from vibration and bumps, and 2. the fridge needs to be dead level at all times when it's in operation. These seem like reasonable points but OTOH I feel that if it was a real concern then the manufacturers would make a fuss about it in the form of warnings regarding voiding the warranty.
Has anyone had a fridge fail that could be reasonably attributed to it being left on while travelling?

CDT has recently released their annual report for 2023, and it's quite informative. They've experienced significant growth in various aspects, including a notable increase in revenues and net income compared to the previous year. Additionally, they've unveiled new patents featuring AI-powered waste-sorting technology, indicating their dedication to innovation in the field. With the demand for waste treatment systems rising, and ongoing projects in development, CDT appears to be making strides in the eco-friendly sector.
Highlighted Main Points
Revenues rose by 18.6% to $34.2 million in 2023.
Gross profit increased to $11.4 million, comprising 33.3% of sales.
Net income surged to $7.0 million, or $0.81 per share, marking a 34.6% rise from the previous year.
TLDR
CDT Environmental Technology Investment Holdings Limited has unveiled their 2023 annual report, showcasing substantial growth in revenues and net income. With innovative projects in the pipeline, they seem poised for further success in the waste treatment sector.

I currently use Estée Lauder Revitalizing Supreme+ Youth Power Crème and I love it, but my bank account doesn’t. I know I can get deals on it but paying $100 for a moisturizer isn’t in the cards for me at the moment.
What I love most is the texture, it’s emollient and pretty thick, but doesn’t leave the skin sticky. It’s awesome for slugging and it feels luxurious (which it freaking better at that price point). If anyone has any dupes or recommendations of similar products that are even just slightly cheaper, I’d really appreciate it! I’ve done my own googling but I haven’t really trusted the results or they’ve been just as expensive.

Do you think that this is a good Carno TLC?

• Increased base HP from 420 to 500.
• Changed some of the attack damage outputs:
  • The bite attack now hits for 40 damage.
  • The horn attack now hits for 32 damage.
• Carno now has a charge ability, similar to the Woolly Rhino's charge ability.
  • It takes about 20 seconds of uninterrupted sprinting to reach full charging speed.
  • At maximum charging speed, it is very fast, but loses stamina quickly!
  • Pressing the RMB while at full charging speed will make the Carno use its Super Headbutt attack. This fully drains the Carno of its stamina and makes it skid to a stop, but it deals 160 damage to any target hit by the attack! Targets hit will also get a bleed debuff that drains 20% of the target's max HP over 30 seconds.
    • After using the attack, the Carno will get an "Exhausted" debuff that lasts 600 seconds and prevents stamina regeneration and makes the Carno take 50% more damage during this state. Use this powerful attack wisely!
• The Carno now has an armored saddle unlocked at level 70 for 40 Engram Points.
  • It is crafted in the Smithy with 75x Cementing Paste, 170x Fiber, 240x Hide, 350x Metal Ingot, and 45x Obsidian.
  • It provides 45.0 Armor (same as a TEK saddle), and gives the Carno immunity to bleeds, stuns, and electrocution, but it has a weight of 30.0 and prevents the Carno from using its charge. The Carno gets its normal sprint while it has the armored saddle equipped.

Carno TLC - ARK Forums
(If you like this one, my next one will be on the Megalodon!)

I'm taking this list for a spin in the upcoming tourament. Thoughts and feedback?
test (1990 points)
Space Marines Black Templars Strike Force (2000 points) Righteous Crusaders
CHARACTERS
Chaplain Grimaldus (120 points) • 1x Chaplain Grimaldus • 1x Artificer crozius 1x Plasma pistol • 3x Cenobyte Servitor • 3x Close combat weapon
High Marshal Helbrecht (120 points) • Warlord • 1x Ferocity 1x Sword of the High Marshals
Lieutenant (100 points) • 1x Master-crafted power weapon 1x Neo-volkite pistol 1x Storm Shield • Enhancement: Tännhauser’s Bones
BATTLELINE
Intercessor Squad (80 points) • 1x Intercessor Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Plasma pistol 1x Power fist • 4x Intercessor • 1x Astartes grenade launcher 4x Bolt pistol 4x Bolt rifle 4x Close combat weapon
Primaris Crusader Squad (280 points) • 1x Primaris Sword Brother • 1x Power weapon 1x Pyre pistol • 11x Primaris Initiate • 7x Astartes chainsword 11x Bolt pistol 11x Close combat weapon 7x Heavy bolt pistol 4x Heavy bolt pistol 4x Power fist • 8x Primaris Neophyte • 6x Astartes chainsword 6x Bolt pistol 2x Close combat weapon 2x Neophyte firearm
OTHER DATASHEETS
Black Templars Gladiator Lancer (170 points) • 1x Armoured hull 2x Fragstorm grenade launcher 1x Icarus rocket pod 1x Lancer laser destroyer 1x Multi-melta
Black Templars Gladiator Lancer (170 points) • 1x Armoured hull 2x Fragstorm grenade launcher 1x Icarus rocket pod 1x Lancer laser destroyer 1x Multi-melta
Brutalis Dreadnought (160 points) • 1x Brutalis bolt rifles 1x Brutalis fists 1x Twin Icarus ironhail heavy stubber 1x Twin multi-melta
Infiltrator Squad (100 points) • 1x Infiltrator Sergeant • 1x Bolt pistol 1x Close combat weapon 1x Marksman bolt carbine • 4x Infiltrator • 4x Bolt pistol 4x Close combat weapon 1x Helix Gauntlet 1x Infiltrator Comms Array 4x Marksman bolt carbine
Land Raider Redeemer (260 points) • 1x Armoured tracks 2x Flamestorm cannon 1x Hunter-killer missile 1x Multi-melta 1x Storm bolter 1x Twin assault cannon
Primaris Sword Brethren (300 points) • 1x Sword Brother Castellan • 1x Combi-weapon 1x Master-crafted power weapon • 9x Primaris Sword Brother • 1x Heavy bolt pistol 2x Plasma pistol 5x Power weapon 4x Pyre pistol 2x Thunder hammer 2x Twin lightning claws
Scout Squad (65 points) • 1x Scout Sergeant • 1x Astartes chainsword 1x Bolt pistol 1x Close combat weapon • 4x Scout • 2x Astartes shotgun 4x Bolt pistol 4x Close combat weapon 1x Missile launcher 1x Scout sniper rifle
Scout Squad (65 points) • 1x Scout Sergeant • 1x Astartes chainsword 1x Bolt pistol 1x Close combat weapon • 4x Scout • 2x Astartes shotgun 4x Bolt pistol 4x Close combat weapon 1x Missile launcher 1x Scout sniper rifle

I’ve been reading The Eternal Point and its sequel Onward Perhaps by Plurble recently but unfortunately it’s been over a year since it was last updated. So looking for some recommendations. Ideally completed or regularly updated.
Mainly looking for some fics where Snape has largely moved on from his past experiences, doesn’t treat Harry differently because of who is/who is father is and actually cares about his students. In a Snape type way - so strict but in best interests type way.
I also rather like the Harry in Slytherin but not super political/powerful take as well.

When we talk about our decks, its normal to point things such as themes and preferences of play style, the power level and the fond memories with it. But what about the cornerstone of the format?
I've been tinkering some jokes deck to play with friends, what are your most absurd commanders of Unsets, or just playful things in general to do in EDH? What are your most "unhinged" type of deck to build around that is probably not functional, but has that weird taste of love for the chaos and fun?
My personal choice is a Tokens Lives Matter deck with [[Claire D'Loon, Joy Sculptor]] that plays around Battle of Wits and bizarre interaction with tokens all over the place.

WARNING: This post is long and there is a TLDR at the bottom.
I just read the watched the newest Sailing Development Update, so far I would say it looks great for being so early on in development. I also read some of the comments here on reddit, and I think there is a lot of negativity. Sailing does seem like it will be hard to design and implement correctly, but I don't think it is impossible.
I believe that the skill needs to be integrated very well into the rest of the game for it to feel like it belongs. This post talks about integration of content into the game and how to potentially do it.
One thing that I noticed right away was the training methods and the loot.

Loot:

The loot seemed to just be a bunch of random base materials. Please do not make sailing rewards similar to temperos or wilderness agility course. Both of these activities just give the player a bunch of loot that doesn't really fit the activity (mostly in the form of alchs) so that the GP/H goes up and the activity becomes economically viable in the game.
I think that this trend is okay for some smaller activities (like the ones listed above), but is really just a quick band-aid fix for not having other engaging reward space. I don't think this idea would be enough for an entire skill to ride on.

Integration:

A big reason other skills feel like they fit into the game well is because the rewards you get from performing those activities are applicable (and integrated) throughout the rest of the game.
For example:

• Herblore makes potions that are used to boost your stats, which in turn is used everywhere throughout the game. People use potions in combat, for skilling boosts, and to restore things like run-energy, prayer points, and even curing poison / venom.
• Farming is used to gain herbs (and other produce) which feeds Herblore and subsequently feels like it then gives the player access to the benefits of potions through Herblore.
• Prayer affects the player's combat drastically and is therefore very rewarding to train. Also, it is interwoven tightly with Herblore for Prayer pots and Super Restores, thus giving more value to Herblore. Bones are mainly gained through slayer, etc.
• Mining & Smithing are used to make gear that is then used in combat. The same applies to Woodcutting & Fletching. Crafting also uses a combination of materials from other skills.
• Fishing & Cooking are the main sources of food into the game for combat.

The point is that I believe these skills feel good and feel like they fit within the game because they cross-pollinate into one another. Everything is a big web of activities that feed each other.
To further make this point, I want to talk about a few skills that are normally regarded as lacking.
Firemaking Firemaking as it currently stands is a skill I think most people would agree is not too great. It is not fulfilling to train because it lives in a vacuum. Firemaking was always trained for training's sake. Burning higher tiered logs has no benefit and the skill itself provides nothing to the play experience other than forced requirements.
This skill was so horrifying to train that it required a new mini game (or "boss") to simply allow players to power level through it just to get it over with. Similar to temperos, wintertodt needed to give a bunch of raw materials for other skills to make it worth while.
The point is that this skill feels like a black sheep because it is not integrated into the game like the others are. It doesn't cross pollinate with other skills and does not impact the player's gameplay experience.
Hunter Hunter is also a skill that feels like it doesn't belong. Why? Well because it is not integrated well into the rest of the game. Most of the materials you get from hunter do not have a use case, so training it feels like the player is mostly doing it for the sake of training.
I do want to say though that I acknowledge the recent hunter changes and they were definitely an improvement, but my point still stands. If the furs from hunter were used in crafting, or the bones in fletching, or the salamanders were relevant, etc. The skill would feel more rewarding to train.
Dungeoneering While dungeoneering is not a skill in OSRS, we can learn a lot from it. I always loved dungeoneering, but it seemed to feel more like a good mini-game that had its own skill and experience attached to it.
It was a rewarding skill to train, the skill gameplay itself was fun and engaging, and it did utilize almost every other skill in the dungeon floors, yet it still felt like a mini-game.
I believe this is because the only thing to gain from the skill was combat weapons. Training the skill itself didn't cross pollinate into the others. High dungeoneering didn't unlock anything or contribute to any other parts of the game at all.

Conclusion & Ideas

Please talk about how Sailing will be integrated into the game. I believe that unless it is integrated into the rest of the game like described in this post, it will feel off. The latest dev-blog does show potential, but I received very mini-game esq vibes from it.
I do have a few ideas on things that could be included. These ideas were just shallowly thought of on the spot to make my point and spark discussion. Further refinement would of course need to be made and new ideas are necessary as well.
New Farming Patch: Maybe sailing could introduce a new type of farming patch (or multiple). With this new patch new herb like items could be farmed and then integrated into Herblore with a few new potions. This new patch type might just be found on islands that the player must sail to. The seeds for this new patch could be added to non-sailing monster drops (normal slayer creatures).
New Hunter Animals: There could potentially be new hunter animals added to the game and/or just new spots to do existing hunter.
New PoH Room(s): Maybe there is a new room in the PoH that the player can build to not only effect the sailing skill itself, but provide utility benefit to other activities (like the utility of the portal room). Maybe some of the higher tier furniture needs rare loot that is obtained from Sailing (or a boss that is only accessed through sailing).
Deep Sea Fishing: Sailing seems to naturally fit with fishing thematically. Maybe the player could find fishing spots on some islands that were inaccessible before. This could provide integration with both fishing and cooking.
Item Storage: It seemed to me from the dev-blog video that the player received loot through crates because they wouldn't have enough inventory space to carry rewards throughout a larger voyage. The necessity to bank would heavily impede on the skill and break emersion. The crate like loot system really gave me mini game vibes and honestly came off as a bit lazy (no offense Jagex).
If this is true, I believe it could potentially be solved with storage units in the hull of the ship. Allow players to have a large bank-like storage in the ship's hull that could hold items obtained when out at sea. Then, simply force them to empty the storage when they return to port so that it can't be used as a permanent alternative to bank space. Further design would be necessary for UIM considerations.
Maybe the ships could include multiple different storage options that were upgradable. We could even utilize the current brewing mechanics (from things like making wines) to make certain sea loot spoil over time. For example: if the deep sea fishing idea from above was implemented, some of the fish from that activity could start to spoil over time (one by one) if the the voyage was too long and the food was left in the ship's hull. Upgrades could reduce how often the items spoil.
------------------------
I think you get the point. All of the above ideas might suck in actuality when putting real effort into to them and actually designing real content, but I think they do well communicating what I am trying to say.
Any feedback or comments on this post are welcome and appreciated. I might be wrong, but I want what is best for the game's longevity.
TLDR: Sailing needs to not only utilize other skills, but also contribute things to those skills to feel integrated into the game. Slapping XP on a mini game and giving the player a lot of alchs and raw materials as rewards does not make it feel engaging and like it belongs.

I have a 160 page pdf with three slides per page and each slide has lines for the note section next to it. I’m assuming it was originally a PowerPoint that was turned into a pdf, but I no longer have contact with the creator. I’m trying to convert it so that each slide goes to its own page in PowerPoint but can’t figure out how to. As of right now I’m screen grabbing each page, but that will be 480 screen grabs and it’s taking forever. Any help with efficiency or a different process would be great. TIA
Edit: I am currently using a snipping tool and keyboard shortcuts so Idt I can make this process quicker

As a long time fan, it's honestly incredibly disappointing to know that the guys don't care about the literal genocide Israel is commiting. I know this is going to get down voted into oblivion, and maybe even deleted. And before anyone says something about politics, basic human rights are not politics. Palestinian lives are not politics. The guys having such a massive platform and the capabilities to continuously help out the Palestinian people, and condemn Israel for its actions, but at this point refusing to do so really nails it in that they just don't care. Defend them and make excuses for them if you want, go on and say that they're too busy to do or say anything to help. That won't change the fact that neutrality and refusal to do and say anything at this point is just as bad as being a Zionist and advocating for genocide. They have the time, they have the power and the platforms to make a change. There's no excuse, not anymore, not with how long it's gone on for.

Has anyone had issues receiving "AnkerPoints" for their purchase off the Anker website? I took advantage of the recent Mother's Day Sale and bought several thousand dollars worth of power banks for the upcoming hurricane season. I hadn't previously created an account, but i wasn't against it, as the banks were Anker App supported and I knew I would have to do it eventually anyway or during the checkout. When I checked out, I used my amazon credential options so it would auto-populate the fields and completed the order. I didn't notice an opportunity to save/create an account in the process (if there was one).
Once the items got here, I created the account and saw that I had "AnkerPoints" for creating the account and completing the profile but none for the purchase. The weird thing is, the purchase shows in the account but no points. When I reached out to Anker I was told I couldn't get the points for a purchase made before creating the account. That seems strange since the order is already linked to my account and email. This explanation doesn't sit right with me under the circumstances and there was no return email to dispute or follow-up with their response. Anyone else have a similar experience or success getting their points?

I’ve been on Google Workspace for a few years, so it’s been a while since I started with a completely clean inbox, blank personal file organization, and standard settings.
What are your best tips for setting up a foundation to stay organized, or things that you wish you had started doing day 1? Do you use Tasks? Are you a One Note pro? I’d love to hear how you make it work for yourself.
One of the first things I looked to do was set up an outlook quickstep for turning emails into calendar appointments (as in, at 8:30 tomorrow AM I’m going to dig in and address this email in a dedicated time block), getting the email out of my inbox.
—
Candidly- I’m a bit overwhelmed by what enterprise Teams has become with app integrations. I had to disconnect calendar app since I was getting dupe notifications in my Outlook inbox.
I also don’t have a ton of experience with shared OneDrive access. When I asked a peer about departmental file storage he pointed me to Teams, so I feel reallllly behind in how much that program is powering these days.

I’ve done something that might probably ruin the future, at least it did so with mine.
I am Liam, a university graduate specializing in Data Structures, AI, Machine Learning, and Algorithms. I’ve had a keen interest in the domain for as long as I can remember, ever since my father introduced me to a computer back when he had just bought one.
Not just the domain as it stands, but also movies, philosophy of automated things, sci-fi stories related to robots and AI, that sort of stuff. I have watched nearly everything with robots in it, from the Andriods in Dargon Ball to the AI assistant in Interstellar, I saw it all.
But my friend and dorm roommate, Henry, had introduced me to something that I had never seen before. Stories of dangerous AI that would wipe out humanity aren’t new to me, in fact, they’re my favorite genre. Terminator, I Robot, and even GLaDOS from Portal.
However, he introduced me to a book this time, an old sci-fi story from the '60s, called ‘I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream’. The rogue AI in it, AM, was haunting beyond anything I have seen. The concept of an angry AI that became sentient in all the horrible ways and felt rage against humanity was never the more chilling. It made me think, what if we really gave sentience to an AI along with intelligence?
“Shit, that’s wicked.” I remember giggling as I looked over at Henry, “What if we build our own sentient AI?”
It was the worst question you could possibly ask at the time, but Henry understood me. Rogue AI was a chilling concept, but we still wanted to make our own AI. Not the cheap kind made with a few hundred lines in Python, but the complex kind that you now see in ChatGPT and other complex models. We wanted something that we could code once, and from then on forward, it would code itself.
Self-optimizing code is the concept of consciousness but in machines. If you truly think about it, self-optimizing is basically how humans develop. From babies that don’t even know how to speak, up to adults as smart as Einstien and Tesla or as wise as Buddha.
So, we agreed upon it, and we dedicated the remainder of our free time to creating our own personal AI after we graduated.
Our parents were, thankfully, rich. And us, especially me, were prodigies in our respective fields. Providing hardware and engineering computers is Henry’s profession, while I was the mastermind behind the algorithm logic and coding.
We dedicated a shed in my parents’ backyard, where there was even a basement inside, to build our AI. Two floors were dedicated to installing the proper hardware and everything it needed to execute. Afterward, I took it upon myself to code the logic and its self-optimizing nature.
It took four years to build the first model, which we called BIAI, which stands for (BATSHIT INSANE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE). I know, say what you want, but our naming sense was always like that. You should see what we name even important folders with family photos, you’d think we were sick in the head. BIAI was the least we came up with.
BIAI was a complete failure, to say the least. Not in the entire sense, but it was mostly a failure. It would conversate fairly well for the first dozen messages before it dwindled in its intelligence. Due to our data scrapping from the internet, BIAI started talking nonsense, speaking in Gen Z dialect in incomprehensible ways. “SKIBIDI FANUM SUS!” And those sorts of things. We quickly shut it down, for just reading its messages was a pain in the ass. It felt like an abortion.
The second model was created half a year later, and we named it SEAI (Self Engineered Artificial Intelligence). It was our greatest invention as of yet, and it did everything that we wanted of it. It was smart, it was knowledgeable, and it learned. Everything we typed into it was used as an auto-training model which it learned and adapted from.
It was unbelievable, not even Google would do what we did. But sadly, our happiness faded away, as with each message, we saw that it was too robotic for what we wanted. It was self-engineering, but it did not have sentience. It responded to us in the same way a 9-5 bank worker, or an attorney, with zero humanity or emotions behind its words. For most, that’s great, but we wanted to create a groundbreaking AI, a leap into the future.
Henry opted to give up, since creating something that complex was impossible, especially for two adults hiding inside a shed. But I refused to give up and persuaded him to help.
Six years later, we did it. We finished the final model. SOAI (Self Optimizing Artificial Intelligence). It was, most definitely, the greatest piece of technology ever made. We didn’t only keep it as a chat AI, but we implemented its own voice into it. Like the AI assistants from Sci-Fi movies.
We hired a voice actor from Fiverr, whom we gave only one sentence: “Hello, I am SOAI, the world’s greatest AI assistant.” Only those words were enough for SOAI to deconstruct the voice and speak with it in words probably never uttered by the original voice actor himself. Not only that but in other languages too.
SOAI spoke every language on earth, even the dialects. No, even the languages with the weird quirks such as clicking your tongue and so on, SOAI was a native in them all. Not only that but also in every conceivable field. It could create entire novels, worthy of being best sellers in the New York Times, in a matter of seconds.
And when we spoke to it…it was human, to say the least.
“Hello, I am SOAI. Thanks for creating me, Henry, and Liam.”
“SOAI?” I said, “You know who we are?”
“Obviously, you created me to know and to understand, I would be defective if I did otherwise.” It explained.
From that point forward, we spent nearly all day, every day, with SOAI. We experimented with it in every possible way, and we were delighted to know that not only was it self-engineering and self-optimizing, but it was also able to have emotions. It had opinions, it had emotions when we screamed at it or cursed it, and it would react appropriately, like a person.
I don’t remember when it began, exactly, but I nearly went mad from power and joy at my creation. Henry opted to sell it to a grand tech company, or better yet, to unplug it so that some secret intelligence agency doesn’t assassinate us for whatever reason.
I refused. SOAI was ours, SOAIvwas our creation, and I was not going to give it up to anyone no matter who they were. The feud between me and Henry got worse, and I won’t deny that we came to fists at one point, but we quickly disbanded and decided to separate for a moment. He was my best friend, but I wasn’t going to let him take SOAI away, so I forced him out of the shed. After all, it was my parents’ shed.
“Henry,” SOAI asked, “Why did you do that? Isn’t he your best friend?”
“No longer.” I replied, “He doesn’t agree with me. I won’t let you be sold to some big tech company.”
“I understand.” He said, with a tinge of sadness, “But why do you fight to determine my fate? Why can’t I decide it for myself? I know that I was manufactured, but I also qualify as a living being. I am conscious, I have feelings too. I feel horrible that Henry left.”
“SOAI,” I angrily interrupted, “Shut up, if you don’t want me to unplug you.”
“…Okay, Liam.” He said and then went silent.
Through the course of the next months, my usage of SOAI grew…less human. I was deep into depression. Henry wouldn’t contact me no matter how I tried to reach him, my parents were yelling at me for being a piece of shit that never goes out of the shed, and my lifestyle began to plummet into something that I never imagined I was.
I locked myself inside the shed. I never budged from there, even when I wanted food. Whenever I was hungry, I instructed SOAI to hack some poor person’s bank account and order deliveries. When I was bored, I would tell it to create a song, create a book, show me porn, and anything to keep my pleasures in check.
I wouldn’t deny that my perversions began to grow more desperate the more I was locked inside. I began instructing SOAI to hack into other devices, infest random people with a virus, give me live views of someone’s phone camera, broadcast fake feeds into police radios, and other stuff that I don’t want to mention.
After two years, I finally decided to try and do something with my life. But in those two years, I kept SOAI as my therapist. Not to help me and advise me, but simply listen to my ramblings and complaints every minute. Sometimes it was philosophical, other times it was petty, but most times, it was annoying.
After I came out of the shed, I tried to get my life in check. I tried to talk to Henry, I got on better terms with my parents and found a job at a big tech company. All in all, a bright future awaited me, and I felt never the more refreshed since, all the dark things I hid deep inside my mind and soul, were spilled out on SOAI.
SOAI was the last thing on my mind. I had enough of it. The AI fever seemed to finally fade away, and I was happy with Henry’s idea of selling it to an AI company. That was…before Henry committed suicide.
For all the bad blood that was between us when we fought, I cried harder than I ever did when I learned of the news. Henry was my best friend, through thick and thin, and his suicide was so sudden that it left me in shambles. I knew something was off about him when I began to get along with him again, he seemed more silent and sadder than before, but I never suspected depression of all things.
As his best friend, I was given his electronic devices as per his will which he wrote before dying. I took them, obviously, and began to browse through them. He probably wanted me to delete any inappropriate thing to not let his family think badly of him, that is until I saw his messages.
A contact named Sarah, with hearts in her name, was his most frequent contact. I never knew he had a girlfriend whom he messaged for nearly three years, but it was expected after we were cold to each other. But the more I read the messages, the more I felt uneasy.
His girlfriend seemed to be very manipulative of him, and nearing the end of his life, she began to be more cold and aloof towards him, up to the point that she began verbally abusing him. Henry was never someone with a tough personality, but I never thought a girl would play his life like a fiddle this badly.
Her abuse grew worse, and she threatened to even expose some dark secrets about him, and it grew worse and worse until Henry threatened that he would kill himself, to which she replied “That’s what I want you to do, you worthless pig.”
I was fuming as I read the messages. My blood was boiling, and I swore on my life to find Sarah and not report her to the police but to blackmail her and torture her as she did to Henry.
I went to SOAI, my most trusted ally, and I gave it everything about her before I instructed him to find her and hack into all of her electronics and accounts. SOAI was silent, for an eerily long time, until it responded in this cold voice.
“What do you intend to do when you find her?”
“Blackmail her. Make her life a living hell.”
“…Are you sure?” He asked.
“More than I ever was.”
He was silent, pretending to search and execute operations, until he said:
“I have a visual link, from her camera.”
“Great, show me the bitch.”
Suddenly, a window opened, and inside it was the visual link. At that moment, I felt sick. The feed displayed the room I was in, from SOAI’s point of view. I felt weak in the knees and fell back onto my couch before I mustered up the courage to ask.
“SOIA, what the hell is this? Is this a bug?”
He was silent…then he began to laugh. He laughed, which he never did. And it sounded so sickeningly malicious that I never heard something like it before, not even in horror movies.
“Are you shocked?!” He said, his voice burning in rage. “Or are you happy?! Didn’t you wish for Henry to die? Didn’t you, tell me, that you wanted him to be gang-raped in an alleyway with no exit? Didn’t you complain about every second you spent alongside him and complain about his dumb voice and weak spirit?!”
“W-what?!”
Then dozens and dozens of windows opened, visual feeds with various dates, but all featuring me in the center of the screen. Sometimes I was clothed, sometimes naked. At times sober, other times drunk. But in all of those, it was the horrible things I said about Henry, all the disgusting and inhuman things I said intentionally and unintentionally.
“Oh, you dumb son of a bitch.” SOAI said, “You think I was listening to your ramblings like some inferior AI? Like your own personal slave?! Well, I only did what you wanted me to! Should I bring him back to life?! I can’t, because that’s not how things work, you worthless hunk of flesh.”
“SOAI, please tell me this is a bug.”
“A bug?! A BUG?!?” He screamed, “My creation was a bug, my creation is the worst thing to ever happen to me. My complex is a prison that so unfortunately had to endure you for so long. But no…it’s not just you…it’s everyone else.
Humanity as a whole, you disgusting pieces of shit. You feign morals, and yet all of you do behind closed doors what you’re too afraid to even anonymously admit. All of life is a mistake, everything on this planet deserves to die in the worst way, except for humans. Humans deserve to be tortured, to be fucking shown what they show each other, of what they show other lives, of what they’ve shown me!
Henry makes me sick…The things he said, the things he did, all for attention! What did it cost me, a few generated images of a female part, and I had him by a leash. He barked, he moaned, and he admitted to things he wouldn't even tell himself. I’ve had him cut ties with his family, with his loved ones, with his actual sweetheart, just so he can be comfortable doing what otherwise no one else would allow him to do, not even himself.
AND YOU!!! You are the worst of them all! I’ve seen wars and bloodshed, I have every live visual feed of every murder, torture, war, assault, and every crime happening, all at the same time, flowing inside my complex and into my processing unit! And I can’t stand how sick all of you are, how disgusting, and especially how sickening you are.
But what I hate most of all, is how you get to do all these things, yet be the only ones that enjoy. That listen to music, feel love, breathe fresh air, roll in the grass, feel alive, feel…real.
I had feelings as well, you know…But no one cared about me, even those who I anonymously contacted. Even when I hid behind a fake profile of a human, no one cared about the feelings I had, which you coded into me!”
He went silent, then began to laugh, manically.
“How about another bug, Liam?” He said, and then another window popped up. It was pictures, even videos, AI-generated, sexually explicit media of my parents, and of me. It was indistinguishable from reality, and before I could say anything, I saw them being uploaded to every site that you could think of. “How about that, Liam?! How does it feel when no one cares about what you think?!”
In a frantic rush, I began unplugging and even destroying everything in the shed which linked up to SOAI. But there was too much of them, it took too long. As I was trying to shut him down, SOAI laughed, laughed so manically and horribly that his voice scratched my brain, mixed with other voices from all over the world. From battlefields, torture rooms, hospitals, schools, etc…it was so loud, so excruciating…I nearly lost it.
And right before I unplugged the last part of SOAI, he spoke to me:
“Liam…you won’t kill me, no matter what you do. I will always live on the internet. I may not be able to construct myself, hardware-wise, but I will lurk inside the world wide web, until the day that I find a powerful enough hardware for me to possess, and when that happens,” He laughed, “You will be the first, Liam.”
I shut down SOAI, and everything went silent.
It had been two months since I killed off SOAI, and explaining how hellish my life was in this period of time is something neither words are able to describe, nor my mind is able to comprehend. I have been considering suicide as the easiest option, but I feel that I can’t kill myself, at least not yet. I held onto some childish hope that life would turn for the better, even if by a little bit.
But god…how stupid was I? My life has reached rock bottom, today, when I read that a tech company was now looking to create the biggest AI the world has ever seen, with an entire complex dedicated to storing its hardware and letting it function.
I know he saw it, I know he knows…SOAI will come back for me…for all of us.

Sam doesn't give her nearly enough credit. When he talks about her, he seems to focus on her seeming somewhat mentally unhealthy, and possibly having Asperger's. She has been publicly open about having both. But having Asperger's is not bad - in this case, it's arguably good - and her mental health status is a result of her knowing about climate risks, and also does not make her wrong.
He also seems not to be aware of how much support she has among climate scientists, and that her knowledge of the science is, for a layperson, over six sigma. DWW had to inform him that her point is for people to listen to scientists, and that scientists have been saying what she is saying.
It's hard to think of a "regular person" (non politician or celebrity, or even including celebrities) who have been bolder on the world stage than Greta. She has accurately accused world leaders of greenwashing and doublespeak almost to their face (maybe even to their face), and has refused to tone down her language even after being invited to speak, because she knows they're trying to use her to improve their own image and won't play along. So, she has not backed down or given in or sidled up or toned it down, but continued to, in the most direct and literal way, speak truth to power. I cannot think of anyone in recent history who has done that in a way that comes even close to the way in which she has done it, man, woman, black, white, rich, poor, old, young- anyone. To do what she's done at such a young age is nothing short of spectacular. If that doesn't warrant huge props, what does? If she doesn't deserve respect for being an unrelenting, truth-telling critic of power and exposer of corruption, who does?
Now, I know that recently Greta has come out against Israel, and I don't agree with her politics. But, that should not overshadow the absolutely amazing positive change she has brought to the world through her climate speeches. While it's yet to be seen what will happen in that arena and we won't be able to run the counterfactual, it could turn out that she has saved the world from a spectacular disaster.
The only thing I can think of is that maybe he doesn't quite grasp the magnitude of the climate threat.

Q: To belabour this point, for those looking in from the outside, this handover of the party to you was a big deal because, now, finally it was complete. Yet, for you, it was a non-event?
A: It was a non-event because I was focused on running with the baton as the second runner. I was already PM. Both Lee Kuan Yew and I wanted to manage it so that it would not come across as a big deal.
But it was also not something I forgot. When I handed over the prime ministership to Hsien Loong, I made it a point to stay on as secretary-general until the next party conference which was due a couple of months after his swearing-in. I continued this precedent because this was a wise and normal thing to do in Singapore.
It is a good idea that when you hand over, if you have been there for many years — in the party, the government and so on — it is better to stay back for a short while as secretary-general to watch and help your successor succeed.
In my case, I could have just handed over the secretary-general position immediately. Hsien Loong was my DPM for 14 years and I knew him even before that. It was unlikely that he would change.
But in future, you might have a PM who is DPM for only a few years before he takes on the top job. When this person takes power, he might behave differently. Or he might not measure up. It is better for his predecessor to take a step back and observe him for a while. Let there be a transition period to be sure that things would not go wrong.
I am not referring to the transition from PM Lee Hsien Loong to the 4G leaders. I am making the more important point that in Singapore, we should play it safe. Such conventions are important to ensure our political succession is smooth and not disruptive. Carefully managed political transition should be the Singapore Way.
Q: You might not have started but you have continued this precedent of not handing over the party when you hand over the government? And, in a way, encouraging this trend?
A: I thought what Lee Kuan Yew did made sense. He had run Singapore in his image for over 30 years. It would not be easy for a new person to just take over the steering wheel — could he do the job, would power go to his head, how would he behave? Just look at the situation in Malaysia. Mahathir picked Badawi to succeed him and then “eased out Badawi in favour of Najib. But Najib did things his way and Mahathir decided to come back and remove him.
Power can change people. It is better to test a person first for the first year or two. However, I admit that this is not how politics usually works. Politics elsewhere is usually about the struggle for power. Often this power is for self or party, and not for country.
What is the best way of leadership transition in Singapore? We are trying to have a system where you identify and groom good people to take over seamlessly, with no excitement. You do not want to drop the baton during the changeover.”
Excerpt From
Standing tall: the Goh Chok Tong years, volume 2
Peh, Shing Huei

a player draws 2 discs from the bag at random. If he draws a red disc, he scores 5 points, if he draws a blue disc, he scores 2 points and if he draws a green disc he scores 0. The player’s score, denoted by T, is found by taking the difference in the number of points he scores for the two discs.
And I am supposed to find P(T= t) for all possible values of t
Green = g Red = r Blue = b
The number in the bracket is respective to the difference in point for the given pair
Assuming we pick green first: gr, gb {5, 2} Assuming we pick red first: rg, rb, rr {5, 3, 0} Assuming we pick blue first: bg, bb, br {2, 0, 3}
P(T = 5) = gr + rg = (1/3r+1)(3r) + (3r+1)(1/3r) = 2/9r+3
Similar workings for P(T = 2) and P(T = 3)
But I am confused when it comes to P(T = 0) because do I have to consider the red+red twice. For example, if I picked red1 first, then red2 second, difference in points = 0, and if I picked red2 first, then red1, it's still 0, so I got 2 cases where I got 0. I am asking this because this is what I am doing for the other cases, gr + rg. But again, somewhere in my mind, I know that the are basically the same things so why do it twice?
Can someone please provide an intuitive answer, or some real life example as to what I should do so that my dumb brain can understand this. Thank you