Toys & Tech
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Mina’s new Warbirds
We picked up an incomplete set of Callaway Warbirds for Mina at the Tsuruya Golf (Japan’s golf Mecca) main branch in Honmachi. It was exactly the kind of deal I like to find in Japan, because any imperfection in a product can result in huge bargains – we scored the set for less than half off because it was missing the hood (removable top of the golf bag) and a putter. Nam’s good friend ended up gifting Mina a really nice putter anyway, so we packaged the set with bubble wrap and brought it on the plane back to Thailand. Tonight was Mina’s first lesson in nearly a month, so…
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My new buddy is so smart
“Based on the response you shared from ChatGPT, it does seem that ChatGPT currently has more capability than me when it comes to directly processing information in Thai and Japanese languages. My abilities are limited to working with English text, while ChatGPT claims it can understand and generate text in Thai and Japanese to some degree. This would potentially give ChatGPT an advantage in being able to directly analyze primary sources or data in those languages. However, it’s difficult for me to definitively say whether ChatGPT is “better suited” overall, as there may be other factors at play: ChatGPT’s proficiency in Thai/Japanese could vary based on the complexity of the…
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Sky vs Light
Having played with many of the first AI video generation sites, I am ready to subscribe to either: Sora vs. Lumiere As a side note, Claude has replaced ChatGPT for many of my tasks, especially translation.
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Ever wonder where you took a specific photo?
Drag and drop it onto this program, click the button, and the location will display on Google Maps: Quick Photo GPS Extract Elegant software made for a specific purpose.
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Easy Solution for AMD GPU noise
A couple months ago, I put together a new PC out of cheap/used parts since I was still using an ancient 4th gen Intel CPU to power a superpotato tower (ambitiously named “fragmonster”). AMD GPUs are very unpopular in Thailand, so I found a Sapphire 6700xt for a song. I paired it with other decent-but-not-exorbitant components, and made a 1440p rig which made me quite happy. I was using it with USB headphones, and it was all good. Then one day, I plugged it into my stereo amp via the analog line out and I couldn’t believe the whining and stuttering noises coming out of it that started as soon…
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OpenAI Educator Guide
OpenAI has released an official guide for teachers using ChatGPT in their classroom: Teaching with AI It’s nice to have something official posted, at least. There are some new resources in there that I’m slowly trying to get through. The official answer to the question, “Do AI detectors work?” is: In short, no, not in our experience. https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8313351-how-can-educators-respond-to-students-presenting-ai-generated-content-as-their-own I asked ChatGPT the same question, and its answer was: AI detectors, specifically those designed to identify plagiarism or academic dishonesty, can be effective in detecting instances of copied or improperly attributed content. https://chat.openai.com/ So who knows better, the parent, or the child?
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Toshino Kickass
It seems like a funny name for a safety product, but I guess they paid someone’s 12 year old nephew to design it, so whatever… Toshino actually makes some of the higher end power strips in Thailand, though (in a market filled with dubious/dangerous products). Seen at the Thaiwatsadu home center near our home. UPDATE: The Jetpack suite for WordPress now contains a built-in AI for providing feedback on my posts before publishing. It has told me: The content mentions a safety product with a humorous name, suggesting that it may have been poorly designed. However, it also highlights that Toshino produces higher-end power strips in Thailand. The accompanying images…
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Missing seek bar anxiety
I want to coin this term, because it’s so real. Basically, when I watch a movie with no seek bar, I feel something is missing… It’s a big reason I don’t like watching movies in the theater anymore and hate video players that can’t easily and constantly display a seek bar. It’s also the reason I place my cursor on the volume bar in YouTube vids. I guess I just love the control it gives me over opening credits and uninspired dialogue/boring scenes.
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Sous Vide
I waited for the better part of a decade for sous vide equipment to become cheap enough for me to get into. The verdict is that sous vide with a cast iron pan sear to finish is definitely the best way to cook chicken breasts. I’m basically trying different proteins each week. Last week was chicken, and this week is pork. The main issue I have with sous vide is the plastic waste it generates. Also, the cheapo Chinese unit I bought requires a press for each tenth of a degree or minute when setting temp/time, which means I’ve already pressed the buttons about a thousand times, as the pulled…
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Songthaew vs Tesla
Related Newsflare from Feb: Tesla ‘bug’ causes car to brake when it sees ‘people standing on back of bus’

























