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RCBH928
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Re: Random Thoughts Thread

by RCBH928 Fri Apr 29, 2022 12:55 pm

SamuraiMegas wrote:No, they aren't going to lose money on them like that.
The market price is set at the level it is because of the factors I mentioned. The people buying up all those rental properties are making it difficult for people to find homes in many areas in the first place, and the ones that are available have ballooned in price to 2-4x the original level. This means that only the wealthy can afford homes. Slowly, more and more people will be forced to rent houses instead of owning them and that's not a good thing, as it increases economic inequality. If it continues on long enough you'll basically be forced to pay rent to a corporation endlessly instead of ever being able to own your home outright.


well if you believe in capitalism, this is how capitalism works and in the end few entities own the market aka late stage capitalism.

Surprisingly, one market this did not happen is cars. There are a lot of automobile companies still competing against each other, and with Tesla, there are even new competitors getting in the market. Can't say the same for banks, telecoms, videogame consoles, desktop OS, mobile OS, and even media outlets. Disney alone owns like what? 33% of all media.
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Re: Random Thoughts Thread

by RCBH928 Sat May 07, 2022 3:15 am

I watched Batman Returns on Bluray and the quality is so obviously better than internet "HD" videos. Literally High Definition compared to the internet's which should be called High "Pixels" . Fake HD. Also on my version there is a ton of extras.

Of course, the convenience of instant access to a huge video library on any device for $10/m beats having to order and wait to receive the movie for $10 each and region locks don't help either.

I really feel like Bluray is under appreciated.
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RCBH928
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Re: Random Thoughts Thread

by RCBH928 Wed May 11, 2022 10:13 am

check this new search engine, you can ask it complex question and it can answer! Its not perfect though

andisearch.com
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Re: Random Thoughts Thread

by Nemoide Wed May 11, 2022 11:03 pm

I don't like it because it's more likely to give you one (potentially incorrect) answer as if it's the only correct answer. As a reference librarian, I see this as an extremely poor-quality substitute for my job!

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RCBH928
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Re: Random Thoughts Thread

by RCBH928 Wed May 11, 2022 11:53 pm

Nemoide wrote:I don't like it because it's more likely to give you one (potentially incorrect) answer as if it's the only correct answer. As a reference librarian, I see this as an extremely poor-quality substitute for my job!


Is there a correct answer? Its not perfect, I do not think a computer one day will be made where it can answer all questions correct, I mean even real human scientists make mistakes. Its still in alpha phase I believe, and for free its a great tool to use. It references the source so you can double check it for yourself and it also gives you full web page search to look for more resources on your own. I attached a question that has a real answer.

I am not sure how its supposed to be a replacement for your job. My understanding you guide people for resources and books in a library, this is more of a search engine. I gave it a shot and here is the result? Whats your professional opinion?

I would always pick a human curation over an algorithm, but this is kind of a little in between because it references sources by real human not drawn lines between people like-buttons and sales numbers and try to pick the best for you. Although I did find YouTube and IMDB "computer" algorithm quite useful, a lot of their suggestions are spot on and I am glad I got to discover them.
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Re: Random Thoughts Thread

by alienjesus Thu May 12, 2022 4:00 am

RCBH928 wrote:check this new search engine, you can ask it complex question and it can answer! Its not perfect though

andisearch.com


I'm curious as to how this works because the answer it gave is just flat out wrong, and when you check the page for FF6 on Wikipedia I can't find the information it gave either.

Final Fantasy 6 didn't come out in Europe until the Playstation release in 2002! I also can't find anything that matches up with the quoted sales numbers for the US and Europe.
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Re: Random Thoughts Thread

by Nemoide Thu May 12, 2022 6:17 pm

RCBH928 wrote:
Nemoide wrote:I don't like it because it's more likely to give you one (potentially incorrect) answer as if it's the only correct answer. As a reference librarian, I see this as an extremely poor-quality substitute for my job!

I am not sure how its supposed to be a replacement for your job. My understanding you guide people for resources and books in a library, this is more of a search engine. I gave it a shot and here is the result? Whats your professional opinion?


A bit part of reference work is finding the specific information people are looking for. Sometimes this is as simple as looking something up in an online encyclopedia or dictionary; other times it takes a bit of digging. This search engine does some sort of "research" but by only giving one result, it feels a lot less reliable than a more conventional search engine while presenting itself as being an actually-researched correct answer.
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Re: Random Thoughts Thread

by RCBH928 Fri May 13, 2022 12:10 am

alienjesus wrote:I'm curious as to how this works because the answer it gave is just flat out wrong, and when you check the page for FF6 on Wikipedia I can't find the information it gave either.

Final Fantasy 6 didn't come out in Europe until the Playstation release in 2002! I also can't find anything that matches up with the quoted sales numbers for the US and Europe.


You are right. I believe it has a computer algorithm that tries to gather information from around the web from reliable sources and present it as an answer.

Again, its not perfect, still in alpha stage, its free, and you are not supposed to use it as a reference/source for a book. More like gives you a closer ball-range of an idea. It can be flat out wrong. It also gives you the resources to double check and even if it can not get the answer it provides full web search by clicking the large orange button where the info can be found somewhere in there usually.

I tested Google's attempt at answering questions and they are not correct either, just for comparison's sake.

Nemoide wrote:A bit part of reference work is finding the specific information people are looking for. Sometimes this is as simple as looking something up in an online encyclopedia or dictionary; other times it takes a bit of digging. This search engine does some sort of "research" but by only giving one result, it feels a lot less reliable than a more conventional search engine while presenting itself as being an actually-researched correct answer.


I didn't know I can go to a librarian and ask hime to look up info for me.

Either way, the answer is more of a "best bet" kind of thing and again you can click the orange button to see a conventional web search with all links and resources found on the topic. Should have a lot less spam and ads than Google.
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Re: Random Thoughts Thread

by Limewater Fri May 13, 2022 1:01 pm

RCBH928 wrote:I didn't know I can go to a librarian and ask hime to look up info for me.


A friend of mine works at the Library of Congress. They have an "Ask a Librarian" feature on their website. They get all kinds of crazy questions about government conspiracies or people claiming to own the country and asking how to collect or about secret Constitutional amendments and stuff.
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Re: Random Thoughts Thread

by ZRofel Fri May 13, 2022 2:56 pm

Nemoide wrote:I don't like it because it's more likely to give you one (potentially incorrect) answer as if it's the only correct answer. As a reference librarian, I see this as an extremely poor-quality substitute for my job!


I'm always surprised at how many fellow librarians I bump into on retro gaming forums.

(And, yes, as a librarian, these kinds of digital research assistants always rub me the wrong way for exactly the reasons already given.)
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