The conversations are always going past each other because the concerns are fundamentally different.
The latter group is less concerned about the utility of these tools and far more concerned with a public who can't see the AI companies are just building spicy, fraudulent SaaS platforms.
Re: the current moment
Perhaps a big disconnect comes from the gap between "people who can see through the hype and are assessing utility in a post-hype environment" and "people who know how dangerous the hype is precisely because being able to see through it is actually pretty rare in humans"
the thing about our current moment is that yes, the anti-AI and anti-big tech people are getting very reactive nowadays - but have you seen what they’re *reacting* to?
One reason I'm starting to recommend the Original to people: it is an extremely rare example of something you can buy today that truly is "made like they used to be"
Other than technical revisions to the motor, like different stator/rotor designs, it is made just like century-old fans were!
They do, but I'm stressing the importance of making sure you know it is a proper ceiling fan box which was correctly installed and not something that looks "good enough"
Not many ceiling fans come with lag bolts but the Original does b/c it weighs so much and they don't want people taking chances
Want to add:
I have just purchased one. These are excellent fans which outperform most options on the market by a large margin when it comes to airflow and they will probably outlive me.
The bearing is oiled! As in it comes with a bottle of oil like it's 1893!
The fan hangs from a hook and bushing you install in a ceiling box, and the decorative canopy attaches directly to the downrod; if the fan rocks it moves as one piece. And it comes with a balance kit.
Note they are extremely heavy and require a dedicated fan box or attachment directly to structure
I can't believe I know the answer to this but...
If you are willing to spend ridiculous money for an objectively kind of ugly fan, The Hunter Original is a 100+ year old cast iron design which checks those boxes
www.hunterfan.com/products/cei...
Congrats on 30 years of steamed hams, @thatbilloakley.bsky.social 🍔♨️
So like, every hour they acknowledge "our audience is actually quite large and we broadcast to the entire metro area" but then they pay next to no attention to what's going on in the suburbs and have a definite air of "they don't matter" which they can't seem to suppress.
The gatekeeping is tiring.
Oh no, what I'm talking about is the local news broadcasts.
This is a thorn in my side because Chicagoans have next to no self-awareness of what they sound like. It's particularly egregious coming from WBEZ which does station IDs on the hour for their repeaters in Morris, Kankakee, and Joliet.
I would say it's a mostly local term but it's a pretty self-explanatory term unlike, say, DFW's Metroplex
Yeah, we do that, but that's what Chicagoland means to us
I am happy to say Chicagoland because it's a cool word and it encompasses the whole metro area - a population which vastly outnumbers the city itself.
But even though the only reason I'd say "I'm from Chicago" is b/c nobody knows our suburbs, if city folks hear me say that they'll have a hissy fit.
That's what I would say!
But that's the whole thing: only Chicagoans care about this. If I tell someone where I'm from, which happens to be almost exactly as close to the Loop as Dolton, they'll scoff and say "well that's not /really/ Chicago" but now all of the sudden Dolton is.
Interesting.
I will always and forever ask any Chicagoan "where's the Pope from again?" because the hypocrisy must be exposed
[this is actually a post about Chicago]
*my* thing about the Pope which drives me batty is when WBEZ keeps referring to him as the "Chicago-born pontiff" or what have you - while at the same time never ever forgetting to say "suburban [place]" whenever something's happening outside the city limits.
so which is it you gatekeepy fucks
And that is why I always silence my phone whenever I'm taking a flight
I mean there kind of is one but it's subtle
oh yes, you weren't just hearing things ;)
ding-dong, gotta video out today
youtu.be/nXdVG45wveo
Okay CTA. This is a good sign.
Yeah, well *I'm* fed up with politicians who took until 2026 to realize an energy system which relies on constant extraction of resources sets you up for this very thing to happen one day.
Alternatives are here! We've been talking about them for decades now!
It's not that complicated!
i think it's pretty cool, actually, to collect energy from the sun using some rocks we figured out how to turn into electron pumps and then store that energy in some other rocks we figured out how to turn into batteries and think ugga dugga fire good is a childish mindset these days but whatevs.
this would be valid if we were actually doing these things at such a scale as to offset the carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels but, ya see, we aren't doing that which is kind of a problem.
and it turns out there's not actually a need to use fire at all to live our lives these days.
Couldn't snap a photo, but saw a new favorite vanity plate:
NOT A SPY
This whole crisis really brings out quite strongly to me how Trump thrives in the fact that he focuses on things the median voter can see (gas prices), but also in the fact that much of the media is unwilling or unprepared to explain the more fundamental things that have broken here.
I am really trying to get more people past this hangup which, frankly, I don't know where it came from but I keep running into it.
I do not think you should have to buy this stuff. I think we should collectively do it and use the infrastructure we already have so everyone can benefit.
Again, we already have this amazing machine called the power grid which can distribute electrical energy from one place to another. I do not think you should consider it necessary to replace the use of that amazing machine with your own personal energy infrastructure.
Just start electrifying!