As a matter of course, one should not even open a link that goes to OpenAI.

It's best not to become dependent on these piracy engines. These models are hopelessly unprofitable, and they will not be cheap and accessible for very long. They take such colossal resources to train, billions upon billions of dollars. Currently OpenAI is trying to do the classic Silicon Valley bait and switch. They have a product that is more expensive and inefficient than the previous method. If they charge the real price for their product, they know no one will adopt it. So instead they offer their product at an artificially low price initially. They hope that everyone will become dependent, after which they can jack up their prices.

It's the Uber model. Start by paying drivers more than they would make driving taxis, and by charging riders far less than they would pay for a taxi fare. This is possible through billions of angel investor subsidies. Then once everyone is dependent, slash driver pay and jack up ride prices. This is the only way for Uber to make back the billions they've squandered on market capture sub Silicon Valley execute bloat. If we had functioning anti-monopoly law enforcement, the executives of all these companies would be in jail. But for now they're able to take advantage of practices that would have seen them in chains two generations ago.

Same with OpenAI. They want to get all the copy-editing companies dependent on their piracy engines. They want all the graphic design companies dependent on their image stealing tools. Then, once these companies fire their real human copy editors and graphic designers, OpenAI will start charging the real price for its services. And considering the literal hundreds of billions being poured into these hopelessly inefficient piracy engines, the rate they will have to charge will be enormous. Someone has to ultimately pay for those billions Sam Altman is sponging up. And even if they didn't have billions of investor dollars to recoup, their ultimate goal is to gain a monopoly position in the copy editing and graphic design market. They will replace a million competing copy editors and graphing designers with a single provider - OpenAI. They'll control the market. Once all the real human copy editors, graphic artists, and voice actors/readers have been driven from the industry and been forced to move on and take jobs elsewhere, they will be able to charge whatever they please.

Any executive that lets their company become dependent on this technology is a fool. They're a sucker, falling for a classic bait-and-switch. Hopefully enough of them are smart enough not to be suckered in by the OpenAI con job, and OpenAI can hastily be driven into bankruptcy where it belongs.

Meanwhile, Ji knocks on the door and says, "well, you could buy yourself a new Chernobyl, or you could buy these solar panels and batteries from us that will give you more power for half the price, won't make you dependent on anyone for a fuel source, and don't risk creating an exclusion zone."

Now I really want to see an animation of what the European discovery of the planet looked like. Imagine a time lapse of a Civilization game, as the map is slowly revealed. I want to see that, except actual history.

I mean, I am literally working on a PhD in wood science.

What is likely the cause of this is one thing that people miss about solar panels. Their efficiency is a function of temperature. In the summer, you get more sunlight, but the panels themselves are hotter and thus lose efficiency. In the winter there is less light, but the panels make the most of every photon.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b50dee412b13f916dbf6993/t/5b8c7b6970a6adae1d34926d/1535933289992/AISC+14th+Ed+Design+Examples+-+Spec+Ch+F.pdf

Ooops. Posted that the wrong place!

Little known fact; heavy timber buildings will often perform better in fire than steel buildings like this.

You can see them on the upper levels. On the bottom level, you can see the shear tabs, mounted on the girders that additional beams will frame into.

I gotta say, I'm really lucky where I am now. I'm in a PhD program right now. My husband and I moved to a college town from the big sprawling traffic nightmare that is Houston a few years back. He's able to work from home; I'm able to bike or take the bus to campus. We have just one car for the household, and we get gas once every couple months. It's glorious.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

Specifically a girder is a beam that other beams frame into. Gravity load typically goes slab->beam->girder->columns->foundation. At least that's what I teach in my steel design classes.