That’s one thing I noticed about NZ, during my first trip: the speed limits are generally sane. If anything, the rural speed limits have a genuine sense of reality to them.

In stark contrast, driving in Canada (Toronto area) and the US (Texas) most times I felt I could safely go faster, were it not for the constant threat of speed traps or random / stealth cruisers.

In NZ if you’re doing a long drive and you don’t heed the slower speed limits as you enter a bend in the road, you may have just fucked yourself. Especially if the roads have a layer of moisture, which is likely.

And the more built up areas have a decent amount of traffic calming, which is nice.

Toronto and really all of the GTA need a severe dose of NotJustBikes to get sorted.

A fellow Marlboro Coors Lite Ford Chevy SUV pickup banking insurance sportsball enthusiast, I see

2 years later, somewhere in their sales and marketing departments:

“Hey, you know what would make us even more money?”

“No, but do tell”

“Advertising”

“Genius - how is it nobody has ever thought of this before?”

Roku somehow thinking that the Ferengi rules of acquisition was a how-to guide book.

Jeff Geerling discusses having done the same, in one of his videos.

I have a friend who is graphic designer for a small shop. Customers drop off work at the front desk, and depending on how much effort it works out to be, it can land on his desk.

Some customers insist on explaining to “the designer directly”. They get told/warned that it’s more expensive (hourly) and that the clock starts as soon as he walks up to the counter. And some customers agree to these terms.

It’s always entertaining to hear his stories.

“This here’s the Lockpocking Lawyer, and today we’re going to take a closer look at the Flipper Zero….”

Also when you have a chance, check out:

Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary

but not until after you’ve seen GQ :)

After I’d watched the documentary, I realized there were some clever nuances/cinematography, etc that I had missed the first couple times I’d watched GQ. Ended up watching GQ soon after that once again.

It’s one of those quirky movies that’s worth rewatching from time to time. Like The Princess Bride.

“WHOA THERE DUDE! Geez, didn’t you see that paper cup being blown by the wind?? Totally saved your ass.”

You are in for a treat, friend. Watch it when you have the time.

(Galaxy Quest, as the other poster mentioned.)

True, there’s that :)

And of course there are those times that Alexa completely misunderstands. Neither my wife nor I know how it happened, but some months back we discovered “blow job” on our list.

“Alexa, add bananas”

“Alexa, 3 minutes”

“Alexa, add 30 seconds”

I think that’s just about everything I’ve ever used it for.

Dude needs to get with the program.

Use a single plate, cup, knife, fork, spoon, lot, pan. Never unbox the rest.

Either that, or just eat over the sink.

Very true, and along the lines of what I was thinking.

But it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a way to establish a voice print. In fact, isn’t that already a thing? Even if it is a little rough around the edges, it wouldn’t surprise me if we were even closer to a higher reliability than thought.

With or without that, consider the copyright infringement suits for someone wanting to protect their song, melody, or whatever. Someone could poke at the 8 keys of a toy piano, and if a music artist’s legal team felt it sounded close enough to the original? The ol’ beatdown-by-seeking-damages trick if not a cease and desist order.

Anyway. If someone has enough money and too much time, they’ll make a case out of anything.

Man, I misunderstood the headline. I thought the AI had created a likeness of her voice, and SJ was going after them for that.

Which begs the question, just how unique are our voices? There’s being distinct, and then there’s being literally one of a kind.

A fartiste, you might say

I’ve taken to using a checklist on my phone that I update daily. However, remembering to use it is still a problem at times.

So my B-tier power would be Remembers To Use Checklist At Least Once A Day Man.

Trade-off: anyone you want to be intimate with falls asleep from your relaxing touch.

So much for sexy time.

The trade-off is you now have a 1d4 chance of stepping on LEGO bricks in the dark. Even if you don’t own any LEGO.

A residence floormate I knew back in university also worked as a bartender at a hotel.

His one story relevant to this thread is he once poured a drink for a customer over ice without measuring it. Think scotch or whiskey. Customer said there’s no way that’s an ounce. They argued for a bit; my friend poured everything from the glass into a shot glass minus the ice, and it was exactly on the line. End of argument.

He admitted to me that some of that may have been water from the melted ice.