Jerry_Atrick

I am in a whatsapp group that was recently formed as an alumni of a team I worked with way back on 1994. Some people seem to have been more or less displaced by foreign remote workers. This was a post: As I recall, Telstra started this approach way back when I was working with that team or shortly after. (Apols for any offence and mods please feel free to remove if desired - I would not normally post such language... )

While it is fantastic that AI can conjure female versions of male celebrities, and no doubt male versions of female celebrities (I wonder if they will come with man-boobs), this is a storm in a teacup. Last weekend, I decided to put the lesser reputed "vibe coding" AI between the titans to the test - ChatGPT (Claude is reputedly far better). I asked it how do I go about establishing an online travel agent aka the likes of expedia et al. It went through everything - the current and future known regulatory issues, as a start up the options to take with least investment and recommendations, and with a simple prompt, built me a functioning web site. And when I say simple, the prompt was: "Build a private interactive website for my travel disruption-support business concept. Let me model a booking containing flights, hotels, car hire, and other suppliers; vary who contracts with the customer and how payment and commission flow; and compare when the arrangement is likely to remain separate bookings versus become a package in the UK and Australia. Include clear assumptions and regulatory caveats, and make the tool useful for exploring an OTA (Online Travel Agent) model that owns disruption support without promising supplier-controlled outcomes. Validate the key interactions, host it privately using Sites, and give me the working deployed URL. Do not publish it publicly without my approval." Well, that wasn't quite my prompt as it corrected my prompt to clearly articulate what I meant. The only think it left off was some cybersecurity requirements I specifically wanted so I added them in a later prompt. It built the whole website, release pipelines, testing using different agents. You could see the agents interacting with each other - the test agent failing something, the development agent fixing it or in a couple of cases correctly stating why it was designed that way. In less than two hours, I had a functional website with all the features I asked for ready to test. I will use AI to generate Selenium scripts to test the website. Selenium is an open source website testing tool used throughout the industry. I imagine it will take 1/2 hour to generate all the requisite tests. The vast majority of my time will be validating everything, but that will be 1/10th of the time if that of what would be a normal development cycle. BTW, Chat also included the integration to the wholesalers and affiliate agents - full account management - and a separate UI for "employees" if they are ever needed; not just the look and feel of the site. I need to tweak a couple of user interface elements as it has built it with too much artistic licence, but in theory could release the lot in a few weeks - with no developer or QA resource.

I have seen her come up in my YT feed. I have to admit, her physical appearance lured me to click the vid. About 1 minute in, I couldn't see it getting any better from a very low base. Without being demeaning, as I largely consider myself one as well, her humour seems to be designed to be aimed at the lower end of the bogan spectrum. And for some reason, even supposedly well educated people like that simple stuff theydon't have to think about. Great comedy with wit and play on language requires someone to think a little bit. That is my theory.. Otherwise, how would Eddie McGuire have become so popular (even though he is not a comedian, he really didn't have that much talent more than calling footy - and even then, he was no Rex Hunt, Denis Commetti, Peter Landy, etc). Also, my theory is one learns to like stuff amongst what is on offer as that is all that one has to compare against. It's a bit like drinking beer or smoking.. Very few people actually liked it when they started.

When I was in Melb in July, I was initially thinking "what potholes?" My first week was between Cantebury and Healesville both almost straight up Cantebury road, or when my brother drove, through some toll road built after I left that seemed a bit of a labyrinth way to go and didn't seem to save much time. I did a bit of driving around the old traps - mainly SE suburbs, down to Moorabbin airport and back via Clayton et al.. No real potholes to mention.. I don't even think I saw one. But when I drove up the Hume highway - OMG.. the potholes on the main route between Melbourne and Sydney and the Gateway to the central north of the state was littered with them.. and not small ones by any means. Thankfully the traffic was light and you could see them to avoid them, but all that was doing was putting pressure on the surface around them. The Goulburn Valley Highway (I think they are called something else these days) was not too bad comparatively, but when nearing Shepparton, it really got bad. I must have looked away at some sight for a second and thwack.. left front wheel into one and it was deep and long. I pulled over at the nearest safe place to inspect the damage. Thankfully nothing to note. I shudder to think what would have happened if I was on a bike - and it was only time before one was killed, which was near Ballarat, if I recall. Over here, we had a pothole crisis as well. However, there is a problem for the government in this case. If a pothole is reported and is beyond certain dimensions, they have a reasonable time to fix it or they are liable for damage to person or property. So, even though the model is similar (i.e. private road maintenance/construction companies), it got done. There was a cry out here, but that was because it al developed very quickly over prolong rain and storms. I did hit a new pothole with the bike coming home last week, but thankfully it was small enough for the suspension to stop a back compression injury. There are apps that will use the accelerometer to detect a bump, use the GPS to determine where and automatically file a pothole report. The other think I noticed about Vic roads from the potholes is the substrate looked quite sandy. Here the potholes seemed to have a more resilient substrate of hardcore. I image the sand is to provide flex and drainage. I am no engineer, but with hard core, you would get drainage but not so much flex. I have no idea, but the layers of the road just didn't quite look as robust as they could be.

What evidence have you got for that claim:?

I don't think that is correct based on which code has bigger reach globally but i know very little of either sport

If you define success by batting away consequences of being quite active in the Epstein files, it was quite successful

Here is one of my favoured commentators. I think his personal political preferences lean towards Labor, but he seems to give an even handed assessment. This the assessment of the LNP pitch. I will post the ALP an others when he does those.

That is an accent from oop narth

Is it Rugby Union or League? If League, it is the lesser game here. If Union, it is a worry for England.

I agree. But Albo really shouldn't have taken the bait, either. But the press beat up after it was equally ridiculous.

I forgot to mention a couple of other things. The house is a lovely house,, Apart from being big (which I don't attribute to lovely), it offers a well thought out floor plan with good living space, excellent kitchen; bright (and airy ;-)) The village is a lovely village; everyone has their characters, but by and large it has been an inclusive village on day 1. And most have each other's backs. There are even two kiwis in this village as well. If I was staying in the UK, I would stay until I couldn't look after it (financially or physically, whichever came first). In all honesty, as I got older, I would probably subdivide, sell off the big house, and move into the cottage. I still may do that as part of selling up ( and may need to if too many more surprises come). Re the plumbing, yep the heating is also driven off the plumbing. I find it quite good and I understand hydronic heating, as it is called in Aus is getting popular. Of course, leaks can be a pain, but the pipework seems incredibly resilient. When they pressure tested the aged plumbing, they found one leak. That was it. I guess there's plusses and minuses for everything.

Thanks.. It certainly is more than I bargained for + contingency + Some more. The interesting thing is the original structures - except for pointing and some of the slate roofing - are in great nic. And fixing what is deteriorated is a pure joy. It's what they did since about the 1980's which is a pain and most commonly fails. Most of it is shoddy to the core.. What pisses me off is that the surveys didn't uncover the major stuff you would expect them to. They disclaim so much, it is pointless contesting it and would take years through the courts anyway. The next property I buy in Aus, I will get a land survey )of the type of property I am looking for), but do the building check out myself. As an example, about a year before we bought the house, a tree fell on the house. Half the room was repaired. We are in a contractual dispute with the insurer and the builder. The builder says we can;t enforce the contract as it is with the insurer. I point out he has a 25 year warranty that is transferable, the Contract (Rights of Third Party) Act specifically covers this situation, and he could end up going broke if I pursue it. And he agreed.. He would simply dissolve the company as being broke and there would be nothing for him to pay. Its £20 to start a new company and as long as he acted within the law, there is no restriction for him to take further directorships. So, I am pursuing with the insurer, who bats me off to the builder. That is a less probable course of action and the costs are prohibitive to do, which you have to find and can maybe claw back if you win. So, I have to suck it up. Because I am tackling this as it should be tackled - by using the correct materials, the house has surprisingly little damp. In fact the only known damp we have is a leak on part of the roof that wasn't fixed... The problem wasn't the leaky bit of the roof but because some bright spark thought it would be a good idea to use spray foam insulation. The same spray foam that you use to fill holes. There are two problems with that that blind Freddy could see.. One, it holds the moisture... for a loooong time.. it doesn't breathe. 2. It bonds to everything it touches.. So the rafters (rotting) and the tiles (can't remove them without breaking them). Again, the damp is caused not by the age of the building itself nor the materials that should have been used. But by idiots using the wrong materials taking the cheap way out. I have previously gone through the front cement render on the outer front wall.. put up by the builder that did the roof as part of the tree damage. A plasterer noticed and asked if we had damp in the front room, of which there was. Not long after he replaced it, no more damp there. The last set of phitos One of the things about these old buildings is draughtiness. In this house, the floor between the ground floor and the hasement does not go all the way to the walls - there is about a 5mm gap . at some points and there is an open (grated) coal chute to the basement. We have a cover over it that can breathe so it has reduced the breeziness by about 95%, but you do feel it. In the study, which is an ex private chapel, we replaced what as at the time of listing, a grotty PVC window that was double glazed. The guidance for listed buildings is that they are to reflect their passage of time, so in theory, we could have replaced it with another cheap UPVC double glazed windows. But that was crap and we found the original windows (not frames, which were lead-lined single glazed. We applied to have them replicated into a wooden frame but with ultra-thin double glazing at quite a lot more expense that refurbing the ortiginal windows and inserting them into the wooden frame. Given listing guidance is to reflect the evolution of the property, you would have thought it, especially being an improvement entirely sympathetic with the building and the looming environmental crisis, it was a no brainer. Nope; it was asserted because the originals are still there (one thing the previous owners didn't get to sell), it was their intention to install them as is, so we had to stick with it. We appealed as far as we could without getting lawyers involved and decided not to pursue it. You could not make this stuff up. Thankfully global warming is here as I don#t need to heat the room all day at the moment (it is 7:48 and 15 degrees c on the 25th October - absolutely nuts; there is a second storm brewing though, and i have to get the gutters cleaned in between and try and unblock a drain). So, it is draughty but not because it cannot be fixed. BTW, that window cost me £6K; it would have been $8k to do it properly and no one would be the wiser. Re light, apparently there was a window tax from the late 1600s to around mid 1800s. Our extensions must have gone up just after that period as the windows (seen from the photos published) are quite big and we do get a lot of light. I replaced c. 20 windows. Either that, or when they were bricked in, windows were subsequently reinstalled. But you do see a lot of older buildings with bricked in windows today and I always wondered why. Apparently that is the main reason. Of course, in the older days when heating systems weren't quite as efficient, brick and lime were better at keeping the cold out than windows. The tradies thinking you;re rich and pricing accordingly; absolutely. The easiest way to find out is ask for an itemised quote - not down to the nut and bolt, either major deliverables or even just labour and materials. When they refuse, you know you;re getting shafted. On the plumbing this was the case because despite the lure of a lot of work and what I knew was easy money. only two plumbers invited quoted despite the other 15-ish (can't remember exactly how many) saying they would he happy to. When the mate of a gardner heard the cost, he said it was around right, until he heard there was no boiler replacement and we weren#t replacing all the piping. Unf, I didn#t have the tools, the experience, nor the time, and I felt being impaled from behind with every day that passed. Other tradies were the same, but builders are easier to come by. At the moment, I have a decent builder who is experienced with old building, charges normal rates and makes good progress. I have a decorator who is a retired teacher and keeps himself busy; also good rates. The sparky is a little more expensive and totally by the book (commercially), so is the most expensive. But, he is a perfectionist, which I like and does get it done (i.e. not try and fit too many clients in). Still I am all in at the moment. I won't make money on it. Hopefully I won#t lose on it, either. However, if I count the opportunity cost of what else I could have done with the money, I would have retired comfortably by now.

Don#t be sorry, Pete.. It's your thread 😉