Tag Archives: ai

Safety Is Number One Priority

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The statement echoes the typical corporate response following a catastrophic event, reflecting a carefully crafted narrative that may or may not align with the full truth. While potentially genuine, such communications often serve to mitigate reputational damage, leaving listeners to discern the nuanced layers of accountability and perception.

The disclaimer serves as a strategic legal shield, reflecting a calculated approach to risk management. Legal practitioners view such scenarios as potential goldmines, positioning themselves to represent clients with an eye toward lucrative contingency arrangements. Corporate leadership often opts for expedient settlements, recognizing that the financial and reputational costs of prolonged litigation can far exceed the immediate monetary outlay of a negotiated resolution. it megabytes the need for an outright win in court.

The most significant risks arise when false statements are exposed, potentially revealing deliberate corporate negligence. Imagine the catastrophic consequences if evidence emerged that leadership consciously prioritized efficiency over worker safety, creating a scenario fraught with legal and ethical peril. Such a revelation would demand an extraordinarily challenging explanation that could fundamentally undermine organizational integrity and trust.

The potential revelation of underlying issues could bring to light significant concerns within an organization. While not necessarily leading to immediate legal or financial repercussions, the implications might still be substantial for leadership. The practice of selecting personnel based on personal connections, physical characteristics, or arbitrary factors rather than merit raises serious ethical questions. It is worth recalling that during a recent presidential administration, such preferential treatment was not only tolerated but seemingly encouraged by federal policies. The memory of these practices remains vivid for many observers who witnessed such systemic approaches to hiring and promotion.

Wouldn’t it be something if we found out that the incident was the result of a lack of qualifications by some technician chosen by the color of his skin.

I don’t know. What I do know, I am much less likely to fly these days. There seem to be a number of accidents these days that are the result, not of mistaker, but rather just being sloppy.

I know the argument. Flying is still safer. Still, I’m going to drive, take the bus, or maybe just walk.

Here They Come

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Subtitle: I Told You So

Years ago, maybe one or two will remember, I wrote a post about driverless cars. The prediction has come true. I heard it on the news today.

There was a crowd that speculated 60 Teslas had accidents while on Autopilot. They suggest the loss of 60 lives because the computer does not drive as well as a human. Personally, I challenge the concept. Suspect it is likely half and half. Likely a little more one way than the other.

Whichever way, whatever happens, the die is being cast. Those legal eagles, ambulance chasers have smelled blood in the water, and soon the lawsuits will start flying.

Buckle up for a wild ride through the autonomous automotive frontier! While self-driving cars rev my imagination, I can’t help but ponder the ultimate showdown: Silicon Valley’s algorithmic prodigy versus the unpredictable human behind the wheel. Will our robotic chauffeurs outsmart the caffeine-fueled, text-messaging, road-rage-prone human drivers? The jury’s still out, and this technological tango promises to be more suspenseful than a high-stakes game of bumper cars.

Expert witnesses will parade in, each side wielding their technical wizards like legal weapons. The computer’s impeccable security will be interrogated, cross-examined, and dissected with surgical precision. Meanwhile, the lawyers will be grinning from ear to ear, their framed diplomas casting a victorious gleam on the courtroom walls, knowing they’re the only true beneficiaries of this digital drama.

The ambulance chasers will likely win their share, and the defense attorneys will likely win a few. Most will likely be settled out of court. Sometimes the defense will be afraid of losing and set a standard. Sometimes, the prosecutor will settle, afraid to set the standard the other way.

As all the paperwork from all the legal briefs finishes trickling down from above, the losers will be the drivers. The cost of the cars will skyrocket, and naturally, the cost of auto insurance will likely follow.

Sure, a settlement might line a few pockets, but who’s signing up to trade their body parts for a payout? Not this savvy survivor, that’s for sure. I’d rather keep my limbs intact and my bank account untouched.

So, at some point, the computer has to become better than the human. I ask you, do we take the steering wheel out of the hands of humans for the safety of others? On the other hand, do we permit humans to hold onto the wheel in spite of it being more dangerous?

Futurists, brace yourselves: the million-dollar question is lurking just around the corner, ready to pounce when we least expect it. And hey, while we’re at it, we might want to whip up some shiny new laws that are as clever as they are cutting-edge.

Considering laws are made by lawyers for lawyers, I don’t expect to see it in my lifetime.

The Purpose of the Internet

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Through countless hours of browsing, scrolling, and digital exploration, I’ve uncovered a profound insight into the essence of the Internet. This revelation wasn’t a deliberate quest or planned investigation, but rather an organic understanding that emerged gradually, almost imperceptibly, as patterns and behaviors crystallized before my eyes.

Periodically, I disconnect from the internet with remarkable ease. A mere two mouse clicks is all it takes to sever my digital connection. When I seek absolute certainty of disconnection, I simply unplug my mobile device—a swift, foolproof method that requires no waiting or additional steps.

I noticed a significant performance improvement after disconnecting the link from my computer. The system’s speed increased dramatically, running 4 to 6 times faster without the connection. Unsurprisingly, reconnecting the link instantly reduced the computer’s performance, making it clear that the link was causing substantial system slowdown.

Therefore, I figure the primary purpose is to slow my computer. You see, if it weren’t for the internet an all it’s associated requirements, I would not be able to keep up with my computer. Hence, we must keep the internet connected or we would never be able to keep up with our computers.

Can you imagine a computer actually doing things at lightning speed? Think about it. Could you keep up with it? Can you imagine your computer seemingly displaying results before you can finish entering the data? How in the world could you possibly keep up with it?

Hence, we must have the internet to keep the computer from getting away from us. Do we really want them coming up with answers before we complete the questions? Ergo, obviously, the most critical reason for the internet is to slow the computers.

When we connect to the internet, it’s intriguing to consider the complex background processes occurring within our computer’s system. Beyond the visible web pages and applications, numerous computational tasks are simultaneously executing, managing network connections, running system updates, processing security protocols, and handling background data synchronization.

While it might be essential to slow our machines, sometimes I feel the internet is doing its job a tad too well. Sometimes, I get this urge to stay unconnected, remain antivirusless, and simply let the machine do its job without the throttling.

Drone-ology

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Okay. I am no expert on drones but I have noted a few things maybe not thought of by others. I must say, I was thrown a little curve by a news report Saturday until I figured it out.

The news was reporting school bus sized drones. I had a hard time buying that. Most private drones aren’t nearly that size. Then I put my brain in gear and I figured it out. A good group of folks with drones can really play tricks on people. If one of these guys had 8 or 10 drones programed to fly together at set distances apart and at programmed positions, they could easily look look like one big drone. I have seen it demonstrated.

Incidentally, if you took a rifle to a group of drones like this and aimed at the center of the large apparent drone, the bullet would likely go right through the midst of all the drones and miss them all. A person might go through a couple of magazines trying to shoot down one of these really “big drones,” and never hit one of them. I mean 95 % of what looks like one of these bus sized drones would be nothing but air.

I would suspect someone is playing a joke on us. Otherwise, why do they only fly at night.

Incidentally, if they want to disappear, they could turn the lights out and scatter. They might find one or two of the actual drones but the pseudo-huge-drone would vanish into thin air.

Regardless, if our department of defense can’t figure it all out, it is another reason for getting Pete in there as fast as possible. It is time to get these idiots out of there that were appointed by the dems. I mean, it has been going on for what, a week, maybe a little more and so far they have determined effectively nothing. If the prankster’s stopped, no one would ever find out anything.

The Daily Walk

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It had developed into a regular thing. At lunch, after eating, we used to take a short walk. It was an area of town that had many shops. Of course on each door was a something that identified it, though frequently there was no clue as to what the purpose of the shop was.

It had become something of a guessing game as to what this shop or that shop did. Many of them we never figured out. Then, one of the guys I worked with came up with an interesting idea. Maybe we could lease one one of the places and put a name on the door. Then, if someone came in and asked what we did there we could answer, “I don’t know. What is it you would like us to do?”When I saw the daily prompt, it brought back the memory and I had to have a short laugh. I know, it did not warrant a long or hard laugh. Really, it was a too many words for too short a laugh. Moreover, it didn’t answer the prompt.

When I was 14 or fifteen, I went to visit my brother during summer vacation. He owned a TV shop. Back then, people paid to have TVs repaired instead of just throwing them away. Even back them, I had a pretty good knowledge of electronics and I was a lot of help to him, especially when it came to putting up antennas. Strange as it might seem to people today, that was a large part of the business in the day. It was very common to put up 50 or 70 foot antenna so the customer would be able to pull in five, maybe six stations.

After working on computers for almost 12 years, I really did consider opening up a computer shop. I was good at fixing them and I knew a few others who might have thrown in with me. Then I thought back on my brother’s TV shop. He told me a couple of times, to run a TV shop, it is more important to know how to run a business than knowing how to fix TVs.

I have thought about what he said many times. When I thought about opening a computer shop, his words echoed in my mind. There are many who have started businesses to have them fail on them, not because of a knowledge of the craft but because of a lack of knowledge of how to run a business.

I think before I open any kind of business, I would want to make sure I had some kind of degree in business. Even so, the main reason I was so reluctant to go into the business of fixing computers is because of my fear of coincidence.

You see, electronic components work real good, sometimes for decades. However, they are full of smoke. If the smoke ever gets out, they never work right again. I know it for a fact. I have seen it first hand. So a customer brings in a computer with a problem but still working. He walks out the door and suddenly, the computer he leaves with me lets all the smoke out. Now what do I do? Not only do I have to replace the guy’s computer, but he is angry at me for losing all his data. He gets on the internet and tells the world not to come to me because I am a bad computer tech because I let the smoke out of them.

There are those who like taking risks. If I were single, I would have. However, I had three more to feed besides myself. It was just too much of a risk for me.

It is a real shame I did not open my little shop. I would have made a lot of money at it, until computers became throwaway as TVs.

I don’t know. Maybe I could start a shop making custom shoes. Could I make shoes that people would be willing to shell out $200 for. I’d likely not be able to give them away. It would still be interesting to try it. Who knows. I just might be good enough at business to run a business.

It would be better to take on a partner with a business degree, I think.

Daily writing prompt
If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?
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Computers

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The small business owner was asked over and over why he didn’t computerize his business. He kept replying that he already made mistakes fast enough. He didn’t need the help of a computer to only make them faster.

There is some truth to story, even though someone likely made it up. Computers are fast. If you don’t do things right when you set up a computer, most likely, you will make the man’s words come true. And, I have seen it happen a number of times.

At one time, computers were big and expensive. Worse, they were slow. Well, they were fast but not nearly as fast as the computers today. So, even the big businesses had one computer and it was put in the hands of a few people.

The hitch is that the owners of the companies knew a lot about business, but little or nothing about computers. The salesman came along telling the owner of the business that the computer will solve all his problems, even some he doesn’t know about. Of course, no one mentioned that the computer salesman knew only slightly more than the owner of the business owner.

Worse yet, the salesman didn’t actually know what the owner of the business could use the computer for. With those three things being true, it amazed me that anyone got anything right. What I write, I have seen firsthand. However, more than that, I have read many articles in computer magazines that have said the same thing. Therefore, I think I can say with a reasonable amount of proof that I was not the only one to notice it.

So it is, that many computers were purchased to do things the computer was not intended for and those who knew how to use the computers couldn’t.

Then, in come the programmers, those who know how to make computers do what they do. Naturally, they got busy writing programs that served little or no purpose. Let’s face it, they have no idea what the users need the computer for so they make programs that they think will be useful.

Then the owners of the companies discovered something about computers that they liked. They served the purpose of “big brother.” They permitted the boss to look over the shoulders of those on the line doing the real job. Granted, it did help the company run a little more efficiently, but it would have run 3 times better if the computer would be used for their proper purpose.

I saw it all happen and it really rubbed me the wrong way. When I was in the Marines, they had computers keeping track of all I did. I also worked for two civilian companies that did the same. In the Marines I spent almost as much time looking up codes as I did doing the work.

Ask the doctors. They spend 10 minutes with a patient and he pays a secretary for 20 minutes work to make sure it gets documented right. Then, if it not documented right, Medicare or the insurance company kicks it back and the doc doesn’t get paid until it is documented right. And you wonder why it is that medical costs keep sky rocketing.

One of the biggest advantages of the PC is that it brought control of the computers to the folks who can really use them and they know what to use them for.

Well, that’s not totally true. If the owner turns his back for a minute, his employees get busy surfing the web or playing games. I heard of one company that had to send out a message for every one to stop watching the Super Bowl on the computers as it was slowing down internet response.

I only heard of the one instance, but I am sure it still happens a lot. Only now they use their phone instead of the businesses internet. Well, at least they can get their work done in between touchdowns.

Little Problem in Communications

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If you have never seen the tire swing cartoon, might I suggest you take a few minutes to look at it. Simply search on tire swing cartoon and several copies of it will pop up.

So far, I have not found a person who didn’t laugh at it, maybe a few times. I can’t imagine a person not finding himself in agreement the concept behind the cartoon.

Regardless, all engineers need to have a copy of it nearby for frequent references. It is an excelent reminder that it is very easy to over design things. The tendency is to have all kinds of dials, knobs, button and lights. I can’t say how many buttons my microwave has. It makes me put my reading glasses on everytime I heat a frozen dinner.

Wait a minute. Those instructions on the frozen dinners are really small. I guess I already need 3x magnification before operating the appliance.

Regardless, I do need to keep my microwave instruction manual handy. Lots of buttons on that thing. Still, mostly, I just use a few of them. Some, I have yet to touch.

It does remind me of my first radar oven, as it was called back then. It had a dial for the timer. One button for starting it and one button to open the door. We wore that thing out. Set the time and press start. Really simple.

Oh how I miss those days of simplicity. Certainly a couple of features would be nice, but I see no need for more than a dial and a few buttons. I see no need tolerating a blinking clock, which must be set every time the lights blink. I already have four othed clocks I must change at least twice a year.

I suppose those design engineers like trying to impress us customers… and the boss. However, I am much more impressed with ease of operation.

I do understand why people are so impressed with all the features and buttons, but while they are still pressing buttons my dinner would already be cooking. This is especially if they need to referance the instructions.

My little question: When is the last time those engineers really communicated with a customer. Wait a minute. Do they ever use the stuff they design? It does make me wonder.

Side note: The extra power is nice. That original radar oven had but 700 watts. It meant, sometimes I did do some toe tapping while I waited.

Automated Restaurants

Posted in Customer complaints, Customer No-Service, Drive-throughs, experience, Fast Food, Food, Restaurants by

Those that report the first automatic restaurants must not have had their eyes open. I have seen automation at some level since 1975. You put the the raw burger in one end and it comes out the other fully cooked in less than 3 minutes. I saw them firsthand. This is more than twice the speed as a regular grill because the burger is cooked on both sides at once.

There is a place in Southaven that has done much to automate cooking of pizzas. I also saw on TV a machine that totally automatically pancakes. This was, I guess decades ago.

Here’s the thing. None of the machines I discibed has any real computerization. It would take very little to fully automate them. It is not that new. Building the more automated equipment is simply a matter of an increase in the demand.

As an aside, I remember seeing a McDonald’s with fry machines totally automatic. I remember watching in fastenation. The potatoes went through a peeling station then sliced. There they fell into fryer baskets.

Whenever needed, the baskets were transported to the fryers and into the oil. They were dumped under a warm light and salted. The only thing a person did was bag them.

I have no idea if any McDonald’s still does this, perhaps at busier stores. Even though the machine could take place of a couple of people, I am sure the machine would need cleaning from time to time.

Thing is, right now the automation is possible. The question is, how much business does it take to justify buying machines that must be cleaned and repaired.

Another point that I have noticed, far more important, how much time do the employees stand around talking as apposed to being productive. I guess this is a question to be resolved by management and customers. So far I have seen a significant tolerance by McDonald’s & Wendy’s management. Automated or not, making customers wait 15 to 20 minutes in a store with 2 customers is unsatisfactory from the customer’s point of view. It should not be tolerated by management either.