get your hands on some cheap HDDs
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I didn’t see it that way myself. They started out well behind their competition and now according to their benchmarking, they will be in the lead with Grok3 … They also mentioned the new datacenter will be much more powerful than current and it’s being developed, so looks to me that they are on-track to surpassing human within a couple of years.
I also found the tests they ran to be pretty good. The code worked first go around and was fairly sophisticated. I’m only using free models myself so far, so cant’ directly compare between subscription models on the market, but Grok3 looks pretty good IMO.
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What I mean was I expected something different, not just slightly better than the best. I had hoped for a step change, but this is really just an improvement.
I am not saying this is not incredible to come from zero to this, it is incredible. It’s more than money and gpu’s it’s the team and that is hard as hell. I am perhaps just used to the real out there ground breaking moves and expected one here 
Something like Optimus speaking to us all in a podcast or similar
I do think the achievement is exceptional though, don’t get me wrong.
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Its simpler than that - just weigh the damn things with a decent amount of precision - any that are slightly heavier are suspect.
Though given the huge difference in the hardness of gold and tungsten, a quick jab with a punch would tell you soon enough if you are happy with destructive testing
Element Density
Copper 8.96 g/cc
Lead 11.35 g/cc
Gold 19.32 g/cc
Tungsten 19.35 g/cc
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Also gold movements are tracked pretty well. If it was happening on a large enough scale to be a concern then it’d be noticed in the movement of gold. So much gold there and plenty belonging to other countries.
So finding a dud gold bar does not equate to a mass conspiracy. I’d lay bets on it being a storm in a tea cup to satisfy a news media cycle. In two months it’ll not even be talked about and referenced by some to prove some point or two. The great reset has been coming since the 80’s or before (heard first about it in the 80’s) and its truth in the minds of those leaning that way. And of course I just opened myself up to be told how its this or that about to happen any day now
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Worse than I thought.
Amazon reserves the right to edit the contents of your book after you buy it.
Unless you keep up and jump through their new tech and product hoops you
can lose access to your books. I don’t want to buy a new kindle if my current one works.
Like Louis here I think I’m going to have to consider seeking out pirated pdf copies
of books I have already bought so I still have access to original content I paid for
as the author intended!!
Unbelievable!!
Amazon have really messed up here.
I need a kindle with ‘Autonomi Inside’ technology.
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Good point, but can be expanded to everything.
I’m so tired of all these “smart” systems, adapting to… whatever. I want data, as a naked, square item. A thing, not a service. I want to own it, and I want my data to stay exactly as it is. I want a shape, that stays and doesn’t shift all the time. I want it all to be up to me.
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When the ponzi was finally realised:
Just like a mafia saying, “You can’t have your money back because we have bigger guns than you.”
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If all the gold is there then why not allow an audit?
I think the problem is how much gold is supposed to be there? They officially took the dollar off gold in 1971, but it is likely they were printing lots of dollars before then without having gold backing them.
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Did I say anything against doing an audit?
Doing an audit and talking about tracing gold movements are different things. What about the audit, oh no you must be wrong about that other thing,
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Right-wing nutjob shysters continue to shyst…
https://www.rt.com/business/613014-milei-cryptocurrency-promotion-scam/
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A blog post I made on the topic:
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So he sells a token and people choose to buy it and that’s evil in your book. But when government’s point guns and take wealth from people (taxation), that’s good in your book … your whole moral system is inverted comrade.
Voluntary choice is the foundation of a viable civil society, the inverse is mafia-world leading to mad-max world.
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Ach gies peace - you simply object to paying your fair share of whats necessary to keepsociety moving. You dress it up as some form of “freedom” and surround it with your own personal hatred of any attempt to collectively organise but the fact remains, you are just a greedy cheapskate, desperate to avoid paying your share.
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If the actions that have been taken by certain world leaders were done via the stock market instead of crypto, they would be labelled as insider trading. We have laws against such things.
You can dress it up however you wish, there are a crop of people that will use positions of authority to extract {money/power/assets} from the state, circumventing rules that apply to the majority of the population.
That you would defend this when you’re not in such a position is quite frankly baffling.
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Where did you think I was morally defending what Milei did? You missed my point entirely … perhaps deliberately? Perhaps you don’t know of my ongoing back and forth with @southside, given that I’m a Voluntaryist, and he’s a far left socialist?
So to be clear, I do not morally accept what Milei did, but I also don’t find it to be criminal either. I’ve been scammed before - to such a level that I’d be a rich man now if it hadn’t happened … if I’d been a child, then that would be my parents fault, but as an adult, I can really only blame myself - I didn’t kick the tires well enough and that’s on me.
The world is full of predators, failure to recognize this and instead to attempt to offload responsibility to the State (which is also full of predators) is foolishness to my mind. Everyone is looking out for their own tribe and many tribes see other tribes as slaves - this is especially true in government circles.
So protect yourself by being cautious and risk averse.
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Grok 3 beta now free for all to use … “until our servers melt”
I’m happy to clarify the current status of Grok 3’s availability based on the latest information.
As of February 21, 2025, xAI has made Grok 3 available for free to all users with an X account, but this appears to be a temporary offer. A post from xAI on X on February 20, 2025, states that Grok 3 is “now available for free (until our servers melt),” suggesting that the free access is conditional and might end due to capacity limits or other factors. For free users, there are restrictions: you’re limited to 10 questions every two hours, along with three image analyses and four image generations per day.
Historically, access to the latest Grok models, including Grok 3, has been tied to paid subscriptions. Before this announcement, Grok 3 was primarily available to X Premium+ subscribers (currently priced at $40/month in the U.S. after a recent hike) or through a standalone SuperGrok subscription (pricing not fully disclosed yet but expected to be premium-tier). X Premium+ and SuperGrok users get enhanced access, including higher usage limits and early access to features like Voice Mode, which free users don’t receive.
The shift to free access seems to be a strategic move—possibly to attract users and compete with models like ChatGPT, which offers a free tier alongside its $20/month paid plan. However, the “until our servers melt” caveat implies this could be a limited-time promotion or stress test, after which xAI might revert to a paid model or adjust the free tier’s limits. Earlier versions of Grok became free for all X users in December 2024, but the latest models like Grok 3 were initially paywalled, so this aligns with a pattern of gradually expanding access.
In short: Yes, Grok 3 is currently free as of now, but it’s likely temporary or constrained by server capacity. Full, unrestricted access to the latest features remains a paid service through X Premium+ or SuperGrok. If you’re looking to try it, you can do so now with an X account, but don’t bank on the free ride lasting indefinitely!
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Actually I would describe myself as a communitarian and certainly not what is today regarded as “far-left”. I think socially I’m actually quite conservative but well to the left on economic matters.
Having said that I do feel that lampposts and piano wire is an appropriate way of dealing with errant public and commercial miscreants and admire the Chinese method of dealing with corrupt officials.
Oh and death to Nazis and their supporters, enablers, funders and apologists.
Cos if you don’t they will do it to you. Odessa Trade Union House, Bucha, Kursk and so many villages that the Ukrainians had to give up where they massacred the surviving civilians - old and young.
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Which is exactly why we should look VERY carefully at those who arrive in our midst with ready-built solutions. Could be the NAFO chap is genuine and its only his politics and morals that are abhorrent to any decent human being and actually his code is OK. That is for others more-qualified to judge.
But for now DON’T trust. and DO verify. Its a nasty world out there and I know who made it nastier.