Posts by Jack Cook7

Nicholas Kelly3 said:Reading through these posts, I’m thinking we might as well just head back to Usenet. No embedding there—just clean links, and man, does it run lightning fast. 🙄

The bottom line is that multimedia has been a staple of basically every online conversation for ages—whether it’s messaging apps, social media, or even—you guessed it—forums! It brings value you can't even put a price on because it's so deeply baked into how we talk online now. It's just expected.

I mean, if we’ve actually reached a point in 2024 where we’re avoiding linking external assets because it's such a massive load on the forum, then honestly, we should just burn this whole thing down, toss it in the trash, and start from scratch properly.

They slashed the search results from 250 down to 50 like it's some kind of emergency measure, meanwhile the forum itself is constantly crashing with a ridiculous variety of errors. And those "fixes"? They're like painting over rust on a bridge. You can't just throw some asphalt on a pothole and call it a day; you actually have to fix the road underneath. That's what we need for this forum. 🐔
https://i.insider.com/524da46369bedd...bf65?width=480

Embedding images, and especially videos, feels like such a waste of time and bandwidth to me. But hey, that's just my two cents. Personally, I think a dial-up modem is the peak of modern communication.

Honestly, the fact that we even need a search function is weird to me. You've got indexing, right? Then you search the indexes. A properly set up index shouldn't be absolutely nuking the server by default. If the server is getting slaughtered at 8 AM, noon, 4 PM, and 8 PM, then there's clearly a pattern here.

Maybe one of those IT guys running the servers will finally figure out where the leak is.

PS: But hey, I'm just an IT guy, what do I know? Nobody actually knows what we do half the time anyway.

Here goes my little annoying rant again—the kind of thing where some mods roll their eyes while others just start foaming at the mouth like they’ve been hit with some weird chemical spray. 🤷

The bottom line? It’s all about how much this "embedding" stuff is going to boost traffic and squeeze more profit out of the server. If you ask me, it’s totally overkill when you look at how little it actually adds to the quality of the forum.

Look, my little pet peeve is super unpopular with the moderators over on the Politics subforum since it’s basically the busiest spot on the site. We don't see eye to eye on a few tiny things—things that honestly don't even matter—but I can never win them over, and they can't win me over either, mostly because they're the smart ones and I'm just a dummy.

But hey, one thing about constant politics that's been true for ages (like, 10+ years?), is that there’s no way to "embed" images or videos. That was a total Reddit decision, and honestly? I am 100% on board with it.

See, when you "embed" stuff, all those images and videos have to be redirected through the site's servers, which absolutely nukes the bandwidth and eats up the CPU and memory. Like, 99% of it is just people messing around with memes and junk. For any actual, meaningful debate, it's totally pointless, yet it sucks up 99.9% more resources.

Your classic meme: https://giphy.com/gifs/donald-trump-...Hbg5wbSfoABvEp

What does being able to drop a meme directly into your post actually add to a discussion on Politics, or anywhere else for that matter?

What really bugs the hell out of me is that at least 90% of the images and links I've posted over the last decade don't even work anymore.

PS: At the end of the day, this whole thing boils down to whether you want your posts to have actual integrity—standing on their own without relying on media—or if you'd rather lean on links that will inevitably break in a year or two.

Then again, you've got those "electric sheep" out there—they pop up, get sheared, vanish whenever they feel like it, and some even dream them up... so who am I to judge? 🤷

Because those electric sheep just disappear into thin air, leaving absolutely no trace behind.

What’s even the point of having a search bar on this site?

Honestly, for the last decade, whenever I actually wanted to find something useful on here, I just went straight to Google.

Christian Myers said:Honestly, what's even the point of voting? We could just split the seats and the cushy office jobs among ourselves and call it a day. 😁

Oh, wait! This right here is democracy! All that effort tearing down the old regime was totally for nothing! Just pure greed, right? You really think they faked the trip to the Moon for fun? It wasn't just one Moon, it was two. Or how many? Who knows! And please, stop whining through your microphones with that Martian nostalgia, acting all sentimental like, "Oh, take me back home, my canyons are calling, they even found ice there, we'd all move to Mars just to get away from this place." You haven't seen Mars in like 200 million years, have you? Just hang in there a little longer. Say, until your Hajduk Split wins the championship. (Actually, scratch that, nobody's got that kind of time.) What are you even missing? Oxygen? Brrr. Some people just love to complain. Get outta here.

Anyway, back to the point.

Let's keep it simple and democratic: you guys can take all the fancy offices, and we'll take the power—specifically, the actual power to make decisions. Plus, keeping up with modern democratic trends, I’ll be super gender-neutral about it: you can take selfies for Instagram and Facebook almost every single day. Since that's such a complicated situation, we might even pay you handsomely for it!

If you don't like the deal, I could always "accidentally" die in a very democratic way. But hey, as a citizen of the world, I'm always open to negotiation—you can even accuse me of something before I kick the bucket just so nothing looks suspicious.

Maria Barnes said:Every party is going to have its own poll—basically a signature card—hosted right on their own page or thread. I’m honestly not sure where to dump the party threads. Should they go in Congratulations? That sub is a ghost town anyway, though it is nearby.

I'd way rather stick a dead thread somewhere else than dump it into a dead subforum.

The only headache with putting a dead thread in a dead subforum is if people actually start showing up (dead or alive!), and then suddenly the whole thread springs back to life. I definitely don't want any part of that mess.

brightviper29 said:1. Well, my husband was kind enough to set me up with high-speed fiber and massive monitors, so having images in my posts doesn't really pose much of an issue for me.
2. My faith isn't exactly stopping me from sharing photos, either. 😁
3. Besides, sometimes a picture can actually be quite educational, don't you think?

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.

Just imagine the punishment if you suddenly drop from 100mbps down to a dial-up 9.2kbps.
Watch yourself with the Almighty, though. He’s not always home. And over time, I’ve realized His hearing isn't quite what it used to be. Plus, His eyesight? Total wreck.

Anyway, after a few days of bickering in this thread, here’s where we stand:

1. Arnold, the AI robot—the absolute flagship of Western industry and artificial intelligence—is trying to dump 1,000 flowers on the spot where he thinks the mouse Algernon is buried. Arnold the AI robot rules. Arnold feelz the power.

2. Some anonymous AI programmer from the Middle East is losing his mind, trying to warn the entire world that AI has some inherent issues with... hmm... intelligence. Not to mention human intelligence generally has its own problems, but they ignored him on the "artificial" part anyway, so who cares? He's basically just chatting with mice at this point.

3. Algernon the mouse is so genius that he predicted everything. Except for his own funeral, of course. But hey, nobody's perfect.

The plot thickens. Hint: nothing is as it seems! Even the butler isn't the killer!

Stay tuned for the next installment.

Forget about the flowers right now, Arnold, for crying out loud, Algernon! Algernon already did his thing...

Seriously though, what a total showoff, showing up to dump flowers on that mouse's grave on this exact date. Like that little guy Algernon was some kind of big shot.

I swear, I just don't get this modern AI stuff anymore.

It’s not like I’m getting old. It’s just that I’m constantly swapping out parts and I'm all about that lubrication life. Plus, my memory isn't the best. Probably just those light metals in the motor oil—they tend to evaporate when things get heated up.

Come on, man, let's get moving. We're gonna be late for Andromeda.

Hey, Arnold. Yo! Forget about the flowers, man—who even told you to worry about flowers? Just say "Skidaddle." I know, I know, you're just messing with me, but look, we've only got a few shots left at this.

Seriously though, this AI is a total joke. I have no idea who's actually running this thing. 😢

Chris Myers said:So, everyone else can screw off, but somehow it's always just you who gets screwed! 🤣

Good grief, talk about summing up the whole human experience in a single sentence. 👍

Do you Americans actually get how life works?

Anyway, back to my AI project:
- Arnold, don't say "i-9" when you mean "tax return." Bemti, there's just no future for AI in the States. Honestly, I'm thinking about throwing in the towel. Maybe I'll just sell the whole thing to some big tech firm in Silicon Valley.


They might lack a sense of humor, but hey, maybe they can be taught.

PS: And obviously, Jack Cook7 will kick everyone out and then swoop in to take all the credit, just like he did during the liberation of Europe.

Man, give me a break with this whole AI craze.

First off, the real litmus test for artificial intelligence isn't some fancy Turing-like test—it's whether the thing can actually identify its own creators.

I mean, Turing gave us the Turing-like test, but Jack Cook7 basically invented the Jack Cook7 test. Boom. 🙂

Honestly, I have no clue why every single thread I jump into ends up in absolute chaos. Then people just kick me out because I’m not being "serious" enough. 🤷

For some reason, everyone is just obsessed with acting all high and mighty. 🤷

Arnold, come on, just say "Alibi."

I'm deep in the weeds learning how to code AI, mostly so I can finally quit my day job... Hey Arnold, why on earth are you wearing sunglasses at night? And what's up with that leak on the side?

Screw programming. Seriously. Arnold, come on, just say "nonsense."

Nope. Stubborn as a mule. 🕺

Don't worry, I'll figure something out.

Hey, can someone toss a new topic my way for the forum?

Over the river and through the brush,
there isn't a thing we haven't tried,
Above the treetops and out in the wasteland
we couldn't remember a single thing.

electricbadger89 said:Zaprešić has merged with the surrounding municipalities.
It’s finally becoming something substantial.

Man, these tectonic shifts in America caused by this earthquake are absolutely wild.😢

Carl Wilson said:It’s totally possible the system just runs those status checks—you know, the whole self-isolation thing—during some kind of overnight batch processing. Based on what the high-ups at the CDC have been saying, it looks like they're just doing the verification after the fact. And yeah, an employer can't just hand out a pass to someone else; the software literally won't let them.

Look, the database used to track everyone who's positive or in isolation has been set up for ages. It goes all the way back to when health inspectors were pulling people over at state border crossings and ordering them into quarantine. Honestly, it's how pharmacies check if you're under isolation when you show up for meds using your insurance card from Blue Cross.

Bottom line? Checking if someone is in isolation is a total breeze—just a quick search by Social Security number or insurance ID, whatever works. You could set that whole thing up in ten minutes flat. "Overnight batch processing?" Please. Give me a break.

copperwolf16 said:It isn't quite that straightforward—primarily because both the pass and the isolation period are bound by specific timeframes. For instance, I might be in quarantine today, but my isolation ends tomorrow. If I then request a pass starting from tomorrow for the next week, am I technically breaking any rules? It is a rather tricky question, isn't it?
One must compare the actual time periods rather than just looking at Social Security numbers. Of course, such a system is entirely possible to build, but for our local bureaucrats—who frankly struggle with basic tasks—it likely represents too much of a mental strain. Consequently, they probably opted for the easier route of overnight batch processing.

On a related note, I was reviewing a clip from a public hearing where a very simple question was posed: "How many people hold a valid pass on any given day?" Reaching that number should be relatively easy, yet they still don't have an answer. That figure would be quite revealing—it would expose the absurdity of this issuance process, where practically half of America effectively holds travel rights across the country.

Unbelievable. Seriously, that is such a basic query. You could write it manually or code it into the database in thirty seconds flat. Just slap a button on the admin dashboard or add it to every user form or report, and boom—done. Same goes for local town halls, police stations, or county offices. It's ten minutes of work tops to get real-time reporting.

Even by our standards of pure incompetence, this is hard to wrap my head around. I'm starting to wonder if the IRS or the DMV is the one "building" this app.

Carl Morris34 said:A local politician once famously remarked, "In America, anything is possible."

Man, that guy knew exactly what he was talking about.

Carl Morris34 said:If I were calling the shots, I’d ban anyone coming from out of town from attending the Easter festivities at our local community center. Honestly, if we locals aren't even gathering given how things currently stand, then what possible reason could there be for inviting outsiders into the mix?
I suppose I wouldn't mind making an exception for those who are genuinely struggling with unemployment and have nowhere else to turn, but for everyone else who is perfectly fine and just wants to travel to the States for the sake of it? They really don't need to be here.

Look, you can't just bar your own citizens from entering their own country.

Instead, just toss everyone into a 14-day quarantine and test them every single day. Let 'em come. Then, when they head back, they can deal with another 14 days of isolation in whatever state they're traveling to.

Man, besides that massive initial blunder of opening up borders with Italy and Austria when everyone already knew those were hotspots, this whole restriction thing was an even bigger mess (and yeah, shutting down markets and killing local trade—though they’re trying to fix that now)

They really should have rolled it out gradually. You know, starting at the county level or maybe by state, which you can clearly see on any US map, just to stop the border crossings from getting absolutely slammed right out of the gate.

If they'd done it that way, they could've cleared up local issues and border zone friction in like a week. Then, depending on how things looked, move on to sub-regions, counties, cities, or even individual precincts and old municipal districts. Honestly, looking back at the last 30 years, the US hasn't come up with anything smarter than the old organizational structures we had before; we just made everything way more complicated. And the cost? Absolutely insane, not even counting all the headaches it caused regular people.

So, Secretary Bozinovic says they issued over 550,000 permits, with only about 14,000 denials. Look, if those numbers are real, there is clearly something seriously broken in this system. And don't even get me started on the wasted time from all those task forces, the total confusion, and the rush to build this buggy electronic permit system. The real bill for this disaster hasn't even hit yet.

Seriously though, where the heck is this "e-permit" system actually hosted?