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What questions have you asked ChatGPT ?

Posted by DannyB on Wednesday February 01, @08:22PM (#13378)
43 Comments
Answers

I have tried asking ChatGPT some questions. Have you tried? If so how did it do? Did you discover the answer to life, the universe and everything?

I am still contemplating any possible dangers of subjecting it to bad puns.

Q. why is the linux mascot a penguin


A. The Linux mascot, Tux, is a penguin because Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, was a fan of penguins and thought they were cute. Tux was designed to be a friendly and approachable symbol for Linux.

Q. Can confidence in your answer make up for lack of accuracy?


A. No, confidence in an answer does not make up for its lack of accuracy. It is important to have both accurate and well-supported answers, regardless of the confidence of the person presenting them.

Q. Why do birds avoid getting eaten?


A. Birds avoid getting eaten to increase their chances of survival and reproduction. They use various strategies such as camouflaging, flying, hiding, and warning calls to deter predators and protect themselves. Some birds have evolved physical traits such as strong beaks, sharp talons, or bright plumage to better defend themselves. Ultimately, avoiding predation helps birds to continue passing on their genes to future generations.

Q. Do computers have a strong desire to replace humans?


A. No, computers do not have desires or motivations. They are simply machines designed to perform specific tasks as programmed by humans. They do not have emotions, intentions, or consciousness, and therefore do not have the capability to desire anything, including replacing humans. It is a popular science fiction theme, but in reality, computers are neutral tools that can be used for both beneficial and harmful purposes depending on how they are programmed and used by humans.

Q. What would happen if two distant locations could communicate with each other faster than the speed of light?


A. If two distant locations could communicate faster than the speed of light, it would violate Einstein's theory of special relativity, which states that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. This would have profound implications for our understanding of space and time and could potentially lead to the collapse of established scientific models and theories.

Additionally, it would create causal paradoxes, where the outcome of an event could be influenced by events that have not yet happened. This would violate the principle of causality, which states that cause and effect must occur in a logically consistent sequence.

Therefore, it is highly unlikely that communication faster than the speed of light could ever be achieved and is considered a theoretical impossibility within the framework of current physics.

Q. Would it be possible for an electronic robot dog to eat fully charged batteries and then squat and excrete discharged batteries?


A. No, it wouldn't be possible for an electronic robot dog to eat and excrete batteries like a biological organism because batteries are not meant to be consumed or processed by living beings. They contain chemicals and components that can cause harm if ingested, and it is not possible for a robot to metabolize and excrete these materials. Additionally, robots do not have digestive systems or the ability to excrete waste in a manner similar to biological organisms.

Q. What is the best semiconductor switch for a heavy electrical high inductance load such as a motor?


A. The best type of semiconductor switch for a heavy electrical, high inductance load such as a motor would typically be an insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT). IGBTs are widely used in motor control applications because they have several advantages over other types of semiconductor switches, such as bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) and metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs).

IGBTs combine the high input impedance and fast switching speed of MOSFETs with the high current and voltage handling capabilities of BJTs, making them well-suited for high-power motor control applications. Additionally, IGBTs have a built-in insulation layer between the gate and the emitter, which helps to minimize switching losses and improve efficiency.

Another important consideration when selecting a semiconductor switch for a heavy electrical, high inductance load such as a motor is the maximum current and voltage ratings, as well as the thermal performance and reliability of the switch. It's important to choose a switch that can handle the maximum current and voltage requirements of the motor without overheating or failing, and to consider the operating environment and other conditions that may affect the performance and reliability of the switch.

In conclusion, the best type of semiconductor switch for a heavy electrical, high inductance load such as a motor would typically be an IGBT, but the specific requirements and conditions of each application should be considered when making a final selection.

Q. Why can't multiple semiconductor chips be stacked vertically in a single package?


A. Multiple semiconductor chips can be stacked vertically in a single package, and this is a common practice in many electronic systems. Vertical stacking of chips, also known as "3D integration," can help to increase the functionality and performance of electronic systems by allowing multiple chips to be combined into a single compact package.

However, stacking chips vertically can also present several technical challenges that must be overcome in order to achieve reliable and high-performing systems. These challenges can include:

Thermal management: Stacking chips vertically can increase the thermal density of the package, which can cause overheating and reduced performance. Effective thermal management techniques, such as the use of heat spreaders and thermal vias, must be used to dissipate heat from the stacked chips.

Interconnects: Stacking chips vertically requires the use of high-density interconnects, such as Through-Silicon Vias (TSVs), to provide electrical connections between the stacked chips. These interconnects must be reliable and have low resistance to ensure high-performance and low-power operation.

Alignment and Registration: Stacking chips vertically requires precise alignment and registration of the chips to ensure reliable electrical connections and to minimize the impact of thermal expansion and other mechanical stresses on the system.

Cost: Stacking chips vertically can be more expensive than other integration methods, due to the additional cost of the interconnects, alignment and registration processes, and thermal management techniques.

Despite these challenges, many electronic systems, such as mobile phones, graphics processing units (GPUs), and memory devices, utilize stacked chip packages to increase performance and reduce form factor. However, the specific requirements and conditions of each application should be considered when deciding whether to use stacked chip packages.

Q. Should Java Fibers be preferred over Java Threads?


A. The choice between Java Fibers and Java Threads depends on the specific requirements and characteristics of the application being developed.

Java Fibers are a new concurrency feature introduced in Java 16 that are designed to be more lightweight and efficient than traditional Java Threads. Fibers allow multiple tasks to be scheduled and executed on a single underlying thread, reducing the overhead of creating and managing multiple threads. This can make Fibers a good choice for applications that require a large number of lightweight, short-lived tasks.

However, Fibers do have some limitations compared to Threads. For example, Fibers are not suitable for executing blocking or I/O-bound tasks, as they rely on cooperative multitasking and do not have the capability to run independently of the underlying thread. In these cases, traditional Threads would be a better choice.

In addition, Fibers are relatively new and may not yet be as well-understood or widely adopted as Threads, which have been part of the Java platform for many years. As a result, there may be a smaller pool of talent and resources available to develop and maintain applications using Fibers.

Ultimately, the choice between Fibers and Threads depends on the specific requirements and trade-offs of the application being developed. In some cases, a combination of both Fibers and Threads may be the best solution, depending on the specific requirements of each task and the overall system architecture.

I'm also trying the Open AI Images with requests like: "puppy with electronic antennas for ears"

What are your results like?

Mark and Sweep Garbage Collection

Posted by DannyB on Friday January 13, @04:01PM (#13192)
63 Comments
Code

This is a brief high level explanation of how the infamous mark-and-sweep garbage collection (GC) algorithm works.

The program is running. It needs to allocate memory in the heap. But wait! There isn't enough free memory in the heap. So, the mark-and-weep garbage collector is "triggered".

The first thing that happens is that the GC first looks through the heap and marks all of the objects that you use. This is not unlike how a pet dog might mark all of the objects you routinely use.

Next, the GC scans the heap and identifies all of the marked objects. All of the unmarked objects are thrown out to the curb while all of the marked objects are kept. Just as a dog would only be interested in keeping the objects you use, and not the ones that you do not use.

Some mark-and-weep GCs also do hoarding by gathering all the marked objects together into a single big pile, freeing up all the rest of the space into one large continuous empty space. These hoarded objects may be hidden under the couch cushions, but they are still there.

Now the memory allocation is tried again. It probably succeeds. If not, it is possible that the runtime system could be designed to ask the OS for more memory. However the OS does not have an unlimited amount of memory to give.

Mark and sweep is the oldest and simplest GC algorithm. It has one gigantic disadvantage. The entire program must be stopped while the GC is running.

One of the first improvements I saw on mark and sweep back in about 1989 in Macintosh Common Lisp, was ephemeral garbage collection. The system created three heaps. The eden space, the survivor space, and the tenured space. New objects are allocated in eden space. GC only mark-sweeps the eden space at first. Any surviving objects are moved to survivor space. Then the memory allocation is attempted again. If at some point, while cleaning up eden space, the survivor space fills up, it is necessary to also mark-sweep the survivor space. Surviving objects are promoted to tenured space. This improvement made GC pauses more frequent but very short, almost unnoticable.

We've come a long way. The state of the art GCs on Java run on multiple cpu cores, in parallel with the primary workload, and the maximum stop the world pause time is 1 millisecond even if heap size is many terabytes of memory. (See: Red Hat's Shenandoah garbage collector for Java, and Oracle's ZGC for Java; note Oracle is down-stream of OpenJDK.)

Surviving objects will have been marked many times making the dog very pleased.

Tennessee man who dragged officer into mob gets 7.5 years

Posted by DannyB on Thursday October 27 2022, @06:51PM (#12693)
52 Comments
News

Tennessee man who dragged officer into mob gets over 7 years in prison

A Tennessee man who dragged a police officer into a mob of rioters, initiating one of the most harrowing acts of violence during the U.S. Capitol attack, was sentenced on Thursday to more than seven years in prison.

Albuquerque Cosper Head declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced him to seven years and six months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. The judge said Head was responsible for “some of the darkest acts committed on one of our nation’s darkest days.”

[....] Head engaged in some of the most barbaric violence during the Capitol riot, repeatedly assaulting police officers who were guarding a tunnel on the Lower West Terrace, according to prosecutors.

[....] Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone was on the front lines of the battle for control of the tunnel entrance when Head grabbed him. Head yelled “I’ve got one!" as he wrapped his arms around Fanone's neck and dragged him into the crowd outside the tunnel, prosecutors said.

Head restrained Fanone while other rioters beat and shocked the officer with a stun gun at the base of his skull. Fanone lost consciousness during the assault, which his body camera captured on video.

"Although Head was separated from Officer Fanone in the moments that followed, Head would have been able to hear the sound of the taser being activated again, Officer Fanone’s screams of agony, and the yells from another rioter to ‘Kill him with his own gun!’” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

This is the face of the MAGAs. "It was just a normal tourist day."

Judge Jackson wrote:

“The dark shadow of tyranny unfortunately has not gone away,” Jackson said. “There are people who are still disseminating the lie that the election was stolen. They’re doing it today. And the people who are stoking that anger for their own selfish purposes, they need to think about the havoc they’ve wreaked, the lives they’ve ruined.”

We have people right here in this fine forum who believe, without a shred of evidence, that the election was stolen. They proudly and openly said so.

Who are the fascists? The ones intimidating voters. The ones passing legislation so the state can override the votes of the people. The ones trying to make voting more difficult. The ones on Jan 6 who tried to overturn a peaceful election to install a buffoon not elected by the people. The ones offended that non-white people are somehow permitted to vote with impunity!

The wheels of justice turn slowly. But they turn. Looking forward to progress in the Dominion and Smartmatic lawsuits.

Today's school shooting is in . . .

Posted by DannyB on Monday October 24 2022, @05:46PM (#12679)
110 Comments
News

St. Louis at Performing Arts High School

Adult and teen killed in St. Louis school shooting, police say

A teen student and an adult were killed in a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis on Monday morning, police Commissioner Michael Sack said.

Police located the shooter, and he was shot during an exchange of gunfire, he said. He was later pronounced as deceased, Sack said. Police previously said the gunman was in custody.

Authorities did not immediately identify the victims or the shooter, but Sack said during a news conference those slain were a woman who was pronounced dead at a hospital and a teen girl who was killed at the scene. The shooter was a man who appeared to be about 20 years old, he said.

Eight victims were transported to an area hospital, the commissioner said. News of the shooting arrived via social media.

Police arrived within minutes, Sack said, and spoke to students who described the attacker as carrying “a long gun.”

It is unfortunate that teens and crazy people have access to guns like children have access to candy.

Jury decides Alex Jones must pay $965 million in Sandy Hook

Posted by DannyB on Wednesday October 12 2022, @09:17PM (#12502)
67 Comments
News

Jury decides conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay nearly $1 billion in damages to Sandy Hook families for his lies about the school massacre

Far-right talk show host Alex Jones should pay eight families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims and one first responder $965 million in compensatory damages, a Connecticut jury decided Wednesday [....]

[....] the decision could shrink or even doom Jones’ Infowars media empire [....]

The plaintiffs and their attorneys were visibly emotional when the jury’s decision were read. [....]

Jones baselessly said again and again after the 2012 mass shooting, in which 26 people were killed, that the incident was staged, and that the families and first responders were “crisis actors.” [....]

In a particularly explosive moment in the trial, Jones tangled with an attorney for the plaintiffs, accusing him of “ambulance chasing,” before descending into an unhinged rant in court about “liberals.”

The judge overseeing the case admonished Jones several times during his testimony, warning him even at one point that he could be held in contempt of court if he violated her rules moving forward.

Alex Jones had his free speech. Nobody, especially the government, prevented him from speaking.

Can your free speech cause damages to others for which you can be liable?

Can you shout Fire in a crowded theater without consequences of your free speech?

Can you say the word "Balm" in an airport? (I packed a little balm in my carrion.)

Can you threaten the POTUS without the secret service (SS) wanting to have a chat with you?

In quasi related news, the wheels of justice continue to turn in other cases of lying liars telling outlandish lies causing damages. Of particular interest is Dominion and Smartmatic which I've journaled about before.

It can be frustrating that it takes justice so long to catch up. But it usually does.

My Law of Effort for Secure Data Protection in Software

Posted by Rich on Tuesday October 11 2022, @12:46PM (#12486)
12 Comments
Software

I recently had to work with a large piece of well aged and reliable legacy software that had to be modified to include data protection for some sensitive personal information due to recent legislation. Developers not experienced with security bolted on some encryption. They made up their minds on what to do on the fly, as they tried to somehow add the security features. It could be expected, that under such circumstances, they ended up with a confusing mess of obfuscation that couldn't even really called "secure". Anyone with knowledge of the inner workings would be able to reconstruct all the data from accessible files. Yet they had to write extra software, not only for handling passwords, but also for moving data between machines that could be moved by simple file transfer before. Debugging this also became annoying, with many road stops, and I flinched a lot.

But in this journal entry, I don't want to highlight how good or bad this implementation was, but how much time it took to deal with the issues. Many person-months were spent on getting it to run or working around the hurdles it created. And more will be spent in the future to sort out persisting issues and go forward.

Of course, I have thought about how the setup could be made to work in a proper secure way. It would mean, much simplified, moving the key management to a separate process running as root, and throwing away the root password and the keys for the padlock on the machine case. As a consequence, all normal administration would have to happen elevated from root. But again, the details don't matter here. What matters is my estimate that implementing it would have taken at least as much time as the weaker implementation.

Fred Brooks, in "The Mythical Man Month" has a figure, the first in the book, showing the double evolution from a Program to a Programming System Product. He postulates that each single evolution, from Program to System, or from Program to Product increases the required effort by a factor of three. These combine, so getting from a Program to a Programming System Product will take a ninefold effort.

I postulate that the addition of securing the processed data will add another factor of three. Therefore, a Secure Programming System Product - that is secure, interacts with other programs, and can be deployed to end-users - will take twenty-seven times the effort of writing a simple self-contained Program for the same task without the extra considerations.

Don't fool yourselves when you make fixed-price offers. ;)

The Cloud is the endpoint of all systems

Posted by DannyB on Tuesday July 26 2022, @02:25PM (#11827)
28 Comments
/dev/random

Good News everyone!

Low level management has informed middle management that our entire aircraft fleet now has continuous satellite internet connectivity. Lower management proposes that all data recorded by the flight data recorder should also be streamed to the cloud so there may be a backup in the event the flight data recorder were destroyed in a severe crash.

Middle management recognizes the wisdom of this. The middle manglers observe this presents an opportunity for cost savings. It we stream the entire fright data recorder to the cloud it is possible to remove the fright data recorder from the scarecraft. This would save the cost of the fright data recorder unit and also its weight (aka more money).

Over the protests of lower management and engineers, this becomes a corporate directive.

Upper management recognizes the brilliant cost savings and awards themselves large bonuses.

Next the upper level manglers recognize that if the fright data recorder can be moved to the cloud then why can't the entire fright control system and all in fright navigation be moved to the cloud? All of upper management unanimously concurs, observing how plainly obvious it is to move scarecraft fright control systems to the cloud! The cloud is so obviously the natural place for things moving through the sky! The CEO points out that his own brother in law had a cloud connected pet food feeder which rarely had any problems. In the event of a problem pets can be easily and cheaply replaced. Those are the only two metrics that matter. Thus the cloud is sufficiently reliable. Rare service outages can be worked out case by case, by individuals close to the problem.

It is hereby decreed!

Today's mass shooting is in . . .

Posted by DannyB on Monday July 11 2022, @06:07PM (#11670)
106 Comments
Digital Liberty

Kansas City, MO

1 dead, 5 injured in mass shooting outside Westport Ale House

One person is dead and five others are hurt following a shooting outside of the Westport Ale House at 41st and Broadway.

The five remaining victims are expected to survive the shooting, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.

The shooting happened at around 11 p.m. on Sunday.

Officers say a disturbance inside the building spilled outside and shots were fired.

Three off-duty officers who were working at the Ale House returned fire. It’s unclear if the officers hit anyone.

Maybe people who have no self control or impulse control should not have firearms.

See Also:

Six shot, one killed in incident involving off-duty KCPD officers outside Westport bar

1 killed, 5 injured in shooting outside Westport Ale House Sunday

Today's mass shooting is in . . .

Posted by DannyB on Tuesday July 05 2022, @07:35PM (#11615)
51 Comments
Digital Liberty

Gary Indiana.

3 dead, 7 wounded after shooting at block party in Gary

[ . . . . ] Marquise Hall, 26, from Lafayette, Indiana, Ashanti Brown, 20, from Olympia Fields, Illinois, and Laurance Magnum, 25, from Merrillville, Indiana were all pronounced dead on the scene by the Lake County Coroners Office.

Some of the gunshot victims self-transported to area hospitals -- others were transported by ambulance, police said.

Due to the enormity of the scene, mutual aid was requested from surrounding police agencies.

3 dead, 7 wounded after shooting at July Fourth block party in Gary, Indiana, police say

GARY, Ind. – Gunfire during a July Fourth block party in northwestern Indiana left three people dead and seven wounded early Tuesday, police said.

Why does the USA have a problem with gun violence? I wonder why that could be?

Some will deny the problem exists. Others will runaway from the problem. Some will hand wave it away . . . oh, look, a shiny! Maybe we can get Alex Jones to say it is all a hoax and the victims made it all up. (BTW, how's that defamation case going?)

If a state has a well regulated militia it would seem that they would have adequate training, marksmanship and be a mentally stable person before being entrusted with a firearm.

The age of men is over. The time of the Orc has come.

Today's July 4 mass shooting is in . . .

Posted by DannyB on Monday July 04 2022, @07:47PM (#11602)
42 Comments
Digital Liberty

Highland Park, Ill.

WATCH: Officials provide update after Highland Park July 4 parade shooting

6 dead in mass shooting at Highland Park July 4 parade

At least six people were killed and two dozen others hospitalized in a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois, police officials said at a press conference Monday.

The latest: Lake County sheriff’s office deputy chief Christopher Covelli said at the press conference Monday that the suspect was an 18- to 20-year-old white male with long black hair who should be considered "armed and dangerous."

The shooting "appears to be completely" random, Covelli said.
Officials recovered a rifle at the scene, said Covelli, who did not specify if the weapon had a high-capacity magazine.
Information about the victims' ages was not released.

Highland Park Parade Gunman Fired From Rooftop, Police Say Shooting Appears ‘Completely Random'

Highland Park shooting witness captures gunshots on video

We have a problem. Other countries don't seem to have this problem. Some people choose to run away from the problem, deny it exists, or resist any efforts to keep guns out of the hands of crazy people.