WriterOfMinds (she)

@WriterOfMinds@sigmoid.social
351 Followers
299 Following
1.4K Posts

Loving author of Acuitas the symbolic AI and other robots-in-progress. Aspiring fiction writer, video game appreciator. Satellite electronics are my day job.

#fedi22 #ArtificialIntelligence #Making #Technology #3DPrinting #Books #Gardening #VideoGames

Websitewriterofminds.blogspot.com
I'm going on a two-week vacation tomorrow, and part of it will involve camping, so I may not be around much. Stay out of trouble while I'm away!

Well. It ended up that I added quite a bit more in the last few hours. Enough that I think it can be officially Version 1.0.

Feel free to share with friends or anyone else you think might find it useful:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-_NXZJQweURGicWVmjAd4rVBdkvEOOWDVm0Jlot_LYs/edit?usp=sharing

Latest #robot in sea trials. An old 12v trolling motor provides propulsion. A #RaspberryPi pico is always-on and runs the basics, sensors, h-bridges and such.

An RPi4 will be the main autonomy hub to enable detailed mapping and surveys and such. But for now I can just push #mqtt buttons in #HomeAssistant and move it around.

I built it almost totally out of scrap and epoxy. What a delightful waste of time! 😜

P. S. Note the #lego crew on the bridge.

Small demo this month! I always wanted to be able to see Acuitas "thinking" and I've updated the semantic memory visualization to make that possible. https://writerofminds.blogspot.com/2025/06/acuitas-diary-85-june-2025.html

#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #chatbots #NLP

Acuitas Diary #85 (June 2025)

Adventures in robotics and AI on a shoestring budget. SFF Fiction and occasional video game appreciation.

To my shock, the *other* penstemon species (Bluestem Penstemon) that I thought had totally died in my front yard is now blooming. I saw the leaf rosettes this spring and took them for wild daisies or something. #nativePlants #bloomscrolling

yo fedi, how are you today?

I'm trying to find the absolute best, well-argumented (!) #LLM takedown blogpost you've read lately.. preferably related to software development.

Unfortunately my boss is on the hype-train (random glory posts in slack) and I'd like to counter him just a wee bit. Bring it on 😁

Boosting appreciated for reach 

Potatoes (and carrots, in the background) in protective custody. The ones not taken by the raccoon tax are mostly doing well, though. #gardening
I started working on trial-and-error learning abilities for Acuitas this month! Notes on the technique I'm trying to establish here: https://writerofminds.blogspot.com/2025/05/acuitas-diary-84-may-2025.html
#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #chatbots #NLP
Acuitas Diary #84 (May 2025)

Adventures in robotics and AI on a shoestring budget. SFF Fiction and occasional video game appreciation.

It may be hard to tell from the photo, but these two differ in whether the fold (no seam) is at the wide or narrow end of the wedge. The one with the fold at the narrow end leaked from both narrow corners. Tough to make these work!
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@considermycat

Brushing experience my fucking arse.

Horse riding is an experience.
Driving a skidoo across a glacier is an experience.
Clay pigeon shooting is an experience.
Hang gliding is an experience.

Brushing your teeth is just brushing your fucking teeth.
We need to find the sad gumby at Oral B who designed this and take them out into the light of day and let them have real experiences.

@leighms @considermycat

I contacted Magnum ice cream to complain that their vegan ice creams are now soy based instead of pea protein (husband can't eat dairy or soy, a Magnum was one treat he could have), and I got a reply that referred to their customers as "flavour explorers".

Thankfully, I don't own a gun, or I might have gone on a rampage.

@suearcher @leighms @considermycat

Shit started going downhill when retail stores stared referring to customers as "guests". That's a real thing I lived through at Linens n Things.

@Jorsh @leighms @considermycat

Ugh.

Over here, I think it was when haulage/trucking companies started to refer to what they did as "Supply Chain Logistics".

@suearcher @Jorsh @considermycat
Whatever happened to Oral A , the presumed predecessor to Oral B. Was it really that bad that all traces of it have been erased? Totally erased.

Doing a search for "oral a" did bring up the suggested search 'is oral a sin before marriage?'

@leighms @suearcher @Jorsh @considermycat Same thing happened to WD39 I'm afraid.

@Dianora @suearcher @Jorsh @considermycat

And Chanel 4!

In 1921 they had numbers 1 to 3 and 5 to 6. Apparently No 4 smelt like rat's piss.

@leighms @suearcher @Jorsh @considermycat Oral A makes more sense than Oral B anyway. Who in their right mind, when asked to open wide to gain access to the teeth, would go "BbbbbbbbbBbbbbBbnb"!?
@Jorsh @suearcher @leighms @considermycat I also work somewhere where we call them guests blek

@WhoDisturbsMySlumber @suearcher @leighms @considermycat

Are they sleeping over? Are you making them dinner? Are you letting them play with your dog? No? They aren't guests then. Corporate people are awful and have no souls.

@suearcher @leighms @considermycat there's a department who deserves a glitter bombing.
@suearcher They should be 'very' grateful, and suitably abashed. @leighms @considermycat

@suearcher @leighms @considermycat 😂😂💀

would've thought you'd use your bow, Sue!

@falcennial @leighms @considermycat

😂 If only I had one. I'll have to make one out of a bamboo cane like I did when I was a kid.

@considermycat Next step: toothbrush that releases a toxin when it detects that you've added toothpaste from a non-partnered manufacturer.
@epilanthanomai @considermycat
What do you think those $15 replacement heads do. 😉
@considermycat I just wanted my stupid jet pack, how did we get on this dumb ride.
@considermycat By gum! As we don’t say in Lancashire!

@considermycat

that's not the only crime

@considermycat there's a great Escape Pod story about an electric toothbrush, slightly related https://escapepod.org/2007/07/19/ep115-conversations-with-and-about-my-electric-toothbrush/
Escape Pod 115: Conversations With and About My Electric Toothbrush | Escape Pod

“I read an interesting forum post last night,” my electric toothbrush told me over its low burr. “Thiff ouff thew be thood,” I said through my mouth of foam. “It was!” he replied.

Escape Pod
@considermycat Glad manual brushes without all that digital crap are still being sold.
@considermycat h...how is that even possible???
@considermycat i love how my oral b toothbrush probably wastes a third of it's battery charge looking for the bluetooth signal of my phone (which i will never connect) 🫠
@considermycat
I knew humanity was doomed the first time I saw "Frozen toast" in the grocery store. #SmartToothbrush
@considermycat What idiotic moron would buy a computer toothbrush?
How fucked in the head can you get?
@yora @considermycat seriously, try buying a TV without a privacy policy. Most of the garage door installers near me are pushing the openers that connect to WiFi. It’s not poor consumer behavior, it’s enshittification.
@considermycat My toaster won't scan my bread to make sure it's authorized because my Internet bill wasn't payed on time :(
@considermycat See also: Love, Death and Robots, the recently released season 4, episode 9: "Smart Appliances, Stupid Owners". (Includes an intelligent toothbrush, and other appliances, including a vibrator.)

@considermycat

Apparently, one man had a brushing experience.

He experienced a brush with death (or at least the risk of grevious bodily harm).

His wife discovered his affair because she saw his toothbrush was logged in at home while he was supposed to be at work.

@considermycat Under „normal“ circumstances I‘d call this PR bs „peak enshittification“. However knowing the mindset of these a$$hats, I won‘t call it „peak“ just because they know no limit for their jabberwocky speak and customer rip-off. Not even the sky is their limit 🤬
@considermycat Probably a result of accepting too many cookies 😆
@considermycat @masek If I hack someone else’s Oral-B account, whose teeth will get the brushing experience?
@considermycat Reminds me of "The incredibly slow murder with a spoon" somehow...
@considermycat :-D Looks like the trend goes to hand-brushing and custom movements.

@considermycat
I am no longer am permitted to use dental floss, as I broke the TOC insulting some people with the term:
"A plaque o' both your houses!"

Enshittification is not a good look for a company selling products that go in peoples mouths.