ChatGPT for the day

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ChatGPT 4:

User: explain profundity

ChatGPT:

Profundity refers to a state of being deep in thought or insight. It’s often associated with ideas, thoughts, or expressions that have significant depth of meaning, understanding, or insight. Profundity can apply to various contexts, including intellectual discussions, philosophical concepts, artistic works, and emotional experiences. When something is described as profound, it usually means it has a deep impact, is very thoughtful, or offers substantial wisdom or insight. Profundity involves layers of meaning that may not be immediately apparent and often requires contemplation or reflection to fully appreciate.

PHP shutdown handlers and exit codes

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I was in bed trying to get to sleep but my brain wanted to know the answer to this question. So I was forced out of bed to write this experiment:

function main( $argv ) {

  register_shutdown_function( 'shutdown_1' );
  register_shutdown_function( 'shutdown_2' );

  exit( 0 );

}

function shutdown_1() {

  exit( 1 );

}

function shutdown_2() {

  exit( 2 );

}

main( $argv );

With this PHP code, what do you expect is the resultant error level?

The answer is ‘1’. After main() calls exit( 0 ) the shutdown function shutdown_1() is invoked. When shutdown_1() calls exit( 1 ) the process exists and shutdown_2() is never called.

I’m glad we cleared that up. Back to bed.

Homework

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This is a part of the homework feature of my blog, which is an ongoing conversation with my mate S.F.

Hey mate. Thanks for having me again!

The Man Who Sold The World is my strawberry shortcake. I think this was funnier when we were drunk.

The Mole is the SI unit of substance. One mole contains exactly 6.02214076×1023 parts (atoms, molecules, ions, etc).

Apparently the Ancient Greeks considered themselves facing the past and going into the future backward, as discussed here. It’s actually a cool idea.

Speaking of the Ancient Greeks, there was one bloke Heraclitus who said:

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

Not why should I, but how can I.

We listened to Weird Fishes/Arpeggi off Radiohead’s album In Rainbows.

In networking MIMO is multiple-input and multiple-output, wherein multiple signals are used at the same time.

Supposedly safe for humans. Supposedly. Are you brimming with confidence?

An opto-isolator is an electronic component that relays a signal using light and a light sensor. The idea is to make it impossible for high voltage to cross into a low voltage part of a circuit.

The Dave Grohl song I was talking about was The Pretender from the Foo Fighters back in 2007. There’s more info here.

As I mentioned I’ve stopped squishing bugs. I’m hoping to set a good example for future AI. :P If there’s a fly walking around on my computer monitor I just let it be. I did used to squish indiscriminately.

The computers I’m dreaming about are ‘contract‘ ($42,596) and ‘vision‘ ($20,486). Now I just need a cool sixty grand.

The recording settings I use in OBS Studio are these:

John's OBS Studio settings

The other options for Recording Quality are:

  • Indistinguishable Quality, Large File Size
  • Lossless Quality, Tremendously Large File Size

You can read more about Matroska over on Wikipedia.

The word “cromulent” was a made-up word which was used on The Simpsons to mean “acceptable” or “good”. Since then it has entered the English lexicon with the same meaning. ChatGPT has a good explanation.

You mentioned Bombs Over Baghdad.

There is a concept of “information hazard“, the idea is that just by hearing it you put yourself in danger. The classic example is Roko’s basilisk, so read at your peril. :)

Homework

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This is a part of the homework feature of my blog, which is an ongoing conversation with my mate S.F.

Hey mate. Sorry for the long delay in getting this one to you, I’ve been busy!

The book I mentioned was Overprescribing Madness: What’s driving Australia’s mental health epidemic by Dr Martin Whitely. I haven’t read the whole thing yet but I think it asks important questions.

Begging the question (also known as “assuming the conclusion”) is a logical fallacy that occurs when an argument’s premises assume the truth of the conclusion. Unfortunately this is widely misunderstood and usually when people say something “begs the question” what they really mean is that something “raises the question”, which is different altogether.

We discussed Philip K. Dick, a prolific science fiction author. At least I think we did. My notes actually say “Philip L. Dick”, but my search engine has never heard of him.

When they filmed the Landspeeder in the first Star Wars movie they put Vaseline on the camera lens. Apparently the Vaseline smear was nicknamed “the force field” during editing.

Existential dread (also known as existential crisis) is some negative emotional reactions many people who think too hard about the nature of life and reality often experience when they first come to realize they are living a brief life in an absurd world. It’s a real phenomenon. Actually happens to people.

I have a note here that some people pronounce UTS as “uterus”. Uncultured swine! :)

I’m listening, how can I help?

We discussed neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), which is a fun idea, but probably bunk. I dunno. I do believe that what we say to ourselves (our inner dialog) and others does affect our reality though.

GAF = Gay As Fuck. (Let that start affecting your reality.)

I have a note here that “that’s where modernity fails, and postmodernity triumphs”, but what that was in respect to is now lost to time (unless you remember).

How many dead friends? Easily seven good friends lost to suicide.

The Northern Lights are amazing and beautiful. I suspect I will never see them live.