Random Chat, Thoughts, Posts, and/or Rants Thread

[Black_Dragon43]

What happened with the section of the forum with recent activity, like previews of the comments people liked or made?

I personally liked that section and it got me to explore threads I’d never have otherwise opened!

 

[Black_Dragon43]

I removed it and wanted to see how long it took someone to notice. It was about a week.

Some have expressed that that function is an eyesore, although I'm more of your view. I liked it.

I see, I noticed about 3-4 days ago, but kept thinking it’s probably a bug and it will show up again lol!

 

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[Subsonic]

Just went to order a big batch of flyers and suddenly I see it being really expensive, like $57 per thousand.

Then I noticed I was shopping on the us store and when changing to the .de store suddenly its €17 per thousand.

Perhaps the us has more inflation than the € to $ conversion would like to say. At this point, isnt this a massive arbitrage opportunity to buy something that costs way less in € than in $ usd and then sell it for $ and change those back to € ?

 

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[Raedrum]

There was this guy on FB speaking about Bronn being the only guy who played the Game of Thrones flawlessly and won.

And this other guy answering:

"Moral of the story: be super helpful and have a sense of humor."

This is a totally great business and life advice

 

[freek]

Just mix protein powder and water, you’ll be hitting new PRs by the minute.

mix it with milk, way better

 

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[ZackerySprague]

I feel like the "food Fastlane" is often dismissed around here.

Hell, my last book featured food entrepreneurs.

Just because it is consumed by mouth, doesn't mean it isn't Fastlane.

View attachment 52539

The Chicken man. Lol.

 

[Kevin88660]

I'd recommend Fastlaners to possibly go in the other direction than to step into the Arena of A.I. I think it will be congested soon.

I think the opportunity will be elsewhere.

Interesting perspective.

I think otherwise because the application for ai is so wide that it is very easy to add AI to what you are already doing. A productivity booster.

But a pure AI play is going to hard. If you are doing a AI software, you don’t know if a general purpose/intelligence AI developed elsewhere by a bigger player could kill your product overnight.

If AI is the shovel this is the paradoxical case that digging the gold (boost existing productivity using ai) will be better than selling the shovel (selling an ai tool/software) because the quickly evolving landscape. There will be very few winner after a brutal war for ai software but everyone can be an winner for simply being a heavy user of ai as much as possible.

 

[Kevin88660]

Thoughts on agricultural commodities ?

A freaking libertarian just won the elections in my country.

My family has quite a bit of land, that i'm realizing it's very valuable, it wasn't valuable because we have had the most corrupt redacted communist government for decades and decades, but now it might be a possibility to lean into this strength.

He has already said he plans on eliminating all taxes on exports so... thoughts on what to produce ? soy ? maybe cannabis ? (that would need some more than just getting rid of the taxes tought).

Interesting times ahead.

Dollarisation and shock therapy could sink the economy if there is no sufficient foreign aid.

It could be a scheme for people with dollar to buy your national assets at a fraction of the cost.

 

[ZackerySprague]

This sounds like someone in '99 predicting the Internet will be too saturated, do something else in business.

This was never my intent at all. I just feel like you will see a lot of people starting businesses that will utilize AI and the opportunity could be congested. Something like how NFTs and Crypto was a few years ago.

But yes I haven't forgotten that change in any evolution of technology can create millionaires and billionaires.

I'm not saying or even suggesting to go away from AI entirely.

All I'm saying is that their could be opportunities also elsewhere like in creating an ecommerce product that solves a need.

Ecommerce is still huge and is ripe for the taking. I listen to a podcast called the Kara Show and you get to hear about all of the difference ecommerce brands out there that solve a need or a problem.

I'm just saying for fellow fastlaners to keep their options open.

If one doesn't work, there's always another.

That doesn't not mean my advice is inherently wrong.

 

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[ZackerySprague]

I think you're confusing a trend with a disruptive technology, which is understandable.

From ChatGPT...



Newsletters, podcasting, and blogs are all trends.
The advent of email, automobiles, the internet, and now AI, are all disruptive technology.

The former has a limited life span and subject to fade and fizzle.
The latter continually morphs, and will make millionaires and billionaires in the foreseeable future.

Heck, in the next 12-18 months you could probably just box a ChatGPT API and make a few million before that opportunity subset dissipates.

Yes this correct. I do think AI has inherent value and is here to stay. I am just curious if it will stick or just be a trend is all. But I don't think it will be a trend.

There's just a lot of hype around it now and makes you wonder will it stay or just fall off the radar.

 

[ZackerySprague]

This was never my intent at all. I just feel like you will see a lot of people starting businesses that will utilize AI and the opportunity could be congested. Something like how NFTs and Crypto was a few years ago.

But yes I haven't forgotten that change in any evolution of technology can create millionaires and billionaires.

I'm not saying or even suggesting to go away from AI entirely.

All I'm saying is that their could be opportunities also elsewhere like in creating an ecommerce product that solves a need.

Ecommerce is still huge and is ripe for the taking. I listen to a podcast called the Kara Show and you get to hear about all of the difference ecommerce brands out there that solve a need or a problem.

I'm just saying for fellow fastlaners to keep their options open.

If one doesn't work, there's always another.

That doesn't not mean my advice is inherently wrong.

Well I could be wrong to and that I'm okay with. Maybe the opportunity won't be congested.

But my point was for the Commandment of control. You would be too dependent on AI or say the OpenAI API to perform your tasks, but what if It gets cut off and now you can no longer use the service.

I see everyone running towards the technology since it's introduction.

The company I work for actually built their application from ground up, they have control because they created it and aren't dependent on others except the services to run their app or host the data.

They can hire/fire clients. The FIs are dependent on their software and pay them. If they don't, the FIs will not able to operate or customers ro deposit their cash/onboard with their banking of choice.

 

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[ZackerySprague]

ChatGPT API wrappers are useful and easy to create. I see dozens of solopreneurs advertising their own on Twitter (some of them with 5 or 6 figures MRR).

It's great, but it violates the commandments of Entry and Control. OpenAI changes the rules? You're dead. Some prick copycats your idea and markets it better than you? You're dead.

On the long term, the use of AI will be very different of the current state, and wrappers won't be a part of the equation (OpenAI recently released tools to let you build your own GPT).
It reminds me dropshipping in some way. What remains of dropshipping?

For sure there is money to do here. But I wonder about the longevity of such a system like that. I'm not the most experienced to predict anything.

This doesn't conflit with the fact AI is undoubtedly disruptive and that it will change many habits in the future.

I was wrong to have say "I recommend" I will admit that and apologize on my behalf for that. I won't say that again.

I was just worried about control in case of starting a business that utilizes AI and using their API. I'm sure there are horror stories of past things that have happened.

The technology no doubt will help us further our future.

I actually have spoken with people who are afraid of it.

Change is good, not denying that. I think will AI will help in many aspects for the humankind.

 

[ZackerySprague]

ChatGPT API wrappers are useful and easy to create. I see dozens of solopreneurs advertising their own on Twitter (some of them with 5 or 6 figures MRR).

It's great, but it violates the commandments of Entry and Control. OpenAI changes the rules? You're dead. Some prick copycats your idea and markets it better than you? You're dead.

On the long term, the use of AI will be very different of the current state, and wrappers won't be a part of the equation (OpenAI recently released tools to let you build your own GPT).
It reminds me dropshipping in some way. What remains of dropshipping?

For sure there is money to do here. But I wonder about the longevity of such a system like that. I'm not the most experienced to predict anything.

This doesn't conflit with the fact AI is undoubtedly disruptive and that it will change many habits in the future.

That's cool, so you can build your own AI? Might have a look at it.

 

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[ZackerySprague]

Could be disruptive to smartphones, but not fully adopted into today's society. It's like the changing of Nokia to the iPhone. Yet this doesn't have a screen and utilizes AI.

The reaction to this from Twitter wasn't very appealing.

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[ZackerySprague]

Sorry guys I'll publicly apologize to you all.

 

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[Ing]

For one of you AI nerds, I am looking for a partner. I want AI to listen to every episode of my radio show and read every post I have ever had on the forum, then I want to create a Kakbot or Kaksistant or Kakretary or Kakvision worldview filter that can provide custom advice based on my brain and I want to charge $5 per month.

I want it to write emails Kak style. I want it to create sales material Kak style. I want it to do strategy Kak style. I want it to tell people how to dress properly for meetings. I want it to hire and fire Kak style. I want it to ask a ton of questions and look at the big picture. I want the learning proposition to basically stomp the daylights out of every course ever while also doing some of the lifting as well. It needs to cite me in the past so anyone can look it up and also tell why it made the leap to the advice it gives.

Seems technically possible. Is this easy yet or still a way off?

Maybe we can even get @Antifragile s content in there as an alternative personality for responses.

If you want to discuss the opportunity and can demonstrate a proficiency in chat bot whatever the heck, just DM me.

I d help you to make the T-Shirts!

 

[ZackerySprague]

ChatGPT Wrapper? Does anyone remember the time Kak became a ChatGPT rapper?

Well I do.

Not his finest moment. Now THAT'S an example of where an apology is still owed.

But you needn't worry @ZackerySprague I think you just posted too quickly. Didn't think it completely through.

I don't know ANYONE who does that regularly...

I did post to early, won't happen again. I didn't think clearly on that.

Still can't believe that the board ousted Sam Altman though at OpenAI. Twice.

And the team is loyal to him. That was a huge shock.

 

[ZackerySprague]

I've seen an AI literally do Sales Calls and Support calls. Their was an Advertisement that was circulating Facebook.

Kinda Amazed me to be honest. It actually talked like a human to the consumer and even suggested ways to purchase a product that costed $1,000 dollars in a payment plan lol.

 

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[ZackerySprague]

ChatGPT Wrapper? Does anyone remember the time Kak became a ChatGPT rapper?

Well I do.

Not his finest moment. Now THAT'S an example of where an apology is still owed.

But you needn't worry @ZackerySprague I think you just posted too quickly. Didn't think it completely through.

I don't know ANYONE who does that regularly...

I'll slow down next time and on future posts. But I'd probably should start posting on posts that I have experience with honestly lol.

 

[biophase]

View attachment 52567

The whole thing is so weird and poorly planned. Cars ripping up these covers on street tracks is a well known issue for years now, yet they decide to put the race they invested 500 million into, at a time so late that if there's any delay they won't be able to keep the track/hospitality staff there.

I thought the whole point was to make it in primetime for Americans? Maybe I'm wrong but you guys don't play Football or NBA games at midnight do you lol.

It was late so they didn’t have to close the roads during the daytime.

 

[Kevin88660]

Well I could be wrong to and that I'm okay with. Maybe the opportunity won't be congested.

But my point was for the Commandment of control. You would be too dependent on AI or say the OpenAI API to perform your tasks, but what if It gets cut off and now you can no longer use the service.

I see everyone running towards the technology since it's introduction.

The company I work for actually built their application from ground up, they have control because they created it and aren't dependent on others except the services to run their app or host the data.

They can hire/fire clients. The FIs are dependent on their software and pay them. If they don't, the FIs will not able to operate or customers ro deposit their cash/onboard with their banking of choice.

It's too early to tell how be trend will turn out I think we are all doing guess work.

The risk of being in the AI software business is that all the businesses are mutually disruptive against one another. In the traditional software we have one software for different purpose in the AI world the smartest people are creating ai software that make other ai softwares redundant. I feel that it’s a winner take all industry that extremely few can be the winner left standing.

The problem of entry in the cyber space everyone can compete against you. There is technical barrier of entry but there isn’t a geographical barrier of entry. The smartest people in the world can always kill your business very quickly. Right now I am still paying for pdf related SASS. Such service might be gone in 1-2 years as AI advances most simple service becomes free and open source.

A chatgpt API’s business biggest competitor is chatgpt itself. The ultimate goal of chatgpt is to evolve itself to be so user friendly that any other plug in becomes unnecessary, if not at least not worth paying for.

A safe bet now is just to accelerate your existing business and life with chatgpt everywhere possible. As we interact with chatgpt we become smarter and begin to feed chatgpt smarter questions to have more real life impact. Always assume chatgpt knows better about everything than ourselves unless clearly proven otherwise.

 

[MattR82]

It was late so they didn’t have to close the roads during the daytime.

Still quite late though, running till after midnight. I'm sure they could have run it an hour or 2 earlier like the other street circuits around the world.

 

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[ZF Lee]

Sometimes you may think what you are currently working on is good...until it isn't.

Few weeks ago, I got hit by acid reflux right during my grandma's birthday dinner. Suddenly felt that somewhere in my stomach was stuck, and bile kept gathering in my throat. No amount of hot water drank would wash them down.

I had read before that it was caused by eating too big, or some trigger allergy food...and only had it once before very, very long ago after a big dinner.

I overreacted and was so distressed that I got an x-ray done immediately. And blood work.

The doctor found I had some constipation-- and my cholesterol was not good. LDL and other markers a few points above the benchmark.

The thing is that my toilet time before this wasn't so bad until I was fighting to shit hard stools out. I'm not the kind to take all the fried and sweet stuff on a daily basis.

The only weaknesses I know I have are lack of more intense exercise (outside of the treadmill at gym), and me eating takeaway to compensate for lack of time (and mental energy) to cook. I did my best to pick takeaway that had balanced foods, but of course it ain't going to be as healthy as home-cooked for many reasons. I ate fruits regularly...a lot of eggs for breakfast.

I was SO down and embarrassed that the acid reflux happened in a family event.

Also very sad that even though I DEFINITELY lived healthier than MOST folks I know, as imperfect as I am, it all wasn't enough to keep my body working. For the first time in my life, I start blaming everyone around me for not buying me greens to eat...my social network for not helping me to cultivate a better health-driven environment...well everything.

Even got into a spat with my parents on this.

(they may know choke-tons on what they think is good for me...but bad at being sounding boards to just listen when someone is feeling very down)

After many hours in blame-mode, I was left numb.

All that remained in my head was just a few steps I could think of to get my body back in shape.

And I did these:

1. To eat out WAY less, I subscribed to a meal prep delivery service that basically sent over prepped veges and chicken that I could just heat up. Honestly I could have made my own chicken breast and baked veges...but if someone can do it better and faster than me...why not have them help?

2. Killed 90% of carbs like rice and noodles. I still ate some potatoes, but only as a side dish and if the menu didn't have anything else (when eating out)

3. Every start of the week, I would load up the shopping cart with raw veges and fruits like cucumbers, cherry tomatos, blueberries, etc. More than before. Washed them all at one go so I can just chew on them throughout the week.

4. Started intermittent fasting to give my gut some break-time...usually skipped breakfast.
There's a lot of debate out there on whether breakfast is REALLY the most important meal of the day or some conspiracy spun up by the cereal companies...but I chose to skip breakfast because that was usually work time.

Stopped eating after 10pm...not even a snack.

5. Bought some mixed fibres-probiotic mix:

https://www.deslimmalaysia.com/en/?page_id=213081

Recommended by my dad...took it every night after dinner.
The label said it would get me to the loo more often to deal with the constipation, but I only went to the washroom once per day.

I think there could be cheaper options for the gut like prunes and yoghurt...but these are just passive foods. that take time to set in. For now, I need immediate stuffs to clear me quickly.

6. Raised my exercise time from once a week to three times a week.
This is a laughable amount of time...but I got work and clients to do.

For now I'm still stuck 45-mins to 1 hour at the treadmill, but I hopped onto YouTube to emulate some dumbbells routines. I don't have any intention to build muscle for now...I just want to get my body working.

7. Update my social environment
After this acid reflux incident (and a separate car accident), I realised how limited my time and health actually were.

I stepped back from many social gatherings (even with mentor-figures) to rest and have more time for myself.
I also realised this year I had helped at too many charity events at church and elsewhere. They weren't bad activities and much was learnt-- but could I have made a better impact if I had MORE money, skills, networking and health?

I left my youth cell group for good. It was the last remaining circle of folks my age...I don't know WHY I stayed so long with them, or even wasted time debating with them on many menial issues. Maybe because I joined it since college...so the sentimentality held me back.

But when I thought carefully if I was willing to fight traffic weekly...just to go to their meetings, listen to un-dynamic, mediocre people give their surface-level opinions on the Holy Writ...and dismiss almost every of my ideas on improving life as 'too adult' or 'generalizing everyone'...then WHY GO?

I thought about finding new social groups to replace them once I was better.

I felt a bit lighter when I realised I had options open now.

Go for some gym group class? Ask my mentor-figures for admission to their country club? Hit up the church's business mastermind (where I come from, it charges a fee for membership, so it's not a light decision)?

Go buy a good course that has a mastermind?

I haven't bought a course in AGES...but after reading some stuff from Chris Orz and Troy Ericson...I was thinking of getting their stuffs on email list management. It's a step-up from the usual email copy work I do, but if it can help add more value and I meet with more hard workers out there, why not?

My only requirement for the new social circles to take on must be that they have to have an entry barrier of some sort (money, camaraderie, time, etc). They cannot be another sleazy free Meetup.com session that sends me to Amway.

But honestly this is at the bottom of my list...I want to focus on health first.

So far I think something works, because my eczema cooled down enough for me to go back to lotion...my stomach doesn't feel bloated anymore...and no acid reflux came back.

 

[monnffffiiiiiii]

Few know that Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift are among the top business people of all time.

Those who laugh at this statement don't know what it takes to succeed.

 

[Kak]

If you give to your kids early, it can grow in their possession instead of yours.

IRS Increases Gift and Estate Tax Exempt Limits — Here’s How Much You Can Give Without Paying

 

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[ZackerySprague]

What a stupid thing to say with confidence. Are you being ignorant, stupid or just trolling?

While TS is a great businesswoman, great artist and entertainer - she's no where near the top business people of all time.

Read about:

• Andrew Carnegie
• John D. Rockefeller
• Henry Ford
• Steve Jobs
• Walt Disney
• Bill Gates
• Elon Musk
• Sakichi Toyoda
• Sam Walton
• Jeff Bezos
• Warren Buffett
• Mark Zuckerberg
• Andrew Grove

I am honestly getting tired of just listing names that pop into mind...

With that, Mr.Troll - show me where I am wrong.

Was his statment about as bad as mine?

A few that beat Taylor Swift and Kim Kardashian that I admire are:

Noah Kagan
MJ DeMarco
Kara Goldin
Glenn Stearns *his book is absolutely amazing*
Andy Frisella
Tom Golisano
Judith R. Faulkner *Last time I read she was a sweet lady who's big into philanthropy.
Nick Seavert
Michia Rohressien

Sports Professionals:
David Goggins.

*Continues the onslaught of DMs in Slack at work for patching*

 

[monnffffiiiiiii]

I guess it takes being a famous airheaded sex symbol with actual business people behind you.

Tbh I thought you'd agree with me.

 

[Prdgy]

Honestly, BizyDad does have a point, though it's in my view that trying to categorize the top entrepreneurs is a bit lackluster in of itself.

This conversation can be ended quite pragmatically then, no? By most definitions, entrepreneurship is the process of acting upon an idea to disrupt a market with a new product or a service, with the expected return of accruing wealth. Thus, being an entrepreneur requires you to disrupt a market with a new product (in TS' case, her music), at which point she accrued a large amount of wealth from it. Is innovation necessary for entrepreneurship? I'd argue no.

If we categorize being a "top" entrepreneur simply by money earned from business ventures, then I'd argue Taylor Swift's 1.1 Billion USD net work places her in a pretty cozy spot. If we categorize being a "top" entrepreneur simply by how much a product has changed the world, then I'd argue Taylor Swift's music has been heard even by people who aren't fans of hers, and has shifted pop music in many ways.

 

[GPM]

Well we still made all kinds of errors on the paperwork. What's my relationship to my wife, not my daughter, even though my daughter is getting the passport. My wife fills it out so she is the applicant, but sometimes it refers to the one getting the passport as the applicant. Can't make this too simple I guess, the government created it.

Either way it's over and done with for a couple years now.

 

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[Awakened2022]

Everyone without a subscription to INSIDERS:

someone just sold their company for 19.8 million euros.

You know what? it is all documented from zero to exit in a progress thread.

I guess it is about time benevolence shone through and people started gifting INSIDERS subscriptions in the spirit of Thanksgiving and Christmas.