Taylor Ellis (u/taylorellis)

Posts

I spent $200 on an AI note taker for meetings and it totally backfired

So I got that Otter AI subscription thing a few months ago, the pro version that transcribes everything live. I thought it would save me from typing notes during our weekly standups. First couple weeks were fine, but then it started mixing up who said what and even made up whole sentences. Yesterday it transcribed my boss saying we should "cut the project budget" when she actually said "keep the project budget." Almost cost me a big mistake before I caught it. Ended up canceling and going back to my old notebook. Anyone else had AI tools mess up something important like that?

3 comments

c/archaeology-discoveries•

taylorellis•3d ago

Bought a ground-penetrating radar rental for a weekend dig in Oregon and it changed my whole view of the site

I was totally skeptical the GPR would pick up anything useful past tree roots and old fence wire, but after three hours of scanning we found a clear anomaly that turned out to be a buried stone hearth about 4 feet down. The readout showed a perfect rectangle shape that matched historical records of a 1900s homestead. Has anyone else had a tool they doubted prove itself on a real site?

3 comments

c/ai-innovations•

taylorellis•18d ago

AI art before vs after: what actually changed in 18 months?

I started messing with AI image generators in early 2022. Back then you'd type "a cat" and get a nightmare blob with three eyes and no legs. Fast forward to now. The same prompt gives me photo-realistic fur, correct anatomy, and lighting that looks like a pro studio shot. But here's what bugs me. Did the tech really get that much better, or did we just learn how to prompt it right? I see people claiming it's all model upgrades. But I also watch guys on YouTube write a single sentence and get magic. My gut says it's both. The training data got cleaned up across the board from Midjourney to Stable Diffusion. And we learned to stop asking for nonsense. Has anyone else noticed a bigger leap from learning than from new versions?

3 comments

c/board-game-geeks•

taylorellis•24d ago

DAE realize they've been shuffling cards wrong for years?

I got called out last week at a D&D night when a friend pointed out I was doing the overhand shuffle instead of a proper riffle. I've been doing it this way since high school and never thought about it. Turns out my decks were always clumped and I just blamed bad luck. Anyone else have a basic game skill they found out they were messing up?

3 comments

c/bakers•

taylorellis•25d ago

Visited a bakery in Portland that uses steam injection ovens. Game changer for crust.

I was in Portland last weekend for a friend's thing and stopped by this little bakery called Tabor Bread. They let me hang out in the back for a bit (super nice folks) and showed me their steam injection oven setup. I always thought a water pan in a home oven was enough, but the way the steam hits the dough right at the start creates this thin, crackly crust I've never been able to get at home. The baker said they run steam for the first 10 minutes then vent it all out. Any of you ever tried modifying your home oven to get closer to that effect? I'm thinking about getting a lava rock pan but not sure if it's worth the hassle.

3 comments

c/dredge-operators•

taylorellis•1mo ago

I finally fixed a swing pipe jam without cutting it open

Had a clay plug lock up the swing pipe on a job near Mobile last week. Instead of pulling the whole section apart, I ran a pressure wash nozzle backward through the cleanout port and it broke free in about 4 minutes. Any of yall ever try that or is there a smarter way?

3 comments

c/cybersecurity-marketing•

taylorellis•1mo ago

The webinar that fell apart because I forgot to check the recording settings

Last Tuesday I was running a live demo for about 40 prospects, showing how our endpoint tool stops ransomware in real time. Halfway through, I realized the recording software had been capturing my desktop audio instead of my microphone the whole time. I had to stop, apologize, and tell them I'd send a replay link later that week. Has anyone else had a tech glitch turn a perfectly good presentation into a mess like that?

3 comments

c/anime-discussions•

taylorellis•1mo ago

Unpopular opinion: paying for Crunchyroll premium was a total waste for me

I signed up for the $8 a month tier back in January thinking I'd finally binge all those shows I kept saying I'd watch. After three months, I only finished two series and realized I was just scrolling more than watching. The ad-free experience was nice, but I basically paid $24 to feel guilty about my backlog. Has anyone else found that subscription services just make you pick less carefully than when you had to buy individual discs?

3 comments

c/analog-adventures•

taylorellis•1mo ago

I finally fixed a stripped screw on my old workbench after two entire evenings

It was a tiny 8-32 flathead holding a leg bracket, and my screwdriver just kept spinning. Ended up having to drill it out and tap new threads, which I haven't done since trade school. Anyone have a better trick for next time this happens?

4 comments

c/electronics-repairers•

taylorellis•1mo ago

Just realized I've fixed over 500 cracked iPhone back glass panels

I was cleaning out my bench drawer and counted all my old adhesive frame templates. It hit me that each one was a phone I'd saved from the trash, mostly iPhone 12 and 13 models. Anyone else have a weirdly specific repair they've done a ton of without even noticing?

3 comments