Those are all extreme cases unlikely to be relevant to OP’s question.

if there’s additional suspicious activity

Emphasis on this part. Either way, what you’re describing is generally for tax purposes. Going back to the original question of the thread, if I had billions of dollars and wrote a stranger a check, the bank is highly unlikely to make sure I meant it. At most they may report it to the government to make sure I pay gift taxes (which are paid by the giver, not the recipient, and even they apply far above $10,000 but you still need to report it at that level)

Emphasis on “generally” in my statement. Of course there are exceptions where they would, but if I had a multi-million dollar check from Warren Buffett for replacing a few light bulbs in his house, the bank isn’t going to call him and make sure that’s a reasonable price or anything.

Hypothetically: Banks don’t generally scrutinize the source of the money or why it’s being transferred. If the funds exist in the account, they just make the transaction. Also it’s on the gift giver to pay any applicable taxes.

In real life: Scammers posing as a billionaire are infinitely more likely to contact you than a real one. The scammers will depend on you thinking a normal bank transaction won’t work so you can jump through some hoops that will inevitably have you paying them real money instead.

(Byrd was a Democrat, for those who needed the context like I did)

That’s exactly the play.

This would make sense if, for example, it were World War 2 and most production lines had to shift to support literally defeating the Nazis.

This is not that.

Can’t say I agree. People are feeling the squeeze from the system, and Trump has the charisma to make people think he wants them to be as rich as he is, and distract from everything he does to make that squeeze even bigger. If you don’t have the right personality to sell your idea, it’s not going to get anywhere. Vance could be ideologically similar to Bernie Sanders, but if he pitches it with his “cinnamon rolls, whatever makes sense” energy I might be looking the other way. Hell, Trump even got some Bernie voters!

Of course Stellantis was first to do it

But… I thought this was the most popular administration in history and everyone loves what the Republican-controlled Congress and president are doing, and any poll that says otherwise is fake? Surely they were going to make great gains in the midterms already, something doesn’t add up 🤔

I’ve thought about this, but one very real possibility is that she has a dead man’s switch via her lawyer(s)/law firm: If she dies, her lawyer tells all. What are they going to do, jail her body forever for her crimes? If she has that and Bondi/Blanche know it, it may not be such an attractive option.

So every public infrastructure project in every country is cause for a reminder of the dumbassery going on here? Both projects are coming out of taxpayer money, and that’s where the similarity ends and the non sequitur-ness begins. As you say, one is actually being used for something useful.

If you want to talk about wasted money, how about that bridge in India with a 90° turn? At least that one is, you know, a bridge.

Talk about a non sequitur

I’ve heard a fair argument in favor of diamonds that their hardness means they last a lot longer for everyday use. Softer gemstones are more prone to wear and tear over time.

But as far as I know, that doesn’t mean it can’t be artificial.

I mean, a rule of thumb is more of a guideline that acknowledges the existence of exceptions

Things like this are really going to depend on the use. If it’s crammed somewhere for the sake of cramming it, there are probably going to be some good opportunities to pick apart that particular plan, as opposed to AI in general.

On the other hand, my small company is looking into it for proposal writing (government contracting). There are some tools out there for that specific purpose, and as much as I loathe saying it, it can be a decent tool if used properly. Right now we can barely afford the proposal writer we have, and when a decent RFP comes out it’s all hands on deck with all management diverting their attention for what amounts to a chance of business. If you treat the tool as a very fast junior-level proposal writer whose output you can review on the fly, especially for a lot of the boilerplate stuff, it can be legitimately useful.

That said, I’ll also openly make comments about how I’m a curmudgeon for that kind of thing, or maybe say something about how it’s basically your cell phone’s text prediction thingy on steroids. Usually I say something about how the human element becomes an afterthought (example: generative AI producing content for SEO. One bot trying to please another under the guise of being for the humans). My AI-loving boss may disagree, but I’m otherwise good enough at my job (software development) that we’re respectful about it to one another and he doesn’t try to shove it down my throat. And even our lone proposal writer doesn’t seem overly excited about it when I’ve talked with him (but willing to give it a try)

I mean, let’s be honest: they’ll look for an excuse to cut it anyway. Even if that excuse is “because we can and DEI somehow”

He said he’s pretty well off. If he’s in a different financial situation than you he may be cognizant of that. Also, not that I need to tell you if you live there, but customs in Japan are all kinds of weird. That could be related too.

US Digital Services is a very specific thing already, and not in the way you’re saying. It was basically hijacked to turn into DOGE. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a boycott of that too (whatever that may look like) but… This isn’t that.

I use Trello for a lot of stuff. Shopping lists, to-do lists, keeping track of tasks needed for whatever home project I’m working on, and lately I’ve been doing it for work tasks since I’m juggling a lot of things with dependencies that come and go. Most of it relies on kanban boards, which basically means different columns and stuff in each. Work to-do list has a column for stuff I can/should be doing, stuff I’m blocked on, stuff that may need a little polishing but it’s nearly complete, and stuff that’s actually done (gives a little motivation). Shopping lists are separated by store. Stuff like that.

Unfortunately it’s one of the subscription cloud apps… But their free version is very usable and hasn’t been overly enshittified… Yet.