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Nature's best science photos of 2019: [^]Quote: He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. Albert Einstein
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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Those are terrific images. I just wish they were higher resolution.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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Fascinating, thanks for posting!
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Nice selection, thanks Bill!
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Great photos. The quote illustrates the amazing depth of Einstein's thinking process. He wasn't just a brilliant mathematician, but had an appreciation for beauty around him as well. Those traits are often mutually exclusive.
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Cool stuff. Thanks for sharing!
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Just out of curiousity, how to y'all feel about using software bots? In particular the chatbots people seem to be pushing for customer service (in house). Would you rather use a chatbot to find out information, or just email the person that you know is responsible for the task?
TTFN - Kent
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Chat bots are usually far from being anything else than a complete waste of time...
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I've yet to find a service bot that was even in the slightest bit useful.
Emailing direct? Works like a charm. I've just finished an email session with a US company because a unit died inside it's two year warranty - a new one is on the way and (with luck and a following wind) will be here before Christmas. With a chatbot? I'd still be screaming at my screen in frustration as it dispenses more "solutions" to problems I don't have because it spotted a couple of keywords instead of reading the whole message history.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: as it dispenses more "solutions" to problems I don't have because it spotted a couple of keywords instead of reading the whole message history
You've just described just about every Microsoft answer on the Microsoft Answers site, and I don't think they're bots. 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Half the time, they don't even look for keywords; they just give a lengthy description on how to perform a clean boot -- which never achieves anything.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Don't forget the instructions to run sfc /scannow and dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth, despite the fact that those commands have almost never solved a problem.
Followed by details of how to create a new user profile, or how to wipe your computer and start again.
The actual solution, which usually turns out to be a single option you need to tick/untick, tends to be a comment from another end user with the same problem, buried somewhere within 42 pages of useless "same problem here!" messages.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Now that is customer service!
... According to microsoft's definition.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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You mean those things that ask you basic questions and then hit a wall in about 2 seconds, which then pass you on to a real human who asks you exactly the same questions?
A great way to lose customers from my experience.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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Still better than the ones that won't pass you on to a real human unless you answer a series of unanswerable questions correctly.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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And the (Phone) chatter that asks for info,
passes you to what (passes for these days) as a human,
who asks the same questions and passes you on to another a refinement of scope vocal entity that
asks the same questions . . .
is that the one?
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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That one's annoying, but at least you eventually get to speak to a person.
I was thinking of the bots that continually refuse to understand what you say, and rather than giving up and putting you through to a person, they tell you to call back and try again, then hang up on you.
I had that experience a few years back with a certain incompetent delivery company named for a type of singing that's fatal to Martians[^]. It was not fun.
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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Dealing with chat bots is just a mess. The inner workings of bots for other applications, particularly gaming, is really fascinating though.
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I would prefer their website has all of the relevant information available so I don't have to ask a bot or anyone else for it. If I do have to ask for it then the site is deficient. I have no interest what so ever in asking a chatbot for anything.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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Last time I had to interact with one, I figured I was either talking to a bot, or the most stupid individual on Bell Canada's payroll.
And I'm still not convinced it was a bot.
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For a paying service like my bank I prefer chatbots.
For a free service I would rather email the person, largely for their own sake. In that way they can gather information in their own time and not be a slave to the instant messenger hell of the chatbot universe.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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My personal favorite is a (well-categorized) list of FAQs, information articles. Way superior to any chat bot.
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Please state your question again. End message.
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