Artificial Intelligence: ChatGPT

[rjenkinsgb]

I think a more relevant statistic would be the number of firearms offences committed with illegal weapons, vs. offences with legally owned weapons?

Firearms offences have increased in the UK since personal ownership was pretty much banned. There are likely next to zero here, with legally held weapons (possibly the odd farmer with a shotgun getting carries away?).

 

[LittleWatchShop]

On 11/20/2023 at 2:56 AM, RichardHarris123 said:

Maybe I don't exist, I'm just a n AI program. 

 

On 2/7/2025 at 3:06 PM, JohnR725 said:

thinking about how wonderful this is I wonder if it could convert a clipper program in DOS to something much newer that runs in Windows? Then I'm curious as to how many people reading this know what clipper is with out looking it up? In other words no cheating and looking at Wikipedia.

 

No, I dont recall Clipper.  Anything like Visicalc?  He he.  My first program was in Fortran on an IBM360. Input was punch cards and the output was a line printer.  When running an application (like the Berkely SPICE simulator, you had to request someone at the compute center to load the tape).  Things are different now.  No necessarily better.

[RichardHarris123]

I can't taste you, I can't think of you,

Do we exist at all?)

The future doesn't pass

And the past won't overtake the present

All that remains is an obsolete illusion

We are afraid of all the things that could not be

A phantom agony

Do we dream at night

Or do we share the same old fantasy?

I am a silhouette of the person wandering in my dreams

We are afraid of all the things that could not be

A phantom agony

The age-old development of consciousness

Drives us away from the essence of life

We meditate too much, so that our instincts will fade away

They fade away

What's the point of life

And what's the meaning if we all die in the end?

Does it make sense to learn or do we forget everything?

We are afraid of all the things that could not be

A phantom agony

The age-old development of consciousness

Drives us away from the essence of life

We meditate too much, so that our instincts will fade away

They fade away

Teach me how to see and free the disbelief in me

What we get is what we see, the phantom agony

A te spiritus noster devoratur et nostra anima capitur

The lucidity of my mind has been revealed in new dreams

I am able to travel where my heart goes

In search of self-realization

This is the way to escape from our agitation

And develop ourselves

Use your illusion and enter my dream

[JohnR725]

9 hours ago, LittleWatchShop said:

No, I dont recall Clipper.  Anything like Visicalc?  He he.  My first program was in Fortran on an IBM360. Input was punch cards and the output was a line printer.  When running an application (like the Berkely SPICE simulator, you had to request someone at the compute center to load the tape).  Things are different now.  No necessarily better.

strangely enough I've seen the word VisiCalc but had to go to Wikipedia to see what it is as it was nothing that I ever had experience with. Then I honestly didn't expect that nobody would know what clipper was which is why I picked it. On my shelf of miscellaneous computer stuff two boxes still exist with two versions of the program. Basically one of those really promising database programs that never migrated to Windows. But I do find it interesting that most people aren't in the database programming with as my favorite example asking people that I know what Microsoft about Visual FoxPro and they always look at me blankly. I always wondered if when they acquired FoxPro whether maybe the programmers were in some other remote location and never did join the main campus.

so VisiCalc basically a spreadsheet and ot something I normally was used to at all not until much later on.

always interesting to hear what people started with. I was in school my first programming experience was basic and assembly language for a PDP eight either E or F basically the same sort of. Complete with a paper tape reader and punch. For some reason I have rather fond memories a paper tape.

and yes those were different times. I was always amused that in the PDP 8 a entire circuit board of a lot of integrated circuits would do things like being a serial port for the teletype. Versus the rapidly expanding modern technology where you can get an entire 40 pin IC that did the same thing. so from a learning point of view learning what all the integrated circuits did on that board and how to troubleshoot it was much more interesting.

[LittleWatchShop]

6 hours ago, JohnR725 said:

so VisiCalc basically a spreadsheet and ot something I normally was used to at all not until much later on

It was arguably the first spreadsheet.  We used it back in 1980 to develop a business plan for a small semiconductor company that later became Crystal Semiconductor.  We ran it on an Apple II.  It is in the public domain now.  In fact I have it on my pc and can run it under DOSBOX.  Only run it for nostalgia reasons...lol.

Lotus 123 was the later heavyweight and sued everyone else out of business.  Goes to show that having lots of money and more lawyers beats first-to-market.  Well...until microsoft!!

On 2/14/2025 at 10:56 AM, rjenkinsgb said:

I think a more relevant statistic would be the number of firearms offences committed with illegal weapons, vs. offences with legally owned weapons?

Firearms offences have increased in the UK since personal ownership was pretty much banned. There are likely next to zero here, with legally held weapons (possibly the odd farmer with a shotgun getting carries away?).

 

Here in Texas, we have "constitutional carry."  Before the legislature passed that, I became licensed to carry.  Don't Mess with Texas!

Edited February 18 by LittleWatchShop

[fellerts]

On 2/8/2025 at 10:12 AM, JohnR725 said:

I wonder if we can find somebody with the video generation program and ask it to make a running watch for us?

I asked OpenAI's Sora to generate a video of a running watch movement.

It's funny how realistic it looks while also being complete nonesense. These AI models don't understand mechanics very well, but they are darn good at people. Here's what Sora generated from "Close-up shot of a watchmaker wearing a loupe inspecting a watch movement. He is using his tweezers to regulate the balance."

I wish I could use tweezers with only my thumb

[JohnR725]

3 hours ago, fellerts said:

complete nonesense.

I assume the nonsense would be the spinning part that's  not normally found on a watch?

Then maybe the software was thinking a watch like this that does have spinning disks just doesn't have a mechanical escapement

 

3 hours ago, fellerts said:

but they are darn good at people.

One of the YouTube channels I watch uses something else with a peculiar name degenerate images of himself as he does not appear as a  human being at all? Somewhere he basically said he wanted you to listen the whatever he says and seeing him wasn't important..  So basically generate new images based on things that are going on in the discussion and has commented that whatever he's using has a really hard time with Hamilton's  the fingers just don't quite look right or there might be they basically just don't look right..

But then I've seen other stuff on YouTube that is very very good..

[VWatchie]

Here is an illustration of what the inside of a mainspring barrel looks like in case you've never seen one. Yes, watch movements are complex machines!

"Here's the detailed cross-sectional illustration of the watch mainspring barrel, showing how the mainspring is anchored to the barrel wall."

It came as part of an answer to the question: "Please explain and, if possible, illustrate how one end of the mainspring for a manually wound watch is anchored to the barrel wall."

The verbal explanation was totally OK though.

[Neverenoughwatches]

30 minutes ago, VWatchie said:

Here is an illustration of what the inside of a mainspring barrel looks like in case you've never seen one. Yes, watch movements are complex machines!

"Here's the detailed cross-sectional illustration of the watch mainspring barrel, showing how the mainspring is anchored to the barrel wall."

It came as part of an answer to the question: "Please explain and, if possible, illustrate how one end of the mainspring for a manually wound watch is anchored to the barrel wall."

The verbal explanation was totally OK though.

Wow !  that looks sooo cool, it's about time I started servicing mainsprings, I always wondered what was under the barrel lid....I can't wait . 

[rehajm]

…very Jules Verne steampunk…

[Neverenoughwatches]

Annnnd...that's why we'll never see a "TERMINATOR" 

[JohnR725]

4 hours ago, VWatchie said:

Here is an illustration of what the inside of a mainspring barrel looks like in case you've never seen one. Yes, watch movements are complex machines!

I would be really curious as to how it interprets the spring on a balance wheel locks? Then yes it looks like the future watchmaking is safe from artificial intelligence until it works out the problem of simplifying the mainspring barrel.

[mbwatch]

12 hours ago, VWatchie said:

Here is an illustration of what the inside of a mainspring barrel looks like in case you've never seen one. Yes, watch movements are complex machines!

I have never seen a good photo or drawing (though I bet @JohnR725 has?) - but the New York Standard watch company in some of their first pocket watches used a crazy gimmick worm drive escape wheel that resembled @VWatchie's fantastical mainspring barrel. They gave up on this silly idea very quickly and switched to making normal dollar watches. Blurry photo from ebay listing for just the part:

[JohnR725]

8 hours ago, mbwatch said:

I have never seen a good photo or drawing

now I'm going to be haunted by? I know I've seen pictures somewhere in the past just don't remember where.

Then it's not the only watch to have a warm gear if are going to add in tuning fork watches. In order to shrink the ladies version of the 221 they had to use two worm gears. Unfortunately the service manual doesn't have a really good picture and was scanned in a very poor resolution . Plus and not finding any nice pictures online.

[mbwatch]

The coolest part about the mainspring barrel hallucination drawing is that it includes a misspelled "Mainsring" that looks like it has been erased and corrected. Surely the AI did that on purpose right.

[LittleWatchShop]

Here is Grok's answer to the same question

In a manually wound watch, the mainspring is a coiled strip of metal (usually steel) that stores energy when wound and releases it to power the watch's movement. One end of the mainspring is anchored to the barrel wall, which is a cylindrical container that houses the mainspring. This anchoring ensures that the spring can be wound and unwound effectively, transferring energy to the gear train.

Explanation

The mainspring's outer end is typically anchored to the inner wall of the barrel using one of the following methods:

Hooked or T-Shaped End:

The outer end of the mainspring is shaped into a hook or a "T" form. This end fits into a corresponding notch, slot, or hole in the barrel wall. The slot is precisely machined to hold the spring securely during winding and unwinding.

As the barrel is rotated (via the winding mechanism), the hooked end catches against the barrel wall, allowing the spring to coil tightly inside.

Riveted or Pinned Attachment:

In some designs, the mainspring end is riveted or pinned directly to the barrel wall. A small stud or pin is fixed to the inner surface of the barrel, and the spring has a hole or loop that slides onto this pin.

This method provides a firm connection and is common in older or high-end movements.

Friction Fit or Bridle:

In certain modern or automatic watches (though less common in purely manual ones), the mainspring might use a "slipping bridle" (a folded-over end that grips the barrel wall via friction). However, in traditional manual watches, a fixed anchor is more typical.

The inner end of the mainspring is usually attached to the barrel arbor (the central shaft), while the outer end’s anchorage to the barrel wall allows the spring to wind and store energy as the barrel is turned.
 
 

[mbwatch]

1 hour ago, LittleWatchShop said:

Here is Grok's answer to the same question

I love the one on the left; it has strong Delorean Time Machine vibes.

[RichardHarris123]

Great for Steam Punk.