valiantman

On 9/4/2023 at 2:25 AM, Aman619 said:

The problem with these AI tools - large language programs - is that they are trained by assimilating everything on the internet.  Which means they are learning from garbage and falsehoods along with true reporting… but cannot tell the difference! They lack the “common sense” people learn by the time that are five years old. 

It's pretty funny when you think about it.

Imagine running everything on the internet about "bigfoot" through a computer that is doing calculations about how often words and phrases are used on the internet or whatever sources it is compiling.

The computer will note that words like "monster", "yeti", and "sasquatch" are commonly found on pages that include the word "bigfoot", maybe even a phrase like "abominable snowman"... so it associates these words and phrases with "bigfoot".

Another phrase it will associate with "bigfoot" will be "monster truck", and since "monster" is also a common description of "bigfoot", it makes sense that "monster truck" will be associated with "bigfoot". 

The concept of "large tracks" works for both "bigfoot the monster" and "bigfoot the monster truck".  Both may leave "exciting evidence" of physical destruction in an environment, rather than direct evidence.

At this point, the AI (in simplest description) might be ready to declare that "bigfoot" is also known as a "yeti", "sasquatch", "abominable snowman", and "monster truck" which leaves large tracks through "the Pacific Northwest area of the Himalayan mountains in Canada and Scandinavia". (Because these geographies are commonly mentioned as well, they are as-far-as-a-computer-can-tell likely to be a general description of the same area.)

There you go, rinse and repeat... that's AI.

It takes a completely different type of program to take these AI "bigfoot" statements and break them apart for AI fact-checking by AI ("truck" doesn't belong, the Himalayan mountains aren't in Canada or Scandinavia, the Pacific Northwest usually includes Washington, Oregon, non-Canada areas, the tracks are completely different but both are large), but these combined statements made by AI have never been problems discussed on the internet before AI. Where is the reference data to tell you that large tracks from trucks aren't found on mountains on the wrong continents as evidence of a theoretical but unproven monster?  That's not a "learning data set" that's available.

You would need AI to tell you about trucks, AI to tell you about mountains, AI to tell you about countries and geographic regions, different AI to separate the cryptozoology and automotive term "tracks", and each of those AI training databases may have its own problems similar to how "monster truck" ended up in the "bigfoot" AI results in the first place.  At least four error-laden AI systems would need to be used to accurately fact-check a single "bigfoot" topic's AI results without creating any new errors that would need additional systems to correct, all while receiving many sources declaring that bigfoot both does and does not exist.

(TL;DR - AI is a Sim that can't get out of the pool)

We'll see the average replaced first.  People who do an average job should always worry because there are always replacements for people who are average, whether it be other average people or technology. Furthermore, people who do an average job have always been at risk of being replaced by someone or something which does a better job.

I am not convinced that people who do a job well have anything to worry about yet, whether it's creating universes in fiction/art or driving a truck.

On 8/31/2023 at 7:20 AM, WolverineX said:

On 12/2/2022 at 11:00 AM, Phill the Governor said:

Anything new on the Invincible front? Probably tough to keep discussion going since the series ended?

Season 2 is coming out.   

Atom Eve origin story (Season 2 "preview"?) is now available.

On 9/3/2023 at 2:06 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Thanks Greg. There are a couple of Gold Keys hiding in there - these two come up under the 'variant' search term:

Quite a few of the pre-1960 Dell entries that I found seem to be incorrect - they are recorded as 'UK Price Variants' when they are reprints or UK only publications - example below:

If those entries are in your 38 book total then that number will come down a bit.

Overall, non-Marvel UKPV submissions clearly aren't a thing. Which is no surprise. 

Yep, my query had a bug that required at least 10 submissions for the publisher to be listed.

Gold Key has (just) those 2 Boris Karloff issues you found.

These are the Dell books found:

Andy Panda 50 U.K. Price Variant
Andy Panda 51 U.K. Price Variant
Beatles 1 U.K. Price Variant
Cheyenne 15 United Kingdom
Dell Giant 40 U.K. Edition
Dell Giant 43 United Kingdom
Dell Giant 48 U.K. Edition
Film Fun 536 U.K. Price Variant
Film Fun 563 U.K. Price Variant
Film Fun 565 U.K. Price Variant
Film Fun 579 U.K. Price Variant
Film Fun 591 U.K. Price Variant
Four Color 1087 United Kingdom
Four Color 1089 United Kingdom
Four Color 1161 U.K. Edition
Four Color 1173 U.K. Price Variant
Four Color 1187 United Kingdom
Four Color 1193 United Kingdom
Four Color 1236 United Kingdom
Gene Autry Comics 12 U.K. Price Variant
Have Gun, Will Travel 5 United Kingdom
Have Gun, Will Travel 8 United Kingdom
Have Gun, Will Travel 9 United Kingdom
Huckleberry Hound 11 United Kingdom
Porky Pig 71 United Kingdom
Quick Draw McGraw 3 United Kingdom
Rifleman 6 United Kingdom
Rifleman 7 U.K. Edition
Rin Tin Tin and Rusty 34 U.K. Price Variant
Rin Tin Tin and Rusty 35 U.K. Edition
Rin Tin Tin and Rusty 36 U.K. Edition
Rin Tin Tin and Rusty 37 U.K. Edition
Rin Tin Tin and Rusty 38 U.K. Edition
Turok, Son of Stone 21 United Kingdom
Turok, Son of Stone 22 United Kingdom
Uncle Scrooge 31 U.K. Price Variant
Uncle Scrooge 33 United Kingdom
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories 240 United Kingdom

Looking for country = United Kingdom or variant = U.K. Edition or U.K. Price Variant, I get...

Charlton = 10 books, 13 total submissions

Dell = 38 books, 45 total submissions

Nothing for Archie, Gold Key, or King

On 9/1/2023 at 8:25 PM, VintageComics said:

Virgos are absolutely the most annoying astrology sign. 

There's a great scene somewhere in the middle of the season where the daily horoscope for every sign is exactly the same. 

S1m0ne is a movie that comes to mind as I read these posts.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0258153/

The only post on this topic?  Well, ok.

This series becomes more "comic book" story the further you get into the first season.

Since these are all-new characters, the standard "yoke" (with a "w") complaints don't really apply, but anyone who considers anything good or bad based on what color the actors are should definitely avoid this series.

Otherwise, it's a "mature audiences" mixture of "The Tick" (Amazon series) and "Do The Right Thing" (Spike Lee).

Fun theory... 

"Marrok" is the name of the mysterious figure with the Inquisitor blade.

Originally, Thrawn was introduced in the trilogy of books with a clone of Luke Skywalker called "Luuke".

Luke Skywalker was played by Mark Hamill. A clone of "Mark" would be "Marrk"... Marrok. 

Some very nice slabs in this topic already.  Here's one that hasn't been represented yet...

... and here's the same label again (different certification number) with a totally different (wrong) book inside...

That one is actually the back cover (flip side) of Magnus #7.

On 8/27/2023 at 10:08 PM, jdandns said:

How long until they corrected the label from "Beau Smith" to "Barry Windsor Smith" on those? That's a funny one since Beau Smith isn't an artist, but a writer.  

I think it was corrected sometime in 2003.

On 8/26/2023 at 4:42 PM, Bronty said:

On 8/21/2023 at 7:07 PM, valiantman said:

Watching live, they never mention buyer's premium. Bidders on the phone probably aren't reminded every time they're told what the next bid is.  Yes, we see it online (small font), but the "classic auction" structure that Heritage attempts to replicate ignores buyer's premium. It only becomes "prominent" after the auction (when it's time to pay and write press releases).

they mention the BP at the start of every auction.   
 

It seems to me like the BP annoys you.    That’s obviously fine, but let’s not conflate annoyance with surprise.    You know about the BP, I know about the BP, I would say every serious and every regular bidder (certainly including anyone going to the trouble of having a HA rep call them on the phone) knows about the BP. 

What's the hammer price, then?

On 8/26/2023 at 1:20 AM, Tnexus said:

I wouldn't take much stock in current prices before an auction ends.

I'm always surprised how many people want to talk about prices in the middle of an auction. Until it's over, they're meaningless (unless you want to see what the minimum next bid will be).

Yep, I've got a couple. Any in particular you'd like to see? 

On 8/25/2023 at 5:00 PM, MAR1979 said:

IMHO Whitman distributed pre pack comics are a different thing entirely from june 1979 and later direct sale marvels. They should not be lumped together. 

Maybe someday, when people have learned to tell the difference between zeroes and ones, you can teach them how a quantum computer works.

Until then, let's stick to "returnable" and "non-returnable" as our definitions of newsstand and direct. Just two things... people can't handle these two things yet.

People are definitely not ready for "well-it-is-non-returnable-but-it-is-not-a-direct-but-it-is-definitely-not-a-newsstand-but-what-about-June-1979-but-not-DC-or-anyone-else-just-Marvel-but-not-Amazing-Spider-Man-those-are-different-but-June-1979-man-come-on-that-is-all-I-want-to-talk-about".

They are not ready.

June 1979 is important, but it isn't helpful for Amazing Spider-Man (the biggest Marvel title).  There are direct (non-returnable) editions of Amazing Spider-Man as early as #165 (February 1977).

Teaching people that Marvel starts direct editions June 1979 would be helpful, but the most important Marvel title goes direct as early as February 1977... so that's like saying the rule is "I before E except for words people use most often".

On 8/24/2023 at 9:30 AM, MR. Pontoon said:

I have a nice selection of shops in my area that carry back issues, so it's not entirely unexpected to find things. Here's a few items I picked up that were no-brainer buys; I walked in and knew I'd be walking out with them.

 

 

I'm sure we'd all prefer comics without damage (such as holes in the cover), but it's always a nice consolation when the damaged areas actually match the action pretty well.

On 8/23/2023 at 9:21 AM, Robot Man said:

On 8/22/2023 at 1:05 PM, valiantman said:

I like to hunt through ebay listings to find something where the seller doesn't know what they have.

It's the thrill of the hunt that ends with a click.

The problem is the seller might not know but many savy buyers do. You just hope there aren’t many of those looking…

True, but that adds to the thrill.  All without traveling anywhere, getting a hotel, paying admission, or standing in line outside the doors. 

I like to hunt through ebay listings to find something where the seller doesn't know what they have.

It's the thrill of the hunt that ends with a click.

Is there a DC comic about Zapp Brannigan? How about Inspector Gadget?

On 8/21/2023 at 4:07 PM, Bronty said:

TBH I don't think that's fair or accurate.    It gives us both numbers every time we bid.   We have to be really not paying attention to "forget" that there is 20% extra.    We are reminded at every step of the process.

Watching live, they never mention buyer's premium. Bidders on the phone probably aren't reminded every time they're told what the next bid is.  Yes, we see it online (small font), but the "classic auction" structure that Heritage attempts to replicate ignores buyer's premium. It only becomes "prominent" after the auction (when it's time to pay and write press releases).

On 8/21/2023 at 8:32 AM, GM8 said:

No, the buyer's premium (total price) was 66K, not higher.

The confusion was because you said "it hammered at 66k".  The "hammer price" does not have the buyer's premium included.

When Heritage does an auction, they have a little hammer (or some hammer-noise-maker), and they "hammered" at $55K (for your book). 

Heritage acts like the buyer's premium isn't important while they're doing the auction, because why remind people that they'll be paying 20% extra?

So, it "hammered at $55k", the total paid was $66k, and you received 55k... meaning you paid 0% seller fees, and received 16.7% of what they received for the book.

We already figured it out in this topic after some conversation.