Erma Bombeck on America's 4th of July

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness."

Found on FB, talking about Musk and Twitter's data

Elon bought Twitter for the data.
He is not there to make money with the company itself. He’s NOT failing. This is all intentional.
I keep saying this and it keeps surprising people so I’m gonna just go ahead and post about it again. (I copied some of this from a comment I made elsewhere.)
Twitter is/has perhaps the most valuable dataset on the planet, in terms of building AI that can predict human behavior.
Elon’s antics are a side-show distraction, and he never intended to keep the company functioning—but he also can’t make it TOO obvious that he intends to drive it to bankruptcy.
In AI, whoever has the biggest dataset wins—and Twitter is the largest extant dataset with which to train AI models on human behavior/sentiment.
Being a public corporation limited what could be done with the data—but Elon took it private.
He will easily make his investment back just from the existing data—even if Twitter dies tomorrow.
Furthermore, any sort of evidence-based inquiry (including science and (real) journalism) is a threat to billionaire (neofeudalist) rule. So it’s actually good for Elon if Twitter dies—now that he has the data.
Elon’s antics are a sideshow, don’t forget that, no matter how much fun it is to laugh at him. This was planned. When you say things like, “Elon has more money than sense,” you are helping provide him cover. This has all been deeply calculated.
Though I think there’s still a chance it won’t work out like he thinks. No idea what that means, though. Yet.
(BTW I’m a software/data/DevOps engineer with almost fifteen years of professional experience, and I’ve done some work with machine learning—I’m not just pulling this stuff out of thin air.)
——————
EDIT:
No, I don’t have definitive proof of this. I think obfuscating evidence is a big part of the point of what Elon is doing, generally. Go read through the technical subreddits for yourself.
Twitter may not be the largest existing dataset, but it’s definitely one of the largest, and I think it’s critically important for building certain kinds of AI, and yes I really do think it’s worth 44 billion dollars to Elon for that reason alone.
I know, I know, it’s really fun to laugh at Elon. I’m not trying to take that away from you, laugh away. I just want you to THINK a little while you’re doing it. If you can, you’ll be well ahead of most people you know, I expect. 🤠

Turning 49 today. I've got a funk I can't shake.

Politics got us here, but it's the science and space programs that are hitting home.

In 2020, the Arecibo Radio Telescope / Observatory in Puerto Rico suffered catastrophic damage when one of its 8 cm cables broke away from its mounting. The cable sliced into the dish, and soon after, a second cable gave way, causing a portion of the dish to fall away (You may recognize it from movies like Contact and GoldenEye).

Since 1963, the dish had been scanning the skies for potential NEOs (Near Earth Objects); comets, asteroids, etc. that could threaten the planet. Over its lifetime, it discovered hundreds of objects, and 70-ish objects that could potentially collide with the Earth or at least enter within lunar orbit. These are extinction level event objects. Fortunately, the closest one would take about 100 years to get here.

A decision was made last month not to repair the telescope. Not because it had been replaced, but between several different space and environmental agencies, a discussion had been had. By the time the nearest object threatens the Earth, it won't matter. Let me repeat: It. Won't. Matter. The projected environmental damage from man-made climate change would make it a moot point. Civilization as we currently know it is not projected to exist.

To make that point pellucidly clear: Multiple scientific organizations looked at the current data trends, and decided, "Fuck it. Fixing it isn't worth it because we'll have already destroyed ourselves."

Scientific organizations are making policy decisions based on civilization ending within the next century. They're in wrap up mode, folks.

Dictador hires "world's first" AI robot CEO in a global company

Source: FoodBev Media, Ltd

Colombian premium rum brand, Dictador, has announced the hiring of the “first world-ever” artificial intelligence (AI) robot as a CEO of a global company.

The new CEO is a female robot called Mika with human-like attributes, incorporating AI. The brand says the move underlines its passion for new technology and offers “positive disruption” in the sector.

Mika is said to be more advanced than its sister prototype, Sophia, developed in 2015 by Hanson Robotics in Hong Kong. Mika will become a board member of Dictador and will be responsible for its Arthouse Spirits DAO project and communications.

President of Dictador Europe, Marek Szoldrowski, said: “Dictator’s board decision is revolutionary and bold at the same time. This first human-like robot, with AI, in a company structure, will change the world as we know it, forever.”

Read more: https://www.foodbev.com/news/dictador-hires-worlds-first-ai-robot-ceo-in-a-global-company/

For the average Russian citizen

The average Russian citizen isn't too much different than the average US citizen. They're just trying to live life. So, dear friends overseas, I dedicate this to you.

How we know TFG didn't declassify the nuclear information

The process to declassify nuclear information is unique. For it to be declassified, it has to go through a tremendously arduous process.

The process is spelled out by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S. Code Subchapter X)

1) The President would deliver the request in writing to the Department of Energy.
2) The Department of Energy would give the request to the Atomic Energy Commission.
3) The Atomic Energy Commission would form a joint panel with the Department of Defense (Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel or ISCAP).
4) That panel would make a recommendation one way or another. To recommend to declassify, they would specifically have to overrule the sections of law preventing them from doing so.*
5) If both the AEC and the DOD agree, the information would be declassified and be given to the President.
6) If only one authorized declassifying the information, the President would have the deciding vote.
7) If neither authorized declassifying the information, the request would be denied.
8) ALL the previous steps would be handled as Secret or Top Secret information, leaving a program name, a custody chain for everything contained within, and would require the meetings to be held in a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) room.
9) If they chose to declassify nuclear information, it would be HUGE FUCKING NEWS as every country scrambled for a copy.

* rules 25X2, 25X4, and 25X5 specifically prohibit any declassification of that information (information is prohibited from being declassified if it would:
- 25X2 - reveal information that would assist in the development, production, or use of weapons of mass destruction;
- 25X4 – reveal information that would impair the application of state-of-the-art technology within a US weapon system; and
- 25X5 – reveal formally named or numbered U.S. military war plans that remain in effect, or reveal operational or tactical elements of prior plans that are contained in such active plans)

The lack of massive headlines around the world announcing that America has made plans for nuclear weapons available to anyone and everyone is proof enough that the information was not declassified.

For everyone on FB, Reddit, etc rooting for #TEXIT

If you ever needed a legal opinion on it, Antonin Scalia, that Republican saint and bastion of Conservatism stated, "If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede" in Texas v. White. Texit is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

My 23 yeard old had a COVID related heart attack last night.

My 23 year old daughter had COVID in January, before they were eligible for the vaccine. Even though they constantly wore a mask, limited exposure outside the house, etc, they still had to go to work. Their employer didn't enforce masks in the store, and Kiddo caught the bug. They were down for about a week and had a horrible time with it, then were fatigued for another two weeks or so, but fortunately they weren't bad enough to have to be hospitalized (Their employer threatened to fire them if they didn't get back to work. Turns out the employer was allowing people to work with a positive COVID status because "COVID is fake and the government is using it to give free money to poor people." But that's another topic.). Kiddo got vaccinated as soon as they were eligible.

Fast forward seven months later. I got a call at 3 AM that Kiddo had a heart attack and is being rushed to the ER. I'm able to make the 45 minute drive in 30 minutes, and am there as they go through a battery of tests. EKG, echocardiogram, CT scan, X-ray... looking for blood clots or other damage. After six hours, they determine there is an abnormal inflammation on the interior lining of the chest wall which is putting pressure on the heart. The heart's response was to freak out and mimic all the symptoms of a heart attack (intense chest pain, numbness in chest and left arm, weakness (they collapsed and were unable to support themselves to get to the car), etc). The hospital said it wasn't ACTUALLY a heart attack, it just replicated all the effects, there shouldn't be any permanent scarring of the heart or loss of function. Kiddo's probably going to be on anti-inflammatories for the foreseeable future, and the doc warned them to expect activity limiting fatigue. The doctor said they've been finding this in COVID patients, even those that have been recovered for as long as Kiddo has been. No one has any idea how long it will last or if it will ever go away.

I've buried four family members to COVID so far. I don't want to lose my kid. Yet, with all that, I have family members that "don't believe in COVID / vaccines" and wonder why I've cut them out of my life. I just don't understand.





(Pronoun note: Kiddo is ENBY, they/them. We're still working on a replacement for 'daughter', but using Kiddo / Middle Spawn for now. Not using their name for privacy)

A friend has now caught COVID for the third time

Late night rant, but I just finished talking with a Trumper friend. It's been a running conversation for the past 36 hours.

She caught COVID for the THIRD time. She thought it was a hoax until she caught it the first time. She had a mild case, so of course it was being over-hyped to hurt the former president. On the premise of "It wasn't so bad, and I've already caught it" she refused to wear a mask, and got it a second time in December. As soon as things opened, she was back on her barstool in her favorite watering hole, sure she was immune since she had it twice.

The problem is this time, she's caring for her grandparents. They're both 80+. He's got Alzheimer's, and they're both homebound. He was diagnosed diabetic last week and had his first insulin shot yesterday. I talked her through six infuriating hours last night and this morning of how the test kit worked, how to do injections, and why in Gods' name did she let him have a Twix bar with breakfast? (His first BGL read was 394). Despite the conversation on meal planning, she gave him a giant glass of orange juice to help keep his immune system up.

Well, she lost her sense of smell last week and didn't mention it. She thought it was just an after effect of having COVID twice. All three of them tested positive today. She can't imagine where they caught it since they don't go anywhere. I can't help to think she's going to kill her grandparents because of her reckless behavior. I don't know that she'll ever understand that her behavior is what led to them catching it, and she's responsible for whatever the outcome is.

I want to help their family, but you can't stop a leak in the dam when the person asking for help is still digging holes.

Update: Gma was admitted to the hospital by ambulance this morning (5/4), her breathing was so shallow she was basically panting. She's got pneumonia, and corresponding low O2 levels. The hospital made a referral for someone to "check" on Gpa, but it sounds like it was Elderly Care Services, not a nurse.

Has anyone else notice the stage at CPAC?

It's in the shape of the Odal Rune. The rune was worn on the collar of the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division Prinz Eugen and the 23rd SS Volunteer Panzer Grenadier Division Nederland, as well as the SS-Rasse- und Siedlungshauptamt, which was responsible for maintaining the racial purity of the SS.

More Nazi symbolism, right there in the open if you know what you're looking at. Disgusting.