November, 2023 archive
Recommended Viewing 0
The Time-Life series, Lost Civilizations, narrated by Sam Waterston.
It’s available at tubitv.com (and possibly elsewhere for all I know).
A Simple Solution To Prevent Strikes 0
Pay workers a fair wage.
Furrfu.
The Crypto Con 0
Sam and the crew talk with Jacob Silverman about Sam Bankman-Fried’s conviction for multiple financial crimes.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner.” Another purse. Another gun.
As Victoria Hugo-Vidal pointed out (see the second post below), this is us.
A broken society.
Sheep’s Clothing . . . 0
. . . But Richard Barsanti sees through the disguise.
A Question of Identity 0
The Portland Press-Herald’s Victoria Hugo-Vidal reacts to the recent mass shooting in Maine. She writes powerfully of America’s unwillingness to act against the merchants of death. A snippet; follow the link for context.
Shortly after the massacres, Sen. Angus King said of Maine, “this is not who we are.” But it is.
The fact that this killing happened proves that this is who we are.
A Walk in the Garden 2
Yesterday, we went to the Norfolk’s Gardens by the Sea for the first time in quite a while. They are doing some construction, so parking is limited and a reservation is needed, not for a specific time, just for a “time window.” The weather was nice and cool and sunny, so we decided to tangle with the reservation system. Fortunately, it turned out to be easier than we had feared. It was a good time.
All I had was my cell phone, but I did catch a few shots that pleased me.
Fall Colors
“The Doctrine of Discovery” 0
Sam and Emma talk with Robert P. Jones about the theological roots of white supremacy dating from the early days of European expansion. It’s a longish listen, but a worthwhile one.
Along these lines, you might want to check out episode 8 of this series, which I just happened to watch last night.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
And another “responsible gun owner” discharges his responsibility . . . .
When police arrived, they found a four-year-old with a head injury being carried into an ambulance.
Authorities were able to find out that the grandfather had taken out his gun to practice at a shooting range earlier in the day. When he got home, he was cleaning the gun and a bullet had accidentally fired grazing the victim’s head.
The Privatization Scam 0
The Arizona Republic’s Laurie Roberts follows the money.
Gazing at Gaza 0
When I look at events in Gaza, I see a situation in which the issue is not who is right, but who is more (or less) wrong. I see no right, only might.
I haven’t talked about it in these electrons because I don’t know what to think, let alone what to say.
All I have is confusion, dread, and grief.
This is in preface to recommending this article by retired University of Idaho Professor Nick Gier, who offers some historical context to these current events.
It is well worth a read.
Aside:
What I do know is that attacking random innocent persons who appear to be Jewish or Palestinian (or Muslim) in the streets or maybe just in the vicinity of mosques or synagogues in American cities is wrong.
That is nothing more than haters seizing on a pretext to unleash their hate.
It’s Bubblelicious 0
Michael in Norfolk sums it up. Here’s a bit from his article:
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. (Updated) 0
An automated parrot is still a parrot.
It does not think. It merely parrots.
What big tech calls “AI” is indeed automated.
But it is not intelligent.
It is a parrot dressed up in Sunday go-to-meeting clothes.
Addendum:
At Psychology Today Blogs, John Nosta notes that “GPT models appear intelligent but fundamentally rely on pattern recognition from extensive training data.” Follow the link for details.
Precedented 0
Thom sees parallels.
