From Pine View Farm

May, 2024 archive

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Politeness is a family value.

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QOTD 0

Diogenes:

When I look upon seamen, men of science and philosophers, man is the wisest of all beings; when I look upon priests and prophets nothing is as contemptible as man.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Watching and recording your every move? Let’s see.

Bruce Schneier takes a look at Microsoft’s new effort to create an “AI” digital assistant. He–how shall I put this?–has some qualms. Here’s a tiny bit from his post:

And you will want to trust it. It will use your mannerisms and cultural references. It will have a convincing voice, a confident tone, and an authoritative manner. Its personality will be optimized to exactly what you like and respond to.

It will act trustworthy, but it will not be trustworthy. We won’t know how they are trained. We won’t know their secret instructions. We won’t know their biases, either accidental or deliberate.

We do know that they are built at enormous expense, mostly in secret, by profit-maximizing corporations for their own benefit.

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Patriot Gamer 0

Donald Trump, standing in front of Iwo Jima flag-raising statue holding a can of spray paint after spraying

And, speaking of Patriot Gamers, there’s Florida Man.

Image via Job’s Anger.

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Crossing the Jordan 0

Farron comments on Fani Willis’s response to Jim Jordan’s attempts to thwart the rule of law.

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The Courage of Her Conniptions 0

Frame One:  Woman says,

Click to view the original image.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Yet another child . . . .

And yet another news report demonstrating ignorance of the difference between “accidental” and “negligent.”

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Learning from Experience 0

At the Tampa Bay Times, Vietnam veteran Mike Kanter observes Memorial Day by offering some lessons to be learned from that venture. Here’s a tiny bit of his article (emphasis in the original):

For the public: Respect the troops. They are doing what they’re ordered to do. They have no say over whether we engage in war. They do their duty.

For the politicians and senior public officials: Don’t capriciously go to war. Few wars are truly justified.

The entire piece is worth the few minutes it will take to read it.

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QOTD 0

Jack Paar:

Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery.

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And Now for a Musical Interlude 0

A tribute to Helen Kane, the original boop-boop-de-doop girl and the inspiration for the classic cartoon character, Betty Boop:

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The History Makers 0

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“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0

This time, it’s The Virginian-Pilot’s Larry Rubama who hears a rhyme.

_____________________

*Mark Twain

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An Inversion of Justice 0

Click for the original image.

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Dis Coarse Discourse 0

In a blast from the past that echoes today, Sam and David Roberts discuss where contemporary journalism has gone off the rails.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Yet another “responsible gun owner” gets a leg up on cleanliness.

Musical NotesGuns and stupid, guns and stupid.
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you brother,
You can’t have one without the other.

Aside:

You may be tired of my harping on this.

Me, I’m tired of the stupid, the bloodshed, and especially the stupid bloodshed.

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Establishmentarians 0

They’re letting their freaky flags fly.

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QOTD 0

John Locke:

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Fruit Loopy 0

Florida Man.

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