Author's archive
Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! 0
Seth notes that “it’s amazing when the actual news intrudes on Fox’s talking points.”
This New Gilded Age, the Snaring Economy Dept. 0
When you run the numbers, it sure begins to look as if the “gig economy” is a rigged economy.
Behind the Curtain 0
At the Inky, Jenice Armstrong explores explodes four myths that she has heard repeated by Trump’s supporters, myths which she thinks may be eroding support for Biden the crucial voting demographic of black voters.
Here one of them; follow the link for the others (emphasis in the original):
Trump is a successful businessman.
Reality
Trump certainly gives off the air of being a successful businessman. However, a review of his tax returns by the New York Times found that his businesses take in hundreds of millions annually, yet “rack up chronic losses.” The Times reported that from 1985 to 1994, Trump’s businesses lost more than a billion dollars. When compared with other high-income earners during that period, the Times found that Trump “appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer.” The former president’s business prowess is an illusion.
A Tune for the Times 0
Mangy notes that “irony is not dead.”
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Indiana University law professor Michael Mattioli, reacting to the recent kerfuffle of OpenAI’s attempt to steal mimic Scarlett Johansson’s voice, raises an interesting question:
- Why are Silicon Valley Tech Bros expending so much energy trying to create AI bots that sound human, when other more efficient ways of interacting with computers have worked very nicely for decades?
Here’s a tiny bit of his answer (emphasis added):
There’s also an echo of the ancient quest to commune with eternity, to grasp immortality, woven into AI chatbots like Sky. The pyramids served as eternal vessels for a pharaoh’s spirit; what is lifelike AI if not an attempt to capture and channel a human being’s essential nature?
(Or could it be that they just want to make their fantasies of being Captain Kirk sitting the captain’s chair saying, “Computer . . . .” come to life?)
Aside:
Speaking of AI, security maven Bruce Schneier thinks that AI will make phishing attempts even less fishy and even harder to detect.
The Privatization Scam 0
(David takes two calls. The first is about the privatization scam and is well worth a listen. The second is about China, but it’s still timely.)
So, Who Killed Dead Lobster? 0
I blame the Chicago School, whose theories fed the notion that “return to shareholders” is the ultimate responsibility of a business, greater than maintaining the health and integrity of the business itself. This, in turn, provided a rationalization for looters to claim that, if looting a business increased return to shareholders, then, well, looting a business is a righteous act in the interest of the greater good.
Or, to put it another way, the Chicago School provided Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes for the Gordon Gekkos of the world, who proclaim that “Greed is good.”
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” exposes a child to politeness.
(snip)
Police said that preliminary investigations revealed the boy had picked up an unsecured firearm and accidentally shot himself.
Thus passeth another day in the NRA’s Garden of Bleedin’.
Republican Thought Police 0
The Editorial Staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune suggests that Republican Thought Police look back on history and shout, “Get me rewrite!”
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Via Rolling Stone, meet one of the New Secesh.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Self-politeness is the politest kind.
According to other information gleaned from Facebook, the incident happened during a girls volleyball game.
Too many guns. Too much stupid.
Republican Thought Police 0
Farron discusses Minnesota’s banning book bans.