Personal Musings category archive
Stray Question 0
I noticed tonight as I was driving to DL that the speedometer on my new(ish–I bought it used two years ago) car bares the label, “Ground Speed.” (I just noticed that, because I usually just look at the needle to make sure my speed is reasonable.)
Does the manufacturer seriously expect that I shall attain “air speed” (or, for that matter, “sea apeed” or “space speed”)?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Dis Coarse Discouse 0
It’s amazing the lengths the press will go to try to turn every vote into a horse race,
If they can make it a horse race, they can avoid tackling stuff like, oh, you know, just for a couple of examples, who’s telling the truth and who’s telling lies or who cares about fulfilling the duties of office and who cares about filling his pockets.
Favoring Faction over Action 0
If this isn’t putting party over country, I know not what could be.
Today’s Republican Party is a vile and loathsome thing.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. (Updated) 0
I find it ironic that what used to be called “data scraping” somehow morphs into being “training” when the scraper is labeled “AI.”
Aside:
Can this be? Is “AI” the new blow-up doll?
Addendum:
Bruce Schneier offers a hint as to how to out “AI” bots on “social” media.
A Glaring Problem 0
The Portland Press Herald’s Victoria Hugo-Vidal has a complaint about some modern car headlamps. Follow the link for her evidence.
Car headlights are too damn bright, and the government needs to do something about it.
I agree with her.
I’ve noticed that many of the headlights on newer cars seem more intense than traditional incandescent bulbs and, frankly, a lot them seem to be aimed too high. I remember back in the olden days, when I was a young ‘un, the annual car inspection included adjusting the aim of the headlights. Next inspection, I’ll have to remember to ask if they still do that . . . .
Designs of the Times 0
As I was running errands today, it occurred to me that improvements in automobile technology have led a competition among automakers:
Who can design the stupidest looking turn signals?
“AI’ Is the New Spellcheck 0
Last night, I saw a commercial for “Shutterstock AI” which, when stripped of the hockypuck, rebranded computer-assisted image editing as “AI.”
(As an aside, everything they showed in the ad is stuff I can do in the GIMP, because I bought, read, and practiced the techniques in the book. It would just take me a little longer.)
If that’s the standard, spellcheck is “AI” and “AI” is as old as spellcheck.
“Artificial Intelligence” is assuredly artificial and it is certainly fast and dressed in Sunday go-to-meeting clothes, but fast and well-dressed does not equal intelligent.
Don’t fall for the con Be skeptical of the hype.
Furrfu.
Afterthought:
It occurs to me that I may be maligning spellcheck. According to news reports, “AI” gets stiff wrong a lot more often than spellcheck.
Another Sign of Decline 0
I discovered, thanks to this cartoon, that there are multiple websites devoted to explaining emojis.
We are devolving.
Click Here To Get Scammed 0
Thom warns us not to get taken in by “smishing” (he explains the term in the video). His advice is well worth a listen.
Aside:
I ignore emails and texts from (those purporting to be) political activists. And, believe me, I get a lot of emails and an annoying number of texts. (In Thunderbird, my preferred mail client, I filter the emails into a special folder and delete them unread.)
I also get texts from persons who think I am Jeremy from North Carolina, even though I’m not Jeremy and I have never lived in North Carolina (and given what’s happening in North Carolina these days*, I wouldn’t move there on a bet) and I’ve had my cell phone number for years.
Even when said emails and texts are legitimate, they are almost always overwrought and often obnoxious. They are designed to appeal to emotions, not to brains.
My advice, for what it’s worth: Use your brains.
I do my contributing, political and otherwise, the old-fashioned way.
I use the United States Postal Service.
As I told someone who called me on the telly phone yesterday claiming to represent a cauxe that I support, “I do my contributing by mail.” Then I hung up the phone.
_______________
*I’m so old, I can remember when North Carolina was considered a “progressive” Southern state.
The Rule of Lawless 0
The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Donald Trump’s role in fomenting insurrection disqualifies him from appearing on the 2024 ballot in Colorado under the Insurrection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, an amendment which was passed after–er–an insurrection. This was properly a state matter because, in the United States, individual states are responsible for administering elections.
From the Denver Post:
“We conclude that because President Trump is disqualified from holding the office of President under Section Three (of the 14th Amendment), it would be a wrongful act under the Election Code for the Secretary to list President Trump as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot,” the court’s majority opinion says. “Therefore, the Secretary may not list President Trump’s name on the 2024 presidential primary ballot, nor may she count any write-in votes cast for him.”
Trump is expected to appeal to the Supreme Supremacist Court. (It may be the only time in his long history of litigation that he does not try to draw things our as long as possible.)
I do not think it a foregone conclusion that the Court will accept his appeal or rule in his favor,* but that’s just me.
But if they do accept his appeal, we might finally have an answer to this question:
How many laws must a lawbreaker break before breaking the rule of law?
____________________
*A majority of the Justices might be happy never to hear his name again . . . ..
Stray Question 0
As I was watching a television commercial, a question occurred to me:
Can I get a Bachelors of Transgressing from Strayer University
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
People of Walmart proceed to park with politeness.
Stray Thought 0
Right-wing evangelical they-call-themselves Christians are today’s scribes and pharisees.
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
Sam discusses our deplorable political news coverage.
A Quibble:
I do not endorse Sam’s comments about Biden and Hamas. In particular, I disagree with Sam’s claim that Biden is “completely enabling” Netanyahu’s tactics.
Expressing support for the existence of Israel, which is what Biden has done, is not “enabling” Netanyahu’s tactics. Netanyahu would do what he is doing with or without Biden’s support for the existence of Israel.
I also deplore the deaths of civilians in Gaza and in Israel. But I think it’s delusional to think that the U. S. is either responsible for or could have prevented them.
But that’s just me. (And international history was not my field. My field was U. S. Southern.)
But I think Sam’s primary message regarding dis coarse discourse is spot on.
A Simple Solution To Prevent Strikes 0
Pay workers a fair wage.
Furrfu.
The Candidates Debase 0
Jim Wright watched the Republican candidates debate so we didn’t have to.
I sure didn’t waste my time watching it. I’ve successfully avoided Silence of the Lambs all these years.
I’m certainly not going to subject myself to Squeals of the Damnable.
The Pick-up Artist 0
I pulled into the parking lot at our DL gathering place behind a ginormous pick-up–you know, one of those pick-ups bought by guys who don’t really need a truck.
The pick-up had fronted into a parking place near the entrance to the little parking lot, then, as I entered the lot, started to back out.
When he saw me, he stopped.
Fortunately.
I went past him and backed into my own parking spot a few places down and continued listening to a podcast until it came time to enter the facility (I prefer to back in; it makes pulling out safer). He then finished backing out of his space, drove a few spaces over in my direction, paused for a moment as if uncertain of what to do, and then tried to back into the space next to me.
I was beginning to question his–er–accuracy when he stopped, looked in his mirrors for a moment, then gave up, and moved on down the lot around the corner and out of my sight.
And I thought to myself, “Buddy, the last place you need to be going is to a bar dining establishment which serves alcohol.”
Stray Thought 0
Spending a few minutes (or even a few hours, if it comes to that) once a year to cast a ballot is a small price to pay for preserving democracy . . .
. . . especially when you consider that persons are willing to spend days getting a ticket to a Taylor Swift concert.
Voting Is Not a Right. It Is a Duty. 0
I learned that from my Daddy by example.
He never missed an election, nor have I.
Indeed, I have memories of his making sure his poll tax was paid, back when I was a young ‘un growing up under Jim Crow, when segregation was de jure, and not, as it is today, primarily de facto. (No, it hasn’t gone away. If you think it has, you are kidding yourself. It may not be as obvious, but it still is. Just ask Florida Man.)
We voted Monday at a local early voting site. It was a swift and painless process which took less then 10 minutes from parking the car to pulling out of the parking lot.
And I urge you vote too, if not early, certainly on election day.
Taking a few minutes–or even a few hours–to vote is a small price to pay for preserving democracy.
Don’t exercise your right. Do your duty.
Stray Thought 0
I keep seeing these ads for finance and loan apps to put on my phone.
I wouldn’t touch a one of them on a bet.
And, speaking of bets, don’t get me started on sports betting apps.
I’m not a gambling addict, and I don’t want to become one.
But they want me to.
