2024 archive
The Voter Fraud Fraudsters 0
David bloviates about the bogosity (warning: short promo at the end).
The Vice of the Turtle 0
At Above the Law, Kathryn Rubino finds it somewhat–er–ironic that Mitch McConnell has the unmitigated gall nerve to charge someone else with placing party over country.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another “responsible gun owner” exposes a portable phallus to a child.
We are again reminded that “responsible gun owner” is an oxymoron.
Twits Own Twitter X Offenders
0
Robert Reich argues that X has truly become the bullies’ pulpit, with Musk as the Bully-in-Chief.
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
Thom and Heidi Siegmund Cuda hear some very scary rhymes. A quote:
It can happen anywhere where you can get a mob together over fear and othering and have them become your foot soldiers for fascism.
_______________
*Mark Twain.
If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 0
Afterthought:
Do I think Biden should have pardoned his son? No, not after promising not to.
Do I understand why he did? Yes
Hunter Biden was not being prosecuted. He was being persecuted, solely because his father is Joe Biden.
If his last name were, oh, just to pick one, Kushne–oh, never mind.
Karen Karen-Like 0
Meet a Karen who flies the fiendly skies.
Tongue Got Her Cat? 0
You can’t make this stuff up.
Field Work 0
Does this remind you of anyone in the news?
Phoning It In 0
The phone rang. The caller ID showed a number from a city on the other side of the country, a city where I know no one, a city I haven’t set foot in in four decades.
As I sometimes do, I picked up the phone and said nothing. (When I do that, the computer on the other end will often disconnect after 11 seconds.)
After a few seconds, a woman’s voice said, “Hello. I’m Polly, I’m an AI assistant . . . .”
That’s when I hung up.
So, a recording on a computer is now an “AI Assistant.”
Give me a break.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
A mixed bag. Most definitely.
Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders look at how AI may affect politics. Here’s a tiny bit of his most excellent article:
At the national level, AI tools are more likely to make the already powerful even more powerful. Human + AI generally beats AI only: The more human talent you have, the more you can effectively make use of AI assistance. The richest campaigns will not put AIs in charge, but they will race to exploit AI where it can give them an advantage.
But while the promise of AI assistance will drive adoption, the risks are considerable. When computers get involved in any process, that process changes.
