The Trumpling, in One Sentence 0
In a column musing on who will take get saddled with the blame for a (potential at the time the column was written) government shutdown, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gene Collier sums up the status quo.
It’s not pretty, but it is where we are.
Follow the link for the rest, in which Collier reveals that he is less than optimistic.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Abettors of awfulness? Per Cami Rosso at Psychology Today Blogs,
Follow the link for the data.
QOTD 0
Rex Stout:
There’s no point in being rude when you can end a conversation quicker by being polite.
Stout, Rex, Plot It Yourself (New York: Bantam, 1960) p. 77.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
The hunt for politeness continues.
(snip)
The DNR (Iowa Department of Natural Resources–ed.) said that the teen “was mistaken for a squirrel by a member of his hunting party and was struck in the back of the head.”
Anyone who can’t tell the difference between a squirrel and a human being is too stupid to be allowed to have a gu–oh, yeah, I forgot.
Guns 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.
Republican Thought Police 0
Rebecca Watson looks at the Republican thought policing currently being exercised at Texas A&M University. (Warning: Mild language.)
Or you can read the transcript.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
A reliable source of news? Grocery stores wouldn’t even display it in the check-out aisle.
The only thing artificial about “artificial intelligence” is the claim that it’s in any way intelligent.
Remember, it does not create. It merely regurgitates.
Stray Thought 0
Today’s Republican Party does not want to govern.
It wants to dictate.
A Legend in His Own Mind, Reprise 0
In the midst of a longer article considering how we might resist the Trump maladministration’s march towards dictatorship, Timothy Snyder makes what I find a most appropriate observation:
Follow the link for context.
Vaccine Nation 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Cynthia Chen-Joea argues that the fear that some have of vaccines may be an ironic result of vaccines’ success in preventing diseases. A snippet (emphasis added):
I think she may be onto something. Go see what you think.
The Chaos Agent at Work 0
From the Youtube page:
Seth takes a closer look at the president posting an AI video of himself and threatening to send troops to yet another American city.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” fails to secure a portable phallus.
(snip)
(Lincoln, AL, police chief Scott–ed.) Bonner said, “Everything points to being accidental. We are not sure if the child was playing with the firearm, or if the child picked the firearm and dropped it.” He added that due to the child’s age, no charges will be filed.
The Algorithm Abyss 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Tara Well explores how “VR and social media create blurred realities that negatively affect well-being.”
I commend her article to your attention and remind you that Big Tech’s algorithms are not for our benefit; they’re for theirs.
The Chaos Agent 0
In a letter to the editor of the Las Vegas Sun, Dr. Richard A. French expresses some concerns about the effect that the Trump maladministration is having on the nation and the polity.
QOTD 0
Missy Gold, in the voice of Katherine ‘Katie’ Olivia Gatling, and Robert Guillaume, in the voice of Benson DuBois:
Katie: You know, it’s not easy being a concerned citizen.
Benson: That’s why there are so few of them.