Everything you say to your Echo will be sent to Amazon starting on March 28. I still can't understand why someone would want this surveillance device in their homes. But that's just me.
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The Siri development team must not be feeling good these days. I recall when Steve Jobs dismissed the MobileMe team in a very humiliating way. Bet it got the rest of the company motivated, though. It's informative that Apple can't make AI work they way people expect it to work. They've got Silicon Valley's best brains at their disposal, and yet they struggle. It's not easy to implement agentic frameworks well.
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This essay on Stoicism resonates with me. I wondered why Marcus Aurelius wrote his Meditations, when he could have just be a Roman emperor like all the rest. And he made statements that seem to counter common sense, such as not to be disturbed by bad events because it's all in your head. Easy to say when you're an emperor, but not so for the rest of us. I guess he meant to just say not to overreact to external events, but sometimes it's just human to do so.
Too strong a stoicism, like any individualist philosophy, scales poorly. A philosophy emphasizing only this inner work, though it may personally work well, gives no guidance as soon as you have enough responsibility to participate in society....stoicism is not a sufficient philosophy for a good life, only a survivable one. We must remember what that responsibility, strength, and character are ultimately for.
Scientists discover how to reactivate cancer's molecular 'kill switch'. Cancer cells don't just have one "kill switch". This research finding will be just one of many. Congrats to the researchers, but there will be more work to do.
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I'd spend $20 to taste the Erewhon strawberry. Sounds like it is indeed more than your usual strawberry. I haven't seen it at the local stores yet, though.
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Alcohol consumption increases risk of sunburn. Then you read the article and find out that intoxicate people are less likely to apply sunscreen adequately, and they also stay out in the sun longer, possibly because they're too inebriated to realize that they're burning. What a useless study.
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You could be leaving DNA traces in the air around you. Probably not enough to be implicated in a crime scene, but just so you know, a bit of you blows off into the air wherever you go.
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KGW reports that the reason OHSU emergency department is jammed is because people are coming in with the flu. Only now are we seeing this? I suspect that the COVID vax has ruined people's immune systems, and now everyone is constantly sick.
Seattle firefighter has a message for those idiots who think they are sticking it to Elon by setting Teslas on fire. Think twice – you're letting toxic gases into the atmosphere and risking a prolonged hot fire. Not climate-friendly, to say the least, although those gronks aren't really that concerned about climate. It's just something they are told to believe, because Dems told them to.
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Happiest cities in the Northwest. Seattle? I don't think so. I think the happiest cities are the smaller ones that don't have criddlers and incompetent lefty city leaders who misspend the municipal money. Portland is way down there, which is believable. But c'mon.
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Sakana.AI has put out its first fully-generated scientific article. Well, if Sokal could get published, I'm sure AI can, too.
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The story behind Social Security Numbers. There's never been a convincing explanation for why Barack Obama's SSN begins with 042 instead of 575 or 576 like all other Hawaii-born citizens. And I think people think it's healthier not to investigate this matter.
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