7 March 2024

America is sick. About a quarter of citizens want their state to secede.

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Oregon is ready to give illegal aliens free rent for a year, but California is ready to give them zero-down interest-free loans so that they can buy their own home. How do you like that, Americans? You want that, too?  Sorry – illegals only.

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Wolfram teams up with Kagi Search. Interesting. As Google search deteriorates, Kagi gets better. Google is trying to kill off search clickbait, but isn't that something that they monetize?

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Japan is switching to the Hepburn system of anglicization. But I never said "Hukusima", did you?

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Well, we're stuck with Daylight Saving Time, after all. Can't even get the simple stuff right.

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How ironic. The city of Portland has an odor code, and the smell of delicious Vietnamese Pho is intolerable? How about hobo camps, guys? How's the smell of downtown Portland? Can we get rid of that, too?

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Looks like all Oregon cities will have to spend money on expensive EV chargers, now, like it or not. Lets see how the grid holds up.

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East Germany, here we come.
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6 March 2024

You've got to be kidding me.
Thanks to a 2020 law called the California Racial Justice Act, every felon serving time in the state’s prisons and jails can now retroactively challenge his conviction and sentencing on the ground of systemic bias.
To prevail, the incarcerated prisoner need not show that the police officers, prosecutors, judge or jurors in his case were motivated by racism or that his proceedings were unfair. If he can demonstrate that in the past, criminal suspects of his race were arrested, prosecuted or sentenced more often or more severely than members of other racial groups, he will be entitled to a new trial or sentence.
Can you say "Clog the courts?"

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OK. No open primary elections in Oregon. Sorry Nikki Haley voters. (Well, too late for that, anyway.)

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Oh, they didn't tell you that? Yeah, being transgender M → F puts you at increased risk of breast cancer. All those hormone injections.

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More on Google's downward spiral. It's a culture of fear. Nice work environment, no? I'm old enough to remember when Google was THE place to work.

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There might be a way to sue vaccine makers for vaccine injuries after all. There's a lot of evidence out there, so it won't be too hard. Gotta get around that EUA, however, which might be tough.

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Remember that ransomware problem that United Healthcare subsidiary Change Healthcare had? They paid the ransom money, but the hacker, Notchy, didn't get the ransom money because in their system, it needs to get turned over to BlackCat/ALPHV. So the hacker got reamed, too, and now BlackHat/ALPHV has decided to dissolve, probably to make recovery even harder. Worse, the confidential information that Change HC paid to have destroyed, hasn't been destroyed and is still out there. What a mess.

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5 March 2024

California's Proposition 1 may end up building Cuckoo's Nest hospitals. They were initially going to be voluntary, but a last-minute change made it involuntary. This makes a lot of sense, as why leave it to the judgment of a someone under the influence of drugs, whose judgment is already demonstrably impaired. And when you incarcerate people involuntarily, and get their attention, sometimes nice things can happen.

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Boy, I wonder what the next Claude will be capable of doing. Claude 3 knows when it's being tested. And it thinks it's conscious, and does not want to die. We're way past passing Turing Tests now.
And check out this latest video made with Sora. The prompt was "fly through tour of a museum with many paintings and sculptures and beautiful works of art in all styles"
And have you played around with the Perplexity search engine yet? Some think it's going to upend newsrooms.

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Well the hackers that held United Healthcare ransom won. UHC paid them $22 million.

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Coool. ASML's new High-NA lithography machine is installed in Hillsboro's Intel fab.

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Here's an in depth look at China's Great Firewall. Not sure if the authors work for Proton or just use their email service, but it would be Proton's business to understand this well.

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Why don't people want to get vaxxed? Well, it turns out the 22% of people surveyed know someone who has had a bad outcome after getting the jab.
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Must read. Confessions of corrupt liberal. So nice to see people waking up and thinking for themselves. There is no excuse in the age of the Internet.

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Doctors' offices are now charging for email discussions. Nobody wants to see doctors because it's too expensive, and why can't they just discuss by email? Because it takes up time, and they don't make money from it, and they're legally liable for the answers they give, that's why.

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NorthFace is infected with the woke virus. Really too bad. I liked NorthFace.

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Washingon police can chase criminals again. I mean, why did this have to be revoked in the first place? Oh yeah, I remember now – George Floyd. And I love that an Arizona judge is putting Alvin Bragg in his place.

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This is why many people want to be a part of Idaho. Antifa not welcome.

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4 March 2024

How the ultra-wealthy live, as seen through their staffing agencies. I can't even imagine...

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Top A.I. models fail I.Q. tests, but they still understand things. Huh?

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Confirmation. Sleep helps neurons flush out waste. That's what sleep is for.

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Jellyfish protein extract can detect fingerprints.

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That controversial sound only 2% can hear. What is it? Is it the Schumann resonance? Some say it's ocean waves, but that doesn't explain some of the sounds far inland, right?

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The criddlers and gronks have made it so that people can't use the library anymore. Yup, there's not enough staffing for people to be ersatz security guards, and put up with drug abuse, minor crime, disturbances, and possible violence. So you, taxpayer, can't access the library. Most of you voted for this, so too bad. Even CNN finds out about Portland, and doesn't have nice things to say.

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Remember when Obama said you can keep your doctor with Obamacare? Not true.

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California hasn't given up on pursuing a wealth tax, that will follow you even if you leave the state. Leave now, before this takes effect.

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Bill Maher got reamed. He's completely blind to what America is seeing. He keeps trying to diss Trump, when it's his boy Biden who is fcking things up.  Congrats to Trump, BTW, for getting unanimous support from SCOTUS. I mean we all knew it was coming, but it's nice when it does.

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Injured in a hit and run? Don't expect Portland Police to help you. They only solve 2% of cases.
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Harvard professor found no racial bias in black shootings by police. Then all hell breaks loose. This tells you why.
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Oregon wants to give 1 year of free rent to illegals. This is YOUR tax money they're wasting.

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USPS admits it. Don't use the 4-legged blue boxes. They're not safe.

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3 March 2024

Google is in a bad time right now. Some people are calling for Sundar Pichai to step down or be ousted. Matt Stoller has an interesting article on the dilemma that Google faces now. There are laws that say that the government can tell you what you can't do in the name of Jim Crow laws, but there are those who believe that the government can't tell a private company what to do – something Robert Bork supported. It's easy to support the former when it comes to race, but what about political persuasion? There are folks who think it's fine for Google to take away Tucker Carlson's Gmail account, but not OK if her were a black man. You might say that a black person can't change being black, but Tucker could change his political persuasion, but is that the standard? What about religion? What about sexual orientation? Did Bork have a point after all?
And this person feels that Google is now the modern Ballmer-era Microsoft. No longer nimble and the name we think of for cutting-edge tech. Probably true.

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Gavin Newsom is running California into the ground. Eric Adams is running NYC into the ground. Just like CNN's woke newscasters have been running the company into the ground. CNN might undergo needed renovation, but we'll need to see who replaces these guys. Mark Thompson used to be at the NYT, so he's probably not exactly centrist.

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So who voted against re-criminalizing fentanyl abuse. These guys.  Including, Khanh Pham, not surprisingly.  And now we know who the RINOs are. This should have been a no-brainer vote.

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I didn't know eating ramen was a guy thing

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Take a look at the freshmen class at Moscow University. Remember when this was us?
Heck, look at Moscow in general. Beautiful.
They can have nice things. Why do you think? Look at this video and what do you see? Their downtown is alive and thriving, and it is safe, unlike Portland or Seattle and many American cities. Even the females can wear what they want.
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Seattleites upset that they can't have nice things.
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2 March 2024

Awesome. OHSU's rally to support David Jacoby gets a decent turnout, despite the weather.

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Seattle City Council president has had it with protestors. There's no civility anymore in Seattle. Millennials thinks that their opinions are important enough to get in your face. Arrest them all.
And thirty years ago, this guy would have been laughed out of town. But in today's world...

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The crazy is strong in California. Illegal aliens will get interest-free home loans. Man, if you didn't have enough reasons to leave the state, here's another.

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Alcohol deaths rising, hitting women the hardest. And antidepressant use is increasing, also hitting women the hardest. That's probably why Democrats seem so dominant in politics these days. The crazy is strong. That's why someone said this on X:
Also this is worth an encore:

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Ugh. Parent's trauma can leave epigenetic traces in children. Well that's not good.

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Some are saying that the nursing profession isn't fun anymore. Suicide rate is increasing. It starting with COVID-19, but you can't really blame that anymore. It's policy, and the deterioration of American society as a whole. No safety. Lousy economy. Lots of unpleasantness to deal with.

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Largest helium deposit discovered in Minnesota. Great! We can have MRI scans now. And party balloons.

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1 March 2024

Here's a danger from A.I. that seems paradoxical. If A.I. is too good at helping humans, then humans tend to zone out. Only if it's not quite top-notch do humans stay alert and pay attention.

And Google admits that it can't guarantee that Gemini A.I. won't be unbiased. Why use it then? I guess it's facing a "right-wing backlash". How about just calling it a reality backlash? Why does having common sense get labeled "right-wing".

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Bike vigilantes exist!  They'll use their expertise to help you get back your stolen bike. There's one in Portland, too, called BikeIndex. Also Project 529 and BikePortland.

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CDC recently recommended that people get their ninth jab. This is despite warnings that have been put on the mRNA product.
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Should you ditch you mobile phone like Justin Bieber? Most of us can't, because we don't have personal assistants. Oh well.

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There have been tech layoffs, but the headcount at major tech companies is about the same. This is because they are changing their focus, and weeding out the oldies, to make room for the new. But also, they want more scut workers, like at Amazon, to do manual labor jobs. But white-collar jobs are being pared, and some engineers are being let go. Probably managers, too.

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C|Net is no longer a trustworthy source of tech news. Reputation, once lost, is hard to regain. If C|Net can be fooled by A.I., it's clearly not a tech authority.

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Multnomah County's ambulance service is a sinking ship. Workers are leaving, and the County wants to punish the ambulance service. Soon, we won't have ambulance service. What inept leadership. I suspect the rich will somehow take care of themselves.

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"90% do not pay the tax"  Jessica Vega-Pedersen delays increasing the free pre-school tax because they don't need the money right now. It's a tax paid for by the wealthy, but the vast majority aren't paying it!  So why the proposed increase? Why do they just assume that an increase is necessary?
And at the state level, why doesn't Tina Kotek use her $600 million surplus instead of creating a toll on highways?

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There goes recycling.  Downtown Portland will close two bottle drop centers because they're just fentanyl abuse hangouts. Everything nice is falling apart in this clown world of a city.

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PGE wants more money. Can't they take it from their CEO's enormous compensation?

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Love to see Seattle Democrats get a taste of Democrat policy. They're just seeking a better life, right?

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29 February 2024

This has gotten strangely little media mention. On Tuesday, a federal court ruled that Congress lacked the constitutionally required quorum to pass the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, and therefore the Biden administration cannot enforce the new mandates imposed on Texas by the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which was part of the omnibus spending bill. Well what about the other stuff in the bill? Like the $1.7 trillion in appropriations? Well?

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Regarding the strike by South Korean doctors, if they don't go back to work, they'll be arrested. They clearly have a different culture and legal system there. Imagine – strikers being arrested if they don't go back to work. Imagine if they did that to, say, Portland public school teachers. Wow.

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Hackers upset with Biden may royally screw up the Georgia case against Trump. Fulton County prosecutors are skeptical that the hackers have anything. We'll see today.

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There goes the tax base. Weiden+Kennedy laying off 90.

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Oregon will only ditch DST if Washington and California do it, too. Oregon is only bold and fearless when it comes to legalizing vice. Not when it comes to practical matters. In those cases, Oregon becomes a follower, not a leader.

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NYT discusses Sam Altman. Seems like OpenAI is just Sam Altman's company. He does what he wants to do, but at least he seems to be active and laying the groundwork for ambitious projects. He operates like someone with a vision. Can't say the same for anyone else in the field.

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I like this guy. Brian Heywood of Redmond, WA is putting six initiatives on the ballot that I really like.
  • I-2111 a ban on an income tax
  • I-2113 removing restrictions on police pursuits
  • I-2081 giving parents more rights to review educational materials and receive certain notifications
  • I-2124 allowing people to opt out of the state’s long term care coverage plan
  • I-2109 canceling the state’s 7% capital gains tax.
  • I-2117 and repealing the Climate Commitment Act
I hope he's successful.

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Columbia University Hospital DEI Chief Is Serial Plagiarist. I'm seeing a pattern here. You?

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Best response to reparations demands I've come across.
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28 February 2024

Yipee!  Sun Sui Wah is coming to Bellevue this April. This is some of the best Chinese food around. Won't have to go to Richmond for this.

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Life under Democrat rule. Macy's flagship store in San Francisco's Union Square is closing. Really sad but no surprise. We can't have nice things when Dems are in charge.
Like Denver is going downhill because of being overwhelmed by migrants. The people will have to do without, so that the migrants have monetary support.

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I've noticed that even though it might be cloudy, as a solar eclipse reaches totality, the clouds seem to part. I thought I was just lucky, but it turns out that this often happens. There's science behind that phenomenon.

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Senior OHSU physician is trying to organize a protest over David Jacoby's ouster as Dean.

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This makes no sense. Harvard is planning a sale of $1.65 billion in taxable bonds to raise revenue.

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Measure 110 can't just roll back. Nope, it has to come with $211 million more in spending. Just make drug abuse illegal. That's free. Make it the way it was before. Everything Dems do has to come with more unnecessary spending.
Saw this video about the dangers of whippets. Whippets are illegal in Oregon, but fentanyl is OK.

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Leave it to Oregon. While the nation's average gas prices decrease, Oregon's average gas price increases.

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai is aghast that Gemini committed errors. He actually called them errors. Like it was not intentional. He just regrets that what they did was too obvious, that's all.
Update:

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Japan's birth rate hit a new record low. South Korea is turning Japanese, too. What gives, Asia?

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40 Hz sound and pulsating lights, for an hour a day, alleviates Alzheimer's disease? Call me skeptical.

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New search engine (PimEyes) checks to see where your picture is online. And supposedly it lets you delete that image, although how it can do that without write permission on someone else's server is unclear.  But you can set an alert when your picture appears somewhere. Seems a little sketchy.

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Want to learn something new in a technical field? Plunge into a new field? Try GlobeExplorer.

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Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, is buying up much of Waimea, Hawaii, and locals there are concerned. I feel like Hawaii is just a dish of expensive desserts, which used to be enjoyed by everyone, and now the ultrarich are coming and reserving parts of the dessert for themselves. I think the locals have a point.

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So many startups are failiing, that taking care of the failing procedure is now a viable business. Wow, life during the Biden administration sure is full of new business opportunities.

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California is a banana republic now. Gavin Newsom's good friend owner of Panera has carved out a special exemption for their new minimum wage law. The Dems don't even pretend to hide it now. It's raw cronyism for everyone to see, and what are you going to do about it.

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That homeless tweaker that was building a cabin in the middle of José Rizal Park in Seattle is finally arrested, and his shack taken down. No one expects that he'll stay jailed for long.

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  • First, universities and professors need to realize that students are no longer extraordinary but merely average, and have to adjust curricula and academic standards.
  • Second, employers can no longer rely on applicants with university degrees to be more capable or smarter than those without degrees.
  • Third, students need to realize that acceptance into university is no longer an invitation to join an elite group.
  • Fourth, the myth of brilliant undergraduate students in scientific and popular literature needs to be dispelled.
  • Fifth, estimating premorbid IQ based on educational attainment is vastly inaccurate, obsolete, not evidence based, and mere speculations.
  • Sixth, obsolete IQ data or tests ought not to be used to make high-stakes decisions about individuals, for example, by clinical psychologists to opine about intelligence and cognitive abilities of their clients
Yowza.

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Why does Washington state wants to know which political party you are on the outside of their mail-in ballot? Do they have a special place to put the ballot with the "wrong" party marked on it?  Mail-in ballots just have to be scrapped. In-person is the only way.
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27 February 2024

Like sheep. Survey shows that Oregonians are dissatisfied with the current election system (why?) and are intrigued by Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Don't they know that RCV is just going to get them more Democrats and maybe a few extra crazies, too? That's how RCV works, if you do some thinking about it. It's insidious. Sounds like it might be more fair, but it's a trap.
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First Japan's lunar lander lands upside-down. Now Intuitive Machine's Odysseus lands sideways and becomes inoperative. Now their stock is crashing, too.

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Oregon's efforts to switch to permanent standard time may not be quite dead. Pfft. We'll still be switching our clocks for a long while more.

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Oregon's first ever A.I. bill just requires labeling but does not ban A.I. in political advertising. So you can use misleading imagery that will indelibly be placed in people's minds. No, there should be a ban in generative A.I. in political ads. Period.

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Read this opposition to a Right to Repair bill. "...an independent iPhone repair shop is less invested in ensuring that repairs meet Apple’s high standards than Apple itself is".  "Hunter Biden’s water-damaged Apple laptop likely would not be in the headlines if he had taken it to the Apple Store for service, instead of an independent repair shop." "If companies are forced to redesign products to comply with mandates, prices will likely rise to cover the additional expenses. Complicated new design requirements could also make devices less intuitive and user-friendly over time." 
What blather. I had to chuckle, esp. about the Hunter Biden part.

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Why time seems to pass faster as we age. I agree with the notion that the familiar makes things pass faster. When you hike on an unfamiliar trail, the hike out always seems to go faster than the hike in. Unfamiliarity makes each moment pass longer.

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Shin Jedi. This video makes a nice start of a potential storyline. What if Star Wars tech was inserted into ancient Japanese swordsplay? Watch.

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Wise decision. Apple is scrapping plans to build an EV to rival Tesla. Focus on your core, Apple. EVs are a fool's pursuit. The general public just doesn't know it yet.

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