8 December 2023

It's been quiet about Q* recently. After Altman's return OpenAI, this topic has dropped off the radar. Here's more about Q*, but after reading this, it doesn't seem major enough to warrant what Sutskever did. Maybe it really was all just a clash of personalities.

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Fascinating geological and geographical mystery. Definitely worth 25 min of your time.


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This tech writer was not impressed with Gemini's debut yesterday.  Sure enough, Google admits to staging much of it. They haven't created a positronic brain after all. And some people wonder if A.I. is just a "Clever Hans". Sometimes I feel the same way.

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Just as you can use A.I.-generated pictures free of copyright concerns, you can to the same with music. There's an A.I. stock music generator now. Probably good for video background music.

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This story is BIG! Nature published a report with a title that makes it seem like just another obscure technical publication. It's titled N1-methylpseudouridylation of mRNA causes +1 ribosomal frameshifting. But what it reports is that the mRNA COVID-19 vax product is associated with a very serious side-effect of common frameshift mutations that cause the ribosome to transcribe random proteins, in addition to the spike protein that it's supposed to code for. And some of these random proteins can resemble some important proteins that are involved in the immune system.  So you might be inadvertently immunized against something you're not supposed to be. Here's a tweet that discusses this.  The vax really needs to be taken off the market ASAP, and people informed about it. 

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Gender detransitioning lawsuits are on the rise.

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One of the reasons that Multnomah County ambulance service is running short is because the director, Dr. Jon Jui, insists that there be two paramedics on each ambulance, instead of one paramedic and one EMT, like in other cities. He's pretty insistent on that, so the effect is that we are often at zero status, with no ambulances to go around.
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Here's a weird worm.  Its butt develops its own brain, detaches itself and swims away. Reminds me of some of the people in the news, whose brains seem to be strongly connected to their butts (and genitals).

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The Journal of Universal Rejection. Every issue is empty. Nothing is worthy.

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Just as I thought. Rocking motions synchronize brain waves. I find that with gentle rocking, I can meditate much easier and be free of distracting thoughts. You can focus on a candle flame, on a bell tone, on a mantra, or you can focus on rhythmic motions.

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How to spot exceptionally talented people. You know them by their actions.

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7 December 2023

It was only a matter of time. Some students are trying degrade Stanford. "Students asked for favors like '[p]roper academic accommodations" for Black students". 

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https://techcrunch.com/2023/12/06/googles-gemini-isnt-the-generative-ai-model-we-expected/ , though. Gemini may be more evolutionary than revolutionary.

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I can see why. Psychologists say they can't meet the growing demand for mental health care. Too many mentally ill now. Not enough therapists.

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This author mocks Atty Gen. Ken Paxton for using absolute risk, instead of the relative risk that she prefers. Actually, Paxton is correct. Absolute risk is what we should be considering. Relative risk can be gamed. In truth the risk of getting COVID-19 may have been worthy of mitigating, but with each variant, the benefit of getting the vax product was outweighed by the risk. Paxton is right to sue. Vaccines are killing people.

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Donald Knuth gave his annual Christmas lecture last night.  If you missed it, here it is.

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6 December 2023

How does Shazam work?  This answers a question I've had for a long while. Whenever I hum a melody or play a tune on the piano, Shazam doesn't recognize what I play. But only after a few seconds from an overhead speaker at a store, and the song identity comes up quickly. Shazam is not looking at melodic structure. It's just doing spectral matching. So it's got to hear the exact song being played, that has the same soundprint. Otherwise, it's a no-go.

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Looks like Asian immigrants in Seattle are being specifically targeted for thefts. Because they are "unlikely to be armed, less confrontational, and have cash on hand".  And Asian immigrants like to go to casinos. And it doesn't help that Little Vietnam is right next to Rainier Avenue, where the criminal class tends to live.  Asians have got to arm themselves.  

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More bad news for for Legacy. After all these years, black people in the Albina neighborhood want reparations for land that Legacy Emanuel Hospital was built on. 

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So sperm donations will no longer be anonymous in a growing number of states. Naturally, LGBT folks and those that are infertile are concerned, because this will definitely lead to a decline in donors. Who would want the hassle later on?

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Wasabi improves memory. But only the real stuff. Not the fake green-colored horseradish that's much more common.

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This was Einstein's goal. New theory claims to unite Einstein's gravity with quantum mechanics. If only the old guy were around to see it.

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What would a magnitude 15 earthquake be like?

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AI-generative imagery can predict what you are thinking about. One step closer to actual mind reading. We're not there yet, however.

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This Japanese musician, Michiru Aoyama, writes, records and releases an album every day.  It's ambient, stuff, much of it repetitious and very much reminiscent of William Basinski, if you like that kind of stuff.  But many do – he's got his fans.

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Better make sure you're using all those psychology terms properly. I might get triggered if you don't.

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Children with liberal parents more likely to suffer mental health problems.

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This is what Oregon schools have become. Oregon Health Authority to offer free opioid overdose reversal kits to middle, high schools. As they say, the world you grew up in no longer exists.  And now, schools have to factor in race and gender identity to determine how you should be disciplined for misbehaving.

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Here's the next battleground. Hospitals and insurance companies fight over money. Insurance companies think that increases in reimbursement should just be a few percentage points, while hospitals say that's crap – expenses have increased by "50% to 74%".  This is why employed doctors are unionizing, because naturally the hospitals will take the cost-savings from their salaries, especially doctors are typically sheep, and will continue to do their job, because of their dedication.

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Turn off push notifications.  Apple Confirms Governments Using Push Notifications to Surveil Users. I can't believe the lengths the government will go to spy on citizens. Now they're tracking all the push notifications that people get on their phones. Which means they track all text-messaging.

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I opened (Google's) Bard webpage, typed:
"When is Gemini going to be rolled out?"
Bard answered:
"Please clarify the specific product or service you are referring to by "Gemini." There are multiple applications and services with the name Gemini. Here are a few examples:
Gemini Exchange: A cryptocurrency exchange platform that is currently available to users in select regions. There is no official date set for a global rollout.
Gemini Spacecraft: A planned private human spaceflight program that is still in development. There is no official date set for the first launch.
Gemini (chat app): A social media messaging app that is currently available on iOS and Android. There are no plans for a wider rollout at this time.
If you are referring to a different product or service, please provide more context so I can provide an accurate answer."

Then I provided Bard the reference article from Slashdot:
"Gemini reference: https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... [slashdot.org]"
And Bard answered:
"I'm just a language model, so I can't help you with that."

Looks like Bard hates competition.

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5 December 2023

A vote on Texas secession could appear on the ballot next March. It's more like a simple poll than anything substantive. Interesting, the things that happen during a rotten presidency.

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A tax break for veterans. Sounds reasonable to me.

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Mathematics, reading skills in unprecedented decline in teenagers. The world is getting dumber and dumber, just as A.I. is getting better and better. When the bots take over, we have only ourselves to blame. It's not just the USA, it's Canada, too.

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The science is in. Undergoing gender re-assignment surgery does not decrease the suicide risk.

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Edward Dowd continues to sound the alarm about the alarming rise in cancers in the UK, which he suspects is due to the vaccine. It wasn't a problem until 2021, about a year after the mRNA vaxxes became available. Someone should look into that here.

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Embracing change and resetting expectations.  Terry Tao has excellent comments on A.I. and how academics will be incorporating it into their workflow. Expect "embarrassing mistakes, controversies, painful disruptions, heated debates, and hasty decisions". The transition to an A.I. world will not be smooth. 

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4 December 2023

Yikes!  Hundreds Of Illegal Chinese-Owned Marijuana Operations Taking Over Maine. I can't imagine an American company set up in China for marijuana production.

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Massachusetts is facing a manpower shortage as boomers retire. Folks have retired all the time. Why is this a problem now? Why aren't there qualified replacements? Hmmm.....

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Another article on Providence's anesthesiologist shortage. The fact that an out-of-state group was selected to replace an in-state medical group probably doesn't sit well. And when surgeons don't make money, they will probably look to leave. And hospital revenue drops, which makes other things more stressful, like paying those nurses who recently got pay raises. Why is this just Providence's problem? The reporter should have asked himself that obvious question.

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NYT discusses Why Doctors and Pharmacists Are in Revolt. Most doctors are employees now, thanks to Obamacare making it harder to run an independent practice, and rewarding hospitals with favorable reimbursement rates. It became less tenable to hang out your own shingle, and less risky to just be a hospital employee. But that has repercussions. At long last, doctors are getting tired of getting treated like another cog in the wheel. While it's good that they're speaking up, what are they really going to do? Stop treating patients? Doctors are restricted from owning their own hospital. All they can do is move to a better paying rival, but that's not practical in many situations. Hospitals have leverage, and they know it.

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Yes, at least one hospital could use some help. Kotek’s $600M homeless bailout (while police, elections, hospitals get ignored). Dealing with late-stage problems is always more expensive than when it is early, and could have been nipped in the bud. The homeless problem will be Oregon's money sinkhole for a long, long time.

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Why does sleep become more elusive as we age?  Is it really true that older folks need less sleep? I agree with the article that getting quality sleep is more problematic as one ages. For this ronin, I find that getting older, I have more things of concern that percolate through my dreams and cause me to wake up earlier than planned. You accumulate these memories as you get older, and you have to learn how to deal with them. Sleep is essential at clearing accumulated toxins. We have a nightly rinse cycle. Not sleeping well might promote dementia. Can't have that. 

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Meanwhile, China "created a genome-editing system" that reduced the effect of a mutated MEF2C gene in mice, reducing their autistic behavior.  The thought is that it might lead to a treatment for ASD in humans. Maybe. Lots of steps in between, however.

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No global warming? EPA reports that only 19% of weather stations in the U.S. have shown an increase in temperature since 1948. I keep seeing reports of some day being the hottest day ever. But then we have scenes like we have in Bavaria, and somehow that's also due to climate change, and it's going to be worse because there's a gas shortage. Brought on because of climate change activism. Can't win, right?


Perhaps that is why the COP28 summit leader admitted that there is “no science” that says phasing out fossil fuels is necessary" to keep global warming under a critical threshold. Voice of sanity.

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A growing number of companies aren't requiring bachelors degree anymore. The good news is that you might qualify to get a job there now. The bad news is that there's a reason why they don't care about you having a college education. They say they are doing it for "equity" reasons. Do they mean equality? Is this a tacit assumption that a degree from many colleges are meaningless anyway? 

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Red wave washing into Idaho. People just want sanity and safety. To live in a society where the law applies to everyone, not just non-Democrats. Where there is stability so that you can operate a business and take on some risk. Who can run a business in Portland or Seattle these days? Like the insanity where Portland raises taxes, then offers tax-incentives to prevent businesses from fleeing the city. 

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Alaskan Airlines is buying out Hawaiian Airlines. Hope they won't change the unique ambience of the airline in the name of cost-savings.

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Ron Wyden wants to tax Netflix, and other streaming services. A "digital service tax" "modeled after Europe".

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3 December 2023

It boggles the mind that there are still defenders of Measure 110.

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There will be an injectable medication (LOY-001) that will extend the life of large dogs. An FAQ here. Available in 2026.

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Japanese tourists made Hawaii rich in the 1990s. Those were heady times in Hawaii. All those luxury shops and fancy gourmet restaurants opened up. It was unreal. Now, Japanese tourists are steering clear of Hawaii. It's partly due to the weak yenm but also inflation in Hawaii, driving up prices.

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Huh? Graffiti crimes in Washington won't be prosecuted, because a Seattle judge thinks it infringes on the graffiti "artist"'s First and Fourth Amendment rights.

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You thought the Boston Dynamics robots were scary? This is scary.

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Main-in voting, so easy to cheat. 140 mail-in ballots were found in a mailbox. Uncounted, of course. This needs to stop. We can vote in person.

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Maui still has no leader for their Emergency Management Agency four months later.

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Gen-Zers are not even trying anymore. They can't get the jobs they want, so they are just "radically resting". Yeah, whatever.

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ChatGPT can leak private details. Kind of like when Spock tricked a computer to computing the last digit of pi. Asking ChatGPT to perform an impossible task can cause it to derail.

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2 December 2023

Taxpayers are footing a bill of $1 million/month for Fauci's security detail.  Even though he's "retired". How about we fund his jail cell instead?

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Number of nonbinary-identifying students spikes nearly 57% in Oregon.

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This is what happens when you let a problem get massive. It's a lot more expensive to fix. Kotek plans to seek $600 million more for housing, homelessness in 2024 session.

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Portland Public Schools are not going to suspend bad-behaving students anymore. Kids need to seek other means of education. And after all the time away while teachers were striking we have this:

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Republicans are really fleeing Washington. The Democrats can have their dystopia all to themselves now.

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Well that's not going to make people want to help anymore. No Aloha Spirit anymore. No love for tourists. This is the second phase of the Lahaina debacle. Auwe.

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Progress?  Have you seen any progress?  Pearl District will stop removing graffiti. Funds ran out. I guess the taggers won.

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Tinnitus is linked to hidden auditory nerve damage. I know a couple of folks that have a severe case of tinnitus. Now that they have more insight, treatment may be directed to reversing this. But to me, it looks more serious, and a treatment might be even father away.

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1 December 2023

How do you miss that many?  Japan just found 7,000 islands it didn’t know it had. i can see one or two, but 7000? Were they not paying taxes? Did they not receive government services? So many questions.

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This is why PTSD is so strong.  Brain Study Suggests Traumatic Memories Are Processed as Present Experience.  It feels like it just happened.

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In mice, researchers restore lost brain function after stroke. The mice were given a metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR5) inhibitor. Sounds promising.

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And in C elegans, it was found that neural transmissions can occur wirelessly. Yes, it's like they have WiFi neural transmissions. How does that work? Neurons release neuropeptides into the milieu, and this drifts away and stimulates another neuron far away. It's unclear how efficient this is.

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Guess which tiny country is grabbing 15% of NVIDIA's chips? Singapore! They're building datacenters, and plan to be a hub for A.I. research, cryptocurrency, online gaming and business digitalization.

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Oregonians need $10,000 more to live like how they did in 2021.  Did you get a pay raise for that much? 

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Who was the worst politician in 2023?  So many contenders. That sicko Eugene teacher is definitely up there.

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What post-COVID recovery? Pioneer Place is an abandoned dystopian shopping mall. Really sad. So many people were expecting a resurgent economic boom as we came out of quarantine. It was going to be glorious, they said. And here's Portland's 10 worst neighborhoods to live in.

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And speaking of medical misconduct, here's a guy who is accused of falsifying stroke research, where it almost became a treatment to give people an agent called 3K3A-APC.  It was supposed to "reduce the brain cell death, bleeding, and inflammation that can follow a stroke" but "the experimental remedy might have actually increased deaths in the first week after treatment". 

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'Didn't really think that through'  Portland Public Schools will cut winter break in half to make up for lost days during strike. Parents aren't happy with the strike outcome. Will the teachers show up the week prior to Christmas?

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30 November 2023


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New SARS-CoV2 variant.  Do we care?

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So all that talk about Sam Altman being fired because there was some problem with AI safety and dangerous technology being released – was all smoke.

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Not good. More Americans (2.3%) are taking out 401(k) money to cover expenses. Not good, because things aren't going to get better. This is kicking the can down the road, but the road is going to get steeper, and kicking the can is going to get harder to do.

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Mental health problems.  Nurses describe Seattle Children’s Hospital as a ‘combat zone’ after dozens of alleged attacks.  Pretty soon, there'll be a shortage of pediatric nurses, too. Children's hospitals weren't combat zones before. Why are things so bad now?

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So the Oregon Governor Establishes AI Advisory Council. I wondered if this might be a way to increase A.I. programs in Oregon, to train data scientists and develop deep learning programs and research. But it's going to be staffed by someone from the Department of Administrative Services Cultural Change Officer and someone from the Governor’s Racial Justice Council.

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Wow. Could there really be a 27,000 man-made pyramid? I saw the pictures, and the structure doesn't look natural to me. And would ape-like creature be motivated to drag large stones and align them just like that?  I don't think so.

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29 November 2023

Easy to see why.  Higher Education Linked to Increased Risk of Depression and Anxiety. 

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This is why taxes have to increase.  City’s Transportation Bureau Paid Contractor $299,000 to Develop App It Won’t Use. Waste, waste, waste.

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Why does the Oregon Food Bank bank need more money? They should be loaded.

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