Sugoi & Yokunai

How to write email with military precision. This is not for everyone.  Apply the Bruce Lee principle here.––– 凄い –––
SeattleProgress. Very interesting map of all the new developments around Seattle.  I'll go back to this time and again.

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Reddit is erasing all the comments made prior to January 2023.  What a waste.  All that treasure trove of knowledge.  Poof.  All gone.

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Quirky flaw in ChatGPT.  Some simple phrases can bring it down.

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Is this for real?  The first ambient room temperature superconductor?  Been fooled before, right?
Edit: More info at phys.org.

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Do you have to ask?  Was I Right to Call the Cops on a Black Man Breaking Into a Car?  In a blue city, such as Portland or Seattle, yeah, you should think hard about it.  But in a small town?  Sure.

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The Japanese population continues to decline.  Lots of reasons for this, but the men are not as manly as in the past.  No Toshiro Mifunes anymore.  But lots of otakus. 

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Here's the rub about climate change.  John Kerry is so arrogant telling other countries that they must cut back their CO2 emissions, essentially stalling their economic growth, just so he can look good back in the U.S.  Meanwhile, Kerry flies private planes and lives large.

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A lot of folks are deriding Elon Musk for letting Twitter fail, but few talk about The Washington Post, which is also experiencing spectacular decline.  Go woke, go broke.

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Those walkout Oregon GOP senators are planning to run again.  That's great.  Why should only Dems get to break Oregon's laws?

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We Asked Elected Officials to Explain What They’re Doing About the Social Cost of Fentanyl in Downtown Portland.  Of course, it was all excuses.  I know what I would do for starters – clean slate.  That would be a great move.

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Read more

Oregon received $688 million to expand broadband in rural communities.  Maybe the cheapest and quickest solution would be to just set up Starlink connections for those interested, they would probably be against this because it would be supporting Elon Musk. 

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Some geeks are upset that the major tech companies will impose attestation token requirements on hardware in order to provide zero-knowledge proof that a legitimate entity is making an http request.  Because there are bots and fraud, and CAPTCHA is getting in people's way.  The Web Environment Integrity initiative was started by Google (of course) and they have their best interest at heart, right?  Bad players making life difficult for everyone.  Why does this remind me of Portland?

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Another scam?  Or investment opportunity?  Sam Altman launched WorldCoin in October 2021, which is part cryptocurrency (based on Etherium 2) but also a worldwide ID system, to identify you as a unique human, based on retinal scan.  I read their FAQ, and am still not convinced that it will take off.  It appears that this isn't available in the U.S. anyway.  And then I read that Sam Bankman-Fried is a founding investor, and yeah, I think I'm going to hold off (why isn't that guy in jail anyway?).

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How to navigate medical privacy in today's landscape.  I came looking for tips, but just got discouraged.  You may try to maintain privacy, but once you release any confidential information, it's passed on everywhere, and it's no longer in your control.  I think what we need to have is a system of tokens, where you control what information is accessible.  A company needs to be created that issues tokens to healthcare systems that is in control by the patient.  This token can be revoked.  Sure, it's a new inconvenience for doctors, but things are different now.  No longer are your medical secrets just between you and your physician.  That information is networked, and all healthcare systems linked to the doctor's office can access that information now.  No more secrets, despite whatever HIPAA says. 

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Bruce Lee and me.  A nice excerpt from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's biography.  Can't believe it's been that long. 

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The Three Things exercise.  A novel way of making sure you listen to that math lecture. 

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Cannabis can alter gene expression.  Well this is new.  It may not alter your DNA, but by making epigenetic changes, like changing methylation on histones, it can alter gene expression, which can cause changes just as significant.  Worth it, guys?

Yeah, not all cannabis plants are the same.  Some strains have a very high THC/CBD ratio.  Things have changed since marijuana was first legalized.

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Many vital drugs are in short supply.   How to fix this?  Do we want to have the government take over the pharmaceutical industry?  Hell no, the disadvantages quickly outweigh any short-term benefits.  But the author has a point – the problem may be in the long length of time that drugs are kept from becoming generic.  Shortening that interval increases the likelihood that generic drugs that are valuable and drive demand will be manufactured by others.  Sounds like a win-win. 

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Portland City Council should take note.  This is what happens when a committee tries to solve a problem.  Nothing gets done.  The VA needed a new medical record system (EHR) to replace the old one.  Committees were formed, led by political appointees with little relevant experience (boy, have I seen that).  The result - confusion and patient deaths.  The problem is that the selection of commercially available EHRs isn't great.  Cerner's Powerchart UI needs an overhaul, and is clunky to use.  Epic is popular with hospitals but is very, very expensive and has a cluttered busy interface with a steep learning curve.  There is no competition for excellence in the commercial EHR world as there is in consumer software.  EHR vendors sell to hospitals, touting their auditing and tracking capabilities.  Ease of use?  Improving physician or nursing efficiency?  Nah. 

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What Most People Still Get Wrong About COVID Management.  Well, naturally with a title like that, I had to click.  The author rests his arguments on the trope "Hey, we just didn't know back then what we know now.  So cut us some slack with the criticisms, will ya?".    No, no, no.  Just because YOU didn't know, doesn't mean some of the rest of us didn't.  Just because YOU didn't look at what was happening and say to yourself "Boy, that doesn't make sense – we should be doing something else instead."  And remember, the Dems in Congress were strongly against Trump.  Fauci was against Trump (apparently that weasel Pence was the person that recommended both Fauci and Birx).  So there was no hope of any unified response.  We were told to social distance 6 feet, when it was clear that the virus doesn't linger around your head like a cloud.  We were told to mask up, but never what kind of mask to use, or how to dispose of them when done. No one cared that masks went into the wastebasket.  Gloves were worn for prolonged periods and not exchanged between each human contact as they should.  The science was selective.  This is one of many clues that this whole thing might just be a huge charade.  So much credibility has been lost.  So Tomas, when we say you should have known, we aren't talking about "how could we have known" knowledge.  We're just saying that we were right all along, and that you (and the media) should have given more credence to the skeptics.  We saw the clues, which were everywhere.  If only you had just looked for them.

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StackOverflowed.  The techies have their own mental health support system.  Or is it just a place to vent?  (Color me paranoid, but the Internet is not the place to let it all hang out, you know?)

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Big chunks of asbestos are strewn in the Parkrose neighborhood around the burned-down K-mart.  When will Portlanders have had enough?

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Even Portugal, Portland's role model, is rethinking their response to the drug problem.  Seriously, who thought this was going to work?
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City of Portland will stop funding the Regional Arts and Culture Council.  Great move.  I mean, look around.  We have plenty of art work from under-represented people, don't we?  I see it on the overpasses and fences everywhere I look.  Why do we need to pay a council for this "artwork"?

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There's hope for the younger generation after all.

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Seattle's going up in flames, and Mayor Harrell is silent.  Another example of how diversity is Seattle's strength.  When will Seattlites have had enough?

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Nobel laureate John Clauser has had his planned speech cancelled.  He doesn't believe that there is a climate crisis and was going to present the science as to why he thinks so.

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The new silicon-based speakers sound exciting.  I've been meaning to try out the AirPods Pro 2.  Guess this is the sign that I needed.

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CBDC is here.  The FedNow system is now up and running.  This is how it starts. 

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Sergey Brin is back at Google to assist with their A.I. efforts.  Google hasn't been number one in this field, and I suspect he wants to correct that.

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CBRE ranked U.S. and Canadian cities for tech talent.  Seattle came out at #2 and surprisingly, Portland made the list at #24. 

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Fall asleep in 2 minutes?  This is apparently a skill that the military teaches you.

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Recipe for chaos.  Google is testing having A.I. write news articles.  Although with the recent decline in quality of journalism, I can understand.

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You don't just want to be rich.  You want to be rich and anonymous.

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Legacy Health is in dire straits.  They're having to sell assets.  OHSU and Providence have deeper pockets, and the state legislature will always bail out OHSU.  But Legacy seems to be the most vulnerable.  

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I kid you not.  Multnomah County spent money purchasing pamphlets instructing people how to enjoy stuffing drugs up their butt.  How long are Portland tax payers going to put up with this crap?  Who thought this was a good idea?

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In Portland, you can't enjoy a nice day at a street fair without getting your eye blown off.

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The consequences of letting the homeless set things on fire.  Homes in the surrounding neighbood might have been exposed to toxic fumes.  How long is it going to be before people have had enough?

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Labeling too simplistically.  Introvert vs extrovert.  What if there was an in-between?  Ambivert?  Maybe Mesovert?  Both could be correct, depending on the context.

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Modern education.  Apparently in Texas, you can get a degree in Victim Studies.  Would like fries with that order?

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Color me surprised.  Biden's latest student loan forgiveness was supposed to cost "only" $39 billion.  Well, it's actually $475 billion - yeah, nearly half a trillion.  So what will Congress do? 

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Good luck with that.  Portland homeowner wants to sue city because he can't sell his home.  No one wants to buy.  We'll definitely see more of this.

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Honeymoon's over.  GPT-4 is getting worse.  People have different ideas of why this might be.  Well, it was fun while it lasted.  Hey, Priya, maybe you can keep your job?

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It's a new world for doctors.  Unionizing - who would have thought doctors would do this?  But lately, doctors are finding that they are on the short end of things.  There is no reduction in demands placed on them, yet since the government has taken over their reimbursement, they are facing things like a pay cut - to good doctors and bad doctors alike.  There is no difference in quality of doctors in the system.  Unless you really screw up, everyone is all the same.

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COVID vaccine related lawsuits are increasing, and the media is taking notice.  All the vaccine defenders are crying foul, as they see their message being cast by the wayside, as people realize the damage that has occurred by the vaccine and vaccine policy.

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Playing chess and doing crosswords can stave of dementia.  Probably anything that requires concentration and mental effort will do this, but it's good to get confirmation. 

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Yet another article claiming that many clinical trials in medicine are probably junk.  Here's another article about using Photoshop to cheat.  Whereas I had been thinking that artificial intelligence would help to eliminate the bad studies, I'm afraid that many bad actors are using A.I. to actually add to the junk.

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Which scientists have saved the most human lives?  Yeah, we've heard of Pasteur and maybe Jenner, but the ones the saved the most lives - unless you studied biology, physics or engineering, you've probably not heard of them.

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"Helping cops spy better".  While I'm glad it's being used to catch crooks more efficiently, any tech like this can be abused.

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Portland is the Number 2 wild party city in the nation.  Huh?  Maybe this is why:

According to The Online Betting Guide, which gathered data from City Data, County Health Rankings and The Ultimate Strip Club List, 22% of adults in Portland “heavily binge drink/drink heavily” and 21.3% of people in the city have admitted to doing cocaine while 64.2% have admitted to using cannabis.

That's what a party city is?  Sounds like a city that needs an intervention.

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