Sugoi & Yokunai

Sign of the times.  San Francisco's Union Square Hilton is being abandoned by the owner.  So worthless is the property now that it was not worth throwing more money at it.  Who would have believed this would happen a few years ago?

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The finally admitted it.  Multnomah County leadership has no actual plan to end homelessness.  It's always the same excuse: "citing a lack of coordination between the government agencies".  Can't do anything because of other people.

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I used to recommend GoodRx.  Thought it was a good way for people to save on prescription money.  But apparently they've been sharing customer information with Facebook, Google and others.  Trust lost.

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What happens when all the competent people drop out? There's an assumption made that there is a supply of more competent people waiting to take their place, but is that true?

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Hibernation can be triggered by ultrasound in animals that don't ordinarily hibernate.  Cool.

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Pixar's latest wokey-woke movies have lost so much money that they're having to fire people.  Including the woman who rescued Toy Story 2 from having been accidentally expunged.  The folks at Hacker News are none too pleased about this particular firing.  And when will the media learn - it's not that people hate gays.  And there's no "phobia".  People just hate being proselytized to.  Enough with the gay/transgender pandering already!

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The machines are laughing at us now.  Hawaii tourists keep following GPS and drive into the ocean.  Just like The Office episode.  And it's been said that a doctor who uses A.I. will be more powerful than a doctor who doesn't use A.I.  Well that's not necessarily true.

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Remember Usenet?  Why did it fail?  It wasn't because of moderation or reputation.  The user interface was fine for what the geeks wanted.  I liked that fact that you had to have some techie knowledge to get on to the system.  That kept the system more restricted to techies and geeks.  We loved it.  No crap from influencers and their ilk.  And it was decentralized, so you didn't have to see woke crap and virtual signaling like you have with modern social media.  Reddit was getting to be a Usenet replacement, but it started to have woke managers, and blocked free speech.  I got banned from a subreddit for posting a study urging caution for the mRNA products.  That would have never happened in the Usenet world.

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Grail's Galleri blood test may speed up the diagnosis of cancer.  Well, for some people, maybe too fast.  Yikes!

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Almost science fiction.  Woman's brain implant removed against her will.

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I'm sure it'll be missed.  No more J&J COVID-19 vaccine.  It seemed like the only advantage was getting one jab instead of two.  But one needs to wonder if the real risks of the vaccine outweigh any benefits.

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Typical.  Bills are being proposed to eliminate the kicker and keep the money.  This is theft.

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intelligent brains take longer to solve difficult problems than non-intelligent brains.  This could explain a LOT of observations.  Perhaps there is science behind the Dunning-Kruger effect?

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A.I. eavesdropper.  And when you see the doctor, A.I. might be listening, too, and may secretly tell the doctor that you're depressed.

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Center for Delusional Control.  There's already a decline of trust in the medical profession.  Still, the Biden administration selects this person to be the new CDC director. 

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Don't pay it!  Democrats want to charge Republican senators with a $325/day fee for the walkout.  It was legal for them to do so.  They shouldn't pay this.  What are the Dems going to about that?

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Bye, Reddit.  Reddit is eyeing an IPO, and will start charging usage fees.  Well, it was fun while it lasted.  I guess they figured that since Twitter survived with fees, so will Reddit.  Well, there is so much short-term money to be made, so the current leadership will do what's necessary to satisfy Wall Street.

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Remember these?  I had a Psion 3a.  In some ways, 1990s PDA hardware was ahead of its time (like the original Palm Pilot).

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Ah, Democrats.  Laws are for other people, not them.  FTX money scandal entraps Kotek, AG … and Wyden?  Wanna bet any of them will have to return money, or get penalized for it?  

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The face of COVID fear.

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Fake wealth.  This is now the American lifestyle is sustained.  We just go deeper into debt.  So far, the world is going along with it, but for how long?

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More A.I. alarm.  A.I. poses extinction risk.  CAIS calls for A.I. regulation.  Meanwhile two A.I. boffins warn about the real risks of A.I. I do predict that in the next few months, people using A.I. will come to realize that although it seemed like they were getting quality output, they're now seeing what I call "information entropy".  People are already noticing it - like here and here.  As with many "good things" once you open it up to the public, things will start to degrade.

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Self-inflicted wound.  Target shares continue to decline.  Plus, JPM downgrade.  Lesson: Stay out of politics.  And Budweiser doubles down.  This will not end well. 

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College loan payers will have to pay again soon.  Prepare for the wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

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This is why I stopped using Kaspersky for my computer.  Geez, how embarrassing to be a computer security company, then have your own systems compromised.

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Can an octopus have nightmares?  It sure looks like it. 

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An eating disorder helpline was planning to use a ChatBot and fire their human staff, probably to save money.  Well that didn't go well. 

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"Increased IgG4 synthesis due to repeated mRNA vaccination with high antigen concentrations may also cause autoimmune diseases, and promote cancer growth and autoimmune myocarditis in susceptible individuals."

Once you've got the booster, and you start producing IgG4 subclass instead of IgG1, your immune system is messed up.

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Coming soon, to a shoreline near you.  There's a new organism that threatens to make you very sick if you fall into its scum.  And it loves plastic waste.

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When I started this blog, it was meant to be a place where an old geek could talk about things that would be of interest to an older geek.  Never planned it to be so political, but these things weigh into one's life, such that it can't be helped.  The COVID-19 pandemic may have ended, however America is facing another pandemic that started about the same time - a form of mental illness along with a sense of superiority that everyone must think the same way - following a certain narrative.  And that failure to do so justifies violence.  The part that is especially concerning is that much of the government is afflicted by this mental illness, and this has given to a form of corruption that cannot be ignored.  It's the new Gleichschaltung.

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Oregon Senate Republicans remains steadfast.  I have nothing but good things to say about it.  They are doing God's work.

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Yoshua Bengio joins the group of A.I. "godfathers" who are concerned that the technology can destroy humanity.  He is also joined by folks like Stephen Hawking.  The young folks just think the technology is great, and use it with wild abandon.  They also work to make it ubiquitous, so that everyone can give it a try.  Nothing to worry about, right?

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Honorable sacrifice.  Today is Memorial Day, where we pay respects to the ultimate sacrifice made by those who died in battle. 

There's another type of sacrifice, and that is by Oregon Senate Republicans, who are willing to forego re-election so that they can kill crazy Democrats bills. To them, I give a salute as well. 

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Money isn't solving the homelessness crisis. No matter how much the Legislature allocates, the problem remains.  The Oregonian editorial board is realizing that all those agencies have been ineffective.  Just there to take money.  Nothing to show for it.

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Spies are everywhere.  Be careful what you post to social media sites.  The FBI and corporations are listening.

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Arms race.  Music corporations are fighting to have Google take down sites that advertise streaming of YouTube videos.  Many online streaming services have been taken down as a result.  So in order to save the videos for personal use, you have to use something like 4K-Video Downloader, which works quite well. Or the 4K-Video to MP3 if I just want the music for my mp3 player.

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Why people don't trust doctors. A retired doctor is being disciplined by the Washington State Medical Commission because he published an article critical of Washington's COVID-19 policies.  Thankfully, he was granted a stay of injunction by a sensible judge, while they decide his case.  Sheesh, doctors can be muzzled, just as much as they can be forced to get the jab against their will if they want to continue to work.

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