Holodomor

It is a FUCKING INSANE idea that when a country decides to invade another one, that the invaded country should allow it to happen, and just surrender to preserve life and property. Most often (as with Russia attempting to conquer Ukraine) the invasion is for the purpose of genocide, theft and destruction. It seems, though, that Russia supporters are the only ones spouting that sort of nonsense these days. And of course they do not claim the same thing about the native people of North America — that is, no one is saying that they should’ve just meekly surrendered to the British, Spanish et al. and hoped for the best.

Clownish hypocrites, every single one of them. Russia also wishes to take Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and most of all, Poland. Should that just be allowed? That’s all good? Those countries should just go ahead and surrender now? Jesus Fucking Christ. Also, if China decides it wants North America, we should just say, “OK, we surrender?” That just allows anyone who plays by jungle rules to do whatever they want. Is that really a world we want to live in. I. Do. Fucking. Not. How can anyone’s brain get this broken?

Not that long ago, Russia got what it wanted in Ukraine and this happened.

The idea that the minute any country acts hostile to another one, the country experiencing the hostile actions should just expose their belly is, again, FUCKING INSANE.

Cloneage

Tons of people on Reddit (et al.) say this is impossible. But in actuality, it has been possible for a few years now. There’s only going to be more of this as AI gets cheaper and better.

Clip

Peter Thiel said somewhere that the age of AI will favor those with strong social skills over those who are great at math. I reluctantly tend to agree with that, for various reasons.

The reality is that AI is only going to get better, even if you don’t believe in the Yudkowskian paperclip maximizer scenario (I do not; at least not for 300-500 years). We are merely in the early stages now. Already, AI is better at many things than 80% of people. In 3-7 years, AI will be better at even more things and beat 95% of people in those areas.

That’s true even if AI is currently overhyped (which it is). No, it won’t be useful in all areas and in some areas it will hardly be useful at all. But the reality is that most people are little better most of the time than a next-word predictor and AI will be replacing the majority of them. For instance, there’s not a single interaction I’ve had with Microsoft Azure support that a modern LLM could not have handled in a superior manner. And AI will of course also replace people in areas where it doesn’t actually work but an MBA thinks it does.

So that should be something.

Ryan Air

Everything you love or hate about American politics in the year 2024 is the result of a TV cyborg from the late 1990s.

Regardless of why Jeri Ryan was added to the cast of Voyager, as an actor she was the best part of the show. The eps focused on her were better than all the rest, and she exhibited more range than the rest of the cast except perhaps Katherine Mulgrew (Janeway).

I couldn’t find it on YouTube and it’s been twenty years since I watched it, but there was one episode where Seven was talking about her difficulty in integrating back into human society after the trauma of being assimilated into the Borg and then the further shock of having to leave that behind and adapt to a now-foreign culture. It was just perfect and heartbreaking. Jeri did a lot with a little and I always appreciated how much she gave to what could’ve been just a trivial eye candy part.

Unfortunately, she helped elect Obama by accident. She didn’t mean to, so I don’t hate her for it.

They were drawn to โ€˜Old Florida.โ€™ Now they live in the new hurricane alley.

U.S. agency calls for urgent action on Boeing 737 rudder systems.

Better privacy can be one click away. Google and Apple wonโ€™t allow it.

Americaโ€™s Young Men Are Falling Even Further Behind.

Tiny Hippos And Elephants Once Roamed Cyprus, Until Humans Arrived.

Lina Khan Doesnโ€™t Need to Be Confirmed Again.

The short history of global living conditions and why it matters that we know it.

Mercurial cores.

Your cells are dying. All the time.

US is on track to set a new record for homeless people with over 650K living on the streets.

Once again: Imports do not subtract from GDP.

America is becoming less โ€œwoke.โ€

Why Kamala Harris Wants to Stockpile Minerals Youโ€™ve Probably Never Heard Of. These aren’t even uncommon minerals?

Europeโ€™s Quest to Rearm Runs Into Red Tape, Lack of Cashโ€”and Meditation.

The word “nature” and the word “techno” mean the same thing. Depends if you look at it from the past or from the future. For example, a little cabin in the mountains: an ape thinks it’s techno, it is the future. But for us it has become nature. We must live with both. It is very important. We can’t be just nature or just techno.

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