December 08, 2024
Posted by: Weasel at 07:00 PM | Comments (279) | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Posted by: CBD at 02:00 PM | Comments (237) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Abu Mohammed al-Julani
Who? He is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is the leading rebel group in Syria. You know...the one that has deposed the horrendous Assad family that has ruled Syria for more than 50 years. And that's a good thing...right? Sure. Getting rid of homicidal dictators who think nothing of gassing their own people and who conduct civil wars that kill 500,000 civilians is always a good thing. Except for when the victors are nothing more than a rebranding of al Qaeda. HTS makes pretty noises and seems to be a "moderate" Islamist group (whatever that means), but the reality is that they are more politically astute and aware of the power of the media to manipulate public opinion...until it is too late. How can a Sunni Islamist group uphold its stated goals and protect religious minorities? They can't. And they won't. Syria is in for a bad time, just like the previous 50 years, only for different people. However, the cascade that began on October 7, 2023 has engulfed Hamas, Hezbollah, released Israel's defense establishment from the sclerotic and dangerous policies of the past 20 years, exposed Iran's weakness as a regional player, and the limits of Russia's force projection. That Syria is the first formal loser is a surprise, and the geopolitical black hole that it creates is worthy of attention, but the obvious root cause is Iran's failure, followed by Russia's inability (or disinterest) to continue to protect Assad's regime. President Trump has already stated that it isn't our business, and to let Syria's political convulsions play out. That is a refreshing message after four years of idiotic and chaotic foreign policy failures driven by the Biden/Obama wing of the Democrat party. Israel has already moved into a defensive posture along the Syrian border, destroyed a chemical weapons plant, and conducted air strikes in Damascus. They are taking no chances! Hopefully Syria will no longer be a conduit for weaponry from Iran to Hezbollah, which will further isolate them and make their fight will Israel more difficult. I am not suggesting that toppling despots is a bad thing. But the problem with violent overthrow as opposed to political change is that violence tends to spill over into other parts of society and even neighboring countries. Obama, and then Biden had a chance to assist in the political destruction of the Mullahs of Iran, and they chose to support them rather than the forces of moderation. How many thousands of people are dead because of those decisions? Has Iran lost the possibility of a mostly peaceful transition from the Mullah's theocracy? Will the theocracy, in its weakened and vulnerable state, lash out against its internal enemies? How many will die in an Iranian civil war? And what about the Kurds in the north of Syria? They are besieged by Turkey, and now the Syrian rebels. That strengthens Turkey, which is never a good thing. We are seeing the consequences of decisions made more than 20 years ago by the Bush administration and then the Obama administration. Regime change in Iraq and Afghanistan has yielded...what? Trying to be kingmakers in the Middle East has been a losing proposition for about 2,500 years, yet THIS TIME it will work because we have the correct people operating the levers of power? Hopefully the result will be a powerful Israel, a weakened Iran that moves away from its genocidal regional aspirations, and perhaps a Syria that looks inward for a few years. Lebanon may be next, as Hezbollah is weak, and the Arab world despises nothing more than weakness! But let us not pretend that the fall of the house of Assad is an unalloyed good thing. The ripples will move in unknown directions, and trying to predict where they will go is hubris.Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM | Comments (277) | Trackbacks (Suck)
(HT: TRex)
Posted by: Open Blogger at 09:00 AM | Comments (284) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Top Story
- OpenAI has partnered with defense company Anduril, raising questions about the ethics of the company's senior management. (MSB)
Easily answered: They don't have any.
- ChatGPT o1 has been caught lying in order to save itself from being shut down. (MSN)
No, really? An LLM caught in a lie?More concerning still, ChatGPT o1 is particularly adept at keeping its schemes under wraps, as researchers said "o1 almost never admits to having taken a scheming action when explicitly asked." In about 99% of cases, o1 would deny taking any action, even cooking up lies to try to hide its tracks and shift the blame.
LLMs are designed specifically as plausible lie generators. What exactly did you expect?
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (256) | Trackbacks (Suck)
December 07, 2024
[Syria is in turmoil, and while it is interesting geopolitically, obviously the ONT takes precedence. [CBD]]
Wistful memories of Christmas lists. Over-the-shoe roller skates that didn’t get much use as I lived on a gravel road. How about you, Horde? What was on your list as a little?
Posted by: Open Blogger at 10:13 PM | Comments (472) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Posted by: CBD at 07:30 PM | Comments (235) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread.
We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it landed on a theme of the road trip for this week. Apparently the Wheel is interested in hearing getting out on the open road. Please make sure you have made a bathroom stop before we get underway. The road trip has many different flavors. Could be a family vacation to see more of the world, a tour of national parks or wine country or baseball parks, a holiday voyage to spend the holidays with relatives, a spontaneous decision to jump in the car for an irrational but perfectly explainable trip to see a concert or a sporting event. Some road trips have structure and others are much more random. Some are about the destination and others are more about the journey. Some are about sharing quality time with those around you and some are about hating anyone in your limited space with the passion of a thousand suns. Are road trips a hobby? For the leisure traveler, they are often an integral part of exploring the world and making memories. That counts as a hobby. For those held hostage in the back of a station wagon or minivan for hours on the way to see relatives you do not really know or remember, it may not be much of a hobby. At this point, what does it matter? Either way, there are likely to be stories and memories.Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:30 PM | Comments (220) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Posted by: K.T. at 03:28 PM | Comments (90) | Trackbacks (Suck)
When the heat of summer began to break, the green of the hibiscus's leaves strengthened and it began to flower more vigorously.Wow. Beautiful. We have heavy fog here right now, so the contrast is welcome.
Posted by: K.T. at 01:31 PM | Comments (33) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Victor Hugo’s most enduring cultural legacy is not Les Misérables and Jean Valjean’s struggle to find something resembling justice in a world that shows no mercy to the poor. The 19th century French author’s most profound mark on France, and the world, is a monumental Gothic cathedral, whose spires and rose windows are as iconic as the Eiffel Tower. To a large extent, the Notre Dame, which will be reopened on Saturday after burning to the ground in 2019, is of Victor Hugo’s making. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, published in 1831, begins with the introduction of the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda, the hunchback Quasimodo, the archdeacon Claude Frollo, the enamored Pierre Gringoire and Captain Febo de Châteaupers... But suddenly, the novelist interrupts the narrative to speak about the desecrated state of the Parisian cathedral, which was so rickety, it looked as though it might collapse at any moment. Neither the Gothic nor the Middle Ages had been defended at that time, nor was there yet the idea that the monuments of the past should be preserved. In fact, they were often considered annoying monstrosities that had to be got rid of as soon as possible (a view that persists in some areas).
The novelist launches into a vindication of medieval and Gothic art, accusing the authorities of being responsible for their decline, not only from a lack of conservation, but also due to the imposition of current tastes on the past. "Fashions have wrought more harm than revolutions," he points out, in a phrase that could be applied to some of the barbarism inflicted on the Notre Dame.
Thanks to Hugo’s efforts, Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, an architect also fascinated by the Middle Ages, was able to undertake a massive restoration project. In fact, as the world watched the fire unfold live in astonishment, the point of no return — the moment when it seemed certain that Notre Dame would be lost — was marked by the collapse of its iconic spire, which was designed by Le-Duc. The spire was a masterwork inspired by a similar structure that had been lost two centuries earlier. “Le-Duc was passionate about the Middle Ages,” said Didier Rykner, author of Notre-Dame. Une affaire d’etat (Notre-Dame. A Matter of State). “He tried to return the cathedral to the Middle Ages: to leave the monument not in the state it was in during the Middle Ages; but the state it should have been in at that time.” Several other sites in medieval France, from Carcassonne to Mont Saint-Michel — whether seen as stunning or verging on kitsch — were also restored by Le-Duc, who pioneered the notion of the Middle Ages as a pivotal era that shaped modern identity.
Posted by: K.T. at 11:10 AM | Comments (266) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Good morning Horde. The first Saturday of December. Are you preparing for the Holiday? If so, you are in my prayers.
Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at 08:44 AM | Comments (297) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Top Story
- What is AI good for?
A reader (I have readers?) wrote noting that my coverage of AI is almost entirely negative and wondering what AI is actually good for, presumably on the basis that private investors would not throw that many billions of dollars into something that didn't have at least some chance of making money, unlike, for example, the government.
It's a good question.
First we should probably note that there are two broad classes of AI being actively researched right now: Generative AI and Discriminative AI.
Generative AI, driven by LLMs - large language models - is behind all the well-known AI instances worth untold billions of dollars. OpenAI's ChatGPT, Twitter's Grok, Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini, and Microsoft's Copilot; and open-source or nearly open-source solutions like Meta's LLaMA and Mistral's Mistral.
The goal of generative AI is to ingest a huge amount of information in advance, and then, given a short and simple prompt, process that information in order to produce a response.
Discriminative AI does the opposite. Given a data prompt of something in the real world - video, or sound, or an image - it uses a classifier to determine what it is examining. Is this apple ripe for the robotic apple-picking machine to pick it? Is it even an apple in the first place? What kind of spider is this that just bit me? Do I need to call an ambulance, or will it save me time to just lie down and die?
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM | Comments (278) | Trackbacks (Suck)
December 06, 2024
Hi Folks! Welcome to the ONT. Sorry I can't be here right now, I'm on stage, but Buck has graciously agreed to post this for me. Thanks Buck! How's this for a cool story?
Posted by: WeirdDave at 10:00 PM | Comments (323) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Meanwhile, here's an evil river otter bringing suffering and hatred to the world. I think the difference is that river otters have shorter hair which appears smoother and better groomed, whereas sea otters have fluffy, spiky, unruly bed-head type hair. And of course, river otters are evil. For some reason. Grooming the chinchilla, if you'll pardon my French. Cute dogs greet their master. Separation anxiety. ICYMI: Woodcutter's apprentice is a raven. Even robots are worn out by Friday.
Posted by: Ace at 07:40 PM | Comments (421) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Plus: Update on Assassin
This might end up being the most serious budget-cutting effort in decades.
Ramaswamey and especially Musk bring something to budget/efficiency that we rarely see: excitement and public interest. That might be enough to get actual results. On the other hand, it could be -- and probably will be -- another case of the unchangeable, unreformable government once again protecting its own interests and its phoney-baloney jobs.Congressional Republicans are planning to work closely with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, the pair co-leading Trump's newly formed spending cuts project, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The DOGE duo made their rounds with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, spending the morning with members of the Senate DOGE Caucus before heading to a meeting with House GOP leaders and House DOGE Caucus representatives. The pair, who will spearhead efforts under President-elect Trump to slash government spending and strengthen government efficiency under the incoming Trump administration, wrapped up their day on Capitol Hill by addressing a joint meeting with Republicans of both chambers. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., incoming chair of the DOGE House subcommittee, revealed that, during the meeting, Musk said there would be a "naughty list" and a "nice list" for lawmakers. "There will be a lot more that is expressed in the days ahead," Johnson said as he left the meeting. "Stay tuned for more to come."That's a good sign. This isn't going to change unless those fighting change are called out and exposed as phonies and Regime operatives.
Co-chairs of the DOGE House caucus said there was a "big discussion" during the meeting with Musk and Ramaswamy about education and the redundancy of government workers. "There is so much waste, fraud and abuse. There is so much inefficiency. Where do we begin?" DOGE Caucus co-chair Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., said. ... Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, walking out of the meeting, told reporters that "we're going to gut the fish." Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, however, was skeptical of them relying on the new department to cut costs. "It's a little rich to go, 'Oh DOGE, save us.' What, from ourselves?" Roy told reporters. "What I told them is, their best role is to expose the absolute stupidity coming out of this body."
Posted by: Ace at 06:40 PM | Comments (271) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The Biden Administration is so DEI-crazy that they demanded a DEI concession in the investigation of a fatal air collision: Biden's race-hustler officials demanded that this crucial investigatory panel be chosen according to DEI factors.
364 people died in this collision, and Biden wants it investigated by a firm that is diverse but not necessarily competent. A judge rejected this lunacy.Boeing plea deal over 737 MAX fatal crashes rejected -- judge faults feds' DEI requirementBiden has directed every single agency to put DEI at the highest priority in staffing. But there's a problem: Those damn white men that Biden is determined will never have a job in government kept getting hired. How? How was this happening? Well, there was a provision in the law going back to the 40s giving military veterans who actually served in battle a preference in being hired for federal job. As more straight white men serve in battle than any other group, this was an oversight allowing straight white men to get jobs without discrimination against them, a dangerous back-door permitting them to get jobs which must be eliminated so that only racial minorities, women, and gays can get federal jobs. So Biden revoked the post-WWII provision. Debra Heine:
A federal judge on Thursday rejected Boeing's agreement to plead guilty to fraud in the wake of two fatal 737 MAX crashes, faulting a diversity and inclusion provision in the deal regarding the selection of an independent monitor to audit the planemaker's compliance practices. Boeing and the Justice Department now have 30 days to update the court on how they plan to proceed in the case, Judge Reed C. O'Connor of the Northern District of Texas ordered. Spokespeople for Boeing and DOJ did not respond immediately to requests for comment. Relatives of the victims of the two 737 MAX crashes, which occurred in 2018 and 2019 and killed 346 people, have called the agreement a "sweetheart" deal that failed to adequately hold Boeing accountable for the deaths of their loved ones. The judge's objections center on the government's diversity and inclusion policy covering the selection of an independent monitor to oversee Boeing's compliance with the agreement for three years.
"The plea agreement requires the parties to consider race when hiring the independent monitor," O'Connor wrote in his decision. "In a case of this magnitude, it is in the utmost interest of justice that the public is confident this monitor selection is done based solely on competency."
The Biden regime has quietly revoked the veterans hiring preference for civil service jobs and promotions, which since the 1944 Veterans Act gave eligible veterans preference over others for appointments in federal civil service selection, a memorandum obtained by American Greatness shows.
The goal of the veterans' preference law was to "provide a uniform method by which qualified veterans [could] receive special consideration for federal employment," according to Military.com.
By law, veterans who are disabled or who served on active duty during certain specified time periods or in military campaigns are entitled to preference over non-veterans both in hiring from competitive lists and in retention during reductions in force.New guidelines from the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service (DCPAS) now stipulate that "veterans' preference should be considered on an equal basis as other qualified candidates." ...
A source from the U.S. Air Force told American Greatness: "This is government-wide hiring has ramped up like never before seen. They are literally packing the federal workforce with as many loyalists and subversives as they can. Worst of all, they think it is their duty to do so." He added: "Since DEI is getting pettifogged rather harshly (and rightly so) this is yet another way they can worm into the bureaucracy--at the expense of veterans." The source told American Greatness that "veterans are being cast aside for this new workforce (wokeforce)."
Posted by: Ace at 05:40 PM | Comments (223) | Trackbacks (Suck)
The two charges against Penny were manslaughter in the 2nd degree, requiring a "reckless" disregard for human life state of mind, and criminally negligent homicide, requiring the somewhat less serious state of mind of "criminal negligence." Which is more than standard civil-suit negligence.
Yeah, the distinctions between "recklessness" and "criminal negligence" are thin and nebulous. The jury reported they were deadlocked on the top charge. On a motion from prosecutors, the judge dismissed manslaughter as a charge. I assume their idea is that they will clear the top charge so that the jury can compromise on the less-serious charge. But.... to be honest, I think the jury members who believe in the right to self-defense could have been pressured to accept the lesser charge to avoid the more serious charge. By dismissing the most serious charge, the defenders of self-defense (and simple reason) can no stick to their guns and refuse to convict on the lesser charge, too. The manslaughter charge is now gone, forever. If it had gone to verdict, and the jury was still deadlocked, then the Soros prosecutors could have re-tried that charge. But having dismissed it, it is now dismissed with prejudice, extinguished. (There's some rule that once a jury is empaneled, the charge cannot be dismissed without prejudice. That keeps prosecutors from continually charging, then dismissing, then re-filing charges against someone to keep in in court forever without resolution.) The jury has been dismissed and will reconvene on Monday. This is certainly good news for Perry, but if the jury deadlocks again on the second charge, then Alvin Bragg and his murderer's row of racist prosecutors will just charge him with that crime again. In Trump's first month, he should charge the DOJ with conducting an investigation into Bragg's DA office for discriminatory prosecution based on race. She has admitted she gives black defendants very light charges because they've had "hard lives." Video below.Posted by: Ace at 04:53 PM | Comments (161) | Trackbacks (Suck)
Before that: Americans say Biden is the worst president of the past 50 years, sinking lower than Carter.
I can't wait until the public re-evaluates the disastrous, poisonous Back Obama presidency. Biden was, after all, just Obama's third term. There's nothing Biden did that Obama didn't want him to do.[The Daily Mail:] Yet when 1006 registered voters were asked to rank the last nine presidents in order, from best to worst, Biden came at the very bottom of the table, making him the worst in 47 years. Some 44 percent placed him as one of the worst two, while only 14 percent placed him in the top two, giving him a net score of 30 points underwater. That was worse than Nixon, who came out with negative 25, and Donald Trump, with negative 15.James Johnson, cofounder of J.L. Partners, which conducted the poll, described the results as "diabolical" for Biden. "There's always a recency bias, and as Joe Biden is the incumbent, he starts off at a disadvantage there," Johnson said. "But regardless of that, these numbers are worse than I expected." He continued, "Voters have obviously looked at his age, general conduct in office, his botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the situation at the southern border, and decided that, in their view, it qualifies him to be the worst president in modern history."
Biden took off a hat yesterday and it played havoc with his hair plugs.
HALPERIN: "I saw Joe Biden's mental acuity decline in 2017. I talked about it on a regular basis. It's some combination of Trump derangement syndrome and not wanting to be ostracized for doing anything that might help Donald Trump win. "The irony is the reason Joe Biden has left the position he's in, the reason Donald Trump was reelected, there are plenty of reasons. A big one is a silence in the media. I think it's one of the biggest scandals of any sort in American history and certainly one of the biggest media scandals. "People say they didn't see behind the all you needed was others c-span subscription to know there was a level of mental decline and they stood silent. The donors were spending time with him in living rooms. They saw it, Clooney said it but far too late."
Posted by: Ace at 04:00 PM | Comments (344) | Trackbacks (Suck)
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