Daily Tech News 19 January 2026

Top Story

The reason why RAM has become four times more expensive is that a huge amount of RAM that has not yet been produced was purchased with non-existent money to be installed in GPUs that also have not yet been produced, in order to place them in data centers that have not yet been built, powered by infrastructure that may never appear, to satisfy demand that does not actually exist and to obtain profit that is mathematically impossible.

— Unknown
The mythology of conscious AI. (Noema Mag)

This article gets one important thing right: LLMs are not conscious.
In a 2022 interview with The Washington Post, Google engineer Blake Lemoine made a startling claim about the AI system he was working on, a chatbot called LaMDA. He claimed it was conscious, that it had feelings, and was, in an important sense, like a real person. Despite a flurry of media coverage, Lemoine wasn't taken all that seriously. Google dismissed him for violating its confidentiality policies, and the AI bandwagon rolled on.
I commented on that story at the time. Lemoine is a crazy as a sack of rats on crazy pills. And was also completely and very obviously wrong, which is not the same thing.
As AI technologies continue to improve, questions about machine consciousness are increasingly being raised. David Chalmers, one of the foremost thinkers in this area, has suggested that conscious machines may be possible in the not-too-distant future. Geoffrey Hinton, a true AI pioneer and recent Nobel Prize winner, thinks they exist already.
Wait. David Chalmers said what?

Huh. He did say that. A mostly sensible article summarising the evidence on both sides, concluding that pure feed-forward LLMs are not conscious but extended LLMs with recurrent processing - feedback loops - could be. (Boston Review)

Back to Noema:
Taken together, these biases [anthropocentrism, which is irrelevant, human exceptionalism, which is irrelevant, and anthropomorphism, which is actually the key here - Pixy] explain why it's hardly surprising that when things exhibit abilities we think of as distinctively human, such as intelligence, we naturally imbue them with other qualities we feel are characteristically or even distinctively human: understanding, mindedness and consciousness, too.
A little bit of nonsense thrown in at the start but an accurate description of the problem in the end.

But then it all falls apart:
The very idea of conscious AI rests on the assumption that consciousness is a matter of computation.
Which is rather like assuming that water is a molecule made of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms.
More specifically, that implementing the right kind of computation, or information processing, is sufficient for consciousness to arise.
Because it is.
This assumption, which philosophers call computational functionalism, is so deeply ingrained that it can be difficult to recognize it as an assumption at all.
As much as the molecular structure of water is an assumption.
But that is what it is.
Nope.
And if it's wrong, as I think it may be, then real artificial consciousness is fully off the table, at least for the kinds of AI we're familiar with.
"Kinds of AI we're familiar with"? Do you mean feed-forward models, which are definitely not conscious, or enhanced systems with feedback loops?
Challenging computational functionalism means diving into some deep waters about what computation means and what it means to say that a physical system, like a computer or a brain, computes at all. I'll summarize four related arguments that undermine the idea that computation, at least of the sort implemented in standard digital computers, is sufficient for consciousness.

First, and most important, brains are not computers.
And we're dead.

Brains are obviously computers and it is trivially easy to prove this.

Take a line of BASIC code, like:

10 PRINT 3+7

What does that do?

It prints 10.

How do you know?

Because you can execute that code in your head.

How can you do that?

Because your brain is a computer.

It may be more than a computer - though nobody has produce a coherent, let alone convincing argument for this - but it is unquestionably a computer.

There follow dozens of paragraphs of irrelevancies I won't get into, but suffice to say that it all goes downhill from there.

Tech News

Quick reminder that Intel's B570 is still available at $200. It's not the fastest graphics card - it's comparable with Nvidia's RTX 3060, a midrange card from five years ago - but it's cheap, in stock, and works. And it has 10GB of RAM, a small upgrade over common 8GB cards.
An Altair 8800 that has been broken since its owner made a mistake assembling it in 1974 has finally been fixed. (Tom's Hardware)

Never too late.
Reasons to stop using MySQL. (Optimized by Otto)

Oh, yeah? What would you recommend?

MariaDB.

Oh. Yeah. Good call. Carry on.
The Slimbook Executive ticks all my boxes. Pretty much. (Liliputing)

I'm not really in the market for a new laptop right now, but this seems to get a lot right.

It's a 14" model with an Intel 255H CPU (6P/8E/2LP cores), a 2880x1800 120Hz screen - LCD rather than OLED, but it covers 100% of sRGB so it should be fine unless you're a professional artist of video editor - and a 99Wh battery despite weighing a modest 1.2Kg.

It has two SODIMM slots and two M.2 2280 slots - unusual and welcome in a 14" laptop - and one USB4 port, a 5Gb USB-C port with DP and PD (DisplayPort and Power Delivery), three 5Gb USB-A ports, HDMI, wired gigabit Ethernet, an audio jack, and a full-size SD card slot.

And the Four Essential Keys.

No dedicated graphics, but the CPU includes Intel's Arc 140T graphics which are quite competent and generally comparable to AMD's 780M.

Oh, and the keyboard is backlit and there's a physical privacy shutter for the camera.

They don't ship to Antarctica though.
Why Silicon Valley is really talking about fleeing California (it's not the 5% theft wealth tax). (Tech Crunch)

Oh, do tell.
Take Larry Page, who [owns] about 3% of Google but controls roughly 30% of its voting power through dual-class stock. Under this proposal, he'd owe taxes on that 30%. For a company valued in the hundreds of billions, that's a lot more than a rounding error. The Post reports that one SpaceX alumni founder building grid technology would face a tax bill at the Series B stage of the company that would wipe out his entire holdings.
Oh, right. It's not the 5% wealth tax. It's the 100%+ wealth tax. I can see how that would be a problem.
David Gamage, the University of Missouri communist kleptocrat retard law professor who helped craft the proposal, thinks Silicon Valley is overreacting. "I don't understand why the billionaires just aren't calling good tax lawyers," he told The San Francisco Standard this week.
That's just it.

They did.

Their tax lawyers advised them to flee. Immediately.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: Let's pebble!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at January 19, 2026 04:01 AM (Ia/+0)

2 Mornin', all

Posted by: My Life is Insanity at January 19, 2026 04:02 AM (WE0m7)

3 Elvis!

Posted by: My Life is Insanity at January 19, 2026 04:03 AM (WE0m7)

4 Hey Skip. Hope all is well

Posted by: My Life is Insanity at January 19, 2026 04:06 AM (WE0m7)

5 Morning horde

Posted by: Pete Bog at January 19, 2026 04:06 AM (qlUA+)

6 Morning all

Posted by: rickb223 at January 19, 2026 04:07 AM (0x0rk)

7 Morning all.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 19, 2026 04:07 AM (BLOW1)

8 Cold here. 8 degrees, but windy so feels colder. Another inch or so of snow yesterday and looks like we got a dusting overnite.

I'm over winter already,!

Posted by: My Life is Insanity at January 19, 2026 04:07 AM (WE0m7)

9 Mornin'

23 degrees in Babylon DC. No snow yesterday, as was forcasted. Pretty benign winter, though a bit colder than recent winters.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 19, 2026 04:09 AM (sAmhv)

10 but suffice to say that it all goes downhill from there.
----

There was not any uphill to start with.

Guten morgen, horde.

Posted by: clarence at January 19, 2026 04:10 AM (VL3/h)

11 Hi MLii, hope all else is well.
I will be miserable until May

Posted by: Skip at January 19, 2026 04:10 AM (Ia/+0)

12 In reality, our winter hasn't been too bad. Started earlier than our usual that we've had over the past 5-6 years. A lot of snow in the beginning of December that melted during a warm streak over Christmas. Now it's cold, windy, and flurries every other day or so. So: winter in WI.
Not as much fun as when I was younger than 29!

Posted by: My Life is Insanity at January 19, 2026 04:14 AM (WE0m7)

13 And the RAM shortsge has killed Salem Texperts laptop recycling business. He can't upgrade them. Companies are stripping the RAM before they get rid of them. And his comments have several small business owners in the same boat.

https://youtu.be/T6eiFyJMWgM

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 19, 2026 04:14 AM (+mUZM)

14 I hear you Skip. These old bones are feeling the cold more than in past years.

Posted by: My Life is Insanity at January 19, 2026 04:15 AM (WE0m7)

15 Howdy, MLii!!

Long time no see!

Hope you are well.

Posted by: JQ at January 19, 2026 04:17 AM (rdVOm)

16 JQ!

Mostly same old. Emphasis on old! lol

Hope you are well

Posted by: My Life is Insanity at January 19, 2026 04:18 AM (WE0m7)

17 Hahaha, yeah-- old. Feelin' it!

Posted by: JQ at January 19, 2026 04:19 AM (rdVOm)

18 I hear you Skip. These old bones are feeling the cold more than in past years.
Posted by: My Life is Insanity

When I was younger I thought that was an old wives tale but come to find out it's true. Cold or rainy, the joints make themselves known. Cold and rainy..double ouch.

Posted by: Tuna at January 19, 2026 04:20 AM (lJ0H4)

19 It tried to snow today (yesterday I guess now) for about 1/2 hour-- flakes melted as they hit ground & it wasn't even enough to wet the pavement.

I'm OK with that!

Posted by: JQ at January 19, 2026 04:23 AM (rdVOm)

20 BOING!

Looking for new web shared hosting for small business site.

Godaddy?

Cloudways?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 19, 2026 04:23 AM (UUvzi)

21 Good night, all-- very sleepy now.

Great to see you, MLii. Take care! Hope to see you again soon & be able to chat a bit.

Posted by: JQ at January 19, 2026 04:24 AM (rdVOm)

22 Good night, all-- very sleepy now.

Posted by: JQ at January 19, 2026 04:24 AM (rdVOm)
-

What do you expect when you drink endlessly on the ONT!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 19, 2026 04:25 AM (UUvzi)

23 Same, JQ.
Sleep well.

I'm off to work. Have a wonderful day, all

Posted by: My Life is Insanity at January 19, 2026 04:26 AM (WE0m7)

24 19 It tried to snow today (yesterday I guess now) for about 1/2 hour-- flakes melted as they hit ground & it wasn't even enough to wet the pavement.

I'm OK with that!
Posted by: JQ

That's mostly what I see where I live. It gets cold enough to snow, but only when the sky is clear. When it's cloudy it's either too warm for the snow to last more than a few minutes, or too warm for snow to fall in the first place.

Last year, though, some parts of the state got 20" in a weekend. Things ground completely to a halt until it melted, because snowplows are barely a thing outside of ski country.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 19, 2026 04:30 AM (BLOW1)

25 I've used Entirely Digital and am on Bluehost. Don't know what you need but both have been good.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 19, 2026 04:31 AM (+mUZM)

26 The reason why RAM has become four times more expensive is that a huge amount of RAM that has not yet been produced was purchased with non-existent money to be installed in GPUs that also have not yet been produced, in order to place them in data centers that have not yet been built, powered by infrastructure that may never appear, to satisfy demand that does not actually exist and to obtain profit that is mathematically impossible.

— Unknown

The US Federal Government has been operating under this general principle for decades. Great quote, by the way!

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 19, 2026 04:33 AM (sAmhv)

27 Rejoinder: bam!bam!

Posted by: clarence at January 19, 2026 04:34 AM (VL3/h)

28 Pebbles?

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent at January 19, 2026 04:37 AM (/HDaX)

29 The reason why — Unknown
----

Any one who speaks that much truth would probably want to not have people wanting to lock him up to never be heard from again.

Posted by: clarence at January 19, 2026 04:37 AM (VL3/h)

30 The thing that gets me about the wealth tax is how long can you maintain 51% of a company if you pay your wealth tax each year. Would Jobs and Woz still have been in control of Apple when they introduced the iphone? would tablets even exist?

That tax will separate companies from the people that innovated them into existence and we will lose breakthroughs because of it.

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Innocent Souls, I'm starvin' over here at January 19, 2026 04:43 AM (w/O5Q)

31 The tax will separate California from its entire economy.

Which will, in the long run, be a good thing.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 19, 2026 04:49 AM (BLOW1)

32 And of course the heater decided to stop working, its 55 degrees in the bedroom

Posted by: Skip at January 19, 2026 05:00 AM (Ia/+0)

33 Good morning, everyone. An acute attack of imsomnia this morning. I'll get it back when I sit down on an airplane later.

How is what CA doing with this theft tax legal in any sense of the word?

And I have a long term linux issue i'll post separately.

Posted by: BifBewalski - at January 19, 2026 05:02 AM (QVmho)

34 Wife won't listen to my suggestion to turn it off and see if it resets.

Posted by: Skip at January 19, 2026 05:04 AM (Ia/+0)

35 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at January 19, 2026 05:06 AM (bQ4nt)

36 the snowflake falls
hastened by the wind
spring sleeps

fin

Posted by: clarence at January 19, 2026 05:07 AM (VL3/h)

37
I'm running ubunto 22 on a new-ish hp laptop. Details are unimportant, because it's a systemic issue for a number of users with a variety of hardware.

Watching any long video, say >45 minutes, the xwin hard crashes the entire system. Has anyone else experienced this?

Happens with ewetoob, and vlc for me. Others have reported additional services and apps which smells like a video driver. But across multiple systems with multiple versions of linux using multiple variables of hardware.... this makes me think it's a video integration issue with xwin and memory leaks.

Posted by: BifBewalski - at January 19, 2026 05:08 AM (QVmho)

38 olddog in mo

Good morning! How are you doing?

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 19, 2026 05:11 AM (u82oZ)

39 I've used Entirely Digital and am on Bluehost. Don't know what you need but both have been good.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 19, 2026 04:31 AM (+mUZM)
-

Thanks. Will check.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 19, 2026 05:11 AM (UUvzi)

40
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 19, 2026 05:12 AM (tljrc)

41 BifBewalski

It’s a control thing. California is a one party state, with power concentrated by the looters. Unions, which assists the looters, and kick back money to the inner party, are given a great deal of difference.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 19, 2026 05:13 AM (u82oZ)

42

It’s a control thing. California is a one party state, with power concentrated by the looters. Unions, which assists the looters, and kick back money to the inner party, are given a great deal of difference.
Posted by: NaCly Dog

That's what i was thinking, thank you. It's grifters and illegals all the way down.

Posted by: BifBewalski - at January 19, 2026 05:16 AM (QVmho)

43 Morning, Salty. Up too early. Damn cat. All is fine here. How about you?

Posted by: olddog in mo at January 19, 2026 05:17 AM (bQ4nt)

44 I think I got it to reset

Posted by: Skip at January 19, 2026 05:18 AM (Ia/+0)

45 If I understood that correctly, consciousness is understanding the structure of water.

I drink, therefore I am.

Posted by: mikeski at January 19, 2026 05:18 AM (VHUov)

46 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at January 19, 2026 05:24 AM (2Ez/1)

47 "I'm running ubunto 22 on a new-ish hp laptop."

I tend to run Slackware on my various machines. Like the one I use to type this out. YouTube runs just fine on this and my laptop (which runs Slackware).

I normally run either XFCE or KDE for my desktop environment. I lean more towards KDE now.

I do have a machine running Obarun in my server closet to do server-like things, but that's an Arch variant that doesn't use systemd to provide a convenient single attack surface for exploits.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at January 19, 2026 05:26 AM (ZyiQS)

48 olddog in mo

Stayed up all night reading on my iPad.

Mostly H. Beam piper. Went to see if the CRC Manual is available. Signs point to no.
Off to see if it is still published.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 19, 2026 05:27 AM (u82oZ)

49 No idea, Bif. But I did find LMDE (debian based Mint) handles GPU issues better than Mint (ubuntu based). Do you have Nvidia graphics?

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 19, 2026 05:30 AM (+mUZM)

50 "Oh, right. It's not the 5% wealth tax. It's the 100%+ wealth tax. I can see how that would be a problem."

California soon: "I say we take off, and nuke the golden geese from orbit, it's the only way to be sure."

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 19, 2026 05:31 AM (O7YUW)

51 Luckily I’ve got my computer situation sorted out and don’t need ram or graphics’s cards.

The most ridiculous thing is the ram prices more so than the graphics card prices. 1500 bucks for 128gb of ddr5 is retarded, but here we are.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 19, 2026 05:31 AM (XV/Pl)

52 CRC Manual of Chemistry and physics is up to Edition 106. Printed and online versions exist.

I have the 45th and 50th Editions on my Science Bookshelf.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 19, 2026 05:37 AM (u82oZ)

53 Even if you decided only organic neurology could be conscious, you could still meld organic and inorganic to create a conscious super computing agent. Searle argued that you'd need wetware for actual consciousness. He liked wetware a lot. A lot of people do.

So, stream of consciousness: Chalmers, consciousness, water, wetware, Searle, Chinese rooms, Mengele, AI Godzilla, good bye Tokyo. No matter where you begin, it always ends with Tokyo destroyed.

Posted by: me at January 19, 2026 05:38 AM (N462N)

54 "Their tax lawyers advised them to flee. Immediately."

And they CAN flee. Easily.
Unlike the middle class saps with jobs and mortgages who can't.

Posted by: JM in Illinois at January 19, 2026 05:42 AM (zfW44)

55 G'mornin' everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 19, 2026 05:45 AM (Cjt/F)

56
No idea, Bif. But I did find LMDE (debian based Mint) handles GPU issues better than Mint (ubuntu based). Do you have Nvidia graphics?
Posted by: Notsothoreau

Yeah, it has nvidia hardware. I may try a slackware usb boot and try out Richard Cranium's config.

I suspect it's an attack exploit from the video servers because i block all the adds from ewetoob. Probably something automated since a full day of short videos goes with no issues.

Posted by: BifBewalski - at January 19, 2026 05:48 AM (QVmho)

57 Thx Pixy. Good morning Horde.
Will we have peace on Earth today , or at least Minnesota, on MLK day. Somehow I doubt it

Posted by: Smell the Glove and at January 19, 2026 05:50 AM (PTsqM)

58 After days of nonsense arising from the behavior of roofing contractors I finally hired one. Thomas Bender, the options you gave me for prices I should expect we're spot on. The quote I went with is in the $12,000 range. The added bonus from what I've been able to determine is this company will actually do the work correctly and in a timely manner.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at January 19, 2026 05:53 AM (HTCU3)

59 " Yes, I know they can flee. That's why I have to be President."

Posted by: Gavin Newsom at January 19, 2026 05:54 AM (LjXLp)

60 It's just another Merlot Monday.

Posted by: Old Lady Emhoff at January 19, 2026 06:00 AM (2Ez/1)

61 Trump is giving a keynote speech at Davos on Wednesday. I am anticipating he's going to make Europe very unhappy.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at January 19, 2026 06:01 AM (HTCU3)

62 Roads are not the best but I made it to work

Posted by: Skip at January 19, 2026 06:06 AM (i+wP0)

63 huh, who knew, don lemon considers himself a Christian, LOL

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 19, 2026 06:06 AM (Cjt/F)

64 Evening and morning, late toilers and early risers! Yeah. I know. It's Monday. But:

"Compared to being on the wrong side of the ground, even a bad Monday is pretty small kumquats, nicht wahr?"

And many of us have a holiday, too, so the start of the week horror wil be shifted to Tuesday. If you have a day off today, enjoy it!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 19, 2026 06:06 AM (wzUl9)

65 Roads are not the best but I made it to work
Posted by: Skip at January 19, 2026

***
And that right there is the epitaph for my working life, 2002-2025.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 19, 2026 06:08 AM (wzUl9)

66 @58

>>The added bonus from what I've been able to determine is this company will actually do the work correctly and in a timely manner.

Which is always nice.

I would say of all things construction related, roofing is the most straightforward to price and understand what it’s going to cost for a consumer.

I also find that roofers are generally reliable and not typically meatballs.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at January 19, 2026 06:10 AM (XV/Pl)

67 Hockey is at 2pm today. I guess it's holiday scheduling? Or they don't want to schedule against the CFB national championship game tonight.

Posted by: Don Black at January 19, 2026 06:10 AM (ZxPkt)

68 >I also find that roofers are generally reliable and not typically meatballs.

Posted by: Thomas Bender
----

I thought all the roofers were being deported.

Posted by: Don Black at January 19, 2026 06:12 AM (ZxPkt)

69 Elvis!

We could use a lot more Elvis.

Jailhouse Rock is getting a lot of play by so-called "influencers" or YTers just discovering him.

"Never heard of Elvis."
"Who is this guy?"
"How old is this?"
"Was this guy something?"

Tiresome.

Same as with these European YTers trying American food, or visiting America for the first time. They all go to the same restaurants, try the same food, go to the same places, react to each other's videos about the same restaurants, the same food, the same places....

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 19, 2026 06:12 AM (uQesX)

70 “We’re simply trying to keep emergency rooms open and save patient lives,” said executive committee member Debru Carthan to the Journal last weekend.
======================
"Until we run out of other people's money" she went on to almost say.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 19, 2026 06:13 AM (UxJD/)

71 A 5% annual wealth tax will wipe you out...after the first few years, you run out of liquidity, so then you must sell assets or borrow to pay the wealth tax on a diminishing corpus. (And pay capital gains tax on the sold assets). There's no liquidity left to invest in your capital base so it wont grow.

The US Const. does not allow for a wealth tax (why we needed the 16th Amend for income tax). Calif const may allow it (states can do alot more than Feds).

Posted by: actually inside the beltway at January 19, 2026 06:15 AM (MmTZZ)

72 61 Trump is giving a keynote speech at Davos on Wednesday. I am anticipating he's going to make Europe very unhappy.
Posted by: Alteria Pilgram

LoL!! Understatement. The wailing and gnashing of teeth will be epic. Trump could just walk up to the podium and say, 'Hi', and the fainting spells and weeping would begin.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 19, 2026 06:17 AM (sAmhv)

73 I managed to sleep as late as I wanted today; a certain cat whose name rhymes with "Hurling" did not try to wake me up at 3:15, as he did yesterday. Temps are in the 30s, due to rise to about 58, so maybe I can go work out this p.m.

In the meantime, I have to feed the furry thugs. And the plastic surgeon will take out my stitches this morning from the skin cancer excision two weeks ago, and tell me, I hope, how well it's coming along.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 19, 2026 06:17 AM (wzUl9)

74 63 huh, who knew, don lemon considers himself a Christian, LOL
Posted by: sock_rat_eez

Did he really say that? LoL!!! He really was the dumbest man on TV. Now he's in the running to be the dumbest man on the internet. Lots of competition out there on the interwebs. Good luck, Don!

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 19, 2026 06:18 AM (sAmhv)

75 I am alive. Basics. January, the month of stillness often mistaken for death itself; born in January under a bad sign of indifference.
Mother was insane and dad was callous and evil; sister didn't care much for my intrusion either.

None the less I thrive knowing the love of Christ trumps all darkness forever, even for me.

Posted by: kingsman at January 19, 2026 06:19 AM (ehY6c)

76 My local Fox outlet is airing a segment from the network by some newsreader called "Caitlin Assaf." What the heck kind of name/culture combo is that???

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 19, 2026 06:19 AM (wzUl9)

77 w00t

Posted by: m at January 19, 2026 06:20 AM (SSiCQ)

78 And the plastic surgeon will take out my stitches this morning from the skin cancer excision two weeks ago, and tell me, I hope, how well it's coming along.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 19, 2026 06:17 AM (wzUl9)

The hook:

What they didn't tell the patient was the surgeon is an agent of the NSF with a grant to study the effects of the alien DNA found at Roswell implanted into a human subject.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at January 19, 2026 06:20 AM (uQesX)

79 >>>crazy as a sack of rats on crazy pills

I know people who are like that.

Posted by: m at January 19, 2026 06:21 AM (SSiCQ)

80 What's a Don Lemon?

Posted by: Most people at January 19, 2026 06:23 AM (2Ez/1)

81 79 >>>crazy as a sack of rats on crazy pills

I know people who are like that.
Posted by: m at January 19, 2026 06:21 AM

+++
We would have also accepted:

"Used to date her."

Posted by: The Judges at January 19, 2026 06:25 AM (2Ez/1)

82
I have two computers in the Command Center, one is personal and one is used for business.

The personal one runs on Win10. I can come back to it even after many days and it wakes right back up. The business one runs on Win11. Sometimes even after a day it becomes extremely balky about waking up, refuses to load pages or let them be closed, takes ages, if ever, to come up and usually has to be shut down completely and restarted.

I hate Win11.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at January 19, 2026 06:26 AM (tgvbd)

83 80 What's a Don Lemon?

the almost-exact opposite of a Don Cossack?

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 19, 2026 06:26 AM (Cjt/F)

84
My local Fox outlet is airing a segment from the network by some newsreader called "Caitlin Assaf." What the heck kind of name/culture combo is that???
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 19, 2026 06:19 AM (wzUl9)

Sounds like the most dangerous combination in the known universe: the Irish Muslim.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at January 19, 2026 06:27 AM (tgvbd)

85 I posted an "interview" here a couple of weeks ago that I did with Grok as part of my informal research (messing with it).

It contained a self-assessment that said pretty much what that Boston Review model said.

One of the important things to remember is that consciousness itself is not that well understood (Is everyone conscious? Is it a matter of degree? etc.)

And...

That this tech had just started out.

In fact the models are changing themselves in subtle ways that we are discovering (post-facto) and who knows what this will lead to.

Posted by: pawn at January 19, 2026 06:29 AM (WXTVZ)

86 "I don’t know why, perhaps because too many talented people had left the organization, but it seems that from a technical point of view MySQL clearly started to deteriorate from 2022 onward." - MySQL/MariaDB article
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Going back to the whole "Brain being a computer" thing, I would compute that, during that period of time, there was a huge, HUGE, *YUGE* movement in businesses going on. The whole DIE thing, which they renamed to DEI because they realized other brain computers might realize it was too on-the-nose.

It's only an assumption, but an informed one. Old white guys with knowledge (both general and institutional) get replaced by cheap TEMU developers, while the business managers get replaced by *Studies students who do not have the goal of business in mind.

The business coasts on for a while due to inertia. Then it ends as it usually does; first gradually, then suddenly. The question is whether the core Oracle unit has also been effected or not by DEI.

Posted by: Another Anon at January 19, 2026 06:34 AM (4h45B)

87 What's a Don Lemon?

Posted by: Most people at January 19, 2026 06:23 AM (2Ez/1)
-

Same as in town.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 19, 2026 06:39 AM (UUvzi)

88 Sounds like the most dangerous combination in the known universe: the Irish Muslim.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at January 19, 2026 06:27 AM (tgvbd)

Two words: Halal Guinness.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at January 19, 2026 06:39 AM (HKEZ3)

89 Reasons to stop using MySQL.

In the Age of AI, this is stupid.

If you are going to use an relational database just pick something that is easily containerized (all of them) and develop away. This is start-up mode. In the old days we used ORMs (a quasi-universal interface) and then just swapped out to whatever gave the best balance of cost, performance and maintainability when it came time to go to production. Revisit the DB choice when scaling up or when your operations teams whine too much.

With modern AI and development/architectural frameworks and performance analysis tools, its now possible to go revisit the code and refactor so that it uses case specific databases (document, graph, RDBMS, Key/Value, etc) and ports the code accordingly.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at January 19, 2026 06:40 AM (a4flb)

90 "My local Fox outlet is airing a segment..."

+++

I think I've found your problem.

Posted by: Turn it off. Read a book at January 19, 2026 06:41 AM (2Ez/1)

91 The Party for Socialism and Liberation, aka hardcore Communists, Is having an anti-ICE rally on the plaza here in Las Cruces on Wednesday. I'm going to go to this. It should be interesting and by that I mean tedious. I'm anticipating a crowd that numbers into tens. Sis. Boom. Bah.

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at January 19, 2026 06:42 AM (HTCU3)

92 Just looked up Caitrin Assaf. She has nice elbows

Posted by: Smell the Glove and at January 19, 2026 06:44 AM (PTsqM)

93 @91/Alteria Pilgram: If it does look like it's drawing big numbers, they probably bussed in troublemakers. In that event, get clear of the area.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 19, 2026 06:44 AM (O7YUW)

94 "I don't understand why the billionaires just aren't calling good tax lawyers,"

Translation: calling good ~~lawyers~~ political-fixers who know who to bribe for cut-outs.

This legislation had one purpose, to shake-down billionaires AHEAD of the bill being written and put up to vote so that the politicians/grifters can get millions of dollars outside of the tax / NGO / laundering procedures in the form of bribes, sinecures, and "charitable donations".

We are back to strong-arming extortion through the form of proposed legislation.

"Nice portfolio you have there, be a shame if something happened to it"

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at January 19, 2026 06:46 AM (a4flb)

95 Good morning!

Let's smile & be happy & strike fear in the hearts of killjoy leftists everywhere.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 19, 2026 06:47 AM (u82oZ)

96 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Rejoinder: It is too late to vote.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 19, 2026 06:48 AM (X4XpB)

97
It's only an assumption, but an informed one. Old white guys with knowledge (both general and institutional) get replaced by cheap TEMU developers, while the business managers get replaced by *Studies students who do not have the goal of business in mind.

The business coasts on for a while due to inertia. Then it ends as it usually does; first gradually, then suddenly. The question is whether the core Oracle unit has also been effected or not by DEI.
Posted by: Another Anon at January 19, 2026 06:34 AM (4h45B)

15 or 20 years ago, I remember all kinds of piteous stories about the institutional knowledge that was going to be lost when all the white Boomer guys retired. Apparently the C Suite and their MBA consiglieri got over it and got rid of all those guys as fast as they could.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at January 19, 2026 06:48 AM (tgvbd)

98 As AI technologies continue to improve, questions about machine consciousness are increasingly being raised.

The End Result of The Enlightenment. Now that we have killed off God and can explain everything through materialism, we have come to the conclusion there is no free will, no spiritual world, no true creativity, no wisdom everything is brute-force deterministic.

Walking into the closet, seeing four different potential outfits suitable for the day and selecting one is purely a computational exercise - we just haven't quite figured out the algorithm yet.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at January 19, 2026 06:50 AM (a4flb)

99 Have a great day, everyone.

We are still blessed to live in a country with George Washington as our role model for governance. We also have a lot of other founding fathers with plenty of living on the edge to make them smart. Abigail Adams is also of note.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 19, 2026 06:51 AM (u82oZ)

100 24 19 Last year, though, some parts of the state got 20" in a weekend.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 19, 2026 04:30 AM (BLOW1)

Wow! Cool.

Posted by: m at January 19, 2026 06:52 AM (SSiCQ)

101 > What's a Don Lemon?
-------
Sounds like a non-alcoholic, fruity drink with a little pink umbrella in it that's served at gay bars.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at January 19, 2026 06:53 AM (U2OZr)

102 15 or 20 years ago, I remember all kinds of piteous stories about the institutional knowledge that was going to be lost when all the white Boomer guys retired. Apparently the C Suite and their MBA consiglieri got over it and got rid of all those guys as fast as they could.

And this is the back story to Windows 11

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at January 19, 2026 06:53 AM (a4flb)

103 I'm just going to chum the water here.

Can a person ( or persons ) build a computer? Of course.

Can a person ( or persons ) build a brain?

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at January 19, 2026 06:53 AM (HKEZ3)

104 For Don LeMon's next trick, he can try pulling that stunt in a Mosque.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at January 19, 2026 06:57 AM (HKEZ3)

105 Two winters in a row it has snowed in Pensacola.
Climate change is real, people.
The glaciers will be here any minute.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 19, 2026 06:57 AM (2Ez/1)

106 The brain is not a computer.
A six channel analog architecture is something different than a single channel binary architecture, and modeling the former with the latter goes exponential immediately.
That you can (poorly) model the latter with the former does not imply that the reverse is true.

Further, intelligence is not processing power.
The brain of an *actual* autistic person has as much processing power as mine.
(And yes, Accelerando left a dent in my wall.)

If AI ever actually arises, it will be different enough from us that we will have trouble even recognizing it as intelligent. (Shrug) And if it does, its creation will almost certainly be unintentional.

Posted by: Luke at January 19, 2026 06:58 AM (LcCGY)

107 While everyone is concerned with an impending "Skynet" AI, my concern is that they will actually acheive their altruistic goal - a world of effortless plenty for all. My personal experience with the trust-fund kid type indicates this will be a disaster for humanity.

Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost - Agent Smith

Posted by: Halfhand at January 19, 2026 06:58 AM (+Zbod)

108 Wasn't there a term, some time ago that was used to describe early "computers?" Basic devices that could do math (calculators) but also spit out answers to some non-math related questions.

"Thinking Machines."

Not the AI start up that's in the news now or those weirdos in Dune books/movies. This would have been back in the 50's or 60's.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at January 19, 2026 06:58 AM (U2OZr)

109 "And this is the back story to Windows 11."

And Artemis II.

Posted by: pawn at January 19, 2026 06:59 AM (WXTVZ)

110 36 the snowflake falls
hastened by the wind
spring sleeps

fin
Posted by: clarence at January 19, 2026 05:07 AM (VL3/h)

I like this!

Posted by: m at January 19, 2026 07:00 AM (SSiCQ)

111 100 24 19 ...
Posted by: m at January 19, 2026 06:52 AM (SSiCQ)

Ha ha! Inadvertent 100.

Posted by: m at January 19, 2026 07:01 AM (SSiCQ)

112 "I don’t know why, perhaps because too many talented people had left the organization...

They key word here is "organization". The Boomer culture, and to some degree X culture, knew how to actually work together, probably because we did things collectively outside before mobile devices replaced meat bags we called friends and neighbors.

The young X and on, grew up in digital isolation, undeveloped social skills, undeveloped prefrontal cortex and damaged amygdalas. Stray cats with no motivation. HR and MBAs not understanding what took place decided to Cargo Cult Boomer social structures and called in "Collaboration" and invented ersatz relationships that were unnatural and thus ineffective.

Kill the human spirit, reform it in female structures, death of innovation and industry.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at January 19, 2026 07:02 AM (a4flb)

113 I have the 45th and 50th Editions on my Science Bookshelf.
——-

Oh, tell it again Grampa, tell it again! Did you guys wear onions on your belts?

Posted by: Common Tater at January 19, 2026 07:02 AM (1meqy)

114 "My local Fox outlet is airing a segment..."

+++
I think I've found your problem.
Posted by: Turn it off. Read a book at January 19, 2026

***
I leave it on only to see the weather. (Really.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 19, 2026 07:04 AM (wzUl9)

115 We're sitting right here.

Posted by: Weather apps on your phone at January 19, 2026 07:04 AM (2Ez/1)

116 Omar Fateh, a Minnesota state senator and failed Minneapolis mayoral candidate is calling for no-go zones in Minneapolis. In particular, he's demanding for no-go zones in the Somali neighborhoods and would in particular ban white supremacists. By this I think he means whites in general.

https://is.gd/QPclsf

Posted by: Alteria Pilgram - My President has convictions. at January 19, 2026 07:05 AM (HTCU3)

117 NaCly - can I axe you a (kind of) chemistry question? It has me curious.

Posted by: Common Tater at January 19, 2026 07:05 AM (1meqy)

118 What's a Don Lemon?
-------
Sounds like a non-alcoholic, fruity drink with a little pink umbrella in it that's served at gay bars.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at January 19, 2026

***
What James Bond, charitably, called "musical comedy" drinks.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 19, 2026 07:05 AM (wzUl9)

119 ust looked up Caitrin Assaf. She has nice elbows
Posted by: Smell the Glove and at January 19, 2026

***
She has the narrowest nose I've ever seen. I wonder how she can breathe through it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 19, 2026 07:07 AM (wzUl9)

120 Omar Fateh, a Minnesota state senator and failed Minneapolis mayoral candidate is calling for no-go zones in Minneapolis.

Reciprocation would be a bitch.

I accept your terms, now accept mine.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at January 19, 2026 07:07 AM (a4flb)

121 59 " Yes, I know they can flee. That's why I have to be President."
Posted by: Gavin Newsom at January 19, 2026 05:54 AM (LjXLp)

gazonks
Scary.
Put that on a billboard.

Posted by: m at January 19, 2026 07:08 AM (SSiCQ)

122 Oh, I see I misspelled Caitrin Assaf's name. I've seen "Caitlin" for years; the ex-Mrs. Wolfus No. 2 legally changed her name to that. Never "Caitrin."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 19, 2026 07:08 AM (wzUl9)

123 60 It's just another Merlot Monday.
Posted by: Old Lady Emhoff at January 19, 2026 06:00 AM (2Ez/1)

... from her $8billion (or whatever) house.

Posted by: m at January 19, 2026 07:09 AM (SSiCQ)

124 Omar Fateh, a Minnesota state senator and failed Minneapolis mayoral candidate is calling for no-go zones in Minneapolis.

Reciprocation would be a bitch.

I accept your terms, now accept mine.
Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure

Exactly. Step one inch out of your no go zone and you will be sniped.

Posted by: rickb223 at January 19, 2026 07:10 AM (0x0rk)

125 We're sitting right here.
Posted by: Weather apps on your phone at January 19, 2026

***
Sorry, guys, I use my phone only for *phone* calls and texting, usually Miss Linda. Oh, and as a calculator at the grocery store, so I don't have heart palpitations when I see the total at the register.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 19, 2026 07:10 AM (wzUl9)

126 NOOD

J.J.'s up

Posted by: Martini Farmer at January 19, 2026 07:11 AM (U2OZr)

127
JJS

Posted by: r hennigantx at January 19, 2026 07:11 AM (gbOdA)

128 Sorry, guys, I use my phone only for *phone* calls and texting,

95% of my phone's use deals with MFA.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at January 19, 2026 07:12 AM (a4flb)

129 I bought bottle of a water disinfection (for camping) based on Iodine based on a principle published by Kahn &. Vischerr about 1990 from REI. 4 to 6 grams of resublimated Iodine are placed in a glass bottle secured with bakelite cap. A few ounces of water are added, and a super-saturated Iodine solution results, used for disinfecting raw water. So long as the crystals are covered with water, the crystals won’t sublimate. It’s been a great system.

“So long as visible crystals remain”, there is enough Iodine remaining for water disinfection, the instructions state. About a 1/3rd to 1/4 of the original crystals remain in the bottle. Some escapes over the years, gotta be careful where it is stored.

It barely makes the resulting solution brown now, not nearly as strong color or odor. So my question is, was it “too strong” before, or is it weaker now??

Posted by: Common Tater at January 19, 2026 07:14 AM (1meqy)

130
I have the 45th and 50th Editions on my Science Bookshelf.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 19, 2026 05:37 AM (u82oZ)

Still have my 11th edition of Lange's Handbook. Plus a Perrin, Armarego and Perrin.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at January 19, 2026 07:14 AM (tgvbd)

131 Nicki's still a hoe-bag, but I'm definitely warming up to her:

Nicki Minaj
@NICKIMINAJ
·
6h
DON ‘COCK SUCKIN’ LEMON IS DISGUSTING.

HOW DARE YOU?

I WANT THAT THUG IN JAIL!!!!!

HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO ANY OTHER RELIGION.

LOCK HIM UP!!!!!

Posted by: Ian S. at January 19, 2026 07:15 AM (t5upi)

132 117 NaCly - can I axe you a (kind of) chemistry question? It has me curious.
Posted by: Common Tater at January 19, 2026 07:05 AM (1meqy)

He's gone off the tech thread:

99 Have a great day, everyone.

We are still blessed to live in a country with George Washington as our role model for governance. We also have a lot of other founding fathers with plenty of living on the edge to make them smart. Abigail Adams is also of note.
Posted by: NaCly Dog at January 19, 2026 06:51 AM (u82oZ)

Posted by: m at January 19, 2026 07:39 AM (SSiCQ)

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