Daily Tech News 27 July 2025

Top Story

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says that AI is not a licensed therapist, doctor, or lawyer and there are no legal privacy guarantees for its users. (Tech Crunch)

Sam thinks there should.

But not for any reason other than it would benefit him personally.
AI is also not a programmer. (Mashable)

Though to be fair it was Google Gemini this time that blindly deleted a user's entire project.

Tech News

In lighter news, ChatGPT also gave detailed instructions on how to join a cult of Moloch. (Yahoo News / The Atlantic)

No, despite the attempt to make it appear that way, it did not give instructions on how to slit your wrists. It explained how to avoid slitting your wrists if you needed to draw blood from that area.

It did give instructions on how to sacrifice large animals.

And also a very direct allegory on the problems of abortion to which the writer was and remains completely oblivious.
And then there's Microsoft Copilot. (Eye)

"Open all the airlocks please Hal."
"Sure thing Dave."
AMD has announced its Threadripper 9000 non-pro lineup. (Tom's Hardware)

The 24 core 9960X is priced at $1499, which is cheaper than the 16 core Threadripper Pro 9965WX.

The non-pro models only have 80 PCIe 5.0 lanes and quad-channel memory, compared to 128 PCIe lanes and eight-channel memory on the Pro range, but for the 24 and 32 core models that's probably not a significant limitation.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: The UV index is over 9000!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 BOING!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 04:31 AM (DT0BZ)

2 Pixy, have you changed your posting time? Used to see TT at 1am pt.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 04:31 AM (0eaVi)

3
Name the only state that requires All USA Flags sold in that state to be made in America.

Posted by: Soothsayer at July 27, 2025 04:33 AM (2tDeh)

4 Pixy, have you changed your posting time? Used to see TT at 1am pt.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 04:31 AM (0eaVi)
-

Good morning, Rip Van Winkle!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 04:34 AM (DT0BZ)

5
Good morning, Rip Van Winkle!
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 04:34 AM (DT0BZ)

BD, I'm usually still abed at this time.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 04:35 AM (0eaVi)

6 OrangeEnt - Yes, until daylight saving time flips back. I was getting off work right at the time the post needed to go live.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at July 27, 2025 04:35 AM (BLOW1)

7 OrangeEnt - Yes, until daylight saving time flips back. I was getting off work right at the time the post needed to go live.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at July 27, 2025 04:35 AM (BLOW1)

Got it.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 04:37 AM (0eaVi)

8 Guten morgen, horde.

Looks like nothing worth commenting on yet, this morning.

Posted by: clarence at July 27, 2025 04:46 AM (is93d)

9 Looks like nothing worth commenting on yet, this morning.

Posted by: clarence at July 27, 2025 04:46 AM (is93d)
-

While we're waiting for the arrests to begin, here's a new name to add to the list:

https://tinyurl.com/fj2tuutw

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 04:51 AM (DT0BZ)

10 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at July 27, 2025 04:57 AM (hoCmQ)

11
I wonder if ChatGPT and Gemini know that I've got them open in separate tabs.

ChatGPT built me an Admin Panel. It was ugly, so I asked Gemini to fix it. Gemini made a couple of mistakes along the way (" My apologies, that's a new error and it's a very clear one"). Gemini finally fixed ChatGPT's code. Before I go back to ChatGPT, I make sure my hair isn't mussed.

Posted by: Blonde Morticia at July 27, 2025 05:09 AM (lCaJd)

12
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at July 27, 2025 05:12 AM (tljrc)

13 The latest sequel of Love Boat has been cancelled:

https://tinyurl.com/3wezuzvm

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 05:12 AM (DT0BZ)

14 Morning, Tech Peeps

Posted by: fluffy at July 27, 2025 05:16 AM (AN2gy)

15 >>> Name the only state that requires All USA Flags sold in that state to be made in America.

The answer will shock you!

Posted by: fluffy at July 27, 2025 05:19 AM (AN2gy)

16 While we're waiting for the arrests to begin, here's a new name to add to the list:

https://tinyurl.com/fj2tuutw
Posted by: Biden's Dog

heh. Democrats, what can you say.

Posted by: clarence at July 27, 2025 05:21 AM (is93d)

17 The latest sequel of Love Boat has been cancelled:

https://tinyurl.com/3wezuzvm
Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 05:12 AM (DT0BZ)

I am at a loss with this. What was the purpose? Just a prog virtue signal?

Posted by: Somewhere South of I-80 at July 27, 2025 05:27 AM (89Sog)

18 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at July 27, 2025 05:31 AM (XQo4F)

19 G'mornin all y'all
Going to attempt not crashing a couple of rc planes early today.
Before it gets really hot n windy.
77 now, few hours before sun up.

Posted by: OkJohn at July 27, 2025 05:38 AM (NC/it)

20 So many of these click-bait articles about AI apps are really about profoundly stupid people asking profoundly stupid questions.

I am not cheerleader for AI, but I think it will eventually become useful as an adjunct to low and mid-level business activities. But these idiotic articles are getting tedious. Maybe the earnest 20-something "journalists" should actually learn something about AI and write substantive criticisms!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo...know-nothing progressive at July 27, 2025 05:49 AM (7lCm1)

21 "Tennessee is the only state that requires all U.S. flags sold within its borders to be made in America."

This is reason enough to move there.

Posted by: pawn at July 27, 2025 05:50 AM (QB+5g)

22 >>> Maybe the earnest 20-something "journalists" should actually learn something about AI and write substantive criticisms!

Why start now?

Posted by: fluffy at July 27, 2025 05:50 AM (AN2gy)

23 In baseball news, things are heating up in the AL East as the Red Sox creep a game closer to the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles shout at the Colorado Rockies, "We are nothing like you!"

Posted by: fluffy at July 27, 2025 05:54 AM (AN2gy)

24 Tennessee is the only state that requires all U.S. flags sold within its borders to be made in America."

This is reason enough to move there.
Posted by: pawn at July 27, 2025 05:50 AM (QB+5g)
-

Let me fix it for you:

All official flags of the United States and of the state of Tennessee, purchased under a state contract, shall be manufactured in the United States.

I couldn't understand it otherwise.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 05:59 AM (DT0BZ)

25 Morning to the early risers, evening to the late and Sunday toilers, on this last Sunday of a long, long July. Howz ever'body today?

I'm up after a confused dream (thanks, melatonin) about my visiting a dentist who apparently was also a friend. I recall him placing some sort of pain-killing cap on one of my teeth, and then we kept delaying the actual procedure, wandering around and talking to other people along a corridor of offices. We never did get to the dental work, which was fine with me.

Coffee now, need to feed the beasts in a bit, and then I'll try walking for about twenty minutes. It's been two weeks and I think I feel up to that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 06:01 AM (omVj0)

26
Good morning, Hordians.

Off to Mass. See you Book Threadish.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 27, 2025 06:05 AM (HZi96)

27 Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Rejoinder: Weather in Kiev: cloudy and 6000 degrees.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at July 27, 2025 06:08 AM (XZ5S6)

28 I remember Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" and then "Stir It Up" (or maybe the reverse) playing on AM Top 40 radio in the early '70s. I used to sit up late and dial my AM radio to see what I could pick up, and found stations from Cleveland and Kansas City playing songs that hadn't made it to the playlist of my local Top 40 station yet. "Clearly" and the Eagles' "Take It Easy" were among them. Summer of '72, I think?

We had it good then, and didn't know it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 06:08 AM (omVj0)

29 I love how the black and white music video has lyrics that say:

Look all around, there's nothing but blue sky
Look straight ahead, nothing but blue sky

while showing gray clouds.

Oh, well. It was the 70s. A simpler time.
I just blame it on Nixon and this damn war...

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 27, 2025 06:08 AM (XQo4F)

30 I wonder whether the Michigan Walmart stabbing story will disappear in 3-2-1 if the attacker turns out to be what I read he is (unconfirmed).

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 06:09 AM (DT0BZ)

31 We had it good then, and didn't know it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 06:08 AM (omVj0)
-

Yep. World lost.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 06:11 AM (DT0BZ)

32 G'morning, all.

We hit 102.9 in the back yard yesterday.

Heat index up into the 120's.

Only 2/10 of a degree below the hottest day of the year so far.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 27, 2025 06:11 AM (a1415)

33 If anyone hasn't seen all of it, or wants to rewatch parts, Grit channel will be showing Lonesome Dove today from 8:30 am Central to 4:30.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 06:17 AM (omVj0)

34 G'mornin' everyone!

64 degrees, dense fog, coffee urgently required, brb

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 06:17 AM (dKEEs)

35 We hit 102.9 in the back yard yesterday.

Heat index up into the 120's.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 27, 2025 06:11 AM (a1415)
-

This pretty much matches the 102F in the Jordan Valley today, expected to reach 106 tomorrow.

Here in Israel's northern mountains, simply deduct 10 degrees from the above numbers. Staying mostly indoors chilling with the a/c.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 06:19 AM (DT0BZ)

36 The Johnny Nash video says the song is dated 1970. I recall it playing on AM later than that, after I'd started college. Maybe it was recorded in '70, released and failed, then re-released a year or so later and rose to hit status, like Glen Campbell's "Gentle on My Mind" did earlier.

My question: If this video was filmed in 1970 or 1972, where was it aired? There was no MTV then. Seems to me I recall the Smothers Brothers and then Sonny & Cher ran some short music videos on their variety shows.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 06:21 AM (omVj0)

37 "if the attacker turns out to be what I read he is (unconfirmed)."

Can ya at least give us a hint?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 27, 2025 06:22 AM (a1415)

38 Guess I'd better get ready for my walk. Got to overcome inertia and laziness, and kick myself into it. I will probably be glad I did.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 06:23 AM (omVj0)

39 Kansas farmer plants surprise for his wife on their 20th year anniversary:

https://tinyurl.com/4f92243c

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 06:27 AM (2GCMq)

40 Can ya at least give us a hint?

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at July 27, 2025 06:22 AM (a1415)
-

Too soon to give any sort of validation to the claim.

OK. Not Amish.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 06:29 AM (adINt)

41 The Wiki entry on Johnny Nash indicates he was an actor as well as a singer with singles released as far back as 1958, when he was 18. "Stir It Up" was released in '70 and went nowhere, but after "I Can See Clearly Now" rose to No. 1 in 1972, "Stir" was re-released and became a Top 40 chart single.

He died of natural causes in 2020, at age 80.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 06:30 AM (omVj0)

42 Kansas farmer plants surprise for his wife on their 20th year anniversary:

https://tinyurl.com/4f92243c

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 06:27 AM (2GCMq)
-

Nice - and not the least bit corny.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 06:30 AM (adINt)

43 I wonder whether the Michigan Walmart stabbing story will disappear in 3-2-1 if the attacker turns out to be what I read he is (unconfirmed).

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 06:09 AM (DT0BZ)

The media are already scrubbing the inconvenient fact that bystanders subdued him, and at least one of them held him at gunpoint.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo...know-nothing progressive at July 27, 2025 06:33 AM (7lCm1)

44 Christian singer with a lovely voice sings a song I was not familiar with;: "Firm Foundation":

https://tinyurl.com/mr42bzd8

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 06:33 AM (2GCMq)

45 Comedian Tim Hawkins- "Things not to say to your wife. " If you have an interest, scroll down past the description to the actual video:

https://tinyurl.com/323hthmx

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 06:37 AM (2GCMq)

46 Happy husband, happy life.

Posted by: Where's that bumper sticker? at July 27, 2025 06:49 AM (XQo4F)

47 The greatest Westerns made after the 1970s:

#1 Lonesome Dove (1989)
#2 Unforgiven (1992)
#3 Tombstone (1993)
Honorable Mention
Dances With Wolves (1990)

Did I forget any?

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 07:02 AM (6ydKt)

48 Good morning, good people, from my Adirondacks where life is good.

Has it been mentioned yet that Windows 11 is a reeking pile of feces in all facets?

Posted by: IRONGRAMPA at July 27, 2025 07:04 AM (hKoQL)

49 43.The guy looks like a homeless person. Kudos to the armed citizen and additional men who corralled him in the parking lot before the sheriff got there.

Posted by: Jen the original at July 27, 2025 07:05 AM (O/7mk)

50 36 The Johnny Nash video says the song is dated 1970. I recall it playing on AM later than that, after I'd started college. Maybe it was recorded in '70, released and failed, then re-released a year or so later and rose to hit status, like Glen Campbell's "Gentle on My Mind" did earlier.

My question: If this video was filmed in 1970 or 1972, where was it aired? There was no MTV then. Seems to me I recall the Smothers Brothers and then Sonny & Cher ran some short music videos on their variety shows.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

Apparently there was an Australian music show called GTK that aired from 1969 to 1975 (mentioned in the clip's opening credits). According to Wikipedia it was all thought lost, but decades later after the studio was closed all the original tapes were rediscovered.

Never heard of GTK before, but Rage was a much later music show from the same studio.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at July 27, 2025 07:05 AM (BLOW1)

51 @47
Broken Trail
Open Range
The Missing

Posted by: Ben Had at July 27, 2025 07:12 AM (HFcKg)

52 Good morning good people.

Posted by: Tonypete at July 27, 2025 07:14 AM (6WCwE)

53 @47
Broken Trail
Open Range
The Missing
Posted by: Ben Had at July 27, 2025 07:12 AM (HFcKg)

I’ve seen Open Range, once, I believe, but not the rest.

If I see them somewhere I’ll have to check hem out.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 07:17 AM (6ydKt)

54 We need some rain, Johnny.

Posted by: Eromero at July 27, 2025 07:17 AM (jgmnb)

55 "The media are already scrubbing the inconvenient fact that bystanders subdued him, and at least one of them held him at gunpoint.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo...know-nothing progressive at July 27, 2025 06:33 AM (7lCm1) "

still parts of it available at Daily Mail ... bystanders are credited, the gun is not mentioned, but look at the posture of the black guy with the long braids ...

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 07:22 AM (dKEEs)

56 Did you know that you cannot buy (almost) a converter that goes from an HDMI port on your computer to a Displayport on a monitor? They almost exclusively go the other way.

I found ONE converter going the direction I want. Weird.

Posted by: GWB at July 27, 2025 07:22 AM (rgxCF)

57 The greatest Westerns made after the 1970s:

#1 Lonesome Dove (1989)
#2 Unforgiven (1992)
#3 Tombstone (1993)
Honorable Mention
Dances With Wolves (1990)

Did I forget any?
Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025

***
Open Range w/ Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall!

Silverado as an Honorable Mention.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 07:25 AM (omVj0)

58 I don’t remember music videos before the early 80s. Come to think of it, I don’t remember much of anything before the early 80s.

But I do recall there were a few tv shows on that had music videos before MTV.

One was syndicated and played on random stations usually at night on the weekends.

The other was on HBO that they played randomly during the week.

Wish I could remember their names.

One was Video Jukebox or something similar.

I find a lot of videos for older singers and bands are just repackaged live shows.

It is kind of weird to see music videos for songs before music videos were a thing.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 07:25 AM (6ydKt)

59 Happily, the rain is gone.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 27, 2025 07:26 AM (9nc7W)

60 @57:
Broken Trail
Open Range
The Missing
Posted by: Ben Had at July 27, 2025 07:12 AM (HFcKg)
********
Great picks, Broken Trail is a great movie and one of my favorites.

Posted by: Rufus T. Firefly at July 27, 2025 07:26 AM (MiQK4)

61 NY Politicians must condemn Mamdani's anti semetism.: Michael Goodwin- NY Post:

https://tinyurl.com/4e43edmr

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 07:27 AM (47lXK)

62 Oh yeah I forgot Silverado

I remember that had Kevin Kline and a very young Kevin Constner.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 07:28 AM (6ydKt)

63 The Jack Bull w/ John Cusak is on Grit this afternoon at 4:30 Central, after Lonesome Dove. I'll report on that one after I've watched it. Yes, I know, Cusack is a lefty loon, but he has often appeared in or chosen some good vehicles like Grosse Pointe Blank and that dark film about Edgar Allan Poe about ten years ago, so I'll give this one a try.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 07:28 AM (omVj0)

64 HBO MAX is currently showing the Extended Edition of Dances with Wolves, which I didn’t even know existed until I saw it on there last night.

The thing has a 3 hours and 54 minutes runtime.

I’m afraid to touch it.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 07:31 AM (6ydKt)

65 The two Lonesome Dove prequels, Comanche Moon and Dead Man's Walk, were pretty well-done miniseries. They were well-cast and seemed to follow McMurtry's novels pretty closely.

There was also Streets of Laredo[, the LD sequel, with James Garner as an aging Captain Call.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 07:31 AM (omVj0)

66 Did you know that you cannot buy (almost) a converter that goes from an HDMI port on your computer to a Displayport on a monitor? They almost exclusively go the other way.

Posted by: GWB

You have blonde hair, don't you?

Posted by: Tonypete at July 27, 2025 07:32 AM (6WCwE)

67 Oh yeah I forgot Silverado

I remember that had Kevin Kline and a very young Kevin Constner.
Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025

***
It had Scott Glenn, too, and the Horde's favorite all-around actor, Brian Dennehy. Danny Glover as well; he would be in Lonesome Dove a little later.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 07:33 AM (omVj0)

68 Open Range was directed and co produced by Costner. One thing I admire about him is his selection of armorers for his work. Everything period correct. No 92 Winchesters in 1878, no Colt SAAs in 1870. This was also apparent in The Hatfields and McCoys mini series. It even showed a transition from percussion to cartridge as the years wore on.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 27, 2025 07:36 AM (gm9Sb)

69 Good morning!

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

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 07:38 AM (u82oZ)

70 And we shouldn't forget the 1994 Maverick w/ Mel Gibson and James Garner, and Jodie Foster. It captured the spirit of the original show at its best, and even has two of William Goldman's trademark "one line that changes everything" scenes in it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 07:38 AM (omVj0)

71 Libs of TikTok presents Fun Facts:

https://tinyurl.com/2kaw9udd

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 07:40 AM (sTuNG)

72 Never heard of The Jack Bull.

Looked it up on Wiki,
Came out in 1999 as a HBO film.

Filmed in Calgary, Alberta.
And was written by Dick Cusack, who is, funnily enough, John and Joan’s dad.

I didn’t know their father was an actor, documentary filmmaker and a screenwriter.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 07:41 AM (6ydKt)

73 You have blonde hair, don't you?

Posted by: Tonypete at July 27, 2025 07:32 AM (6WCwE)
-

Even for blondes, their condition is... reversible.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 07:41 AM (sTuNG)

74 Listening to Beethoven Welilngton's Victory by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra led by Herbert von Karajan.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 07:43 AM (u82oZ)

75 Remember last week's Dem self-goal when they published the inflation graph, most of which was under Biden's term?

Well, they did it again!

https://tinyurl.com/mwem9mcv

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 07:43 AM (sTuNG)

76 Biden's Dog

Economic data from the Biden years is not the Democrat's friend.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 07:45 AM (u82oZ)

77 Sunday memes from Mike McDaniel

https://is.gd/zkSpUP

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 27, 2025 07:46 AM (PiwSw)

78 Biden's Dog

Cultural descriptions from the Biden years are not the Democrat's friend.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 07:47 AM (u82oZ)

79 DOGE is truly a blessing. If only this would be followed through by the House & Senate. Imagine:

https://tinyurl.com/bdfw6ary

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 07:47 AM (sTuNG)

80 {{{I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper}}}

Thank you for your blessing of memes.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 07:47 AM (u82oZ)

81 The two Lonesome Dove prequels, Comanche Moon and Dead Man's Walk, were pretty well-done miniseries. They were well-cast and seemed to follow McMurtry's novels pretty closely.

There was also Streets of Laredo[, the LD sequel, with James Garner as an aging Captain Call.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 07:31 AM (omVj0)

I’ve watched all of them.

I really like Dead Men’s Walk when they were young men who just joined the Rangers.

The two actors really managed to pull off younger versions of the characters Duvall and Jones made famous.

The Gus McCray actor really did pull it off well.

Garner was pretty good as an old older Woodrow Call, even though he spends half the movie on his back after getting shot.

I liked all of them, not as much as Lonesome Dove but they are still pretty good.

Return to Lonesome Dove is the disappointing one.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 07:48 AM (6ydKt)

82 Cultural descriptions from the Biden years are not the Democrat's friend.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 07:47 AM (u82oZ)
-

The Dems are not the Dems' friend.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 07:48 AM (sTuNG)

83 68, good observation, bill; wish that was more common ... saw an illustration the other week of a frontiersman drawing a bead with a flintlock, and no flint in the jaws!

artist working from museum pictures, I figured

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 07:49 AM (dKEEs)

84 Never heard of The Jack Bull.

Looked it up on Wiki,
Came out in 1999 as a HBO film.

Filmed in Calgary, Alberta.
And was written by Dick Cusack, who is, funnily enough, John and Joan’s dad.

I didn’t know their father was an actor, documentary filmmaker and a screenwriter.
Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025

***
A family project! Well, if it's from '99, we have a good chance it won't be heavily woke or too PC.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 07:50 AM (omVj0)

85 Salty, blessings to you and your family!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 27, 2025 07:50 AM (PiwSw)

86 thanks for all the links, Biden's Dog!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 07:53 AM (dKEEs)

87 And we shouldn't forget the 1994 Maverick w/ Mel Gibson and James Garner, and Jodie Foster. It captured the spirit of the original show at its best, and even has two of William Goldman's trademark "one line that changes everything" scenes in it.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 07:38 AM (omVj0)

Would you believe I had no idea that was based on a TV show when I saw it back then?

I didn’t figure that part out until much much later when I started watching the reruns on Encore Westerns.

I liked it before I even knew what it was based on.

Jack Kelly died in 1992, so that explains why brother Bart didn’t have a role in the movie.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 07:53 AM (6ydKt)

88 Did Skip post yesterday? He sounded sick on Friday.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 27, 2025 07:53 AM (TEi+a)

89 Omar Fateh is NOT a "Somali American."
Yes, his parents emigrated from Somalia, but he was born in Washington, DC.
He graduated from Falls Church high school in Falls Church, Virginia.
He has an undergraduate and masters degree in Public Administration from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
He's just a fake foreigner following the fake Barry Soetoro model.

Posted by: Where's that bumper sticker? at July 27, 2025 07:53 AM (XQo4F)

90 and thanks for the more memes, Shadout Mapes!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 07:53 AM (dKEEs)

91 I'm back from my walk, cleaned up and fed. Big black Stirling cat is lounging on the floor at the end of the couch. No idea where little Dagny is; probably her bedroom window. It'll be neat to see where their favorite spots will be once we have our house. If they have a preferred window, I'll get one of those cat perch things you can mount on a windowsill and brace against the wall beneath, so they can sit there comfortably.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 07:54 AM (omVj0)

92 Dairy Farmers of America write an open letter to Trump in NY Post They are concerned about how Trump policies will affect laborers from other countries . No, they are not against border control but apparently removing workers are affecting their businesses. I would post a link but I can't seem to find an easy way to do that and need to go. Sorry

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 07:55 AM (2GCMq)

93 I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper

Thank you. I survived a trip to see the overpriced Museum of Light and Art with gold-digger #3 yesterday. The Renoir works on a slide show were nice. The rest of the art was self-indulgent crap.

Looking at the prayer list, I would go for blessing wishes for all the Horde. There are some going through a lot of pain.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 07:55 AM (u82oZ)

94 Oops. Sock fail.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 27, 2025 07:55 AM (XQo4F)

95 So many of these click-bait articles about AI apps are really about profoundly stupid people asking profoundly stupid questions.

I wonder how many are written by AI. The total lack of creativity and the abundance of eye-wash are clues.

Sometimes I wonder if the articles are merely there to shape narratives. Say that you are in union or guild leadership where your income is based on the there being humans doing some thing where you can grift or otherwise make the mortgage payment, and you hear that AI is going to cut down on work opportunities for your field.

Yes, you want to flood the field with negative stories on the threats to your food pellet.

Or, if there is a "give it time" clause in the story, it might well be level setting by AI enthusiasts who haven't delivered AI's version of the Hoverboard.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 07:56 AM (a4flb)

96 and still more memes here:

https://is.gd/4Tk4Fg

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 07:57 AM (dKEEs)

97 Would you believe I had no idea that was based on a TV show when I saw it back then?

I didn’t figure that part out until much much later when I started watching the reruns on Encore Westerns.

I liked it before I even knew what it was based on.

Jack Kelly died in 1992, so that explains why brother Bart didn’t have a role in the movie.
Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025

***
William Goldman, the screenwriter for Maverick, was born in '31, so he'd have been 26 when the original show began. No doubt he was familiar with it -- in contrast to today's screenwriters, who are proud that they don't know anything about the original property and are determined to "reimagine" it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 07:57 AM (omVj0)

98 FenelonSpoke

Thank you for that link to the Pratt, Kansas farmer. He did well for his 20th anniversary. Need a steady hand on the Deere GPS planting program to do that.

And a shoutout to Jessie, your retired organist.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 07:58 AM (u82oZ)

99 Morning peeps. It's shaping up to be another blistering hot one here in Bourbon Country. Property needs mowed, but I think I'll have to take it slow and do a little bit at a time.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 27, 2025 07:58 AM (Q4IgG)

100 Dairy Farmers of America write an open letter to Trump in NY Post They are concerned about how Trump policies will affect laborers from other countries .

I'm concerned about a Leviathan government that infests ever minute detail of human life and activity that any twitch by a government policy maker results in "catastrophe" for the dependent class.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:01 AM (a4flb)

101 Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:01 AM (a4flb)

Ok Perhaps you should address The Diary Farmers of America. I didn't write the letter.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 08:04 AM (2GCMq)

102 Good morning cats 'n' kittens. Getting caffeinated for the book thread.

There's already a funky haze in the air, and not the good fungKAY kind. Gonna be another hot one.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 27, 2025 08:05 AM (kpS4V)

103 Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 07:58 AM (u82oZ)

Thanks, Salty. I just saw her earlier this week and had. a nice visit.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 27, 2025 08:05 AM (2GCMq)

104 I like some of the Louis L'Amour westerns like Crossfire Traill, Conagher, and that whole Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot era.

Quigley Down Under

Also The Man From Snowy River.

Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025 08:06 AM (poXs5)

105 William Goldman, the screenwriter for Maverick, was born in '31, so he'd have been 26 when the original show began. No doubt he was familiar with it -- in contrast to today's screenwriters, who are proud that they don't know anything about the original property and are determined to "reimagine" it.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 07:57 AM (omVj0)

It really is Maverick through and through.
The setups and cons.

The Jodie Foster character as a stand-in for the Samantha Crawford character from the original show.

The best part about watching it without having seen the series is that I had no clue Garner’s character would be Gibson’s Maverick’s father until they showed it.

If I’d have seen the show first I would’ve immediately thought they were related.

“Like my old Pappy used to say…”

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 08:06 AM (6ydKt)

106 Just read the article cbd post in the sidebar concerning Brennan. It states that there's a 5 year statue of limitations on this crime, so all PDT can do is drag his name thought the mud?

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at July 27, 2025 08:07 AM (2NHgQ)

107 96 and still more memes here:

https://is.gd/4Tk4Fg
Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 07:57 AM (dKEEs)

Excellent, I'll bookmark that one. Also, Bookworm Room sometimes has a meme drop, but not always weekly.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at July 27, 2025 08:08 AM (PiwSw)

108 neverenoughcaffeine

There is a way to prosecute him. But I would rather sic OSHA, BATF, and the IRS on him.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 08:08 AM (u82oZ)

109 Hey dairy farmers, hire Americans.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at July 27, 2025 08:09 AM (2NHgQ)

110 56 Did you know that you cannot buy (almost) a converter that goes from an HDMI port on your computer to a Displayport on a monitor? They almost exclusively go the other way.

I found ONE converter going the direction I want. Weird.
Posted by: GWB

DisplayPort includes HDMI in the spec, so DisplayPort to HDMI converters are cheap and easy - basically just a passive cable.

Going the other way requires a chip to handle conversion and a separate power supply.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at July 27, 2025 08:10 AM (BLOW1)

111 And also a very direct allegory on the problems of abortion to which the writer was and remains completely oblivious.

I was gonna say, a properly based AI would just direct you to Planned Parenthood if you asked it how to worship Moloch.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 27, 2025 08:11 AM (Aq1uz)

112 104 I like some of the Louis L'Amour westerns like Crossfire Traill, Conagher, and that whole Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot era.

Quigley Down Under

Also The Man From Snowy River.
Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025 08:06 AM (poXs5)

Yeah but those are in Australia and they don’t count. ;-)

Quigley is good,
I watch it every time I come across it just to see Laura San Giacomo eat the maggots.

I wonder if kids in Oz played “Drovers & Aborigines” like we played “Cowboys & Indians”?

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 08:12 AM (6ydKt)

113 I'm concerned about a Leviathan government that infests ever minute detail of human life and activity that any twitch by a government policy maker results in "catastrophe" for the dependent class.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:01 AM (a4flb)
-

So am I. But before we go there, what percentage of the farmers complaining are dependent on illegal aliens (and possibly child labor) doing the field work for them?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 08:13 AM (sTuNG)

114 Going the other way requires a chip to handle conversion and a separate power supply.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at July 27, 2025 08:10 AM (BLOW1)
-

Obviously a blonde developed this technology.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at July 27, 2025 08:14 AM (sTuNG)

115 The Diary Farmers of America."

Yeah. Sounds so "farmish".

It ain't.

Posted by: man at July 27, 2025 08:15 AM (tubbA)

116 Pixy Misa

Thanks again.

Got a blog question. When I refresh the page, I get a sponsored commercial as a full page. Going back to use History returns me to the blog. But the commercials popping up are almost as annoying as YouTube.

Should I upgrade my iMac 11.7.10 to get rid of pop-ups?

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 08:15 AM (u82oZ)

117 I like some of the Louis L'Amour westerns like Crossfire Traill, Conagher, and that whole Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot era.

Quigley Down Under

Also The Man From Snowy River.
Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025

***
How could I have forgotten Quigley, with Alan Rickman as another of his quintessential villains -- and Laura San Giacomo as the adorable if nutty Cora?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 08:15 AM (omVj0)

118 Pixy knows !

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 08:16 AM (dKEEs)

119 I wonder if ChatGPT and Gemini know that I've got them open in separate tabs.

I've had good results with the free version of Github Copilot that's built into VSCode. It pretty quickly picked up suggesting code in my general style and around 35-40% of the time what it suggests is exactly what I wanted to write. The rest of the time it's either close but fixable with minimal editing or a complete hallucination, so I really don't get actually asking it to generate an entire program.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 27, 2025 08:18 AM (Aq1uz)

120 Foreign dairy workers: Tugging the teats Americans just won't tug.

Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025 08:18 AM (poXs5)

121 Good morning morons from Sonoma

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 27, 2025 08:18 AM (JvZF+)

122 116 Pixy Misa

Thanks again.

Got a blog question. When I refresh the page, I get a sponsored commercial as a full page. Going back to use History returns me to the blog. But the commercials popping up are almost as annoying as YouTube.

Should I upgrade my iMac 11.7.10 to get rid of pop-ups?
Posted by: NaCly Dog

Now that one I don't know.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at July 27, 2025 08:19 AM (BLOW1)

123 Quigley Down Under

Also The Man From Snowy River.
Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025 08:06 AM (poXs5)

Yeah but those are in Australia and they don’t count. ;-)

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025

***
Quigley could have been set in 1870s Arizona. But the Apaches (or whatever Indians Rickman's rancher would want to have annihilated) would have had rifles of their own. Maybe it could have been a more peaceable and more defenseless tribe somewhere.

But then we'd have lost the exotic AU flavor.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 08:19 AM (omVj0)

124 The Diary Farmers of America

**********

If I am not mistaken they do a lot of logging....

Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025 08:21 AM (poXs5)

125 Got a blog question. When I refresh the page, I get a sponsored commercial as a full page. Going back to use History returns me to the blog. But the commercials popping up are almost as annoying as YouTube.

Should I upgrade my iMac 11.7.10 to get rid of pop-ups?

I see a full page ad when I press Back to go to the main page, but refreshing a comment page doesn't do that. That behavior is identical across all 3 major OSes (Win 11, Mac 15.5, Linux 6.15).

Posted by: Ian S. at July 27, 2025 08:23 AM (Aq1uz)

126 >>OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says that AI is not a licensed therapist, doctor, or lawyer and there are no legal privacy guarantees for its users. (Tech Crunch)

Step 1: Ai can do all your thinking for you - simply ask it to do a task, solve a problem personal, manage your life - presto! - you're all set!! AI replaces EVERYTHING!

Step 2: AI used to data farm every last detail about all our lives, then used to monetize and control us.

Step 3: Whoa, dude, we never said this was private -- and really, you should have been consulting a licensed professional* for most of that sh#t. . .

*laughs that licensed professionals were replaced by AI*

Posted by: Lizzy at July 27, 2025 08:23 AM (GbwPZ)

127 Ian S.

Thanks.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 08:24 AM (u82oZ)

128 Should I upgrade my iMac 11.7.10 to get rid of pop-ups?
Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 08:15 AM (u82oZ)

Updating your OS won’t do much for that.

You’ll need to add an extension/plug-in to your browser.

Adblock, UBlock-Origin, and/or Ghostery will help there.

It depends on what browser you use, though.
If you’re using Safari I think those plugins are available, but I’m not sure.

Brave Browser will block most ad stuff without your having to do anything extra.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 08:24 AM (6ydKt)

129 SpeakingOf

Got it. Do not want to upgrade my OS. Got some extensions that are not up to snuff.
Off to the Apple store.

Thanks.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 08:27 AM (u82oZ)

130 Everyone have a wonderful day, full of cooling clouds, a light mist, and zephyrs.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at July 27, 2025 08:27 AM (u82oZ)

131 106 Just read the article cbd post in the sidebar concerning Brennan. It states that there's a 5 year statute of limitations on this crime, so all PDT can do is drag his name thought the mud?
Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at July 27, 2025 08:07 AM (2NHgQ)

There’s been some good serious discussion on X by those with legal knowledge, and yes quite conservative. General agreement that getting indictments should be pretty easy, getting convictions for any of them will be damn near impossible. That’s ok; the purpose will be to expose everything to the public, and also force each defendant to spend millions of dollars and waste years of their lives fighting it.
The process is the punishment.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 27, 2025 08:28 AM (9Tdlv)

132 Quigley could have been set in 1870s Arizona. But the Apaches (or whatever Indians Rickman's rancher would want to have annihilated) would have had rifles of their own. Maybe it could have been a more peaceable and more defenseless tribe somewhere.

But then we'd have lost the exotic AU flavor.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 08:19 AM (omVj0)

I don’t suppose it matters, really.
All you need for a Western is guns, horses, and preferably plains and/or deserts.

Add a few outlaws or baddies and you got yourself a Western.

And Oz has had some colorful outlaws over the years.

Ned Kelly was a famous one.
They’ve made several movies about him.
One even starred Mick Jagger as Kelly.

The last one I saw had Heath Ledger as their outlaw.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 08:29 AM (6ydKt)

133 Step 2: AI used to data farm every last detail about all our lives, then used to monetize and control us.

Learn to Monkey Wrench systems. AI is begging for it.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:29 AM (a4flb)

134 Wolfus I am glad to hear you are recovering b"h for good health

Skip commented yesterday

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 27, 2025 08:30 AM (JvZF+)

135 Thanks! I didn't see any posts from him and got worried.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 27, 2025 08:32 AM (TEi+a)

136
Brave Browser will block most ad stuff without your having to do anything extra.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 08:24 AM

I've been having good luck running chrome w/ adblock

I prefer brave, but every time I open AoSHQ, it crashes all the brave windows (hence my shift to chrome)

could have something to do with the fact that I'm still driving a Win7 box...

Posted by: AltonJackson at July 27, 2025 08:34 AM (tljrc)

137 The process is the punishment.

Brennan and others still need the perfunctory 5:00 AM raid where they sit in their bed cloths in the front lawn handcuffed for hours while agents are taking the sweet time methodically searching everywhere, including behind all of the drywall for "evidence".

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:35 AM (a4flb)

138 >>That’s ok; the purpose will be to expose everything to the public, and also force each defendant to spend millions of dollars and waste years of their lives fighting it.
The process is the punishment.

. . . and 5:00am no-knock raids. Can't forget that part! Also gag orders, so that they can't defend themselves in public? They did that to Trump during the 2024 campaign.

Posted by: Lizzy at July 27, 2025 08:35 AM (GbwPZ)

139 Prediction: AI will end up replacing a lot of clerical and mid level work; for example I think 90% of government work could be done by it. (Of course it will make mistakes, but what’s different about that?)

Outside of that I think it’s vastly overrated.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 27, 2025 08:35 AM (9Tdlv)

140 I prefer brave, but every time I open AoSHQ, it crashes all the brave windows (hence my shift to chrome)

AoSHQ seems to perform best with Chrome + Ghostery. Dittos with Amazon Prime Video and Youtube videos, eliminates all of the advertisements.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:36 AM (a4flb)

141 Heh, Unknown Drip Under Pressure!

Posted by: Lizzy at July 27, 2025 08:36 AM (GbwPZ)

142 G'Day everyone

Posted by: Skip at July 27, 2025 08:38 AM (+qU29)

143 Enjoying that magic hour between when the dogs wake me up to go out and when the wife and houseguests start to stir.

Ahhhhh...

Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025 08:38 AM (poXs5)

144 Bone Tomahawk.

Posted by: Ordinary American at July 27, 2025 08:39 AM (h/ffs)

145 I prefer brave, but every time I open AoSHQ, it crashes all the brave windows (hence my shift to chrome)

could have something to do with the fact that I'm still driving a Win7 box...
Posted by: AltonJackson at July 27, 2025 08:34 AM (tljrc)

It’s just the main page that gives Brave problems.
I only use Brave on this iPad and it would just reload the page a hundred times.

I finally turned off all blocking on the main page and all of that stopped.

I don’t mind it for AoSHQ.
At least it gives Pixy & Ace a little revenue.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 08:39 AM (6ydKt)

146 F-1 race at Spa Francorchamp in 20 minutes

Posted by: Skip at July 27, 2025 08:39 AM (+qU29)

147 Wolfus I am glad to hear you are recovering b"h for good health

Skip commented yesterday
Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 27, 2025

***
Thanks, SF. I didn't see Skip's comment.

It was minor surgery, and I was in great shape (heart, lungs, muscles, BP, weight) before it, so I wasn't too worried. Got my followup appt. with the surgeon tomorrow. I suppose he'll take out the stitches in another couple of weeks.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 08:39 AM (omVj0)

148 Prediction: AI will end up replacing a lot of clerical and mid level work; for example I think 90% of government work could be done by it. (Of course it will make mistakes, but what’s different about that?)

Outside of that I think it’s vastly overrated.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 27, 2025

***
I'm glad, then, to be out of the clerical and mid-level work world.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 08:40 AM (omVj0)

149 Prediction: AI will end up replacing a lot of clerical and mid level work; for example I think 90% of government work could be done by it. (Of course it will make mistakes, but what’s different about that?)

Outside of that I think it’s vastly overrated.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 27, 2025 08:35 AM (9Tdlv)

As I said in yesterday's hobby thread:

I think AI art is going to become so much better in just a short time that you are going to be able to get exactly what you want.

The days of NC Wyeth are basically done.
Posted by: polynikes at July 26, 2025 06:40 PM (VofaG)

I hope not. If AI did improve so much that it does better than humans, what use is there for human artists and writers?
Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 26, 2025 06:47 PM (0eaVi)

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 08:41 AM (0eaVi)

150 Firefox + AdBlocker Ultimate = pleasant internet experience

Posted by: Don Black at July 27, 2025 08:41 AM (AOsQT)

151 Prediction: AI will end up replacing a lot of clerical and mid level work; for example I think 90% of government work could be done by it. (Of course it will make mistakes, but what’s different about that?)

I go a different direction. AI is a glorified search engine, summarizer and pattern recognizer. Its benefit is being able to draw from a lot of (questionable) sources and provide summaries.

Given that, it doesn't replace much, what it does is augments or extends functions performed by others. Introducing Word and Outlook didn't only replace the steno pool, it changed how we communicate culturally and moved the composition closer to the source.

Giving us Excel didn't replace accountants, it just made their reports more robust and more frequent. Power Point actually created whole categories of time wasting jobs.

I see AI in a Systems Theory sort of way which abides by the laws of homeostasis, just as Anti-lock brakes didn't make driving safer, it allowed us to drive faster and with less inter-car distance.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:42 AM (a4flb)

152 Silverado also had John Cleese as the sheriff- inspired choice, eh?

Posted by: Thumbscrew at July 27, 2025 08:43 AM (DI0sy)

153 Enjoying that magic hour between when the dogs wake me up to go out and when the wife and houseguests start to stir.

Ahhhhh...
Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025

***
That's what I tell Miss Linda. Being up early is like stealing a march on the rest of the world. Roads are empty, stores less crowded -- if they're open. And I don't have to see the denizens of my apartment complex wandering the street and making noise (which they call, I suppose, "music").

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 08:43 AM (omVj0)

154 > The process is the punishment.

Brennan and others still need the perfunctory 5:00 AM raid where they sit in their bed cloths in the front lawn handcuffed for hours while agents are taking the sweet time methodically searching everywhere, including behind all of the drywall for "evidence".
------------
This

Yet... there's speculation that some of the crimes may not have an "expiration date." Some sort of task force has been organized to look into all the criminals and all the crimes to see what is, and isn't possible to hang on them.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 27, 2025 08:44 AM (Q4IgG)

155 I seriously think it is time for all Boomers to arm up. I've never seen so much crap, demonizing people based on when they were born. Most of it seems to be about Boomers not giving their kids an inheritance. Anyone that claims to have helped their kids is called a liar. And it seems to be getting worse.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 27, 2025 08:44 AM (TEi+a)

156 AoSHQ seems to perform best with Chrome + Ghostery.

Safari with AdBlock Pro (the paid version) works well too.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 27, 2025 08:44 AM (Aq1uz)

157 I’ve seen parts of Bone Tomahawk but it is a strange film, with cannibalism and all that.

It’s like a mix of The Hills Have Eyes and The Donner Party,

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 08:46 AM (6ydKt)

158 I hope not. If AI did improve so much that it does better than humans, what use is there for human artists and writers?

Have you heard today's "artists" and seen their work?

We aren't getting beautiful piano concertos and Sistine Chapels.

We get museums decorated with bananas taped to the wall and dirty toilets filled with shit while we listen to drug addicts rhyme to a beat about killing cops and raping women.

Dance is mostly nude obese black women shaking their ass in the air like they are getting Tazed.

I welcome our six-fingered Ai generated art.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:47 AM (a4flb)

159 I've been having good luck running chrome w/ adblock

I prefer brave, but every time I open AoSHQ, it crashes all the brave windows (hence my shift to chrome)

could have something to do with the fact that I'm still driving a Win7 box...
Posted by: AltonJackson at July 27, 2025 08:34 AM (tljrc)

If you're running Windows 7, your browsers are out of date and cannot be upgraded anymore. I'm running Windows 8.1 on a high end Toshibla gaming computer, and I can't upgrade any of my browsers...Chrome, Brave or Firefox. But, I'm not experiencing any of the issues described here. On Chrome and Firefox, I run AdBlock Plus. Brave still blocks most ads and pop-ups. However, any on line banking needs to be done on another machine running Windows 10 with the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, etc. Can't log on with the older versions.

Posted by: thatcrazyjerseyguy at July 27, 2025 08:49 AM (5xuJ/)

160 I seriously think it is time for all Boomers to arm up. I've never seen so much crap, demonizing people based on when they were born. Most of it seems to be about Boomers not giving their kids an inheritance. Anyone that claims to have helped their kids is called a liar. And it seems to be getting worse.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 27, 2025

***
I agree that my g-g-generation did let a lot of garbage happen to America. The policies that led to the decline (the Hart-Celler Act, for instance) were started by Silents and Greatest Generation lawmakers. But the Boomers, once they began to have a serious influence, could have stopped illegal immigration and other disasters -- and didn't.

But the demonization from succeeding generations is unfair and pointless.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 08:49 AM (omVj0)

161
Wait, isn't Minnesota the only state bans the sale of non-USA-made flags?

Posted by: Soothsayer at July 27, 2025 08:50 AM (BA2Bq)

162 Most of it seems to be about Boomers not giving their kids an inheritance.

Boomers need to remind their kids that they voted for socialism. In socialism, there is only inheritance among the elite as they set up trust funds with their ill-gotten "generational wealth".

Then repeat boomer George Carlin's observations about The Club

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:51 AM (a4flb)

163 It's being ramped up for some reason. I'm seeing it on X and Substack. I don't do Instagram.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 27, 2025 08:51 AM (TEi+a)

164 I welcome our six-fingered Ai generated art.
Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:47 AM (a4flb)

If there are no outlets for live artists and writers, you'll never get great art again. Look at book covers, they all look the same. We need a Polynikes and others to create, not leave creation - which is really just derivative copying - to machines that have been coded to obey leftist mores.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 08:51 AM (0eaVi)

165 Everyone can bitch about the past but what counts is what you are doing to make the future better

Posted by: Ben Had at July 27, 2025 08:53 AM (HFcKg)

166 And the worst part seems to be that this isn't about demands for their money after they die. It's about demands that they not spend their money while they are alive.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 27, 2025 08:54 AM (TEi+a)

167 We're borderline "Boomers" and have a planned estate disbursal to our kids. They'll be well taken care of if they're smart.

So it's really a crap shoot with them.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 27, 2025 08:55 AM (Q4IgG)

168 Most of it seems to be about Boomers not giving their kids an inheritance.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:51 AM (a4flb)

Yes. They need to hear it. No one is required to leave anything to anyone. I don't plan to spend everything, but to demand it is a high form of theft in my book.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 08:55 AM (0eaVi)

169 I want book covers that show a dramatic moment from the novels they encase. Probably it's too much to hope for that we could have attractive women, and men, on the covers again, as we had with paperbacks from the '50s to the '80s (? '70s for sure). But a dramatic scene with a soldier or frontiersman in a snowy forest, holding back a pack of wolves with a torch -- how 'bout that?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 08:55 AM (omVj0)

170 I go a different direction. AI is a glorified search engine, summarizer and pattern recognizer. Its benefit is being able to draw from a lot of (questionable) sources and provide summaries.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure
_____

Agree that it is, and will always be, a machine. It cannot become self-aware for the simple reason that we don't understand what comprises consciousness ourselves.

But I do think it can eventually replace humans in anything that involves purely objective criteria.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at July 27, 2025 08:56 AM (XvL8K)

171 I'm neither Boomer nor Gen X I fell through the cracks.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 27, 2025 08:56 AM (JvZF+)

172 The policies that led to the decline (the Hart-Celler Act, for instance) were started by Silents and Greatest Generation lawmakers.

They gave the world LBJ, the Vietnam War and MFN status to China.

Boomers were accused of working too hard and keeping their money to themselves. I lived through the insults of "I should have spent more time in the office" tombstone slurs. Boomers were accused of living off cocaine and caffeine to get their 16 hours a day of Greed. Boomers are Selfish, Greedy, Me Only. That is what I heard all the damned time from older and younger generations.

Same stupid shit today. Boomers in retirement are being accused by the grifting class that they are keeping their money but oddly their accusers have forgotten how hard the Boomers worked to first earn it.

I still bust my ass and I get to decide who gets the millions I leave behind - not some snot nosed socialist punk.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:58 AM (a4flb)

173 But a dramatic scene with a soldier or frontiersman in a snowy forest, holding back a pack of wolves with a torch -- how 'bout that?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at July 27, 2025 08:55 AM (omVj0)

Nothing wrong with that. I believe we've had discussions about covers that have nothing to do with the action in the book. Just a generic scene of a person, coded by color that seems to go with the genre.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 27, 2025 08:58 AM (0eaVi)

174 But I do think it can eventually replace humans in anything that involves purely objective criteria.

AI will NEVER have wisdom.

Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:59 AM (a4flb)

175 Bring your reading glasses and head upstairs
BOOK NOOD

Posted by: Skip at July 27, 2025 08:59 AM (+qU29)

176 I [pst the occasional serious comment between the (wise)cracks.

Posted by: muldoon at July 27, 2025 08:59 AM (poXs5)

177 >>>I seriously think it is time for all Boomers to arm up. I've never seen so much crap, demonizing people based on when they were born.

Oh, you must be reading the AoS comment sections, because there are quite a few regular commenters here who do just that.

Just ask the author wannabe whose books hardly anyone purchases.

Posted by: one hour sober at July 27, 2025 09:04 AM (Y1sOo)

178 I still bust my ass and I get to decide who gets the millions I leave behind - not some snot nosed socialist punk.
Posted by: Unknown Drip Under Pressure at July 27, 2025 08:58 AM (a4flb)

I’m just letting you know right now, if you need a son to adopt, I’m game.

I don’t have anything against Boomers anyhow.
I’m one of those people who realizes every generation is screwed up and screws things up.

I believe that’s called “Human Nature”.

Posted by: SpeakingOf at July 27, 2025 09:04 AM (6ydKt)

179 > I seriously think it is time for all Boomers to arm up. I've never seen so much crap, demonizing people based on when they were born.
--------------
Some of it right here. On a blog. Run by boomers. 🤔

I think there might be some "yanking of chains" involved. But if those individuals are serious, they're going to be horribly disappointed when they get their proverbial ass beat.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 27, 2025 09:13 AM (Q4IgG)

180 Yeah, I suspect programmers all over the world are making offline copies of their data and their programs.

Posted by: Steve O at July 27, 2025 09:41 AM (iY2C2)

181 @ 155

"Oldthinkers unbellyfeel Ingsoc!"

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at July 27, 2025 09:59 AM (dKEEs)

182 /sock

Posted by: Oddbob at July 27, 2025 10:52 AM (/y8xj)

183 For early music videos, there was Don Kirshner's "Rock Concert", 1973-1980.
https://www.imdb.com/title /tt0252784/

Posted by: gingeroni at July 27, 2025 10:55 AM (86qGP)

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