Thinking in new ways, or maybe letting a machine do your thinking

"Grok make me a plate of Cheetos in the style of the Dutch Masters."

We are about to start building small nuclear plants all over the country so anyone who wants to can make more of this "art"
- Walter Kirn

For decades, we have been hearing from advocates of "green energy" that nuclear plants cannot be considered as a replacement for fossil fuels to provide energy for homes and businesses. I haven't seen this argument used much against the proposals to build small nuclear plants to power Artificial Intelligence capacities. Where are the campaigns to cover the countryside with solar panels or windmills to power AI?

AI and Copyrights

Sam Altman (born April 22, 1985, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is an American entrepreneur who was president of the start-up accelerator Y Combinator from 2014 to 2019 and chief executive officer (CEO) of the artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI beginning in 2019. He has been compared to tech visionaries, including Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and is known for his belief that artificial general intelligence (AGI) will be able to do anything that humans can.

But Sam is starting with things that humans have done. And often copyrighted.

Last week in this space, we noted that government entities in Canada were going way overboard in "land acknowledgements" at the start of public meetings. These acknowldements are theoretically directed toward the descendants of various indigenous groups, but are not very useful to them. Although one recent court ruling concerning aboriginal property rights in Richmond, Canada could be.

Here's an interesting view on intellectual property.

I think Sam Altman should have to recite "intellectual property acknowledgements" every time he speaks in public
— Walter Kirn (@walterkirn) August 12, 2025

ARS TECHNICA via Instapundit, AI industry horrified to face largest copyright class action ever certified:

AI industry groups are urging an appeals court to block what they say is the largest copyright class action ever certified. They've warned that a single lawsuit raised by three authors over Anthropic's AI training now threatens to "financially ruin" the entire AI industry if up to 7 million claimants end up joining the litigation and forcing a settlement.

I guess we're not finished with this issue. Perhaps we should get some clarity sooner than later.

* * * * *

More New Thoughts

New(?) thinking from the NYT

Checking in on the New York Times. https://t.co/rAq2AwBgcb pic.twitter.com/HSbIiAsL4Y
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) August 15, 2025

Someone actually changing their thinking:

Confession: I actually used to be part of the “blacker than black, ‘cause I’m black, y’all…” crowd.
First time I watched “Blazing Saddles,” I hated it. I thought it was racist. I remember watching it with some fraternity brothers and damn near causing a scene because they were all laughing while I was pissed they could laugh at something so racist.

Post college, rookie cop, newly into my right-leaning, conservative awakening, I had a girlfriend who wanted to do a movie night. She said she wanted to watch her favorite comedy, “Blazing Saddles.” After asking if we could watch something else and her being dead set on wanting to watch it, I gave it a new shot. I was prepared to be mad, though, just in case.
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in my life.
Point is, to everyone who still views the world through a racial lens, there’s a whole world out there that you could enjoy if you simply take off those lenses. It’s holding you back and you don’t even realize it.

12 Fun Facts about Blazing Saddles

Original Trailer

* * * * *

Weekend

The Week In Pictures: Democrats All-In For Crime Edition

Yesterday was V-J Day, and Powerline posted a piece by Bill Campenni:

Today — August 15 — marks the 80th anniversary of the surrender of Japan. Actually, it was August 15 in Japan, but more accurately August 14 on this side of the Date Line. And yet today I can find little notice or commemoration of this date. It was probably the zenith of American power and patriotism, which has been an exponentially decreasing quotient ever since.
There is a personal component to this day. I was five-year-old visiting relatives in suburban New Jersey and my mom decided to take me over to the City to see a Giants game at the Polo Grounds. (We were Yankee fans, but they were out of town that day.)
On the subway segment to the Jersey PATH trains after the game, mom decided to stop at a now long-defunct Childs restaurant in mid-town for a quick supper. So we get off at the Times Square subway stop and come up to the street to be greeted by probably a million, give or take another half million, people yelling and dancing and celebrating. It was a terrifying scene for a runty little five-year-old. I asked mom what was going on and she read off the moving electric news sign on the Times building “The War is over! The War is over!”
When you see that historic photo of the million(s) jammed into Times Square on V-J Day, yep, that’s me right there. No, not that sailor guy – that little speck over by the copy of the Statue of Liberty at the far end.
Even for a little kid, the importance of that moment was not lost. . .

Today, a scan of the media shows nearly none of the that historic day will be remembered or solemnly celebrated.
Few will have the joy that I was so lucky to experience on that wonderful day in 1945.
It was “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “Over There” in one glorious medley. You should have been there.

A very interesting thread on what Japan is like since V-J day.

* * * * *

Music

God Bless America

* * * * *

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Serving your mid-day open thread needs

* * * * *

Last week's thread, August 9, Getting respect for the past wrong in Canada

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway.

Posted by: K.T. at 11:02 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Good morning KT

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2025 11:03 AM (+qU29)

2 Hi, Skip

Posted by: KT at August 16, 2025 11:04 AM (7vIsy)

3 Yesterday I used an AI assistant to fix my truck. It worked.

Posted by: Don Black at August 16, 2025 11:06 AM (AOsQT)

4 Cheeze Curls made at home, wouldn't have thought it was possible

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2025 11:06 AM (+qU29)

5 I wonder how much banned yellow dye is in that plate of fake food.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:09 AM (MyqLb)

6 AI is nothing but IP theft. You get to steal the work of others without attribution.

I think you could make it work if AI firms made licensing deals through publishers, researcher, and entertainment companies. Basically buy access to a library, pay royalties, and generate your AI stuff.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at August 16, 2025 11:10 AM (ZOv7s)

7 Yup, during Brandon's term, the Left said "fine, we'll back down on nuclear energy since our partners in power need it to impose technotronic serfdom in pursuit of their insane dream of wiping out most of the human race, and converting most of the remainder into cyborg abominations."

It's just a little sacrifice to their newest golden calf.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at August 16, 2025 11:12 AM (BI5O2)

8 Hi

Posted by: Accomack at August 16, 2025 11:13 AM (28cZF)

9 Yesterday I used an AI assistant to fix my truck. It worked.
Posted by: Don Black at August 16, 2025 11:06 AM (AOsQT)

I bet it had to borrow some wrenches though.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at August 16, 2025 11:13 AM (g8Ew8)

10 That NYT thing looks like a FMK equation:

End the Senate; Pack the Electoral College; Abolish the Court.

Hmmm, that's better, but still not a strong enough outcome for the Senate, in my opinion.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:13 AM (MyqLb)

11 Every county, parish, etc., etc. should have at least one nuke power plant so electricity is reliable and cheap.

Ship all the nuke waste to India where they can put it in their garbage food.

But people have no spine and are afraid of everything from second hand smoke to black rifles to Big Green Dildos so we don't.

Posted by: Big Green Dildo at August 16, 2025 11:14 AM (R/m4+)

12 Art!!

Posted by: Weasel at August 16, 2025 11:17 AM (A44Mw)

13 Yesterday I used an AI assistant to fix my truck. It worked.
Posted by: Don Black at August 16, 2025 11:06 AM (AOsQT)

I bet it had to borrow some wrenches though.
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at August 16, 2025 11:13 AM (g8Ew

I have zero interest in any AI, unless and until we get to the point where the AI girlfriend/maid is capable of both cleaning the windows and having moist nether regions.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:17 AM (MyqLb)

14 Every so often the NYT shows it's true colors. Commie red.
They hide behind the 1st amendment but write within their own thought bubble, seldom peeking out to see what the rest of America really doing. Here's a thought NYT, the dems don't need a new constitution, they need to recognize their day in the sun is over and then perhaps come up with some new ideas.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 16, 2025 11:19 AM (2WIwB)

15 Every county, parish, etc., etc. should have at least one nuke power plant so electricity is reliable and cheap.

Ship all the nuke waste to India where they can put it in their garbage food.

But people have no spine and are afraid of everything from second hand smoke to black rifles to Big Green Dildos so we don't.
Posted by: Big Green Dildo at August 16, 2025 11:14 AM (R/m4+)

A couple weeks ago, I sought out and located a site in middle of nowhere Nevada, where they tested a nook sometime in the past. I don't remember whether it was the 40s or later.

Point being, the site looks exactly like everywhere else for hundreds of miles.

Nook waste is like all other waste. We have plenty of space to put it.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:20 AM (MyqLb)

16 > We are about to start building small nuclear plants all over the country so anyone who wants to can make more of this "art"
- Walter Kirn
-----------
I can't remember the country, maybe Sweden? but they presented a modular, mobile nuclear power plant similar to the "shipping container" sized devices that are currently being examined.

It wasn't clear to me whether it was a mockup, model or an actual nuke power plant. Probably one of the former.

Whatever. AI is consuming more and more juice and the public's paying for it with increased electric bills and taxes to fund the construction of more, conventional power plants.

It beats square miles of prime farmland covered in solar panels or overshadowed by wind turbines.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 16, 2025 11:20 AM (Q4IgG)

17 I dislike AI images. Just rubs me the wrong way, kind of an uncanny valley vibe. I even see Yew Toob videos that look like there is some kind of AI filter, even though it's clips of real people.

Posted by: Mikey Alpha Kilo, Friday Night You Guys! at August 16, 2025 11:20 AM (0aYVJ)

18 That does not look much like Cheetos. More like little orange dildos.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 16, 2025 11:20 AM (/lPRQ)

19 I am always amazed by leftists who want to do away with the Constitution, without understanding what that really means.
Most importantly, that you do away well the Union. There can’t be one without the other. There would no longer be one country, there would be 50 independent nations overnight.

Now I imagine they would eventually coalesce into about 4 or 5 successor states, but that’s a best case scenario.

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2025 11:21 AM (MOJY1)

20 Point is, to everyone who still views the world through a racial lens, there’s a whole world out there that you could enjoy if you simply take off those lenses. It’s holding you back and you don’t even realize it.

-----------

You would have to be a complete tool to watch Blazing Saddles and come away thinking it was racist.

The racists get lampooned as idiots from start to finish in the film (with a slight redemption in the end). But I guess some viewers with an axe to grind can't get past the fact that the n-word gets thrown around a lot in it.

That makes it racist.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 16, 2025 11:21 AM (JkO4W)

21 Oops. Forgot to update my nic.

Posted by: Mikey Alpha Kilo, No Longer Friday Night, you Guys at August 16, 2025 11:22 AM (0aYVJ)

22 Whether it's AI, nuclear energy, some nexus of the two, or literally *anything* else, it's always helpful to keep in mind the underlying bedrock principle of our country... our ruling class does not consider any undertaking unless it benefits them. And, it won't consider it for very long unless it also harms the hated subject classes.

Greed, lust for power, and pure malice are their only motivations for anything they do.

If powerful people in America want something, there is no upside in it for you. The best you can hope for is that whatever it is doesn't work as they intend it to, or even completely backfires on them, which thankfully happens quite frequently.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at August 16, 2025 11:23 AM (BI5O2)

23 It's like what Cleavon Little said: If I thought the movie was racist, I wouldn't have done it. (paraphrasing)

Posted by: Mikey Alpha Kilo, No Longer Friday Night, you Guys at August 16, 2025 11:24 AM (0aYVJ)

24 "Grok make me a plate of Cheetos in the style of the Dutch Masters."

Those don't really look like cigars

Posted by: tankdemon at August 16, 2025 11:25 AM (xhKGy)

25 My Dad always pointed out VJ Day each year. Dad was a 19 year old RadioMan on the Destroyer, USS Southerland in the Pacific at surrender time. Dad's ship was in Tokyo Bay when the Surrender Ceremony occurred. Love you Dad and miss you!

Posted by: SuperExMayorSuperRonNirenberg-Not One Of The Castro Boys, But Definitely Buffer Then Them at August 16, 2025 11:26 AM (WgG1a)

26 I dislike AI images. Just rubs me the wrong way, kind of an uncanny valley vibe. I even see Yew Toob videos that look like there is some kind of AI filter, even though it's clips of real people.
Posted by: Mikey Alpha Kilo, Friday Night You Guys! at August 16, 2025 11:20 AM (0aYVJ)

There are Yootoob vids of AI versions of various movie and teevee shows from the past, reimagined in some way.

For example, The Flintstones. With a voiceover, the characters are introduced, and some of their backstory told, and you see these AI version of Fred, Barney, Wilma and Betty. And the kids, the dinosaurs, the rocks, etc.

Wilma and Betty are impossibly good looking. And scantily clad.

The vids are fun, for about half a dozen versions, then the concept gets old, and the impossible looks of the women just looks too fake to be sexy.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:27 AM (MyqLb)

27 Sam Altman is a Grifting grifter who grifts. Take nothing he says seriously.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at August 16, 2025 11:27 AM (9c0bR)

28 >>>For decades, we have been hearing from advocates of "green energy" that nuclear plants cannot be considered as a replacement for fossil fuels to provide energy for homes and businesses.

Is it only decades? I kid, but, gack, it feels like sooooo much longer.

Posted by: m at August 16, 2025 11:27 AM (aURVT)

29 New Yorker writer tries to hide remarkable racist tweets.

https://is.gd/Wx6fcG

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Something Smells Funny In Here at August 16, 2025 11:27 AM (L/fGl)

30 That does not look much like Cheetos. More like little orange dildos.
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 16, 2025 11:20 AM (/lPRQ)

In the future, for 15 minutes every object will be shaped into a dildo.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:28 AM (MyqLb)

31 Leftists look at the French Revolution with excessive fondness.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 16, 2025 11:29 AM (ZmEVT)

32 What is really odd is that AI is leading the charge in building these. All the other energy requirements, etc could not do it, but AI?

Anyone else just look around and marvel at how retarded we are?

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 11:30 AM (bss/y)

33 GROK - Design a house in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright and detail your sources...

Congrats, you just violated IP law.
and when / where did you get your architect license?

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 16, 2025 11:31 AM (/lPRQ)

34 >>That does not look much like Cheetos. More like little orange dildos.

I try to not think about what some of you do behind closed doors because it would terrify me.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2025 11:31 AM (viF8m)

35 You would have to be a complete tool to watch Blazing Saddles and come away thinking it was racist.

The racists get lampooned as idiots from start to finish in the film (with a slight redemption in the end). But I guess some viewers with an axe to grind can't get past the fact that the n-word gets thrown around a lot in it.

That makes it racist.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 16, 2025 11:21 AM (JkO4W)

The prevailing view from the comedy world these days is there should be nothing that is off limits with comedy.

The objective is to be funny. Whether anyone is offended or not, is and should be completely beside the point.

I think South Park initiated the idea, then seemed to go Woke for a while there. I don't know why, I haven't really paid much attention to them for several years. Looks like they're back on track these days though.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:31 AM (MyqLb)

36 Do you need a license to be an architect?

Better get a structural engineer to review the design.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 16, 2025 11:32 AM (ZmEVT)

37 I try to not think about what some of you do behind closed doors because it would terrify me.
Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2025 11:31 AM (viF8m)

Me and my cheese grater resent that comment.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:33 AM (MyqLb)

38 Blazing Saddles in a perfect movie in every way. My former co-worker and I have a theory that everything possible thing that can happen in life/the world is somehow covered in either Blazing Saddles or an episode of Seinfeld. I have probably seen Blazing Saddles fifty times. What strikes me most, now, about the movie, is its beautiful theme about the importance of genuine human decency as the foundation for building a community. Also, I find immensely touching the depth of the friendship between Bart and The Kid. Clevon and Gene are just superb in their roles.

Posted by: SuperExMayorSuperRonNirenberg-Not One Of The Castro Boys, But Definitely Buffer Then Them at August 16, 2025 11:35 AM (WgG1a)

39 37 I try to not think about what some of you do behind closed doors because it would terrify me.
Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2025 11:31 AM (viF8m)

Me and my cheese grater resent that comment.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:33 AM (MyqLb)

You know, fucking a cheese grater would be one of those short term fetishes.

On the other hand, you really would only be hurting yourself.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 11:35 AM (bss/y)

40 >I try to not think about what some of you do behind closed doors because it would terrify me.
----

I'm doing it right now.

Posted by: Don Black at August 16, 2025 11:36 AM (AOsQT)

41 Do you need a license to be an architect?

Better get a structural engineer to review the design.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at August 16, 2025 11:32 AM (ZmEVT)

For some reason, I imagine everyone who calls himself an architect lives in a split level house with lots of shag carpeting.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:36 AM (MyqLb)

42 Today's project completed: Sent a huge box of seasonal eats and meats to the relatives in Texas who don't have the luxury of wonderful fresh sweetcorn, peaches, tomatoes, PA Dutch pies, baloneys and the like.

Oh, and I might have thrown in a jar of pickled sheep testicles as a joke, although I don't know how they ended up in a PA Farmer's market. I thought that nonsense was Icelandic.

Posted by: Orson at August 16, 2025 11:37 AM (dIske)

43 Is it only decades? I kid, but, gack, it feels like sooooo much longer.
Posted by: m at August 16, 2025 11:27 AM (aURVT)

It’s a huge irony; the technology for building small nukes has been around ever since the Navy started using them to power large ships; but commercially we’ve ignored. Nuclear plant construction stopped not just because of the anti nuke enviro movement, but also because the large construction companies insisted on huge plants they could grift the hell out of, like the California train to nowhere.
Now we’ve put oil and gas development way behind where it should have been, and wasted incredible amounts of money and resources on wind and solar projects that will end up being total failures. We need a lot of new power sources to keep this economy going - and modular nuclear reactors are really the technologically achievable solutions we have.

Those areas that refuse it will simply die, economically, as the UK and Germany are already doing.

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2025 11:37 AM (MOJY1)

44 We, (well some of us,) gave some credence to the possibility that during *biden's reign some of the photos and videos were, possibly, AI. Or as they were called at the time; "deep fakes." Recall; the crowds at Kamala's various events doctored with AI.

It's entirely plausible that AI is being, or will be used to shape the public's opinion of certain events, things, whatever by showing "video evidence" of what is wanted to be seen. It's getting pretty sophisticated.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 16, 2025 11:38 AM (Q4IgG)

45 Do you need a license to be an architect?
Better get a structural engineer to review the design.

Posted by: no one of any consequence
===

Architect exam covers a bit of all aspects of building design, but in practice they tend to focus on functional space and farm out civil, structural, electrical, mechanical for anything more than a house.

Some also farm out the interior space design to interior designers and just qpply their stamp to the finished product (i.e.: they have genral design oversize but don'y get into details).

FLW did some, if not all, structural design for his novel houses. Should have farmed them to a SE.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 16, 2025 11:38 AM (/lPRQ)

46 You know, fucking a cheese grater would be one of those short term fetishes.

On the other hand, you really would only be hurting yourself.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 11:35 AM (bss/y)

True story. Among all the other things we know about Albert Fish is that he used to take pieces of wool, douse them in gasoline, shove them up his ass and light them on fire.

If you don't know who Albert Fish is, just know that's not the most vile and horrifying thing he did.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:38 AM (MyqLb)

47 gack, it feels like sooooo much longer.
Posted by: m at August 16, 2025 11:27 AM (aURVT)

...

That's what she said.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 11:39 AM (bss/y)

48 Having just finished Ian Toll's excellent trilogy on the Pacific war, I came away with these thoughts:

1. Men were men, in the most awesome sense. Whether storming heavily fortified beaches or taking off from carriers on night missions knowing they wouldn't have enough fuel to make it back to the deck, the routine heroism was just off the charts. I look at today's mutants in the Dylan Mulvaney/David Hogg mold and can only shake my head.

2. The leaders were competent adults. While politics always loomed, Nimitz, MacArthur, King, and all of the other admirals and generals were sober, focused and able to learn from their mistakes. No fat DEI lesbian hires in sight.

3. Patriotism. The media stood behind the American war effort and did what it could to help it succeed. Big movie stars either served, entertained the troops or filmed war-themed PSAs. It's hard to imagine such a thing when looking at modern Hollywood and the rabidly anti-Western press and "intelligensia" today.

American culture and society have deteriorated into an embarrassing clown show in so many ways since then.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at August 16, 2025 11:39 AM (JkO4W)

49 If you don't know who Albert Fish is, just know that's not the most vile and horrifying thing he did.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:38 AM (MyqLb)

Did not know about the flaming sticks, but knew about pins he shoved into his groin.

He was truly fucked up- and evil.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 11:40 AM (bss/y)

50 AI has really fucked up the job market. Resumes are nothing but keywords now, Created by AI to bread by AI. And increasingly, the first round of interviews is now with AI.

Posted by: Its Go Time Donald at August 16, 2025 11:41 AM (9c0bR)

51 AI isn’t.

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 16, 2025 11:41 AM (vm8sq)

52 Did not know about the flaming sticks, but knew about pins he shoved into his groin.

He was truly fucked up- and evil.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 11:40 AM (bss/y)

Yes. Still not his worst acts. Not by a long shot.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:42 AM (MyqLb)

53 >>> Recall; the crowds at Kamala's various events doctored with AI.

I recall the one with random people in a crowd including some giants in the back. Not sure if that was also the one with clear reflections on the aircraft of the airfield with no people despite the crowd being added in.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 16, 2025 11:43 AM (/lPRQ)

54 Thx KT.
Altman is definitely an odd duck. Can't figure out if he's a con man, a visionary or a smart guy riding the AI wave. His ignoring intellectual property laws says it's either the first or the third

Posted by: Smell the Glove at August 16, 2025 11:45 AM (xffwU)

55 33 GROK - Design a house in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright and detail your sources...

Congrats, you just violated IP law.
and when / where did you get your architect license?
Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 16, 2025 11:31 AM (/lPRQ)

True story - I know a very successful (now retired) attorney here in East Texas, bought a lake lot and wanted to build a completely original house. Hired an architect, he supplied them with a gorgeous plan, all curves that looked like it grew out of the earth itself; he paid a lot of money for those plans. It still stands today, and is still gorgeous. A year or so later, an out of state friend visited, and asked “you do know, don’t you, that the drawings for this house have been in the files of the Guggenheim Museum in NYC for about 50 years? Part of their Frank Lloyd Wright collection.”

Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2025 11:45 AM (MOJY1)

56
Your IDF Babe Of The Day
An occasional series.

https://tinyurl.com/mwt5c9v8

You will now tell me all the ways in which she is unattractive.

Posted by: Don Black at August 16, 2025 11:45 AM (AOsQT)

57 Yes. Still not his worst acts. Not by a long shot.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:42 AM (MyqLb)

Oh no. I was not going to bring those up.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 11:46 AM (bss/y)

58 Norm MacDonald, talking about Albert Fish:

https://tinyurl.com/sfxptm55

Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:46 AM (SJrOE)

59
Nook waste is like all other waste. We have plenty of space to put it.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:20 AM (MyqLb)

More than you think.

Nuclear waste can be reprocessed. France has no permanent waste disposal site, yet still gets 70% or more of its juice from nukes. You’d think waste would be an issue. Nope; the amount that cannot be reprocessed is miniscule.

I’d rather have increased nuclear power capacity here in TX than have more of these damn windmills cluttering my view of the landscape. And those flashing red lights at night…

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 16, 2025 11:47 AM (vm8sq)

60 Abolish the Senate. End the Electoral College. Pack the Court.

Aelfred the Great has added some art to that:

https://tinyurl.com/5amr8e7u

Posted by: m at August 16, 2025 11:48 AM (aURVT)

61 I enjoy watching AI videos. What AI can do with imaging is absolutely amazing. Same for the pic above.

And just like when the internet became a thing, I applauded the technology but learned to beware of some of the people using it.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at August 16, 2025 11:48 AM (g8Ew8)

62 >>> Recall; the crowds at Kamala's various events doctored with AI.

I recall the one with random people in a crowd including some giants in the back. Not sure if that was also the one with clear reflections on the aircraft of the airfield with no people despite the crowd being added in.
-----------
Some of the interior, arena photos had the same people, same clothes, with semi-altered colors or logos.

Plus a couple people with 6 fingers or two left hands or...

But the Harris crew thought it would make her look more important/powerful/presidential or whatever by altering the stock photos to deceive the public.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 16, 2025 11:49 AM (Q4IgG)

63 Anyone else just look around and marvel at how retarded we are?
Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 11:30 AM (bss/y)

Yes.

It really comes down to this: when we wanted nuclear power because it would make people's lives better, our ruling class said "forget it, we will never permit this. Have these stupid wind turbines instead, and enjoy your power outages, you disgusting worms."

But then, lunatics in Silicon Valley said they were developing a new technology with the potential to realize their *repeatedly and clearly stated goal* of annihilating 90% of the human race. Then, our ruling class said "forget what we said for fifty years. We need nuclear power immediately. Enjoy your cheeto paintings and serfdom, you stupid swine."

And, true to form, most people clap like seals and say "AI is awesome. Grok, make a picture of the cast of Three's Company in a medieval joust because I am a stupid person who never considers anything but first-order implications. I am also a credulous fool who is unable to perceive the unbroken pattern of abusive behavior by the liars who say this is good. Now make me the same picture, but where Chrissy is the knight and Jack is her page boy."

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at August 16, 2025 11:50 AM (BI5O2)

64 France also has come up with... essentially recycling nuke plants that can run on partially depleted fuel.

We are just fucking stupid (well, the commies are stupid and evil and we let them get away with it, so I guess we are stupid in our own way.)

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 11:50 AM (bss/y)

65 https://tinyurl.com/mwt5c9v8

Melons!

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 16, 2025 11:50 AM (DB1hg)

66 19 I am always amazed by leftists who want to do away with the Constitution, without understanding what that really means.
Most importantly, that you do away well the Union. There can’t be one without the other. There would no longer be one country, there would be 50 independent nations overnight.

Now I imagine they would eventually coalesce into about 4 or 5 successor states, but that’s a best case scenario.
Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2025 11:21 AM (MOJY1)

Don’t be amazed. The Left only cares about power. And if that means the Union dies and we get four or five successor states? So be it.

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 16, 2025 11:50 AM (vm8sq)

67 nukes are acceptable to power ai because they think ai will help them rule over obedient & deluded serfs.

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 16, 2025 11:54 AM (qB1ye)

68 The lady who sang "God Bess America," there: that's how I picture KT!

Posted by: m at August 16, 2025 11:54 AM (aURVT)

69 In the style of the Dutch Masters??

Those don't look like cigars to me!

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 16, 2025 11:54 AM (0eaVi)

70 At least fully uniformed women
Women Warriors #333
https://tinyurl.com/ndnaf7am

Quite a few IDF, and other countries

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2025 11:55 AM (+qU29)

71 I see that others have come to the same conclusion, lol

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 16, 2025 11:56 AM (qB1ye)

72 Small Modular Reactors - SMRs.
I've been hearing about them for decades.
Show me one in service.
Uh huh.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 16, 2025 11:58 AM (XQo4F)

73 Given one of the bits in last night's ONT, that sign should read "Pretend it's 1985."

Posted by: GWB at August 16, 2025 11:59 AM (rSsQh)

74 56
Your IDF Babe Of The Day
An occasional series.

https://tinyurl.com/mwt5c9v8

You will now tell me all the ways in which she is unattractive.
Posted by: Don Black at August 16, 2025 11:45 AM (AOsQT)

She can't use a coaster?

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Innocent Souls, I'm starvin' over here at August 16, 2025 12:01 PM (pIfcn)

75 Show me one in service.
Uh huh.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 16, 2025 11:58 AM (XQo4F)

Not much longer, now. They broke ground on the plant to produce fuel for the first ones in my town last year. Designs were approved for production toward the end of Trump's last term.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at August 16, 2025 12:01 PM (BI5O2)

76 lol, tankdemon!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 16, 2025 12:01 PM (qB1ye)

77 65 https://tinyurl.com/mwt5c9v8

Melons!
Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 16, 2025 11:50 AM (DB1hg)

Nice.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:02 PM (bss/y)

78 Remember those gel insole commercials?

Gellin like a felon.
want some melon?

I fucking hate having a good memory sometimes.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:04 PM (bss/y)

79 Also, the copyright stuff is stupid, if you believe it's actually AI. If it's intelligent, it's only reading what is there, like any human would do. Dure, it's better at remembering (though not as much better as you would think, given it's a computer) what it reads than most humans. But are the copyright owners going to sue all the people with photographic memories, too?

Of course, they have sued humans for outputting their works in some nominal fashion when some sentence in that person's book shows up in a new work. As if there aren't only a certain number of ways you can combine words to convey any particular meaning. And, if you have read a lot of books, then you will more likely reproduce something from those books when you write. If you want to try and turn that off in the brain, then be my guest - but I'm not going in your concentration camp without a fight.

Posted by: GWB at August 16, 2025 12:05 PM (rSsQh)

80 I like the Cheetos art; would hang.

Posted by: jim (in Kalifornia) at August 16, 2025 12:06 PM (ynpvh)

81 73 Given one of the bits in last night's ONT, that sign should read "Pretend it's 1985."
Posted by: GWB at August 16, 2025 11:59 AM (rSsQh)

https://tinyurl.com/yjzvb9tu

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:07 PM (bss/y)

82 & OrangeEnt!

HordeMind never sleeps!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 16, 2025 12:10 PM (qB1ye)

83 & OrangeEnt!

HordeMind never sleeps!
Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 16, 2025 12:10 PM (qB1ye)

Scrolled by too fast to see Tankdemon posted it already. I was late to the thread.

I actually thought one of the cigar guys would have said it a lot earlier.

(looks at Weasel)

Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 16, 2025 12:13 PM (0eaVi)

84 Remember those gel insole commercials?

Gellin like a felon.
want some melon?

I fucking hate having a good memory sometimes.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:04 PM (bss/y)

I thought I had sufficiently forgot about that commercial. Thanks.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at August 16, 2025 12:14 PM (5+Y60)

85 38 I have probably seen Blazing Saddles fifty times.
Posted by: SuperExMayorSuperRonNirenberg-Not One Of The Castro Boys, But Definitely Buffer Then Them at August 16, 2025 11:35 AM (WgG1a)

Wow

Posted by: m at August 16, 2025 12:15 PM (aURVT)

86 Shouldn't there be a dead pheasant or a couple of grouse next to the Cheetos? You know, for verisimilitude.

Posted by: Paco at August 16, 2025 12:16 PM (mADJX)

87 The problem started when the big big money and power shifted from the class that invented and built things to the class that manages and manuipulates money. I think the lust for money and power stems from a basic insecurity. If your status comes from practical ability, if you lose, you can probably invent or produce something else. Money types know they are post turtles and their status comes only from their control of money. If they lost that control there's no good chance they could get it back again. So more and more and more to be safe.

Posted by: azjaeger at August 16, 2025 12:16 PM (3/XaG)

88 Stuff to do outside but it's hot, cleaned out truck a bit but needs a lot more work.

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2025 12:17 PM (+qU29)

89 I thought I had sufficiently forgot about that commercial. Thanks.
Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory, red heifer owner at August 16, 2025 12:14 PM (5+Y60)

Welcome to the party, pal.

I am sort of sorry. That was a horrible commercial. Just idiotic 'Hey, fellow kids' stuff.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:17 PM (bss/y)

90 Posted by: SuperExMayorSuperRonNirenberg-Not One Of The Castro Boys, But Definitely Buffer Then Them at August 16, 2025 11:35 AM (WgG1a)

Ron Nirenberg was NOT worthy of meeting Queen Letizia in 2018.

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 16, 2025 12:18 PM (vm8sq)

91 https://tinyurl.com/ndnaf7am

Quite a few IDF, and other countries
Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2025 11:55 AM (+qU29)

One of those pics are of USAF missileers.

I miss the blue jump suits. You saw them and knew right away who the Airmen were and what they did.

Posted by: Cow Demon at August 16, 2025 12:21 PM (vm8sq)

92 Erin got up to Cat5 very quickly

Posted by: Accomack at August 16, 2025 12:22 PM (YVT+g)

93 I have probably seen Blazing Saddles fifty times.
Posted by: SuperExMayorSuperRonNirenberg-Not One Of The Castro Boys, But Definitely Buffer Then Them at August 16, 2025 11:35 AM (WgG1a)

Wow
Posted by: m
___________

I probably saw Caddyshack fifty times during 1981 when it was released on VHS. Oh to be sixteen again.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at August 16, 2025 12:22 PM (XvL8K)

94 I probably saw Caddyshack fifty times during 1981 when it was released on VHS. Oh to be sixteen again.
Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at August 16, 2025 12:22 PM (XvL8K)

Predator
Princess Bride
Airplane

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:25 PM (bss/y)

95 She's no Kate Smith.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 16, 2025 12:27 PM (63Dwl)

96 F35s flying out of Fort Smith are doing their really noisy thing (and I like it). A couple days ago I saw what looked like an F5 with weird markings. I wonder if Top Gun is still using them for adversary aircraft, and, if so, may have lent the AF one or two. So far the Polish AF has trained here, Singapore is going to have a semi permanent station, and the Finn AF come in soon. When the Finns come in I may have to order some bakery stuff from the shop I like in the MI UP just to make the boys feel at home with coffee.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at August 16, 2025 12:27 PM (gm9Sb)

97 Where all da white women at?

Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 12:28 PM (VofaG)

98 What is a dazzling urbanite like you doing in a rustic setting like this?

Let's play chess.

These are simple people of the earth. You know...morons.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at August 16, 2025 12:29 PM (ufFY8)

99 Posted by: Tom Servo at August 16, 2025 11:21 AM (MOJY1)

The Constitution is what made America exceptional. Of course the Left want to get rid of it. They hate America and they're insane.

Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 12:31 PM (VofaG)

100
Read this morning that Walmart is installing thousands of EV chargers in their parking lots.

Sales of EVs are down and the timing of this seems odd to me.

Posted by: fourseasons at August 16, 2025 12:31 PM (3ek7K)

101 100 Sam's daughter. Drunk again.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at August 16, 2025 12:31 PM (gm9Sb)

102 If you don't know who Albert Fish is, just know that's not the most vile and horrifying thing he did.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:38 AM (MyqLb)

Al, known as The Grey Man, told detectives that the kid he killed he cut off the kid's buttocks and cooked and ate it and it was delicious. He also told the detectives he cooked and tried to eat the kid's weewee and nuts but too chewy so he threw them down the waste pipe. Al had issues.

Posted by: Ed Buck, killer fag at August 16, 2025 12:32 PM (R/m4+)

103 I've been an advocate of each state having at least three nuke plants. Rhode Island though just needs a couple of wind turbines.

Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 12:33 PM (VofaG)

104 103 Rhode Island needs an Amazon subscription service for D Cells.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at August 16, 2025 12:35 PM (gm9Sb)

105 Rhode being a island should be able to just use wind power.

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2025 12:37 PM (+qU29)

106 Al, known as The Grey Man, told detectives that the kid he killed he cut off the kid's buttocks and cooked and ate it and it was delicious. He also told the detectives he cooked and tried to eat the kid's weewee and nuts but too chewy so he threw them down the waste pipe. Al had issues.
Posted by: Ed Buck, killer fag at August 16, 2025 12:32 PM (R/m4+)

You can say that again.

Posted by: Jeffrey Dahmer, full freezer at August 16, 2025 12:38 PM (5+Y60)

107 Confession: I actually used to be part of the “blacker than black, ‘cause I’m black, y’all…” crowd.

He was Stabmaster Arson?

Posted by: CB4 at August 16, 2025 12:38 PM (TbWk/)

108 Where all da white women at?

Fucking Paolo and spending the child support money on Xanax and box wine.

Posted by: Same place they're always at at August 16, 2025 12:42 PM (TbWk/)

109 If you can't laugh at yourself you have no confidence and will lead a miserable and whiny life.
Also you have to be honest with yourself.

Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 12:42 PM (VofaG)

110 95 She's no Kate Smith.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 16, 2025 12:27 PM (63Dwl)

Well hardly anyone is. Not too many of the really strong power female singers left.

Honestly I spent a min trying to think of one since Mama Cass.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:42 PM (bss/y)

111 Rhode Island should have been annexed by a larger state nearby. Connecticut and Massachusetts already have beaches, so Vermont it is. I know they're not contiguous, but Vermonters have a puny population also and together they could form a state, though a Runt State.

Posted by: Rand-McNally at August 16, 2025 12:43 PM (G5+As)

112 98 What is a dazzling urbanite like you doing in a rustic setting like this?

Let's play chess.

These are simple people of the earth. You know...morons.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at August 16, 2025 12:29 PM (ufFY

The common clay of the new west.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:43 PM (bss/y)

113 Honestly I spent a min trying to think of one since Mama Cass.
Posted by: Aetius451AD

Yes, Klaus Nomi flamed out too soon, also.

Posted by: Lightning Strikes Again! at August 16, 2025 12:44 PM (G5+As)

114 Honestly I spent a min trying to think of one since Mama Cass.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:42 PM (bss/y)

Honestly, still thinking. Adele might be the closest, but not exactly the same. Huh.

Amy Lee maybe?

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:45 PM (bss/y)

115
AI is awesome. Grok, make a picture of the cast of Three's Company in a medieval joust

The Four Stooges on Mount Rushmore.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 16, 2025 12:45 PM (63Dwl)

116 When Dahmer was the Army he raped his bunk mate. The guy had some excuse why he wasn't able to fight him off or why he just didn't but I forgot what it was .

Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 12:45 PM (VofaG)

117 111 Parts of NE Ohio were the Connecticut Western Reserve which evolved into Youngstown, so there you go.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at August 16, 2025 12:45 PM (gm9Sb)

118 "Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn? Remember how she said that we would meet again, some sunny day."

To me, some really poignant lyrics, even though douchenozzle Roger Waters probably wrote them.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at August 16, 2025 12:46 PM (ufFY8)

119 116 When Dahmer was the Army he raped his bunk mate. The guy had some excuse why he wasn't able to fight him off or why he just didn't but I forgot what it was .
Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 12:45 PM (VofaG)

Even if he could not fight him off, you'd think Dahmer would have been found with his throat slit or suffer some sort of training accident.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:47 PM (bss/y)

120 Honestly I spent a min trying to think of one since Mama Cass.
Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:42 PM (bss/y)

Tarja Turunan.

Posted by: Reforger at August 16, 2025 12:47 PM (pxUkb)

121 I've had it up to here with all the crap about AI and "intellectual property" being "stolen."

Almost every human artist in history has trained themselves up on the work of other artists. You could find students in museums learning technique by standing in front of a Master and copying it. Do they acknowledge their names in every one of their paintings or sculptures?

The internet is awash in memes and images that use other people's photos without payment or acknowledgement. Fan art is all about copying IP without paying, as long as you don't sell it yourself. You think if you hired someone to make a painting of Cheetos on a plate they would go out and buy a plate and some Cheetos and just set it on a table like a still life? Or would they grab the first image they could find off the internet?

Copyright legal attacks are happening for only one reason: AI companies are loaded with cash and make a great target. Nobody's going to be suing The Week in Pictures.

When I have this argument with AI haters, it usually breaks down into "it's okay if humans use IP without asking because they're doing it with love," or something like that. Bullshit. Training is training.

Posted by: MartynWW at August 16, 2025 12:48 PM (vXpHP)

122 118 "Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn? Remember how she said that we would meet again, some sunny day."

To me, some really poignant lyrics, even though douchenozzle Roger Waters probably wrote them.
Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at August 16, 2025 12:46 PM (ufFY

Damn. That is a good one.

https://tinyurl.com/34ucp7v9

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:48 PM (bss/y)

123 Another item in the plus column is that Vermonters will have their own beach, and stay off of ours.

Posted by: Beach Cruiser at August 16, 2025 12:48 PM (G5+As)

124 118 "Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn? Remember how she said that we would meet again, some sunny day."

To me, some really poignant lyrics, even though douchenozzle Roger Waters probably wrote them.
Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at August 16, 2025 12:46 PM (ufFY

Evidently Ross Parker and Hughie Charles (english guys) in 1939.

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:52 PM (bss/y)

125 Damn. That is a good one.

https://tinyurl.com/34ucp7v9
Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 12:48 PM (bss/y)

Yeah, makes the room dusty.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at August 16, 2025 12:53 PM (ufFY8)

126 Posted by: MartynWW at August 16, 2025 12:48 PM (vXpHP)

No most photos used by humans have been put in the public domain. Until AI can actually create its own images instead of utilizing existing images it's just an information aggregator.

Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 12:53 PM (VofaG)

127 Somebody here coined/repeated a great line about windmills (the fake stupid energy ones) the other day.

Windmills are like strippers, they only work when you throw money at them.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 16, 2025 12:54 PM (U/Byj)

128 Incidentally, when I look at the whole AI industry, I get the distinct smell of tulips.

Posted by: MartynWW at August 16, 2025 12:55 PM (vXpHP)

129 " We'll Meet Again " is a 1939 song by English singer Vera Lynn with music and lyrics composed and written by English songwriters Ross Parker and Hughie Charles.

Posted by: Miflin at August 16, 2025 12:55 PM (aA6YN)

130 Windmills are like strippers, they only work when you throw money at them.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 16, 2025 12:54 PM (U/Byj)

And they pretend to like you.

Posted by: Deplorable Ian Galt at August 16, 2025 12:55 PM (ufFY8)

131 I don't think AI is allowed to use music without licensing correct?

Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 12:55 PM (VofaG)

132 Honestly, still thinking. Adele might be the closest, but not exactly the same. Huh.

Which one was better, Fat Adele or slimmed down Adele?

Posted by: Fat Tiffany at August 16, 2025 01:01 PM (R/m4+)

133 >>Rhode being a island should be able to just use wind power.

Block Island, one of my favorite places in the world, is few miles off the RI coast. It had some of the most expensive energy costs of anywhere in the US. Also some of the best fishing and sailing grounds in the country.

So what did they do? Put up wind turbines off the coast. Spoiled some of the best fishing and sailing not to mention awesome views for ugly, unreliable crap.

Energy costs are still high.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2025 01:01 PM (viF8m)

134
" We'll Meet Again " is a 1939 song by English singer Vera Lynn with music and lyrics composed and written by English songwriters Ross Parker and Hughie Charles.
Posted by: Miflin

Played at the end of Dr. Strangelove while bombs are bursting in air.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 16, 2025 01:02 PM (63Dwl)

135 Your IDF Babe Of The Day
An occasional series.

https://tinyurl.com/mwt5c9v8

You will now tell me all the ways in which she is unattractive.
Posted by: Don Black at August 16, 2025 11:45 AM (AOsQT)
***

If she only fetched me one beer...it would of been enough.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 16, 2025 01:03 PM (2WIwB)

136 Which one was better, Fat Adele or slimmed down Adele?
Posted by: Fat Tiffany at August 16, 2025 01:01 PM (R/m4+)

I think Fat Adele had more hits, didn't she?

Posted by: Aetius451AD at August 16, 2025 01:05 PM (bss/y)

137 Windmills (outside a tiny number of niche off-grid applications, much like solar) are a monument to the dumbing down of America and the western world in the last few decades, the abandonment of common sense, actual science, and economic rationality. And of course the displacement of the above by looting. The whole package. Tragically they're far from the only example of course, but they're sort of the platonic ideal of the decline.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 16, 2025 01:05 PM (U/Byj)

138 Yes, Bertram beat me to it, that's the song playing at the end of Dr Strangelove.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 16, 2025 01:06 PM (U/Byj)

139 131 I don't think AI is allowed to use music without licensing correct?
Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 12:55 PM

Humans can't either. I got a YouTube of mine snagged out for that.

I have yet to see an AI image that was just other images pasted together. I can do that in Photoshop, and have. Most of the legal actions involve examples like "Make a bowl of Cheetos in the style of [insert aggrieved artist name here]. If specifically instructed to plagiarize, it will. A few of the AI programs I've used have filters that chop things like proper names off the prompts.

Posted by: MartynWW at August 16, 2025 01:08 PM (vXpHP)

140 Windmills (outside a tiny number of niche off-grid applications, much like solar) are a monument to the dumbing down of America and the western world in the last few decades, the abandonment of common sense, actual science, and economic rationality. And of course the displacement of the above by looting. The whole package. Tragically they're far from the only example of course, but they're sort of the platonic ideal of the decline.
Posted by: rhomboid at August 16, 2025 01:05 PM
###

Now do the disposal costs.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 16, 2025 01:08 PM (XQo4F)

141 Posted by: rhomboid at August 16, 2025 01:05 PM (U/Byj)

The green energy movement is led by retards that literally don't understand cause and effect. They also intentionally ignore the 'non-green' consequences of their green 'solutions'. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that it's intentional because if it's just ignorance then they are even dumber than I thought if that's possible.

Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 01:11 PM (VofaG)

142 Al, known as The Grey Man, told detectives that the kid he killed he cut off the kid's buttocks and cooked and ate it and it was delicious. He also told the detectives he cooked and tried to eat the kid's weewee and nuts but too chewy so he threw them down the waste pipe. Al had issues.

--

I've read about Albert Fish and it's hard to believe it's real. He puts the Wineville Chicken Coop murderer, Gordon Stewart Northcott to shame...and Northcott was one very sick puppy.

A few years back, I read Road out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders.

Clark was Northcott's nephew. The things this sadist did to his own nephew, along with countless other young boys is unspeakable. It was a really disturbing book.

Posted by: Lady in Black at August 16, 2025 01:13 PM (qBdHI)

143 Grok ripped off Jan VerMeer! Surprise surprise surprise ... ! (Quick: what movie's that line from?)

Posted by: Dr_No at August 16, 2025 01:14 PM (ayRl+)

144 Mem I saw somewhere:

"Isn't it neat that cities are now all "pweeese only turn on your AC if you're near death and then don't go below 79 degrees" while the AI nobody asked for is slurping up the entire power grid to make one image of a girl with five tits."

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 16, 2025 01:15 PM (XQo4F)

145 *Meme

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 16, 2025 01:16 PM (XQo4F)

146 I think Zelensky is going to sabotage any peace deal again. If it happens I hope this time it will stop the billions in aid.

Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 01:16 PM (VofaG)

147 The green energy movement is led by retards that literally don't understand cause and effect.

To them, the entire Earth is choking and dying and we're all buried under clouds of smog like you saw from the 70s. They truly believe that if we simply used wind and solar, the world would heal and become clean and cold.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 16, 2025 01:16 PM (7xrfc)

148

a girl with five tits

Link?

Posted by: Just Sayin... at August 16, 2025 01:16 PM (7u3y2)

149 Posted by: Dr_No at August 16, 2025 01:14 PM (ayRl+)

Gomer Pyle ?

Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 01:17 PM (VofaG)

150 To them, the entire Earth is choking and dying and we're all buried under clouds of smog like you saw from the 70s. They truly believe that if we simply used wind and solar, the world would heal and become clean and cold.
Posted by: NR Pax at August 16, 2025 01:16 PM (7xrfc)

The earth is on fire!

Posted by: Katie Porter, fat california democrat bitch at August 16, 2025 01:18 PM (R/m4+)

151 >>But Sam is starting with things that humans have done. And often copyrighted.

Everything is built on what came before, AI is doing nothing that isn't intrinsic to any advancement, you learn from what was and create what is now.

There shouldn't be a special copyright for AI.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 16, 2025 01:18 PM (XV/Pl)

152 HordeMind never sleeps!
Posted by: sock_rat_eez at August 16, 2025 12:10 PM (qB1ye)

Scrolled by too fast to see Tankdemon posted it already. I was late to the thread.

I actually thought one of the cigar guys would have said it a lot earlier.

(looks at Weasel)
Posted by: OrangeEnt at August 16, 2025 12:13 PM (0eaVi)
***

Finished a Gurkha Ghost and, frankly, would rather have had some cheetos. I will send a review to weasel.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 16, 2025 01:18 PM (2WIwB)

153 @ 121: Copyright legal attacks are happening for only one reason: AI companies are loaded with cash and make a great target. Nobody's going to be suing The Week in Pictures.

When I have this argument with AI haters, it usually breaks down into "it's okay if humans use IP without asking because they're doing it with love," or something like that. Bullshit. Training is training.
____________________________________

Come back and make the same argument to us in favor of this position after your 'intellectual property' [sic] has been stolen ... just sayin' ...

Posted by: Dr_No at August 16, 2025 01:20 PM (ayRl+)

154 @ 149 Posted by: Dr_No at August 16, 2025 01:14 PM (ayRl+)

Gomer Pyle ?
___________________________

Dang! You're GOOD! ...

Posted by: Dr_No at August 16, 2025 01:22 PM (ayRl+)

155 That knucklehead that Douthat is interviewing probably thinks it's not a democracy unless toddlers are voting.

Posted by: Jack Squat Bupkis at August 16, 2025 01:22 PM (jYRYu)

156 Nook waste is like all other waste. We have plenty of space to put it.
Posted by: BurtTC at August 16, 2025 11:20 AM (MyqLb)

That's what Gaza is for.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 16, 2025 01:24 PM (nX2lS)

157 Don't listen to the lefty media. President Trump came out with a huge win for the United States and the world after the summit with Putin. Trump is a realist. He knows Ukraine is doomed without a peace treaty now. He's getting the best deal and ensuring Russia gets what it needs too.

After the peace, we get a lot of rare earth minerals and good trade deals with Russia.

Posted by: Diabeetus at August 16, 2025 01:24 PM (SawFp)

158 Grok, make me a plate of Cheetos in the style of Mark Rothko.

Posted by: Big orange smudge at August 16, 2025 01:24 PM (TbWk/)

159 72 Small Modular Reactors - SMRs.
I've been hearing about them for decades.
Show me one in service.
Uh huh.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 16, 2025 11:58 AM (XQo4F)
__________________________

They kind of exist already. China, and I think Russia employ something like a SMR today. I think they put one in an ice breaker ship (might be wrong about that...read it somewhere a couple years ago).

The problem with SMR's (and there are many)...is that our country would regulate them to actual death and make their use more expensive than what we have now. Additionally, operation is based on monitoring systems which are electric. One black out kind of ups the safety risks.

Finally, I don't trust my fellow citizens enough. Just like all revolutionary technology, it becomes more common place, smaller and easier to acquire. Do we really want everyday (DEI) humans messing around with SMR's? Radioactive waste? There was a movement a while ago that wanted to move towards using them to power commercial airliners. How long before Paco's Auto club is putting them in low rider Toyotas.

Posted by: Orson at August 16, 2025 01:25 PM (dIske)

160 Grok, make me a plate of Cheetos in the style of Robert Mapplethorpe.

Posted by: Plateful of orange dicks at August 16, 2025 01:25 PM (TbWk/)

161 The anti-nuke people were never anti-nuke. They were conspicuously silent about Iran's "peaceful" enrichment plans.

They were always just anti-America. If there was a way to hurt America they were all for it.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at August 16, 2025 01:26 PM (CHHv1)

162 Of course Blazing Saddles is racist. every white person in it (except for maybe Gene Wilder;s character) is portrayed as a dumb hick, backwards hill people, redneck, greedy/corrupt politician, lowdown, shif'less skunk a sadistic bully, hulking retard or a slattern.

Mongo is the closest thing to aa positive white role model in the whole offensive film.

Posted by: muldoon at August 16, 2025 01:26 PM (I0N4X)

163 @153

>>Come back and make the same argument to us in favor of this position after your 'intellectual property' [sic] has been stolen ... just sayin' ...

If something is clearly violative of IP or copyright that's one thing but if it's derivative or fair use then that's another thing altogether.

Like for instance, the AI mahshups of what if the Beatles Abbey Road was sung by a Motown Group, those videos are demonetized and all ad proceeds go to the rights holder.

Same goes for that AI Stormtrooper vlog, all of these corporations complaining about AI are making damn sure they are getting their money.

The issue is they are claiming that training on ai violates their rights somehow, it doesn't, it's no different than me watching Star Wars and being inspired to write Sci-fi, if the sci-fi I want violates their IP, they have the lawyers and control of the system to extract payment.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 16, 2025 01:28 PM (XV/Pl)

164 The Cheetos are near!

Posted by: Olson Johnson at August 16, 2025 01:28 PM (TbWk/)

165 I don't grok Grok.

Posted by: muldoon at August 16, 2025 01:28 PM (I0N4X)

166 Posted by: muldoon at August 16, 2025 01:26 PM (I0N4X)

Agree and we can laugh at ourselves without thinking twice about it.

Posted by: polynikes at August 16, 2025 01:29 PM (VofaG)

167 They were always just anti-America. If there was a way to hurt America they were all for it.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at August 16, 2025 01:26 PM (CHHv1)

Somehow they believe self-hatred is the highest moral virtue.

Posted by: Emmie at August 16, 2025 01:29 PM (FMtrg)

168 Diogenes I have only done reviews for cigars that I liked at least a little, no negative ones. But fortunately there haven't been that many in that category. More "meh" than bad experiences for the ones I haven't loved. And I readily acknowledge that my limited palate is always a potential culprit in those cases.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 16, 2025 01:30 PM (U/Byj)

169 Somehow they believe self-hatred is the highest moral virtue.

That, and masturbating in aisle 7...

Posted by: Just Saying... at August 16, 2025 01:32 PM (7u3y2)

170 Somehow they believe self-hatred is the highest moral virtue.
Posted by: Emmie at August 16, 2025 01:29 PM (FMtrg)

That doesn't always result in anti-Americanism. I love America. Despise most of its political class and unelected/unaccountable bureaucrats though.

Posted by: Self-loathing patriot at August 16, 2025 01:33 PM (TbWk/)

171 Windmills (outside a tiny number of niche off-grid applications, much like solar) are a monument to the dumbing down of America and the western world in the last few decades, the abandonment of common sense, actual science, and economic rationality. And of course the displacement of the above by looting. The whole package. Tragically they're far from the only example of course, but they're sort of the platonic ideal of the decline.
Posted by: rhomboid

Round 1995 I recall seeing abandoned windmill farms. Probably leftovers from some Carter scheme.
It must have been just long enough (~40 years) for people to forget it failed the first time.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 16, 2025 01:33 PM (/lPRQ)

172 only turn on your AC if you're near death

Those annoying "flex alert" commercials.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at August 16, 2025 01:33 PM (R4Gjb)

173 The criminal media is delighting in the fact that Trump didn't emerge from his meeting with Putin with a signed deal. Have these nitwits never heard of process?
In my time as salesman it sometimes took more than one meeting to get a deal done.

Posted by: Still lurking up north, read some, don't comment much at August 16, 2025 01:33 PM (kTd/k)

174 @ 162 Of course Blazing Saddles is racist. every white person in it (except for maybe Gene Wilder;s character) is portrayed as a dumb hick, backwards hill people, redneck, greedy/corrupt politician, lowdown, shif'less skunk a sadistic bully, hulking retard or a slattern.
________________________

You say that like it's a BAD thing ... the contrast is what makes the movie funny. One of the best moments is in the beginning when the new Sheriff holds himself hostage, points the gun at himself, and tells the crowd "Get back, or I'll shoot!" ... Mel Brooks, ya did good ...

Posted by: Dr_No at August 16, 2025 01:34 PM (ayRl+)

175 >>After the peace, we get a lot of rare earth minerals and good trade deals with Russia.

We could have had the same deals with Russia 8 years ago without hundreds of thousands of dead people were it not for the criminals in DC.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 16, 2025 01:36 PM (viF8m)

176 Now do the disposal costs.
Posted by: Quarter Twenty

Declare bankruptcy. Abandon in-place.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 16, 2025 01:37 PM (/lPRQ)

177 You say that like it's a BAD thing

***********

Did I really need a /sarc tag?

Posted by: muldoon at August 16, 2025 01:38 PM (I0N4X)

178 GARDEN THREAD IS BLOOMING

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2025 01:38 PM (+qU29)

179 The anti-nuke people were never anti-nuke. They were conspicuously silent about Iran's "peaceful" enrichment plans.

They were always just anti-America. If there was a way to hurt America they were all for it.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at August 16, 2025 01:26 PM (CHHv1)

They're never for or against anything but you and me. Anti-nuke, anti-war, anti-big pharma, anti-anything. They'll flip to the other side of it the moment they can use it as a weapon against us.

We can't see the future but we can see the past. And people willfully ignore it because they want things to be different than they are.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at August 16, 2025 01:39 PM (BI5O2)

180 I probably saw Caddyshack fifty times during 1981 when it was released on VHS. Oh to be sixteen again.
Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at August 16, 2025 12:22 PM (XvL8K)

Oh, to be 34 again.

Posted by: thatcrazyjerseyguy at August 16, 2025 01:41 PM (5xuJ/)

181 I have yet to see an AI image that was just other images pasted together. I can do that in Photoshop, and have. Most of the legal actions involve examples like "Make a bowl of Cheetos in the style of [insert aggrieved artist name here]. If specifically instructed to plagiarize, it will. A few of the AI programs I've used have filters that chop things like proper names off the prompts.
Posted by: MartynWW at August 16, 2025 01:08 PM (vXpHP)

Instructing an AI to "make an image of X in the style of Y", that's not plagiarism unless Y actually made an image of X, and the AI copies it without attribution. Parody is not plagiarism. DaVinci never sued National Lampoon for their "Mona Gorilla" cover art. Of course, being dead at the time, he would have been hard up to hire a lawyer...

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 16, 2025 01:43 PM (nX2lS)

182 After the peace, we get a lot of rare earth minerals and good trade deals with Russia.
Posted by: Diabeetus at August 16, 2025 01:24 PM (SawFp)

You don't get any rare earth minerals. If you are lucky, you will get some exploration concessions that the government of Ukraine will honor until they see fit to revoke them, like if you actually develop a mine.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 16, 2025 01:47 PM (nX2lS)

183
168 Diogenes I have only done reviews for cigars that I liked at least a little, no negative ones. But fortunately there haven't been that many in that category. More "meh" than bad experiences for the ones I haven't loved. And I readily acknowledge that my limited palate is always a potential culprit in those cases.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 16, 2025 01:30 PM (U/Byj)

I had a friend who once said there is no such thing as a bad cigar. He was wrong. I've not had many, and like you, a lot of "meh.". But when it's bad, I will try a second just to see if the first was just a flyer. If the second one is equally awful, it is worth reporting.

Posted by: Diogenes at August 16, 2025 01:51 PM (2WIwB)

184 Wind Turbines are an abomination in my mind. I remember driving cross country about 10 years back and seeing the first of these. It felt like I was in a science fiction movie. A horror one at that.

Abomination is the only word that comes to mind when I see these.

Posted by: Chairborne!...Desk From Above! at August 16, 2025 01:55 PM (fNDW9)

185 Diogenes I have only done reviews for cigars that I liked at least a little, no negative ones. But fortunately there haven't been that many in that category. More "meh" than bad experiences for the ones I haven't loved. And I readily acknowledge that my limited palate is always a potential culprit in those cases.

Posted by: rhomboid
===

I don't have the knack to submit full reviews but have put a couple in the comments. Panned the HC 'Barberpole' as 'uninspiring' but balanced that by pointing that I found the rest of the HC lineup respectable for theur price point.

Gurkha gets a lot of flak, but they do have some lines I do like. Maybe say something nice about another product that isn't the subject of the review

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at August 16, 2025 01:55 PM (/lPRQ)

186 Diogenes, agreed. But I rarely give second chances, if the first experience is sufficiently negative.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 16, 2025 01:55 PM (U/Byj)

187 Itinerant, I gather that Gurkha was one of the new flashy brands that flourished in the 90s cigar boom, and then went a bit off the rails or just got stale, but they've had a brand make-over. I got a Gurkha Crest (natural?) in a sampler a few years ago, was one of the first sticks I liked a lot during my first serious explorations, according to my notes.

And I hope you (and others) keep putting capsule summaries of your impressions of other sticks in the comments on Weasel's thread. There's such a huge menu of options out there, every bit of first-hand intel helps as we smoke our way through everyone's catalogs.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 16, 2025 02:14 PM (U/Byj)

188 Legalinsurrection.com
Hair Gel has cam out with his plan to steal 5 Republican congress seats in Leftifornia leaving only 4 in a state Trump won %40

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2025 02:35 PM (+qU29)

189 Trump got 56% of the vote in TX
TX has 40 House reps
Should the GOP get 56% of the House TX seats
If so the Dems would end up with 18 giving them 50% more than they have now

Gerrymandering is simply wrong and allows and fosters extremism

Posted by: Aliassmithsmith at August 16, 2025 02:51 PM (nInsH)

190 Some years ago in PA , Republicans wanted to redraw congressional seats, the Democrats Judges decided they couldn't but their hand picked Democrat professor could..

Posted by: Skip at August 16, 2025 03:00 PM (+qU29)

Processing 0.02, elapsed 0.0301 seconds.
15 queries taking 0.0092 seconds, 199 records returned.
Page size 123 kb.
Powered by Minx 0.8 beta.