Robotics is getting awfully close to producing a true sci-fi style robot. Now a company has announced a brand new approach to robotics: a synthetic human. Artifical organs, a vascular system and a nervous system. This is called the Clone Alpha. (I think someone needs to read more science fiction.) Read more…
I’m one of those wierd-os who wants to know the actual meaning of words. Black Friday is a very strange phrase we batter around in America, generally to mean the Biggest Shopping Day of the year, and as the kick-off of the Christmas spending season. So where does the term Read more…
I wasn’t going to get into all this much here… but really, how can I not? The Sad Show in Washington DC keeps getting worse. Russ Vought — key architect of Project 2025 — tapped by Trump, to wield a strange and devastating power: impoundment. Trump has said he’s going Read more…
There’s been this “new” word around for a short while and it finally ocurred to me that I don’t know what it means given how it’s being used. Woke. “I woke up just as the sun rose.” “That dissertation really woke him up.” That’s my meaning… But they mean something Read more…
Been getting a strange email every few days, supposedly from “Kathleen Carmel” (in quotes, because it’s literally impossible to tell whom an email is really from any more). Fairly level sounding headlines for the most part, but been ignoring them because I have no idea who this person is or Read more…
Just got … at 6.30 AM ! … an AI phone call claiming that “your business listing is in serious trouble, people will NOT be able to find you. please call back at nnnnnn to fix this. it will only take a minute. Please call back at nnnnnn, it will Read more…
Huh? They’re at it again. Refusing to do their research on what’s already been done, then declaring something I learned in grade school or junior high as “news.” Piffle… https://phys.org/news/2024-07-cloud-ground-lightning-generated-blocks.html Synopsis: in the early Earth environment (say 4.5 billion years ago maybe, as current guessed), the atmosphere would have been Read more…
I remember in the 5th grade (I think it was), the teacher rolled in the TV and we watched a small part of the Olympics, because it was “via satellite” for the first time in history. It could be watched in real time. Most of the kids didn’t get what Read more…
I’ve been hearing rumors of a totalitarian document (that’s what the rumors called it as I heard them) called “Project 2025.” I managed to get a copy of the “full” document. (It claims to be the full document, but I have no proof that there are not other versions of Read more…
Date line: 20 July 2024… (da-da-di-da… <teletype noises in the background>) Yesterday’s dramatic “failure” of the Internet was because of a faulty update. Not because of a terrorist attack, or because of a junior wanna-be hacker… but because of a “legitimate” update. The Super-Duper-Supreme irony here is that it was Read more…
Gosh. Just heard. A GLOBAL TECH OUTAGE grounded flights, impacted hostpitals and public transit systems. Worldwide. Due to a bad software update. Do I hate to say “I told you so?” Or I like to say “I told you so?” Either way… I TOLD YOU SO. (So there.) You’ll find Read more…
I can’t keep it in… I gotta let it out. The news today is ridiculous. Just stuns me… the Republican National Convention actually did it — nominated an unsentenced convicted felon for president. Not unexpected, but frankly disgraceful all the same. We could conceivably end up with a president serving Read more…
I am fed up with websites, especially the larger sites, who insist that I disable my ad blocker, even if they offer an option to continue without doing so. Don’t you get what an ad blocker is? It means: I’m never going to click on an ad on your site! Read more…
To start with I find (and always have) the idea of a remote for one’s car to be not only a silly concept for a very, very unsafe one. Means the car can be hacked, at least the door can be. Now with keyless ignition, it’s even worse. Break the Read more…
Isn’t it interesting that in the old Star Trek series (the original, back in the late 60s, for you youngsters out there) that the main power of the Enterprise came from the use of “dilithium crystals” and today… what do we mostly use for batteries and power? Lithium. Lithium is Read more…
Ouch. New York Times suing Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement. This is a no-win scenario. Whatever happens it’s bad. I am not a fan of AI as it currently is engineered. Too many unknowns, too much brute force and too much training from the social and psychological sewer known Read more…
I have had it with Microsoft. Allow me to explain… (he said, with a theatrical flourish). If you read these post (rants) you know already that Micrisoft isn’t exactly at the top of my Ethical Companies list. Not since Mr Gates retired from control of the thing. Without his vision Read more…
Once in a Thousand Years… yeah, right.(1) The Rumor Mill (that is, the News) has it that Southern California yesterday had a “once in a thousand year storm”. My memory tells me that that’s for the 2nd time this year, however — 4″ in an hour last August, only 3″ Read more…
The opposite of science is not religion as too many science-ists and too many relgion-ists would try to tell you. (Do try to tell you.) The opposite of science is superstition. Superstition can have an overlap with Religion. It can also have an overlap with Science. Science is merely how things Read more…
Reading the daily news (even from “guaranteed neutral” sources) is getting to be more and more an exercise in how the news reporter(s) simply need to get out more. Yesterday, new study “suggests” inositol may be important in early brain development. I’ve known that for over 30 years, and it Read more…