World Views

[Amigoo]

Who knew?! Sunflower seeds may have been served at the first Thanksgiving.

Re: https://www.sunflowernsa.com/all-about/history/

"Sunflower was a common crop among American Indian tribes throughout North America.
Evidence suggests that the plant was cultivated by American Indians in present-day Arizona
and New Mexico about 3000 BC. Some archaeologists suggest that sunflower
may have been domesticated before corn."

Rod

[Amigoo]

Humor in the news (WFAA.com article, 11/23/23
about driverless trucks by the end of 2024) ...

"even Texas truckers have said they are on board with this future"

"They are on board" now but not when trucks drive solo!
Who can tell? The passenger seat may be rented to them
for later trips down those memory lanes.

5G is probably a component of this technology
and will be important in congested cities. However,
proof of their safety and reliability may be when
the FED permits driverless shipments of gold.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... r-AA1kw5dc
"What we actually know about aliens, according to science"

"Thus was born 'the Fermi Paradox.' The universe is big and old, and it is highly plausible
that alien civilizations have evolved, based purely on statistical probabilities ... So why,
he asked, is there no compelling scientific evidence that extraterrestrials have visited Earth?"

"For whatever reason, SETI has not found anyone out there"

"Perhaps the simplest explanation for the Fermi Paradox
is that there’s no paradox at all: They’re here!"


Or perhaps alien "evidence" is that which humans created or imagined.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -book.html
"King Charles is a 'pampered' royal who has his shoelaces ironed for him" (author's claim)

"Scobie says Charles likes to have someone squeeze one inch of toothpaste
onto his toothbrush for him as part as his bedtime routine."

Actually, this is what royalty is all about ...
and to have someone squeeze toothpaste
onto your toothbrush is indeed pampering

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.wfaa.com/ article/news/local/plano-decision-take-drone-deliveries-new-heights/ (not full link)

"You hear them buzzing around. I don't hear them that often ... I think about having enough privacy.
We live in a nice quiet neighborhood. I'd hate to see drones buzzing around in people's backyards"

Apparently, Texas cities are now contemplating how to regulate drone deliveries,
especially for less neighborhood nuisance. Best guess: While noise is the greater distraction,
noise may be reduced with new technology but sky congestion could remain a problem.

Best guess: Drone Shoo might becone a popular repellant.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... owers.html
"CIA's secret office has conducted UFO retrieval missions on at least NINE crash sites around the world"

"... they knew of colleagues who had been on similar operations where they recovered technology
that appeared highly advanced - though CIA's secret office has conducted UFO retrieval missions
on at least NINE crash sites around the world"

Advanced technology, "not necessarily out-of-this-world", may be the best explanation
for most of the publicly known UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, previously UFO).

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/arti ... y-fat.html
"Going bald? Scientists say injections of FAT from your thighs could reverse process"

Gives new meaning to Fat Head, even suggesting that some fat
be kept until the beginning years of baldness ... just in case.

Makes good slogan for a T-shirt:
"My fat is just waiting behind.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... rgers.html

"McDonald's overhauls its burgers amid mass changes to its production methods
in effort to compete with higher-end fast-casual restaurants"

Interesting terminology when "fast food" becomes "fast casual food".
However "casual" preparation doesn't sound so "high end". Or maybe
this "casual" reduces traditional "fast" to "not so fast".

Poetically, a 4-letter word would balance the 4-letter "fast" and "food".
"Fast chic food" comes close but hints of food for girls (old pronoun).

** Entrepreneur Alert: Good T-shirt opportunity
for a restaurant to advertise their improved burger:
"I'm fast, casual, and available!"

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/02/climate/ ... index.html
"US announces rule to slash powerful planet-warming methane by nearly 80%"

"The EPA estimates it will stop about 58 million tons of methane from escaping into the atmosphere
during that period - equivalent of taking more than 300 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year."

Interesting report that production of oil and gas for transportation causes similar leakage
of methane into the atmosphere as that caused by using these fuels in gas-powered cars.

Want to help reduce environmental methane? Stop driving a vehicle and use a bicycle.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.yahoo.com/news/world-first- ... 17972.html
"World’s first tampons for men"

Re: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstruation

"Menstruation (also known as a period, among other colloquial terms) is the regular discharge
of blood and mucosal tissue from the inner lining of the uterus ..."

Apparently, these tampons are for men who have a uterus, etc.
(male anatomy text books don't explain this increasing anomaly).

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/christ ... h-churches
"Christians more likely to be skeptical of AI, worry about technology in churches"

"Only a fraction of Christians surveyed agreed that 'AI is good for the Christian Church,'
according to the Barna survey, conducted through a consumer research panel.
Just 22% said they agreed AI would be positive for the church, while 30%
strongly disagreed and 21% said they somewhat disagreed."

"Pastor who used AI for church service says it was a 'one-time deal':
'let’s never do that again' "

While AI gets more intellectual it doesn't get more "human", IMO.
(today's humor) AI is only as human as humans imagine it to be ...
and many humans seem to have very good imaginations!

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https: //halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/world/u-s-navy-medical-corp-lieutenant-reveals" (not a link)

There's no need to relearn this lesson! In the military (as well as government),
you're supposed to believe what you're told to believe. But easier in years past
when records about the truth were not so widespread in computer networks.

"Oh Yeah?! What networks?" Don't ask! Don't tell! (they say)

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/arti ... ratio.html

"What the perfect male and female buttocks look like ...
and it's all about the waist-to-hip ratio"

Apparently, there's more to this preferred rump ratio,
considering the average rumps roaming the streets ...
and suggesting a plump rump is the Go To hump.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -bill.html
"California retailers that refuse to have gender-neutral toys for children will be FINED"

Probably a good time to learn what is a gender neutral toy,
considering that gender is not well-defined in a child's mind.

Best guess: Attach a "Gender Neutral" label to a toy
for children and adults to know how to play with it.
'GNu' would make a good label while this wildebeest
LGBT commercialism remains controversial.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech ... -data.html

"Google is quietly building an omnipresent AI that will be linked to all your devices and apps
... artificial intelligence (AI) designed to become its users' 'Life Story Teller.' But to do it,
the AI will require unprecedented access to each user's personal data."

Apparently, an oxymoron, this "omnipresent AI" and "personal data"
since "personal data" automatically redfines as "public data".

Which reminds that "A secret shared is an oxymoron!"
since owner no longer has much control of the secret.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... nises.html
"Seattle high schooler FAILS quiz"

"She even claimed he was told 'he shouldn't use the term straight to identify"

Kids (especially) and adults need training on acceptable subsitutes
for gender-related words that have been acceptable for centuries.
But a substitute for straight is not so easy to identify and males
(traditional definition) might have sensitivity to some antonyms:

Re: https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/straight

"rounded, twisted, curved, warped, wavy, curled, spiral,
kinked, coiled, bending, looped, veering, serpentine,
crooked, corkscrew, devious, zigzag, meandering"

Rod (not a synonym)

[Amigoo]

Today's social etiquette requires formal invite retraction

Re: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... party.html
"Boston Mayor Michelle Wu arrives to host her no-whites holiday party"

"Wu's office mistakenly sent the invitation to all 13 members of the city council,
and then had to retract the invites sent to white people"

Strategy for diversity-not promotion by intentional mistake?
Not only are those council members not invited, but they're
officially notified that they're not invited by the retraction.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.the-sun.com/tech/9853403/
"ChatGPT may have become ‘seasonally depressed’ as creators race to fix AI"

"Ars Technica suggested that ChatGPT laziness could be due to a winter break hypothesis.
That hypothesis claims that chatbots learn to do less work over the holiday season
because they base everything they know on information from humans."

Who knew? Even chatbots may need occasional "medical" care because of stress,
poor programing, or questionable information from humans.

Best strategy: When in doubt, get advice and opinions from other chatbots.
New job opportunity? Chatbot psychiatrist (not a human).

Who can tell? What other fixes AI may need as it matures ...
especially if depending solely on information from humans?

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/ ... n-ai-model
"lawsuit claims that Meta's lawyers knew the datasets training its AI models included copyrighted content"

Not so well known is that much internet information is copyrighted.
Without permission, use is limited to "read only" (not copy for commercial use).
Apparently, AI development assumed that all internet information could be used
to train (create) large language models (databases for AI's expertise).

Copyrights of art work and music may next be subject to legal oversight.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/zoo ... e-6382466/
"Zoom under fire for AI policy change"

(web page comment, per the article) "Additionally, under section 10.4 of the updated terms, Zoom has secured a 'perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable, and transferable license' to redistribute, publish, access, use, store, transmit, review, disclose, preserve, extract, modify, reproduce, share, use, display, copy, distribute, translate, transcribe, create derivative works, and process Customer Content."

Not so much a problem now with Zoom-created content (audio, video, etc.) being detectable as Zoomistry by many people, but sooner than later this content will not be so detectable. Suppose a video will exist later where you explain how the Urantia Book was authored by one human. And suppose that a growing number of dedicated UB readers also claim to share this opinion as proven by their own videos that they neither created nor authorized.

What could go wrong, Zoomeister? It's only user-authorized AI creativity!
Best guess: Zoom to another platform with more friendly Terms of Service.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/self- ... asic-items

"... bringing Affirm's transparent monthly pay-over-time options to their self-checkout kiosks in the US will help
even more consumers increase their purchasing power during the holiday shopping season and beyond."

Since many holiday shoppers usually struggle with post-holiday bills, this may increase sales but seriously decrease
later purchasing power*. Best guess: Communicate to friends and family that cash is gifted by a visionary Santa,
that is cash not borrowed from self or loan kiosks.

* not only over-spending but loan charges inflate the later bills.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://newsaddicts.com/north-koreas-di ... -decision/
"Kim Jong-Un: 'We Will Nuke America if It Makes Wrong Decision' "

Such belligerence by a country that can deliver what it threatens
suggests probability of that country receiving same before its delivery.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://www.brighteon.com/
(search for: "CANADIAN PREPPER, 20 DEC 2023, I Just Got Scammed.")

Discussion about AI intrusion into information sources where the reader/viewer
is unaware that the info is AI-generated yet presented as created by a human author.

The problem is that human authorship is assumed to be more reliable/authentic
than AI authorship. But the greater problem is that the info is not identified
as AI-creativity and may have unwarranted believability.

Apparently, all online information is becoming suspect. It's time for a personal AI assistant
to evaluate whether or not information is AI-generated, regardless of the source

Note: This posting was not AI-generated, but what happens after the Submit
is beyond my control. So I always save what I post just for comparison.

Bottom line: I'll need another personal AI assistant to monitor
the reliability of the first assistant when AI rules the internet.

Rod

[Amigoo]

Re: https://news.yahoo.com/chinese-spacecra ... 36533.html
"Chinese Spacecraft Emitting Strong Signal Over North America"

"To be clear, as Tilley points out, this is purely speculation — as we don't even know what these objects are,
or how they relate to China's spaceplane. According to the amateur astronomer, objects designated D and E
give off radio signals with 'idle filler'."

Testing how the U.S. tracks similar objects released from spacecraft,
thereby learning how to disrupt future tracking?

This reminds of the earlier email announcement "You've got mail!" ...
except this mail may be a package delivered by surprise.

Rod

[Amigoo]

About AI in the courts ...

Re: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/27/busi ... wsuit.html
"The Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work"

"The newspaper expresses concern that readers will be satisfied with a response from a chatbot and decline to visit
The Times’s website, thus reducing web traffic that can be translated into advertising and subscription revenue."

This article confirms that many AI lawsuits are now in progress, deliberating on
what constitutes infringement of copyrighted material, and inspiring a legal test:

Draft proposal of an AI Copyright Test (AICT) ...

"Since AI is not human, when AI as evidenced by quantity, quality, and rapidity of responses to questions of humans
far exceeds the capacity* of the average well-educated human to similarly respond, that AI is assumed to have confiscated
sufficient quantity of copyrighted material to be charged with copyright infringement, requiring court deliberation."

* after having studied the suspect material and is responding by memory

A whimsical test since we know tha AI "confiscates" text
(copies to a database, then edits) to answer questions with detail.

Rod