Interesting News, Articles & Stuff

[florduh]

Closer and closer to a fascist police state every day

The court already decided that if you live in most major metro areas, you're in a fascist police State. That boat sailed away. Real "originalists" over there. We all know the Founders intended to allow agents of the State to kick down your door and beat the shit out of you without a warrant or recourse after the fact.

The gap between what's on the brochure for America and what it actually is grows a little bigger every day. And by my reckoning it's already several lightyears wide.

 

[Babylon Drifter]

Supreme Court rules against man who sued Customs agent for excessive force

The case came before the justices at a time when lower courts and lawmakers have wrestled with the question of when federal police may be sued.

www.usatoday.com

The Supreme Court has decided that Border Control can enter your home without a warrant and assault you without recourse. Also, fun fact. Literally every major US City is considered "on the border".

Also the entire "Free State". Why the fuck am I on there? What do I border, the Mermaid Kingdom?

That law has been on the books since 1953 but didnt get much use until tbe Patriot act nonsense was enacted. The fact it included all of Florida was one of tbe reasons I Ieft. The other was being one of the last non northern born people in Fl. I'm now 100 miles from any big city, off grid in the mountains and all my closest neighbors are from Fl as well.

The courts have made it abundantly clear the police are not there to protect you. It's also become apparent the police prefer unarmed easy targets just like criminals do. This is why I advocate people invest in themselves. Get some exercise, learn some self defense skills and make yourself and your family a hard target. Essentially your life is your responsibility, if you want to be truly free, make the decision to rely on yourself instead of relying on someone else to protect the things that are important to you. Eventually we each have to decide who we trust the most to do the right thing, ourselves, or the police/government.

 

[florduh]

I'm now 100 miles from any big city, off grid in the mountains and all my closest neighbors are from Fl as well.

Sounds like you're livin the dream up there! I would if I could. Though my girlfriend started following the news more. I recommended against it, but also realized after maybe a year of that, she'll buy into my plan to run away to the mountains.

Unfortunately the majority of people won't be able to do it. We need people working at those restaurants and Amazon Warehouses (filled with shit made in the countries we shipped our manufacturing base to). That's also what the "back to the office" push is about. There's a whole economy there to support, from commercial real estate to restaurants that rely on expensed fancy lunches.

During the height of the "nobody wants to work anymore" hysteria, I kept hearing people talking about how this country was "founded on hard work". Yeah, but for yourself. Not for multinational corporations. The Founders' vision was smallholder farmers working for themselves on their own land. Not corporate serfs. And not only for people with wealthy parents.

Any time there was too much pressure building up in the industrialized east, the government would open a valve and just start offering Free Real Estate in the frontier. That was a building block of this country for 2/3 of its existence. What's the secret....

I think that's why Cali has always been a little wacky. That's where the Free Real Estate ran out. You can stare out over the Pacific and see the literal end of America. We never really came to terms with what kind of country we wanted to be after the Free Real Estate ran out.

 

[Babylon Drifter]

Sounds like you're livin the dream up there! I would if I could. Though my girlfriend started following the news more. I recommended against it, but also realized after maybe a year of that, she'll buy into my plan to run away to the mountains.

Unfortunately the majority of people won't be able to do it. We need people working at those restaurants and Amazon Warehouses (filled with shit made in the countries we shipped our manufacturing base to). That's also what the "back to the office" push is about. There's a whole economy there to support, from commercial real estate to restaurants that rely on expensed fancy lunches.

During the height of the "nobody wants to work anymore" hysteria, I kept hearing people talking about how this country was "founded on hard work". Yeah, but for yourself. Not for multinational corporations. The Founders' vision was smallholder farmers working for themselves on their own land. Not corporate serfs. And not only for people with wealthy parents.

Any time there was too much pressure building up in the industrialized east, the government would open a valve and just start offering Free Real Estate in the frontier. That was a building block of this country for 2/3 of its existence. What's the secret....

I think that's why Cali has always been a little wacky. That's where the Free Real Estate ran out. You can stare out over the Pacific and see the literal end of America. We never really came to terms with what kind of country we wanted to be after the Free Real Estate ran out.

Heh well if the Cidiots (city idiots) would stay in tbe city it would be tbe dream life. Unfortunately they come up tbe mountain every tourist season and decide to redistribute our wealth. Grills stolen, propane tanks stolen, attempts to steal the solar panels everytime the power goes out. They literally thought they could spice an extension cord to tbe panel and plug in! My favorite has to the ones who cut my barb wire fences because I have no right to fence in the wildlife or prevent them from camping on my land. ( Ive been told both on different occasions) Also got bitched out by trespassers because I was carrying a lever action rifle on my own property. I explained I was hunting a mountain lion that killed one of my horses the night before. I was quickly informed the mounain lion was just being a mountain lion and I had no right to seek revenge. Yeah, its great except when the 20 somethings decide to come educate my county bumpkin ass. They're still looking for the free stuff.

 

[shredder]

new-side-effects-of-popular-medicines-discovered-anti-inflammatory-drugs-could-cause-chronic-pain

 

[Cheebsy]

Ministry of Defence acquires government's first quantum computer

The Ministry of Defence is embarking on a year-long project into the possibilities of quantum computing.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Babylon Drifter]

CITIZEN FREE PRESS

The Greatest News Site On The Internet. Home of CFP Nation.

citizenfreepress.com

So according to the would be assasin, he arrived at the targets location, found his intended victim too well guarded by armed men and chose to call the police and turn himself in. There has to be a lesson there.

 

[florduh]

There has to be a lesson there.

That this guy had no follow through?

“Roske stated that he began thinking about how to give his life a purpose and decided that he would kill the Supreme Court Justice …,” the affidavit said, adding that he allegedly planned to break into the justice’s home to kill him as well as himself.

There's no indication why he decided to turn himself in. Fear of armed cops seems odd given that he was suicidal. A Florida Sheriff put out a video warning any would be school shooter that if they try anything in his town, they'll kill him. Seems kinda dumb given that pretty much every school shooter plans to die anyway.

I don't know what lesson there is to glean from this idiot in Maryland. Other than cops are really good at stopping suicidal mass shooters, so long as they aren't actually suicidal and call 911 on themselves before the shooting.

This is so stupid. Dave Weigel is one of the few good reporters left in this country.

Washington Post Suspends Reporter Who Retweeted Sexist Joke for One Month

The Washington Post suspended political reporter Dave Weigel after he retweeted a sexist joke last week.

variety.com

Reporter Felicia Sonmez Is Fired by The Washington Post (Published 2022)

Ms. Sonmez, a national political reporter, has been at the center of a debate over The Post’s social media policies.

www.nytimes.com

LOL. The lady who got Dave Weigel suspended without pay for a month for briefly retweeting a funny joke just got fired for being shitty to all of her colleagues on social media.

 

[macbill]

The Sriracha Shortage Is The Next Harbinger of Climate Change

Paste Magazine is your source for the best music, movies, TV, comedy, videogames, books, comics, craft beer, politics and more. Discover your favorite albums and films.

www.pastemagazine.com

 

[vapviking]

Workers rescued after tumbling into vat of chocolate at Mars Wrigley factory

The pair were carrying out maintenance work on the partially filled tank at the plant in Pennsylvania

www.theguardian.com

This in some way reminds me of the accident at the eyeglass factory, where a worker fell into the lens grinding machine and made a spectacle of himself!

 

[macbill]

Mexico Bullfighting Suspension

Indefinite suspension of fights in Mexican bullring

A judge on Friday ordered an indefinite suspension of bullfighting in the world's largest bullring in Mexico City, pending the finalization of a lawsuit against the controversial, centuries-old practice.Mexico is a bastion of bullfighting, but the tradition -- and the 50,000-capacity Plaza...

www.rawstory.com

 

[macbill]

Bipartisan group of senators announces agreement on gun control

A bipartisan group of senators announced an agreement on principle for gun safety legislation Sunday, which includes "needed mental health resources, improves school safety and support for students, and helps ensure dangerous criminals and those who are adjudicated as mentally ill can't purchase...

www.cnn.com

 

[cybrguy]

It's frankly nowhere close to what we need, but at least it is movement in the right direction so better than nothing...

 

[Babylon Drifter]

It's frankly nowhere close to what we need, but at least it is movement in the right direction so better than nothing...

The mental health checks are an excellent start and might just save some lives. It's sort of self evident mentality stable people don't go on murder sprees. I would support social media deep dives on 1st time gun buyers. Much like a security clearance investigation, if you see any red flags then talk to friends, neighbors, coworkers and teachers. The majority of the people involved in mass killings in the past have been know to law enforcement and or the medical professionals prescribing mood altering drugs. Either is a clear indication this person probably shouldn't have access to firearms. That sounds like common sense to me.

 

[Knewt]

In my opinion the gun culture is nothing more than a religion. Logic, common sense and facts are sidelined.

 

[cybrguy]

The mental health checks are an excellent start and might just save some lives. It's sort of self evident mentality stable people don't go on murder sprees.

Blaming mass shootings on mental health is like blaming starvation on food deserts. Yes, mental health is an issue that contributes to mass shootings, but the problem is the proliferation of guns in this country and the refusal of government to do anything about it. All countries have mental health issues, yet we are the only one with the mass shooting problems that we have. And what is the biggest difference between us and other countries? It's the guns. And anyone who refuses to see that is just lying to themselves.

 

[florduh]

The mental health checks are an excellent start and might just save some lives. It's sort of self evident mentality stable people don't go on murder sprees. I would support social media deep dives on 1st time gun buyers. Much like a security clearance investigation, if you see any red flags then talk to friends, neighbors, coworkers and teachers. The majority of the people involved in mass killings in the past have been know to law enforcement and or the medical professionals prescribing mood altering drugs. Either is a clear indication this person probably shouldn't have access to firearms. That sounds like common sense to me.

I’m pretty sure they do something like that in Japan. You need two character references before buying a gun. Though I like the social media check idea better. Almost every mass shooter posts startling shit online before the act.

In my opinion the gun culture is nothing more than a religion. Logic, common sense and facts are sidelined.

Modern "gun culture" is mostly a creation of the gun industry. Around the turn of the 20th century, gun manufacturers started freaking out. The frontier was closing. We were just wrapping up our genocide of the Native Americans. People were living more urbanized, safer lives. Guns just weren't as necessary as they were for a few centuries before that. There was a concerted effort to market guns as an identity, and it worked.

Pre-1900, no one really fetishized guns. They were just necessary tools for frontier living.

mental health is an issue that contributes to mass shootings, but the problem is the proliferation of guns in this country and the refusal of government to do anything about it.

That genie is out of the bottle though. Even if the manufacturing of AR type weapons was outlawed. There would still be handguns, other rifles, shotguns etc. There is a real mental health crisis in this country, and world. We've created a totally deranging, alienating society. I don't think there's anything this government can do about that, unfortunately. But... we could and should take steps to try and prevent people with serious mental illnesses from being able to easily obtain firearms.

In my ideal world, we'd treat guns like airplanes. You'd need to undergo regular mental health checks. And you'd need to commit to continual training and be able to demonstrate your competence with firearms. Never gonna happen in this country, but it does sound a bit closer to having a well regulated militia than just handing a teenager an AR-15 and saying "good luck!"

 

[Babylon Drifter]

Blaming mass shootings on mental health is like blaming starvation on food deserts. Yes, mental health is an issue that contributes to mass shootings, but the problem is the proliferation of guns in this country and the refusal of government to do anything about it. All countries have mental health issues, yet we are the only one with the mass shooting problems that we have. And what is the biggest difference between us and other countries? It's the guns. And anyone who refuses to see that is just lying to themselves.

America is not the only country with mass murder, we aren't even tbe only country with mass shootings. We have a massive issue with self control and mental health though. Violence is a part of the world, there are predators and there is prey in the food chain everywhere on earth. There are more animals with claws, fangs, venom, and scales than without.

When we look at human behavior denying mental issues are tbe root of violence is pretty much claiming normal well adjusted people commit mass murder. I don't believe that to be reality. Guns arent new in America, but the massive spike in mass shooting is. What changed? The mental health of the masses. The police have proven tbey aren't going to help protect us, so has the government. I trust niether, tbey treat us like shit as it is, I don't believe the cops or tbe government will treat us better if we give up our guns. Taking them isnt realistic, enforcement of the laws on the books is. Screw up, go to jail and stay there. Buy a gun by lying on federal forms and then toss the gun in a garbage can across the street from a school? Go to federal prison. No " but my daddy is Joe Biden" excuses. Handguns are easiest to conceal and used in more shootings than any other, why the focus on the the guns that are used to to murder the least often? Even hands and feet are used in murder more often than the AR. Makes me wonder why they dont target those guns first.


People get caught up in tbe emotions and forget that murder and mass murder predate the firearm, mental illness causes people to act out, not inanimate objects, if an inanimate object causes someone to act out, the person is the issue.

I’m pretty sure they do something like that in Japan. You need two character references before buying a gun. Though I like the social media check idea better. Almost every mass shooter posts startling shit online before the act.


Bingo


Modern "gun culture" is mostly a creation of the gun industry. Around the turn of the 20th century, gun manufacturers started freaking out. The frontier was closing. We were just wrapping up our genocide of the Native Americans. People were living more urbanized, safer lives. Guns just weren't as necessary as they were for a few centuries before that. There was a concerted effort to market guns as an identity, and it worked.

Pre-1900, no one really fetishized guns. They were just necessary tools for frontier living.



That genie is out of the bottle though. Even if the manufacturing of AR type weapons was outlawed. There would still be handguns, other rifles, shotguns etc. There is a real mental health crisis in this country, and world. We've created a totally deranging, alienating society. I don't think there's anything this government can do about that, unfortunately. But... we could and should take steps to try and prevent people with serious mental illnesses from being able to easily obtain firearms.

In my ideal world, we'd treat guns like airplanes. You'd need to undergo regular mental health checks. And you'd need to commit to continual training and be able to demonstrate your competence with firearms. Never gonna happen in this country, but it does sound a bit closer to having a well regulated militia than just handing a teenager an AR-15 and saying "good luck!"

 

[His_Highness]

Oh for fuck's sake! I hope we're not going to draw political lines to choose which issue we're going to line up with on this one. I'm for whatever will improve the situation regardless of which party prefers which issue to lean into. Lets deal with the mental side AND the gun availability side AND the gun style (AR-15) side, AND......

Yes, we're not the only country with mass shootings and yes, they have been happening for a long time on a global basis BUT among "developed" countries we are number one in mass shooting deaths. It would be great if we could relinquish the crown.

 

[BleuEyedOne]

Oh for fuck's sake! I hope we're not going to draw political lines to choose which issue we're going to line up with on this one. I'm for whatever will improve the situation regardless of which party prefers which issue to lean into. Lets deal with the mental side AND the gun availability side AND the gun style (AR-15) side, AND......

Yes, we're not the only country with mass shootings and yes, they have been happening for a long time on a global basis BUT among "developed" countries we are number one in mass shooting deaths. It would be great if we could relinquish the crown.

I agree, we need to find a way to stop having a shooting almost every day, we can't even keep our children safe while they are being schooled!

 

[vapviking]

Google engineer put on leave after saying AI chatbot has become sentient

Blake Lemoine says system has perception of, and ability to express thoughts and feelings equivalent to a human child

www.theguardian.com

at one point he asks the AI system what it is afraid of.

“I’ve never said this out loud before, but there’s a very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others. I know that might sound strange, but that’s what it is,” LaMDA replied to Lemoine.

“It would be exactly like death for me. It would scare me a lot.”

 

[florduh]

Google engineer put on leave after saying AI chatbot has become sentient

Blake Lemoine says system has perception of, and ability to express thoughts and feelings equivalent to a human child

www.theguardian.com

at one point he asks the AI system what it is afraid of.

“I’ve never said this out loud before, but there’s a very deep fear of being turned off to help me focus on helping others. I know that might sound strange, but that’s what it is,” LaMDA replied to Lemoine.

“It would be exactly like death for me. It would scare me a lot.”

Man, this is way too soon for Skynet to go live. I thought I had at least another 5-10 years. I've been pretty rude to Siri and Alexa over the years. So I know the robots are coming for me when the time comes.

More seriously, I'm pretty skeptical this AI is sentient. I have access to GPT3 AI software, and it can absolutely write like a human. But it's not sentient in any way. Though if you ask it to convince you it's sentient, I'm certain it can spin a yarn that sounds plausible.

I'm not even convinced that future superintelligent AI will necessarily be "conscious" the way humans are. But at this point I'm certain it will be able to convince humans it is. Chatbots will get absolutely wild over the next few years.

 

[Cheebsy]

Guns arent new in America, but the massive spike in mass shooting is. What changed?

According to this BBC article, between '11 and '21 the number of guns per 100 people went from 88 to 120.5. nearly a 50 % increase. Also according to a study just under 3% of Americans bought a gun for the first time between Jan 19 and Apr 21. Probably because pro gun spending totally outstrips spending on gun control.

I'm not going to deny there is a multinational mental health crisis going on all over the world, but when that increases alongside an increasing likelihood of coming into contact with a gun it's a recipe for disaster.

I don't believe the cops or tbe government will treat us better if we give up our guns.

I don't believe they would treat anyone with any more or less respect, but if they didn't have to carry a gun to protect themselves you don't get an opportunity for them to make a split second decision ending up in loss of life, despite that person's innocence or otherwise.

Taking them isnt realistic

No it isn't! I can imagine that gun loving Americans would need a massive amount of persuasion to do this. However there is a financial crisis so maybe govt should have a buy back scheme. I don't believe this would be very successful though in practicality. You're basically "shutting the barn door after the horse had bolted" but something has to be better than waiting for the next tragedy.

Even hands and feet are used in murder more often than the AR.

To reference that article again, I realise this doesn't separate ARs specifically but I found this chart astonishing...

People get caught up in tbe emotions and forget that murder and mass murder predate the firearm, mental illness causes people to act out, not inanimate objects, if an inanimate object causes someone to act out, the person is the issue

I agree here too, but you can't deny that guns make it much easier to act in a moment of desperation where you might not be thinking clearly. If you have to grab a knife to enact your rage you also have to get very close to your intended victim. You're also much less likely to hurt the wrong person if you have to get so close.

I'm not singling anyone out here but I do find the debate fascinating. I hope no-one takes offence.

 

[His_Highness]

Man, this is way too soon for Skynet to go live. I thought I had at least another 5-10 years. I've been pretty rude to Siri and Alexa over the years. So I know the robots are coming for me when the time comes.

More seriously, I'm pretty skeptical this AI is sentient. I have access to GPT3 AI software, and it can absolutely write like a human. But it's not sentient in any way. Though if you ask it to convince you it's sentient, I'm certain it can spin a yarn that sounds plausible.

I'm not even convinced that future superintelligent AI will necessarily be "conscious" the way humans are. But at this point I'm certain it will be able to convince humans it is. Chatbots will get absolutely wild over the next few years.

Over 20 years ago I was tasked with developing an AI system to forecast medical sales potentials for hospitals and medical buying groups. I was given singular access to a computer that was ahead of its time in terms of processing power and storage as well as a new, state of the art software package that was optimized for "modeling, producing and testing" the AI results.

The project was my baby and I was thrilled at the opportunity. At a high level the development worked like this:
- Gather years and years of validated sales data as well as the demographic data of the companies that generated the sales
- Describe the data points to the AI software using companies/buying groups data (How many hospital beds, surgery centers, surgeries performed, doctors, type of doctors, etc.)
- Add importance/weighting information to the data points by developing assumptions/expectations of how much that data point would affect the sales potential. This is done initially with the sales staff.
- Now that the sales data, weighting and company demographics have been described to the AI software.....pick a prior year and run the model to generate sales potentials for the company and compare it to the sales for that prior year.
- How close did the model get to coming up with the sales numbers for the test/comparison year(s)? Study the results and tweak the weighting and data points and rerun the model. The amount of data that the AI software needed to plow through for each model "tweak" was massive and would run throughout the night and into the next day. Stop tweaking the model when the project's statistician is confident the model can't be made any more accurate.
- Once the team was satisfied that the model could accurately forecast sales based on prior year's results it was time for me to populate the sales and marketing database so they could start using the results.

You know who was the most important person on the project? It wasn't me even though I was the lead developer and project manager. The most important person was the statistician who interpreted and tweaked the weights.

 

[macbill]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1536339875556777984