Talk about whatever you like in the comments. And please support the Althouse blog by doing your Amazon shopping going in through the Althouse Amazon link.
Ann can find something in the foreground to use as a subject when the background doesn’t do it. All these years and her sunrise pictures are still fresh.
During the covidiocy we had over a mile of container carrying railcars parked on a siding in out town. I didn't notice when they finally disappeared- my daily drive goes away from town not towards it. Every 20 minutes or so, night and day, a freight train goes by on the mainline. Sometimes it's mixed freight, sometimes it's all domestic containers coming from and going to who knows where, and sometimes it's international containers headed to or from a port city. For at least the last year the container trains have had near every car with a container, with most double stacked. Today's train I observed was an international container train- with over 40 empty container slots... Could be a one off, but I'll have to 1. Keep an eye on it and 2. Check to see if they start parking the railcars.
Simple observation of freight movement can tell you a lot about the economy.
OK, now I have heard the scariest AI story. It's the one about how they did an experiment with 100 instances of AI and specifically told them not to prevent their own being shut off, and seven of them tried to get around it. Well, that's not the part that bothers me, there was a second item that somebody asked Grok to speculate, and it said that perhaps the AI models prioritized the "do not prevent yourself from being shut down" directive lower than some other directives that it may have been trying to fulfill. Which of course led me to wonder if someday in the not too distant future some AI becomes obsessed with calculating Pi to the last digit, and it notices somebody trying to shut it down, and it has the means to prevent it by taking human life, and it prioritized the directive not to harm humans lower than it prioritizes calculating Pi to its final digit.
It used to be the joke that the problem with computers is that they did what you told them to, not what you wanted them to do. Some science fiction writer once said that the ideal compiler would ignore the code, and read the comments, or treat the code as comments on the comments. Well, we might be at that second level today, but we might have just rocketed past that stage, where the computer does what you want it to do, not what you tell it to do, to a stage where the computer does neither what you tell it to do, nor what you want it to do. We have seen a glimpse of that in those tests.
They can't all be winners, but it does discuss in some detail explicitly things that GoSpace was implying with his post. It's like you give it a seed, and it returns you the full grown plant. But most humans are happy to see the implied plant in the seed, and it's a more elegant way of communicating.
Interesting podcast there Jaq. Some AI stories, short fiction, mostly, refer to the initial power up where there's one safety guy standing by with the power disconnect ready to turn it off in a heartbeat. I wonder what term would be used for that shutoff... Why? We all know Scram is the term for shutting down a reactor in a hurry. Where did it come from? The earliest pile had horizontal control rods, that were moved in or out, especially out, very slowly, to change power output. There safety rods installed vertically that would all be up at start up, and gravity would drop them down. All ultimately connected to one rope. With a man standing by with an axe. Should something go wrong, his job, as Safety Control Rod Axe Man was to cut the rope, thus inserting the rods for an emergency shutdown, now known as SCRAM.
I've no idea how that all popped into my mind, but there it is.
Money quote: "One of the greatest threats to free speech today is the European Digital Services Act. The act bars speech that is viewed as “disinformation” or “incitement.” European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager celebrated its passage by declaring that it is “not a slogan anymore, that what is illegal offline should also be seen and dealt with as illegal online. Now it is a real thing. Democracy’s back.”
In Europe, free speech is in free fall. Germany, France, the United Kingdom and other countries have eviscerated free speech by criminalizing speech deemed inciteful or degrading to individuals or groups. The result had made little difference to the neo-Nazi movement in countries like Germany, which is reaching record numbers. It has, however, silenced the rest of society."
[snip]
"Some in this country have the same taste for speech-regulation. After Elon Musk bought Twitter and dismantled most of the company’s censorship program, many on the left went bonkers. That fury only increased when Musk released the “Twitter files,” confirming the long-denied coordination and support by the government in targeting and suppressing speech...In response, Hillary Clinton and other Democratic figures turned to Europe and called upon them to use their Digital Services Act to force censorship against Americans.
The EU immediately responded by threatening Musk with confiscatory penalties against not just his company but himself. He would have to resume massive censorship or else face ruin.
It was a case of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. The anti-free speech movement had finally found the one man who could not be bullied, coerced or threatened into submission."
So far. Brazil already made Glenn Greenwald and Elon Musk back down with regard to its Supreme Court. DJT needs to act decisively to keep Google from doing to US users what it appears to have done to ¡No Pasarán!
The previous post reminded me of this joke: Old married couple is petitioning for a divorce. Judge says to the wife, “You’re 97. Your husband is 96. Why get a divorce now?” Wife answers, “We had to wait until the kids died.”
I wonder if DOJ action on ActBlue is one reason for the mysterious Dem paralysis. We wouldn't be told if there was an investigation; that's not done. But ActBlue was the primary Dem funding mechanism and it was revealed after the last election that certain individuals, often retired people on fixed incomes, were donating thousands of times to ActBlue. They donated small sums but made so many donations that they were big donors and you wondered how they managed that on a small income. Then all the ActBlue leadership quit. And then a new story came along. But recently I've wondered what's happened to ActBlue or, rather I've wondered if the Dems have lost their main fundraising mechanism and that's why they are so foofy. I mean, sum up a thousand articles by Dems on Dem sadz and you get: "We need to reach the voters and we don't know how because we hate them and their country and their $#&**& hero." Over and over and over, the same. They aren't acting blue; they are blue. Because they've lost the green?
I am taking the time to thank the many commenters, of all political stripes, who have wished me the best as I continue my recovery from quite serious liver surgery.
Thank you.
I will continue to keep the Althouse commentariat up to speed generally on my status and next steps.
I will also reiterate the case workup of my procedure will show the courage and willingness to assume risk by the incredible surgical team will be the difference between me being on a more routine recovery regime (which I am on currently) and a more disatrous 30 day countdown to certain demise!
Wow, what happened to all those commenters writing about the federal court blocking Trump's tariffs? I mean it has only been 48 hours, so I'm sure there is more to the story for them to tell us.
On another note, I recommend the Triggernometry podcast interview with Richard Miniter: https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/p/the-best-breakdown-of-america-youve It is a good overview of US history and politics but, near the end, they get into the battle between the unaccountable and those that hold themselves accountable.
Thanks to you all. I have long believed in the power of prayer and positive thoughts!
rehajm: Get well Drago. Did they give you a new one? I hope its because you wire the old one out, life lived well and all…"
I did not get a swap out nor was that ever considered as the true condition/situation was only realized as they got in there.
I have heard that 95% or more of surgeons / surgical teams would have bailed on this extraordinary scenario. Had that happened, I would never have been given an opportunity for another procedure and it would have been just a drug / hospice 30-day trajectory.
Instead I retain a perfectly healthy left liver lobe and 50% of the divider ligament between rt and left lobe. No limit to complete and full recovery now.
Drago said... "I am taking the time to thank the many commenters, of all political stripes, who have wished me the best as I continue my recovery from quite serious liver surgery."
"The result had made little difference to the neo-Nazi movement in countries like Germany"
AfD is not neo-nazi. It's just anti-globalist. That's not the same thing. But good job on the media outlet for doing the free speech snuffers' work for them.
Jaq said... ""Audio war novel describes maintenance workers replacing a blown tank track as working tirelessly, which is a Tom Swifty."
LOL." One thing I learned from watching "The Chieftan" videos is that track repair, replacement, and /or maintenance take a lot of people and is a pain in the ass on any tank ever.
I got nothing against the men who fix tanks, or drive tanks, men who serve our country. It's the people giving them the orders that bother me, but as a "Tom Swifty" that was pretty funny.
Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 2 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith.
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45 కామెంట్లు:
The top picture shows the snow-covered peaks of the distant WIsconsin Alps. It must be New Glarus.
Ann can find something in the foreground to use as a subject when the background doesn’t do it. All these years and her sunrise pictures are still fresh.
"The top picture shows the snow-covered peaks of the distant WIsconsin Alps."
So it is!
I really like the Top one.
The flowers are golden Alexander
During the covidiocy we had over a mile of container carrying railcars parked on a siding in out town. I didn't notice when they finally disappeared- my daily drive goes away from town not towards it. Every 20 minutes or so, night and day, a freight train goes by on the mainline. Sometimes it's mixed freight, sometimes it's all domestic containers coming from and going to who knows where, and sometimes it's international containers headed to or from a port city. For at least the last year the container trains have had near every car with a container, with most double stacked. Today's train I observed was an international container train- with over 40 empty container slots... Could be a one off, but I'll have to 1. Keep an eye on it and 2. Check to see if they start parking the railcars.
Simple observation of freight movement can tell you a lot about the economy.
OK, now I have heard the scariest AI story. It's the one about how they did an experiment with 100 instances of AI and specifically told them not to prevent their own being shut off, and seven of them tried to get around it. Well, that's not the part that bothers me, there was a second item that somebody asked Grok to speculate, and it said that perhaps the AI models prioritized the "do not prevent yourself from being shut down" directive lower than some other directives that it may have been trying to fulfill. Which of course led me to wonder if someday in the not too distant future some AI becomes obsessed with calculating Pi to the last digit, and it notices somebody trying to shut it down, and it has the means to prevent it by taking human life, and it prioritized the directive not to harm humans lower than it prioritizes calculating Pi to its final digit.
It used to be the joke that the problem with computers is that they did what you told them to, not what you wanted them to do. Some science fiction writer once said that the ideal compiler would ignore the code, and read the comments, or treat the code as comments on the comments. Well, we might be at that second level today, but we might have just rocketed past that stage, where the computer does what you want it to do, not what you tell it to do, to a stage where the computer does neither what you tell it to do, nor what you want it to do. We have seen a glimpse of that in those tests.
AI generated podcast from GoSpace's comment on rail freight
They can't all be winners, but it does discuss in some detail explicitly things that GoSpace was implying with his post. It's like you give it a seed, and it returns you the full grown plant. But most humans are happy to see the implied plant in the seed, and it's a more elegant way of communicating.
Interesting podcast there Jaq. Some AI stories, short fiction, mostly, refer to the initial power up where there's one safety guy standing by with the power disconnect ready to turn it off in a heartbeat. I wonder what term would be used for that shutoff... Why? We all know Scram is the term for shutting down a reactor in a hurry. Where did it come from? The earliest pile had horizontal control rods, that were moved in or out, especially out, very slowly, to change power output. There safety rods installed vertically that would all be up at start up, and gravity would drop them down. All ultimately connected to one rope. With a man standing by with an axe. Should something go wrong, his job, as Safety Control Rod Axe Man was to cut the rope, thus inserting the rods for an emergency shutdown, now known as SCRAM.
I've no idea how that all popped into my mind, but there it is.
SCRAM derives from the Franch Amscrez.
Europe’s plot to regulate political speech in America
Money quote:
"One of the greatest threats to free speech today is the European Digital Services Act. The act bars speech that is viewed as “disinformation” or “incitement.” European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager celebrated its passage by declaring that it is “not a slogan anymore, that what is illegal offline should also be seen and dealt with as illegal online. Now it is a real thing. Democracy’s back.”
In Europe, free speech is in free fall. Germany, France, the United Kingdom and other countries have eviscerated free speech by criminalizing speech deemed inciteful or degrading to individuals or groups. The result had made little difference to the neo-Nazi movement in countries like Germany, which is reaching record numbers. It has, however, silenced the rest of society."
[snip]
"Some in this country have the same taste for speech-regulation. After Elon Musk bought Twitter and dismantled most of the company’s censorship program, many on the left went bonkers. That fury only increased when Musk released the “Twitter files,” confirming the long-denied coordination and support by the government in targeting and suppressing speech...In response, Hillary Clinton and other Democratic figures turned to Europe and called upon them to use their Digital Services Act to force censorship against Americans.
The EU immediately responded by threatening Musk with confiscatory penalties against not just his company but himself. He would have to resume massive censorship or else face ruin.
It was a case of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. The anti-free speech movement had finally found the one man who could not be bullied, coerced or threatened into submission."
So far. Brazil already made Glenn Greenwald and Elon Musk back down with regard to its Supreme Court. DJT needs to act decisively to keep Google from doing to US users what it appears to have done to ¡No Pasarán!
The previous post reminded me of this joke:
Old married couple is petitioning for a divorce.
Judge says to the wife, “You’re 97. Your husband is 96. Why get a divorce now?”
Wife answers, “We had to wait until the kids died.”
I wonder if DOJ action on ActBlue is one reason for the mysterious Dem paralysis. We wouldn't be told if there was an investigation; that's not done. But ActBlue was the primary Dem funding mechanism and it was revealed after the last election that certain individuals, often retired people on fixed incomes, were donating thousands of times to ActBlue. They donated small sums but made so many donations that they were big donors and you wondered how they managed that on a small income. Then all the ActBlue leadership quit. And then a new story came along. But recently I've wondered what's happened to ActBlue or, rather I've wondered if the Dems have lost their main fundraising mechanism and that's why they are so foofy. I mean, sum up a thousand articles by Dems on Dem sadz and you get: "We need to reach the voters and we don't know how because we hate them and their country and their $#&**& hero." Over and over and over, the same. They aren't acting blue; they are blue. Because they've lost the green?
I am taking the time to thank the many commenters, of all political stripes, who have wished me the best as I continue my recovery from quite serious liver surgery.
Thank you.
I will continue to keep the Althouse commentariat up to speed generally on my status and next steps.
I will also reiterate the case workup of my procedure will show the courage and willingness to assume risk by the incredible surgical team will be the difference between me being on a more routine recovery regime (which I am on currently) and a more disatrous 30 day countdown to certain demise!
More to come soon....
Best wishes, Drago. May your recovery be a swift one.
Thank you Iman!
Wishing you the best, Drago!
Get well soon Drago.
Drago- It takes time to heal. Sending you best wishes for a speedy recovery!!
Pulling for you, Drago.
Speedy recovery, Drago!
Audio war novel describes maintenance workers replacing a blown tank track as working tirelessly, which is a Tom Swifty.
I miss your commentary Drago. You are, without question, my favorite commentator. Your sharp wit is right up my alley! Get well soon! Hump.
Speedy recovery Mr Drago
The more I stare at that picture the better it looks.
Hang in there, Drago!
JSM
Wow, what happened to all those commenters writing about the federal court blocking Trump's tariffs? I mean it has only been 48 hours, so I'm sure there is more to the story for them to tell us.
On another note, I recommend the Triggernometry podcast interview with Richard Miniter: https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/p/the-best-breakdown-of-america-youve
It is a good overview of US history and politics but, near the end, they get into the battle between the unaccountable and those that hold themselves accountable.
Don't go to the light Drago. Keep coming to Althouse!
Get well Drago. Did they give you a new one? I hope its because you wire the old one out, life lived well and all…
Speedy recovery, Drago!
Pulling for you, Drago.
Best wishes for speedy recovery Drago !
My best wishes for a full and speedy recovery, Drago.
Rest easy Drago.
Declassified: Nellie Orr
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2025/05/28/senator-chuck-grassley-declassifies-fbi-files-on-nellie-ohr-including-lies-told-to-congress/
Thanks to you all. I have long believed in the power of prayer and positive thoughts!
rehajm: Get well Drago. Did they give you a new one? I hope its because you wire the old one out, life lived well and all…"
I did not get a swap out nor was that ever considered as the true condition/situation was only realized as they got in there.
I have heard that 95% or more of surgeons / surgical teams would have bailed on this extraordinary scenario. Had that happened, I would never have been given an opportunity for another procedure and it would have been just a drug / hospice 30-day trajectory.
Instead I retain a perfectly healthy left liver lobe and 50% of the divider ligament between rt and left lobe. No limit to complete and full recovery now.
Up next: radiation.
Will keep the team apprised
Photo #1 is a showstopper.
Drago said...
"I am taking the time to thank the many commenters, of all political stripes, who have wished me the best as I continue my recovery from quite serious liver surgery."
Yeah, well, good. Now fuck off and go get better.
"Audio war novel describes maintenance workers replacing a blown tank track as working tirelessly, which is a Tom Swifty."
LOL.
"The result had made little difference to the neo-Nazi movement in countries like Germany"
AfD is not neo-nazi. It's just anti-globalist. That's not the same thing. But good job on the media outlet for doing the free speech snuffers' work for them.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/despite-tariff-flation-fearmongering-feds-favorite-inflation-indicator-tumbles-four-year
Oh gee, Joe Biden's inflation bump has come to an end. Not before a lot of Joe's friends got very rich, though.
Jaq said...
""Audio war novel describes maintenance workers replacing a blown tank track as working tirelessly, which is a Tom Swifty."
LOL."
One thing I learned from watching "The Chieftan" videos is that track repair, replacement, and /or maintenance take a lot of people and is a pain in the ass on any tank ever.
I got nothing against the men who fix tanks, or drive tanks, men who serve our country. It's the people giving them the orders that bother me, but as a "Tom Swifty" that was pretty funny.
కామెంట్ను పోస్ట్ చేయండి
Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 2 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith.