-
States can do it….
The main operator of bitcoin “ATMs” is closing down because too many states have banned Automated Theft Machines. Last week I noted that the suburb of Spokane Valley banned theft machines. I doubted that it would make a difference. This shutdown makes me feel a bit better about the power of states. Smaller entities can…
-
Big difference
An article by Ronald Bailey in Reason describes a study done in Europe. = = = = = START QUOTE: Scenario: Maria and Peter are eating dinner. Peter asks Maria whether Tom is at the party that they intend to go to after dinner. Maria answers that Tom is at the party. After all, Tom…
-
Coal is winning
Coal is growing thanks to our stupid vicious war on Persia. Via Reuters, India, Japan and Korea are ramping up coal-powered electricity as natural gas is choked off by our vicious war. I knew that India and China stayed with coal. I didn’t realize that Korea and Japan have a meaningful number of coal plants,…
-
Poop darts?
For many years I didn’t see any birdshit on my front sidewalk. This year I’ve been hearing frequent competitive conversations among one species of bird, and now I’m seeing birdshit in one place on the sidewalk. Two weeks ago I mowed the yard and swept the sidewalk. Felt proud after creating a bit of beauty.…
-
Pew gets it. Post Office doesn’t.
Pew continues to get things right. In this article they discuss the new idiocy of pollsters polling chatbots. Obviously Pew isn’t going along with “silicon sampling”. A more subtle problem is people using chatbots to make money by taking polls in huge quantities with fake URLs. I wouldn’t know how to solve this. Is Pew…
-
Is this the binary form?
Occasionally a dream reveals something about how the brain works. I was working at the desk of an auto company, listening to Hank Ketcham [cartoonist who drew Dennis the Menace] complaining that our cars didn’t hold up even though he was a perfect driver. After he left I said to the boss, “I must admit,…
-
What’s the advantage?
The AI shills are the loudest voices in every subject now. They’re louder than the bitcoin shills of the previous bubble because bitcoin was never part of the Dow. Altman is the Dow, so his shills are dominant. So far I don’t see the advantages touted by the shills. Supposedly “Claude” can automate tasks in…
-
Makes me wonder
May 13 is Root Canal Appreciation Day. Without mentioning the date, New Scientist published an article about amazing ancient dentistry. Neanderthals were drilling teeth to get rid of decay 59000 years ago. = = = = = START QUOTE: In the Altai mountains of southwestern Siberia – where Neanderthals migrated from Europe about 70,000 years…
-
Latest on the Anthropic lawsuit
Via CourthouseNews. A judge in Frisco heard the final set of arguments and objections. The basic decision was already pled out by a settlement agreement last year, so the money WILL be paid in some form at some time. (Update: probably in October.) Most of the arguments today came from people on the plaintiff side…
-
Salient number
The latest Pew Poll on news media contains a dramatic number, and the article doesn’t single it out for discussion. The poll asks about being a “good news consumer”. I’d have trouble with the premise. News isn’t like food or cars or appliances or entertainment. News doesn’t feed your body or mind, doesn’t give you…
-
Wrong villain
Noticed an article blaming the interstate highway system for the loss of ‘walkable’ neighborhoods. Car-centered life destroyed nearby grocery stores and nearby parks. Until right now I agreed with that blame and probably wrote about it several times. Wait! The timeline doesn’t work. Fast local arterials were common by 1950. The interstate system was essentially…
-
They did build it
Looking through the Bitsavers archive of old computer mags, trying to pin down when programs started to write programs. Ran into a more interesting subject in Sept 1958. Datamation mag proposed a National Tech Information Service. The article is painfully detailed, Tldr. Two things stand out: 1. As with education, we were responding to Sputnik…
-
Trust by geography
In general the people I trust come from the middle of the US. The trust happens before I know where they’re from. Obama was a good example. I felt “at home” with him from the start, then much later found out that his mother and I lived in Ponca at the same time in 1951.…
-
Third Shift Workers Day
Today is Third Shift Workers Day. I often worked the graveyard shift, and worked it reliably and solidly. I was completely useless on 8-5. This oil clock was developed in the 1600s as a timer and light for scribes and illuminators working through the night. It provided light for scribal work, and simultaneously measured the…
-
Spies are bunk
A random online article about the spy games played by auto companies reminded me of a larger parallel. = = = = = In the 50s and 60s car mags highlighted the trickery and skullduggery of industrial espionage. Each company guarded its new models and inventions carefully, each company paid spies and defectors to gather…
Polistra's Mill
Be your own beacon.
Polistra's Mill 