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Dumb multitasking
Multipurpose devices are a tricky idea. Some of them work out, most don’t. Radios with phonographs and radios with clocks were common. Radios in cars were a good idea, and in fact the radio took precedence over more prosaic devices like windshield wipers or heaters. The radio had the place of honor in the center…
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Stages
Doomberg, a prolific and pseudonymous bitcoiner, reveals how Twitter worked and how Xlon changed it. Summary: Like all social media, Twitter had Lurkers, Participants and Creators. Twitter was different from other media like Youtube or Facebook or old-fashioned publishers, because Twitter didn’t pay its creators. Instead, the Creators were meant to use Twitter as a…
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What happened? China.
As I’m expanding my daily walks to include some blocks I haven’t seen in several years, and some I never walked before, I’m noticing one systematic change. 10 years ago many houses in the neighborhood had wall-mounted air conditioners. This was a bit of a fad in the ’50s, and it was necessary on the…
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Tired of Platonists
More point-missing by Platonists: = = = = = START QUOTE: In his new book, Science After Babel, David Berlinski expands on his explanation of the development and significance of algorithms, a subject he first examined in The Advent of the Algorithm. Berlinski writes, “The calculus and the rich body of mathematical analysis to which…
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On-ramp dreams, off-ramp dreams
Lately I’ve been having complex dreams. They started when the NAZI TORTURE CAMP began to ease last spring. Since the VERIFIABLE END of the torture camp this summer, the dreams are getting intense. Tangled urban environments, railroad embankments, interstate cloverleafs, pipes and mechanisms that must be climbed to reach a goal. Here’s what I wrote…
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FB weirdness
Just for fun, Facebook is doing a truly weird trick today. On every time indication involving hours, it adds a space after the first letter or number. It’s also extraspacing dates like J uly 29. It’s not extraspacing time indications involving minutes. I can’t think of any algorithmic purpose for this spacing, but there must…
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Old joke
Old joke: “Day 19 of the experiment, I have successfully conditioned my master to give me food, smile, and write in his book every time I drool.” – Pavlov’s Dog The free-play phase of Altman’s AI attack seems to be standard sales practice, which can be benign or not. Duane Jones calls it Sampling. Send…
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Hypothesis
Denyse discusses an evocative and important question which is triggering new research: = = = = = START QUOTE: How can a person living with advanced dementia abruptly communicate in a clear manner? Many wonder what mechanism underlies this phenomenon and if it might be a key to mitigating—or even reversing—neurodegeneration. It’s also a mystery…
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Responsible media would…
I’ve seen several threads like this on Reddit. Chase Bank suddenly withdrew about 100 billion dollars from this guy’s account. More precisely, they withdrew the difference between his actual balance and 100 billion. He’s totally befuddled and can’t get answers from the bank. Other commenters have been through the same experience and figured it out.…
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Chinese FD
As usual Ankler provides a thoughtful discussion. Why is Hollywood losing its connection with China? Most of the reasons are well known. Xi is switching back to China’s 5000-year norm of internal isolation. The middle kingdom is the only kingdom. After 40 years of commercial connection and student spying, China has acquired all of our…
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Metaground
Kirn is getting credit for a brand new idea: In @palladiummag, a fascinating idea from @walterkirn that the spectacle of news, social media, changing mores, etc. is designed to prevent memory formation. Not new at all. This was the POINT of 1984. Room 101 was not about lies and propaganda, it was explicitly and obviously…
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Zenith’s hearing biz
Following on three previous Zenith items: Zenith receivers. Zenith’s Cobra-matic. The origin of the company. Zenith didn’t “belong” in the hearing business. Zenith had always built radio receivers and TV receivers. They added phonographs and clocks to their radios, but never branched out into audio systems or clocks. They never made instrumentation or lab equipment…
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This is why
These two Christian “philosophers” don’t see a problem with AI stealing art and text from working creators, and forcing other working creators out of their jobs. What’s the trouble with AI? It might ease the suffering of unpopular people. We can’t let that happen! Unpopular people must suffer so popular people can get all the…
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William does WPA
A hereditary aristocracy has a much better chance of producing sane and decent rulers. The “election” system rarely serves civilization. The odds are stacked heavily in favor of power-hungry monsters. Prince William is giving us a modern example. DailyMail mentioned his ‘Homeward’ project. Looking up the primary source, it’s pure FDR, following in the footsteps…
Polistra's Mill
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