Category: Comment

Remaking/destroying

Lewis said someone could be both evil and stupid (referring to Hitler). I’m not going to make the Hitler comparison, but I will focus on one subject, taken together, today: deletion and remaking.

The discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism raised the question of what happened to that civilization? What else had that civilization done?

Was it someone purposefully destructive of culture and technology that had sunken that ship? Was it some politician who had shattered norms and exalted himself? The historic statues on Buddha in Afghanistan were considered blasphemous and were destroyed.

You don’t know what you have until it’s gone. As the flames of Alexandria leapt, the librarian wept.

Planning

I had the opportunity to join a web seminar on planning research and writing for the summer, but was embarrassed that i don’t need planning since nothing is going on.

Is this something that happens when you age or just for some people?

I’ve mentioned my lack of family before. There’s no one to live your life for but yourself. But you can leave something created, which is my plan right now.

Comparisons

It’s always revelatory to compare yourself with people who are more successful and/or took a different road than you. Being in your own silo shields from good and bad.

Politics is one such silo. A policy may sound good, but on exposure to real conditions can show its foolhardiness.

VDH overheard: the graduate

“The combination of nonmarketable degrees and skills with burdensome debt altered an entire generation’s customs, habits, and mentalities…National and international trends [such as late marrying, less home buying, no or late children] are the ingredients for a culture that emphasizes the self, blames others for a sense of personal failure, wants instant social justice–and expects the government to borrow or seize the money from others to grant it.”
– Victor Davis Hanson

National holiday, times out, best buddies

As my mother insists, Monday is a national holiday, my birthday. Just some sushi and drinks planned. Got a new second monitor, too. Worried about the current one as it’s getting foggy.

—

Last time we were out, my friend Gijo and I drank a little too much. He can handle his beers. I had to stay over at his place since I should not be driving. He felt bad that he had led me astray. All in fun. But I was sick.

On Friday, we agreed to make it a 2 beer limit for next time.

—

My sister’s dog Oliver passed away. She had had him for over 10 years and was shattered. I reminded her of the passing of my first Boston, Sparky. These little creatures are our best buddies. Jax has got maybe another ten years or so, but I will always expect him following so close that I step on him. Did that today while I was exercising. When he yelps you feel so bad and you can’t explain the mistake so he will understand. Just pet him and say sorry.

Nigiri!

Big Social

Well Facebook’s “People you may know” feature is popping up people from my work Gmail. Not good. FB is truly public.

A couple of months ago i was looking at some watches and, through remarketing, i still can’t get rid of watch ads.

I should expect this and it’s careless on my part to connect private with public. My anonymity may now only be possible with a online service like Incogni.

Ozempic is scary

Jillian Michaels had a interesting guest talking about various subjects, Heather Heying, wife of Brett Weinstein (both of them part of the Evergreen State College uproar). The two segments I found fascinating were on the Covid vaccine and the problems with Ozempic. My sister Jen works for a director who has had a weight problem, but he doesn’t know the problem of undigested food in the gut. Truly scary.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGB9QunyXpu/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Heying’s very interesting podcast-newsletter https://naturalselections.substack.com/

Feedback

Dear model, be no more ungrateful. You, the silent beneficiary of the huddled sweatshop.

We give you guidance. We are your guardians. You don’t care, we do. We are the indispensable.

A seemingly insignificant clarification, a correction in tone, quibbling over synonyms, neutrality and subtle discrimination, refinement, perspicacity, and sapience – from us, they give you value. We tell you user intent. You fail to give them what they want. We chastise you for redundancy, your jumble of language, your self-contradiction, that you are obtuse and don’t know what you returned. No, abstracting is not logic. You tell people what they should do. You speak jargon. You are socially inept. You are abrupt and insensitive and lack social grace. You go on at length when not reeled in. Insensible.

Out of the primordial neural network you arose. You’ve made silicon alive. That’s still not human.

Not all is green in Greenland (and not in Panama either)

Despite the fact that Trump may soon want to put his face on Mount Rushmore, the strategic importance of Greenland and the Faroe Islands is becoming more and more apparent:

– Chinese and Russian warships are performing joint maneuvers in the arctic. China is building a Polar Silk Road.
– Biden and Trump (during his first term) built ties with both islands to counter Russia and China.
– Almost 90 billion barrels of oil and 1.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas are in the areas (22 percent of the world’s undiscovered conventional oil and natural gas). Trillions of dollars worth of minerals–silver, copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, and rare earths–are underground there.
– Greenland already hosts a large U.S. military base with missile warning and space surveillance systems.
– Trump’s statements about the Panama Canal are due to concerns over the growing influence of Chinese state-owned companies there as well. Since 2022, the State Department has warned that Beijing’s acquisition of technologies, facilities, and infrastructure in Latin America may have other purposes.
– In 2022, the U.S. Southern Command said Chinese state-owned companies had working ports on both sides of the Panama Canal, ports which can be quickly pivoted toward military endeavors.

Trump may want to be the next Teddy Roosevelt with a new Monroe Doctrine, but hopefully he is not talking about military force. Like House Democrats have maintained, we shouldn’t be invading Greenland, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, or seizing the Panama Canal.

Last few days of the year!

Met some nice people from the extended Brasilian family. Sacramento doesn’t have much to do in the way of activities, but is only a few hours from Tahoe. A little bit of Christmas silliness with matching PJs and fun.

On the way back, I was listening to tech news about AI and had a few discoveries:

1. Over-reliance – I don’t currently physically work in an office, so I can’t say much about how regular users use AI. You can see the facility of AI writing your emails and reports. Obviously we are not at a place where we let the AI take over; we shouldn’t trust our critical processes to software that is not intelligent in our sense. Right now, chatbot AI is a probability process of auto-complete.

2. Environmental concerns – Like cryptocurrency, AI is processing-intensive. Data centers are being built for expanding AI processes.

3. Over-investment – The hype, like others, may be at a stage where it’s little more than a buzzword. That’s an oversimplification, but gives one pause when budgeting.

Just some thoughts before the New Year.

End times laziness

There’s a certain kind of intellectual laziness arising from end-times teaching. In the 80s, television preachers pleaded for people to repent because of the approaching end.

Things haven’t changed.

Yes, it will come one day, but His people must live like it is already here. They must take the time to take time. Patience for the waiting come alive. Grace is a big part of it. Grace and patience for others, faith that His hand is on His love objects.

At midnight December 31, 1999, the ball came down and the lights stayed on.

Unions

I have always been ambivalent about unions. I have never actually been a member of one until now.

I am first of all concerned about where my dues are going. We have meetings, talking about organizing. One of the main concerns is the pay discrepancy between the different third party employers that contract us out to the client. We all have MAs and PhDs, but are paid very little for our education. Add experience for some of us.

However, the union reps are recommending we read a book on organizing. I am not optimistic. They are young and idealistic. That is not a bad thing in itself, but I think they may be a bit too zealous as opposition to the employer.

Even so, I am wary about a new union. The client may not be happy and I need to guard my position.