@meltedcheese@c.im cover
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

meltedcheese

@meltedcheese@c.im

Melted Cheese Hath No Master

The Edge: There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.

  • Hunter S. Thompson

#Retired #Science #ComputerScientist #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Robots #Space #NewsJunkie #politics #Progressive #ClimateEmergency #SocialJustice, #democracy, #humanism #humor #Culture #Jazz #Tornado #SecondLife #ChilePepper #PS5 #Gamer #Sword #HomeAutomation #SciFi

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alice , to random
@alice@lgbtqia.space avatar

Watching the , and if I had to take a drink every time Trump spouted bullshit, I'd have been dead in the first few minutes.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@alice It nearly killed me without the drinks!

Nonilex , to random
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

Tues 28 May 2024 🧵 to Begin in

faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection w/a payment made to a porn star to influence the 2016 election. The case could be in the jury’s hands as early as Wed.


https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/05/28/nyregion/trump-trial-closing-arguments?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@Nonilex By itself, the conclusion of closing arguments in the of today is a cause for celebration! The case is now with a jury composed of people a lot like us and their decision will be further demonstration of the power of law over individuals. Take a breath, enjoy the moment, and make a memory.

parismarx , to random
@parismarx@mastodon.online avatar

African AI workers, mostly from Kenya, released an open letter to Joe Biden this week asking him stop US tech companies from “systemically abusing and exploiting African workers” and to end the “modern day slavery” they’re subjected to.

https://www.wired.com/story/low-paid-humans-ai-biden-modern-day-slavery/

#tech #labor #ai #africa #workers

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@parismarx I understand the situation re: exploitation of workers doing grunt labor for AI training. My question is how this is different from any other industry that “outsources” i.e.; seeks to minimize the cost of labor? It has been clear for years that the focus in many areas was shifting from SE Asia to Africa. Workers everywhere can assure their own future by working together to force change.

randahl , to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

Today I saw a number, which I will never forget.

During this war, Russia has launched 5628 Shahed-136 drones towards Ukraine.

That is 5628 times, civilians have heard a buzzing moped engine in the sky, and seen the Shahed-136 strike a civilian home, a power plant, or a school with its 50 kilogram warhead.

For comparison, Hitler struck London with 2857 V1 and V2 rockets — half as many.

I simply do not know what to tell future generations when they ask, why we did not stop the Russian terror.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@randahl The reason is that Russia has a policy, predating Putin and regularly reauthorized, that if Russia is faced with defeat then they will escalate to first use of nuclear weapons. The definition of “defeat” gives them some wiggle room, but the threat is real. The military-political consensus seems to be that once tactical nukes are used then escalation to a broader nuclear exchange is inevitable. No country wants to get near that tripwire. Direct confrontation is avoided.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@randahl In the severe stress of military confrontation, Russia and NATO US depend on soldiers following orders. It is sentimental, wishful thinking to assume they will not.

“[Russian] doctrine allows nuclear weapons use ‘in response to large-scale aggression utilizing conventional weapons in situations critical to the national security of the Russian Federation.’”

https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2000-05/russias-military-doctrine

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@randahl Russia can easily nuke every NATO capitol city, even it Moscow and their cities get hit first. Nuclear war is no-win.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@randahl There is no need to spread nuclear fear on Mastodon. People here are not idiots, and only idiots are not afraid of nuclear war.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@randahl I think Putin is a psychopath.Sorry my assertion was not sufficiently inclusive.

randahl , to random
@randahl@mastodon.social avatar

If you like physics, this human size invisibility shield is fun.

It simply spreads light in such a way, the person behind the shield is not seen. And yes, there is a person behind it in this screen shot.

The Action Lab has a video, demoing what it can do:

https://youtu.be/WuJJQkjg7TY?si=RRyvgxroJKmPNxoW

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@randahl I am very skeptical of this “invisibility” shield. There are too many holes in the explanation. However, he’s not totally wrong. Light scattering is a proven technology for a certain type of invisibility. The “shield” is a meta material with special surface features. The features scatter only a *narrow band of wavelengths; the others pass right through and can be seen. (E.g., invisible to mm wave radar but visible to infrared red and visible light sensors.)

meltedcheese , to random
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@flexghost I think in ANY other case the law would have come down like a ton of bricks, immediately. I’m equally astonished by the behavior of the judge, who is deliberately slowwalking this case. And yes, I agree, 21 years is not nearly tough enough.

ElleGray , to random
@ElleGray@mstdn.social avatar

Artwork from an Ottoman book depicting a tooth infection. Apparently the pain comes either from demons or a guy mansplaining something. This seems fair

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@ElleGray My family loved this illustration and it will be point of conversation for days. Tip o’hat.

luckytran , to random
@luckytran@med-mastodon.com avatar

The rewrite of the Last of Us Season 2 is wild https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cicadas-zombies-hyper-sexual-sexually-transmitted-fungus-expected-to-emerge-this-year-massospora-cicadina/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=386674874

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@luckytran This story has real potential.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

🧵NEW THREAD for #TrumpTrial #legal #Trump here. 1/...

Apparently Trump woke up.

Via Orden:

Trump has re-entered the courtroom, per pool, but the video feed hasn't yet been turned on in the overflow room.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@GottaLaff I get shivers reading this. I think I will read it again and again.

Strandjunker , to random
@Strandjunker@mstdn.social avatar

I know there is a lot going on, but CIA agents were killed, captured, or compromised because Trump sold their names to our enemies.

Just thought I should remind everyone of that.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@Strandjunker @inthehands I will look for the reporting and links, but your googling might be better than mine. As I remember, it was more of a case of correlation, albeit mighty suspicious. The reporting said that Trump requested, and was provided, info about HUMINT assets in Russia. Sometime later, HUMINT networks in Russia were rolled up and at least a few of those snared were executed.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@inthehands @Strandjunker Quick find: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/09/us-removed-covert-source-in-russia-due-to-safety-concerns-under-trump

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@Strandjunker @inthehands Another, relating to classified HUMINT documents found at Mar-A-Lago.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/26/us/politics/trump-affidavit-intelligence-spies.html

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@inthehands @Strandjunker This also seems relevant.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-intelligence-agents-classified-documents_n_648a43f3e4b027d92f9131a0

rbreich , to random
@rbreich@masto.ai avatar

PSA: All billionaires under 30 — each and every one of them — have inherited their wealth.

“Self-made billionaires” are a myth.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@rbreich I personally know of one who started off quite poor. He was listed at one point by Forbes as one of America’s billionaires under age 30. The Internet dot bomb was really bad for him, as it was for all who bought into the speculation. He is longer a billionaire. Billionaires whose wealth is based on inheritance did not suffer nearly as much loss, if any. That said, inheritance makes little difference if we favor a universal wealth cap, as I do.

jeffowski , (edited ) to random
@jeffowski@mastodon.world avatar

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@jeffowski @marshray People love to self-identify.

wdlindsy , to random
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

"The future of proselytizing—and surveillance—has arrived. An app called Bless Every Home, which has been backed by some of the biggest names in evangelical circles, is mapping the personal information of immigrants and non-Christians in a bid to conduct door-to-door religious conversions and 'prayerwalking' rituals through their neighborhoods."

~ Elle Hardy


/1

https://newrepublic.com/article/179397/evangelical-app-targeting-immigrants-surveillance

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@wdlindsy …followed by the detention trucks for those who resist “coordination” (Gleichschaltung) as the 1930’s Nazis termed it.

lolgop , to random
@lolgop@journa.host avatar

The Cybertruck looks like the Delorean from Back to the Future were designed by Timothy McVeigh.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@lolgop The Tesla cybertruck is so ugly. What were they thinking? I can’t believe the designers thought this was a good idea. To me, it is a clear sign that Elon Musk gets whatever he wants. Pssst, he is not that smart nor sensible.

Nonilex , to random
@Nonilex@masto.ai avatar

The danger posed to ’s by 2 recent judgments against him has been, if anything, underappreciated. The size of the awards, the structure of his business empire, & the condition of the combine to create a truly perilous moment for &, by extension, for Trump’s personal finances.


https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/trump-financial-legal-troubles/677662/

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@Nonilex cue

futurebird , (edited ) to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Have you ever had an uncanny or possibly paranormal experience?

I have.

It happened when I was in undergrad, I had a work-study in the Archivists Office in the rare books section of the library. The library is a classic modern building from the 50s, once ahead of its time, now well behind. The computer system was similar, my college being one of the first to adopt a digital library catalog in the late 60s

So, as you can see, this is, in part, a story of a haunted computer terminal. 1/

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@futurebird Fascinating story. I too worked in the Rare Book Room as an undergraduate. My job was to fetch books from the stacks in back and bring them to the head librarian who would turn pages for the visitor. That back room with the books was very secure. If a book was chained to a shelf then I needed to get the key custodian librarian. Otherwise, I was alone; it was a little unnerving to hear a muttering voice back by the oldest books. I never found the source of the voice.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

Still thinking about the concept of studying ant communication by getting down to ant level. Make a tiny robot (we don't know how to make walking robots that small, so wheels it is) the robot would have a camera, little pads to collect pheromones (which could be dropped off to be analyzed) antennae IR sensors and maybe a way to stridulate?

Then one could really find out what's going on in there.

Worst case you have made an immersive ant VR experience!

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@futurebird Smallest walking robot is 0.5mm.

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2022/05/tiny-robotic-crab-is-smallest-ever-remote-controlled-walking-robot/

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

📌👀 Via Josh Gerstein:

JUST IN: sets unusual, short-notice opinion release for Monday morning. Appears to signal that ruling on ballot eligibility is looming.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@GottaLaff @Nonya_Bidniss If bad means legally sound then I’m not qualified to say. If bad means inhumane or that justice is not served then I am always p.o.’ed off.

One lesson that has taken me a long time to learn is that corruption, or at best, indifference, is both deep and wide among people in positions of power and public trust. These people are hypocrites who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. Expedience and self-interest rule the day. Others are evil.

wdlindsy , to random
@wdlindsy@toad.social avatar

As Lucian K. Truscott says, the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that cells in a test tube are a baby and deserve the same rights that a baby has puts Republicans in a real bind.

It does so because it tells us that "pro-life" Republicans have not ever truly meant what they claim to believe, when they say that "life" begins at conception.


/1

https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/what-is-an-old-fashioned-anti-abortion

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@wdlindsy Republicans have never faltered in their mendacious misuse of logic to advance their political power. Unlike most Democrats who put policies forward that can be judged on their merits, Republicans rarely do so because their professed beliefs are nakedly incoherent. I’m happy that this is one of those times they will twist and squirm.

JamesGleick , to random
@JamesGleick@zirk.us avatar

It’s 2024. One of the two major US political parties is trying to decide whether to use campaign funds to pay its candidate’s legal bills for committing fraud and rape.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/draft-rnc-resolution-would-block-paying-candidates-legal-bills/

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@JamesGleick @mastodonmigration Misdirection is what they do well.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

That's some platform, GOP Fascist Party: "NO SEX FOR PLEASURE!" Should garner a whole lotta votes.

1/...

Via Adam Jentleson:

Highly influential heritage foundation, which would help staff & direct a future Trump admin, literally said that a key conserv policy goal is “ending recreational sex.” they said it, not me. IMO we should take them both seriously & literally

(Heritage quote in next toot)

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@GottaLaff because power and control = Money

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Klasfeld:

would need to post "a bond in an amount equal to the judgment" to delay enforcement.

Between the civil fraud and E. Jean Carroll judgments, "the immediate question is whether Trump has the liquidity" to post those bonds.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@mastodonmigration @GottaLaff One can hope that Trump’s pyramid of leveraged assets comes crashing down. It wouldn’t take much to start a sell off.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The meanest insult I've ever called someone, the one I reserve for people I really really don't like probably doesn't always hit very hard at the target.

"uncurious"

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@futurebird @greeneralia I think of them as “shallow thinkers” because they cannot think deeply about ideas. They mostly don’t even notice what they are missing.

I do not believe there are many people who choose not to think deeply.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ #RNC considers move to make #Trump presumptive nominee

“While Trump would still need to reach delegate requirements necessary to win the nom, if the resolution is approved, he’d have access to RNC’s data operation, benefit from fundraising w RNC, & have support of all of the committee’s ground ops. It would also mean the committee would be supporting Trump & effectively opposing Haley – an unprecedented break from party’s past approach to nom process”

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/politics/rnc-trump-presumptive-nominee-resolution?cid=ios_app

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@GottaLaff Everything about Trump is unprecedented. Insofar as Trump aims to complete his coup d’etat, the RNC would become co-conspirators. I expect them to do it. The GOP as it was is long gone.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

You may disagree fervently with Pres. Biden's Israel policies, and that's fine. But if you come into my feed calling him "Genocide Joe" or any variation on that theme, you're blocked.

I've already had to block a few accounts for this.

Pres. Biden is not "for genocide." I will not argue with you on this topic, nor do I discuss the Israel/Hamas war here.

But I will not tolerate accusations of "genocide" by Pres. Biden. He's not "pro genocide."

If that's a prob, it's on you.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@GottaLaff @birdpoof @Urban_Hermit That’s why I enjoy posts such as this, when the criteria are clear. The post draws trolls like flies. Super easy, if tedious, to block them. So if Laffy’s followers take the hint, we all get the benefit.

futurebird , to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The half-baked philosophical conundrum that keeps me up at night most often is simply: why is my consciousness limited to me in particular? Why am I not everyone? Or everything? or nobody? Or you? Or an ant? Or an ant colony? How did I find myself in this particular stream and what is the nature of the boarders that keep me within it?

This idea generally frustrates and freaks me out and I doubt there is a sensible answer, I doubt it's productive to think about, but I worry on it over and over.

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@futurebird Great question. It has confounded philosophers for centuries, neuropsychologists for decades. Me too. Bravo to you for thinking about it. There is plenty of data, some scientific but most anecdotal, to suggest consciousness is malleable, more or less inclusive, and maybe not physically and temporally bounded. Go figure 🤷🏼‍♂️

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@qurlyjoe @futurebird ok, now I have a headache.

GottaLaff , to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

has proposed that senior leaders could leave as part of a broader ceasefire agreement

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/22/politics/israel-proposal-hamas-leaders-leave-gaza?cid=ios_app

meltedcheese ,
@meltedcheese@c.im avatar

@GottaLaff Leave, boots first. I don’t think Israel will let Hamas leadership escape justice.

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