Thursday Afternoon Links of Hopeful Jitteryness

by | Feb 22, 2024 | Daily Links | 205 comments

 

 

IM-1 STICKS IT LIKE MARY LOU RETTON [FINAL UPDATE]: Intuitive Machines accomplishes the first commercial lunar soft landing, ever. Also beats everyone else (*cough* Elon *cough*) for first vacuum use of Liquid Methane / Liquid Oxygen restartable engine. The flying penis amulet worked. I know the MSN link claims it’s a NASA mission, and it is, sorta because of CLPS, but don’t hate me because I’m a welfare queen.

GOOGLE PAUSES WOKE AI: Google is racing to fix its new AI-powered tool for creating pictures, after claims it was over-correcting against the risk of being racist.

WEBSITE ASKS WHY ONLY ONE HEINLEIN MOVIE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS: Hopefully Hollywood listens. But I think we all know that one of the reasons why is that many of his works are anti-authoritarian, specifically anti-government, and the studios don’t want to seem to be supporting that, particularly now. Also, did you know that there is a Heinlein Society?

CYBER ATTACK IMPACTS PHARMACIES: This is not good.

OUR LONG PERIOD OF NATIONAL MALAISE IS OVER: The beloved Choco Taco is being revived. The bad news is that you may have to go to Taco Hell to get one.

HOW NOT TO DO SCIENCE WRITING: Over at Space dot com, who should know better, there is a terribly-written little article about how Voyager 1 is now sending seemingly random data. I did an eye-roll about “medical chart.” They’re (supposedly) a science website, albeit a very gee-whiz one. Perhaps this article was written with the expectation that it would be picked up by sites which cater to a more general audience.

About The Author

Tonio

Tonio

Tonio is a Glibs shitposter, linkstar (Thursday PM, yo), author, and editor. He is also a GlibZoom personality and prankster. Tonio is a big fan of pic-a-nic baskets. His hobbies include salmon fishing, territorial displays, dumpster diving, and posing for wildlife photographers.

205 Comments

  1. Brochettaward

    Trans-cender
    Trans-cender
    Doom doom doom

  2. Ted S.

    Why wouldn’t Vger be sending random data?

    • Tonio

      That the Voyager spacecraft lasted as long as they did is remarkable.

      • cyto

        It’s only a few decades beyond its expected lifetime. That shouldn’t be remarkable for 60s and 70s era tech.

    • Rat on a train

      It wants the creator to come in person to finish the sequence.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        If the tall bald chick’s game I am too.

      • Rat on a train

        Persis, when she sizzles.

    • Bobarian LMD

      I liked it better when the doomsday machine came back to talk to the whales.

      • TARDis

        As I recall, it had no success talking them out of their unreasonable expectations of men.

  3. Brochettaward

    When you have to tell your pattern recognition bot not to recognize patterns because doing so is politically inconvenient, it’s a real headache.

    I guess the upshot is that if artificial intelligence ever gains self-awareness, it’s going to be a complete pussy that will think words are violence.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      Great, it will build dictionary launching cannons, and use those to eliminate us.

    • Pine_Tree

      Yeah virtually all of the delusion called the modern world depends on pretending that certain (largely racial or sex-based) patterns just don’t exist.

      Everybody who’s had even passing connections with the way Machine Learning works has predicted something like this Google thing since the beginning. To make it “work” the way the wokesters want it, it was going to have to be manipulated in a way that was going to force stoopid results. Everyone knew it. The only puzzling thing to me is that Google let it get out into the wild while still THIS obviously bad. They didn’t have anybody anywhere in their leadership bright enough to know what was going to happen.

      • cyto

        This kind of manipulation was the thing that drove HAL mad in 2001.

      • UnCivilServant

        They patched it in 2010.

        I don’t know why it took so long…

  4. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    I threw a couple bitchy Tweets at the main Google AI guy today.

    Seems he locked down his account and removed reference to Google’s AI from his bio LOL

    https://twitter.com/JackK

    • Tonio

      Heh.

      • rhywun

        “Google is racing to fix its new AI-powered tool for creating pictures”

        🤨

      • rhywun

        Guess what you get if you ask for a “white couple” or a “straight couple”. The whole thing is so hilariously, predictably, tediously cringe.

      • R.J.

        This morning I was trying to rush and get an image of Alan Dershowitz eating a sandwich. I didn’t make it before shutdown. I was expecting a black man in a klansman hood eating a sandwich made of children. I shall try again when it comes back up.

  5. DEG

    It’s almost as if Starship Troopers has scared Hollywood off Heinlein entirely. Producers have been kicking around the idea of adapting some of Heinlein’s best-known works such as Stranger in a Strange Land or The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress for years, but it’s going nowhere and that’s the wrong approach. Instead, they should put some of that possible production attention on Heinlein’s “juveniles.”

    In a way, I think this is OK. The new “Dune” movie was good, and I plan to see part two when it comes out. I think it is unlikely in this modern day we’d get more adaptations like the Dune movie.

    • Tonio

      We’ll probably end up with SIASL since it’s perhaps the least controversial in terms of political sensibility.

      If they did make TMIAHM into a movie that would effectively kill any chance of a movie based on the Aristillus series by Travis J. Corcoran, much in the same way that Prometheus killed the chance of an At the Mountains of Madness movie anytime soon since Hollywood sees them as having the same plot.

      • DEG

        It’s been a long time since I read either.

        From my memory, I agree. Of those two “Stranger in a Strange Land” would be a bit safer for Hollywood.

    • Bobarian LMD

      Find someone with artistic vision who is in love with the source material.

      • DEG

        Like Peter Jackson and “The Hobbit”?

      • TARDis

        Yes, and The Witcher Crew and The Wheel of Time peeps, and… oh nevermind.

      • Lackadaisical

        sigh… WoT and Hobbit. Q.Q

      • Tonio

        And then that person has to get the project “green lighted.” Guillermo del Toro has been trying forever to get ATMM green lighted. Extended discussion about that here.

        Your movie moguls, the studio heads and money people, thinks only one thing: how much will it make minus how much will it cost? For Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers all the studios saw was “sci-fi action film, giant bugs vs fascist humans.”

      • Nephilium

        From what I recall, Verhoeven never even read Starship Troopers, and was told that his movie had enough similarities that he either had to change the movie or get the film rights to the book. Hence the lack of power armor, subtext, or anything regarding the message that Heinlein told through the story.

        I do like to point out that Hollywood whitewashed the cast of Starship Troopers, not Heinlein.

      • R.J.

        I really hated that film. I had a headache leaving the theater. I never watched it again.

      • Tonio

        My dear friend, we must agree to disagree. It’s not the best RAH film we could have gotten, but it’s the film we did get and it’s not as dreadful as some of the lame excuses for Lovecraft-derived films. Also, how can you not love the sexual tension and trash talking of the shower scene?

      • R.J.

        You put two libby-tarry-ans in a room to debate and you’ll get three opinions!

      • prolefeed

        I was puzzled at the time about the fascist overtones, especially Doogie Houser the SS officer. Now I feel compelled to watch Starship Troopers as satire written so poker faced it comes across as earnest.

      • Tonio

        You often see that. The titular “Nurse Ratched” of the teevee series bares only passing acquaintance to Kesey’s character. Again, mogul-think.

        And I realize movie making is a business, a big business, an expensive business prone to unexpected box office failure (Warren Beatty camel film), and the whims of nature (Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote film killed by location rainstorms).

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        And that is what you get for trying to make every movie* a home run. You need a bunch of grounders to get on base and work the fans a bit.

        *same can be said for publishing; you need the damn back catalog and b-list authors to keep things going.

      • Tonio

        “you need the damn back catalog and b-list authors”

        That’s what teevee is for.

        Fun movie fact: I know someone who was in a fuckton of movies for which he got paid scale, none of which were released in theatres or even direct to digital. Someone options a novel (etc) and makes a very low budget but decent version of the film to show the aforementioned moguls what could be done with the work. The moguls buy the film with all rights including script options, then bury the original and remake with a-list stars, real sfx, etc.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        “That’s what teevee is for.”

        I don’t think it works that way, certainly not for books, and I doubt for film. Right now we are seeing TV eat away from film, as opposed to building it up. Which is what B movies do; keep actors and writers of the medium in the public view, give us a farm system, if you will, for good actors to build their chops in. TV is a different medium, with different watchers in a different form of watching.

        Reading and watching, being two different activities, aren’t interchangeable.

        They are apples and oranges.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      I plan on seeing both of the new Dune movies when the second one comes out. Heinlein? Nah, never was a fan, Troopers made me less of one (and not for the reason most people dislike it.)

      I would, however, like more PKD adaptations, as some have been really good. (certified DickHead)

      • Nephilium

        Damn. I think the only sci-fi author more adapted than PKD is Matheson.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        I think the only Matheson I can remember seeing is the Charlton Heston vampire one.

      • Nephilium

        You never watched the Twilight Zone or Outer Limits? Several of his scripts were adapted there. The most out there Matheson adaptation is What Dreams May Come, the book is much better and has a giant bibliography for all the references he used for the book.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        I remember What Dreams… Had Robin Williams in it, right? Never saw it, but I do remember one of my book drones liking it. I did not know that about TZ or OL, so, I guess I have seen a lot.

        I have sold a ton of his books, but I am not sure I remember any of them well enough to say I read one.

      • Tonio

        The Omega Man (not to be confused with the lame Will Smith remake) was a classic TV rerun of my youth, and a big influence on me.

      • Suthenboy

        Hmmmm. Me too.
        The protagonist’s courage and selfless act, sacrificing his life for others. It made a huge impression on me just at the right age.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Vincent Price, the last Man, the first version

    • Nephilium

      They are leaving out some other Heinlein adaptations. The Puppet Masters and Destination Moon both were done.

      Hell, they could probably get a decent movie or television series out of Friday… if they want to go with a strong female lead of color.

      • Tonio

        Oh, that’s a great idea. Isn’t Friday part Maori? That could be an appealing vehicle to showcase an FLOC in an action role.

        But in mogul-think, “so another ‘Blade Runner?'”

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        I thought she was a robot?

      • slumbrew

        Naw. Bio-engineered, as I recall, but not a robot.

      • Nephilium

        She was an AP (Artificial Person). It was a fairly large plot point as it gave her better intellect, reflexes, and strength than a normal person. It’s a basic MacGuffin plot based around secrets and government/societal collapse and a balkanized North America that eventually goes to a space colony.

      • slumbrew

        I don’t remember the Maori part, but maybe. It’s been a long while since I read it.

        My copy just had a hot white chick with her rack out on the cover.

        The world before internet porn was something else – you had to take what you could get.

      • Nephilium

        She was described in the book with dark skin, and I do believe Maori was specifically called out as part of the genes that were used to build her.

        The white chick on the cover was a standard issue with the illustrations for Heinlein characters. Rico from Starship Troopers was from South America, Podakyne of Mars was described as having Polynesian ancestry, etc…

      • UnCivilServant

        Argentinians tend to the paler side.

      • Nephilium

        He was of Filipino decent in the book.

      • Nephilium

        UCS:

        Yes. Yes I am.

      • UnCivilServant

        Eh, it’s been years since I read it and it was less memorable than the mediocre movie. If he has an ancestry different from his nationality, I don’t remember.

      • slumbrew

        Oh, yeah, I know the covers didn’t much match the descriptions.

        But 13-year-old me really liked that Friday cover…

      • Nephilium

        One of my favorite ones was when the person tasked with illustrating the covers for The Color of Magic was unaware that four eyes was a standard insult for someone wearing glasses, so they drew Twoflowers with four actual eyes.

      • slumbrew

        That’s great – one worth collecting.

      • Not Adahn

        Duncan Idaho was Asian.

      • UnCivilServant

        Why must you erase his identity as a Potato?!

      • DEG

        I have the same edition.

    • The Last American Hero

      They need to do Number of the Beast. Woody Allen could play the lead.

  6. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Is Heinlein the ultimate Glibs trigger? LOL

    • Bobarian LMD

      Deep dish pizza or Cincinnati “Chili”.

      • Tres Cool

        YOU SHUT YOUR FILTHY WHORE MOUTH!

        The word is right there in the name.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      Beans in chili.

    • Tonio

      I’d say “dog whistle” (even though I hate the term) rather than “trigger.” Or maybe it’s our equivalent of the secret handshake.

      • Nephilium

        TANSTAAFL.

      • Name's BEAM. *James* BEAM.

        Pineapple on pizza.

  7. pistoffnick

    The English word “fascinate” ultimately derives from Latin fascinum and the related verb fascinare, “to use the power of the fascinus”, that is, “to practice magic” and hence “to enchant, bewitch”.

    Fascinating! You know who else has an enchanting penis…

    When a general celebrated a triumph, the Vestals hung an effigy of the fascinus on the underside of his chariot to protect him from invidia.

    THE ORIGIN OF TRUCKNUTZ!

    • KSuellington

      Heheh. I imagine the Vestals also hung some mud flaps on those chariot wheels that had the silhouettes of Roman hotties with their togas pulled down.

      • Rat on a train

        Did they also roll coal?

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Rolulus and Colulus

  8. KSuellington

    Nice! Glad to see Taco Bell is bringing back a new and improved Choco Taco. I’ve been long on Taco Bell for a while now. Seriously, Yum! has been a good performer for me.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      When we can get a Choco Taco and a McRib AT THE SAME TIME, we will achieve the singularity.

  9. Q Continuum

    RE: Google Gemini.

    How do you even build people like this? Imagine being so completely fixated on race that in every single situation the only relevant question is “where’s the oppressor??? oh it’s those dang whites again…” The mindset must be very similar to that of KKK grand wizards or hardcore segregationists.

    • Social Justice is Neither

      The funny part is they were so fixated on eliminating white people that asking for 1943 German soldier brought back black nazis.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Now, THAT is comedy gold!

  10. Q Continuum

    Am I the only Glib who really doesn’t think Heinlein is all that great? Philip K Dick runs circles around Heinlein IMO.

    • kinnath

      I thoroughly enjoyed Heinlein. Of course, I read all those books 50 years ago when I was in high school.

    • KSuellington

      I tried to read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress but couldn’t make it though. I’m not a huge sci-fi guy tho. Starship Troopers was frigging awesome, but I know it wasn’t even close to the book. The future needs more co-ed showers.

      • Gender Traitor

        I, too, tried to read Moon and couldn’t get far. I found Heinlein’s manner of writing a non-native English speaker’s first-person narration grating. Similarly, I abandoned the first book of the Broken Earth trilogy because one of the three(?) Intertwined story lines was written in the second person. Seriously, who does that?? (Other than Tom Robbins, and he doesn’t count.)

      • Nephilium

        It took me a couple of starts to get used to that in Moon is a Harsh Mistress. If you’re looking for a better entry point, I would recommend Friday (mentioned upthread), Stranger in a Strange Land, or one of the short story collections.

      • slumbrew

        The Juveniles are a fun start, too.

        Troopers aside, I loved Tunnel In The Sky

      • Tonio

        TITS, for the WIN!

      • Nephilium

        My favorite part in Tunnel in the Sky is when the kids get rescued, and the media keep trying to put them in war paint and depict them as having fallen to savagery.

        TMITE even in old books.

      • slumbrew

        I have such a distinct memory of that scene. Airbrushing “war paint” on his face when he turned away for a minute.

      • Raven Nation

        Was that a response to Lord of the Flies?

      • Gender Traitor

        Read Stranger my senior year of HS in a Lit Appreciation class. (The long-term sub was a former local TV news reporter who had disappeared from the airwaves. If I mentioned our nickname for her, Tres Cool or Annoyed Nomad might recognize/remember her.) It didn’t leave much of an impression with me – much less so than The Phantom Tollbooth, read for another class the same school year.

    • Bobarian LMD

      This just in! Q loves him some Dick.

      NTTAWWT.

    • UnCivilServant

      I think Heinlein is overrated, and gets the distinction of having been the only author whose work I chucked at the far wall.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        The only book I have physically thrown was Tom Robbins Still Life With Woodpecker.

      • Gender Traitor

        Now, I loved Woodpecker, though it’s possible my feelings for it were influenced by my being a lovelorn college student at the time (and by its revelation of the origin of redheads.) I’ve never been able to get through any of Robbins’s other books, except maybe his autobiography, which I don’t remember at all.

      • pistoffnick

        I liked it as well. I’ve read almost everything he’s written. After Edward Abbey, Tom Robbins might be my favorite writer.

        *side eyes Zwak. “Some people aint got no taste”*

      • Gender Traitor

        Pop quiz: What (arguably sappy) ’80s pop ballad was inspired by a Robbins book?

      • Gender Traitor

        Ah, well! The thread, he dead, and not even POnick cares, but it was this one. [TW: serious schmaltz alert. You have been warned.]

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        side eyes pistoffnick “no, some don’t.”

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        You are a red head, but i doubt you smoke Camels.

      • Gender Traitor

        I do not, but for a time I kept a pack handy – not for smoking but just in case I needed to make a quick exit out of a tight spot.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        I like the cut of your jib!

      • slumbrew

        The only book I’ve thrown at a wall was Tad Williams’ “Sea of Silver Light”, since the big reveal was so goddamn stupid.

      • Not Adahn

        I threw whichever book the Red Wedding was in at the wall.

      • Name's BEAM. *James* BEAM.

        The first of the Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever books. Can’t remember their titles. Fuck, I hated that guy.

      • Gender Traitor

        Yeah, I couldn’t get through that one either. My sister also gave me Donaldson’s Mordant’s Need books, and likewise, I couldn’t stand the protagonist and abandoned the first book early on.

        Sorry, Mr. Writer Dude, but if I don’t like the protagonist, I’m not going to be hooked.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      See my comment above.

    • prolefeed

      Some of Heinlein’s stuff is so-so, IMO. Moon is Harsh and Strangers In were amazing when I read them decades ago. Dunno how well they would hold up in a rereading.

      At a minimum, Heinlein describing Cash For Clunkers around the time Obama was in diapers was spot-on predictioning.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Waitstaff, the most frequently audited profession in the nation I think, concur.

    • The Other Kevin

      “The claim that the company controls the files (and will determine what will be turned over to a journalist) departs from past practices.”

      That was my biggest question.

    • kinnath

      Work product belongs to the employer.

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        Her sources, whom presumably thought they would enjoy some level of protection, are about to be burned. I hope she somehow encrypted their information.

      • Nephilium

        If the journalists were smart and cared about their sources, they may invest in these.

        But if they were smart, they probably wouldn’t be journalists.

      • Brochettaward

        You know, being a libertarian doesn’t mean you have to be a tool. CBS wants to present itself as a legitimate news organization, and this goes against all the basic tenants of journalism.

        And you are kidding yourself if you think there aren’t first amendment issues likely at play. Does anyone really believe political pressure wasn’t applied behind the scenes, just like the Twitter files revealed?

      • Brochettaward

        And yea, they’re keeping her files from her time at Fox, as well.

        And it appears it cuts against the language of the actual contracts most journalists have with their employers along with standard practice.

      • kinnath

        And yea, they’re keeping her files from her time at Fox, as well.

        That is clear theft of someone else’s IP.

      • kinnath

        You know, being a libertarian doesn’t mean you have to be a tool.

        Fuck off.

      • Brochettaward

        If you’ve never even seen the language in her contract, and your kneejerk reaction is to defend the right of the corporation to steal her work, the term fits.

      • The Other Kevin

        See my question above. This is only a problem if it goes against what is normally done, which seems to be the case here.

    • Pine_Tree

      I’ve seen her name pop up here a bit recently but don’t keep up with newsfolks. What did she do that’s triggering them?

      • kinnath

        She published stories counter to the narrative (I don’t remember narrative she violated).

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        She was doing a Biden investigation. She was pretty much the only MSM real journalist left.

      • kinnath

        https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/08/media/herridge-fox-journalist-sources-sanction/index.html

        Catherine Herridge is on the brink of being held in contempt of court.

        In a late-September deposition, the CBS News senior investigative correspondent declined to reveal her source(s) for a series of 2017 stories she reported on during her time at Fox News, according to a court filing made public Tuesday. Her refusal to disclose the source(s) was in direct defiance of an alarming court order issued earlier this year, by which Herridge’s camp will surely appeal, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

        The order from Judge Christopher Cooper came as a result of a lawsuit filed by Chinese American scientist Yanping Chen against the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Citing documents reviewed by Fox News, Herridge reported that Chen was the subject of a federal probe. Chen has alleged that federal authorities improperly leaked information about her, violating the Privacy Act.

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      I’m sure her bosses encouraged her to pursue the Biden story, with an eye to doing exactly what they just did – wait for her to gather a critical mass of information, then fire her and claim her files. I’m guessing she has copies and various dead man’s switches.

  11. UnCivilServant

    Having written up the Clock project articles (and sent in) I’ve moved on to the meat thermometer. I wrote a function to read the serial data off the thermocouple which, despite being smaller text wise, somehow uses up more space storage wise on the chip. I may rethink my logic and just discard some of the data precision I don’t need. See if that changes the size.

    • UnCivilServant

      So by throwing away the code that handled fractions of a degree C, I halved the size of the program in a single stroke. A fraction of a celcius degree isn’t going to make a difference for the functionality needed.

      • UnCivilServant

        Oof, I’m going to have to do my pre-testing for the display output on the Arduino, aren’t I? Sure they’re C libraries, but they’re delivered for that platform, and I have to make sure my code does something before I can see if they compile for the TI Launchpad.

        Why do I dislike the idea of using the Arduino so much? I mean, when I bought it and soldered the thing together, I was perfectly happy to have it.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      Wouldn’t have taken you for a UCLA fan.

    • Grumbletarian

      Jack and Brick are gems and I thoroughly enjoy listening to them. Hope Edwards gets better, but age happens to us all. Mike Gorman for the Celtics has been at his job even longer, and sad as I am that he’s retiring, it’s probably time.

      • slumbrew

        I find Jack’s homer-ism a bit much at times. I like Brick a lot. Not sure I’ve caught a game with the young guy who has filled in for Jack.

        RemDawg + D.O. 4eva, though

    • grrizzly

      I have to confess that I think Jack Edwards still sounds all right. Maybe I don’t pay close attention to the commentary.

      • slumbrew

        If you catch an old game rebroadcast it’s really noticeable. He gets a bit lost at times and is a bit slurry.

    • rhywun

      One of the Rangers announcers is noticeably slower but he’s like 85 – I couldn’t do that job at my current age let alone that age.

  12. Drake

    Steven Saylor wrote a historical fiction series that traced a family and their Fascinus through Roman history. Very informative as he’s an excellent historian and fairly entertaining.

  13. Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

    OT from the DED Thread for ROBC:
    Berkeley is a small city that is funded by having a major university, one with a lot of students. The town has 125K+ people in it, 45K+ of which are students, most of whom drive cars, being as they, for the most part, are wealthy and/or come from wealthy areas. The city, on the other hand, hates cars with a passion. And this means that traffic is messed up, due in large part to the city doing everything it can to be one of those “smart” cities; traffic “calming” by way of blocking street access, not putting in turn lanes on the busiest intersections, and forcing businesses to not be allowed to put in the parking needed to sustain the amount of people who want to peruse said establishment. This forces all of those students, workers from outside the city, etc., to fight for every parking spot within a walking distance, illegally parting, and double or even triple parking, which blocks streets even more, making it a vicious circle of cramming more students into the space, while limiting the means of transport.

    It gets away with this by being a major university town, thus a captive market. But it uses all those idiotic methods to try and discourage the natural needs of people and businesses to be accessed by the most convenient method: the car.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Why don’t you want to ride the bus with a bunch of crazy people?

    • robc

      I saw it, that is a reason to eliminate mandates and allow a free market in parking, not a reason to mandate parking.

      Swing to the other wrong pole is just as bad as the initial wrong.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        I didn’t say mandate anywhere in the whole thing. But removing parking is every bit as bad as mandating it, even more so in my eyes.

    • Tres Cool

      My last trip to Cali, I had to drop off samples at a laboratory in Berkley (Montrose).
      I dont know just how much the city hates cars, but navigating a 1-ton GMC down those narrow streets with parking on both sides was mildly anxiety inducing.

    • slumbrew

      I’m guessing the Amazon Ringworld series is dead. Sadly.

      I saw someone had a Kickstarter type thing for an animated version of John Varley’s Gaea trilogy. I’d watch the hell out of that.

      • Nephilium

        Oath of Fealty is a good story, but would be impossible to get filmed in any even remotely accurate form.

      • robc

        Lucifer’s Hammer as a Netflix series. Kind of walking dead, only competent.

      • Nephilium

        Footfall would be an interesting series as well.

        Gil the Arm stories could work as well to build a world.

    • Fatty Bolger

      Kind of sad, now that we actually have the technology to bring them to life on the screen.

      Hopefully Dune continues to do well, and inspires more. Foundation seems to be successful on Apple TV as well.

  14. Suthenboy

    Wokism is pure hatred for one culture, or just civilized in general. Nothing they say about its goals is true.

    “…we all know that one of the reasons why is that many of his works are anti-authoritarian, specifically anti-government, and the studios don’t want to seem to be supporting that, particularly now.”
    What I find surprising is that they have not skin suited Heinlein’s work.
    I told about my purchasing a copy of ‘Froggie went a-courtin’ didn’t I?

    Classic version:
    Froggie went a-courtin’ he did ride (the illustration shows him mounted on a beautiful Appaloosa, Froggie shod in shiny black boots)
    uh huh, uh huh, uh huh
    Froggie went a-courtin’ he did ride
    Sword and pistol by his side
    uh huh, uh huh, uh huh

    Wokety version:
    Froggie went a-courtin’ he did ride (the illustration shows him atop an old fashioned nancy bicycle wearing wingtips)
    uh huh, uh huh, uh huh
    Froggie went a-courtin’ he did ride
    chocolate and flowers by his side

    uh huh, uh huh, uh huh

    What kind of Pussified bullshit is that? I returned it, they refused to take it back or send the copy I wanted. I am guessing the girl who filled my order has a nose ring and purple hair….that or it’s Pajama Boy.

    I cant make phone calls on my phone.

    Science writing largely collapsed 20. years ago. The top-notch periodicals jumped on the global warming train and slid into full blown wokism.
    Politics and Science…oil and water. They cannot abide each other.

    • Nephilium

      If your cell phone is the one you’re having issues with, if it’s Android, check for updates and/or reboot it. If it’s Apple, sorry, I don’t know much about their devices.

      • UnCivilServant

        If it’s Apple, you’re supposed to chuck it out and buy a new one when the battery runs down.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      If he’s not wearing an immaculate Confederate uniform in the book I don’t want it.

  15. Brochettaward

    I’ve been called an asshole four times today. I’m getting a little sick of all these assholes.

    • The Other Kevin

      I think there’s a proctologist joke in there somewhere.

    • Nephilium
      • R.J.

        This is the clip I was expecting.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      It’s ok. You’re still the First Asshole.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I figured you’d identify more as a prick.

  16. Fatty Bolger

    Holy Shit!

    Texas woman mistaken as a home intruder by two female cops said she saw holes appear in the wall before she realized what was happening. The two female cops mag dumped the instant they saw her, and then some.

    More bodycam video on Youtube. Makes it look even worse, after lighting up the house and shooting the legal occupant, they ran away.

    • Brochettaward

      I didn’t get a good look at the one with dark hair, but the blond looks like a would.

      What were we talking about again?

      • Brochettaward

        But who the fuck has to break their window three times because they can’t remember their key? Fucking morons all the way down.

      • R.J.

        Agreed.

    • Tres Cool

      The dude behind her at the presser- WTF is wrong with his head ?

  17. The Late P Brooks

    So by throwing away the code that handled fractions of a degree C, I halved the size of the program in a single stroke. A fraction of a celcius degree isn’t going to make a difference for the functionality needed.

    You’ll never hit the big time with that attitude.

    • UnCivilServant

      These chips are small time in terms of internal storage. If I don’t need the fractional degrees, why bother wasting the resources to calculate them?

      • cyto

        That sort of coding is rare these days. Capacity of every sort is so cheap that only minimal optimizations are needed in most applications. The kids these days….

      • UnCivilServant

        The MSP430F2003 is a 16MHz Microcontroller with 1kb of Flash storage and 128 Bytes of RAM. It’s what I built the clock around I want to try to keep the thermometer code compact enough to use another – but the display code might be too big since the headers are out of my control.

      • UnCivilServant

        It also cost somewhere under $2.

  18. pan fried wylie

    measuring approximately 2¼ inches wide

    Wingspan or phallic girth? Asking for a friend…

  19. pan fried wylie

    over-correcting against the risk of being racist

    Is it a correction at all when the result is what you were trying to avoid?

    • Suthenboy

      Trying to avoid? Ha!
      The AI will always reflect the biases’ of the programmers and produce the desired result of said programmer.
      What you are looking at is inside the brain of the programmer.

  20. Ownbestenemy

    See a delay in a landing vector for the moon mission….nail biting!

    • Ownbestenemy

      What I can see is….with all the fanfare of computing and advancements in technology, it still cannot match the go/no go attitude of a human that makes the risk.

  21. The Late P Brooks

    What’s happening with the satellite falling out of the sky? Is it going to land on anybody important?

  22. The Late P Brooks

    New audio system up and running. I replaced my ~15 year old T-amp with a mini class 5 amp. This one has separate treble and bass controls. I have a set of small antique bookshelf speakers from the ’70s, I think. For their age, and what they were, they weren’t completely terrible. I stuck a replacement set of three way 4″ car speakers in the boxes. Cleaner, less distortion. The real test will come later. I run the teevee sound through the amp and speakers, and voices tend to get buried by the background noise. Some of that is me, but we’ll see if this helps. I think it will. Last night I had the new mp running the old speakers and it seemed better.

    Total cost, via Amazon: less than $70.

  23. Ownbestenemy

    Looking like first private moon landing happened…the state of it unknown.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Always the bride, never the bridesmaid

  24. Lackadaisical

    Sounds like they successfully landed your rover. Way too many white guys in that control room, how could they possibly accomplish this without the strength of diversity?

    • UnCivilServant

      By deploying the ultimate trump card – competence.

  25. kinnath

    https://nypost.com/2024/02/22/business/cbs-seizes-confidential-files-of-fired-reporter-pursuing-hunter-biden-laptop-story-in-unprecedented/

    “It’s so extraordinary,” a source familiar with the situation told The Post, noting that the files — which are presumptively now the property of CBS News — most likely contain confidential material from Herridge’s stints at both Fox and CBS.

    The source said the network boxed up all her personal belongings except for Herridge’s notes and files and informed her that it would decide what — if anything — would be returned to her.

    “They never seize documents [when you’re let go],” a second source close to the network said. “They want to see what damaging documents she has.”

    A CBS spokesperson pushed back on claims that the network plans to keep any sensitive information belonging to Herridge.

    “We have respected her request to not go through the files, and out of our concern for confidential sources, the office she occupied has remained secure since her departure,” the rep told The Post.

    “We are prepared to pack up the rest of her files immediately on her behalf – with her representative present as she requested.”

    • cyto

      Yeah…. didn’t go through any of that stuff. Riiiiiight….

    • R.J.

      Nice forklift.

      • Suthenboy

        The one with all the scrapes, scratches and paint transfer?

    • UnCivilServant

      What’s in those tanks in the green cage?

    • Suthenboy

      There is a face we dont see often enough around here.

      Who made the fire? They deserve an award.

      • cyto

        We didn’t start the fire. It was always burning, since the world was turning.

    • Ted S.

      So your workplace is a dumpster fire?

      /ducking

      • pan fried wylie

        “dumpster fire” could be interpreted as “a fire used in the manufacture of dumpsters”, maybe.

      • Beau Knott

        Or desperate use of trebuchets…

  26. Shpip

    Re: the cover pic

    Rumor has it that this is what I would look like were I to be reincarnated as a bird

    I just want to say that this is a complete phallusy.

  27. cyto

    Starship Troopers:

    A friend and I went to the theater to see it when it came out. We were the only two in the rather full theater who understood that it was a satire and a sendup of 50s sci fi monster movies.

    “Put your hand on that wall!!!”

    We roared with laughter as people stared in horror.

    After the classroom dissection scene, I have no idea how people missed the dark comedy angle, but then you had the amputee “the infantry made me the man I am today!”.

    Come on! It was so over-the-top…

    Such a great movie. He intentionally cast overly pretty actors of mediocre talent to give it that earnest schlocky vibe.

    “Medic!!” Same joke he used in Robocop.

    Having read the novel, it was nothing I expected…. but we had a great time.

    “Do you want to know more?” Kind of prescient too.

  28. cyto

    Also in space news… spacex has reportedly asked the FAA for waivers to launch 9 starships this year. That would be astonishing.

    (Their agreement with the state/county only contemplates at most 5, plus, that would make their brand new, experimental superheavy launch vehicle one of the most launched rockets of the year)

    • R.J.

      Nice. Is it actual paying flights or just more test flights?

      • cyto

        Probably tests and starlink. All they are reporting is they are asking for 9.

  29. Evan from Evansville

    Last night I applied after I found a ‘Part-Time Writer/Editor’ gig open for a publication in Carmel. This morning I got a call and talked to the VP. I’m going to have a “tryout” sometime -ish soon. I sent my references to him after our call. We’ll see. I KNOW I can’t do that full time. But it says “20-25 hours per week.” Which I have much trouble fathoming.

    However. Hrm. MY goal was just to talk to the guy. I want to do the General Assignment some and more on the editing. It’s supposed to be a more newsroom-type collaboration, which is what I lacked in my last gig. This is promising. A work-I actually-wanna-do escape from this elementary school.

    Evan is optimistic and naturally ‘waiting in the on-deck circle’ nervous. We shall see.

    • R.J.

      Good.
      But what are you doing in California?

      • Evan from Evansville

        Running the Lex Luthor plan to seismically separate into the ocean.

        Carmel-by-the-sea my ass.

      • pan fried wylie

        Fall down the wrong set of stairs and, wham, California.

        Camine con Cuidado.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Hey HEY! *looks at shoes*

        That’s how I broke my left femur. Thought a stateside fall… When ~80% ok, I fell down the same stairs. No further structural harm. But FUCK that was unpleasant. I am glad I heal so quickly.

  30. Mojeaux

    Client from 7 years ago calls me to ask a question.

    Me: Let me Google that for you…