Harvard man killed by ChatGPT?

by philg

“Ted Kaczynski, ‘Unabomber’ Who Attacked Modern Life, Dies at 81” (New York Times):

After his arrest, Mr. Kaczynski’s extraordinary biography emerged. He had scored 167 on an I.Q. test as a boy and entered Harvard at 16. In graduate school, at the University of Michigan, he worked in a field of mathematics so esoteric that a member of his dissertation committee estimated that only 10 or 12 people in the country understood it. By 25, he was an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Mr. Kaczynski’s manifesto — published jointly by The New York Times and The Washington Post in 1995 under the threat of continued violence — argued that damage to the environment and the alienating effects of technology were so heinous that the social and industrial underpinnings of modern life should be destroyed.

Is it fair to say that this Harvard graduate predicted the destructive effects of social media? The NYT and Joe Biden certainly agree with Ted K regarding “damage to the environment”. Do we think it is a coincidence that he dies just a few months after ChatGPT went live?

Separately, this part of the NYT article makes me sad:

The home had two windows set on high; they caught light but kept the home hidden. Agents could not see inside. On April 3, 1996, one of them shouted that a forest ranger needed help. A thin, shaggy man emerged from the cabin. He was grabbed from both sides.

I do not think that our government should take advantage of Americans’ instincts to help each other in order to make arrests.

From the full manifesto:

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Long term effects of taking away $5-10,000 from every upper middle class family with a female child?

by philg

We are informed that the Future is Female. In “The Future is Female”: Women’s March in Boston 2018, for example, the future governor of Maskachusetts is described as having worn a shirt reading “The Future is Female”. Such T-shirts may be found at retailers in MA: All genders are welcome, but the future belongs to only one?

What if a group of evil people identifying with one of the 73 non-female genders decided to oppress those identifying as “female” by taking away $5,000 to $10,000 from every reasonably successful family with a daughter? Would Americans resist this attempt to take away important capital that could otherwise be used to give a young woman an education, startup capital, travel experiences, etc.?

Here’s what StubHub was offering, on May 20, for seats at the Taylor Swift tonight in Detroit, Michigan:

You can buy a house in Detroit for the cost of two tickets (StubHub fees are on top of these quoted rates?) and associated concert expenses.

What will be the long-term effects of this brilliant mining out of families with female children? Wikipedia says that Taylor Swift is childless and “an advocate for … women’s empowerment”. But how are women empowered if, as girls, their college fund is looted of $10,000+ so that they can hear some songs that are regularly played for free on the radio?

(A white male California Democrat posted “The Numbers Are In on How Biden-Era Funding Is Skewing Scientific Research Ever-Wokeward” to Facebook (a professor, he likes everything about the Democrats except that white male professors have the lowest priority for getting research money!). An Italian immigrant scientist contributed to the discussion, which led to a Democrat responding with “for someone coming from a country that has only achieved any level of relevance in recent times by succumbing to fascism, I guess there is some cold comfort and making fun of liberal ideals that psychologically incapable of internalizing.” My response to this attack on Italy:

If you value the ability to listen to Taylor Swift in your Prius, shouldn’t you at least celebrate Italian radio pioneer Guglielma Maria Marconi? She did her work decades before Mussolini came to power. Unlike 2SLGBTQQIA+ community member Nikola Tesla, who attempted long-distance transmission by dumping power into the ground (literally), Ms. Marconi followed Katherine Clerk Maxwell’s equations and Henrietta Hertz.

It is fair to say that Taylor Swift is my touchstone!)

Loosely related, “The Future is Female” art exhibit in Bentonville, Arkansas, January 2019, complete with $38 T-shirts:

Related:

  • the future of the Biden family, Navy Joan, lives in Arkansas and yields $480,000/year tax-free for her plaintiff mom (New York Post) after an initial payment of $2.5 million (i.e., more than $10 million in spending power over 18 years) and is one of a handful of Americans who can afford both a Taylor Swift concert ticket and a college education (though her mom, Lunden Roberts, has demonstrated that there are better ways for an American to earn money than by going to college and working W-2)

Update at 7:24 pm Eastern:

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Filth in New York City

by philg

Canadian wildfire smoke has reached Manhattan, thus resulting in media hysteria regarding what you might think was a dog-bites-man story (filth in New York City).

As measured by METARs at LaGuardia, this was the worst official report:

KLGA 071908Z 31018G22KT 1SM R04/P6000FT HZ FU BKN028 OVC035 19/04

Translation: 7th of month; 3:08 pm; wind from NW at 18 knots gusting 22; 1 mile of visibility (6000’ looking down runway 4); haze and smoke; broken layer of clouds 2,800’ above the airport, overcast 3,500’ above; temperature 19C; dewpoint 4C.

For reference, unless there is fog or exceptionally heavy rain, visibility is usually at least 3 miles.

Note that instrument flying conditions (less than 3 miles of visibility) are often caused by smoke in Alaska and northwest Canada.

From an FAA weather handbook:

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Why is Florida chartering planes rather than buses to help migrants reach the promised land of California?

by philg

“Florida arranged migrant flights to California, where officials are considering legal action” (CBS):

Florida officials confirmed Tuesday that the state arranged the chartered flights that took migrants to Sacramento on Monday and last Friday, generating outrage from California authorities.

The statement from the Florida Division of Emergency Management came a day after California’s attorney general said he was considering legal action over the flights, which he said could amount to “state-sanctioned kidnapping.”

The Florida Division of Emergency Management said in the statement that the state’s relocation program was voluntary, noting that there was verbal and written consent indicating the migrants wanted to go to California.

With thousands of migrants streaming over the border daily and California offering sanctuary, including a full array of welfare benefits, wouldn’t it be more sensible for Florida to charter buses rather than airplanes?

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Science v2021 and Science v2023 on masks and speech development

by philg

Science v2021:

Babies and young children study faces, so you may worry that having masked caregivers would harm children’s language development. There are no studies to support this concern. Young children will use other clues like gestures and tone of voice.

Science v2023… “If Your Toddler Isn’t Talking Yet, the Pandemic Might Be to Blame” (Wall Street Journal):

In an analysis of nearly 2.5 million children younger than 5 years old, researchers at health-analytics company Truveta found that for each year of age, first-time speech delay diagnoses increased by an average of 1.6 times between 2018-19 and 2021-22. The highest increase was among 1-year-olds, the researchers said.

Note the headline: it is the faceless “pandemic” that is to blame for these developmental delays. It is not the Covidcrats who ordered 2-year-olds to wear saliva-soaked face rags all day every day.

In case the above tweet is memory-holed:

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Who’s ready to fly to Saudi Arabia to watch golf?

by philg

Who here is passionate about golf as a spectator sport? “The Saudi Kingdom has gained control of the sport a year after starting LIV Golf” (Daily Mail). Are you ready to travel to the kingdom of sand to watch the sport of grass? As of 2021, there were 5 public golf courses in Saudi Arabia with plans to have 13 by 2030 (golf.com). If the Saudis move championship tournaments to their home country, who is ready to travel there to watch?

Their current fanciest course looks like a miracle of irrigation:

It’s on the Red Sea so golfers and spectators can live the Idi Amin retirement lifestyle. (Looks like the Biden administration is following Idi Amin’s advice to President Nixon (via a letter) with regard to the January 6 insurrectionists: “When the stability of a nation is in danger, the only solution is, unfortunately, to imprison the leaders of the opposition.”)

Related:

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Should we rush to sign up for Disney’s Galactic Starcruiser immersive hotel?

by philg

Who’s ready to sign up for Disney’s Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser experience/hotel? Compared to the price of Taylor Swift tickets, $6,000 for a family of four for two nights is a bargain. Fox Orlando explains:

Touted as a “first-of-its-kind immersive experience” Disney opened the resort with much fanfare in the spring of 2022 during “The World’s Most Magical Celebration” honoring the 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney World. Guests were invited aboard the Halcyon starcruiser, “a vessel known for its impeccable service and exotic destinations.” The resort hotel also had direct access to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Throughout the voyage, “guests’ choices determined their personal stories as they interacted with characters, crew, and other passengers.”

The immersive experience at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser came with a hefty price, critics said. At its opening, the cost for two guests per cabin came to $1,200 per guest, per night. A cabin for four guests (3 adults and 1 child) was priced at $749 per guest, per night. Guests were also required to book a two-night minimum stay.

(“3 adults and 1 child”? Is Fox joining the Wall Street Journal and New York Times in promoting throupledom?)

Our kids aren’t quite ready for this because they haven’t seen all of the Star Wars movies yet, but I had thought that we would take them eventually. Now we have only until the end of September to stuff them full of Star Wars knowledge, e.g., about the relationship between Jar Jar Binks and General Grievous, and get them to this immersive hotel.

Separately, though I hate to brag (nobody hates to brag more than I do), I need to share that I was just 50′ from Taylor Swift when she was on stage. Even better, I did not have to pay $5,000 for my seat and close-up view of Ms. Swift. It all happened at Oberlin College where Taylor Swift was receiving an earned bachelor’s degree. A 2015 Daily Mail story explains:

Taylor Swift, 21, is the second cousin of the famous singer

They’ve never met, but the famous Taylor’s parents brought her backstage at the 1989 tour – which she bought tickets to herself

She currently attends Oberlin College where she’s taking classes in politics and Hispanic studies, and she spends her spare times giving swim lessons to kids.

College student Taylor doesn’t sing, she doesn’t like country, and she didn’t even listen to her famous cousin’s music until recently.

I hope that by now the singer Taylor Swift has at least sent some free tickets to her same-name cousin!

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Pride Month has arrived once again in our Florida neighborhood

by philg

It’s Pride Month once again in our MacArthur Foundation-built New Urbanism development.

The above young people have graduated from the regular high school, the nerd (“STEM”) high school, and the talented (“arts”) high school (funded by a former MIT Board member, Alex Dreyfoos). All of these are public schools, run by Palm Beach County.

The bad news for Emily, headed for University of Florida, is the school is ranked only #29 in the nation by U.S. News. The good news for her parents is that they likely won’t be paying tuition due to the Bright Futures program in which lottery addicts fund higher education (a savings of $6,400/year, the headline in-state tuition rate).

Readers: How’s your Pride Month going? What are you proud of?

(Also, I’m in the mountains this week. What’s happening with Target’s attempt to proselytize customers into the One True Corporate Faith? (Note that I’ve been boycotting the Jupiter, Florida Target for almost two years.))

Related:

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What are you doing for World Environment Day?

by philg

Today is World Environment Day (which means we can ignore the environment for 364 days per year, cranking up the A/C in our pavement-melting SUVs?). What are you doing to mark this milestone?

Here’s Facebook back in May enforcing orthodoxy by augmenting one of my posts:

Every day is World Environment Day for the artificially intelligent robots at Facebook!

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California: (a) Florida is not free, and (b) migrants are harmed by relocating to California

by philg

According to Governor French Laundry, Florida is one of the worst places on Planet Earth. Some examples… books are banned, speech is restricted, nobody can vote against Republicans, and “women” are criminalized:

abortion care for pregnant people is restricted:

2SLGBTQQIA+ people cannot get medical care in Florida:
What about a vulnerable person who wishes to live for four generations at taxpayer expense? According to this CATO report (in pre-Biden dollars, but the percentage figures in Table 4 should still be reasonably accurate), in the paradise of California he/she/ze/they will enjoy 96 percent of the spending power of someone who works full-time at the median wage. What about in the stingy hell of Florida? Only 41 percent (i.e., it might actually be rational to work).

Combining all of the above, it is tough to understand how anyone would choose oppression and/or poverty in Florida rather than freedom and material splendor in California.

Yet… “California investigating whether migrant flight came from Florida” (NBC):

State Attorney General Rob Bonta said that the migrants who were dropped off in Sacramento without any prior arrangements “were in possession of documentation purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida.”

“While this is still under investigation, we can confirm these individuals were in possession of documentation purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida,” he added. “While we continue to collect evidence, I want to say this very clearly: State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting.”

The Florida Legislature passed a bill in February that expanded DeSantis’ program enabling government officials to fly migrants to destinations in blue states that have sanctuary policies in place. The Republican-controlled Legislature gave the DeSantis administration $10 million for the program during a February special legislative session, and $12 million more during the recently concluded 2023 legislative session.

“Immoral and disgusting” to help a migrant enjoy the California lifestyle in which abortion care is available as part of standard reproductive care for any pregnant person? Immoral and disgusting to help a migrant who chooses not to work collect more than 2X the welfare benefits (housing, health care, food, smartphone, etc.) as a percent of median income? What is there about Florida that these noble defenders of migrants in Sacramento consider to be good? If everything about Florida is bad, how is it “kidnapping” to give someone a relocation ride on a private aircraft to California, where everything is good?

From the CATO analysis:

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