Our AI Overlords at the railroad crossing

by philg

On my way back downtown from the Fort Worth Stockyards, Uber pinged me. The company’s giant AI brain was concerned that I had been stopped for a few minutes. Our GPS position showed that were in the middle of a road… at a railroad crossing.

Speaking of AI, we have a GE Monogram built-in microwave that has been enhanced with WiFi connectivity and an app. If you request 30 seconds of microwaving and remain within Bluetooth range of the oven, your phone will loudly alert you to the cooking process having completed.

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Why do homeless Americans tend to wear surgical masks?

by philg

I’ve spent a few weeks in downtown Fort Worth, Texas recently. It’s a lively city center with visual art, music, outdoor events in Sundance Square, restaurants, etc. The terrain is well-suited to cycling and there is a bike share system with reasonably good coverage for places that a visitor might want to go. The ethnic mix reasonably reflects recent immigration trends. Spanish is commonly spoken and there are usually at least a few Arabic speakers out and about (the women covered in hijabs, at least). I’m not fitting in that well due to (a) lack of cowboy hat, and (b) saying “hello” to folks encountered while out walking (a sign of mental illness in any true city, but standard practice in our corner of Florida (pedestrians and drivers wave to each other in Abacoa, Jupiter as well if any kind of eye contact is made)).

Texas seems to be home, so to speak, to plenty of homeless people. Nothing like the zombie army you’d find in a California city, of course, but a shocking prevalence compared to suburban or small town Florida. I had remarked on this a few years ago to an Uber driver in Austin, Texas. He was from Afghanistan and I asked him what the situation in Kabul was. He explained that nobody was homeless in Afghanistan because relatives would take in and care for anyone who couldn’t take care of himself.

Outdoor maskers are uncommon in Fort Worth. It’s nothing like my recent stay in Sherman Oaks, California, where I needed to walk only 1 block from my hotel to meet an outdoor masker. However, 100 percent of the outdoor maskers that I’ve encountered in Fort Worth seem to be unhoused (formerly known as “homeless”). I don’t remember seeing unhoused people, even in California, wearing surgical masks prior to coronapanic. Why are the unhoused more enthusiastic today about the protective possibilities of a surgical mask than the general population is? (To be sure, only a small minority of the unhoused in Fort Worth wear masks.)

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What do the United Nations “Temporary” Peacekeepers do when Hezbollah sets up a rocket shop next to their base?

by philg

“U.N. peacekeepers take cover as Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel trade attacks” (from state-sponsored NPR, July 2024):

Literally in the middle of this confrontation is the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, created in 1978 after Israel invaded the neighboring country. Despite the name’s indication that it would be temporary, UNIFIL has become one the longest-serving peacekeeping missions in the world.

UNIFIL took NPR on a recent patrol along the blue line — the cease-fire line painstakingly delineated in 2000 after Israel withdrew following an invasion in 1982. Occasional thuds signaled the daily artillery and rocket attacks since Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking Israel to support Hamas in the war in Gaza.

The U.N. soldiers conduct regular patrols along the de facto border, both alone and with the Lebanese army monitoring the now regular violations of the 2006 U.N. cease-fire agreement. That accord, drawn up after a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah, established a demilitarized zone along the blue line. Violations are reported to the U.N. Security Council.

The attacks on Israel are conducted by Hezbollah and its allies, rather than the Lebanese army. But under the U.N. plan — which envisioned Lebanese government forces securing Lebanon’s border rather than Iran-backed Hezbollah — UNIFIL deals only with Lebanese government forces.

The UN peace experts consume an annual budget of $500 million. Wikipedia says that, in exchange for the $billions spent over the past few years, they’re supposed to “restore international peace and security” and “assist the Government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area”. Maybe they’ve accomplished the latter goal indirectly because Hezbollah is the legitimate and popular government of the majority of people in Lebanon? But what about “restore international peace”? What do these peacekeepers do when Hezbollah sets up rocket facilities right next to them? (I think the majority of Hezbollah attacks on Israel are launched from the territory that UNIFIL nominally patrols.)

“The United Nations Completely Failed in Lebanon” (Foreign Policy; October 2023) sheds some light on what the goals of this expensive operation are.

U.N. Resolution 1701, which has been in force since 2006, was supposed to ensure the disarmament of Hezbollah as well as the demilitarization of the region south of the Litani River, which is located about 20 miles from the demarcation zone between Lebanon and Israel known as the Blue Line.

At the end of that 34-day conflict [in 2006], the U.N. updated UNIFIL’s mandate under Resolution 1701 and tasked it with establishing “an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL,” between the Blue Line and the Litani River.

But since 2006, Hezbollah has instead fortified southern Lebanon, particularly towns and villages along the 120-kilometer-long (about 75-mile-long) demarcation line. It has built unauthorized firing ranges, stocked rockets in civilian infrastructure, built tunnels into Israel, and repeatedly stopped UNIFIL from accessing certain areas. The fact that southern Lebanon is mostly populated by Shiites—many of whom support Hezbollah—has created a security and intelligence buffer for Hezbollah.

It’s kind of fascinating that a 46-year track record of failure doesn’t lead to a loss of funding. There is no group of humans on this planet that is more deserving of $500 million/year from the UN?

Related:

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Can Kamala Harris shoot someone who breaks into her house?

by philg

“Harris tells Oprah any intruder to her home is ‘getting shot'” (Reuters):

Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday issued a warning to any potential home intruder: “If somebody breaks in my house, they’re getting shot.”
The Democratic presidential candidate and gun owner made the seemingly unguarded comment in an interview with Oprah Winfrey before a live studio audience when the conversation turned to gun laws.
“I probably should not have said that. But my staff will deal with that later,” Harris said, laughing.

(The intruder doesn’t have to be a “threat to democracy” for gun violence to be justified? Also, if she owns a gun and is planning to use it in a crowded domestic situation, what kind of recurrent training does she receive? I’ve never heard of our future president going to the range. Dirty Harry used his gun regularly to shoot perpetrators, but he also was shown going to the range in at least one documentary film.)

I decided to post this question to a vast panel of gun owners… i.e., a friend who owns a vast panel of guns, (Maskachusetts is officially gun-free, at least when it comes to peasants owning serious firepower, but it turns out that there are exceptions…).

[Massachusetts] has a duty to retreat in general but in a house you have some more leeway I think. In any case I don’t talk like that. I would never presume to shoot someone in my house. 90% chance I can just hold them for the police.

For those who say that it is unrealistic that an intruder might get through Kamala Harris’s Secret Service protection, let me remind readers that a criminal mastermind managed to get a rifle, ladder, rangefinder, ammo, etc. past the Secret Service in Pennsylvania recently.

Also in our chat group, the one Android user marveled at the devotion of the faithful:

Three of the guys i message with are at Apple stores now getting the 16. Apple users are hilarious.

He linked to “Apple Fans Flock to Stores for iPhone Despite Delayed AI Rollout” (Bloomberg via Yahoo):

Apple Inc. fans lined up at stores around the world for the new iPhone 16, shrugging off the fact that the device’s signature feature — a new suite of AI tools — won’t arrive until later.

My response:

they’re as loyal as Hezbollah and Hamas members

From the Deplorables:

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Will Kamala Harris and fellow Democrats have to make Puerto Rico a state before implementing their new taxes?

by philg

Kamala Harris has big dreams for what rich people can do for the U.S. Treasury via new taxes and higher tax rates (see The Harris unrealized capital gains tax and Bidenflation and Unrealized capital gains are already taxed by the federal government… for example).

The typical American of means, however, can already escape federal taxation by moving to Puerto Rico. “How Puerto Rico Became the Newest Tax Haven for the Super Rich” (GQ):

In 2012, Puerto Rico had passed two laws intended to make the island a “global investment destination.” Act 20 allows corporations that export services from the island to pay only 4 percent tax. Act 22 goes much further: It makes Puerto Rico the only place on U.S. soil where personal income from capital gains, interest, and dividends are untaxed.

The last big tweak to U.S. taxation was in 2018. Plainly, the rates were low enough that most rich Americans refrained from making the move to the Ritz-Carlton Dorado. But what if Kamala Harris and fellow Democrats are able to deliver on their promise to soak the rich? Wouldn’t there be a lot more rich people who would make the move for 183 days per year in order to avoid losing a big percentage of their wealth? If so, the only way to stop the erosion of expected tax base would be to eliminate Puerto Rico’s ability to offer Act 22 treatment and the only way that I know to strip Puerto Rico of its tax sovereignty is to make Puerto Rico a state.

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What do Democrats dream about now that vaccine passports are passé?

by philg

The big Democrat dream in 2021 was a segregated society in which Deplorables who refused to vaccinate their 8-year-olds against a virus that kills 82-year-olds would be excluded. See, for example, Vaccine papers checks in the Cradle of Liberty (December 2021, regarding Boston’s order that 5-year-olds be imprisoned at home if they weren’t injected with a non-FDA proved medicine (“emergency authorized” only)).

What’s the dream now? Excluding people who refuse to vote from public entertainment. Here’s a Facebook post from a San Franciscan who was previously an advocate for lockdowns, more severe lockdowns, vaccine requirements to hold jobs, and masks:

While Taylor Swift’s endorsement should be quite pleasing for its targets, she should also state that there’s no admission to her next tour without an “I Voted” sticker. Get one from an adult voter if you’re too young to vote or not a citizen. Her fan demographic doesn’t have great voter turnout, and even though most won’t be able to get tickets to see her, all will not want to cut off the chance. Sure, some will get fake ones, and some will lose theirs and need a way to resolve that, but most of them will vote or encourage their adult friends to. Other rock stars could do the same. Even Kid Rock if he wants, it would generally be a good thing.

It’s great that jet owner Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris. It is the perfect illustration of the divide between working class and elite Americans’ interests (2016 economic analysis). Low-skill immigration lowers wages for the working class, including all of the people who set up and clean up after her concerts, so she’ll keep a higher percentage of ticket revenue as profit. Low-skill immigrants aren’t going to move into any of the neighborhoods where Taylor Swift lives or get through her security bubble. If population growth via low-skill immigration clogs the highways, Taylor Swift is unlikely to be inconvenienced because she’ll have police escorts, helicopters, and private jets to get her to the next destination. If a low-skill immigrant does eventually rise into the middle class, that’s another customer for a concert ticket. A pop star can make more money in a larger country even as the daily experience of the typical citizen is degraded by overcrowding.

The original Facebook post as an image:

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A standard day in the American health care system…

by philg

Here’s an August 2024 bill for a walk-around heart monitor that was used by a patient in February 2024:

The price to an uninsured person would have been more than 10X the real price of the service ($3985 vs. $331).

I still can’t understand how it is legal for health care providers to lie in wait for the unwary uninsured patients and hope that someone slips through the cracks somehow and becomes liable for more than 10X the regular price for a service.

I’m convinced that more than 90 percent of the medical bill bankruptcies and disputes in the U.S. would be eliminated if the Feds established a “If you want to feed from the Medicare/Medicaid trough, you can’t bill an uninsured patient more than a 15 percent premium over the Medicare price” rule.

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Has Joe Biden prevented Kamala Harris from fixing most of our nation’s problems?

by philg

Here’s Kamala Harris talking about her plans for late January 2025:

What’s stopping her from doing this now? Is Joe Biden such an intelligent muscular leader that he is preventing Kamala Harris from taking on corporate landlords? I had imagined that Democrats were all on the same team and that Biden and Harris were working especially closely, like Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz. In reality, Biden is to Harris as P.K. Highsmith and Christopher Danson are to Terry Hoitz? (for those of you unfamiliar with The Other Guys, see below).

A little more background on the kinds of things that a leader such as Joe Biden can do…

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Tesla CyberTruck as the perfect substrate for an art car?

by philg

I’ve seen a few wrapped Tesla CyberTrucks lately. Apparently folks aren’t in love with the stock look and in the vinyl age don’t need to be. For the first time in the history of cars we have tons of people who are happy to pay $100,000 for a vehicle and then happy to pay some more money to radically alter the appearance. For the most fashion-forward CyberTruck owners, why not offer art car packages? Sadly, the Houston Art Car Museum closed in April 2024, but there are photos of its collection that can be used for inspiration.

Here’s one that looks like it would be simple to do as a wrap:

Here’s something that might require a bit of engineering to make sure that everything stayed attached under Tesla-level acceleration:

This would be magnificent, but probably wouldn’t fit in the garage:

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Could all of our phones be blown up by a cyberattack?

by philg

“How could Israel have triggered Hezbollah pager explosions?” (Daily Mail):

… the cause of the explosions was likely the lithium batteries that power the pagers.

While lithium-ion batteries are commonly used in consumer electronics, they can overheat and catch on fire – even exploding violently in some cases.

This is due to a phenomenon called thermal runaway, a chemical chain reaction which occurs when the battery experiences a rapid temperature change.

As this chemical reaction progresses it can lead to a sudden release of energy which can cause devices to explode with intense force and heat.

Thermal runaway is triggered when the battery is overheated, punctured or overcharged.

Question for today: If we believe the media reports implying that these were standard pagers to begin with (i.e., not supplied to the noble Hezbollah members with added explosives by an enemy pretending to be a legitimate pager supplier), what stops a malicious person from breaking into iOS, Android, or a popular app and perpetrating a similar attack on smartphones? The attack could be targeted as well. For example, a “Save Our Democracy” program, inspired by the statements of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, could wait for a few weeks to try to figure out the “threat to democracy” level of the phone owner. Just before Election Day, then, the phones of anyone who has clicked “like” on a tweet from Donald Trump or the Babylon Bee would explode.

People have been buying cases to save their smartphones from external threats, such as impact. What if the threat is the phone itself and the case should protect us from the phone?

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