The Silicon Valley religion is that robot software can figure out what you want based on what you’ve done in the past. The result is that Twitter shows you tweets that are a lot like tweets with which you’ve previously interacted. But what if you’re in the mood for something different? Suppose that you’ve spent a lot of time on Twitter condemning hate, ridiculing Deplorables for their refusal to wear masks and accept experimental vaccines, exhorting young people to get out and vote for Democrats, and demanding additional investigations of the January 6 insurrection. If you open up the Twitter app as you’re settling down for the night, the application will show you political tweets. But what if you don’t want to see the same stuff at 9 pm that got you riled up at 9 am?
Suppose that Twitter had a “laugh” emoji option for a reaction to a tweet. Then it would be possible for a user to click “entertain me” and see the recent tweets that other users thought were funny. Based on text analysis, the system could respond to a “teach me” click with tweets that were educational in nature and/or linked to thoughtful tutorials. With a bit of merging of ChatGPT into Twitter search, perhaps this could be done as freeform text rather than a set of predefined moods, but I think the moods/interests button would be better (less effort) for most users.
Note that this could be done without cooperation from Elon Musk & Co. as a skin on top of Twitter by a search engine that had ingested at least a significant subset of tweets.
How does it work now? Spectacularly badly. If I type “funny” into the search box, the results are mostly people fighting. “funny tweets twitter.com” works on Google to find Twitter accounts that offer hand-picked items.
Here’s a site that tries to do the third-party skin… funnytweeter.com. Some of the tweets were a lot funnier than people hitting each other, but they can’t take advantage of anything known about an individual user, e.g., that he/she/ze/they likes knitting or aviation or whatever. Examples:
Readers: What do you think about this idea? Twitter should track your moods and figure out your mood by asking you… What are you in the mood to see?
To commemorate the heroic efforts of our government’s millions of armed police and soldiers in putting down the very-nearly-successful January 6, 2021 insurrection, let me relate my own recent trip to Washington, D.C.
Our journey began at the Robinson factory in Torrance, California (KTOA). Here are some photos that I took there in 2013 (they don’t allow pictures anymore).
This is a wiring harness that will connect up all of the electrical items in a helicopter.Machining some parts from a block of aluminumtail cones
Getting out of Los Angeles we studied the FAA helicopter chart… (note that the official routes require some understanding of local highways)
And the Robinson-specified route:
One thing that Robinson does not give to pilots fleeing the City of Lockdown is a list of frequencies and elevations for all of the airport traversed, so I prepped a couple of days before by writing all of these down on a pad (we were a bit too low to get advisories from SoCal Approach and therefore went from tower to tower). I handled the radio while my co-pilot (a former student at MIT 15 years ago and, having started a successful business, now proud owner of a $700,000 new helicopter) flew the machine. We made it out of LA without losing our certificates.
We passed the Morongo Casino and the Banning Pass into Palm Springs and a stop at KUDD:
After a stop at the Phoenix-Goodyear Airport, we made it to Tucson, Arizona just after dark:
My co-pilot was skeptical as I waxed expansively regarding the marvels of the Sonoran hot dog at El Guero Canelo (James Beard award winner and also a song from Calexico). If you’re looking for shelter from Bidenflation, the $3.99 dish is ideal:
(Note that each hot dog costs taxpayers closer to $10,000 when military pilots stop in. Tucson/El Guero Canelo is, according to the FBO, a popular stopover on training excursions.)
The War on Christmas cannot touch the fortified positions of El Guero Canelo:
We cranked before sunrise at KTUS and headed into the mountains of New Mexico:
In El Paso we saw the cruel conditions suffered by asylum-seekers and reflected on Governor Abbott’s noble provision of bus transportation for those migrants who want to escape to sanctuary cities where progressives will cater to all of their needs.
A 17-knot headwind, which was to be our near-constant companion, plagued us as we departed El Paso. In Pecos, Texas, we found the best dim sum west of the Pecos:
The help wanted sign was typical. Seemingly every retailer and restaurant was hiring in every town that we visited. A Texas FBO manager who had paid $13/hour in 2019 for entry-level jobs now has to pay $20/hour. “I still can’t find anyone who wants to work,” he said. (We also learned that the wholesale price for 100LL at the time was about $4.70/gallon.)
We continued to follow Interstate 20 over Midland, Texas and into Sweetwater.
It was freezing overnight and we hadn’t been able to find a heated hangar so we visited the National WASP WWII Museum to give the engine a chance to warm up before starting. We stopped for an awesome dim sum lunch at Bushi Bushi in Addison, Texas, also home to the most luxurious FBO that we visited during the trip: Galaxy.
We flew in the dark to Atlantic in Jackson, Mississippi and shut down for the night. We shared a heated hangar with an Ercoupe. Corporate says it is all about diversity and inclusion, but the employees had selected Fox News and were enforcing gender binarism:
Speaking of Fox, here’s a throwback to November 20 from the trip. Twitter was “in chaos” and presumably the site was at risk of shutting down due to all of the valuable employees departing:
The most emotional moment of trip for me was circling the Talladega Superspeedway, which happens to be right next to the airport. Ricky Bobby‘s NetJets was waiting:
All over the Southeast, the landscape was scarred by the Federal Reserve Bank’s 0% interest rates. I wonder how many of these developments won’t be finished any time soon. (A few weeks later, I was in Death Valley, California and talked to a Mountain States builder. He’d stopped doing any projects at all. “It costs $400 to $500 per square foot to build and I’m not sure that people will pay enough for me to recoup my costs.”)
Best airport restaurant of the trip (Elevation at KRYY near Atlanta):
A fly-by of Dulles Airport on the way to landing at KGAI.
There was minimal traffic in Montgomery County, Maryland as I traveled to my mom’s retirement complex on the Beltway. “The economy hasn’t come back,” said the Uber driver. “People in D.C. are still working from home or not working.” Did that mean his income had fallen? “No. There are fewer customers, but nobody wants to work either so the balance isn’t that different. Also, a lot of my customers are guys who lost jobs in 2020 and can’t afford child support payments that were ordered when they were working. They can’t renew their driver’s licenses because they’re behind on child support, so they take Uber to get to work.” (see this article on the scale of child support profits obtainable in Maryland)
The labor shortage made it tough to get a post-trip haircut. The barber shops were jammed with people who’d made appointments in advance. On the other hand, maybe Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is working. One-way tickets from DCA to PBI were less than $200 just two days before Thanksgiving.
We were lucky with the weather, except for the headwinds most of the way and then some moderate turbulence from 30-knot winds around the Appalachian mountains toward the end of the trip that required us to slow down to 80 knots (best cruise in the R44 II is about 110 knots). Even though some of the infrastructure is frayed because so many Americans have withdrawn from the labor force, the U.S. private aviation infrastructure remains a marvel to behold. The bigger airports usually have FBOs that are staffed 24/7. There is usually a crew car when you need it. Air Traffic Control is always relaxed and helpful. Most of the fees to keep this going are rolled into the price of fuel (or, even better, paid for by the Gulfstream crowd) so you’re not hit with annoying small bites constantly as in Canada and Europe.
A friend is planning a trip to the Bahamas in his new Cirrus SR22 (more than 1 million Bidies for a piston-powered airplane!). When out of gliding distance from land, it is prudent to carry both life jackets and a life raft in an aircraft. Pre-coronapanic, rafts of all kinds were in stock at retailers and would ship within a day or two of being ordered. What does it look like after Americans took months or years off work? “I can’t find any of the brands that people like without a multi-month wait,” he said. “Winslow dealers are telling me 8 months to 2 years.”
It is unclear to me why Winslow is so backlogged given that the company is located in Florida and they were never ordered by a governor to shut down. But perhaps they are having trouble getting the components and/or being part of Collins Aerospace (a big bureaucratic presumably corona-averse company) has contributed to the shortage.
What do these look like? Here’s one from Switlik, which I like because it can go 5 years between recertifications (cumbersome and expensive):
Also, Switlik is a supplier to the U.S. Coast Guard, which presumably knows water at least as well as Dr. Fauci knows SARS-CoV-2. When is the Switlik available? They can’t even say on their web site! “Due to demand and limited inventory, this product is experiencing longer than normal lead times. Please call for quote – 609-587-3300.”
A raft isn’t required for a private single-engine airplane headed over water so it is quite possible that the disruption in the economy caused by COVID lockdowns will lead to additional risks being taken. And for every aviator who is at risk there are presumably 100 boaters who are having trouble getting the life rafts that they want. This is a consequence that I don’t think the technocrats recommending lockdowns in the spring of 2020 would have factored into their decision.
The media is full of reports about House Republicans being unable to agree on a Speaker. New Yorkers say that they are smarter and more sophisticated than everyone else in the U.S. Thus, the obvious choice is the Representative whom these hyperintelligent voters selected: George Santos. Would Mr. Santos be the first immigrant to serve as Speaker? That would be very exciting indeed!
Separately, I am also waiting for Sam Bankman-Fried to be nominated by Joe Biden as U.S. Treasury Secretary and confirmed by Senate Democrats.
Related:
New Yorkers say that voters in Arkansas are stupid. Tom Cotton is their choice (two Harvard degrees and a former U.S. Army Ranger)
New Yorkers say that voters in Florida are stupid. Ron DeSantis is their choice (Yale and Harvard degrees; former U.S. Navy officer)
a tweet from the Democrats’ thought leader:
If only! If Dems took a shot every time McCarthy lost a Republican, we’d all be unconscious by now🍹 https://t.co/Vb1i29o4rv
As part of my expert witness slavery to the world of patent litigation, I recently reviewed the transcript from a five-day trial.
Part of the first day’s transcript covers jurors attempting to be excused from what was promised to be a single week of jury duty.
Teacher saying that she wanted to present for the first day of school. Success!
Medical office manager who is responsible for transporting children to school. Failure.
Woman with “extreme anxiety”. Success! Not only that, but her plea to be excuse was expedited above most of the others. The judge’s only question for her: “you are in a lot of discomfort about being here?”
Bartender who needs to work and get tips to survive financially. Failure.
Person who lives one hour away and will have to stay in a hotel to make serving on the jury practical. Failure. (Some of your tax dollars will be used to pay for that hotel, however.)
Mom who says that she has to drop off and pick up an 8-year-old at school while the father works from home in an inflexible call center environment. Success!
Person who had planned a vacation and had already bought a plane ticket for the trip. Success! (offer to show the judge an email proving the plane ticket purchase was refused)
The surviving jurors received an explanation of what the case was about and, before the attorneys on both sides could give opening arguments, watched the following video:
The action had started at 9 am and the above items filled the time until the lunch break just after noon.
It feels as though some of this stuff could have been done via Zoom or email on the preceding business day. Jurors who were destined to be excused could have avoided coming in, spreading COVID-19, etc. On the other hand, how would you be sure that jurors were paying attention to a YouTube video if they weren’t in the courtroom?
You’ll get to visit a lot of interesting places, albeit briefly, and a basic room with all food included will cost less than if you ate three restaurant meals per day for the period covered (more like $1,500 per person for a room with a window). We can hang out at meals and talk about how to solve all of the world’s problems (like Davos, but with higher humidity). We’ll see the latest Panama Canal locks (read Path Between the Seas first!). Maybe in Colombia we’ll meet Hunter Biden. Like progressive Californians, we’ll demonstrate our commitment to bodily autonomy and human rights by boycotting Texas and visiting a country where abortion care for pregnant people is almost completely illegal.
(The rooms are usually shown with the two twin-ish beds pushed together to form a queen-ish-sized bed, but if you’re traveling with a friend and refusing to adhere to the 2SLGBTQQIA+ religion the cabin stewards will rearrange the room to separate the beds with a night table.)
Send me a private email if you’re interested in joining and we can coordinate!
Here’s a puzzler from a Twitter exchange in which I was a passive observer. Twitter says that there are offensive replies:
If a person were to click on “Show”, he/she/ze/they would be exposed to a world of Nazis, anti-2SLGBTQQIA+ hate, Faucism-denial, Trump-support, etc., right? Here’s what was hidden:
How were these replies “offensive”?
Here’s the full thread, started by Dr. Karen (profile says pronouns “he/him” and “Vote Blue”):
I’m an ER doc and there is a greater chance of me getting Covid from my kids or on an airplane than at work. That’s how badly mismanaged the public health messaging during this pandemic has been. Reinstate mask mandates at schools and on public transportation, including planes.
Check out the full beard that this physician chooses to wear. How could he possibly achieve any kind of effective seal with a mask, be it cloth, surgical, N95, or N190 (my personal choice: double N95)?
a student group created a bylaw that banned supporters of Zionism from speaking at its events. … the bylaw, which eight other student groups also adopted
That a group of people would adopt an anti-Israel and/or anti-Jewish position is not surprising or delightful to me, but the pictures in this article have me weeping with joy:
The cloth masks, the simple surgical masks, the under-nose masks worn outdoors, … all of the best advice from Dr. Anthony Fauci circa spring 2020 on display in 2022 by people who claim that they are the world’s smartest. The only thing that is missing from these photos is a brother, sister, or binary-resister with a full beard for maximum airflow around the sides of a mask.
Related:
More Israel hatred…. “US rabbis warn of ‘irreparable harm’ from new Israeli government” (The Hill): More than 300 U.S. rabbis have put their signatures to a letter warning that Israel’s new government under incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could do “irreparable harm” with extremist policies. (the linked-to letter complains about “eroding LGBTQ rights and the rights of women” and is signed by a bunch of folks who would likely be ineligible to serve as Orthodox rabbis: Karen, Esther, Nina, Claudia, Karen, Rachel, Diana, et al.)
The Federal Aviation Administration likes to remind flight instructors that it is possible to control what one says, but not what the recipient of a communication hears.
The Palm Beach Public Schools prepared a helpful two-page document comparing the multi-day candle-oriented holidays of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. The local first graders were sentenced to read this document and answer questions about it. Our own first grader was asked by the teacher what the difference was between Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. His answer: “Kwanzaa is for Black people and Hanukkah is for white people.” (When he was at dinner recounting the interaction, I corrected this misinformation faster than a Hunter Biden fan working at Twitter. I cued up a Sammy Davis Jr. song and explained that people of any race could convert to Judaism.)
Shutterfly doesn’t seem to offer a tri-fold holiday card with Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year. So I’ve been adding a Kwanzaa stamp to the holiday cards that I mail to friends in Maskachusetts and California:
Happy Last Day of Kwanzaa to all of my readers who celebrate. And, for readers who aren’t following the Lunar New Year, Happy New Year!… please share your resolutions.
My own resolution? Threatened by SARS-CoV-2, a virus that attacks the obese, I’m going to try to eat more healthful and nutritious meals, as promoted by official scientists at the USDA. For example, pizza topped with extra cheese and supported by a cheese-stuffed crust:
some Wikipedia material not provided to the first grade class… Maulana Karenga: “… best known as the creator of the pan-African and African-American holiday of Kwanzaa. … he was convicted of felony assault, torture, and false imprisonment of women … He currently chairs the Africana Studies Department at California State University, Long Beach”
When I was growing up, Kwanzaa was a special time. Friends and family members would fill our home. We would listen to the elders tell stories and watch them light the candles on the kinara. During dinner, we would discuss the seven principles.
Some photos from a recent trip to Costco where we stocked up for holiday entertaining. A roast feeds a lot of (masked-for-safety) people inexpensively:
Wash it down with some red wine, reduced in price thanks to a glut in Australia:
Costco in Florida offers fun family fireworks for after dinner:
And the local Publix agrees that explosives and incendiaries are safe for the whole family:
