I can't get too enthused about his running. Don't think he'll be my candidate. I get the feeling he's willing to step on some vulnerable people to elevate himself and we've historically seen too much of that in the Democratic party. For example, “We did things that were really ridiculous,” he said of Democrats on an episode of Couric’s podcast that posted last week. “Rather than worry about classroom excellence, we were worried about bathroom and locker room access.” He doesn't acknowledge why people get worried about bathroom and locker room access. It's because the right makes an issue of it. Are the Democrats supposed to say, "Oh! Ok, trans people aren't worthy of dignity." Of course not, because that's not what the Democrats are. These issues arise in the course of campaigns because the Republicans use the underprivileged as pawns. Any Democrat not acknowledging this and speaking and acting accordingly isn't going to get my support.

I don't see it to the extent that "students can't read." But I also rarely teach lower level classes, and the one 200-level class I teach is specialized enough that it usually enrolls students with a specific interest in the subject matter. I think in upper level classes, a lot of weeding out has happened and also when teaching majors, there's a different level of engagement from the students. And most of my grad students received their BAs in Japan, so totally different kind of preparation. So on the one hand, I don't experience this to the degree that other faculty do. On the other hand, I can tell that students increasingly seem less academically prepared than in pre-pandemic, and I do feel that the negative influence of AI is starting to creep in.

Well, for automobiles, the emissions are water vapor. There's been hydrogen cars on the road from Honda and I believe others in test programs limited to specific areas in specific states. But however they produce it and whatever the environmental factors involved in its production (and thank you; this is fascinating) is there not a consensus that the oil industry will never really allow it? The worst thing I've heard said about them is that they explode, as if gas and electric vehicles don't?

I just did a Google's AI search about relations between country x and country y. I thought I was reading Cold War propaganda. It was wild.

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Oh, it just occurred to me that maximum annual contribution and market volatility are not related to each other. Duh. I had to leave the USAA page alone and do something else. It's almost sunset. It's finally cooled off again. I might return to it tonight. I might wait until tomorrow.

@Mark Place "WOW" emoji here.

My grandfather kept one for upkeep on the farm ditches. He called them by an older name, "motor patrol". He would stand and watch it work. He would stop it and tell the driver what he wanted more frequently than was necessary I am sure. The water drainage district did more of that work in later years. No doubt my grandfather told them how to do it.

@AdagioM said: Ewww. But well played. Exactly that. Thanks

The Oracle founder bought CBS, the largest private donor to the IDF in history. I already knew of him because he bought an entire Hawaiian island. He bought one of the neighbor islands. CBS is not news. And the attack on 60 Minutes was predictable.

@RealPlayer said: Bernard — and eventually you’ll have to subscribe to continue receiving updates for $99/year. And it takes great quality video of you and sends it to who know where without any question about a warrant. What's not to like?!

@Steve-Miller said: I wonder how much of that surge pricing goes to the drivers. Google’s AI says Uber calculates the customer fare and the driver’s pay separately — one algorithm to find the maximum for what customers are willing to pa for a ride, another separate algorithm to find the minimum for what drivers are willing to accept to provide a ride. I don’t think anyone is surprised by this. Uber also invests a lot in autonomous driving technology, so all this will become moot anyway when the customers develop enough trust in cars that drive themselves.

@Mary-Anna said: Oh, and the choir rehearses at a church right across the street from my house. I can walk out my front door five minutes before rehearsal and be there with time to spare. That's great!!

In CA there are dozens of hamburger restaurants owned by Greeks. Interesting that they all look nearly alike with nearly identical menus even though they are each individually owned. The menus include classic hamburger fare, Mexican food and always a few Greek items. Best value available for lunch on the road. My friend grew up on an Army base in Greece and speaks the language fluently. If he ordered in Greek we always got free food!