WTF-Beta

@Steve-Miller said in Now Charlie Kirk:

“It's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment”

Charles Kirk

OK, at least there is intellectual consistency/integrity in that position.

If only we have chosen a serif font.

Huh ... looks a lot like my floor boards and my carpet; Mr. SK has done a very good job aligning the boards.

Uncle Tom’s laundromat …

"All the reasons world leaders are calling for Trump to win the Nobel Peace Prize"

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/06/trump-nobel-prize-nominations-00544856

Zodiac signs, that is.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/upshot/zodiac-signs.html

Your zodiac sign is likely not what you think it is, because the constellations' positions relative to the earth's orientation have changed over the last two thousand years. Most "Scorpios" have been replaced by a constellation that's not in the traditional twelve signs, Ophiucus.

@Mik said in The Greatest Movie Villain of all Time:

We're considering seeing Wizard of Oz at the Sphere at Christmas this year.

Would that be the Ariana Grande version?
The first or second movie?
(In any case, I like the first one, and plan to see the second one whenever it comes out.)

About that "if done well" question, @Mik if you don't mind opining more ...

1. For "routine approvals," does AI do better (lower error rate, faster, cheaper) compare to rule-based automated systems?

2. Does the AI also spits out explanation/rationale for its decision to approve or reject an authorization request?

@Daniel. said in How much will it cost for the Department of War rebrand?:

The Constitution says to provide for the common defense. It doesn't say to wage war.

Still, President George Washington created the “War Department” after the Constitution was ratified.

It's part of the push towards "6G" (sixth generation communications system). Under the big umbrella of "integrated sensing and communication" (ISAC), researchers and engineers have been working on using wireless communication technologies combined with AI and machine learning to "sense" various things/activities in the radio transmission/reception paths. For now we see more work on using Wi-Fi to do this because Wi-Fi is localized and cheap, with very low barrier of entry for experimentation. The monetizable use cases are also easier to identify (e.g., motion detection at home, infant and senior monitoring at home). But the ambition is to be able to do this ISAC thing also with the big wide area cellphone networks.

WaPo' Editorial Board defends the War Department name change:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/09/05/war-department-defense-trump-rebrand/

The main thrust of their argument seems to be that the new name will induce a much needed national introspection on what we really want our military to do (e.g., focusing on fighting wars instead of nation building overseas or policing at home a la D.C.).

So, Medicare recipients, tell me how much you love this.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/health/medicare-prior-approval-health-care.html?unlocked_article_code=1.j08.OBSD.3D8TzvEfhIru

Medicare Will Require Prior Approval for Certain Procedures

The federal government plans to hire private companies to use artificial intelligence to determine whether patients would be covered for some procedures, like certain spine surgeries or steroid injections.

Anyone consulted DOGE on the move?

Short video with narrative (in English) focusing on the military hardware:

@Bernard , sorry that your car got hit in an accident. Glad that you are unharmed.
About insurance … it may depend on the circumstances company, but my experience has been that it usually doesn’t take long for an insurance company to send out an adjuster to look at your car, and for the adjuster to issue an estimate. Think “days,” not “weeks.”
Good luck.

@Bernard said in Jen Rubin on the upcoming Continuing Resolution:

https://open.substack.com/pub/contrarian/p/dems-must-hold-out-for-these-five?r=n5ktx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

Her proposal assumes the GOP cannot pass a budget on its own. Given how willingly the present day GOP bends to Trump’s will, that’s probably not a good assumption.

China live streams its military parade:

As PSA: expects propaganda, think critically.

The comedians were already onto it; an example from early June:

Not that I want to encourage any faux dichotomy of "red restaurants vs. blue restaurants," but because of this logogate, I queried if MAGA has a favorite restaurant chain, and found this list:

https://www.threads.com/@moniviviny/post/DNCCpIaghbp/heres-a-list-of-some-new-republican-backed-restaurants1-first-watch2-golden-corr

I actually like First Watch, first on the list, and I don't get any MAGA vibe when I visit First Watch.