WTF-Beta

How do you know Zelenskyy isn't a dictator?
Trump doesn't suck up to him.

-- Rep. Eric Swalwell

Making something. At the moment it's a large needlepoint tapestry in the millefleurs style of the renaissance. Also practicing crewel stitches and a cross stitch pattern. This is what I do when I need to anchor and get back to my basic joie de vivre. Once that is accomplished I can go to the piano and practice. However, these days it works best if I practice before I even turn on the computer. Therefor, many days start with coffee and breakfast, some needlepoint, followed by piano. Then, and only then, will I turn on the laptop and selectively check a few 'safe'-ish sites.

The needlepoint (which is now 50% done, the following picture was taken about 3 weeks ago. The red arrow shows where I was then.):

Hm. Interesting 'statistics' but I was dubious about "Amongst 100 persons in the world, only eight live or exceed the age of 65!"

Me thinks this is a bit of numerical trickery. Population numbers are not static. Just because 8 people out of 100 are over 75 at any given time, doesn't mean only 8 out of 100 will reach that age and beyond. The percent of the population living into their 70s was 43% (according to an Atlantic article in 2012, which a quick and dirty google uncovered).

Anyway, it was a fun exercise and I found all the letters.

An update to Chrome must have installed itself yesterday. When I logged on to the webs this morning I was notified that uBlock was no longer supported in Chrome. Like I'm going to start filling my life up with advertisements? Not on your nelly! I'm on Edge now, where uBlock still works... until they decide to do something asinine.

“Over hundreds and hundreds of years, tame sheep have developed through human design,” she added, “so that it would become a wool-producing machine with ears and eyes, instead of an animal.”

That sounds like something peta would say. They are still animals, the use of the word 'instead' is not correct.

From the 13th to the 20th centuries, wool was a very important industry.

I feel a lot better, just cancelled my Amazon account. Mind you, I only used it as a last resort and not very often. But I don't want to patronize that douchebag Bezos at all. Period.

An advertisement set to run in The Washington Post yesterday calling for Musk to be fired from his role in government was abruptly canceled, according to Common Cause, one of the groups that had ordered the ad. When asked why the Post had pulled the ad, the Post said it was not at liberty to give a reason.

Just putting this out there: We don't need Amazon. We don't need Facebook. We don't need X. Just say NO!

@Rontuner For starters, Musk and the gang getting access to everyone's personal information and access to all the government's computers means, in this day and age, they control everything. Why do words like blackmail and sabotage come to mind? Brought to us by our very own royal couple: Trump and Musk.

I made these ginger cookies last week, and it turned into quite a story... Well! Very yummy, but when I went to share the recipe that evening, I realized I had misread the recipe and only used 1/4 cup of butter instead of 3/4 (I thought it seemed quite a low amount! LOL) and 1/4 tsp cloves instead of 3/4. I also misread the oven temp and set it to 350 F instead of 375 F! Lesson learned... grab the reading glasses next time! But they are very good--surprisingly--really good. But the additional butter and cloves will make them even better next time, I'm sure.

3/4 c butter
1 c dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1/4 c dark molasses
2.5 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
3/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
Sugar

(I used superfine sugar)

Cream butter & sugar, beat in egg and molasses. Mix flour, baking soda, spices, and salt together. Add to butter/sugar. Chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Roll dough into 1.5 inch balls. Dip tops in sugar. Place balls, sugar side up, 3" apart on lined or greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until set but not hard. Firmly press top of each cookie as soon as it comes out of the oven. Cool on wire racks.

It looks terrific and yummy! Recipe looks most doable, will add it to my list to try. Definitely the weather to be using the oven. We're in the single digits over night most of the week, teens during the day. My woodstove is in the living room and it keeps things pretty comfortable, but when it's really cold, the other side of the house cools off quicker. One thing that helps a lot is that I need to distill my well water for the house plants. Otherwise, it turns the leaves yellow. So using my stovetop distiller on really cold days is a great boon, not only for the warmth it creates but for the moisture it puts in the air.

In 1960, the 2nd person in the UK to get a sex change operation. A fascinating history, the people she met, etc. She died in 2021 at age 86.

A short, poignant clip of a tv appearance in 2015 when she was 80:

Got to feel badly for the children.

That was lovely. I'm curious what the time signature is, the rhythm sounds complex. Agree about the piano, it sounds really nice. I'm surprised to hear "25% RH". When it's really cold here (near zero and below), mine gets down to around 30%. Above that it hovers between 35% and 40% in the dead of winter. I don't have a damp chaser but do have a Honeywell humidifier that needs filling with 5 quarts of water every day. I also have a air purifier that runs constantly, partly to clean the air and partly to circulate the air. My wood stove is also in the room.

I do notice a big difference in the tone of the piano when the humidity drops below 30%, which it does occasionally if it's really, really cold, the humidifier ran out of water, or something else.

From the article,

Rogue AI typically refers to artificial intelligence systems that develop a degree of self-awareness or autonomy and then work counter to human interests.

Well, I needed a good laugh. "Self-awareness"!? In their fantasies only. "Autonomy"? To some degree maybe, but also in the article:

The study explored two specific scenarios: "shutdown avoidance" and "chain of replication." In the first, the AI model was programmed to detect whether it was about to be shut down and to replicate itself before it could be terminated. In the other, the AI was instructed to clone itself and then program its replica to do the same — setting up a cycle that could continue indefinitely.

That says it all.

Above this in the article, it stated, "Successful self-replication under no human assistance..."

That was a lie.

Pretty expensive for a special effects "tv" that who needs? On the other hand, when I went to the abt page I got a pop-up offering $25 off purchase over $250! Well then, let's get two of them.

Yes, it's definitely interesting. The outside looks like a small version of a manufacturing plant I worked at the first four years out of school. What I like about the inside is all the space! Looks like plenty of options for a studio, and a music room, and a library. I'm not keen on the split levels, and the view of the dining room from the sunken living area is weird. Probably a great place for entertaining. Of course, my decor would be considerably different from what's there now. The taxes seem pretty reasonable for a place of that size. "Shared well" is something I would look into.

A belated Happy Birthday, Nina!

@wtg He was part of the original "Free State Project" here in NH, having moved from WA. We all know how that turned out. Look up the book, "A Libertarian Walks Into A Bear".

Idiot state rep Dan McGuire (R -- what else!?) has introduced a bill that would reduce the requirements for graduating from high school.

The bill would reduce the requirements for schools to provide an adequate education, removing courses like art, music, world languages, engineering and technology, computer science, and personal finance literacy.

It would also remove the requirement that social studies courses include civics, government, economics, history, geography, or Holocaust and genocide studies. The credits needed for a high school diploma would also be reduced from 13 to 8.

Here's the kicker (from Ballotpedia):

Dan McGuire earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986. McGuire's career experience includes working as an investor, a computer engineer, an assistant professor of computer engineering with the University of California at Santa Cruz, and a software development manager with 8x8, Inc.

Story:
https://www.wmur.com/article/nh-bill-graduation-requirements-21025/63744434

That was a beautiful eulogy from Sheryl. I remember seeing pictures of a few of Teachum's quilts on FB and especially remember one remarkable example that she had completely hand stitched, irrc. I also remember her posts about her garden.

@wtg It's pathetic. Google search lately has been especially bad. I'm turning to Bing more often now.