tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35311701462434343482024-03-17T23:04:00.348-04:00Fallow FieldsThe Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comBlogger1976125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-42459576894044272532024-03-13T11:04:00.002-04:002024-03-14T13:39:41.431-04:00Face of AI<p>I have the idea of connecting a face to an LLM that can offer real-time emotional expression to represent the system's reaction to verbal and visual input.</p><p>My original purpose is to provide realistic feedback to my presentation of content. </p><p>A practical use case would be to provide analysis and evaluation while simulating emotional responses to storytelling, comedy, instruction, explanation, etc., thereby offering presenters a natural target for content development and providing a medium for practicing and refining a presentation.</p><p>The concept, however, approaches the challenge of simulating personality and raises the question of sensibility - i.e. - different personalities respond differently. What about simulating a crowd? What about an intoxicated crowd? Hecklers? Perhaps these variants may be filtered with settings, but the concept also raised the question of innate bias in LLMs, and the need for unfiltered or 'objective' LLMs.</p><p>Can an LLM have a philosophy, or an attitude, or sensibility?</p><p>Can an LLM recognize, comprehend or appreciate the humor of impressions or funny noises given a voice or computer vision input?</p><p>Can an LLM recognize and appreciate humorous delivery of a joke, for example, subtle sarcasm in the tone of voice or facial expression, regardless of the context of the words?</p><p>If an LLM had such capabilities, sentiment analysis, etc., could it laugh and how would it laugh? What would account for the manner of laugh? </p><p>How might different LLMs have different 'senses of humor'?</p><p>For that matter, how might human laughter be analyzed and taxonomized by an AI system?</p><p>It's interesting to think of an LLM having involuntary responses, as if it had a parasympathetic nervous system.</p><p>Certainly, given a context, ChatGPT can analyze and evaluate, but can it express a reaction in real-time or does it wait until it receives the entire spiel? Is the LLM self aware of it's own bias?</p><p>I searched 'Does ChatGPT have a face' and found <a href="https://petapixel.com/2024/01/04/chatgpt-has-been-given-a-face-and-its-super-weird/#:~:text=A%20company%20that%20makes%20spatial,used%20to%20get%20wasted%20with." target="_blank">this article about a company called Zero Distance</a>.</p><p>Here's their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@wehead" target="_blank">YouTube channel</a>.</p><p>Here's the <a href="https://wehead.com/" target="_blank">product website, WEHEAD</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-74429476124129245132024-03-13T10:46:00.003-04:002024-03-13T10:46:20.267-04:00Cognition AI launches Devin, AI software engineer<p><a href="https://siliconangle.com/2024/03/12/cognition-launches-devin-generative-ai-powered-coding-engineer/">https://siliconangle.com/2024/03/12/cognition-launches-devin-generative-ai-powered-coding-engineer/</a></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@Cognition-Labs">https://www.youtube.com/@Cognition-Labs</a></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-11138551596975797172024-02-26T10:40:00.003-05:002024-02-26T10:40:17.388-05:00Scientists Create DVD-Sized Disk Storing 1 Petabit (125,000 Gigabytes) of Data <header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h2 class="story" style="background-color: #016765; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 155px 4px 10px;"><span class="story-title" id="title-173152568" style="box-sizing: border-box; left: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/02/25/2026232/scientists-create-dvd-sized-disk-storing-1-petabit-125000-gigabytes-of-data" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Scientists Create DVD-Sized Disk Storing 1 Petabit (125,000 Gigabytes) of Data</a> <span class=" no extlnk" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 14px;"><a class="story-sourcelnk" href="https://www.popsci.com/technology/optical-disk-petabit/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #93cccc; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.75rem; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px 15px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-wrap: nowrap;" target="_blank" title="External link - https://www.popsci.com/technology/optical-disk-petabit/">(popsci.com)</a></span></span><span class="comment-bubble" style="background-color: #1e2329; border-radius: 3px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; position: absolute; right: 12px; text-align: center; top: 12px; width: 45px;"><a href="https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/02/25/2026232/scientists-create-dvd-sized-disk-storing-1-petabit-125000-gigabytes-of-data#comments" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="">95</a></span></h2><div class="details" id="details-173152568" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 20px;"><span class="story-details" style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(222, 222, 222); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 9px 0px;"><span class="story-views" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px;"><span class="sodify" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"></span><span alt="Popularity" class="icon-beaker pop1 " style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #cc0000; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.7rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></span></span><span class="story-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; height: 20px; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px 97px 0px 0px; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: absolute;">Posted by EditorDavid <time datetime="on Sunday February 25, 2024 @04:34PM" id="fhtime-173152568" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">on Sunday February 25, 2024 @04:34PM</time> from the <span class="dept-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">disk-jockeying</span> dept.</span></div></header><div class="body" id="fhbody-173152568" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="p" id="text-173152568" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px; padding: 0px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Popular Science</em> points out that for encoding data, "optical disks almost always offer just a single, 2D layer — that reflective, silver underside."<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />"If you could boost a disk's number of available, encodable layers, however, you could hypothetically gain a massive amount of extra space..."<span style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em;">Researchers at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology <a href="https://www.popsci.com/technology/optical-disk-petabit/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">recently set out to do just that</a>, and published the results earlier this week <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06980-y" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">in the journal, <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Nature</em></a>. Using a 54-nanometer laser, the team managed to record a 100 layers of data onto an optical disk, with each tier separated by just 1 micrometer. The final result is an optical disk with a three-dimensional stack of data layers capable of holding a whopping 1 petabit (Pb) of information — that's equivalent to 125,000 gigabytes of data...<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />As <a href="https://gizmodo.com/meet-the-super-dvd-scientists-develop-massive-1-petabi-1851272615" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Gizmodo</em></a> offers for reference, that same petabit of information would require roughly a six-and-a-half foot tall stack of HHD drives — if you tried to encode the same amount of data onto Blu-rays, you'd need around 10,000 blank ones to complete your (extremely inefficient) challenge.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />To pull off their accomplishment, engineers needed to create an entirely new material for their optical disk's film... AIE-DDPR film utilizes a combination of <a href="https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/optical-storage-device-petabit/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">specialized, photosensitive molecules</a> capable of absorbing photonic data at a nanoscale level, which is then encoded using a high-tech dual-laser array. Because AIE-DDPR is so incredibly transparent, designers could apply layer-upon-layer to an optical disk without worrying about degrading the overall data. This basically generated a 3D "box" for digitized information, thus exponentially raising the normal-sized disk's capacity.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></div></div><p><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader <a href="https://www.slashdot.org/~hackingbear" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">hackingbear</a> for sharing the news.</em> </p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-8702782811345635112024-02-26T10:37:00.006-05:002024-03-15T09:43:41.783-04:00Bezos, Nvidia Join OpenAI in Funding Humanoid Robot Startup<p><a href="https://www.figure.ai/" target="_blank"> </a></p><p><a href="https://www.figure.ai/" target="_blank">https://www.figure.ai/</a></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@figureai" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/@figureai</a></p><p><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3DSq1QZB5baNw%26t%3D15s&source=gmail&ust=1710520576370000&usg=AOvVaw3ACP5EiZPLKa2_KqeT2iQU" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq1QZB5baNw&t=15s" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?<wbr></wbr>v=Sq1QZB5baNw&t=15s</a></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Update: China's fastest humanoid:</b></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@unitreerobotics">https://www.youtube.com/@unitreerobotics</a></p><p><a href="https://m.unitree.com/">https://m.unitree.com/</a></p><p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h2 class="story" style="background-color: #016765; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 155px 4px 10px;"><span class="story-title" id="title-173154268" style="box-sizing: border-box; left: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/02/26/0228255/bezos-nvidia-join-openai-in-funding-humanoid-robot-startup" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bezos, Nvidia Join OpenAI in Funding Humanoid Robot Startup</a> <span class="no extlnk" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 14px;"><a class="story-sourcelnk" href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/bezos-nvidia-join-openai-in-funding-humanoid-robot-startup/ar-BB1iMzi1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #93cccc; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.75rem; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px 15px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-wrap: nowrap;" target="_blank" title="External link - https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/bezos-nvidia-join-openai-in-funding-humanoid-robot-startup/ar-BB1iMzi1">(msn.com)</a></span></span><span class="comment-bubble" style="background-color: #1e2329; border-radius: 3px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; position: absolute; right: 12px; text-align: center; top: 12px; width: 45px;"><a href="https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/02/26/0228255/bezos-nvidia-join-openai-in-funding-humanoid-robot-startup#comments" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="">6</a></span></h2><div class="details" id="details-173154268" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 20px;"><span class="story-details" style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(222, 222, 222); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 9px 0px;"><span class="story-views" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px;"><span class="sodify" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"></span><span alt="Popularity" class="icon-beaker pop1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #cc0000; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.7rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></span></span><span class="story-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; height: 20px; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px 97px 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: absolute;">Posted by EditorDavid <time datetime="on Monday February 26, 2024 @07:34AM" id="fhtime-173154268" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">on Monday February 26, 2024 @07:34AM</time> from the <span class="dept-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">rise-of-the-machines</span> dept.</span></div></header><div class="body" id="fhbody-173154268" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="p" id="text-173154268" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px; padding: 0px;">OpenAI, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos are all part of a pack of investors <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/bezos-nvidia-join-openai-in-funding-humanoid-robot-startup/ar-BB1iMzi1" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">in a business "developing human-like robots</a>," reports Bloomberg, "according to people with knowledge of the situation..."<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />At the startup — which is named "Figure" — engineers "are working on a robot that looks and moves like a human. The company has said it hopes its machine, called Figure 01, will be able to perform dangerous jobs that are unsuitable for people and that its technology will help alleviate labor shortages."<span style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em;">Figure is raising about $675 million in a funding round that carries a pre-money valuation of roughly $2 billion, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Through his firm Explore Investments LLC, Bezos has committed $100 million. Microsoft is investing $95 million, while Nvidia and an Amazon.com Inc.-affiliated fund are each providing $50 million... Other technology companies are involved as well. Intel Corp.'s venture capital arm is pouring in $25 million, and LG Innotek is providing $8.5 million. Samsung's investment group, meanwhile, committed $5 million. Backers also include venture firms Parkway Venture Capital, which is investing $100 million, and Align Ventures, which is providing $90 million...<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The AI robotics industry has been busy lately. Earlier this year, OpenAI-backed Norwegian robotics startup 1X Technologies AS <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-11/openai-backed-humanoid-maker-gets-100-million-in-eqt-led-round" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">raised $100 million</a>. Vancouver-based Sanctuary AI is developing a humanoid robot called Phoenix. And Tesla Inc. is working on a robot called Optimus, with Elon Musk calling it one of his most important projects. Agility Robotics, which Amazon backed in 2022, has bots in testing at one of the retailer's warehouses.</span>Bloomberg calls the investments in Figure "part of a scramble to find new applications for artificial intelligence."</div></div>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-69916653413791138932024-02-25T23:06:00.006-05:002024-03-15T09:44:33.765-04:00High-sugar product ingredients printed using low contrast colors<p> </p><p>After deciding to cut any foods with corn syrup from my diet, I've noticed many products print their ingredients with low-contrast colors, such as white text on light-colored backgrounds.</p><p>My awareness of web accessibility requirements further brings the problem to my attention and I suspect that companies are deliberately masking their ingredients to prevent buyers from avoiding high-sugar products. </p><p>The simple solution is to list ingredients using black text. </p><p>Arizona Tea may not encourage their customers to read the ingredients, but they sure as hell ensure scanners can read the bar code.</p><p>Today, I noticed <a href="https://drinkarizona.com/products/green-tea-fruit-snacks" target="_blank">Arizona Tea Fruit Snacks</a>, below.</p><p><b>Reading the ingredients online, I see:</b></p><p>PEAR JUICE FROM FRUIT JUICE CONCENTRATE, GLUCOSE SYRUP, SUGAR, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH (CORN), GELATIN, DEXTROSE; CITRIC ACID, GREEN TEA EXTRACT; NATURAL FLAVOR, FRUIT & VEGETABLE JUICE FOR COLOR (ELDERBERRY, GRAPE, SPIRULINA, TURMERIC); COLOR (PAPRIKA OLEORESIN); CARNAUBA WAX.</p><p>With turmeric, spirulina, and the anti-oxidants from the green tea extract, I'd better double up on my Arizona Fruit Snacks to prevent cancer.</p><p><b>The product description</b> refers to the snack as "guilt-free" on the basis of being fat and gluten-free - a similar argument listed on candy packaging such as candy corn and gummy worms (which I love):</p><p>"From your favorite beverage to your next healthier snack time staple. AriZona Green Tea Fruit Snacks gives you 100% real fruit and only 100 calories per serving in the perfect little package. Enjoy Original, Apple, Mandarin and Plum Blueberry in this bite-size, fat free, gluten free, preservative free and 100% guilt free treat!"</p><p><a href="https://examine.com/articles/fructose-vs-glucose-vs-hfcs/" target="_blank">Online reference </a>suggests glucose syrup and corn syrup have equally adverse health effects.</p><p>I'll likely add additional example photos to this entry.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjB1g1QmaImiUpCZImdMuiSYKtKyStFT9tNdfA1g_8nZHSGRq1WG5ryfIgnUOxSmJmlKoXXZZcHQFv0PWAeOVbRN2hIeV9VZfbjUjmuzg-YdFAXOQbjPMZDu2BYMgjyryeAIcVzpfnfG5BqWsUbfWemd2XHZrm63aiOnFOhXuhhCINrmFp7NfCSTIBpqlg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="1000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjB1g1QmaImiUpCZImdMuiSYKtKyStFT9tNdfA1g_8nZHSGRq1WG5ryfIgnUOxSmJmlKoXXZZcHQFv0PWAeOVbRN2hIeV9VZfbjUjmuzg-YdFAXOQbjPMZDu2BYMgjyryeAIcVzpfnfG5BqWsUbfWemd2XHZrm63aiOnFOhXuhhCINrmFp7NfCSTIBpqlg=w581-h640" width="581" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-60378592949956800722024-02-15T10:16:00.002-05:002024-02-15T10:16:08.390-05:00Amazon LLM's 'emergent Abilities'<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h2 class="story" style="background-color: #016765; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 155px 4px 10px;"><span class="story-title" id="title-173066906" style="box-sizing: border-box; left: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://slashdot.org/story/24/02/15/0117248/largest-text-to-speech-ai-model-yet-shows-emergent-abilities" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Largest Text-To-Speech AI Model Yet Shows 'Emergent Abilities'</a> <span class=" no extlnk" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 14px;"><a class="story-sourcelnk" href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/14/largest-text-to-speech-ai-model-yet-shows-emergent-abilities/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #93cccc; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.75rem; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px 15px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-wrap: nowrap;" target="_blank" title="External link - https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/14/largest-text-to-speech-ai-model-yet-shows-emergent-abilities/">(techcrunch.com)</a></span></span><span class="comment-bubble" style="background-color: #1e2329; border-radius: 3px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; position: absolute; right: 12px; text-align: center; top: 12px; width: 45px;"><a href="https://slashdot.org/story/24/02/15/0117248/largest-text-to-speech-ai-model-yet-shows-emergent-abilities#comments" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="">46</a></span></h2><div class="details" id="details-173066906" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 20px;"><span class="story-details" style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(222, 222, 222); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 9px 0px;"><span class="story-views" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px;"><span class="sodify" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"></span><span alt="Popularity" class="icon-beaker pop1 " style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #cc0000; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.7rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></span></span><span class="story-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; height: 20px; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px 97px 0px 0px; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: absolute;">Posted by <a href="https://twitter.com/BeauHD" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">BeauHD</a> <time datetime="on Wednesday February 14, 2024 @09:02PM" id="fhtime-173066906" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">on Wednesday February 14, 2024 @09:02PM</time> from the <span class="dept-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">breakout-moment</span> dept.</span></div></header><div class="body" id="fhbody-173066906" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="p" id="text-173066906" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px; padding: 0px;">Devin Coldeway reports via TechCrunch:<span style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em;">Researchers at Amazon have <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2024/02/14/largest-text-to-speech-ai-model-yet-shows-emergent-abilities/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">trained the largest ever text-to-speech model yet</a>, which they claim exhibits "emergent" qualities improving its ability to speak even complex sentences naturally. The breakthrough could be what the technology needs to escape the uncanny valley. These models were always going to grow and improve, but the researchers specifically hoped to see the kind of leap in ability that we observed once language models got past a certain size. For reasons unknown to us, once LLMs grow past a certain point, they start being way more robust and versatile, able to perform tasks they weren't trained to. That is not to say they are gaining sentience or anything, just that past a certain point their performance on certain conversational AI tasks hockey sticks. The team at Amazon AGI -- no secret what they're aiming at -- thought the same might happen as text-to-speech models grew as well, and their research suggests this is in fact the case.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The new model is called <a href="https://amazon-ltts-paper.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Big Adaptive Streamable TTS with Emergent abilities</a>, which they have contorted into the abbreviation BASE TTS. The largest version of the model uses 100,000 hours of public domain speech, 90% of which is in English, the remainder in German, Dutch and Spanish. At 980 million parameters, BASE-large appears to be the biggest model in this category. They also trained 400M- and 150M-parameter models based on 10,000 and 1,000 hours of audio respectively, for comparison -- the idea being, if one of these models shows emergent behaviors but another doesn't, you have a range for where those behaviors begin to emerge. As it turns out, the medium-sized model showed the jump in capability the team was looking for, not necessarily in ordinary speech quality (it is reviewed better but only by a couple points) but in the set of emergent abilities they observed and measured. Here are examples of tricky text <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.08093" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">mentioned in the paper</a>:<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><b style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">- Compound nouns:</b> The Beckhams decided to rent a charming stone-built quaint countryside holiday cottage.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><b style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">- Emotions:</b> "Oh my gosh! Are we really going to the Maldives? That's unbelievable!" Jennie squealed, bouncing on her toes with uncontained glee.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><b style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">- Foreign words:</b> "Mr. Henry, renowned for his mise en place, orchestrated a seven-course meal, each dish a piece de resistance.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><b style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">- Paralinguistics (i.e. readable non-words):</b> "Shh, Lucy, shhh, we mustn't wake your baby brother," Tom whispered, as they tiptoed past the nursery.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><b style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">- Punctuations:</b> She received an odd text from her brother: 'Emergency @ home; call ASAP! Mom & Dad are worried... #familymatters.'<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><b style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">- Questions:</b> But the Brexit question remains: After all the trials and tribulations, will the ministers find the answers in time?<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><b style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">-Syntactic complexities:</b> The movie that De Moya who was recently awarded the lifetime achievement award starred in 2022 was a box-office hit, despite the mixed reviews.</span>You can read more examples of these difficult texts being spoken naturally <a href="https://amazon-ltts-paper.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">here</a>.</div></div>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-63931477757814850222024-02-15T10:12:00.005-05:002024-02-15T10:12:45.737-05:00AI chatbot data harvesting personal data<p> I'm sure chat isn't much better.</p><p><br /></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h2 class="story" style="background-color: #016765; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 155px 4px 10px;"><span class="story-title" id="title-173066982" style="box-sizing: border-box; left: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/02/15/0134227/your-ai-girlfriend-is-a-data-harvesting-horror-show" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Your AI Girlfriend Is a Data-Harvesting Horror Show</a> <span class=" no extlnk" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 14px;"><a class="story-sourcelnk" href="https://gizmodo.com/your-ai-girlfriend-is-a-data-harvesting-horror-show-1851253284" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #93cccc; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.75rem; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px 15px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-wrap: nowrap;" target="_blank" title="External link - https://gizmodo.com/your-ai-girlfriend-is-a-data-harvesting-horror-show-1851253284">(gizmodo.com)</a></span></span><span class="comment-bubble" style="background-color: #1e2329; border-radius: 3px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; position: absolute; right: 12px; text-align: center; top: 12px; width: 45px;"><a href="https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/02/15/0134227/your-ai-girlfriend-is-a-data-harvesting-horror-show#comments" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="">102</a></span></h2><div class="details" id="details-173066982" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 20px;"><span class="story-details" style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(222, 222, 222); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 9px 0px;"><span class="story-views" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px;"><span class="sodify" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"></span><span alt="Popularity" class="icon-beaker pop1 " style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #cc0000; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.7rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></span></span><span class="story-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; height: 20px; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px 97px 0px 0px; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: absolute;">Posted by <a href="https://twitter.com/BeauHD" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">BeauHD</a> <time datetime="on Wednesday February 14, 2024 @10:30PM" id="fhtime-173066982" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">on Wednesday February 14, 2024 @10:30PM</time> from the <span class="dept-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">robot-love-comes-with-tradeoffs</span> dept.</span></div></header><div class="body" id="fhbody-173066982" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="p" id="text-173066982" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px; padding: 0px;">"A lot of that AI chatbots that you spend days talking to push hard on getting more and more private information from you," writes longtime Slashdot reader <a href="https://slashdot.org/~michelcultivo" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">michelcultivo</a>, sharing a report from Gizmodo.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />"To be perfectly blunt, AI girlfriends and boyfriends are not your friends," says Misha Rykov, a Mozilla Researcher from the company's *Privacy Not Included project. "Although they are marketed as something that will enhance your mental health and well-being, they specialize in delivering dependency, loneliness, and toxicity, <a href="https://gizmodo.com/your-ai-girlfriend-is-a-data-harvesting-horror-show-1851253284" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">all while prying as much data as possible from you</a>." Gizmodo reports:<span style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em;">Mozilla dug into <a href="https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/eva-ai-chat-bot-soulmate/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">11 different AI romance chatbots</a>, including popular apps such as Replika, Chai, Romantic AI, EVA AI Chat Bot & Soulmate, and CrushOn.AI. Every single one earned the Privacy Not Included label, putting these chatbots among the worst categories of products Mozilla has ever reviewed. You've heard stories about data problems before, but according to Mozilla, AI girlfriends violate your privacy in "disturbing new ways." For example, CrushOn.AI collects details including information about sexual health, use of medication, and gender-affirming care. 90% of the apps may sell or share user data for targeted ads and other purposes, and more than half won't let you delete the data they collect. Security was also a problem. Only one app, Genesia AI Friend & Partner, met Mozilla's minimum security standards.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />One of the more striking findings came when Mozilla counted the trackers in these apps, little bits of code that collect data and share them with other companies for advertising and other purposes. Mozilla found the AI girlfriend apps used an average of 2,663 trackers per minute, though that number was driven up by Romantic AI, which called a whopping 24,354 trackers in just one minute of using the app. The privacy mess is even more troubling because the apps actively encourage you to share details that are far more personal than the kind of thing you might enter into a typical app. EVA AI Chat Bot & Soulmate pushes users to "share all your secrets and desires," and specifically asks for photos and voice recordings. It's worth noting that EVA was the only chatbot that didn't get dinged for how it uses that data, though the app did have security issues. [...]</span></div></div>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-18515066317499718672024-02-15T09:56:00.006-05:002024-02-15T09:58:49.697-05:00Political parasite, Huma Abedin, 47, dating Alex Soros, 38. <p> <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13084859/anthony-weiner-wife-huma-abedin-dating-alex-soros.html">https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13084859/anthony-weiner-wife-huma-abedin-dating-alex-soros.html</a></p><p>Just goes to show how politicians choose relationships for power.</p><p>Those damn Clinton interns.</p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-73596205915389425052024-02-09T10:24:00.000-05:002024-02-09T10:24:45.935-05:00Cobbler viral videos<p><a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/longtime-cobbler-posts-meticulous-shoe-repair-videos-becomes-sensation/ar-BB1i1Vjh" target="_blank"> https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/longtime-cobbler-posts-meticulous-shoe-repair-videos-becomes-sensation/ar-BB1i1Vjh</a></p><p><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@americascobbler/video/7292193690427280686?lang=en">https://www.tiktok.com/@americascobbler/video/7292193690427280686?lang=en</a></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-6294221527125906342024-02-06T00:28:00.006-05:002024-02-06T00:29:12.950-05:003D printed brain tissue<p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> <a href="https://www.popsci.com/science/3d-printed-brain-tissue/">https://www.popsci.com/science/3d-printed-brain-tissue/</a></p><p><a href="https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(23)00439-3?">https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(23)00439-3?</a></p><p><br /></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-65899709129132930502024-02-05T09:15:00.005-05:002024-02-05T09:21:47.680-05:00AGI: Are we there yet?<p><br /></p><p>If we're not already there yet, Sam Altman sure talks a lot of smack. You and your magnificent seven.</p><p>Elon, hurry up and network those human brains to some quantum computers, hamster wheels, and whatever it's gonna take, let's get this show on the road. </p><p>China, bypass those ethics laws, fire up CRISPR and play-doh fun factory us a pot of big noodles.</p><p>We've got worlds to conquer!</p><p><a href="AGI: Are we there yet?" target="_blank">https://arstechnica.com/ai/2023/12/the-real-research-behind-the-wild-rumors-about-openais-q-project/#:~:text=On%20November%2022%2C%20a%20few,able%20to%20solve%20math%20problems</a></p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/agi-we-yet-vikram-saraf/">https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/agi-we-yet-vikram-saraf/</a></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-86923135820716537142024-02-05T01:03:00.001-05:002024-02-05T01:03:02.338-05:00Deep fake theft: $25M<p><a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/hong-kong-office-employee-loses-more-than-25-million-after-video-call-with-deepfake-chief-financial-officer-686908" target="_blank"> https://www.wionews.com/technology/hong-kong-office-employee-loses-more-than-25-million-after-video-call-with-deepfake-chief-financial-officer-686908</a></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-32885701666905044492024-01-28T13:41:00.058-05:002024-01-29T21:03:38.296-05:00'24 U.S. Pre-election predictions<p><br /></p><p><i>Sunday, January 28th, 2024.</i></p><p>Given the scale of escalations leading up to the '20 elections, I can only speculate about what to expect as we approach November '24. But I expect the left will be pulling out all the stops and driving hoaxes, violence and division at an unprecedented scale.</p><p>Corporate-sponsored BLM was weaponized leading up to the '20 final verdict. The number of claims by violent protesters intensified, driving the sense that their terror would spill into our neighborhoods if the outcome wasn't satisfied in their favor. Cities across the country were burned, including black-owned businesses, stores were vandalized and mobbed at the cost of billions, people were attacked and killed.</p><p>The action was symbolic: Racism = Trump = police = unwarranted attacks on poor, innocent black people drinking tea and eating Skittles (because of the color of their skin). </p><p>Once Biden was declared victorious, BLM went silent, as though the racist police were raptured all at once. And of course, since then we've seen a 30% increase in violent crime, especially in Democrat-led cities.</p><p>Oh, and COVID. Wear a mask and take a vaccine or you're a racist. Shut down the economy and shut yer pie hole; we're all in this together.</p><p>Fast forward to '24. Despite claims that the economy and jobs are booming, the dollar is in the toilet amidst the rising BRICS economy, spear-headed with a digital currency backed by gold. Food, housing and rent are unaffordable, we're seeing mass layoffs and holding our breath in anticipation of an economic crash. At least gas prices have gone back to normal. Or, are we still running on our reserves? Let's just continue denying we're in a recession and reassure everyone that the economy is strong, gas is cheap, and life is dandy. When and if Trump returns to office, they can claim he inherited their great economy, as per usual.</p><p>Meanwhile, we watched Biden run to Venezuela and drill in Alaska to compensate for cutting our fracking and losing the 11% we rely on from Russian. I remember George W. drilling in Alaska when he first stepped into office and the Dems lost their minds over the environmental impact. Great idiots think alike. Or maybe it's a uni-party thing.</p><p>And we have war in Ukraine and the Middle East, Palestinian protests worldwide, looming concern over Taiwan, and our border bursting with 300k migrants per month being ushered in by the cartels from every country in the world with the cooperation and funding of the federal government. </p><p>And A.I. is accelerating, if not already equal to human intelligence, it's not far away, led by the 'Magnificent Seven' tech companies. </p><p>How does it all fit together? With so much happening at once, it can be tricky to guess what might be coming to the U.S. as we approach the next U.S. election. Another round of COVID, terror cell activation, war escalation, BLM, power grid collapse? Aliens? The Rapture? Richard Simmons? </p><p>I've read speculations of Michelle Obama replacing Biden. With overtures of another civil war being floated in a film produced by the Obamas (including a helpful hint not to trust the honkeys), references to Trump followers as 'Confederates', Mark Zuckerberg building a Hawaiian underground compound, and Elon Musk's bulletproof getaway truck, maybe there's a framework under construction to drive division at such a grand scale that violence is unavoidable. </p><p>I've not been overly preoccupied with this Civil War theme, it's been floated for the last several years, but the tension regarding <b style="font-style: italic;">state versus federal sovereignty over border control in Texas </b>may be the perfect polarity powder keg. Let's hope not, I'd hate to see a swarm of Eric Schmidt's <a href="https://fallowfields.blogspot.com/2024/01/google-eric-schmidt-white-stork-ai.html" target="_blank">White Stork attack drones</a> deployed against American citizens. </p><p>Of course, that is, if we don't end up in a big ass war in the Middle East first. I guess that's the supersize strategy to put the U.S. in as vulnerable a position as possible. </p><p>I've always thought the push for global power and cheap labor was led by the big tech companies. That's why retail is dying and Apple postures progressive with their gay CEO while relying on Chinese slave labor. All the Leftist virtue signaling is designed to hide their thirst for total power. Once A.I. goes full tilt, we'll all be on leashes, but at least we'll see amazing things along the way.</p><p>That's all I've got for now. Sounds like the U.S. is backing off on funding Israel - maybe that one was getting a little too dicey for certain Leftoids here in the U.S. who've historically enjoyed immunity from foreign threats and pushed for open borders like they were bringing down the Berlin Wall or ending Apartheid until it occurred to them not everyone coming through is their pal. These are the same knuckle heads who champion the notion that men with tits are women and other no-brainer, commonsense bullshit. </p><p>I might like to think I'm a good guesser but if my past speculations were validated, Trump would be finishing his second term and Oprah would be fin' to plop her ass behind the desk at the Oval Office. Let's watch the border situation and I'll update this page as the plot thickens. </p><p><b>Brief update:</b> I <a href="https://fallowfields.blogspot.com/2021/02/dway-rock-johnson-for-president.html" target="_blank">previously suspected Dwayne Johnson would run as a Democrat</a> after watching his ridiculously melodramatic 'Where Are You?' YouTube video, slamming Trump for his handling of Covid. Maybe he'll rear his opportunistic, bald head yet again. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5r28L5pQlQ" target="_blank">Go to 13:30</a> to hear his answer about a possible Presidential run, claiming he's been approached by both parties and has no intention to run. Considering his new return to UFC, he'd be stepping into Trump territory. At least he has the flip-flop thing going for him, mastering the art of talking out of both sides of his mouth.</p><p><br /></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-46992750170425760092024-01-27T12:13:00.009-05:002024-01-27T12:22:24.177-05:00Google Eric Schmidt: White Stork: AI attack drones<p><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-eric-schmidt-ai-attack-drones-white-stork-2024-1" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">https://www.businessinsider.com/google-eric-schmidt-ai-attack-drones-white-stork-2024-1</span></a></p><p>Anyone remember, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_be_evil" target="_blank">"Don't be evil?"</a></i> </p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">In a 2013 </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="NPR">NPR</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> interview, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schmidt" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #3366cc; font-family: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Eric Schmidt">Eric Schmidt</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> revealed that when Larry Page and Sergey Brin recommended the motto as a guiding principle for Google, he "thought this was the stupidest rule ever", but then changed his opinion..."</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">'24 </span>Eric Schmidt<span style="font-family: inherit;">: Ah, fuck it, let's take the crown.</span></p></div><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1uztp3vWl8-zGeYRTuRPMlWoTWyeo9rNiO0X7hAMG5mzLj6eLvKFgcuNaZ30uFiXrdDcEQmDRR35DYK6WRitxjq_eWYAixs5scqd57YVJpKvf1hEI4aNP2yyu0B9s30X0X3Wsq-1PHCPcVSUkbvkWf-o7ibwBAG22GYTyDzCR5_1cX1KyfK-RfY5LH5s" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img alt="" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="349" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh1uztp3vWl8-zGeYRTuRPMlWoTWyeo9rNiO0X7hAMG5mzLj6eLvKFgcuNaZ30uFiXrdDcEQmDRR35DYK6WRitxjq_eWYAixs5scqd57YVJpKvf1hEI4aNP2yyu0B9s30X0X3Wsq-1PHCPcVSUkbvkWf-o7ibwBAG22GYTyDzCR5_1cX1KyfK-RfY5LH5s" width="163" /></span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maybe Eric Schmidt remembers the Aesop's fable, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Frogs_Who_Desired_a_King" target="_blank">"The Frogs Who Desired for a King."</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_stork" target="_blank">White Stork</a> is a carnivorous bird that picks off a wide range of animal prey, including insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;"> and small birds. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: inherit;">Sounds like a good name for an AI attack drone to me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">But wait, here's a humanitarian aid organization named for Ukraine's national bird, the White Stork:</span></p><p><a href="https://whitestork.us/about"><span style="font-family: inherit;">https://whitestork.us/about</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">While everybody's squabbling over the symbol, let's get one thing straight:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Is the mission of a White Stork to deliver aid, attack drones, or babies?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">No doubt, plenty of babies are being delivered to Ukraine, and they're wearing boots.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Schmidt may claim to have formed White Stork Group in the name of Ukraine, but Swift Beat Holdings LLC was the name of the original vision, and it wasn't on a mission of passing out pickles.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br /><p></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-88221548235727204722024-01-19T09:11:00.004-05:002024-01-19T09:11:41.549-05:00Chinese mega port in Peru<p> <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-widens-south-america-trade-110528223.html">https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-widens-south-america-trade-110528223.html</a></p><p><br /></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-14544987462642846572024-01-14T10:16:00.003-05:002024-01-14T10:16:36.387-05:00AR glasses <p><a href="https://www.xreal.com" target="_blank">https://www.xreal.com/</a></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-77250026517828060872024-01-13T11:35:00.000-05:002024-01-13T11:35:58.865-05:00Bukele vs Soros<p> About Bukele's political orientation...</p><p><br /></p><p>Here, Bukele recognizes how Soros pays media and journalists.</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWc0Jvx3LSM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWc0Jvx3LSM</a></p><p><a href="https://elsalvadorinenglish.com/2024/01/03/president-bukele-addresses-media-tabooed-matters-from-an-x-space/">https://elsalvadorinenglish.com/2024/01/03/president-bukele-addresses-media-tabooed-matters-from-an-x-space/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Soros organization responds:</p><p><a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/open-society-foundations-response-to-comments-by-president-bukele">https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/newsroom/open-society-foundations-response-to-comments-by-president-bukele</a></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-56996147275213057612024-01-13T10:42:00.000-05:002024-01-13T10:42:24.202-05:00Panama vs Nicaragua canal<p>With the current drought impacting the use of the Panama Canal and thereby impeding the U.S. supply chain, I looked again at the status of the Nicaragua Canal. I found that the project has not been abandoned, as previously reported about a year ago. </p><p>Further, the situation puts greater pressure on securing the Suez Canal and explains the U.S. military action against Yemeni Houthi missile attacks. </p><p>Searching the topic, there's been a drop off in stories, leading back to 2014-15, when interest in the Nicaragua Canal originally surfaced and drew criticism of the environmental impact.</p><p>China continues pushing the connection between Colombia and Nicaragua to accomplish a new shipping channel.</p><p><a href="https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2023/08/14/chinese-project-to-link-pacific-atlantic-oceans-through-a-new-shipping-channel/">https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2023/08/14/chinese-project-to-link-pacific-atlantic-oceans-through-a-new-shipping-channel/</a></p><p><a href="https://a-z-animals.com/blog/another-panama-canal-will-nicaragua-build-one/">https://a-z-animals.com/blog/another-panama-canal-will-nicaragua-build-one/</a></p><p><a href="https://jamestown.org/program/china-and-nicaraguas-deepening-embrace/">https://jamestown.org/program/china-and-nicaraguas-deepening-embrace/</a></p><p>Further, I found that Lake Nicaragua is said to have enough water to supply the would-be canal despite the drought impacting Central America, which apparently also drives migration.</p><p><a href="https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/theres-enough-water-for-nicaragua-canal-says-developer">https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/theres-enough-water-for-nicaragua-canal-says-developer</a></p><p><a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/eye-of-the-storm/fifth-straight-year-of-central-american-drought-helping-drive-migration/">https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/eye-of-the-storm/fifth-straight-year-of-central-american-drought-helping-drive-migration/</a></p><p>Wouldn't it make all the more sense that we drop the Paris Agreement and return to fracking? Let's get the hell out of the Middle East and concentrate efforts at home and on strengthening relations and investments with our southern neighbors.</p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-49365007789267749322024-01-12T09:26:00.007-05:002024-01-12T09:26:50.256-05:00Hertz replacing 20,000 EVs with Gas Cars<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h2 class="story" style="background-color: #016765; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 155px 4px 10px;"><span class="story-title" id="title-172724375" style="box-sizing: border-box; left: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/01/11/1958253/hertz-is-selling-20000-electric-vehicles-to-buy-gasoline-cars-instead" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Hertz is Selling 20,000 Electric Vehicles To Buy Gasoline Cars Instead</a> <span class=" no extlnk" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 14px;"><a class="story-sourcelnk" href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/11/business/hertz-tesla-selling/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #93cccc; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.75rem; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px 15px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-wrap: nowrap;" target="_blank" title="External link - https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/11/business/hertz-tesla-selling/index.html">(cnn.com)</a></span></span><span class="comment-bubble" style="background-color: #1e2329; border-radius: 3px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; position: absolute; right: 12px; text-align: center; top: 12px; width: 45px;"><a href="https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/01/11/1958253/hertz-is-selling-20000-electric-vehicles-to-buy-gasoline-cars-instead#comments" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="">159</a></span></h2><div class="details" id="details-172724375" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 20px;"><span class="story-details" style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(222, 222, 222); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 9px 0px;"><span class="story-views" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px;"><span class="sodify" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"></span><span alt="Popularity" class="icon-beaker pop1 " style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #cc0000; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.7rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></span></span><span class="story-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; height: 20px; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px 97px 0px 0px; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: absolute;">Posted by msmash <time datetime="on Thursday January 11, 2024 @03:42PM" id="fhtime-172724375" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">on Thursday January 11, 2024 @03:42PM</time> from the <span class="dept-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">how-about-that</span> dept.</span></div></header><div class="body" id="fhbody-172724375" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="p" id="text-172724375" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://slashdot.org/~quonset" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">quonset</a> writes:<span style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em;">Hertz rental has announced it's selling off one third of its 20,000 electric vehicle fleet and replacing them with gas powered vehicles. The reason? It's costing them <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/11/business/hertz-tesla-selling/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">too much to repair damaged EVs</a> and their depreciation is hurting the bottom line.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />"[C]ollision and damage repairs on an EV can often run about twice that associated with a comparable combustion engine vehicle," Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr said in a recent analyst call. And EV price declines in the new car market have pushed down the resale value of Hertz's used EV rental cars.</span></div></div>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-40013136668927230802024-01-05T10:00:00.000-05:002024-01-05T10:00:01.885-05:00Agile is dead<p> </p><p><a href="https://medium.com/developer-rants/agile-has-failed-officially-8136b0522c49">https://medium.com/developer-rants/agile-has-failed-officially-8136b0522c49</a></p><p>Highlighted images from the article:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRTcTYZeETqLUinc_nF8-6gOCLGBJtT7CbNXeE53d1T6efxXYbPmPeQby-K6t_pVDrxmjmO3n6-QHhga5bl830pzkM0iji8HzvDrOe6fZFSXs8NWwcSMhK93gr-EhAj3XooJiNzkseIGs2UTL69LxKoop3oGYefCZITV4SrgaR2yHHwtRe6PIbzc0-_Q0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="556" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhRTcTYZeETqLUinc_nF8-6gOCLGBJtT7CbNXeE53d1T6efxXYbPmPeQby-K6t_pVDrxmjmO3n6-QHhga5bl830pzkM0iji8HzvDrOe6fZFSXs8NWwcSMhK93gr-EhAj3XooJiNzkseIGs2UTL69LxKoop3oGYefCZITV4SrgaR2yHHwtRe6PIbzc0-_Q0" width="239" /></a></div><br />Brilliant!<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsD20IGY1YpMriPYgCDCfXkMriAX9mxoN7fUCnTc5HzaGHqx2ZSkQyRJLOdzP13dHiPZ8LifoBLf6f-tPW5NHIou99RoFnYCYS8KWbvW29NYKTde2dxeVRPW_Xy1-q1qxNMpxdZFs0d7P1i3-1n_XzCGXi82nj5Al-vTnnBj1dKRD66x8xm9f4fE4CoqY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="630" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgsD20IGY1YpMriPYgCDCfXkMriAX9mxoN7fUCnTc5HzaGHqx2ZSkQyRJLOdzP13dHiPZ8LifoBLf6f-tPW5NHIou99RoFnYCYS8KWbvW29NYKTde2dxeVRPW_Xy1-q1qxNMpxdZFs0d7P1i3-1n_XzCGXi82nj5Al-vTnnBj1dKRD66x8xm9f4fE4CoqY" width="240" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-46940932907611213082024-01-04T22:51:00.002-05:002024-01-04T22:51:19.402-05:005GW<p> </p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">books by Michael Flynn</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BN79NWZF&source=gmail&ust=1704511758263000&usg=AOvVaw30n2M1UyJsdtYf5gjqrB7j" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BN79NWZF" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/dp/<wbr></wbr>B0BN79NWZF</a><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/dp/1088216234&source=gmail&ust=1704511758263000&usg=AOvVaw2xHs3PgoRrfIjVaRJe7RjL" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1088216234" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/dp/<wbr></wbr>1088216234</a></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Israel's origin linking the Rothschild and Rockefeller families:</div><p><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://thefuelproject.org/know-your-enemy&source=gmail&ust=1704511758263000&usg=AOvVaw0KD9VQiehITIz3wwA_7IQY" href="https://thefuelproject.org/know-your-enemy" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://thefuelproject.org/<wbr></wbr>know-your-enemy</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list%3DPL70118C8DEDCEB4F0&source=gmail&ust=1704511758263000&usg=AOvVaw1R_IcgUGogsATiiwE8MHiH" href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL70118C8DEDCEB4F0" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/<wbr></wbr>playlist?list=<wbr></wbr>PL70118C8DEDCEB4F0</a><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Cloward & Piven strategy:</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/civil-unrest/the-cloward-and-piven-strategy/&source=gmail&ust=1704511758263000&usg=AOvVaw3DzUhUiwXGV11j8Nk6GlAK" href="https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/civil-unrest/the-cloward-and-piven-strategy/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.<wbr></wbr>armstrongeconomics.com/world-<wbr></wbr>news/civil-unrest/the-cloward-<wbr></wbr>and-piven-strategy/</a><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloward%25E2%2580%2593Piven_strategy&source=gmail&ust=1704511758263000&usg=AOvVaw0a_vuSLHYW8ugpQh3xRkMF" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloward%E2%80%93Piven_strategy" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/<wbr></wbr>Cloward%E2%80%93Piven_strategy</a><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-cloward-piven-strategy.html&source=gmail&ust=1704511758263000&usg=AOvVaw2azfZYxfVfn2n2zMtEr_rP" href="https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-cloward-piven-strategy.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://study.com/academy/<wbr></wbr>lesson/the-cloward-piven-<wbr></wbr>strategy.html</a></div>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-27958806970692412042024-01-04T11:26:00.000-05:002024-01-04T11:26:48.805-05:00 Lululemon’s billionaire founder slams the company’s diversity and inclusion <p> <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lululemon-billionaire-founder-slams-company-123500897.html">https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lululemon-billionaire-founder-slams-company-123500897.html</a></p><p><b>Here's a highlighted comment from the founder:</b></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">Wilson previously declared that when founding Lululemon back in 1998, he specifically came up with a brand name that has three L’s because the sound does not exist in Japanese phonetics.</p><p style="background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-family: "YahooSans VF", "Yahoo Sans", YahooSans, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.8; margin: 0px 0px 0.8em;">"It's funny to watch them try and say it,” he told Canada's <em>National Post Business Magazine.</em></p><p>-</p><p>Hmmm. "Ru-ru-remon..."</p><p><br /></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-52268690455862826552023-12-29T11:27:00.001-05:002023-12-29T11:27:09.527-05:0040% of US Electricity Is Now Emissions-Free <p>Concluding statement:</p><p>"<span style="background-color: white; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Unfortunately, the pace is currently too slow for the US to have a net-zero electric grid by the end of the decade."</span></p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h2 class="story" style="background-color: #016765; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 155px 4px 10px;"><span class="story-title" id="title-172612183" style="box-sizing: border-box; left: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/12/28/2315233/40-of-us-electricity-is-now-emissions-free" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">40% of US Electricity Is Now Emissions-Free</a> <span class=" no extlnk" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 14px;"><a class="story-sourcelnk" href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/12/40-of-us-electricity-is-now-emissions-free/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #93cccc; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.75rem; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px 15px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-wrap: nowrap;" target="_blank" title="External link - https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/12/40-of-us-electricity-is-now-emissions-free/">(arstechnica.com)</a></span></span><span class="comment-bubble" style="background-color: #1e2329; border-radius: 3px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; position: absolute; right: 12px; text-align: center; top: 12px; width: 45px;"><a href="https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/12/28/2315233/40-of-us-electricity-is-now-emissions-free#comments" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="">75</a></span></h2><div class="details" id="details-172612183" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 20px;"><span class="story-details" style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(222, 222, 222); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 9px 0px;"><span class="story-views" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px;"><span class="sodify" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"></span><span alt="Popularity" class="icon-beaker pop1 " style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #cc0000; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.7rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></span></span><span class="story-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; height: 20px; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px 97px 0px 0px; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: absolute;">Posted by <a href="https://twitter.com/BeauHD" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">BeauHD</a> <time datetime="on Thursday December 28, 2023 @10:30PM" id="fhtime-172612183" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">on Thursday December 28, 2023 @10:30PM</time> from the <span class="dept-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">trending-in-the-right-direction</span> dept.</span></div></header><div class="body" id="fhbody-172612183" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="p" id="text-172612183" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px; padding: 0px;">An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica:<span style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em;">Just before the holiday break, the US Energy Information Agency released data on the country's electrical generation. Because of delays in reporting, the monthly data runs through October, so it doesn't provide a complete picture of the changes we've seen in 2023. But some of the trends now seem locked in for the year: wind and solar are likely to be in a dead heat with coal, and all carbon-emissions-free sources combined will <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/12/40-of-us-electricity-is-now-emissions-free/" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">account for roughly 40 percent of US electricity production</a>. [...]<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />At this point last year, coal had produced nearly 20 percent of the electricity in the US. This year, it's down to 16.2 percent, and only accounts for 15.5 percent of October's production. Wind and solar combined are presently at 16 percent of year-to-date production, meaning they're likely to be in a dead heat with coal this year and easily surpass it next year. Year-to-date, wind is largely unchanged since 2022, accounting for about 10 percent of total generation, and it's up to over 11 percent in the October data, so that's unlikely to change much by the end of the year. Solar has seen a significant change, going from five to six percent of the total electricity production (this figure includes both utility-scale generation and the EIA's estimate of residential production). And it's largely unchanged in October alone, suggesting that new construction is offsetting some of the seasonal decline.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Hydroelectric production has dropped by about six percent since last year, causing it to slip from 6.1 percent to 5.8 percent of the total production. Depending on the next couple of months, that may allow solar to pass hydro on the list of renewables. Combined, the three major renewables account for about 22 percent of year-to-date electricity generation, up about 0.5 percent since last year. They're up by even more in the October data, placing them well ahead of both nuclear and coal. Nuclear itself is largely unchanged, allowing it to pass coal thanks to the latter's decline. Its output has been boosted by a new, 1.1 Gigawatt reactor that come online this year (a second at the same site, Vogtle in Georgia, is set to start commercial production at any moment). But that's likely to be the end of new nuclear capacity for this decade; the challenge will be keeping existing plants open despite their age and high costs. If we combine nuclear and renewables under the umbrella of carbon-free generation, then that's up by nearly 1 percent since 2022 and is likely to surpass 40 percent for the first time.</span>"The only thing that's keeping carbon-free power from growing faster is natural gas, which is the fastest-growing source of generation at the moment, going from 40 percent of the year-to-date total in 2022 to 43.3 percent this year," notes Ars.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />"Outside of natural gas, however, all the trends in US generation are good, especially considering that the rise of renewable production would have seemed like an impossibility a decade ago. Unfortunately, the pace is currently too slow for the US to have a net-zero electric grid by the end of the decade."</div></div>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-38488744493824811472023-12-24T13:58:00.002-05:002023-12-24T13:58:22.308-05:00Quantum computing skepticism<p> </p><header style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h2 class="story" style="background-color: #016765; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: arial, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.5rem; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 155px 4px 10px;"><span class="story-title" id="title-172581099" style="box-sizing: border-box; left: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><a href="https://developers.slashdot.org/story/23/12/24/1747245/quantum-computing-gets-a-hard-cold-reality-check" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Quantum Computing Gets a 'Hard, Cold Reality Check'</a> <span class=" no extlnk" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 14px;"><a class="story-sourcelnk" href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/quantum-computing-skeptics" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #93cccc; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.75rem; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px 15px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; text-wrap: nowrap;" target="_blank" title="External link - https://spectrum.ieee.org/quantum-computing-skeptics">(ieee.org)</a></span></span><span class="comment-bubble" style="background-color: #1e2329; border-radius: 3px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 2rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; position: absolute; right: 12px; text-align: center; top: 12px; width: 45px;"><a href="https://developers.slashdot.org/story/23/12/24/1747245/quantum-computing-gets-a-hard-cold-reality-check#comments" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="">16</a></span></h2><div class="details" id="details-172581099" style="background: rgb(242, 242, 242); box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4d4d; font-size: 0.85em; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 20px;"><span class="story-details" style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(222, 222, 222); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 3px 0px 0px; padding: 9px 0px;"><span class="story-views" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 10px 0px 0px;"><span class="sodify" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"></span><span alt="Popularity" class="icon-beaker pop1 " style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #cc0000; cursor: pointer; font-size: 0.7rem; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Filter Firehose to entries rated red or better"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></span></span><span class="story-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; height: 20px; line-height: 1.4rem; margin: 0px 97px 0px 0px; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; position: absolute;">Posted by EditorDavid <time datetime="on Sunday December 24, 2023 @12:49PM" id="fhtime-172581099" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">on Sunday December 24, 2023 @12:49PM</time> from the <span class="dept-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">baby-it's-cold-outside</span> dept.</span></div></header><div class="body" id="fhbody-172581099" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #363636; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="p" id="text-172581099" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px; padding: 0px;">A Canadian cybersecurity firm has <a href="https://it.slashdot.org/story/23/12/23/1954219/the-race-to-shield-secrets-from-quantum-computers" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">warned that as soon as 2025</a>, quantum computers could make current encryption methods useless.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />But now Slashdot reader <a href="https://www.slashdot.org/~christoban" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">christoban</a> shares a "reality check" — <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/quantum-computing-skeptics" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">an IEEE Spectrum takedown</a> with the tagline "Hype is everywhere, skeptics say, and practical applications are still far away."<span style="border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); box-sizing: border-box; display: block; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em;">The <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/quantum-computing-for-dummies" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">quantum computer revolution</a> may be further off and more limited than many have been led to believe. That's the message coming from a small but vocal set of prominent skeptics in and around the emerging quantum computing industry... [T]here's growing pushback against what many see as unrealistic expectations for the technology. Meta's head of AI research <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/yann-lecun-ai" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Yann LeCun</a> recently <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/03/meta-ai-chief-yann-lecun-skeptical-about-agi-quantum-computing.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">made headlines</a> after pouring cold water on the prospect of quantum computers making a meaningful contribution in the near future.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Speaking at a media event celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Meta's Fundamental AI Research team he said the technology is "a fascinating scientific topic," but that he was less convinced of "the possibility of actually fabricating quantum computers that are actually useful." While LeCun is not an expert in quantum computing, leading figures in the field are also sounding a note of caution. Oskar Painter, head of quantum hardware for Amazon Web Services, says there is a "tremendous amount of hype" in the industry at the minute and "it can be difficult to filter the optimistic from the completely unrealistic."<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />A fundamental challenge for today's quantum computers is that they are very prone to errors. Some have suggested that these so-called "noisy intermediate-scale quantum" (<a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/measuring-progress-in-the-noisy-era-of-quantum-computing" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">NISQ</a>) processors could still be put to useful work. But Painter says there's growing recognition that this is unlikely and <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/quantum-error-correction" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">quantum error-correction</a> schemes will be key to achieving practical quantum computers. The leading proposal involves spreading information over many physical qubits to create "<a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/fault-tolerant-quantum-computing-milestone" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">logical qubits</a>" that are more robust, but this could require as many as 1,000 physical qubits for each logical one. Some have suggested that <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-case-against-quantum-computing" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">quantum error correction</a> could even be fundamentally impossible, though that is not a mainstream view. Either way, realizing these schemes at the scale and speeds required remains a distant goal, Painter says... "I would estimate at least a decade out," he says.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />A Microsoft technical fellow believes <a href="https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2023/5/272276-disentangling-hype-from-practicality-on-realistically-achieving-quantum-advantage/fulltext" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #006666; cursor: pointer; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">there's fewer applications where quantum computers can really provide a meaningful advantage</a>, since operating a qubit its magnitudes slower than simply flipping a transistor, which also makes the throughput rate for data thousands or even millions of times slowers.<br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />"We found out over the last 10 years that many things that people have proposed don't work," he says. "And then we found some very simple reasons for that."</div></div>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3531170146243434348.post-68971594151831758702023-12-21T09:23:00.004-05:002023-12-21T09:23:59.658-05:00Nuclear fusion repeated successfully<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Open Sans"; font-size: 18px;">Scientists have managed to repeatedly produce nuclear fusion ignition for the first time, marking a major milestone towards achieving near-limitless clean energy at scale.</span></p><p><a href="https://www.nucnet.org/news/us-lab-enters-new-era-achieving-ignition-over-and-over-12-2-2023" target="_blank">https://www.nucnet.org/news/us-lab-enters-new-era-achieving-ignition-over-and-over-12-2-2023</a></p><p><a href="https://www.power-technology.com/news/us-scientists-achieve-repeated-nuclear-fusion-igntion-for-the-first-time/">https://www.power-technology.com/news/us-scientists-achieve-repeated-nuclear-fusion-igntion-for-the-first-time/</a></p>The Yeomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09055579181373343782noreply@blogger.com