"It's news to me!"

[Simon of the Playa]

“When all mining activities are banned in China, it will be a turning point for the fate of bitcoin, as a large chunk of its processing power is taken out of the picture.”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/202 ... on-mining/

[FlyingMonkey]

“When all mining activities are banned in China, it will be a turning point for the fate of bitcoin, as a large chunk of its processing power is taken out of the picture.”

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/202 ... on-mining/

I'm sure Elon hid code in every Tesla that uses idle processing time to mine coin for him. It's a "feature" that people pay extra for.

Oh sorry, I thought I was in "What's my Conspiracy".

[some seeing eye]

Maybe this really belongs under the Fuck! topic, or maybe we should start a stupid topic.

Bellingcat is a group of journalists. They actually discover true conspiracies and official stupidity. They found secret nuclear weapon data stored in plain sight on flashcard apps used for memorizing obscure factoids. Hahaha, presumably the agencies are tracking where this link is reposted. It would be more productive to their actual responsibility for which we pay them if they looked up their own excretory orifices. Bellingcat was responsible, blacked out some data, and reached out to the involved agencies previous to publication.

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/05 ... card-apps/

I was never in the military, but this is one of those stories those who have been might laugh at.

[FlyingMonkey]

I'll just drop this right here. LoL.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... g-Man.html

[Simon of the Playa]

As of October 2019, around 15,000 Facebook pages with a majority US audience were being run out of Kosovo and Macedonia, known bad actors during the 2016 election.
Collectively, those troll-farm pages—which the report treats as a single page for comparison purposes—reached 140 million US users monthly and 360 million global users weekly. Walmart’s page reached the second-largest US audience at 100 million.
The troll farm pages also combined to form:
the largest Christian American page on Facebook, 20 times larger than the next largest—reaching 75 million US users monthly, 95% of whom had never followed any of the pages.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/0 ... -election/

AA4CB680-43FA-447A-B6D4-AE7AB66CC7AA.jpeg

[Simon of the Playa]

https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/19/227 ... -metaverse

7BF1117C-7017-4104-BDDC-4E135C66A54B.jpeg

[Simon of the Playa]

This Is A Good Thing and Should Be Done Here

[lucky420]

This Is A Good Thing and Should Be Done Here

[some seeing eye]

I'm not a vet, some here are.

Oklahoma National Guard refuses vaccines.

https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-arm ... f-command/

Less than honorable discharge to every single national guard Covid vaccine refuser in the US without a narrow medical exemption approved by an MD and noted in detail in their record.

This is not a game.

[Canoe]

This is not a game.

Vaccine mandates are causing teachers who don't believe in science to quit, nurses who don't believe in medicine to quit, and cops who don't believe in public safety to quit.

I'm failing to see the downside to this.

sound of freedom.jpg

[Simon of the Playa]

"Other economic news is also good. Today, news broke that the government has badly underestimated job growth. Between June and September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics underestimated job growth by 626,000 jobs. The pandemic meant that businesses were slow to fill out paperwork, and this, in turn, meant numbers were underreported.

Goldman Sachs says that by the end of 2022, the nation’s unemployment rate will be at a 50-year low. Unemployment is currently at 4.6% and is expected to be at 3.5% by the end of the year, a rate that will match that of 2019, which was the lowest in 50 years.

Retail sales are also higher than expected. They are 16% higher now than they were a year ago, during the height of the pandemic. They jumped 1.7% in October, with Americans spending about $638.2 billion in that month. The National Retail Federation expects strong holiday retail sales. J.P. Morgan has upgraded its growth expectations for gross domestic product in the fourth quarter from 4% to 5%.

Products are also refilling shelves. Walmart today reported that it will have full shelves for the holiday season.

On all of this news, the stock market rose again."

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.c ... er-16-2021

[lucky420]

Thank You Biden ^^

[some seeing eye]

“What is the unbelievable to me is that Christmas Town USA has decided to replace a family friendly ‘Christmas Lighting’ to celebrate the ‘Village of Lights.’ And this week the Chamber had the audacity/naivety/stupidity to kick off this non-holiday by inviting Krampus Seattle, a group of demonic horned half-goat cosplayers to give speeches at our pavilion and pub crawl throughout the downtown terrifying our children.”

Catholic Knights of Columbus decry Krampus. "Dressing up as the creature was long banned by the Roman Catholic Church as a pagan tradition."

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... avenworth/

There is a huge photo collection on the KrampusSeattle FB page of their Leavenworth zone trip
https://www.facebook.com/KrampusSeattle ... 266322790/

Screen Shot 2021-12-20 at 10.33.15 AM.jpg

[Canoe]

Well, not in the news, but on the internets...

"I worked late all last week. Last Friday, I finally got home and had a few to relax. Searched online. Way too complicated to figure out. For a starting point, I ordered a basic Recce kit in my size and weight. I got a tracking number on Saturday! Package was left on my door step on Wednesday! Clothing, boots, belt and harness all fit nicely, if a little odd. Sword was cool, but seemed unusual. Checked online. There's a difference between Reconnaissance and Renaissance."

[FIGJAM]

Polar bears should be in Jameson ads!!!

https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... rs-ireland

[some seeing eye]

What's next, AI BRC camp placement?

South China Morning Post

Chinese scientists develop AI ‘prosecutor’ that can press its own charges

Stephen Chen in Beijing
26 Dec, 2021


Researchers in China say they have achieved a world first by developing a machine that can charge people with crimes using artificial intelligence.
The AI “prosecutor” can file a charge with more than 97 per cent accuracy based on a verbal description of the case, according to the researchers.
The machine was built and tested by the Shanghai Pudong People’s Procuratorate, the country’s largest and busiest district prosecution office.
The technology could reduce prosecutors’ daily workload, allowing them to focus on more difficult tasks, according to Professor Shi Yong, director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ big data and knowledge management laboratory, who is the project’s lead scientist.

“The system can replace prosecutors in the decision-making process to a certain extent,” said Shi and his colleagues in a paper published this month in the domestic peer-reviewed journal Management Review.
The application of AI technology in law enforcement has been increasing around the world.
Some German prosecutors have used AI technology such as image recognition and digital forensics to increase case processing speed and accuracy.
China’s prosecutors were early adopters when they began using AI in 2016. Many of them now use an AI tool known as System 206.
The tool can evaluate the strength of evidence, conditions for an arrest and how dangerous a suspect is considered to be to the public.

But all existing AI tools have a limited role, because “they do not participate in the decision-making process of filing charges and [suggesting] sentences”, Shi and colleagues said.
Making such decisions would require a machine to identify and remove any contents of a case file that are irrelevant to a crime, without removing the useful information.
The machine would also need to convert complex, ever-changing human language into a standard mathematical or geometric format that a computer could understand.
China’s internet companies have developed powerful tools for natural language processing, but their operation often requires large computers that prosecutors do not have access to.

The AI prosecutor developed by Shi’s team could run on a desktop computer. For each suspect, it would press a charge based on 1,000 “traits” obtained from the human-generated case description text, most of which are too small or abstract to make sense to humans. System 206 would then assess the evidence.
The machine was “trained” using more than 17,000 cases from 2015 to 2020. So far, it can identify and press charges for Shanghai’s eight most common crimes.
They are credit card fraud, running a gambling operation, dangerous driving, intentional injury, obstructing official duties, theft, fraud and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – a catch-all charge often used to stifle dissent.
Shi and colleagues said that the AI prosecutor would soon become more powerful with upgrades. It would be able to recognise less common crimes and file multiple charges against one suspect.
It was unclear when or whether the technology would find applications in other fields. The team could not be reached for comment when the report was published.
A prosecutor in the southern city of Guangzhou said he had some concerns about the use of AI in filing charges.
“The accuracy of 97 per cent may be high from a technological point of view, but there will always be a chance of a mistake,” said the prosecutor, who requested not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. “Who will take responsibility when it happens? The prosecutor, the machine or the designer of the algorithm?”
Direct involvement of AI in decision-making could also affect a human prosecutor’s autonomy. Most prosecutors did not want computer scientists “meddling” in a legal judgment, the Guangzhou-based prosecutor said.

Another issue is that an AI prosecutor could file a charge based only on its previous experience. It could not foresee the public reaction to a case in a changing social environment.
“AI may help detect a mistake, but it cannot replace humans in making a decision,” the prosecutor said.
Nonetheless, China is making aggressive use of AI in nearly every sector of the government to try to improve efficiency, reduce corruption and strengthen control.
Some Chinese cities have used machines to monitor government employees’ social circles and activities to detect corruption, according to researchers involved.
Many Chinese courts have been using AI to help judges process case files and make decisions such as whether to accept or reject an appeal.
Most Chinese prisons have also adopted AI technology to track prisoners’ physical and mental status, with the goal of reducing violence.

[Canoe]

Alledgely an ad in Sweden...

Have faith in the Pfizer vaccine.
Remember they make Viagra.
If they can raise the dead, they can save the living.

[Elliot]

Looks like this is a common online wisecrack in many countries, going back at least a year. My brief search failed to find a commercially published version, but this handwritten version is from an online community forum in a small town in Sweden a year ago. (I speak Norwegian and understand Swedish -- very similar languages.)

[Canoe]

Chip shortage has Cannon telling customers how to skirt it's printer toner DRM...

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/202 ... toner-drm/

[Canoe]

In some places, apparently Speak softly and carry a big stick has been replaced by Steam often and carry a good sponge...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... othes-less

[Canoe]

Farmer 'rests the souls' of cows with VR headsets showing green fields with classical music, for increasing milk yields & quality.

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1 ... 2660690952

[Canoe]

‘Not the cruise I signed up for’: over 3,000 % increase in Covid cases upends industry

A surge in Covid infections on cruise ships is causing mayhem across the industry, leaving passengers stranded aboard ships, exacerbating staff shortages and prompting the CDC to warn US passengers against all cruise travel. The CDC director said this week that Covid cases have increased 30-fold in just two weeks. Every one of the nearly 100 cruise ships currently carrying passengers in US waters has reported enough Covid-19 cases to merit investigation by the CDC, according to the agency’s website.

Over the holidays, passengers found themselves floating around on ships that couldn’t dock because foreign ports were turning them away or facing long, onboard quarantines before being allowed to come home, after testing positive for Covid. Dozens of cruises have been cancelled and some ports in the Caribbean and South America are turning ships away from making daily visits.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... p-industry

[Canoe]

“Our data strongly suggest Epstein-Barr virus is the leading cause of multiple sclerosis,”
Could lead to treatment or even a vaccine.
https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/13/str ... sclerosis/

[lucky420]

‘Not the cruise I signed up for’: over 3,000 % increase in Covid cases upends industry

A surge in Covid infections on cruise ships is causing mayhem across the industry, leaving passengers stranded aboard ships, exacerbating staff shortages and prompting the CDC to warn US passengers against all cruise travel. The CDC director said this week that Covid cases have increased 30-fold in just two weeks. Every one of the nearly 100 cruise ships currently carrying passengers in US waters has reported enough Covid-19 cases to merit investigation by the CDC, according to the agency’s website.

Over the holidays, passengers found themselves floating around on ships that couldn’t dock because foreign ports were turning them away or facing long, onboard quarantines before being allowed to come home, after testing positive for Covid. Dozens of cruises have been cancelled and some ports in the Caribbean and South America are turning ships away from making daily visits.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... p-industry

Did these cruisers not pay attention to what happened to other cruisers when the pandemic started 2 years ago? Floating germ capsule, no thank you

[Canoe]

"The pressure wave caused by the #TongaVolcano is also actually causing a tsunami - in this case a meteotsunami of about 10cm in Puerto Rico"

https://twitter.com/DrGregDusek/status/ ... 5743697927

[Canoe]

Association Between Social Media Use and Self-reported Symptoms of Depression in US Adults

• Question: Is social media use by adults associated with subsequent increases in depressive symptoms?
  Findings: In this survey study, 5395 individuals with minimal depressive symptoms on initial survey who reported use of Snapchat, Facebook, or TikTok were more likely to report increased levels of depressive symptoms on a later survey.
  Meaning: These results suggest that certain social media use preceded worsening of depressive symptoms.
• internet survey conducted approximately monthly between May 2020 and May 2021
• In total, 5395 of 8045 individuals (67.1%) with a PHQ-9 score below 5 on initial survey completed a second PHQ-9.
  [edit: PHQ-9 below 5 is "0-4 No or Minimal depression"]
• Among eligible respondents, 482 (8.9%) reported 5 points or greater worsening of PHQ-9 score at second survey.
• some forms of social media use—in particular, Snapchat, Facebook, and YouTube—were associated with greater levels of self-reported depressive symptoms on a subsequent survey.
• Largest aOR in Snapchat, Facebook, and TikTok.
  ("the largest adjusted odds ratio (aOR) associated with social media use was observed for Snapchat (aOR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.19-1.96), Facebook (aOR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.10-1.81), and TikTok (aOR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.03-1.87).")
• For TikTok and Snapchat, use was associated with depressive symptoms among those ages 35 years or older, but not among those younger than age 35 years
• For Facebook, the opposite pattern was observed; use was associated with depressive symptoms among those younger than 35 years, but not among those aged 35 years and older

https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.36113

[Simon of the Playa]

they're "killing it"...

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60015294

[burner von braun]

Hmmm... for what it's worth, I happened to wander over to check to see what the current U.S. population is, and according to a live estimate 'odometer', it appears that it surpassed 333,333,333 people not long ago.

[Canoe]

"Canada's capital city to a standstill for a second day"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60190452

Not even close.

Ottawa was not shut down. The Capital was not shut down. Not even downtown Ottawa was shut down.

I'm afraid the reality is rather boring. Well, this is Canada. And its capital.

No chaos. Just the usual traffic associated with a protest (protest road-closures & traffic forecasts are announced here like weather forecasts). And as usual, affected only a part of the downtown core, but with a lot fewer people due to the size of trucks. Impact? Parliament Hill and most of the downtown core is already largely shut down due to the overwhelming majority of workers working remotely due to COVID-19. Significantly less impact than the usual flurry of the various marathons and music festivals.

The police directed arriving trucks to park on Wellington in some lanes in front of our Parliament Buildings. These lanes are usually used for regular traffic, but when there's a big protest, they get shut down and used for that purpose. As trucks use a lot of space, that's where they got parked. As usual, there's a lane left open for emergency vehicles.

Buses over to Gatineau PQ use Wellington, but as usual that traffic (already reduced to sparse to light use due to COVID-19 remote working) was routed to a street to the south of Wellington.

We get protests in Ottawa on a fairly regular basis. They're typically rather boring affairs, but sometimes a few people get a little carried away. This one wasn't much different, other than the loud truck horns and the trucks occupying space instead of people occupying that space.

On Saturday, the "crowd" on Parliament Hill peaked somewhere between a small and medium protest. They easily fit in only part of the available space, but with people "crowding" on the hard surfaces as it's easier to walk there than on the snow covered grass. We're also Canadian, so most of us know that walking on snow on grass too much kills the grass, and the grass there belongs to all Canadians, so we avoid doing that to our grass. Even when we protest, most of us are polite about it. At one point people numbered near a thousand on The Hill, which including the people walking and gathering on the sidewalks along Wellington, that might have reached the 2,000 count that would technically allow "thousands" to be used to describe the "crowd".

Due to the limited number of people attending, the streets to Wellington and The Hill had sparse to minor pedestrian traffic, easily handled by the sidewalks. Large protests fill the entire area in front of the Parliament buildings, Wellington, and spill over into using the surrounding streets. That did not happen with this protest, in spite of a meaningful portion of the usual space being occupied by trucks.

On Sunday, vehicle access to Wellington and the half-dozen or so streets feeding it, was restricted for a few blocks to only additional arriving trucks. Those were directed to a lane as parking place on Wellington until that was full. Then there was some minor traffic chaos in that part of the downtown core, as some arriving trucks thought that they should get to park where trucks were already parked. No entitlement there.

It's usually considered bad form to park one's truck on top of another truck. Although to be fair, in some places in Canada, using snow banks to access parking on top of other cars & trucks is sometimes a Friday or Saturday night impromptu sport, so perhaps they're used to indulging. That's an novelty available during winter, rather than the usual loading the vehicle up and taking the family to the dump to watch the bears feeding. A fair number of trucks ended up having to park on Kent Street approaching Wellington, which by mid afternoon had two lanes used for that. There was some additional traffic impact running east on Wellington where a few westbound lanes of vehicles parked nose to nose with the trucks in front of The Hill. Plus some traffic tie ups for people getting to or from the routes to the bridges over the Ottawa River.

There is some impact on local business. Well, in the small downtown core. Those stores and restaurants that remain open during COVID-19 are seeing more business. Although it's take-out only for the restaurants - unless you have proof of vaccination... Perhaps we'll see more business for them arriving in the days ahead.

The areas near the downtown core saw increased traffic on Sunday, as another warm sunny day saw people heading out to the Rideau Canal to skate. By 3 pm Sunday, the number of people on Parliament Hill, either protesters or those who went there for the entertainment, hadn't got anywhere near close to Saturday's numbers. Perhaps after they have their skate on the Canal, those near downtown might wander over to have a look. After all, video footage shows that the percentage of crazies in this protest are higher than the usual we see. Beyond COVID-19 itself, dealing with the pandemic has been difficult on many. We have to get our entertainment where & when we can.

If the trucks can stay a number of days, weeks or months, I'm sure the businesses they're using would appreciate the business. Although if they go beyond weeks, they'll likely be in scheduling conflict with other protests. Although there are a lot fewer protests due to COVID-19. Most people are scaling back or delaying their protests, as they don't want their protest event to be, and become know as, a Covid Super Spreading Event.

With this protest, with numbers of its people claiming to be unvaccinated, gathering in groups to stay warm on The Hill, saving the grass, there's expectation that the infection rate will be raised for attendees, and in turn for those exposed to them. We just hope they leave before they start getting sick and stressing the already stressed Ontario hospitals, doctors & nurses. And funeral homes.

So I guess from the 88+ % of Canadians who got vaccinated for COVID-19, to those contributing to what is likely to be a COVID-19 Super Spreading Event - how aboot you F off eh!

Regards,

Michael in Ottawa

[Simon of the Playa]

https://ilovetheupperwestside.com/did-y ... tral-park/