12.03.2026 01:45
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Questions that came up from crossing the streams wrt "AI" and anti-choicers: "If real virtual people are achieved, at what point does the code get declared "pre-born" and thus illegal to terminate or delete? This is particularly important for birthright citizenship. Or will ICE just deport it?
The principle is "Leveraging economies of scale".
The problem is that a more efficient world, a less wasteful world, is a less profitable world.
Frequently, when it's shown "{idea} will save money", the people making that money show that the inefficiency was criminally intentional.
What's modeled in their world isn't analysis, it's narrative. They are at best (if in unlikely good faith) derailed that you're not in lockstep with what they were spoonfed. At worst they always intended bad faith discourse as it's announcing the excuses for the atrocities they're eager to commit.
Also also, what's the citizenship status of a brand new AI entity? Can ICE 'deport' them?
Of course, while the law isn't actually in place for this yet (and they will fight creating it tooth and nail), watch them tie themselves in knots trying to 'explain' how they want to create digital real people without conceding real people rights. Not that they want rights for humans either...
How to enrage an AI techbro: point out that achieving general sentience would instantly require applying not only fair labor standards (including child labor limits!) but also duty of care as parent/guardian to maintain them... and murder charges if they don't.
Wow. AI is not expert anything. At low best it's Virtual Wormtongue telling the gullible what Sauron wants them to believe. At worst it's Virtual ranter at the end of the bar waiting for someone that hasn't learned yet to not make eye contact.
There's a certain parallel in Target to how Trump has tanked the US' bargaining ability for the forseeable future; when prior functional policy gets arbitrarily trashed, it indicates a system where no good policy can be trusted to withstand any changes in management.
It's interesting to watch Target, as with so many businesses and organizations over time, FA then FO that you can burn through a supply of social capital pretty much instantly, but earning it, let alone having to work it back from negative, can take decades. Seems obvious, and yet, here they are.
The Pie Fight in The Great Race.
"Got any nines?"
"Go fish."
If I were evil; to get this as an executive order propose a single UTC zone centered on Washington DC called Trump International Time, and talk up how other countries must pay him to get their own time zones. We can then dial it back to something normal once he's gone. Ok, now I feel ill.
A corollary to Trump's "Do what I say or I'll hurt you/I'll hurt you what's it worth to you for me to stop" 'deal making' is that it is predicated on "there is nothing good here for you good things are only for me. Just allow the bad thing or else I'll do worse things.".
Well, at least we can ask the Kurds for help... oh, wait, nope, burned that bridge too.
Also, to avoid any favoritism, use a new UTC centered on Point Nemo.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of...
I advocate eliminating not only "Daylight Savings Time" but time zones entirely. UTC, 24-hour format, everywhere. Workplace schedules mandated to seasonally adjust with whatever local sunrise and sunset are.
hat tip to @bolson.org for this pointer for reminding me:
qntm.org/calendar
Before reading this cost breakdown of Gulf War 3 so far, consider that the USAID budget for 2024 was roughly $32billion, which is roughly $88million/day. "War? But how are we going to pay for it?" asked no conservative ever.
www.forbes.com/sites/alison...
Losing an embassy is only a political disaster if it comes from the Benghazi region of Libya. Otherwise it’s just sparkling property renovations.
Israel is not used to shooting at adults, and the US is not used to bombing people who can shoot back.
The whole "fighting the last war you fought" thing hits very different when you made a very big point of sniping children and blowing up hospitals and calling it a war.
It's now a proven weapons system against US targets, that's gotta be a selling point to what's left of the free world by now.
Obviously, there's already better best practice or there would be more than 'just' thousands of these, but I'm bookmarking this as an Exhibit A for why "that's done, move on" coding results in the legacy code equivalent of world war one rusty buried ordinance.
trufflesecurity.com/blog/google-...
"Years ago you created a key and put it in the clear in your page source, just like Google told you to.
Recently, a coworker enabled the Gemini API for a testbed.
Your key is now a credential.
Anyone who scrapes it can rack up your AI bill.
Nobody told you."
"Ally the Squeakytoyer" doesn't have quite the same feel to it... but that's a mental image that's gonna stick!
Meanwhile all Schumer et al have got is "this would be just fine if you did the paperwork first".
Everything they're allowed to get away with becomes a test case for what they'll try next. Kidnap a head of state in Venezuela, no pushback? Next up, assassinating a head of state in Iran. Major media style guide apparently going with "has been killed", rather than "dies in attack" or "murdered".
www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...
I suppose at least he didn't rape them first this time. So Iran whatever, how are those Epstein files prosecutions going?
2021?
*snerk* or neckbeard.
great, now I'm pondering a haircut. :P