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The Pledge San Antonio city councilman Robert Courage (a mayoral candidate wannabe) is sponsoring the city’s first major gun buyback program, to be held November 19th at the Alamodome. Although it was publicized “under the radar” in the local press, … Continue reading Ineffectual Posturing
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Remember this guy? Turns out he’s got competition from this guy. Tip from American Digest. Update: And here’s a Texan who spent 10 years getting the US Constitution amended; that’s cool the hard way. Update: Let’s not forget this old fart who broke the sound barrier gimmicking the controls of his Bell X-1 with a piece of broomstick. Continue reading The Cool Just Keeps on Comin’
Anti-Social Media The Stanford Internet Observatory is revealed as a nest of snitches: My First Job, at the Stanford Internet Observatory “In actuality, SIO hired a load of interns to scan social media for posts deemed to be mis- and disinformation. It turns out that the posts we students flagged were often sent along to moderators at Twitter (now X), Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, which took them down in order to quash dissenting viewpoints—viewpoints that sometimes ended up being right, as in the case of Covid likely being the result of a lab leak, or Hunter Biden’s hard drive being … Continue reading Cyberfascism Bulletin: Hello, Summer! Edition
Thank you, Anthony Bourdain Lately the foodie internet has been abuzz with recipes for the late Anthony Bourdain’s favorite mortadella sandwich, something he discovered in Brazil. It sounds tasty, if a bit plain, so I decided to kick it up a notch. The Big Tony Bourdain’s version is pretty simple, lots of fried mortadella and prosciutto, topped with provolone, and dressed with mustard and mayo on a toasted soft bun. Nice, but where’s the color, where’s the vegetables? And prosciutto? Tasty, but tends to be stringy, and not a very bold flavor, so…. So here’s my Americano version, the Big … Continue reading Estilo Americano: The Big Tony Sandwich
Whether Industry absorbs the State, or the State absorbs Industry, the result is the same: fascism.And our Cybernetic Revolution makes this easier than ever. Big AI Bruce Schneier opines on How AI will change democracy: “Millions of AI-controlled social media accounts could fundamentally change the nature of propaganda.” (tip from The Geek Press) Sometimes big data trumps the models: No physics? No problem. AI weather forecasting is already making huge strides. (tip from The Geek Press) Finally, a REAL Clean Energy Law. This is just the Camel’s Nose for nuclear energy. The folks pushing this aren’t trying to Save the … Continue reading The CyberFascism Bulletin: Summer Solstice Edition
What to boost your creativity? Do some simple brainstorming? Emulate the great thinkers and go for a walk. Of course, there’s walkin’ and then there’s Walken. It is possible to get over-enthusiastic. Continue reading Take a hike
Cats kill birds. lots of birds. From the New Yorker article “And how many birds does a bird-killing cat kill in one year? (Perhaps three dozen.) Each of these multipliers had a range of uncertainty, so the model needed to be run repeatedly. The number it generated most often was 2.4 billion birds a year. Outdoor-cat advocates were quick to dismiss the paper as ‘junk science.’… But I, too, at first, being skeptical of models, had trouble believing that the numbers could be so vast…. The most dismal number in the Nature Communications paper was its median estimate for the … Continue reading Your cat is an ecological disaster
The Chilton is a simple vodka cocktail thought to be invented in Lubbock, Texas. There are a variety of recipes, many of which are transparent marketing ploys for overpriced (and nasty tasting) flavored vodkas. Don’t fall for them; stick to basics. Here’s my version: Continue reading Estilo Americano: The Basic Chilton
Two knock-it-outta-the-park posts on the web this week. Stuff to make you smarter and maybe richer: Effortless cool is a detailed process. -Ben Sherman Where was all this stuff when I was in college? high school? Update I’m a big advocate for not hiding your enthusiasm for things,” she [Taylor Swift] said last year in her New York University commencement address. “Never be ashamed of trying. Effortlessness is a myth. The people who wanted it the least were the ones I wanted to date and be friends with in high school. The people who want it the most are the people I … Continue reading Brainfeast: Reading and Speaking
The Story, up to now A poorly-reported story from the current Israel-Hamas conflict is the IDF’s plan to fill the Hamas tunnel network in Gaza with seawater. Most of the published stories are short on fact and long on whiny pessimism, … Continue reading Ballparkin’: to the tunnels from the sea
This recipe was invented by my wife, pretty much by accident. My wife is a secret foodie, and a big fan of “champagne” cocktails and fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice. A couple days back, she combined the two in a ruby-red grapefruit mimosa, with a sweet kick: maraschino cherries. The Recipe Drop the three cherries into a large wine tulip glass, add the grapefruit juice, then the sparking wine. Carefully, it tends to foam up. Goes great with a Tex-Mex breakfast or a plate of nachos. Continue reading Estilo Americano: The Jackpot Mimosa
Cultural artifacts from the 21st Century that give me the pip: Continue reading Peeving
The Home for Wayward Statisticians 