In a statement, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu presented state awards to the Su-27 pilots saying they had "prevented" the American drone "intruder" from "violating" airspace restrictions that Russia unilaterally put in place during the conflict in Ukraine.
It's an old railroad term, maybe no longer in use (but maybe should be). It refers to union contracts that require the presence of certain railroad crew even though their function had been superseded by technology or practice.
Another example: In Chicago (was, at least, in a pevious century), if you wanted to show a movie to a group in a hotel meeting room, you could bring your own projector, thread the film and screen it entirely by yourself, but you still had to hire a union projectionist to sit in the room with you.
Now, the same problem arises regarding Artifical Intelligence (AI) and copyright law.
From Media Bias/Fact Check:
There are…concerns about the impact of AI-generated content on the creative industries. If AI is granted copyright, it could reduce demand for human creators, as corporations may turn to AI to create their content. This could significantly impact the livelihoods of artists, writers, and musicians.
Midway though the previous century, when I was a kid and in the sci-fi phase of my life, stories of life far in the future (the 21st Century!) often pictured a utopia in which machines did all the work and humans had somehow better things to do. Turns out there was a bug in that picture (maybe two bugs, if "better" counts).
If people don't work, they don't get paid. If people don't get paid they can't consume…anything from Michelin-starred restaurant meals to beans from a pantry, from an internet-connected refrigerator to a bag of ice. And the machines grind to a halt.
What to do?
I’ve been hobbling around on the house crutches (yes, it turns out my apartment comes with free access to the house crutches) for the last day and a half or so since one of my knees gave out Wednesday evening. It happened on the bottom step of a staircase, which was lucky. Happening at the top might have been quite a tumble.
So last night the people who live downstairs, who are not only my neighbors but my landlords and also family, arrived here with a pizza for supper. And when they left, they left behind a few slices for my breakfast. And it worked.
My knee is improving rapidly. I can navigate with only one crutch now, and I successfully descended the three steps to the first landing outside my front door, and returned unscathed. Maybe this evening I will try all the way down and back.
I have decided to withdraw from the next Summer Olympics, but I expect to be down (downstairs, that is) and around soon. Pizza, good neighbors, and family fix just about anything.
…oh.
The main qualification for membership in (and issuance of a decoder for) Radio Orphan Annie's Secret Society and Captain Midnight's Secret Squadron involved drinking Ovaltine, a malted milk flavoring containing the vitamins and nutrients then understood to be needed by growing secret operatives, or at least to be profitable for its manufacturer (which sponsored the broadcasts). Proof of sufficient Ovaltine consumption was established by mailing in labels from Ovaltine packages.
In 2020, bars were closed and social gatherings were limited. But once bars and restaurants opened back up, more women wanted to go out and drink. So they did, and more often than before, outpacing men.
“This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional,” it added.
Also reckless, unprofessional, and…wait for it…environmentally unsound.
I guess this is some sort of fighter-jock trash talk.
Hitting the propeller on that thing (there's a picture at the link) looks like a trick. Let's face it: If Maverick did it, we'd cheer.
Restaurants could eventually use it against those dining in, not just for their delivery/takeaway services, and electronic shelf labels could enable dynamic pricing to be applied to brick-and-mortar grocery stores.
On aircraft and in movie theaters, better seats cost more than not-so-good ones. In restaurants, money gets you a better table at a better time.
Phone calls used to be priced the same way, in the time of the Ancients; rates were higher during daytime hours and went down at night. So it's not new. It's just more.
And coming for thee and me,
The announcement came a day after the administration, in a move in the other direction toward conservation, said it would bar or limit drilling in some other areas of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.
1 Million Digits of Pi
https://www.piday.org/million/
OK, Pi Day is actually tomorrow (3.14) but I'm giving you extra time for the calculation.
A recent survey by AAA found 70% of people questioned fear self-driving cars, a number 13% higher than found the previous year.
They didn’t ask about robotic beehives. Or plum-picking drones.
Explains this story in Forbes:
Startups are aiming to solve big problems for agriculture, including labor and water shortages, climate-driven headaches and declining bee populations, by deploying artificial intelligence*, autonomous driving technology and robotics.
Makers of construction equipment are in on the act as well (self-driving bulldozer, anyone?).
If all this stuff is electric (which, of course) you might not even hear it coming,
Brave new world: Be careful out there.
