“We are utterly dependent on systems that we don’t even know exist until they break,” said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley forecaster and historian. “We have become a little bit like Blanche DuBois in that scene from ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ where she says, ‘I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.’”
Bruce Schneier wrote about all this in his 2018 book, "Click Here to Kill Everybody."
The company billed Medicare for hundreds of tests for people who’d been dead for more than two years, authorities say.
(You be the judge.)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood’s video game performers voted to go on strike Thursday, throwing part of the entertainment industry into another work stoppage after talks for a new contract with major game studios broke down over artificial intelligence protections.
And what will we do if it doesn't?
(From the Washington Post today.)
Schumer expects child online safety bills to pass Senate by wide margin
KOSA [is] backed by more than two-thirds of the Senate. But that bill faces enduring opposition from digital and human rights groups, who argue it would squelch speech, particularly for marginalized groups, and trample on privacy.
For the record —too late, no doubt, but still — EFF's position on the matter:
"Cowboys would hop in the pool after a long day at work."
Now you can have a cowboy pool of your very own.
[This is a public service announcement. Not a commercial. We are work-free and advertising-free here.]
Now, with just months left until the presidential election and bombshell political news dropping at a steady clip, AI chatbots are distancing themselves from politics and breaking news or refusing to answer at all.
…they're a lot smarter than you may have thought.
The distinction between the online and offline exists as a matter of degree, not fact, and it grows lighter every day.
Twitter is, of course, now X. Or maybe not. In real life.
With crows being exceptionally talented at learning from one another, the ability to count using calls opens up new pathways of communication between corvids that have been previously unexplored. So the next time a couple crows are cawing outside your window, take a listen—they just might be telling you something.
Smarter, probably. But can it fly?
As architects face up to the need for ethical, sustainable design in the age of climate change awareness, timber architecture is making a comeback in a new, technologically impressive way. Largely overlooked in the age of Modernism, recent years have seen a plethora of advancements related to mass timber across the world.
I am officially confused. And this, from this morning's Chicago Tribune, doesn't help.
Mixing concrete and forging steel emit massive amounts of carbon dioxide, but timber buildings remove carbon from the atmosphere, something environmentally conscious residents and office users increasingly desire.
OK, you can grow more trees and you can't grow concrete; I get that part. But cutting the trees down, processing them and treating them in some suspiciously chemical-sounding way, hauling them around sticking them together (with what…nails?) sounds just as energy-consuming as any other technique. To me. And more than a little dicey.
Although riding up and down in wooden elevators sounds kind of…quaint.
If you're looking for Joe Biden swag.
Here at shop.joebiden.com the only thing left on the shelf is a spooky coffee mug featuring Joe's mug.
And at store.democrats.org things are…well…American-made and union-printed, at least.
Somewhere there's a giant landfill stuffed with perfectly brand new bumper stickers and tote bags plugging TOFG (The Other Former Guy).
And I was hoping to find something to pair with my old LBJ button.
For her role in helping the feds nail Dillinger, Ana Cumpanaș, a Romanian-born brothel keeper who went by the name Anna Sage, is known as the “Woman in Red” by devotees of the dark side of Chicago lore.
Or, it may have been orange. Nobody knows for sure.
On Thursday, the unidentified Columbia Falls resident was in the Flathead National Forest near the North Fork Road in northwestern Montana when the grizzly charged and attacked him, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks officials announced Friday.
Or maybe not. Maybe somebody else started it.
Garbage, barbecue grills and pet food commonly attract bears, which could turn into dangerous encounters.For more about when bears — and other animals — break the law there's Mary Roach's excellent book, Fuzz.
The DNC's convention rules committee met virtually Friday and decided the vote would not take place before Aug. 1 or after Aug. 7. The committee said a final date would be set by DNC leadership after a second committee meeting next week.
And maybe not the last shoe. Donkeys have four legs.
