Monthly Archives: October 2023

I’ve been speculating that AI (artificial intelligence, but don’t mistake it for self-agency) would suck down enough power to make them too pricey to use for piddling tasks, but now comes this, from NewScientist (21 October 2023, short version, paywall):

A reconfigurable transistor can run AI processes using 100 times less electricity than the standard transistors found in silicon-based chips. It could help spur development of a new generation of smartwatches or other wearable devices capable of using powerful AI technology – something that is impractical today because many AI algorithms would rapidly drain the batteries of wearables built with ordinary transistors.

The new transistors are made of molybdenum disulphide and carbon nanotubes. They can be continuously reconfigured by electric fields to almost instantaneously handle multiple steps in AI-driven processes. In contrast, silicon-based transistors – which act as tiny on-or-off electronic switches – can only perform one step at a time. This means an AI task that might otherwise require 100 silicon-based transistors could instead use just one reconfigurable transistor, thereby reducing energy consumption.

Performance is not mentioned, unfortunately, and I’m not quite sure what it means for something to be continuously reconfigured – the frustrations of being obsolete, eh?

But it remains fascinating.

Insufflation:

1. The action of breathing or blowing into or on.
2. The result of breathing or blowing into or on.
3. The ritual breathing onto the water used for baptism [Wiktionary]

Noted in “Before Modern CPR, There Were Tobacco-Smoke Enemas,” Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza, Discover:

Various devices were used to administer the enema: a regular tobacco pipe, tubes of different kinds with metal nozzles on each end, and, eventually, a bellows. As far back as the 15th century, physicians believed rectal insufflation had reanimating powers. Instructions from the physician Paulus Bagellardus to midwives in 1472 recommended a similar therapy for stillborn babies: “If she find [the newborn] warm, not black, she should blow into its mouth, if it has no respiration … or into the anus.”

As we head for snow season, the last of the colors of fall are celebrated:

That last being some other folks’ tree in the neighborhood.

Leon Cooperman’s approach to the Columbia University student protests of the Israeli invasion of Gaza?

“These kids in college have sh*t for brains,” Cooperman told CNN in a phone interview. “They don’t understand that Israel is the only reliable ally the United States has in the Middle East.” [CNN/Business]

Cleome

This is the form of communication that guarantees no one is going to pay attention, or, more importantly, be persuaded. The paucity of facts and upfront argument is part of it, but the aggressive form of speech marks the speaker as a testosterone-driven male, not an adult seeking to persuade.

If he was serious about making a point, he might have asked some sort of pertinent question designed to draw out the offending students ignorance, giving him a chance to point it out as being ignorant, and offering counter-factuals that might enlighten, and draw to his side, the students.

But that’s increasingly not how we do things here in the States. We’re a bunch of gorillas, thrusting out our chests as we put forth our positions, regardless of their sanity or insanity. Actually thinking is not part of the political process anymore.

And that’s why this story in WaPo reverberated in the political world:

At a news conference in his hometown Thursday evening in Lewiston, Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat who had enjoyed an A+ rating from gun rights advocates, said he regretted his past opposition to an assault weapons ban and said he would now support a ban.

It’s a pity that it took 18 dead before he changed his mind, but at least he did.

We need to stop being so frozen in our positions, because the arrogance is like a fast-spreading plague that infects our minds until facts that contradict our positions are dismissed as irrelevant or fake, be they climate deniers or election deniers, and after a while reality reaches up and whacks us upside the head.

With dire consequences.

I took these pictures yesterday, as the temperature stood at the precipice of today’s drop.

Yes, the clematis thinks to have another go at it.

The nasturtium, too, is putting forth some glory.

And the raspberry, heavens to betsy, thinks it’s time to fruit again.

This is not a photo from yesterday, but the autumn edition of the ornamental grass is, as is usual, a picture of dignified goodbyes.

Pogrom:

an act of organized cruel behavior or killing that is done to a large group of people because of their race or religion:

• The famines and pogroms in 19th-century eastern Europe forced many Jewish refugees to emigrate. [Cambridge Dictionary]

Noted in “Biden has succeeded all along. The media can’t ignore it.” Jennifer Rubin, WaPo:

Then came the horrific pogrom in Israel in which Hamas murdered at least 1,400 men, women and children and kidnapped about 220. Biden stepped into the role of consoler-in-chief for American and Israeli Jews, distinguished between the Palestinian people and Hamas terrorists, negotiated privately with Israel to allow humanitarian aid to get through to Gaza and, in an impressive Oval Office address, explained why supporting Israel and Ukraine against barbarism is essential to our own security.

This next Earl Landgrebe Nominee has laid his hands, verily, on the Altar of Trump.

… as Republicans began another round of voting on Tuesday night, the only candidates left standing were MAGA faithful. All five of them voted to overturn the 2020 election. “Voting now. All candidates now 100 percent Trump,” one of the candidates, Chuck Fleischmann (Tenn.) texted to a Trump aide. “All 5. I preached Trump in my speech.” [WaPo]

OK, maybe he only wishes he could do that. Trump’d never let such a pussy do that, of course.

But it is illustrative of what a dependent bunch this batch of Republicans have turned out to be. They shout out a anti-abortion, pro-gun speech, and wait for the votes and donations to pour in.

And suddenly the trees are dropping their leaves. I went out and got a couple of pictures:

Next thing we know, we’ll be shoveling.

Synestia:

There’s something new to look for in the heavens, and it’s called a “synestia,” according to planetary scientists Simon Lock at Harvard University and Sarah Stewart at the University of California, Davis. A synestia, they propose, would be a huge, spinning, donut-shaped mass of hot, vaporized rock, formed as planet-sized objects smash into each other. [“Synestia, a New Type of Planetary Object,” Andy Fell, UCDavis]

Noted in “Afterglow of cataclysmic collision between two planets seen for first time,” The Guardian:

After a detailed analysis of the observations, the astronomers concluded that the blast of infrared radiation came from a hot new object or “synestia” created by the collision of two planets nearly as large as Neptune. Based on the infrared readings, the vast spinning object had a temperature of more than 700C for about three years. It will eventually cool and form a new planet around the star.

Continuing the comparison of former President Trump to a Mob boss, Fulton County AG Fani Wilson is enjoying outstanding success in flipping Trump lawyers, or former lawyers, Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro … and, now, the almost painfully Christian lawyer Jenna Ellis:

Former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis pleaded guilty Tuesday in the Georgia election subversion case and will cooperate with Fulton County prosecutors – the third guilty plea in the past week.

At an unscheduled hearing in Atlanta, Ellis pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting false statements, a felony stemming from the election lies that Ellis and other Donald Trump lawyers peddled to Georgia lawmakers in December 2020.

She was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution.

Ellis delivered a tearful statement to the judge Tuesday while pleading guilty, disavowing her participation in Trump’s unprecedented attempts to overturn the 2020 election. [CNN/Politics]

Along with the tactical information that these lawyers can provide to Wilson, there is also the moral implication that these lawyers, these defendants, recognized that their actions after the 2020 election were, in fact, illegal and, arguably, immoral. They were aiding the defeated-President in an effort to illicitly retain power.

And that’s not how we run this nation. Down that path lies riots and a descent from excellence to narcissism and third-raters and worse in charge of our nation. Look at Senator Tuberville (R-AL), former Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Cruz (R-TX), McConnell (R-KY), and all the others who’d rather destroy institutions, norms, and traditions than permit Democrats victories.

Or, in one compact form, go look at the House GOP. I don’t think there’s a smart or honorable one in the bunch.

Before Rep Jordan’s (R-OH) nomination to be Speaker of the House shuffles off the coil, it’s worth taking a look at the clashing opinions of how his Speakership might have gone. First up, far-right Erick Erickson prior to Jordan’s failure:

Finally, Jim Jordan may come out on top. I have pushed for Jordan as Speaker for a long time. I think he’d be a great Speaker who could unite the conservatives and build bridges with the moderates. As a conservative, he built enough bridges to get Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. …

But the response is that Jim Jordan is a good man who had plenty of players stand up and defend him, and the voters of Ohio have assessed the allegations against him and rejected them.

Given the Jordan propensity for obstruction, a propensity that earned scornful words from former Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Erickson’s statements are a little hard to reconcile. His inability, or lack of interest, in major legislation, also marked a major flaw in his bid for the Speaker’s seat. And the out and out mis-statement of Erickson’s concerning the Judiciary Committee, when it was clearly part of the hard-ball price paid by former Speaker McCarthy (R-CA) rather than a mark of Jordan’s diplomacy, almost makes me think Erickson was paid to make that statement.

Steve Benen gives the liberal view:

By some measures, Jordan has earned the label of Congress’ Worst Member. Sure, there are other radicals from the GOP’s insurrectionist wing who appear overtly hostile toward democracy. And yes, there are other conspiracy theorists. There are also others on Capitol Hill who’ve failed to pass legislation, who’ve overseen failed investigations, who care more about Fox News appearances than governing, and who don’t appear the slightest bit interested in the substance of policymaking.

But the chairman of the Judiciary Committee stands out because he checks each of the boxes. Jordan was, and is, uniquely unfit to serve as a constitutional officer.

House Republicans knew that.

And academic conservative Andrew Sullivan gives his view of Rep Jordan from behind a paywall:

The leading candidate for the Speaker, who keeps running and keeps losing, is Jim Jordan, the apotheosis of Republican nihilism: he has passed no legislation in his time in office — zero! — and he was up to his neck in the attempt to overturn the last election and in the storming of the Capitol on January 6. He has launched investigations into every Trump prosecutor. His supporters have run intimidation campaigns, including death threats. He is entirely a negative, howling artifact of ideology.

The point? Erickson, as representative of the far-right desires, is either a bad judge of the general view of Jordan and others, even from within the Republican Party, or he’s willing to put a dishonest spin on people in order to promote the far-right. I do not read Erickson a great deal, but there’s often something very odd in his interpretation of worldly events, even if I can’t put my finger on it.

Meanwhile, the liberals and smart conservatives seem to have seen this coming, and that suggests a better grasp of what’s what in the political atmosphere. I have yet to change my opinion that, eventually, the far-right will be ignored or even tossed out by the moderates in the Republican Party, and they’ll negotiate a power-sharing agreement with Minority Leader Jefferies (D-NY). I don’t know if that’ll be the final straw for the Republican Party’s far right wing, or merely another step on the way to breaking away, but it’s part and parcel of the Gingrich Dictum of never giving the Democrats a victory. To most Republicans, compromise is an unacceptable evil – not only with Democrats, but even members of their own Party.

The Big Rip, a cosmology concept, may be coming to the Republican Party soon enough.

If you’re ornamental grass, of course.

The camera didn’t quite capture the deep gold in the first picture, unfortunately.

When your superpower grosses you out, who do you call?

Renfield (2023) is that movie you’ve always dreamed of making, Count Dracula and his minion having to deal with a world that is self-conscious and has schadenfreude. A world in which evil vs evil can still lead to cheerleading.

Where corruption can, indeed, be burned right down to the ground by a dumpy cop and her stuttering … whatever he is.

That the stuttering Renfield is actually reminiscent of the acting style of Hugh Grant is a bit disquieting, I have to admit, and the violence is that inflated sort where, after a while, all you can do is groan and cry out, ARE YOU KIDDING?!

And if it doesn’t quite match its trailer, it’s still better than most, as Dracula chews the scenery, the bad guys, the good guys, and his own sense of angst. Or is it ennui?

No way I’ll recommend this, but having said that, it has its own ghoulish sense of humor and even class.

And if Renfield’s stuttering bothers you, just remember: Hugh Grant also made the beastly Lair of the White Worm (1988). Eeeeyagh.

Coir:

the prepared fiber of the husk of the coconut fruit, used in making rope, matting, etc. [Dictionary.com]

Noted in “Microgreens: The surprising truth about this trendy new ‘superfood’,” Chris Stokel-Walker, NewScientist (October 14-20, 2023; paywall):

I currently have a collection of mixed lettuce leaves growing alongside radish, mustard and rocket. Next to them, a couple of ice cream tubs house parsley, coriander and red basil seeds waiting to germinate, their roots exploring the coconut coir beneath – a growth medium derived from the husks of coconuts (see “How to grow microgreens”, below). Next on my wish list are peas, kohlrabi, broccoli and sunflowers.

Sorry, the title is the best I can do at this time of the morning after cleaning up cat barf. Dr. Tony Phillips of Spaceweather leads a balloon-borne effort to monitor atmospheric radiation, and a year ago they lost a balloon in the Western USA mountains. Where is it?

Under a glacier.

A glacier (US: /ˈɡleɪʃər/; UK: /ˈɡlæsiər,ˈɡleɪsiər/) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as crevasses and seracs, as it slowly flows and deforms under stresses induced by its weight. As it moves, it abrades rock and debris from its substrate to create landforms such as cirques, moraines, or fjords. Although a glacier may flow into a body of water, it forms only on land and is distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water.

Yeah. Glaciers are not snow, but ice. How did his balloon end up under a glacier? Either mischievous goblins, or glaciers, at least small glaciers, can form really fast.

More here.

Those who’ve kept up on their political scandals reading are well aware that former President Trump has been compared, on more than one occasion, to a Mob boss, albeit an exceedingly clumsy and, I think, irrational Mob boss. MSNBC’s Lisa Rubin, herself a former litigator and writing on Maddowblog, implicitly suggests Fulton County (GA) District Attorney Fani Willis would agree, based on tactics, as the boss is always the most important target in criminal trials involving the Mob:

[Judge] McAfee received news that not only changed his day but his next few months: Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, the alleged mastermind of the so-called fake elector scheme, had agreed to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit the filing of false documents. …

More significantly, [if Chesebro had gone to trial,] it would have given [his] co-defendants — including Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Mark Meadows — a preview of the DA’s overall racketeering case.

I can’t help but wonder if Willis seemingly drastic reduction in charges, from seven to one I read somewhere, to which Chesebro pled reflects the urgency of not tipping Trump, Guiliani, et al, to her attack strategy.

For those unfamiliar with the Mob, they’ve been some of the most dangerous criminals in American history. Grouping Trump and his cronies with them isn’t a compliment, but as assessment of their methods and the potential for danger they were bringing. Indeed, while they were themselves a pack of incompetent boobs with little concept of honor and truth, that for which they strove was extraordinarily dangerous.

And thus I have little sympathy for their supporters.

There’s been enough raving about Chicago (2002), winner of six Academy Awards, and they’re richly deserved, as watching this story of women on death row in a Chicago prison, and how they deal, or fail to deal, with their potential fates, told through song, dance, and flashback, is a riveting story.

But it’s worth noting the undercurrent of most of those stories, the theme that ties them together. While it’s true that there’s corruption and gangs and violence in the story, what struck  me as the unifying theme was the misbalance of power in the traditional roles of man and woman in America in the early years of the 20th century, which certainly reaches a millennia and more back. We can see it in the lead story, that of Roxie Hart, a housewife and wannabe stage star, who succumbs to the boasts and blandishments of salesman Fred Casely, who claims he can put her on the stage of the nightclub Onyx; after several intimate encounters, he doesn’t confess so much that he lied, as he boasts about it. He fears no repercussions. Such is the role of the man.

So when she shoots him, he’s surprised. At least for a brief moment, until he’s finished bleeding out.

So is she. And now, because we know that a jury of the period will most likely find her guilty and quite possibly send her to the electric chair, despite the mitigating circumstances, the lying begins: to journalists, to judges, to lawyers, to whoever will listen. There’s no discussion balancing risk vs reward, there’s simply lying, and a bit of misdirection. When Roxie’s husband, the naive Amos, hears that she’s pregnant, then his repugnance, developed from her violence and implied sexual wantonness, is forgotten; then, when the reality that he cannot be the father is thrust upon him, he once again resumes his hatred of Roxie, and, importantly, the company of the inflamed mob. There is no constancy, no respect for her as a person, merely a somewhat defensible reaction based on her activities and how they conflict with the common man’s morality of the time period.

Brought about because a cheating woman killed a cheating, lying man.

But for some, the cheating and lying is secondary; simply the fact that Roxie had to cheat, had to circumvent husband Amos, in order to work towards her dreams, is enough to prove the point, to the extent that a movie can prove a point, that the power misbalance of the era was unjust.

And it’s not a bad argument to make.

Chicago is a fascinating peek into the mores of 1920s Chicago, or at least what the storytellers imagined it to be, and is exceedingly well done. Recommended.

CNN/Politics has chosen a curious way to publish the list of Republican Representatives who voted in the futile effort to find a Speaker yesterday, with the official nominees being Rep Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep Jordan (R-OH):

uri=”cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/paragraph_14BA688F-B677-5D9E-EDEA-3ECCED0AE963@published” data-editable=”text” data-component-name=”paragraph” data-article-gutter=”true”>Twenty Republicans voted against Jordan’s candidacy, far more than the handful he could afford to lose given the party’s narrow majority in Congress.

These are the House Republicans who voted against Jordan:

1. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska voted for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy
2. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon voted for McCarthy
3. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of New York voted for former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York
4. …

There’s actually no listing of who voted for Jordan.

That’s interesting, because if voters want to find out who their Rep voted for, they’ll have to dig further if they insist on being sure.

I think this omission is more interesting than perhaps most might. Guilt by association, well, it must make some of these Reps a bit ill. And, no, I don’t care if Erick Erickson thinks Jordan is a “good man.” I just don’t. Jordan’s been a clown in Congress, unable to pass any legislation, and even managed to earn former Speaker Boehner’s (R-OH) contempt; I shudder to think what’ll happen if Jordan wins.

For those not keeping up with the governmental news, he lost again on his second try today, and, in fact, lost ground. Are they picking their ext sacrificial goat?

Or will the few moderate Republicans, probably those from New York, turn to the Democrats for help?

Modified bacteria in a solid tumor!

More information from skralyx on Daily Kos.

I played a little chess in high school, but my involvement was quite low, and plunged to zero after that, so this surprised me in every aspect:

In chess, most tournaments are open categories where men and women compete on an equal footing. There are a few, though, that are restricted to women only, such as the Women’s World Chess Championship. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has placed a moratorium on trans-identified males in women’s chess events, to take effect Aug. 21. FIDE noted in its handbook that “this is an evolving issue for chess” with further policy evolving “in line with research evidence.” Indignation was immediately voiced on X (formerly Twitter): “This is so insulting to cis women, to trans women, and to the game itself. It assumes that cis women couldn’t be competitive against cis men.” [Barbara Kay, The Epoch Times via Reality’s Last Stand]

It’s worth noting that The Epoch Times is highly conservative, with a Chinese twist, so it could be suspect. Still, if there are women-only competitions and now trans-women are banned from them, it either says something about the politics of the administrative body, or something about the facts on the ground. Given that the administrative body is probably not highly political outside of its context, it would seem the assertions concerning women and trans-women being the same are likely false.

There’s been some rumblings about training artificial intelligences (better termed machine learning) on data from the Web, and those rumblings have been negative, as it seems to be training data obtained for free, not to mention that much of it’s fallacious.

But Metaculus, a manager of contests for predicting the resolution of international crises, has gone a step further, as noted in an email notification from same:

• You may not train, create, or otherwise develop an AI or ML model or algorithm using Metaculus’s data or content found on Metaculus without Metaculus’s written permission.

Their full Terms of Use is here.

The Web is huge, of course, so I’m sure they are not the first, just the first to come to my notice. I expect there’ll be more, but will they have a practical effect? Hard to say, but it should be interesting, as free web sites are “educating” human beings for free, so why not machine learning algorithms?

Can the courts figure that one out?

Remember the impact of the 9/11/2021 attacks on the approval ratings of the Administration in 2001?

Source: Gallup

Yeah, that was the jump from 51% to 90%. So what about Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel, which, if you’ve been exploring holes in the ground in the backyard and hadn’t heard, was viciously attacked recently by opponent and terrorist organization Hamas? Is Israel a mini-USA?

Apparently not.

A poll shows public support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies collapsing in the wake of Hamas’s deadly assault on southern Israel, with voters shifting to Benny Gantz’s National Unity party in the wake of his decision to join the government and form a wartime cabinet.

The survey, published by Maariv, gives the centrist National Unity 41 seats, up from the 12 it currently holds. Likud meanwhile drops to just 19 seats, well below the 32 it currently has. The poll gives hardline parties Otzma Yehudit and Religious Zionism five and four seats respectively. The two garnered 14 seats together in the last election. Ultra-Orthodox parties are also seen losing a modicum of support.

The results show how much the Hamas massacre, which saw the terror group rampage through southern Israel, killing at least 1,300 and taking some 150 hostages, has punctured people’s faith in the country’s leadership and their claims of being the only ones who could secure the country. Leaders often receive a boost in support thanks to the rally around the flag effect, but the enormity of the slaughter and the depth of the intelligence and security failure have instead led to an implosion for Netanyahu and Co. [The Times of Israel]

Because of Netanyahu’s desperation to remain in power, partially due to criminal proceedings against him, he’s been willing to sign up right wing extremist parties by making promises, such as excusing certain religious groups from mandatory military service. This has led to reports of resentment among the Israelielectorate.

I expect we’ll be hearing reports of change in the government and overall society over the next few years. Netanyahu will, I’m guessing, retire from politics, possibly after one more abortive run for office, and then he’ll be allocating his time to his legal affairs.

And Israeli society, which had been barreling right, will ask itself if a more centrist approach to governance is wiser.

Noteworthy?

Asked GOP Rep. Austin Scott about how the GOP leadership crisis makes them look. “It makes us look like a bunch of idiots,” he told me

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 13, 2023

Long time readers know I’ve been predicting the Republican Party’s mad dash to the right for years. Extremists, regardless of ideology, share a few characteristics, among them arrogance, a belief that their opinions certainly can’t be wrong.

This failure to recognize the difficulties of discerning truth and understanding the lessons to be derived from events makes for a very short hop to … idiocy.

My congratulations to Rep Scott for his successful discernment of a truth that he may not be entirely proud of.

Following the removal of Rep McCarthy (R-CA) as Speaker, the Republicans are exhibiting A-level accomplishments in being incompetent to work as a Party. Instead, as I and many other pundits have predicted, they’re exhibiting the nauseating characteristics of a small spoiled child: not taking direction, not willing to compromise, playing the “ME ME ME” game, denying reality, denying knowledge of reality, and generally being pathological personalities.

No doubt there was some hopes for progress when Rep Scalise (R-LA) won the GOP nomination to be Speaker, but it can be plausibly argued he only won enough votes to win, but not to dominate. Putting an exclamation point on the matter is that Scalise, the nominal winner of the vote, dropped out of the race this evening.

The swift downfall of Scalise’s speakership nomination came just a day after the GOP conference voted for him over Rep. Jim Jordan, 113-99. The withdrawal was as shocking as it was predictable, after a band of Republicans almost immediately blocked his path and said there was no way they would vote for Scalise as speaker. The move deepens the House GOP leadership crisis, with still no indication there is any viable candidate who could secure the 217 votes needed to win the gavel.

Scalise’s primary competition was Rep Jordan (R-OH), who has proven incompetent as a committee chairman and accused of covering up the sexual predatory behaviors of Richard Strauss, a team physician at Ohio State University, an accusation made by OSU wrestlers. Just to keep things light, his supporter Rep Nancy Mace (R-SC), herself a rape survivor, claims she’s never heard of these well-publicized claims.

Like I said, child-like behaviors.

Whether it’s Scalise, Jordan, or my favorite, Rep Emmer (R-MN), it doesn’t really matter. The Party lost its way back in the 1990s under Rep Gingrich’s leadership, and has never found its way back. This seems to be a terminal condition now, though, and only unreasoning loathing of alternatives is keeping them as a credible power.

And that’s leaking away.