Tag: Things that make you say hmmm?

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Here we Go Again!

China has created a COVID variant that is more deadly than the previous version. 20X more deadly supposedly. I suppose that means it’s only likely to kill humans 4% of the time or some such. What none of the fear mongering articles answer is does previous COVID-19 exposure and recovery, confer immunity to this particular variant.

China is apparently dealing with some respiratory disease that they claim is not covid but is widespread enough that some of their cities are still operating under covid protocols.

But that doesn’t matter!

Chinese folks are traveling the world for the Lunar New Year. 

Ya know folks… We’ve seen this movie before.

Let’s see:

Disease that causes China to enact quarantine protocol for some cities. CHECK

Election Year in the United States where one candidate is a threat to Chinese hegemony, and the other is a useful empty shell that can be commanded to dance. CHECK

Billions of Chinese travelers flying all over the world like dandelion seeds perhaps carrying the new contagion. CHECK

Bioweapons are expressly prohibited by treaty. The 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibited the use of biological weapons. A supplementary convention was adopted in 1972 that apparently expanded the rules to prevent weasel-wording your way out of having created a bio-weapon.

In other words folks, we’ve known for almost 100 years that biological weapons were a SUPER BAD Idea. Yet, the Chinese military and other militaries around the world are still fucking around with them. 

Biological weapons disseminate disease-causing organisms or toxins to harm or kill humans, animals or plants. They can be deadly and highly contagious. Diseases caused by such weapons would not confine themselves to national borders and could spread rapidly around the world. The consequences of the deliberate release of biological agents or toxins by state or non-state actors could be dramatic. In addition to the tragic loss of lives, such events could cause food shortages, environmental catastrophes, devastating economic loss, and widespread illness, fear and mistrust among the public.

That’s from the UN office for Disarmament Affairs 

I’ve highlighted in blue an interesting passage right from the top of the page.

Not that the UN has any power other than the power to insult or demean Western countries specifically the United States over past transgressions, while member countries castigating the West, are currently engaging in those same activities. Slavery, paging Slavery, Women’s rights, paging Women’s rights. Border enforcement, paging border enforcement…

I personally think the United States should end its affiliation with the United Nations. I think the UN building in New York should be reconfigured as migrant housing, and the United Nations should be asked to relocate to Geneva, or The Netherlands, or a sinking cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic. I really don’t care, as long as these fuckers are off American Soil.

As I’ve said before, I think that if the UN wants to involve the United State Military to solve a dispute, they should pay for our services UP FRONT. Or… they can offer us useful natural resources and commit their non-combatants to farming, mining, or refining those resources. They treat our Military like mercenaries, WE SHOULD BE PAID like mercenaries.

I digress.

The United Nations, like the World Health Organization, is pretty much owned by China. Neither of these organizations are any more interested in the well being of The West, specifically the United States, than Ghingis Khan would be (or the World Economic Forum is). The sooner we understand and accept this simple fact the better off we’ll all be.

For those of you who may have failed English, here’s the simple version:

UN, WHO, WEF, China… ALL ENEMIES. They be bad for us n shit.

The highlighted text should sound very familiar. We’ve lived it over the past three to four years.

Now coincidentally, we have the WEF and the WHO and UN all talking about the “Hypothetical” Disease X [dum dum duuuummm]. Interesting that they’re talking about it and supposedly making plans to “combat” it, while China is apparently building it, and quite possibly, using their people to spread it, world wide.

It would be simple… All the Chinese folks going through security checkpoints or disease checkpoints at airports get spritzed with whatever contagion, They’re not sick when they leave, they’re not sick when they arrive at their destination.

They get sick while they’re on holiday in whatever country they’ve decided to visit contaminating the locals and voila, the desired country is decimated, or if China is really lucky “Cleansed” entirely of the vermin who disagreed with their politics.

We’ve all gotten used to security checkpoints at airports, we’d think nothing of stepping into or through a “Scanner” would we?

The CCP could even use their citizen’s destination as a method to target specific countries. It’s evil beyond belief, but as they say you’ve gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet. The same is true of global conquest. So you kill a few hundred thousand of your own people. Big deal!

If their deaths killed millions of your enemy it’s a good trade off. Those of your own who died are “Heroes of the cause”, right? The State can build monuments to their sacrifice and make annual speeches about their dedication to the cause for decades, if not centuries.

Isn’t that how mass murderers and genocidal maniacs justify their actions?

I truly hope that I’m wrong, and that China won’t use a bioweapon to interfere in our election process. (Again?) but the pattern seems just a little too close. March 11th 2020 was when the WHO declared COVID-19 a WorldwidePandemic. March 11th 1918 was the Influenza pandemic a bit over 100 years prior. I’m not going to be surprised to hear the WHO declare March 11th, 2024 a Disease X pandemic. 

When some people with rudimentary education in science (real science) say, “Wait, pandemics usually only happen every 100 years or so.”

The response will be, “MORON CLIMATE CHANGE has accelerated the cycle. Now you dumb science deniers shut up and get to the back of the fucking bus! We must pray to Sol. Perhaps the sun god will charge our bus enough to deliver you to the work camp.”

Those who question the narrative will be immediately and possibly permanently silenced, (aside from a recording of Bumbling Joe Biden explaining, “You’re being shot because corn pop uhhh well I’m a working guy from scranton, and uhh, uhhh, uhhh, white supremacy!” ) Then momentary M-16 fire.

The Media will say it’s, “For the Greater Good, and our Safety and Security.“

Thus ends The Republic. With not even a whimper heard in the darkness.

As I said, I really hope I’m wrong. But the similarities in the set up are spooking even a nasty asshole like me!

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Maybe AI will be a good thing.

Bear with me!

I was on the phone with some utility… I don’t remember who. Who can? Their phone prompts sounded just like Apple’s, and every other “Helpful Automated Phone system.”  None of which are helpful to me at all.

In that moment while I was grinding my teeth listening to a bunch of choices that I didn’t want, and having the system telling me, “I didn’t understand what you’re asking for, so let’s try again…”

I thought, “I don’t want or need to deal with this frustration in my life,” in addition to the frustration of whatever problem was serious enough for me to call this Servicer Company in the first place.

Yeah, I’m getting right back to acting like a Nebari. Folks this ain’t gonna be pretty. 

“Servicer, here is the account number, I don’t care what your name is, I don’t choose to give you my name, I give the commands – You execute the commands. That is the extent of our relationship.”

I gotta admit there are some fictional races from science fiction that have really stuck with me. The Nebari from FarScape, The Romulans from StarTrek, The Omecs and the Indogenes from Defiance. There are others, Predators and Aliens for example, and still more which are the stuff of nightmares. 

I think the Nebari stick with me most because they simply “KNOW” they’re right. I identify with the kind of arrogance!

Anyway, my point is that I’m not going to willingly talk to automated phone systems anymore. I don’t as a rule use a company’s website for anything except the simplest of things and these days the list of simple things is dwindling as well. It’s gotten to the point that some websites won’t show you your bill without 97 factor authentication.

If I’ve already set up multi-factor authentication, then let’s do it! Stop changing the protocol such that my stored passwords are no longer functional and my stored user ID is locked out.

Does no-one test their software anymore prior to shoving it down a captive population’s throat?

Due to the ever increasing complexity of corporate phone trees, and the ever decreasing return on my investment of time to get something done I’ve started going to the branches of the corporations in question.

I will no longer be a faceless, imaginary, easily ignored, person. Oh they’re going to have to see me, hear me, and if I’ve been working in the yard… smell me!

If they point out that they have phone and web services I’m going to show them my smart phone or watch and loudly explain that I choose to be a physical pain in their asses because satisfaction cannot be had via their corporate phone or web site. 

I want to see them CRY!

As this particular train of thought derailed in my mind, it occurred to me that AI living on the Web might meet its demise not through corrupted use but through lack of use. AI could be the death of the internet, or at least a driving force in humankind choosing to use the internet less.

For years, there have been “news” sites on the internet that read like the old tabloid publications from the grocery checkout lines. Within the last 15 years or so, even so-called “reputable” news sites have become nothing more than replicators of a single story with a paragraph or two of “Original” material serving as an “Analysis” of the original item that is being reposted.

The same thing is happening on the major broadcast news sites too if you think about it.

The only changes there are the talking heads, and a slightly different spin to appear non-homogeneous but the underlying story is exactly the same shit.

That’s why a lot of people are disconnecting their cable feeds and going back to antennas or just the internet.

Why pay for the exact same take on every single news article from 50 news channels when an antenna can pull the same garbage right off the air for free?

See I just saved you $200 a month. You’re welcome!

I’ve been noticing for years that people “Writing” are actually dictating their articles. I’ve also noticed that they’re not always proofreading their articles. (Yes, I know I’m the kettle calling the pot black. I however am not a trained journalist. I also don’t dictate my pieces, I actually type them. Although sometimes the autocorrect systems “Help” me really fuck up a word I’ve spelled incorrectly.)

Lately I’ve been noticing AI generated output. I’m looking for an example because like an idiot I didn’t save what I was reading when I noticed the Artificial-ness  (I know, the word is “artificiality”, ) of the article. I went with “Artificial-ness so I wouldn’t be called racist for using actual English words correctly. Apparently having a vocabulary these days is in fact a demonstration of white privilege, a micro aggression, and completely racist. So you may notice me giving myself a lobotomy from time to time…

I digress, AI generated articles are interesting and noticeable. I can’t really describe what the tip off is, I can only say you’ll know it when you see it.

The text is just “off”, and the conclusions of the piece are skewed in an odd way. It’s rather like reading something that’s been passed through Google Translate© several times. The construction is prefect but the meaning is ambiguous or lost entirely. 

Admittedly, there are some articles that are very subtly non human. I’ve noticed that I don’t enjoy reading them. In the case of some “scientific” articles the lead is buried completely.

For Example, there’s an archeological site in Turkey that was thought to be a “One Off” religious site not an example of a civilization. The site is called Göbekli Tepe and dates to somewhere between 10 and 12 thousand years and was intentionally buried.

10 to 12 thousand years ago, Humanity was supposed to be loosely aggregated bands of small semi-agricultural hunter gatherer villages, there was no civilization as defined by archeologists. That’s why the site is called a “one off” religious site and Archeologists breathed a sigh of relief that they didn’t have to explain the sophistication of the site as anything other than religious fervor. 

Then a second site called Karahan Tepe, using the same architecture, and also buried intentionally was discovered 10-20 miles away. Then a third site may have been discovered in the same general area, 10-20 miles from the first two sites, which has yet to be excavated but appears to have the same architectural elements.

We’re talking about a heretofore undiscovered civilization that pushes humanity’s civilization period 5000 years back in time. That’s a big deal! Archeologists are having to rethink civilization and how long humans have been capable large scale coordinated building projects and why.

Interestingly, this discovery also reopens the question of age of the Sphinx. The Egyptian authorities have steadfastly maintained that the Sphinx was built by the Egyptian civilization not an older civilization. The weathering on the sphinx enclosure and the sphinx itself indicate that the sphinx is approximately 12000 years old. Egyptian authorities have denied this age because it predates the Egyptian civilization of the Nile by around 6000 years. 

They’ve been able to maintain their denial because there was no evidence of other civilizations from 10-12 thousand years ago.

Until now.

The AI version of this information was “A site has been discovered in Southern Turkey which has a similar age and building style to Göbekli Tepe, a neolithic site of interest.”

The AI version went on to discuss the original site, and that it was thought to be a Temple Complex for an unknown religion.  The article details the original sites discovery date and makes vague reference to the detailed bass reliefs carved into the stones. 

What the AI articled failed to point out was finding a second site and potentially a third site with the same architecture and artwork isn’t what is typically associated with neolithic people. You might get some petroglyphs on cave walls but you don’t typically get freestanding stones with bass relief depictions of local wildlife, fantasy/mythology creatures,  and humans.

AI doesn’t have soul. AI isn’t going to be fascinated by discoveries. While AI might connect the RAW data, as in this case, AI will not recognize the significance. AI will ultimately produce something that is factually correct but lacks excitement. 

I think that a lot of people will stop using AI because of its lack of excitement in discovery. 

How many people do you know that call utility companies to talk to the helpful people personality phone tree?

One can hope that people with brains will be unimpressed with AI and the technology will be relegated to the pile of interesting ideas that didn’t really pan out.

Fingers crossed! Otherwise the internet is going to become really dull, boring, and extremely annoying to use. Sort of like attempting to contact your local utility company.

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On the plus side…

Screenshot 2023 11 13 at 8 05 22 AMIn Wauwatosa, WI there won’t be any Palestinian flags flying in city buildings.

This is true for at least the Christmas season. You see, a memo from a Wisconsin deputy city administrator discouraged employees from putting up “religious decorations” in “red and green colors” for the holidays in public buildings in order to be “inclusive.”

You have to love ill thought out edicts with unintended consequences!

Since Red and Green are used in Christmas Decorations. Or so the theory goes, Christmas is offensive to some people and can’t be celebrated. Red and Green are also used in the Palestinian Flag, Most African Flags, and of course the flag of Italy.

So tell me again, how this is inclusive???

What this deputy city administrator really wanted to say was, “Hey Christians Fuck you and your Christmas Trees, traditions, and decorations,”  She just didn’t have the guts to say it out loud or in print.

This was directed at employees decorating their cubicles. With “Open Office” floor plans it’s likely that the cubicles are visible from public areas and are therefore considered public areas.

The last place I worked, we could decorate the hell out of the place for Halloween. But we couldn’t do elaborate decorations for Christmas. It was the same thinking… We had Jews, Muslims, Atheists, and people from every religious persuasion in the building. Christmas decorations could offend those other people so they were muted.

The funniest thing was that the practitioners of Wicca were the happiest folks in the building because everyone went wild over Halloween. That being the only holiday that wasn’t frowned upon. Even the Fourth of July was frowned upon because there were workers from other countries in the building.

I’ll grant you, this is a small thing. But it’s another annoyance, and I think an attempt to wipe Christianity and possibly American values, from America. 

I really miss the elaborate decorations in malls at Christmas. When I was a child shopping with my parents, the decorations made the time of year magical. As an adult myself, shopping for family and friends, the decorations made me smile and actually enjoy being trampled, in over crowded Southern California malls.

Over time, those beautiful elaborate decorations became muted, and watered down, the last time I was in a favored mall the decorations seemed “phoned in”. There was no joy in them, and many were obviously shop worn, not having been replaced for many years.

I think this trend is not inclusive at all.

Inclusion would be, “Hi, come on in, join us in our fun and revelry. Let’s brighten up this dark time of year. You don’t have to believe in my religion to participate, you’re welcome all the same. Where are you from? How can I make you feel welcome?”

This “inclusivity” is actually exclusion. It eliminates a situation where respectful questions get asked, and people smile at each other more. A time when people share favorite foods, family recipes, and sweets, enjoying it all together and putting aside differences.

This inverted “Inclusion” spawns nothing but low level resentment and demonstrates that some are apparently MORE included than others. Some are more important because they can’t have any possibility of their feelings being hurt.

Honestly, that’s the birth of resenting “Snowflakes”. If you’re so weak in your beliefs, culture, sexuality, or whatever, that you have to be protected at the expense of everyone else’s method of going about their lives…

You’re going to be disliked. Not because of your beliefs, but because you disrupt and prevent others from pursuing happiness in their way.

It begs the question, why is group X,Y, or Z more important than all the rest of us? How do they rate and why?

I wonder if some people seeking answers to those kind of questions find themselves harboring resentment that blossoms into hatred. In their search for inclusion do these folks join hate groups that they would never have considered had they not been excluded by “Inclusion”.

It’s just a theory. I honestly hope I’m wrong. I do wonder though, if we stripped away all the sophistry and spoke what we really felt and thought without fear, would a majority of us admit we felt excluded from society by the never ending inclusivity movement? It’s just a thought.

Merry Christmas to Wauwatosa, WI.

To anyone working for the city of Wauwatosa, WI who might be proud of their African, Italian, or Palestinian heritage… Y’all will need to put the flags in your cubicles away until after Jan 1st!