tingilinde

the media and trump

 

TRUMP: I love dictators. I want to be a dictator.
MEDIA: Are Trump's policies a cause for concern?
TRUMP: I will abolish democracy.
MEDIA: Is it unfair to portray Trump as authoritarian?
TRUMP: Read my lips: I am a fascist.
MEDIA: Hmm, only time will tell for sure.

 

when tech reminds you of something

I had an experience with an 'AI' LLM customer service agent.    It had a strong Duck Song vibe

 

if you're unfamiliar

cold water to encourage multicellular life?

An interesting and very different idea

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A series of papers from the lab of Carl Simpson proposes an answer linked to a fundamental physical fact: As seawater gets colder, it gets more viscous, and therefore more difficult for very small organisms to navigate. Imagine swimming through honey rather than water. If microscopic organisms struggled to get enough food to survive under these conditions, as Simpson’s modeling work has implied, they would be placed under pressure to change — perhaps by developing ways to hang on to each other, form larger groups, and move through the water with greater force. Maybe some of these changes contributed to the beginning of multicellular animal life.

To test the idea, Simpson, a paleobiologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and his team conducted an experiment designed to see what a modern single-celled organism does when confronted with higher viscosity. Over the course of a month, he and his graduate student Andrea Halling watched how a type of green algae — members of a lab-friendly species that swims with a tail-like flagellum — formed larger, more coordinated groups as they encountered thicker gel. The algae collectively motored through the fluid to keep up their feeding pace. And, intriguingly, the groups of cells remained stuck together for 100 generations after the experiment ended.

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improving on a name

Donald → donOLD

 

when clueless execs buy magic beans

We keep seeing examples.  Here's the latest

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Nearly half (47%) of workers using AI say they have no idea how to achieve the productivity gains their employers expect. Over three in four (77%) say AI tools have decreased their productivity and added to their workload in at least one way. For example, survey respondents reported that they’re spending more time reviewing or moderating AI-generated content (39%), invest more time learning to use these tools (23%), and are now being asked to do more work (21%). Forty percent of employees feel their company is asking too much of them when it comes to AI.

Executives may be adding fuel to the fire by overestimating their workers’ readiness. Thirty-seven percent of C-suite leaders at companies that use AI said their workforce is “highly” skilled and comfortable with these tools, but only 17% of employees actually reported this level of skill and comfort. Thirty-eight percent of employees, in fact, reported feeling overwhelmed about having to use AI at work.

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progress

 

 

mist and lights

How the cauldron at the Paris Olympics works 

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So, how does it work? Basically, water is sprayed and beams of light are projected onto the mist, creating the illusion of flames. "The ring of fire, almost [seven meters] in diameter, incorporates 40 LED spotlights to illuminate the cloud created by 200 high-pressure misting nozzles. Above all, EDF has succeeded in guaranteeing the flow of electricity and water 60 [meters] above the ground, when the Cauldron is in flight," they said in a press release.

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a tip of the hat to Greg

 

fox news hiring criteria

Noted by Greg

 

rapid collapse

AI models on a diet of artificial data.

you are what you eat

 

 

on wood burning as a climate "fix"

Commentary by Andy Revkin