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INAUGURATION 2029

Marie: I don't know why this video came up on my YouTube recommendations, but it did. I watched it on a large-ish teevee, and I found it fascinating. ~~~

 

Hubris. One would think that a married man smart enough to start up and operate his own tech company was also smart enough to know that you don't take your girlfriend to a public concert where the equipment includes a jumbotron -- unless you want to get caught on the big camera with your arms around said girlfriend. Ah, but for Andy Bryon, CEO of A company called Astronomer, and also maybe his wife, Wednesday was a night that will live in infamy. New York Times link. ~~~

Commencement ceremonies are joyous occasions, and Steve Carell made sure that was true this past weekend (mid-June) at Northwestern's commencement:

~~~ Carell's entire commencement speech was hilarious. The audio and video here isn't great, but I laughed till I cried.

CNN did a live telecast Saturday night (June 7) of the Broadway play "Good Night, and Good Luck," written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, about legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow's effort to hold to account Sen. Joe McCarthy, "the junior senator from Wisconsin." Clooney plays Murrow. Here's Murrow himself with his famous take on McCarthy & McCarthyism, brief remarks that especially resonate today: ~~~

     ~~~ This article lists ways you still can watch the play. 

New York Times: “The New York Times Company has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for use in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms, the company said on Thursday. The multiyear agreement 'will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the news organization said in a statement. Besides news articles, the agreement encompasses material from NYT Cooking, The Times’s food and recipe site, and The Athletic, which focuses on sports. This is The Times’s first licensing arrangement with a focus on generative A.I. technology. In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement, accusing the tech companies of using millions of articles published by The Times to train automated chatbots without any kind of compensation. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected those accusations.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I have no idea what this means for "the Amazon customer experience." Does it mean that if I don't have a NYT subscription but do have Amazon Prime I can read NYT content? And where, exactly, would I find that content? I don't know. I don't know.

Washington Post reporters asked three AI image generators what a beautiful woman looks like. "The Post found that they steer users toward a startlingly narrow vision of attractiveness. Prompted to show a 'beautiful woman,' all three tools generated thin women, without exception.... Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts.... Just 2 percent of the images showed visible signs of aging. More than a third of the images had medium skin tones. But only nine percent had dark skin tones. Asked to show 'normal women,' the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin.... However bias originates, The Post’s analysis found that popular image tools struggle to render realistic images of women outside the Western ideal." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The reporters seem to think they are calling out the AI programs for being unrealistic. But there's a lot about the "beautiful women" images they miss. I find these omissions remarkably sexist. For one thing, the reporters seem to think AI is a magical "thing" that self-generates. It isn't. It's programmed. It's programmed by boys, many of them incels who have little or no experience or insights beyond comic books and Internet porn of how to gauge female "beauty." As a result, the AI-generated women look like cartoons; that is, a lot like an air-brushed photo of Kristi Noem: globs of every kind of dark eye makeup, Scandinavian nose, Botox lips, slathered-on skin concealer/toner/etc. makeup, long dark hair and the aforementioned impossible Barbie body shape, including huge, round plastic breasts. 

New York Times: “George Clooney’s Broadway debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press. Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.”

 

Contact Marie

Email Marie at constantweader@gmail.com

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Friday
Dec242021

December 25, 2021

No technical difficulties yet because I can't even find a suitable template for the "updated" Reality Chex. Too bad I don't want my very own Wesbsite to boast about my uncoming wedding or my impressive CV, because there are plenty of templates for that.

Meanwhile, some TV station is playing "Home Alone" on a practically continuous loop. So sometimes in the commercials of a show I'm watching I'll switch over to "Home Alone," and today I caught the bit of the film that features this:

My father used to sing us this one at Christmas time. Thanks to Patrick for the link:

If you want to take a short breather from the festivities, lock yourself in your study and play the Washington Post's "Find the Elves."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (6)

Too dang cute, Marie! All the best to you and all the RCers…I so appreciate you all! Love and happy Christmas!

December 24, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterJeanne

Joan Didion's death this week brought back my connection with her via all her books and journalism that I coveted. We came from different spaces but I connected with her in so many ways. Here's the NYT's piece on her life and letters:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/24/opinion/joan-didion-books.html?referringSource=articleShare

I join Jeanne in wishing everyone here good cheer and hope for a better year.
And Patrick: I used your video to send out to those I knew who would appreciate a bit of whimsy in such a cold climate.

December 25, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterP.D. Pepe

A little doggerel is good for the (mine, anyway) soul.

Merry Christmas to all RC'ers, an especially warm one to Marie, who has (so far) made it possible for all of you to become my valued friends.


Covid Christmas, 2021


‘Twas the week before Christmas

And all through the house

The virus was lurking,

Getting ready to pounce.


Presents were purchased,

The bills were all paid,

The food was all ready,

Christmas plans were all made.


Christmas Eve would be here,

With Ben, Luke, Maya and Sloane,

First, dinner, then presents

All ripped open at home.


Then Christmas Day in Seattle

For more Christmas joys

Shared with Gus, Ria, Kaia,

And the two lively boys.


But things do go awry,

Murphy’s Law never rests,

This year the universe gave us

An Omicron Test.


Maya picked it up somewhere;

She contracted it first

And perhaps gave to Anne

As a case, not the worst.


A sore throat and some mucous,

Some coughs and some sneezes

A disturbing annoyance

That sure didn’t please us


The testing was constant,

Every day it would seem

We were swabbing our noses

‘Til we wanted to scream.


So much for the planning:

Now all in a cocked hat.

No gathering together

It’s over; that’s that!


But I think of my grandmother

Now long in her grave

And some words she has left me

Are a gift I have saved.


When misery beckoned,

She responded to strife,

Saying, “If you don’t weaken,

It’s a great life.”


Well, we weakened a little,

I’ll admit from the start.

Christmas means a lot less

When we’re all far apart.


Now Luke has the virus

But no one’s very sick.

We’re at least getting by.

(Grandma was right)

The bright side’s the trick.


We can count on each year

To bring something new

This year it was Covid,

Saying “Merry Christmas” to you.

December 25, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

@Ken Winkes: Your poem is terrific. I hope you read it to the family. You probably should record it. I would give it its own page if not for the family names in the poem.

December 25, 2021 | Registered CommenterMarie Burns

Thanks, Marie, and to my longtime mentor, Dr. Seuss, who gave me far more than the meter...

December 25, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterKen Winkes

Ken: Loved your poem–may all the kids kick that can of viral vitriol and emerge brand new. And high-five to your grandmother!

December 25, 2021 | Unregistered CommenterP.D. Pepe
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