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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

Page Links
Saturday
Nov292014

No Commentariat Today

Sorry, my power has been out since late Wednesday night/early Thursday. At first I heard it would be restored in a couple of hours; then Saturday; then Sunday; now the story is maybe Monday.

The Internet connections were down in town, but obviously I found one that's up today. However, I've got stuff to do that precludes my working on Reality Chex.

I might try to do some postings tomorrow, but I'm not promising. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. No turkey for me. But hummus!

News Ledes

Your Holiday News Report.

KHOU Houston: "A reserve deputy constable with Harris County (Texas) Precinct 6 has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Kenneth Caplan was taken into custody Wednesday morning, authorities tell KHOU 11 News. Caplan is accused of shooting a 20-year-old woman who was driving on the 610 Loop at Stella Link about two weeks ago." ...

... WXIA Atlanta: A "man ... killed [a] dog while firing multiple gunshots into a Chevy Suburban that was loaded with children. Witnesses say the shooting began with road rage and ended up with the gunman following the SUV to a strip mall on Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard. 'About five minutes later, they pulled back through,' said one of the victims, who asked not to be identified. 'They just rolled right up; they pulled a gun out and started (shooting).'" ...

... Fox 13 Tampa: A Pinellas Park (Florida) man who "had run-ins with Pinellas Park police 34 times since 2012" shot himself dead during a domestic dispute after he threatened to kill one of the family dogs. "Police say he cocked the gun, lowered the hammer, and then for some reason turned the gun around toward his face right as it fired. Based on witness statements, investigators believe it was an accident. 'It's a shame. It's a damn shame. I never figured him to be irresponsible with a handgun,' next door neighbor Dallas Collins said." CW: seems Collins is an excellent judge of character. ...

... CNN: "The busiest shopping day of the year also saw a major boom for gun sales, with the federal background check system setting a record of more than 175,000 background checks Friday, according to the FBI. The staggering number of checks -- an average of almost three per second, nearly three times the daily average -- falls on the shoulders of 600 FBI and contract call center employees who will endure 17-hour workdays in an attempt to complete the background reviews in three business days, as required by law, FBI spokesman Stephen Fischer said." CW: Merry Scary Christmas.

New York Daily News: "... Gov. Mario Cuomo [D-N.Y.] ... spent Thanksgiving at a Manhattan hospital with a serious heart condition. The 82-year-old Cuomo, the father of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was last seen in public at his son's re-election celebration the night of Nov. 4. He was hospitalized several days later."

Comments Off

Reader Comments (8)

I'm thankful that you're okay.
Let's see: candle light, a good wine, and hummus!
sounds like a party to me!

November 29, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterVictoria

Thanks for letting us know your dilemma. I was worried about you. I'm with Victoria––if truth be told I'd take the candle light, the good wine and hummus over all that turkey lollapalooza any day.

November 29, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

Glad to see you back as you are my political lifeline! Take care!

November 29, 2014 | Unregistered Commentergombasz

Interesting. I, too, had hummus for T-day. But with a dollop of srirachi pepper-garlic sauce. Glad to see you’re okay and surviving “global cooling.”

November 29, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer

I hear the East Coast really got whacked, Marie! I hope you are at least able to stay warm. As a vegetarian, I am a big hummus fan, and have not eaten turkey for 40 years--so don't miss it. Hummus sounds good (and healthy) to me. Hope your power is soon restored, so we can once again bathe in your take on the news of the crazy world. (Not having Reality Chex every AM really does feel like I have missed my daily bath.) I especially can't wait for your take on Mitters and Ann--to find out if you think they are still "entitled" this time around!

November 29, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterKate Madison

Baa hummus; I too had a nice turkey dinner with all the fixings. The friends that invited me to their table have a son who's one of them "vague-uns". Smartass brought a dish to the dinner that was by far the best of all.

November 29, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJJG

Here's something delicious to go with all this yummy food talk–-I can't resist: A communications director for Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn) Elizabeth Lauten took to Facebook and made a fool of herself criticizing Obama's daughter's demeanor and dress at the turkey ceremony. It's what Lauten says in an apologia that is a hoot!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/29/elizabeth-lauten-obama-daughters-class_n_6241202.html

November 29, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterPD Pepe

PD: Ever wonder how long it will be before the public reacts to Lauten-like apologies by muttering "s/he's either a liar or the dumbest non-elected person on Capitol Hill"?

November 29, 2014 | Unregistered CommenterJames Singer
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