@Threadbane@newsie.social
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

Threadbane

@Threadbane@newsie.social

classical guitar, chess, golf, duplicate bridge, etymology, semantics, yoga, physics, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, Homeric Greek
Environmentalist Pothead Luddite Polymath
Club of Rome -> Limits To Growth
Keeper of Cats.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

JamesGleick, to random
@JamesGleick@zirk.us avatar

Once again Ted Chiang has it exactly right. The immediate danger from is not that it will become sentient and do whatever it wants. The danger is that it will do what it’s being designed to do: help rich corporations destroy the working class in pursuit of ever-greater profits and thus concentrate wealth in fewer and fewer hands.

https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-artificial-intelligence/will-ai-become-the-new-mckinsey

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@JamesGleick
It can also flood the "information space" with utter nonsense, complete with confirming links, making it hard to actually look anything up and find an answer you can trust.

rbreich, to random

Exxon just reported record profits for the first quarter of this year, raking in $11.43 billion. The oil giant now has $33 billion cash on hand.

Say it with me, corporate greed is driving inflation, not workers demanding better wages and benefits.

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@rbreich
They couldn't have done it without your tax dollars going straight into corporate perks, bonuses and cash on hand.

Green_Footballs, to random
@Green_Footballs@mastodon.social avatar

Where the fuck did this weird idea come from that we should welcome Nazis into our midst and “debate” them?!

What’s wrong with people who think like this? These are NAZIS, goddammit.

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@Green_Footballs
It's the same mindset that gives us "debates" about global warming.

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

I hope white Americans are drawing parallels between the way fascists in the government are treating them, and the way Black Americans have always been treated.

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@StillIRise1963
I've been fighting this crap since my first vote for LBJ when I turned 21 in 1964. (Adolescents, aka recent high school graduates and college students, couldn't vote when I was a teenager.) I have NEVER voted for a Republican and I have voted in every general election since 1964.
As a single, non-LGBTQ, white male who hates team sports, I have no social niche in the US at all, especially since I am an atheist. At least PoC have each other.

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@StillIRise1963
Fond hope. They aren't. Oblivious White America is headed the other way, and now that Black people aren't allowed to vote in Texas or Florida anymore, and with redistricting taking care of the rest of the South and seaboard states, it's over for everybody but the white upper class and Clarence Thomas. Since Reagan, the GOP has been on a path to disenfranchise and re-enslave PoC, put children back to work, and force everybody to work for slave wages with no safety net at all.

Sheril, to random
@Sheril@mastodon.social avatar

Did you know that soil helps us deal with #ClimateChange? After the ocean, it’s the 2nd largest carbon sink, meaning it stores & releases carbon in ways that regulate the greenhouse effect.

But deforestation, overgrazing, forest fires, intensive farming, construction & more have taken a toll. Today, 1/3 of the world’s soil is degraded, meaning it’s lost some of its ability to support animals & plants bc of physical, chemical or biological changes.

Protecting soils = protecting the planet🪱🌍

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@Sheril
Better out of oil than out of soil.

rbreich, to random

A history of the top marginal tax rates on the wealthiest Americans:

1940: 81%
1950: 84%
1960: 91%
1970: 72%
1980: 70%
1990: 28%
2000: 40%
2010: 35%

For 50 years, corporate backed politicians in Congress have slashed taxes to line the pockets of their wealthy donors.

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@rbreich
It should be pointed out that the US was at the zenith of its economic and military clout when the top rate was at 90%.

rbreich, to random

The debt ceiling deal has passed.

But it is a disgrace that Republicans brought us so close to the edge of catastrophe.

Moving forward, we must abolish the debt ceiling so that no party can use it to threaten the livelihoods of Americans for political gain ever again.

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@rbreich
Moving backward, we should have gotten rid of this chronic economic virus decades ago.

stevesilberman, to random
@stevesilberman@newsie.social avatar

D̶r̶a̶g̶ q̶u̶e̶e̶n̶s̶ (fixed that for you!) ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIESTS have molested so many children in that the diocese has declared bankruptcy. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/roman-catholic-diocese-oakland-bankruptcy-18084602.php

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@stevesilberman
With any luck, they'll be able to auction of the entire bishopric and start collecting taxes on that real estate.

stevesplace, to random

I addition to deleting from my phone, I've removed them from the Firefox completely. That includes their nearly 2 dozen cookies.

Now to remove them from my favorites page.

Please don't boost 's brand of fascist-fawning. They belong to now.

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@stevesplace
Luckily, I haven't tuned to CNN in at least 3 years, if not 5. Maybe longer. For the past 3 years or so, I've been calling them FOX Lite. A few years ago, I gave Jake Tapper a try, but I realized after about 10 minutes or so that he was a Republican at heart, switched channels and haven't been back.

1finekitty, to random

https://www.businessinsider.com/lauren-boebert-denies-affair-with-country-singer-with-better-hair-2023-5

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@1finekitty
Let's hope the country singer in question writes a song about insane women politicians who fantasize about having affairs with country singers.

Threadbane, to random
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

It looks almost as if Keith Olbermann has also been suspended from mastodon! Maybe I'm just misreading it...anybody know if Olbermann is on mastodon anywhere?

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@Helderweb
Wish he'd show up online in print again. I'm not a podcast kinda guy.

gwfoto, to random

used the threat of violence and then actual violence in an attempt to remain in power — the very definition of a coup. It was the singular unique act of his tenure, truly historic. In 232 years of elections, no other president had done anything remotely close to what Trump did.

Failing to mention Jan. 6 in a story about Trump is akin to writing about Neil Armstrong without mentioning the moon landing or about Jeffrey Dahmer without bringing up cannibalism.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-coup-media_n_64505256e4b039ec4e867f2d

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@gwfoto
Donald Trump, whose coup attempt in 2021 failed..
Donald Trump, who has been credibly accused of child rape...
Donald Trump, who was found guilty stealing from his own charity...
Donald Trump, who tried to get his mob to murder his VP...0
All good intros to an opinion piece or news report.

dell, to animals

my cat’s new thing is bothering me in the morning until i fill up a large glass chalice with the good cold water from the fridge

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@dell
You seem to be coming along nicely with your studies, Dell, your cat's a good teacher.

eddie1perez, (edited ) to random

A healthy democracy does not ban books or attempt to control what people read and think.

The End.

RT @TexasTribune
Texas has banned more books at the local level than any other state in the last year, mostly targeting titles centering on race, racism, abortion and LGBTQ topics. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04/25/texas-gender-history-textbook-ban/?utm_campaign=trib-social&utm_content=1682428568&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Threadbane,
@Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

@eddie1perez
Texas is no more a democracy than Israel.

0x00string, to random

deleted_by_author

    •
    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @0x00string
    Or even if there were SOME rules?

    Helderweb, (edited ) to random
    @Helderweb@newsie.social avatar

    https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpQdT9Mguxf/?igshid=NjZiM2M3MzIxNA==

    Thank you Representative Raskin. 30 years of still-dead Rush Limbaugh using the word DEMOCRAT as a way to disrespect the Democratic Party. The Republicans know what they are doing...not a mistake.

    See what Wikipedia says how the use of the word Democrat is used as a slur

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_(epithet)

    The same way he soiled the word LIBERAL. Anybody remember the Liberal FDR and JFK?

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @Helderweb
    Or Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, or Dwight Eisenhower?

    rbreich, to random

    Kevin McCarthy and Republicans in the House have proposed deep cuts to:

    -Medicaid
    -Veterans' health care
    -Assistance for families in need

    It's not just bad policy, it's downright cruel.

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @rbreich
    It appears to me that Republican legislators nationwide and in DC have become literally psychopathic. Psychiatrists say that psychopathy is contagious, and it appears that the GOP has gone collectively insane.

    Threadbane, to random
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @lowqualityfacts
    More people need to know this. You perform an invaluable daily service and we are all grateful, especially my cat who hates Hemingway.
    I would like to add that your notes are hand printed, not handwritten. Handwritten notes are what you see in old black and white movies, made before the collapse of public education.

    Montag, (edited ) to random
    @Montag@linuxrocks.online avatar

    The saga of my new computer is pretty much over. I got a used Dell OptiPlex 7070 with an Intel i7-9700K, 32Gb RAM and a 1TB HDD from work for under $200. That's much better than I was able to find on my own.
    I still need to see whether I can return the motherboard I ordered.

    Thanks @ascott @oh_that_courtney @OpenComputeDesign and @Threadbane for the help.

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @Montag
    That would have been my prime, for sure, but I was a bit jaded at that point, FIGMO from about 1997-2005. Coding had become easy, but I had ZERO interest in management or hard work or being promoted to my level of incompetent. (See one programming language, you've seen them all. Every peripheral is just another data transform. 8^) Coding boils down to grammar and syntax, and keeping the beat. Zen and the Art of Coding to Bach. 8^)

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @Montag @ascott @oh_that_courtney @OpenComputeDesign
    I worked for Rockell--Collins in the late 70s, and they made Commodore Pets in the basement. Employees could buy one for, as I recall, $200.

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @Montag @ascott @oh_that_courtney @OpenComputeDesign
    In 1982 I got the "company discount" on a Columbia system, the first IBM PC clone, decked out with RGB monitor, the full 512K memory, and a 20 MB disk - $1200 bucks! I think a real PC was maybe twice that.
    Being an old man , I can repeat ad nauseum my observation that I have more memory, storage and computing power in my Galaxy A1 than all the computers in Rome and Utica combined when I started work here in 1972. And it was free! 8^)

    Threadbane,
    @Threadbane@newsie.social avatar

    @Montag @ascott @oh_that_courtney @OpenComputeDesign
    Holy MIPS, Montag! Sell it to me for $300 and buy a new one, okay?

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