Saturday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Saturday, July 6, 2024
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30 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Japan introduces enormous humanoid robot to maintain train lines
I Robot?
So, it’s not a robot anymore than my circular saw is.
@OzarkHillbilly:
IMO, a robot is either an automated machine, or software, that can operate on its own. If you direct every movement, it’s not a robot.
A woman was left in shock after walking into her bathroom to find a king cobra emerging from her toilet in Rajasthan, India. The highly venomous reptile was removed by a professional snake rescuer
And New Yorkers think they have it bad because every now and again a rat climbs out of their toilet.
Heh:
@OzarkHillbilly:
Does your circular saw have AI? You can’t be cutting boards without AI. I have an AI refrigerator, and it makes ice all on its own. Life is so much better now with AI directing ice-making robots to provide all my ice needs. And I have an AI thermostat which – this is amazing – will turn the AC on all on its own, once I tell it what temperature I want. My AI dishwasher can clean dishes autonomously, once I push a few buttons. And add soap. Ditto the washer and dryer.
I was watching a YouTube short and the AI-supplied captions were amazing, I hadn’t even known that ‘Toot In Common’ was an Egyptian pharaoh. I even have AI books – if I turn a corner down, the book will go right to where I was reading it last. Incredible.
This is the future, man, you better get on-board.
How long before Khamenei has him executed by the IRGC?
Heh. Thanx for that. Thanx for all of that.
Today is the 15th anniversary of…
United Breaks Guitars
@Stormy Dragon: The plate of revenge is best served cold.
Where TF are these kids’ parents?
As if teaching isn’t hard enough, with garbage pay. And oh, look…they’re learning something from Trump:
I’m not one for ruining kids’ lives for making dumb mistakes, but there really, really, really need to be big, serious consequences for this. THIS is the result of demonizing public education. THIS is the result of having an appalling, arrogant POS at the head of the GOP.
‘Project 2025’ Trends After Taraji P. Henson’s Comments At BET Awards:
When a celebrity has better journalistic priorities than most the pundit class and elite media. Project 2025 is scarier than Biden’s and Trump’s advanced age.
Jeebus, that dog should be on TV or something.
@DK: It’s good for sure. It looks like advocacy to me, rather than journalism. It might seem low key, but it’s valuable and important. We all need to be doing stuff like this, rather than complaining about ‘journalism’. We all have a platform somewhere. We might not have the reach of the BET awards or Teraji P. Henson, but there are lots of us.
@OzarkHillbilly:
No wonder Trump hates dogs. They’re all demonstrably smarter than he is.
@CSK:
I bet that’s how come he claims to be a germophobe, too.
@Kathy:
Indeed.
@OzarkHillbilly: And the dog is STILL more talented and smarter than our best trolls here.
Sad. SMH, again. [Sigh…]
@CSK: Smarter than Trump isn’t a very high bar. Even for a dog.
@OzarkHillbilly:
First time I’ve seen anyone win at any variation of 3-card monte after the set-up.
Hint to anyone tempted to play this game in the wild — the dog is way smarter than you.
A good dog with a very smart nose. Still better than TFG
@Jay L Gischer:
We can walk and chew gum simultaneously. Or play the game and work the refs, as it were.
Don’t I know it, he is far more attentive than I.
@OzarkHillbilly: ““People were kind of pushing past me, not being nice,” he said. “Nobody said, ‘I love you.’ I had to wait in line to buy a fucking coffee or whatever. I was like, This sucks. I want to go back to being famous.””
Three cheers for an honest celebrity!
@Jen:
From the article:
There is little unique benefit to social media at all. Almost everything that would fall under proper use can be fulfilled through other means.
The unique downsides of social media are numerous and varied.
An add-on take: I argue using Twitter, X, whatever the hell it wants to be called, for discussion of complex topics is a misuse of the platform. But we live in a tl;dr culture, so I guess it doesn’t matter.
Oh, yes, teachers are blowing it out of proportion.
And of course, this little spoiled brat never wanted to be suspended. I doubt anyone thought she desired a suspension, what she really means is she never expected to be held accountable for slander.
And the kid who acted as if the middle aged teacher was the one being immature because they couldn’t take a joke is absurd. This wasn’t a joke made to the teacher’s face–it was made in a public forum, but it doesn’t appear that these kids every expected the teachers to ever see it.
One last thing:
Jen, here are the 2020 Presidential results from Malvern:
Maybe the kids involved are all from Trumpy families, but I’m skeptical this can be tied to attacks on public education.
@wr: Yep. I’ve always liked KB.
@Kurtz: Kids are kids. They do stupid things without ever considering anybody might get hurt. (whether themselves or others) Lord knows I did. They are myopic to the Nth degree. They can not even begin to think how others might be hurt, most times they can’t even see how they might be hurt.
Consequences? Parenting is a dance, between protecting one’s child from harm and allowing them to find out what the price is for “fcking up.” I give people a little slack if they don’t get it quite right as long as they get the love part right.
Myself, my siblings all thought I was way too hard on my sons and I’m sure I was overly… strict from time to time. Regardless, they both now appreciate all the things I did for and with them, the experiences I gave them and most of all, the fact that I never gave up as so many other divorced fathers do.
@OzarkHillbilly:
As have I. A terrific actor. My sister once stayed at the same resort hotel as did Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick and their kids, and she said they were regular folks.
I’m stuck for another week in exciting West Hollywood playing nurse to my wife. Despite all the scare headlines, the high here is only going to be high 80’s to 90. But back in Vegas, we may top the all-time record of 117 on Tuesday, with 118. And I’m annoyed I’m not there.
Vegas is getting in my head.
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yeah, perhaps, I came across as too hard on the kids. I didn’t comment about parenting, though. I try to avoid that sort of thing. I don’t have children, so I can only imagine how difficult it is.
For me, it’s more about social media, specifically the in/actions of the companies, than it is about kids doing dumb things.
@Michael Reynolds:
When those Chinese do a global warming hoax they don’t miss a bet.