Now and Then

 

Army Creating False Arrest Records for Soldiers

A new class action lawsuit alleges the U.S. Army knowingly stuck thousands of soldiers and veterans with a false arrest record over the past six years.

"Defendants have shown that they would rather indulge in bureaucratic inertia rather than fix a problem that has now destroyed the lives, reputations, and careers of numerous service members," attorneys wrote in the class action suit against the Army, its Criminal Investigation Division (CID), the FBI and the Department of Defense, as well as each agency's respective leader.     READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Skateboarding

 

Signs of Fall

When I was growing up in Alexandria, Virginia, 1950-1962, we had 3 very distinct seasons:  Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall.  Winter was from the middle of December to the middle of March; Spring was the middle of March through May; Summer was June to August, and Fall was September through the middle of December.  Granted there was some overlap depending upon the shifting weather conditions, but you could pretty much bank on these four seasons.

The school year went for Labor Day to Memorial Day and sometimes extended well into June depending upon how severe the winter was.  Winter was winter and we got plenty of snow that usually kept us out of school for about 5 days.

While Spring had some nice weather as it opened its doors to summer...  you could count on summer being hot and humid with a little rain of some sort.  Fall was the ideal time for me, since winter was always too cold and you had to wear too many clothes when venturing outside.

Fall was jeans and light sweatshirt weather, and one could put in a lot of work having fun and never sweat or get over-heated.  It was a perfect time for hot apple cider or hot chocolate although Christmas was a better time for the latter.

But it was the leaves turning colors that was the most spectacular thing of all to observe.  When the leaves were turning, we would pile into the family car and our dad would drive us up to the Appalachian Mountains, on Sundays, after church to look at the colors of all the turning leaves.  If we had spent a lot of time driving around, we would pick up something to eat or our dad would cook fried chicken in his cast iron frying pan.  It was the only one he would use to fry chicken.

So...  for me, Fall begins in September and the leaves turn in October, and you eat fried chicken and drink hot apple cider.  The temperature is brisk but not cold and there may be just a slight bit of wind.  For those of us who don't get cold quick it is T-shirt weather as well, but not shorts.

Somewhere along the way, the seasons of the years changed along with the school year, and I cannot remember when we had an old fashion fall...  as it seems to go from summer into winter...

I am sure that many blame this on climate change, but I am not so sure...  It's just that our weather patterns have changed which happens every thousands of years or so.

Whatever it is, for me, is not that important, as long as we will one day return to Fall...  the old Fall that I remember as a boy.

Mother and Child

 

Companies Required to Share AI Risks

President Biden on Monday will sign what the White House is calling a "landmark" executive order that contains the "most sweeping actions ever taken to protect Americans from the potential risks of AI systems."

Among them is requiring that artificial intelligence developers share their safety-test results – known as red-team testing – with the federal government.

"In accordance with the Defense Production Act, the Order will require that companies developing any foundation model that poses a serious risk to national security, national economic security, or national public health and safety must notify the federal government when training the model, and must share the results of all red-team safety tests," the White House says. "These measures will ensure AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy before companies make them public."  READ MORE...

Treadmill

 

AI Apocalypse Team Formed

Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing rapidly, bringing unprecedented benefits to us, yet it also poses serious risks, such as chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats, that could have catastrophic consequences for the world.

How can we ensure that AI is used for good and not evil? How can we prepare for the worst-case scenarios that might arise from AI?

How OpenAI is preparing for the worst
These are some of the questions that OpenAI, a leading AI research lab and the company behind ChatGPT, is trying to answer with its new Preparedness team. Its mission is to track, evaluate, forecast and protect against the frontier risks of AI models.                          READ MORE...

Attack in Iran

 

Light Man

 

Mind Reading

 

Hezbollah's Leader to Speak

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah meets leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas groups at an unidentified location in this handout image released on October 25, 2023 [Hezbollah Media Office/Handout via Reuters] --  Image on Left

Lebanon is on edge in advance of Hezbollah leader Syed Hassan Nasrallah’s anticipated Friday speech on Israel’s war on Gaza, which residents and experts fear could inflame regional tensions if he pledges to escalate attacks against Israel.

Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has escalated along their fraught border in recent weeks. The Lebanese armed group claims to have lost 47 fighters while Israel says that six of its soldiers have been killed. At least six civilians have also been killed.  READ MORE...

Still Laughing

Iran Will Destroy Israel

The New York Times is facing intense backlash for a report focusing on whether Iran will "live up to its fiery rhetoric" and follow through with its vow to "destroy Israel."

The Times suggested Iran was at a crossroads, running the headline, "After Years of Vowing to Destroy Israel, Iran Faces a Dilemma."

"With Israel bent on crushing Iran’s ally Hamas, Tehran must decide whether it and the proxy militias it arms and trains will live up to its fiery rhetoric," The Times report said Wednesday.  READ MORE...

Socks

 

Santos Escapes Expulsion

Embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., escaped being expelled from the House of Representatives Wednesday night after a group of his fellow New York Republicans spearheaded an effort to boot him.

The final vote fell 213-179 against expelling Santos, with 19 lawmakers voting "present." Expelling a member of the House, something that is historically rare, requires a vote of two-thirds of all members present.

Two dozen Republicans voted to expel Santos, while 31 Democrats voted to keep him in the House.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Relatively Protected

 My wife and I live in East TN and have lived here for the last 30 years.  East TN is not like NYC or Atlanta, or Chicago or Washington DC or LA or San Francisco, or Houston or Miami or Ft Lauderdale.

• We don't have a lot of people living in this area so traffic and smog is not much of a problem.
• We don't have much crime although drugs are being sold in our elementary schools.
• We don't have a huge WOKE, CRT, BLM, or Defund the Police movement.
• We are not experiencing a whole lot of trouble from illegal immigrants because there is not much for them to do here except harvest crops.
• We don't have a lot of restaurants but we have all we need and then some.
• We don't have Broadway shows because we are kinda country and redneck when it comes to all that shit, even though many of us are WELL EDUCATED.

Just like a ritualistic bowel movement, I watch FOX News every morning and I FEEL BLESSED because none of that crap that is going on in other cities is taking place here in East TN.

My wife and I are retired and have been retired since 2015, and we managed to save enough money over the years to pay all our expenses (taking inflation into account) until we are both 95 years of age.  It is doubtful that we will live that long, but we have more than enough money.

• Rising prices don't bother us
• Buying a hybrid car has been already figured into our savings
• We have been debt free for the last 15 years
• The money we made on interest paid for our new home renovations
• We made $40,000 profit on the sale of our old home
• Both our vehicles are reliable and we have followed all maintenance plans suggested by the manufacturer
• We don't need any new clothes for the rest of our lives
• We pay $10,000/year for medical insurance and have received $500,000 worth of treatment for the last 10 years
• We are not afraid to walk around in the community after dark
• We don't spend money on anything we don't need

WOULD YOU SAY WE ARE LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM???

Pond Ice Skating

 

Biden Wants a Pause

President Biden said there should be a "pause" in the Israel-Hamas War to provide humanitarian aid to Gazans and get those trapped in the Gaza Strip released.

The comment came during a campaign event in Minnesota on Wednesday evening, when a member of the audience shouted: "As a rabbi, I need you to call for a ceasefire right now.”

The president — who has not supported a ceasefire since the war began on October 7 — said that he would support a "pause."

“I think we need a pause," Biden began. "A pause means give time to get the prisoners out.”     READ MORE...

Religious Peace

 

IDF Soldiers Killed Inside Gaza

The Israeli military reported additional casualties inside the Gaza Strip as the Israel-Hamas war enters its 26th day. 

Israeli forces entered the second stage of their war with Hamas in what is expected to be a lengthy military operation. 

Until this week, Israel had largely relied on airstrikes and artillery to retaliate against Hamas' massacre in Israel on Oct. 7. 

More than 9,900 people have been killed in the war on both sides since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.

Butterfly Stroke

 

Donald Trump Jr. Jokes

 

Sensorium Galaxy: Metaverse

The EDM music pioneer will transcend the confines of reality to deliver a ground-breaking virtual performance in the Sensorium Galaxy.

The legendary British electronic music icon, Carl Cox, will treat fans worldwide on Friday to a mesmerising 30-minute DJ set as part of a free show called "Intermundium."

But here's the twist – he won't actually physically be there.  READ MORE...

Instead, an astonishingly lifelike digital avatar of Cox, crafted by Sensorium Galaxy, will take centre stage for a pioneering metaverse experience.

Voyeur

 

Iceland's Wild Horses

Last year, Irish photographer Gareth McConnell was tasked with capturing the wild horses of Iceland. His results are truly spellbinding.

If you were asked to conjure up a picture of wild horses in the barren Icelandic landscape, it's unlikely that your mind would jump naturally to wild psychedelic imagery, bathed in the surreal glow of neon pink, yellow and blue hues.

But for Gareth McConnell, a London-based Irish photographer and publisher, this was precisely the vision he pursued when the New York Times commissioned him to photograph the horses of I
celand.

From the outset his goal was to create something as "non-National Geographic as possible" - and it's fair to say he achieved this with flying colours.  READ MORE...

Understanding Hamas

 

Fishnets