How to make decisions in a world of uncertainty. Good decision-making is learned, not born. While we cannot predict or control the outcomes of the decisions we make, we can try to control how we make those decisions.
Warner Brothers has started releasing their back catalogs of films on Youtube. I am getting that feeling I used to have walking down the isles of the local video store. All the titles and odd ball films that now have finally made it to the internet.
I keep seeing this word "Evrostics" and found the origin. I suspect that it will be used much more often to justify what ever an AI agenda needs. It's always good to know where it originated.
Swearing may also be a sign of intelligence. No shit sherlock!
This guy watched over a thousand films in 2024 and provides a quick review on his Tumblr. Worth a quick review. Found a few I have considered watching in the past and now I know I can skip them, but then some others that I will have to watch.
Much of what this years Computer Electronics Show is nothing more than re-hash and refinements of what already exists. A few things that were interesting. The Smart Cane 2, a high-tech version of the mobility cane for people who are blind. But the winner for me is an update on the robot vaccum with an arm that picks up things!
Backpack travel. "Onebag travel is unquestionably the best way to travel. Traveling without luggage removes just about every pain point associated with flying, such as checking bags, overhead compartments, bag fees, waiting in line, and needing to drop off luggage before an adventure." [Found on Metafilter.com] Blake - I enjoy lists like this, the fact it is so specific. I need to make my own list. While I have many of the same items, some of his recommendations are absolute garbage. Anything Amazon Essentials, Nike, Rayban stories - I have owned many of them and I can assure you these are a waste of your money and more importantly, your time.
Instead of New Year's resolutions, create some new habits. Create systems that make it easy for yourself to achieve over time. Small steps to massive change. Once you create small simple steps over time that make it easy to achieve. You will realize this is the best advice you have ever received. As mentioned as a comment on the article, it's not motivation you need, but discipline. You show up for work, it's time to show up for yourself. [Found on Wirednews.com]
It's YOUR government. Unfortunately, no one has shown you how to use it. But with the power of AI, Google Gemini and ChatGPT you can ask how these tools can work and benefit you. Use it before it's erased!
https://discover.gpo.gov/
https://www.govinfo.gov/help/other-resources
https://catalog.gpo.gov/
https://uscode.house.gov
Cloudhiker. Discover the most interesting, weird and awesome websites of the Internet. [Found on Metafilter.com] I have not checked this out yet, so you will have to let me know if it's good.
Happy Public Domain Day! This site tracks everything that is now in the public domain and free to use* [found on Metafilter.com]
An Internet with no links. Where we have been and how AI is transforming how we associate information. [found at aeon.co] I find this to be the most concerning of anything I have read recently. How do we verify facts from fiction if sources are removed from simple discovery?
I already sent this to my husband as another reference for chart making. "John Ogilby published his Britannia road atlas, the first of its breadth and quality, in 1675. Its strip map design became a visual and cartographic icon. Ogilby's map innovations include establishing the scale of one inch to the mile and the consistent use of the standard mile. Britannia Plate 25 is below, you can see the other 99 plates here." [found on Metafilter.com]
"I asked Chatgpt" is becoming the oracle of today. That makes for a dark reality that we will have to face and cannot escape since it will shape the world around us. [found on TheVerge.com]
Tis' the season for corporate catalog amusement. Drew Magary of defector.com skewers the 2024 William-Sonoma Catalog. I am not sure the whole "haters" is accurate. Calling out ridiculousness marketing of what can be made at home or bought from most thrift shops for a fraction of the cost is hilarious. [found on Metafilter.com]
Another great Metafilter.com link: ClassicalKing.org Their Christmas selections seem more calming. I want some calm, peaceful music that may put me to sleep. Plus they do a great job of actually giving the performers proper credit.
Digital screen licence plates. Is it just me or does this seem like a conspiracy of corruption within the states that allow such licenses. The premise for having them is you can alert if your car is stolen, but that can be achieved much more effectively with a display frame. There is no reason to have any kind of editable plate unless your plan is to subvert or frame others for your crimes.
I do not spend time on literary sites. But I have happened upon some good reads from time to time. kottke.org linked to Lithubs 50 biggest literary stories of 2024 and there are some gems there to enjoy. If you use Safari browser, it's a good time to use "Hide distracting item..." from the URL menu to make a game of removing all the stupid ads. I like how Apple made an animation to make it look like you are disintegrating them from the screen.
FDA updates food labeling in the US. This should have happened sooner. I suspect the new administration plans to scrap the whole department. But it will be to the detriment of the billionaires. If you look at EU, they block many current US food products they consider poisonous to consumers. When the wrong people start dying in the US, it's going to be beyond costly to their fortunes.
Metafilter: The manifesto of the MeFite. One of my favorite goto websites has listed reader's manifestos. One says: "Mostly an exhustive list on how to behave and move correctly in a supermarket". Mine would be to call out mothers using their baby strollers like a Disney World Fast Pass.
Google launched Gemini 2.0. All I can say is hurray! Because what Google has been putting out really provides substantial user resources for use today. If you have not tried out Google NotebookLM, I highly recommend trying it out. Just link a YouTube video as a source document and watch the magic happen!
Lorin Hochstein's Surfing Complexity has a great article about a phrase that comes up alot in many circles of life. "As above, so below" when it comes to recognizing issues. I experienced this first hand working in a brand new data center, supposedly military grade with multiple fall back systems and expensive infrastructure. A big storm hit and took out the water main controller (not part of the systems) and this inturn brought down everything as it all over heated.
McSweeny's gets right to the unfortunate point and expectation.
These days I have such a short attention span. Looking through Netflix is something I cannot do these days. But Wired posted a list that actually has some Netflix films I may actually want to watch. [Found on Wired]
IMG_0001:"Between 2009 and 2012, iPhones had a built-in "Send to YouTube" button in the Photos app. Many of these uploads kept their default IMG_XXXX filenames, creating a time capsule of raw, unedited moments from random lives." [Found on Metafilter]
I have been having a blast listening to the podcast Ghosted!. Many celebrities guests with very personal stories. But my favorite are the listener stories that can take some wild unexpected tangents.
It is wild to me that Build-A-Bear now has a Mothman plushie. [Found on Metafilter]
Cheese.com appears to be a thorough 120 web page database of cheeses! Search by categories of type, country, milk, texture or color. Your welcome! [found at Kottke.org]
Much of what’s beautiful about searching the internet is jumping into ridiculous Reddit debates and developing unforeseen obsessions on the way to mastering a topic you’d first heard of six hours ago, via a different search; falling into clutter and treasure, all the time, without ever intending to. AI search may close off these avenues to not only discovery but its impetus, curiosity. [The Atlantic - Internet Archive link] The Death of Search. Another comment mentions how when searching in a library for a book, sometimes you find a better book near the one your searching.
It has been official for a while now. I am old. Definitely do not feel it, except when some meme shows up in my surfing and I have no idea what it means. Know your meme [Found DuckDuckGo search]
I tested Google's artificial Intelligence audio Podcast review of Waikiki Travel Tips an Audio only review. [Review from this YouTube Waikiki Review]
Cool Tools has been a staple of the web for decades now. But I found myself not going there because like many old stores of recommendations, it became over whelming and a sink hole for wallets. But if you have never been there, it is an absolute must for exploring. It also may be helpful for buying gifts for Christmas.
Bluesky looks a lot like the old Twitter you knew and loved. It’s a reverse chronological feed of posts, including images, videos, and links that you can like and repost. Like old Twitter, your feed is not ruled by an algorithm. Meanwhile, Bluesky’s open source, decentralized framework gives you a lot more control over how your feed works than X or even Threads. Bluesky said that 2.25 million new users have joined in the last week alone. The second link about control is from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, that alone gives Bluesky more internet cred over the rivals where algorithms are more about propaganda and obtaining your views from negative news for views.
Reality? Does it require observation? A particle could be in many places at once, for example. The math and experimental results were unequivocal about it. And it seemed that the only way for a particle to go from such a “superposition” of states to a single state was for someone or something to observe it, causing the superposition to “collapse.” This bizarre situation raised profound questions about what constitutes an observation or even an observer. Does an observer merely discover the outcome of a collapse or cause it? Is there even an actual collapse? Can an observer be a single photon, or does it have to be a conscious human being? [Found at Scientific American]
A recent Bloomberg report reveals that since the movie Moana launched alongside Disney+ in November 2019, and with an extra boost thanks to the early days of the pandemic, Moana’s ended up as Disney’s most-streamed movie of all time. [Bloomberg.com] I guess I should go watch it now that I live in Hawaii.
Despite it's impressive output, a recent study from MIT suggests generative AI doesn't have a coherent understanding of the world.
An example study showed that a popular type of generative AI model accurately provided turn-by-turn driving directions in New York City, without having formed an accurate internal map of the city. Though the model can still navigate effectively, when the researchers closed some streets and added detours, its performance plummeted. And when they dug deeper, the researchers found that the New York maps the model implicitly generated had many nonexistent streets curving between the grid and connecting far away intersections. [found on Slashdot.org]
Green Flags Stories that warm the heart. [found on Metafilter.com]
HTML for people is for everyone. Seriously, take a few minutes and just make a quick web site following these directions. You may realize it's more fun than you expected. The possibilities! A place online available to you or anyone you want at any time that you control the content. Learning the basics really can make an impact on what your capable of doing. [found on Metafilter.com]
