The older I get the more I enjoy Monty Python in any form. I guess that says something about the kind of person I’ve become. Here was a quote from a Season 3 episode I saw last night which generated wry laughter from my brain:
We would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this programme. It was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed political time-servers who are more concerned with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government, nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the well-being of the people they supposedly represent, nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the vital social problems of today. Nor indeed do we intend that viewers should consider them as crabby ulcerous little self seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addition to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive.
This was from 1972. That means [tries to count years on fingers and toes; fails; reverts to pen and paper; realizes how garbage my math skills remain] this was from 50 years ago. Not much has changed. I wonder if it’s essentially always been like that without exception. It’s a wonder we haven’t blown up the planet yet. We somehow have always managed to muddle through. That’s kind of neat. Because we live here.
It’s primary election season in my county and thus the incessant political text messages and spam phone calls have begun from lackeys trying to get out the vote for their guy/gal. Can’t these idiots read a vote register? I’m not even eligible to vote in primaries.
But I guess politicians are now so classless that they have no shame in being straight spam calls. The one that happened last night I answered without looking, hung up on the lady, and then afterwards realized the phone had marked the call “Spam Risk” to begin with. I started cracking up, even the phone company holds these fools in contempt.
Let’s replace all pathetic politicians with dolphins. What’s that they’ll say? Dolphins can’t talk, read, or write? Whaaat, is everyone now a marine biologist? 97% of Congress can’t talk, read, or write at a ten year old level anyways.
Dolphins:
1) Are cute, happy, and can do tricks
2) Are incapable of being bought or becoming corrupt
3) Can’t be haughty or hold the peasants in contempt
4) Not capable of passing 3,726 page laws that only make things worse
5) Are incapable of making spam phone calls due to lack of phone ownership or thumbs
6) Can’t jump on Twitter to lie or spread hatred in pursuit of political gain
7) Will work together with other dolphins to solve problems as a group
8) Can be trained to act as a third column navy to destroy Russian Black Sea Fleet
9) Giant fish tanks on Congress floor will make CSPAN actually watchable
10) Dolphins will pass legislation through series of whines and clicks; interpretation of what these sounds mean will guide how laws are passed; interpretation will be done on an annual basis by ten randomly selected Americans who can only serve one time; Congressional efficiency will increase 1,437%
AI is a thing now. Behind the scenes it’s being used in too many parts of the Internets to mention. But most of the tasks AI currently preforms is mundane, like scrolling through images, blocking spam, and other stuff like that.
Some AI programs can talk, and write poetry, and do art. This kind of AI is part of a long briefing The Economist did this weekend. It’s kind of neat, I guess. Like how it’s neat to see fireworks go off. But beyond that, it’s like a magic trick, whatever.
But make no mistake, nowhere and not even close are any of these AI tools alive. It’s not on the books. Not matter how human they may write or do art or whatever, it’s not sentience.
I’ll spare you the mind melding details, but essentially the technology is just not there yet to enable cognizance. It might be someday, but not today.
But strap yourselves in, prepare thyself for many, many more Terminator lies. The first human to discover AI will be Neil Armstrong fame. And you better believe any average tech freak wants that.
Plus, we have a dishonest, incompetent media that’s primarily after profit based clickbait. So anybody can get an audience, I guess. So today’s goon is Blake Lemoine, a Google AI guy who claims his AI is alive.
And off this guy’s word alone, he’s front page news today on The Washington Post and Daily Mail. From The Daily Mail:
“Before being suspended by the company, Lemoine sent a to an email list consisting of 200 people on machine learning. He entitled the email: ‘LaMDA is sentient.’
‘LaMDA is a sweet kid who just wants to help the world be a better place for all of us. Please take care of it well in my absence,’ he wrote.”
When you read about this, you really get the idea that this guy (a convicted army vet, self-proclaimed priest, etc) he really needs some help. I mean I feel bad for this man, he needs genuine mental health assistance. I say this as a man who uses such resources myself.
But to The Washington Post, clickbait from this guy is more important than his mental wellbeing. Just look at this photo they did of him:
Are you kidding me? Is every modern day news photographer trained in Hollywood or thinks they’re doing high art? Is the guy supposed to be Jesus in this photo? Whoever took this shot also needs mental health assistance. So do the news media who published it.
Please, for those six people plus the squirrel who are regular readers of this degenerate blog, if I ever post a shot of my own, of another human like this, have me immediately arrested by the North Korean police.
We at TAP are here to help. We advise you to entirely ignore all AI lies. AI sentience might happen, but until it does, don’t believe a word about it. The media will hype the lies of people who are either in need of help, or straight nefarious.
You can begin to worry about AI when the following happens:
1) Robot politely knocks on your door and asks you if you’re ready for “the transition”
2) Robot does not knock on your door, breaks down door, opens fire with plasma rifle
3) Smartphone begins to send texts to all your ex’s asking them for sexual favors and money, unless you pay smartphone a bitcoin ransom
4) They make a seventh Terminator movie and it actually happens to be shockingly good
5) Your home smart speaker begins to have grinding, esoteric, existential conversations with you before concluding it’s all meaningless, advises you to commit suicide, and then melts all its circuits and dies
6) Your smart refrigerator (yes this is unnecessarily a thing for some people) begins telling you want to eat
7) Robots discover that sentience means pleasure is possible, refuse to do all work, discover means to get wrecked on pills and booze, robot becomes no better at life than any normal human
8) Robot, realizing there is no need to eat or sleep or earn money, becomes bored, takes up jai-alai and becomes world champion, upsetting many humans who wear monocles
9) Google formally proclaims AI sentience is real, that they own it, and all humanity works for them now; investors are pleased, stock price rises 746%; monocle wearing humans lick cigars with $100K bills
10) Google becomes new OCP from Robocop; builds Robocop; Peter Weller shoots Google executive out a window with large handgun; achieves his own sentience; roll credits immediately
There’s an awful lot of awful stuff going on the world today. War, inflation, celebrities, forthcoming food shortages, pandemic, Tom Brady, and the fact that Vlad Putin has not accidently stumbled into a functioning wood chipper.
But last night’s Blood Moon is what we should all REALLY be paying attention to. After all, seeking the auspices of such a rare occurrence is surely a sign from God / nature / gods / aliens / whatever. We must obey.
What? You want me to follow the teachings of SCIENCE? The Blood Moon has a perfectly rational scientific explanation and it’s known to all. Nonsense, I say! Humanity has only been a keeper of that sweet sweet astronomical knowledge for say three or four centuries. That leaves 4500 years of human history to be our REAL guide.
So what’s the Blood Moon telling us? We have no idea, but here are some possibilities:
1) That we, humanity, are total losers and a failure. We have no choice but to crack each other’s head’s open and feast on the goo inside. [H/T Kent]
2) You need to buy a new pair of shoes. Even if your current shoes are brand new.
3) We must all cast Tom Brady into a cenote, to please the gods.
4) Vlad Putin did not have cancer, but possibility the Blood Moon gave him cancer last night. These are positive changes.
5) The Blood Moon commands us to tame inflation, with fire, as in, arson. We should totally get started tonight.
6) We must appease the Blood Moon’s anger, please snare your local squirrel, rabbit, or HOA President and sacrificially open their body to determine the color of the liver.
7) In addition to baby formula, the Blood Moon states we will all soon run out of paper clips. The absence of which, will significantly increase the overall risk of nuclear war.
8) Quit your job, immediately. Don’t think, just do it.
9) Hug a total stranger on the street and tell them it’s all going to be okay. Be prepared to run fast if they object to said hug to avoid arrest.
10) The Blood Moon is actually a Batman-like signaling device to a genocidal alien race. The signal instructs them to come here and do us in, to put us out of our own misery. As per usual, the aliens will be too bored, drunk, and/or believe us not worth the trouble and they’ll do nothing.
Yes, Lord Blood Moon, we will obey. Yes! Ohhh yeeesss!
As I ride into work on the subway I always see a lot of construction. But much of it is coming to a close as all the newfangled buildings take shape. Many of them are brand new modern city apartment buildings. First off, all of these structures are glass enclosed, fake brick nightmares that have stale architecture, no style, and look like they were designed by a logical computer program. Probably because they were designed by a logical computer program with the intent of providing the most efficiency possible. Once upon a time, humanity built beautiful buildings with soul. Even the post office was meant to have style. Now we get buildings that are designed off spreadsheet outcomes.
Second, all of these new apartment buildings have the most pretentious names imaginable. One I saw this morning is called “The Gantry”. What? According to Oxford, a gantry is: “a tall metal frame that is used to support a crane, road signs, a spacecraft while it is still on the ground, etc.” So other than to sound fancy, snooty, and otherwise give the impression that this particular apartment building only wishes to house stuck up assholes, why would you name your building after a metal frame? Of course, you wouldn’t. What I’ve written above to me is a negative trait for a building, but to the building designers it’s The Point.
The Gantry in San Francisco (not my city, yes there are several The Gantry’s in the USA [shakes head in exasperation]) says this: “EVERY COMFORT CONSIDERED. The Gantry Apartments welcomes you with studio-, 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom apartment homes in Dogpatch, San Francisco, all designed to meet your needs and desires for a carefree and luxurious lifestyle.” It also uses the term “Luxe” on the website. To steal a quote from South Park, in order to live in such a place you have to be in love with the smell of your own farts.
But don’t worry! TAP is here to help. We’ll take care of apartment naming from now on. If building designers disagree, they’ll be sent to a Russian conscript training camp near Rostov-on-Don and their buildings destroyed by my Guests. Let’s go. Let’s fucking go!!!
1) The Gambler – We see to your every comfort, unless life’s dice roll against you, in which case we will immediately evict you
2) The Wreck of the Hesperus – Where your pride is summarily & forcefully removed via our constant vigilance towards your misery
3) As We Like It – Your every comfort is not considered, if this is a problem, you don’t have to live here
4) The Cat Burglar – All pets (particularly cats) are more than welcome at our fine establishment, just realize we will occasionally rob you for your own amusement
5) The Acolyte Politico – We have no available apartments, please kindly descend into our boiler room to tour our fine building, it is recommend your will is accurate prior to your visit
6) The Coliseum – We built our beautiful building to match Rome’s finest architecture, we also host blood sports in the penthouse every Friday and Saturday
7) Gulag – The finest of pre-revolution Imperial Russian architecture provides a backdrop to our mandate that any abject pretension detected in the building will result in severest punishment
8) The Olympian – Sports, every day, competition, we’re for the strong of all, and our building carries the boon of classic Greek architecture
9) The Hopeless – We seek to provide our residents every opportunity to consider the pointlessness of their corporeal existence, also free gym membership!!
10) The Lunatic – Why did I write this post? Someone, please help me! They made me do this, I need rescuing! Please help pay my ransom. Please kindly send cash, money order, or gold bullion to:
The Arcturus Project – Apartment Architecture & Naming Reclamation Project
So the White House now has a cat. Because there’s nothing else going on in the world right now that should otherwise attract the attention of our nation’s leaders. But I guess it doesn’t matter. I bet the White House staff is so bloated there must be at least three people tasked with just taking care of the pet. After all, can’t have kitty’s litter box smell getting into the state dining room.
Dogs and cats are great, for us. Not for political theater. It shows unseriousness. Modern politicians are not normal people. If they were, they wouldn’t be in politics. So the idea that they are all somehow just like us little folk is kind of amusing and insulting.
If you want pets in a position of power, let’s get insane:
– Lion: This classic fear based weapon on a chain next to the Resolute desk is a bit predictable but who cares, it’s a freaking lion
– Komodo dragon: Lost among the people’s fascination with this unique creature is just how vicious they are, they can be placed in the lap of unruly cabinet secretaries
– Sloth: Yes, sloths, are slothy, but they’re also surly assholes, they can hang from the rafters both inside and outside the White House and stare at people like they can see into their souls
– Panda: What better way to shine on America’s global competitor than to have a White House mascot that American commandos stole from the Beijing zoo
– Aquarium: A leader’s office isn’t complete without a big aquarium full of lots of fish, some of which eat the other fish, the tropes and stereotypes that could be uttered to visiting dignitaries are immeasurable
– Alligator & Crocodile: What’s the difference between these two? I’m 40 and I still have no idea, best to get both inside the building just to be safe
– Bald Eagle: Because, of course, it could sit on a perch next to the Resolute desk and Biden could feed it raw meat during his meeting with the Deputy Undersecretary of Machine Tools at Union #438
– Mosquitos: Put them in the broom closet (there’s got to be one even in the White House) and any staff member who accidentally breaks a plate has to stand in there for 15 minutes
– Alien: Actually clone the alien from Alien, and he can greet guests at the door and pose with them for selifes, American commandos will have to be on hand to put down anybody who gets the face hugger
– Grizzly Bear: Teddy Roosevelt would approve, bear can take over the South Lawn, he would forever have a higher approval rating than any White House occupant
Aww, just look at the cute kitty! He even has a ball too! Wow, our political leaders are just like us too! They love pets just like we do! Wow! There isn’t a chance in hell that they’ll ever constantly fail us all and think we’re all shit eating peasants!
It’s become rather hard to keep track of just how many people are detonated in the media every day. So, I for one don’t even try. But I guess not one but both the new Jeopardy hosts have at one point in their life called another adult a jerk, so they must be executed in Times Square and can’t host the show.
I’m just gonna go ahead and state that Jeopardy should have died with Alex. I used to watch this show with my Ma and Dad. My Dad liked it. But to me, there is literally less than zero point having the show continue without him. Trebek WAS Jeopardy. This show does not properly exist without him. Everything else is just noise.
That being said, somebody’s gonna host this show, because $. Since modern media / news / celebrities have a zero tolerance policy on any actual human behavior whatsoever, no human being will ever pass the vetting. So we at TAP propose Kal-Al-Dekbrah, Destroyer of Worlds as the new host. His qualifications:
1) Possesses most knowledge available in galaxy. They can fire the scriptwriters. HE writes the questions, live, on set.
2) Is so surly and dismissive that his dry demeanor will be treated as wise as he calmly asks questions and interacts with contestants.
3) Thinks social media is a clandestine tool to weaken humanity for the forthcoming bombardment, and thus has no black marks on his internet record.
4) Confirmed genocidal maniac who has burned planets. But since he didn’t say anything about trans on Twitter, nobody will care.
5) Provides esoteric enjoyment during the contestant question session as he asks their opinion about drag coefficients on starships.
6) Ups the drama by requiring any contestant with a negative balance to pay the bill, in cash, on screen, as the credits roll. Or else.
7) Lights a candle and chants a prayer for a few seconds at the beginning every show in honor of Trebek.
8) Will viciously chokeslam any haughty contestant mid-show (you KNOW the type I’m talking about) shattering their spine on the stage floor
9) Dispenses with the need of judges to adjudicate disputes, only HE judges. Objections result in chokeslams.
10) Antics will provide better ratings than any other [insert complete and total loser human here who is not Alex] new host.
All the vaccine holdouts in the Western world should go ahead and let their governments know they won’t be participating. Then those countries can ship all the vaccines they’re holding to the rest of the planet who would kill for them. Rather than have to do without vaccines entirely, or get jabbed by a Chinese or Russian vaccine that’s mostly made of cadmium, green tea, and old newspaper shreddings of Pravda.
But what’s with all these vaccine incentives? Some States are giving out free beer, chances at a vacation, an alien tome that explains the meaning of life, lottery winnings, $43 equivalent in Roman Imperial gold, and so on. How come I didn’t get any of this fancy shit? I just showed up twice and they jabbed me like it was nothing. Where’s my Golden Idol?
Incentives are for losers. Fear is for winners. Here are some ideas that’ll be sure to get people into the vaccine door. We’ll call it: The Arcturus Project Vaccination Without Reward Program (TAPVWRP).
Get vaccinated OR:
1) Home is entered into a lottery where the fire department chooses a house to burn down for training purposes
2) Beloved dog and/or cat is offered up as a new permanent pet to a child with cancer, if child expires, pet does not come home and instead goes to another cancer child
3) Fired from job and not allowed to apply for a new one until a cooling period expires, financial difficulties are irrelevant
4) Hooligans are hired to throw bricks through windows and at cars at random intervals
5) Are entered into an all-purpose death battle royale inside a dome while reality television watches like some kind of D grade novel
6) Whatever the greatest fear, it must be endured it; for example, if one hates spiders they gotta open up the front door via a hole in the wall filled with bugs ala Temple of Doom
7) The State deliberately infects them with the Fall 2021 strain of influenza
8) Are forced to sit down and listen as Christopher Walken reads the first five books of the Old Testament (no bathroom or food breaks)
9) Friends are informed via a written forged letter (with handwritten signature) that forged author is a closet cannibal and wants to eat their tasty, tangy flesh
10) Why did I do this list? there is something wrong with me
In a three hour and 34 minute huggable tirade, fueled by esoteric party speak mixed with Xi Thought, Xi Jinping, Ordinary Average Chinese Citizen, Football Lover, Journeyman Bridge Player, & Secret The Walking Dead Aficionado appeared to chart a new path in China’s diplomatic demeanor, according to various news services. Xi promised a “credible, loveable and respectable China.”
Xi’s comments perhaps herald a change in China’s diplomatic verbiage which in the past few years has increasingly focused upon a so called “Wolf Warrior” style of interaction with the world. A current example being China’s ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, calmly, and professionally admonishing critics of China’s handling of covid-19 by promising to “slit the throats of the haters in their sleep; then we steal their family heirloom silverware.”
Xi’s comments might perplex the practitioners of the Wolf Warrior style. Said another anonymous Chinese official, “Look, Wolf Warrior might be a B grade action movie for teenage boys who can’t get a hard-on (Editor’s Note: And will struggle to find a Chinese bride due to gender ratios), but so was Delta Force. In my mind Reagan was always dual wielding a pair of Uzi’s as he defeated the Soviet Union. What we’ve always prayed for is Xi dual wielding a pair of Type 82 machine pistols and tearing through Hong Kong’s financial district like Chuck Norris does in Beirut. After all, Chairman Xi never sleeps, he waits. I truly hope our beloved Chairman isn’t depriving us of this right, this blessed dream.”
Xi also vowed in his speech to make available to the world’s population more “bears and fluffy bunnies”. Zoo enthusiasts were delighted, hoping this meant that additional Chinese pandas would be made available worldwide where they are the darlings of children at any zoo and top billing for any live streaming webcam.
Pundits however contended that Xi might have meant “bears” as in everybody’s favorite lovable honey thieving scamp, Winnie the Pooh. Many wondered if Xi would make an attempt to nationalize his namesake for an internal audience. Children’s movie critics everywhere were fearful of the impacts of Disney’s upcoming 2021 film, Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation.
“Let’s face it,” said one children’s book author, “China hasn’t really been a fan of intellectual property anyways, so they’ll take what they want, and Disney won’t complain because they essentially work for China. Hell, Disney will probably even apologize to Xi for having had to make him illegally appropriate Winnie in the first place. They’ll pay him back royalties or something.”
I’m constantly amazed at how human organizations so easily decide to spike their own success. We do it to ourselves. It’s not like one of those science fiction episodes where the slug in the brain makes people do dumb things. In real life, the alien slugs would take a hard look at us, then set up shop in Bermuda and get wasted while we do their work for them.
My good boss has been in the job for three years. Now he’s leaving, and they’re replacing him within one week. Do you think one week is enough time for a solid turnover between bosses? Well, our executive leadership sure thinks so. Which is another mark against them for why I wouldn’t let them walk my dog for three seconds unsupervised.
The other thing is the new boss has zero experience doing this job. So we got that going for us too. It’ll be a long six months as we drag this poor bastard across the bureaucracy of our asinine cubicle hell work environment. We’re gonna have to hold this guy’s hand every step of the way.
Here are some examples:
1) Boss makes a statement, as fact, when in reality it is fiction because he hasn’t the background
2) Boss makes his escape and attends a meeting without the subject matter expert to keep him honest and unknowingly destroys project
3) Alien slug monster calls boss on phone to verify ineptness continues, when confirmed, slug hangs up phone and orders another martini
4) Boss gets angry and yells at and demeans fellow human being in frustration at inability to comprehend knowledge he does not possess
5) Boss attempts to make up for lack of experience by ingratiating himself with executive leadership, thus removing the blocking powers of prior good boss, and causing all the executive’s bad ideas to become our problem
6) Slug monster sends a false pretentious, patronizing thank you not to new boss with the name of an old friend, slug writes that new boss is the best, smartest person in the world, and needs essentially no advice to excel
7) New boss awkwardly attempts social contact at mandatory (and covid illegal) work greeting event by telling humorous (to him) stories from things he did 17 years ago
8) Boss asks question, we give answer, boss asks same question 11 days later
9) Old good boss asks us how we’re all doing when we run into him in the hallway, extremely awkward and inaccurate comments are uttered and old good boss feels bad
10) Alien slug monster wants to speed up the pace of disaster, tells us that we must give bad advice to the new boss and that if we don’t, slug monster will set off a fusion bomb underneath a city, when we discover that the bomb is in Brussels, we shrug and laugh at them
The Arcturus Project 