Random News Stories

[PopeTom]

Witness Donald Trump's great america.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/04/kkk-hood-coronavirus-mask/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

Photos of a man wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood while shopping Saturday prompted a harsh rebuke from local leaders in San Diego County, and police now say they're looking into the unsettling imagery.

The incident took place one day after health officials in the county ordered residents to wear face coverings in public to stymie the spread of covid-19. Tiam Tellez — one of several shoppers who captured photos of the hooded man at a Vons supermarket in Santee, Calif., and posted them on social media — wrote on Facebook that several store employees repeatedly told the man to take off the hood or leave.

[Cain]

You just knew some fucker was going to be "oh, I have to wear a mask because these communist doctors say so? Fine then, I'm gonna wear my favourite mask".

[Junkenstein]

Quick aside, looking at that guys shopping cart. I thought there was some kind of election propaganda attached because of the visible "2020". It's not. It's an advert for an estate agent as far as I can tell.

Calling it now, but there's going to be a bit of a shock to the  sheer volume and prevalence of ads. For one, no one will have any money for them, and for two there won't be a lot of competition and therefore need for them.

Marketing executives will be a big new demographic in your tent cities.

[minuspace]

Here's a randomly ominous look at the possible future of monetizing advertisements with the work done by the brain viewing them. If it matches some target (read: what they want you to think) then you get the moneys as proof of work in their blockchain computation. The future has spoken.


https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/amp32318654/microsoft-brainwaves-mine-cryptocurrency/

Each cognitive task would be assigned a pattern of numbers, depending on how much effort was put in. If that string matches the target, it's considered a proof-of-work, and the transaction may be completed. Using the brainwaves as a stand-in would take some light effort on the part of the human involved, but would save massively on electricity.

[chaotic neutral observer]

I skimmed the patent.  The popular mechanics "author" either hadn't a clue, or was manufacturing clickbait.

The gimmick is:
The widget gives the human some sort of task.
The human performs the task.
Sensors verify that the human has performed the task.
The human is awarded some cryptocurrency.

Falsifying inputs to such a system is, in my opinion, trivial, but they just hand-waved it away [0047].

Reading brain-waves is just one of the many possibilities listed: "...wherein the body activity sensed by the sensor comprises at least one of body radiation emitted from the user, body fluid flow, a brain wave, pulse rate or body heat radiation."

I dismiss this as complete nonsense.

[minuspace]

Yeah, seems like a broad catch-all kind of patent. The body fluid thing is kinda priceless, thanks for pointing that out. Beyond that, there seems to be something about rewarding people for their thought patterns, directly, that I feel is less treacherous than it could be.


(Just read [0047])


Still, it would take most people less work to just think the thoughts for the reward than to hack the fMRI outputs.

[chaotic neutral observer]

Falsifying inputs to such a system is, in my opinion, trivial, but they just hand-waved it away [0047].

Like on the part of the user?

If I have an electronic sensor in my possession, I can make it report anything I want (or I can rip it out and feed the system dummy signals in its place, whatever).  Next thing you know, I've automated this and scaled it up, and I have 100,000 virtual humans in my basement, all earning cryptocurrency.

[minuspace]

Falsifying inputs to such a system is, in my opinion, trivial, but they just hand-waved it away [0047].

Like on the part of the user?

If I have an electronic sensor in my possession, I can make it report anything I want (or I can rip it out and feed the system dummy signals in its place, whatever).  Next thing you know, I've automated this and scaled it up, and I have 100,000 virtual humans in my basement, all earning cryptocurrency.

You, sure, I'll award you that benefit. Most people do not know what a Radon transform is, however.

[minuspace]

https://gizmodo.com/this-lickable-screen-can-recreate-almost-any-taste-or-f-1843609903

The color-coded gels, made from agar formed in the shape of long tubes, use glycine to create the taste of sweet, citric acid for acidic, sodium chloride for salty, magnesium chloride for bitter, and glutamic sodium for savory umami. When the device is pressed against the tongue, the user experiences all five tastes at the same time, but specific flavors are created by mixing those tastes in specific amounts and intensities, like the RGB pixels on a screen. To accomplish this, the prototype is wrapped in copper foil so that when it's held in hand and touched to the surface of the tongue, it forms an electrical circuit through the human body, facilitating a technique known as electrophoresis.

[altered]

Juana, care to explain this?

https://twitter.com/sfist/status/1268695305555513349?s=21

[Cain]

ALL related btw

[LMNO]

I suppose it was to be expected, but two GOP congressional candidates with a good chance of winning are apparent QAnon supporters.

[Doktor Howl]

I suppose it was to be expected, but two GOP congressional candidates with a good chance of winning are apparent QAnon supporters.

Of course.     This shit may be nutty, but IT ISN'T NUTTY ENOUGH!

[Doktor Howl]

She's seemingly also on board with QAnon: In May, she told far-right personality and QAnon supporter Ann Vandersteel that the theory isn't really her "thing," but then later added, "I hope that [Q] is real, because it only means America is getting stronger and better and people are returning to conservative values."

Conservative values seem to consist of shitting on anyone who isn't a rich white male.

I honestly can think of any other values that define conservativism.

[Cain]

Do "massive amounts of projection" and "batshit insane conspiracy theories derived from huffing bath salts" count as values?