May 5, 20214 yr 2 hours ago, we_gotta_believe said: They made a big stink over a 50 cent stamp? I could see that being an issue if they switched gears after years of not requiring postage, but if they always required it, I don't get the outrage. It was 1st time everyone was allowed to vote by mail in ballot because of COVID. Voters thought that they shouldn’t have to spend to vote. Yes they probably spent more to get to polling center than a stamp to vote in person. Why some counties paid and others didn’t was issue. Seemed like this time around it was going to be addressed. If I recall correctly some of the stimulus was to go to making voting easier. Myself it’s in mailbox for pickup.
May 5, 20214 yr 23 minutes ago, Talkingbirds said: It was 1st time everyone was allowed to vote by mail in ballot because of COVID. Voters thought that they shouldn’t have to spend to vote. Yes they probably spent more to get to polling center than a stamp to vote in person. Why some counties paid and others didn’t was issue. Seemed like this time around it was going to be addressed. If I recall correctly some of the stimulus was to go to making voting easier. Myself it’s in mailbox for pickup. I mean, they don't. They can still drive to the drop box and dump it in by hand. But yeah it's weird that some counties did while others didn't.
May 5, 20214 yr 3 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said: Thank you. She had a long road to recovery. We got her back together and she lived for like another 6/7 years or so. We got more time together, but she had long-term mental health issues that we wonder if they might have been exacerbated by the experience. Her episodes were becoming more frequent. We eventually got her out of NE Philly and moved her up by us, hoping the change of scenery and being close to family might help, but she was dead about 9 months later. I don't really consider it to be directly related, but the difficult thing is that my brother has never really forgiven himself for the accident. I think he believes that the ordeal hastened her demise, at least from a mental perspective. That's terrible. I'm so sorry to hear that. You brother should not blame himself at all (I know, you know). 3 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said: I'm not sure I follow the second part. What's your theory? It was how in the USA we have people rushing in to help but in Russia someone is harmed and everyone keeps passing by. I honestly wonder if this is a side effect of them being under a communist regime. In that society (and f it, to a lesser extend socialist) everyone is rendered "equal" so there is less incentive to go above and beyond. Why become a doctor if I can get the same benefits from being a bartender? (yes, exaggeration) You remove the system, but perhaps the social mentality remain. "Not my problem"
May 6, 20214 yr 20 hours ago, paco said: I honestly wonder if this is a side effect of them being under a communist regime. In that society (and f it, to a lesser extend socialist) everyone is rendered "equal" so there is less incentive to go above and beyond. Why become a doctor if I can get the same benefits from being a bartender? (yes, exaggeration) You remove the system, but perhaps the social mentality remain. "Not my problem" It's not an outrageous theory, but I think Russia's cultural identity of being "hard people" goes well beyond the Communist period back to the days of Ivan the Terrible and the "barbarians" of Kievan Rus'. Altering your theory a bit, I would conjecture that the culture ingrained by imperial Russia made the Russian people more accepting of and desensitized to the brutality of the Soviet regime. More or less, they were conditioned to suffering and had internalized a kind of stoicism that allowed them to endure the conditions of 20th-century authoritarianism much longer than other societies.
May 6, 20214 yr For anyone who likes a good WWII documentary, this one is phenomenal. It's a miniseries that I originally watched in high school on the History Channel and am re-watching now on Prime. Aside from the excellent narration and information (Peter Coyote is the man), as well as the unique angels that it takes on the war, I love that these films were originally shot in color. It seems to be in vogue to colorize everything these days, and I'm not about it, not only because it's played out by this point, but colorized film from the 30s and 40s looks too "clean" or sharp to me and therefore unrealistic. The footage in this is rare and shockingly detailed in its original, unaltered form. https://www.amazon.com/History-Channel-Presents-Color-War/dp/B000CRR33I
May 6, 20214 yr 24 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said: It's not an outrageous theory, but I think Russia's cultural identity of being "hard people" goes well beyond the Communist period back to the days of back to the days Ivan the Terrible and the "barbarians" of Kievan Rus'. Altering you're theory a bit, I would conjecture that the culture ingrained by imperial Russia made the Russian people more accepting of and desensitized to the brutality of the Soviet regime. More or less, they were conditioned to suffering and had internalized a kind of stoicism that allowed them to endure the conditions of 20th-century authoritarianism much longer than other societies. Fair enough. Great reply. I wasn't thinking about it that way.
May 8, 20214 yr Cyberattack on pipeline. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-08/u-s-s-biggest-gasoline-and-pipeline-halted-after-cyberattack
May 9, 20214 yr Quote Dogecoin tumbles after Elon Musk jokes about it on 'SNL' New York (CNN Business)Investors bet right: Elon Musk mentioned dogecoin on "Saturday Night Live" during his opening monologue. Well, actually, his mom did. Maye Musk appeared at the end of her Tesla CEO son's SNL monologue to ask what he got her for Mother's Day. "I'm excited for my Mother's Day gift," Maye Musk said. "I just hope it's not dogecoin!" "It is," Elon Musk said. "It sure is." After pumping up the value of the cryptocurrency in the lead-up to Musk's SNL appearance, investors sold off dogecoin sharply after the Musks talked about it on the show. Dogecoin was down 24%, trading as low as 54 cents Saturday night. The cryptocurrency started Saturday trading at around 70 cents and was selling for about 66 cents just before SNL went on the air at 11:30 pm ET. Cryptocurrencies are notoriously volatile, and dogecoin has been on an absolute tear this year. It's up more than 12,000% since January and has gained 800% this month alone. Musk has been the loudest and most prominent supporter of dogecoin. He frequently tweets about the cryptocurrency, and just one of his bizarre tweets to his 50 million followers can send dogecoin surging. That's what happened in April, when Musk tweeted "Doge Barking at the moon" and shared a photo of a painting by Spanish artist Joan Miró, which is titled "Dog Barking at the Moon." Dogecoin started in 2013 as a joke -- a nod to the "doge" meme that was all over the internet at the time. But it's no longer a joke: It's the fifth-largest cryptocurrency in the world, with a market value just south of $70 billion, according to Coinbase. Both dogecoin and Tesla had been trading higher in anticipation of Musk's SNL appearance. Tesla futures weren't trading Saturday night during the show. It's unclear what was driving the dogecoin selloff. Perhaps investors wanted Musk to say something more supportive of the cryptocurrency. But more likely, there was some "buy the rumor / sell the news" strategy, trying to capitalize on investors' predictions coming true by selling high. Dogecoin traded so actively that Robinhood announced early Sunday morning it was having issues processing crypto trades and was working to resolve the problem.
May 11, 20214 yr Now the trainer admits he gave the horse steroids. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/bob-baffert-admits-he-treated-medina-spirit-with-ointment-that-contained-betamethasone-164337062.html Bob Baffert admits he treated Medina Spirit with ointment that contained betamethasone "Following the Santa Anita Derby, Medina Spirit developed dermatitis on his hind end,” Baffert wrote in a prepared statement via the Louisville Courier Journal. "I had him checked out by my veterinarian who recommended the use of an anti-fungal ointment called Otomax. The veterinary recommendation was to apply this ointment daily to give the horse relief, help heal the dermatitis and prevent it from spreading. "My barn followed this recommendation and Medina Spirit was treated with Otomax once a day up until the day before the Kentucky Derby. [Monday], I was informed that one of the substances in Otomax is betamethasone. While we do not know definitively that this was the source of the alleged 21 picograms found in Medina Spirit’s post-race blood sample, and our investigation is continuing, I have been told by equine pharmacology experts that this could explain the test results. As such, I wanted to be forthright about this fact as soon as I learned of this information."
May 11, 20214 yr On 5/9/2021 at 10:55 PM, toolg said: Um, WTF? A tiger is roaming around a Houston neighborhood. It wasn't even his tiger lol
May 11, 20214 yr On 5/5/2021 at 11:33 AM, paco said: That's terrible. I'm so sorry to hear that. You brother should not blame himself at all (I know, you know). It was how in the USA we have people rushing in to help but in Russia someone is harmed and everyone keeps passing by. I honestly wonder if this is a side effect of them being under a communist regime. In that society (and f it, to a lesser extend socialist) everyone is rendered "equal" so there is less incentive to go above and beyond. Why become a doctor if I can get the same benefits from being a bartender? (yes, exaggeration) You remove the system, but perhaps the social mentality remain. "Not my problem" I believe not helping our your fellow man is absolutely a communist trait.
May 11, 20214 yr Not a bribe Quote California expects a staggering $75.7 billion surplus despite a year of pandemic closures — an amount that surpasses most states’ annual spending and prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday to propose sending cash back to residents as he faces a recall election.
May 11, 20214 yr 14 minutes ago, Mike030270 said: It wasn't even his tiger lol No? There's so many twists and turns to this story, I can't keep up: When the police caught up with him, they didn't find the tiger... So the tiger is out loose somewhere!?
May 11, 20214 yr Just now, toolg said: No? There's so many twists and turns to this story, I can't keep up: When the police caught up with him, they didn't find the tiger... So the tiger is out loose somewhere!? I saw a couple reports that the tiger wasn't his and police were looking for its owner. I didn't hear about it being loose somewhere. I hope they don't kill it because I think tigers are still on the endangered list. Hopefully they can capture it alive and put it in a safe place
May 11, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, jsdarkstar said: Now the trainer admits he gave the horse steroids. https://www.yahoo.com/sports/bob-baffert-admits-he-treated-medina-spirit-with-ointment-that-contained-betamethasone-164337062.html Bob Baffert admits he treated Medina Spirit with ointment that contained betamethasone "Following the Santa Anita Derby, Medina Spirit developed dermatitis on his hind end,” Baffert wrote in a prepared statement via the Louisville Courier Journal. "I had him checked out by my veterinarian who recommended the use of an anti-fungal ointment called Otomax. The veterinary recommendation was to apply this ointment daily to give the horse relief, help heal the dermatitis and prevent it from spreading. "My barn followed this recommendation and Medina Spirit was treated with Otomax once a day up until the day before the Kentucky Derby. [Monday], I was informed that one of the substances in Otomax is betamethasone. While we do not know definitively that this was the source of the alleged 21 picograms found in Medina Spirit’s post-race blood sample, and our investigation is continuing, I have been told by equine pharmacology experts that this could explain the test results. As such, I wanted to be forthright about this fact as soon as I learned of this information." Can we just get rid of horse racing all together? I've seen enough horses after a race laying on the ground needing to be euthanized for several lifetimes. Even without the fact there have so many deaths related to races, the worst kept secret that they all dope these horses up is enough of a reason to get rid of it.
May 11, 20214 yr 41 minutes ago, paco said: Can we just get rid of horse racing all together? I've seen enough horses after a race laying on the ground needing to be euthanized for several lifetimes. Even without the fact there have so many deaths related to races, the worst kept secret that they all dope these horses up is enough of a reason to get rid of it. But the races are fun to watch and bet on... no seriously I agree it’s brutal seeing horses go down.
May 13, 20214 yr Quote AI lets man with paralysis type by just thinking about handwriting An artificial neural network can interpret signals from the brain of a person who is imagining that they are writing with a pen, and convert them into text. The device converts words accurately at 90 characters per minute, more than twice the previous record for typing with a head- or eye-tracking system. These trackers allow people to move a mouse cursor and slowly type messages, but Jaimie Henderson at Stanford University in California says they are all-consuming for the operator. "If you’re using eye tracking to work with a computer then your eyes are tied to whatever you’re doing,” he says. "You can’t look up or look around or do something else. Having that additional input channel could be really important.” To solve this problem, he and his colleagues implanted two small arrays of sensors just under the surface of the brain of a 65-year-old man who has a spinal cord injury that left him paralysed below the neck since 2007. Each sensor array was able to detect signals from around 100 neurons – a fraction of the estimated 100 billion neurons in the human brain. As the man imagined writing letters and words on a piece of paper, the signals were fed to an artificial neural network. Team member Krishna Shenoy, also at Stanford University, says that the sensors don’t target exact neurons because many thousands or millions may be involved in hand movement, but with the two arrays monitoring around 200 neurons there are enough clues within the data for the artificial neural network to build up a reliable interpreter of brain signals. Often a neural network is trained with several thousand pieces of example data, which in this case would be a recording of a brain signal while writing a certain letter. That works fine when large data sets already exist or are provided by automated systems, but in this case generating an archive that large wasn’t practical because the man would have had to think about writing thousands of letters. Instead, the team took examples of signals from the man’s brain while writing certain letters and generated additional copies with random noise added to build a synthetic data set. The model the team created won’t translate to another person because the neural network is trained only on data from one individual, with sensors placed in an unrepeatable location. Using this system, the man was able to type at 90 characters per minute, approaching the average of people his age when using a smartphone, which is 115 characters per minute. The output had a 94.1 per cent accuracy, which increased to more than 99 per cent when an autocorrect tool was used. Previous brain-computer interfaces have been able to interpret large signals, such as those for arm movements, but until now haven’t been able to pick up on those for fine, dextrous movements like handwriting. Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2277272-ai-lets-man-with-paralysis-type-by-just-thinking-about-handwriting/#ixzz6ukEDORuE
May 13, 20214 yr That's wild. I would guess it's more machine learning than AI, though those are basically used interchangeably anymore.
May 14, 20214 yr On 5/11/2021 at 3:06 PM, Mike030270 said: I saw a couple reports that the tiger wasn't his and police were looking for its owner. I didn't hear about it being loose somewhere. I hope they don't kill it because I think tigers are still on the endangered list. Hopefully they can capture it alive and put it in a safe place https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/tiger-suspect-to-be-released-on-bond/285-bd79a2db-d9ac-430c-966f-7fa40a1a1543 He's also on bail for murder
May 14, 20214 yr 2 hours ago, greend said: https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/tiger-suspect-to-be-released-on-bond/285-bd79a2db-d9ac-430c-966f-7fa40a1a1543 He's also on bail for murder Tiger's owner was released, but still no sign of the tiger.
May 14, 20214 yr Can anyone tell me why Cuomo isn't impeached yet? https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/cuomo-allegations-against-him-harassment-not-making-someone-feel-uncomfortable-n1267315
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