SteveInCO

Simon, here is a great read from a previous Sunday School….Life is Simple…

I was surprised to read that Ireland is to consider decriminalizing the possession of all drugs for personal use. I have smoked weed throughout my adult life (a few times a year) and nobody cares about it. But I suspect the religious objectors will be out in force again even though they keep losing (marriage equality, abortion, divorce). It will…[Read more]

Thanks Reg!

Thanks Jake.

Enco  –

The key line in the WHO article is “There is no form of alcohol consumption that is risk-free” and that even low levels carry some risk and can cause harm. I would contend that there is no safe amount of alcohol. There are only lower-risk amounts. For health, the optimal amount is none. That does not mean one drink will ruin…[Read more]

Nick Fish, President of American Atheists; So, today, in celebration of the Fourth and in honor of the “confirmed infidel” and “howling atheist” who penned our Declaration, let’s consider Thomas Jefferson’s actual words:

“It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

<…[Read more]

jakelafort wrote:
How about waiting for AI to be sophisticated enough that it can be divorced from ideological capture?

TheEncogitationer wrote:
So an AI free of illogic or ideological capture is fantasy […]

I think what AI “will become” will be more of an issue someday, but not before “what AI will be used for” is more apparent. AI evolution…[Read more]

Interesting “Wordle Entropy” strategy. I would work more will the Viterbi model where – “Given the observations I already have, what is the single most likely hidden sequence?” It is a more abductive approach. Beam Search is another you look for the most promising candidates (tokens) to continue exploring. I guess they are cousins of Bayesian approaches.

Overall I find the NYT news reporting to be reliable. Sometimes though, the accuracy in op-eds can be questionable. It also has some journalists that can get annoyingly silly with their religious views.

jakelafort wrote:
Never mind Pope. After reading your line again i think you are indicating that the meaning has been watered down so that ambiguity is read into it rather than questioning its plain meaning and efficacy.

I wasn’t implying that, although that may not be inaccurate. SCOTUS itself has been watering down and resetting precedents on…[Read more]

I like the NYT because it has articles that I like and agree with and some I totally disagree with. And Wordle too 🙂

Yes, Strega, so many inspiring stories are coming from Ukraine. Imagine….WW1 was longer than the current war with Russia. A young Jewish girl fled  from Germany to Ukraine with the help of the Russians in 1940. In 2022 as a 89 years old, she fled from the the Russians in Ukraine with the help of some Germans……. to Germany.

Here is the link again. My sub (for the NYT) allows me to share so hopefully this attempt with punch a hole in that wall.

That was an exceptional read, Reg. Thank you for sharing it here 🫶

A dragonfly flew by……

Here’s one of the best summaries I’ve seen in a while, of relatively current news, and without a lot of hype (IMO).

(Maybe mentioning “Mush Brains” [sic] came close to hype, but that’s just me thinking of Trump as a mentally defective, parentally abused victim, but which the world would have been better…[Read more]

Separation of Church and State, even as a meaning-distilled colloquialism not explicitly mentioned in the US Constitution, has entered a new phase of religious, cultural evolution in USA. Behind the scenes, Trump’s “I dunno who that is” Project 2025,  is likely celebrating. So must some of 6-3 SCOTUS. I predict time will soon enable some of these…[Read more]

The idea of me having a trad wife is abhorrent to me. There is nothing empowering or endearing about such a relationship.