Less than a year ago Roadstar.ai raised over $128 million to develop autonomous cars. Now they're looking like the Theranos of self-driving.
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Whispers: They All Are
The Troubles
Been educating myself a bit about that time in Northern Ireland. I've mostly done this by watching a funny sitcom called Derry Girls which you can find on your local Netflix, and reading a good book called Milkman which won some award. Fiction is actually a good way to learn things. It's not history, but now that I'm old and realize The Kids Today understandably have no clue about events even 20 years ago (as I didn't when I was A Kid Then), I realize "A funny sitcom about the post-9/11 era" would probably explain it better than an 800 page nonfiction tome about the same, and not just because they would be more likely to actually see the former.
But I've also done it by reading a lot of the clueless commentary, and responses, about how Ireland/Northern Ireland are complicating Brexit. By clueless commentary I mean things like the Tory Northern Ireland secretary, whose job, you might guess, is being aware of affairs in Northern Ireland, admitting she had precisely zero understanding of the basic political divide, which even I am aware of. Northern Ireland is, as I'm sure you know, dear readers, one nontrivial part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And some of those elected officials serve in her coalition, though others do not sit in Parliament despite being elected to do so because, well, that's the kind of thing she should know.
This is getting too long for a pithy blog post, and I am still not one to explain The Troubles, but they were a massively devastating time and not just because people were blown up regularly. Civil wars are bad, and even a funny sitcom about teen girls can convey that pretty well, as can the fact that no prominent ruling politician in England, part of Great Britain, part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island, knows as much as I do about that time.
But I've also done it by reading a lot of the clueless commentary, and responses, about how Ireland/Northern Ireland are complicating Brexit. By clueless commentary I mean things like the Tory Northern Ireland secretary, whose job, you might guess, is being aware of affairs in Northern Ireland, admitting she had precisely zero understanding of the basic political divide, which even I am aware of. Northern Ireland is, as I'm sure you know, dear readers, one nontrivial part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And some of those elected officials serve in her coalition, though others do not sit in Parliament despite being elected to do so because, well, that's the kind of thing she should know.
This is getting too long for a pithy blog post, and I am still not one to explain The Troubles, but they were a massively devastating time and not just because people were blown up regularly. Civil wars are bad, and even a funny sitcom about teen girls can convey that pretty well, as can the fact that no prominent ruling politician in England, part of Great Britain, part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island, knows as much as I do about that time.
Supporting Our Defective President To Own The Libs
I suppose this type of piece does little other than entertain us, which is enough, because the mainstream press is never going to stop pretending that Trump isn't what Trump obviously is, and aside from a daily snapshot on the mental health of the population of our great nation, it really doesn't matter if his approval rating is 27% or 40%. But still good reading!
This is also true, and maybe even especially true, when Trump is obviously lying. Even before he banged his own personal left turn and began his full-tilt drive into the desert of cognitive decline, Trump was not an especially nuanced or strategic person. His mind is not what it was, and at its peak it was more of a Magic 8 Ball than a supercomputer. He can’t learn anything because he can’t listen to other people if they aren’t speaking from inside a television; he can’t remember what he hears there because he can’t really care unless it’s about him. These deficits are clear when Trump is extemporizing on furloughed workers cutting deals with the milkman or imagining cartoon coyotes piloting sedans full of duct-taped women across the Rio Grande, but they are even clearer when he tells knowing lies. The former tend to be about other people, and so tend to be both lurid and half-assed; he only really ever applies himself when the lies involve himself.
All In All All There Is Is The Wall
The nice thing about the wall issue is it was his one obsession. If it's off the table, either because Trump "wins" or because he "loses," then what else is he going to obsess about? Something yuger and scarier, probably, and that's bad.
Friday, January 25, 2019
Crazy Violent People Still Here
I never went to Comet Pizza but I did meet the owner a couple of times a million years ago. Reasonably sure it is not the hub of a global pedophile ring.
Not sure "hoaxer" is the right word. Sure some people were probably full of shit, but there were plenty of true believers. This is probably more of just symbolic target than somebody actually believe that Pizzagate thing, but it doesn't matter much.
An arsonist allegedly started a fire Thursday night at Comet Ping Pong, the Washington, D.C. pizzeria that was targeted by internet hoaxers as part of the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory.
Not sure "hoaxer" is the right word. Sure some people were probably full of shit, but there were plenty of true believers. This is probably more of just symbolic target than somebody actually believe that Pizzagate thing, but it doesn't matter much.
Measles WTF
Years I go I had some sympathy for anti-vaxxers. They were mostly people who had children with autism and they were looking for an explanation. There was a completely sensible, if not proven, theory that the vaccines had more mercury than they were supposed to, which for a time they did, and that could have been the cause. Nobody thinks it was the cause now and more than that even if it was that then the mercury problem is no longer an issue.
Now anti-vaxxers are largely "vaccines are like bad, yo" with not much reason behind it and mostly not because they actually have autistic children. I would say it used to be more a left wing thing, politically, and it became more of a right wing thing, but isn't precisely either. West Coast right wingers are weird. But, in any case, they're making their the children and the children of other people sick.
Now anti-vaxxers are largely "vaccines are like bad, yo" with not much reason behind it and mostly not because they actually have autistic children. I would say it used to be more a left wing thing, politically, and it became more of a right wing thing, but isn't precisely either. West Coast right wingers are weird. But, in any case, they're making their the children and the children of other people sick.
VANCOUVER, Wash. – Clark County Health officials say the number of confirmed measles cases has grown to 30. The county released the updated outbreak numbers Thursday morning, saying the number of suspected cases has dropped to nine.
President Deals
Amazing dealmaker, really.
BREAKING - THE DEAL: Dem source says leaders are zeroing in on...
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) January 25, 2019
- clean CR to Feb 15
- *No wall $*
- vehicle for DHS, border security conf bill
- Senate votes first
- backpay provision
No Tip
I suggested CNN was tipped off by someone because it's hardly rare for that to happen, but the right wingers have decided this is some grand conspiracy and it's false.
Things Start To Crack
I don't know quickly the airline situation will go bad, but it doesn't take too much as just a little problem in the system snowballs pretty quickly for obvious reasons.
And then...
And then...
The Stone Zone
Is being relocated.
They didn't do it the nice way.
...and someone invited CNN.
Roger Stone, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, was indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller and arrested Friday on charges of obstruction, giving false statements and witness tampering.
They didn't do it the nice way.
Breaking: The FBI has arrested Roger Stone, his lawyer tells CNN. CNN witnessed uniformed and armed law enforcement approach his house just after 6 am in Fort Lauderdale.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) January 25, 2019
Pounding on his door one agent said: ‘FBI open the door.’
...and someone invited CNN.
"FBI. Open the door.”
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) January 25, 2019
Watch exclusive CNN footage of the FBI arresting longtime Trump associate Roger Stone. Stone has been indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. https://t.co/ZQCuuxLHAG pic.twitter.com/moQwNndB91
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Kindly Old Corner Grocer Guy Doesn't Have Bills Either
I don't even know where to start with this but have at it.
what pic.twitter.com/hBtyc7IqID
— Brendan Karet 🚮 (@bad_takes) January 24, 2019
This Is War
Richie richies hate the income tax but they really hate the idea of a wealth tax (and successfully reduce the manifestations we do have - estate taxes and capital gains taxes).
Until the primary season is over everybody who reads this website is going to get mad at me when I write something that sounds positive/negative about a candidate they don't like/like. Blah blah blah I am whining but in 2016 I said barely nothing about the primary and this blog sucked and people still got mad.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will propose a new annual “wealth tax” on Americans with more than $50 million in assets, according to an economist advising her on the plan, as Democratic leaders vie for increasingly aggressive solutions to the nation’s soaring wealth inequality.
Until the primary season is over everybody who reads this website is going to get mad at me when I write something that sounds positive/negative about a candidate they don't like/like. Blah blah blah I am whining but in 2016 I said barely nothing about the primary and this blog sucked and people still got mad.
So Weird
The places with "nice weather" are where walking is weird and dangerous. Sure they have a couple of hot months per year but conventional wisdom is that people move there for the nice weather and then never go outside.
Not On Them To Save The World
I didn't mean to imply that TSA workers should "strike." I have no idea what job and financial pressures they are under. I just meant that it's going to take pain for upper middle class people for anyone in charge to give a shit, and airports are the obvious place where that could happen.
Area Man Should Shut Up
We all loved Onion Joe and Obama's wacky white sidekick, but it's over.
.@JoeBiden: "I read in New York Times today that I --- that one of my problems is if I ever run for president, I like Republicans. Bless me father for I have sinned. But…from where I come from I don't know how you get anything done." pic.twitter.com/LbV3pWQUPw
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 24, 2019
How To Deal With Bullies
Their psychology isn't actually a mystery. Stand up to them and they slink away.
Morning Thread
Maybe the Senate will surprise us all and vote for a clean bill to fund the government.
Yes, I'm dreaming.
Yes, I'm dreaming.
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Shutdown
I had planned a trip for a month or so from now to DC and cancelled it because "there's small chance the shutdown will continue..." and hahaha the government is never going to open again unless the TSA staff stop showing.
The Made Man Knows How They Play
Jack Shafer has been so dumb for so long (or pretending to be).
The man who claims to fear for his family once said this:
— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) January 23, 2019
"And I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know...So I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?”
The Worst People
New York City media stories are always a reminder that people fail upwards because they are bad people with connections.
The two reporters said they decided to leave the new Gawker after Bustle Digital Group—which bought the shuttered Gawker.com domain and its archives in a mid-2018 fire sale—refused to oust Griffith over offensive workplace comments about everything from poor people to black writers to her acquaintance’s penis size.
Atrios, Economist
I actually am in that I have a Ph.D in economics. I think touting credentials is mostly dumb so I don't do it, but Ben Stein has an undergraduate degree in economics. His post-grad degree is in law. And his late in life experience is being an actor, game show host, and Fox News professional.
His Dad, Herbert, was actually an economist.
His Dad, Herbert, was actually an economist.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
The Morning Speech
People forget how weird the Bush years were. I know I'm a broken record on this, but after 9/11 Bush did a speech almost every day. It wasn't covered by broadcast networks but cable news covered it. It was always at a factory and there was a very expensive backdrop like 'PATRIOTS AT WORK" or some shit. I wonder who paid for that. And that was normal political coverage.
Teen Men
I try to avoid dunking on teens, even though of course black kids are adults and white kids are children, but really what a test for everyone's biases.
Us And Them
I fail, also, too, at many things I criticize, but I've been working on this one. Probably still failing! But there's an obvious flaw in "objective journalism" when they write about "other people." One reason the trips to Ohio diners to talk to Trump Supporters is so annoying is they all read like an anthropological field trip. I don't think Trump supporters should get obsessive coverage, but I also don't think they should be covered like zoo specimens. And if elite people can't even cover affluent white people as humans, they probably aren't covering non-white people especially well. This "tell" in news coverage is so frequently blaring and if you can't see this obvious case for diversity in newsrooms...
Marginal Tax Rates, How Do They Work?
It's sorta funny that conservatives are pretending to not understand because for years they've pitched tax cuts for rich people by trying to convince people that the reason that doing taxes is a pain in the ass is because of progressive taxation. You know, the flat tax will make it easy! Because the hard thing about doing your taxes is that turbotax can't calculate what you owe easily once you put in all the numbers.
Monday, January 21, 2019
Nothing To See Here
Move along.
Greenland’s enormous ice sheet is melting at such an accelerated rate that it may have reached a “tipping point,” and could become a major factor in sea-level rise around the world within two decades, scientists said in a study published on Monday.
LOL IS HE SERIOUS
Oldsters like me remember how the mainstream media treated Jesse Jackson, who actually won a lot of delegates. Progress.
Morning Thread
Gee, everyone is always talking about the weather, but nobody seems to want to do anything about it.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Your Liberal Media
it was a what now pic.twitter.com/Rl7X9RaqVM
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) January 20, 2019
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