AI and Large Language Models

 Today's tech news is all about AI and LLM (Large Language Models). Everyone is wondering what those are and seems pretty scared. 

No one seems to understand that LLM has been around since the birth of the human race. "WHAT??" you scream?

What everyone has failed to recognize is that *WE* are LLM's. 

We are remarkably powerful and complex computers, who use pattern recognition to survive.

What has changed is that we are quickly approaching the ability to create non biological computers that are as powerful as biological computers (humans).

find my previous post where I state that there is no such thing as artificial intelligence.

Why this election terrifies me.

 This is the most terrifying election in my life, so far, because the outcome will be the difference between freedom and oppression.

Is Biden the best president? I doubt it?

Is he corrupt? In some ways, probably.

Will he strip us or all our rights? Not a fucking chance!

Trump, on the other hand, will, most likely, try to end term limits, and make himself a dictator.

He will become another Putin, and turn America into another Russia (or China, Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, etc.)

In short, He will make the United States, a oligarchy, where the rich are revered, and everyone else is exploited. 

None of the Trump supporters realize that while they accuse the left of being “commies” or socialists, it’s actually the Trump paradigm that will create a dictatorship.

Unthreatening his rule, slowly, our rights will be stripped. First, he will take away or means of defense - guns. That’s always the first step in oppressing a people - take away their ability to fight back. It’s not the left that you should be scared of.

Next, they stop teaching anything that is not carefully vetted by the regime to only support the regime.

It terrifies me that we will become a Nazi state or something close to it.

I really hope I’m wrong, but if Trump wins, I’m scared for my life. Literally.

I do not understand how people who call me a friend, could ever vote for someone who will, in all likelihood, have me executed for my views, or for being Hindu.

 Wow...so it looks like the cadence is 6 years.

A lot has happened.

Divorced, and in a relationship with my college sweetheart.

Moved a couple of times and now own a house in the beautiful foothills of Colorado.

The original jeep has evolved very nicely into a serious off-road rig.

I've learned a lot along the way (about life and jeeps).

More to come.

Going to try and post more often.

Jeep Life

I didn't realize that it's been 6 years, since I last posted something.

My wife and I live in Colorado, and we bought a 2010 Jeep JK 2-door.

It was supposed to be hers.

We were going to leave is mostly as is.

Maybe a couple of lights, and a winch.

Then we discovered JK cOlllllllOrado, on FB.

Then we did our first outing to Slaughter House.

Then I installed Terraflex Quick Disconnects.

Then I found a used JCR stubby.

Then a whole bunch of used Rigid lights.

Then a used sPod.

And bought a winch.

That was 2 to 3 months ago.

Next week, the lift, tires, gears, locking diffs and first set of skids will be done. (Including swapping the front D30 for a D44, with Nitro sleeves, G2 Placer Gold 35 spline axles)

So yeah...it's become my project.

I owe my wife a Jeep.

I'm an idiot.

More to come.

android to iphone...two weeks later

Well, I never expected to be the one to go down this road, but I am now an iphone user. I'm still with Verizon, but I have abandoned Android for the iphone.

The reasons this came about are pretty simple. First I had the original Droid. It was very good, great, in fact, for the most part. Through my own misuse (dropped a couple of times) it started to act up on me and signal strength started to suffer. Perhaps I had damaged the internal antenna...who knows. Add to that, the fact that the phone was strictly CDMA so I could not travel out of the country with it. My last vacation I was frustrated by this, and the fact that both my wife (AT&T iPhone) and best friend (Blackberry) has coverage everywhere we went.

So I got home and just pondered...I thought about the Droid2, but that was just an updated phone. THEN I SAW IT!!! The Droid2 Global. My prayers were answered. I researched and read and decided that the D2G was the next phone for me.

I got the phone, transferred everything over and started to use it. It was fast, ran like a charm, great signal everywhere I went, AND the promise of coverage overseas. Then it started. I began to have issues with the phone rebooting on its own. Then calls would have no speaker and on mic...and it would happen with no warning and I would have to reboot the phone to get it working again, never knowing when it would happen again. I Took it to the store and the offered to replace it. I agreed and got a refurb...seriously...a REFURB in place of my 4 week old phone...SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!?!

anyway, I tried that phone and in the first week, same thing. So I hard reset it, took off all the apps, and used the phone as if it were fresh out of the box with nothing added...no music, no photos, no ringtones, no other emails except for my gmail account....nothing. It made no difference.

I went back to Verizon, Paid the money and got the iphone. Very simply, it works fine. It's different from Android...there a several features that I miss, but in the end, the phone works reliably and it's stable.

I know that I am back to CDMA, and I'll have to live with that, but since I don't travel internationally THAT much, it's not a huge issue.

My take on all this is that Android wants to be more open and free, so the apps and things might not get vetted as well as IOS apps. Everything has a cost...with Android, its stability on some phones, with apple, is being locked into whatever they approve and the knowledge that they can remotely disable or remove apps and features that they don't want you to have.

I'm happy with the iphone. I miss my android, but I don't miss the problems. If things change, I'll post an update.

Sony's thought provoking presentation at their 2010 annual meeting

This is a remarkably powerful video that I meant to post quite some time ago. Every time I watch it, I think about where we are as a society and where we are going. As an IT strategic planner, this is a thought provoking video

4 things that are important to me

On a recent job interview, I was asked to state four things that are important to me. You would think that that is a question requiring a lot of careful thought. I was surprised at how quickly my answer came. It was completely unrehearsed. Here are my answers, in the order I gave them:

1.
At the end of the day, no matter what I have done, or for whom I have done it, I need to be able to sleep at night. I need to be comfortable with what I have done in the world that day
2.
I asked the interviewer if they had ever been camping, they had. So I shared my next item of importance as an analogy; When ever you leave a campsite, leave it in better condition than how you found it. I apply the same principal to everything that I do in life...where ever I go, I want to leave it in better condition than before I arrived.
3.
When I come home at the end of the day, do my wife and cats still love me? This might seem small, but in the grand sense, what I am saying, is that I want to be the kind of person that my wife, whom I love and respect dearly, loves and respects me and wants to be with me. By the same manner, do my cats still feel safe enough in my presence to want to curl up on my lap.
4.
Personal health. I am conscious of what I put into my body. I am not a "foodie" nor am I a strict vegan or vegetarian, which is fine; But, I do eat with thought. I don't mean that I deprive myself of things that I like, but I eat with care for my overall heath.

OK, that's it. I think that these points are worth sharing with the world. What's important to you?

Droid2 Global

I admit it, I am a Droid(tm) fan. I bought the Droid1 a few weeks after launch and loved it. It really allowed me to be effective even when mobile without a laptop. Alas, after a year a couple of falls, and just wear and tear, it was starting to show it's age. So, a couple of weeks ago, I replaced Droid1 with Droid2Global. I do travel internationally, and felt the pain of not having service when I went outside the US. The D2G is the answer. So, my first impressions...
The interface is called Blur, and it's quite nice and full of features. Unfortunately, these features suck the batteries dry in a few hours. So for starters, I have removed a bunch of the apps that run by default. Next, I have ordered the extended battery. For an experiment, I also tried an alternative ti Blur, called launcher pro, It's nice, but misses a few things that I feel really need to work. The main thing was one touch dialing. For some reason, LP does not let me create the same type of 1x1 one touch dial on a home screen that the blur interface does. That alone made me go back. On the otherhand, if you do not care about that. then LP seems like a lighter interface that will save battery life.

As for speed? No Comparison; the D2G is blazing fast compared to the D1. I love it.

In general, the D2G is a great phone, and I highly recommend it.

Why you should always encrypt your smartphone

Why you should always encrypt your smartphone

Great article! Important stuff to consider.

Deciphering the jibber jabber: getting started with your own self-hosted XMPP server

Deciphering the jibber jabber: getting started with your own self-hosted XMPP server

One of the things that has to be considered in production environments, especially when you are responsible for secure communications in your office environment, is the use of IM. IM can improve productivity, but has to be managed carefully. Using your own IM server can seen daunting, so this article in arstechnica, help to dispel some of the fear in setting up your own, internal IM server.

BBC News - Is there a genius in all of us?

BBC News - Is there a genius in all of us?

David Shenk has written a number of books, including Data Smog (which is the first book of his that I read, in graduate school) , and a great history of the Grateful Dead. I value and respect his opinion, and find this piece just as interesting as anything else he has written.

Goodbye Skype Chat

OK, I have finally had enough. While skype has some great uses, group chat being one of them, the limitation with history has pushed me to the point where I will no longer use the chat feature anymore.

I didn't want to upgrade to the new version, but an unfortunate computer crash forced me to reinstall. Not only do I hate the new interface, but as in the past, chat history is lost. I can't stand it. Add to that the fact that history is mostly unavailable between computers, and the chat feature becomes painfully limited.

So, to skype chat, I say goodbye.

Who Knew? Cats drink water not the way we thought.

Cats use gravity, inertia, gecko-like process to lap up cream

when the users break the internet, how do you let them know?

35 Entertaining 404 Error Pages

Is it just me, or are some of these actually amusing?

Healty Eating and shopping tips

25 Instant Supermarket Secrets

Sometimes, despite that we think that we know what we're doing, you can learn something new.

Read this article about what we thought we knew.

What I want for Christmas

I know that it can be hard to figure out what to do at the holidays, for the people that you care about. Well let me make it easy for you; Here's what I want for the holidays...
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/20/green-robot-in-an-armani-suit-ulysse-nardin-chairman-upgraded-w/
And the steel model is just fine, no worries.

What it's like to own an Apple product - The Oatmeal

What it's like to own an Apple product - The Oatmeal

Really funny comic.

The whole site has funny comic.

I know it's a little simplistic, but hey, sometimes it's good to enjpy humor and not be so serious all the time.

Have Fun.

BTW...I *LOVE* my iPad and iPod Touch.

Khan Academy

This is an amazing site. Check it out. Note their mission statement "...providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere".
Khan Academy

Khan Academy

This is amazing!! A non-profit educational site for the masses. I just checked out a basic subject "The Atom' and am amazed at the clarity and ease of this lesson. If the other lessons are as easy to comprehend, this could truly change the world. I particularly like the sites mission statement: "...providing a world-class education to anyone, anywhere."

Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Khan Academy

White space broadband to be finalized (at last) this month

White space broadband to be finalized (at last) this month

It's hard to imagine the impact that this will have on society. What is important here, is the fact that there will now be another avenue of delivery for broadband services. I believe that this will make high speed internet available to many more people, at a fraction of the cost. As a community, this means that there will be more opportunity for the under served to be able to access services, such as distance learning, and other information. I also see applications in emergency services, and community outreach.

The internet paradigm needs to be viewed and treated much like phone services, in that it should be readily, and cheaply available to all. I do not think that it should be regulated based on type of services, either. I do not want my comments to be taken as contrary to my support of Net Neutrality.

The internet should be available to all, on an equal basis. If that means subsidizing services, so be it - our government has that responsibility, and should protect us from any challenges to the freedom of communication.