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News Roundup – Tay, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Brussels, Apple verses the DOJ

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So, Microsoft releases its artificial intelligence bot, named Tay, on social media yesterday. What could possibly go wrong? From WSJ – One tweet from Tay, whose persona was intended to mimic the voice of an American woman aged 18 to 24, read, “Hitler was right I hate the Jews.” Another, in response to a question about the Holocaust, said “it was made up,” followed by a hand-clapping emoji. Microsoft silenced Tay on Thursday morning and erased virtually all of its tweets. The latest tweet suggested that Tay will be offline for a bit.

I’m sorry. I think that the Democratic Party needs to return to its roots, representing the average American. This means not sucking up to big corporate donors. This also means doing right by average Americans. So, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, someone I really liked 10 years ago, and Rahm Emmanuel need to be put out to pasture. They don’t promote Democratic values.

The bombings in Brussels are simply sad. Today, as I was walking around the hospital, I heard a couple nurses saying that it was okay to travel, but that they wouldn’t travel outside the US. That’s just silly. I’m not going to let ISIS tell me where I should and should not travel. (I’m not going to Syria or Yemen or Iraq.) Who are these guys? Jahadi Cool?

The ongoing battle between the Justice Department and Apple really shows us that Congress ain’t working. Congress should have taken up this issue months ago. They should have, by now, hammered out a solution. (The solution in my mind would be to have on a case-by-case basis all of these issues go before the FISA court.) Instead, as far as I know, Congress hasn’t done squat. Apple is fighting to get the government off their backs and off of the backs of all of the technology companies. They don’t want to hand over data or anything else with the government stating that bad guys will get away if you don’t hand over the goods. (BTW, I suspect that Apple has already broken the code and could open that phone right now.) The FBI is trying to break into the phone now. This whole process would be easier if we had a Congress that worked.

Oh, so, I’m liking the ridiculous discussion between Trump and Cruz about whose wife is hotter.

Wage inequality is still a big problem.

The NFL has known about the concussion risk for years. Is anyone surprised?

Garry Shandling is dead at age 66. He made millions laugh. RIP.

By ecthompsonmd|2016-03-24T23:00:22-04:00March 24th, 2016|Entertainment, Sports, Terrorism, War on Terror|Comments Off

News Roundup – Scott Brown, ISIS / ISIL, Syria

Scott Brown was known for decisive action when he was in the Senate. He’s now running for Senate, again, in New Hampshire. This time he understands the Islamic threat. He is not confused. He is serious, very serious (if he says so).

Last night the US struck targets in Syria. We have a coalition. At least that is what we are being told. I have no idea if this is true or not. Obama said, “The strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not America’s fight alone… Above all, the people and governments of the Middle East are rejecting ISIL (ISIS), and standing up for the peace and security that the people of the region and the world deserve.”

F-22 Raptor flew some of the bombing missions. This makes the first time that the F-22 has been flown in combat. I’m surprised. The F-22 has been around for awhile. I thought that it flew missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was wrong.

I understand the threat of ISIS / ISIL. I didn’t really understand… Well, to be honest, I had never heard of Khorasan. This is reportedly a militant group that was associated with Al Qaeda somehow. They were some type of growing threat and we took them or some portion of them out with missile strikes. From WSJ – U.S. officials have viewed Khorasan with growing alarm in recent weeks and some have said it would be irresponsible to strike in Syria and not take aim at an al Qaeda affiliate long considered to be dangerous to the U.S. and its allies. Islamic State militants are seen as primarily focused on taking and holding territory in Iraq and Syria, with attacks on the U.S. representing a secondary goal. It severed its ties with al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan.

I don’t really understand the deal surrounding the White House fence jumper. So, we were first told that this was some harmless knucklehead. Then we find out that Omar Gonzalez was stopped earlier this summer with rifles, 4 handguns and ammunition. Now we are told the Secret Service had a major security breach. Gonzalez had over 800 rounds of ammo in his car. This guy jumped the fence and sprinted into the north entrance of the White House. From what I understand he did get inside before being tackled. What if he had a bomb strapped to him? Secret Service studied this 20 years ago. It looks like they did nothing to fix the problem. Omar Gonzalez is a Vet. I hope that he gets the help that he needs. (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2014-09-23T21:59:13-04:00September 23rd, 2014|Al Qaeda, Foreign Affairs, Party Politics|Comments Off

News Roundup: Minecraft, iPhone 6

So, a couple years ago, I saw my grandson playing Minecraft. I thought it was a cute game. Nothing big. It was like Legos for computer geeks. A few months later, I saw Kaleb watching YouTube videos of other people playing Minecraft. Then there were other things like cows, fire and stuff. The graphics weren’t great but my grandson would play for hours. Minecraft was bought by Microsoft for over $2 Billion. I’m guessing that those graphics look a lot better with $2 Billion in the bank. Wow.

I’m not going to get into the cellphone wars. Today almost any new cellphone will help you do things better and easier. For me, if you can actually use the cellphone to make and receive calls, this is good. If you can get email, this is better. You should be able to do a Google Hangout or Apple Facetime. You need to able to easily get around the internet on your phone. You should be able to use some type of social media on your phone. Your phone has to be able to guide you from here to there (maps program). Finally, you need to be able to use your phone as a hotspot. If you can do all of this, you are golden. The new iPhone 6 is bigger and better than the iPhone 5s. I will let you decide if it is better than the Galaxy S5. PC Magazine loved the Moto X, which no one bought, so any new modern phone will do.

By ecthompsonmd|2014-09-17T21:35:26-04:00September 16th, 2014|Business, Entertainment|Comments Off