TheVat

Late to the thread, a few observations: Grok was found last year to be echoing the views of its billionaire creator, so much so that it would sometimes search online for Musk’s stance on an issue before offering up an opinion. Grok has posted about “white genocide” in South Africa in its responses to users, who are asking a variety of questions, most of which have nothing to do with South Africa. Grok, before some modification (which may not entirely end the ease with which it can be manipulated), has praised the views and actions of Adolph Hitler and made antisemitic comments about how Jews run everything. Grok has also been used to produce photos of public figures doctored to show them scantily dressed or naked. We are told this is also fixed - I guess we'll see. So, before I read further, I have to ask if one could do better with Gemini, GPT4, Claude, et al. Don't forget mindless sycophant. That's what really brings in the customers for these AI companies. Filtering as you describe can sometimes exclude useful data.

So, I'm guessing a good day in the life of a civil service employee is one where you do not have to seriously consider the merits, and possible implementation, of ideas which you initially thought were just satirical nonsense published in some outlet like The Onion. So this report from Reuters is one that I feel did not give said CS folk warm fuzzy feelings. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-backed-palestinian-who-wants-push-gazas-rubble-into-sea-2026-01-15/ But I could be wrong. After all, I'm not a demolition engineer or marine biologist or allied with any other field that might be relevant to pushing the wreck of Gaza into the Mediterranean Sea. That's why we have science forums, so that projects which seem on their face to be harebrained can be coolly examined by intellects loftier than our own and perhaps reveal their inner beauty and logic. But...aside from the sheer volume of wreckage, isn't warfare wreckage rather toxic stuff to just be shoving into a marine ecosystem?

Took me a beat to catch the French/English pun. Har! Yes. The inverted population pyramid, when it comes, will make this harder if there are labor shortages in direct care occupations. IIRC, South Korea with its very low fertility rate (and low immigration) will hit this wall first.

Especially given that toilets can become entertainment devices for pets... ABC11 Raleigh-DurhamVIDEO: Clever cat teaches himself how to flush the toiletA Virginia man and his family were confused after learning that their water bill had drastically increased in just one month.

Yes. That logic is inescapable.

One thing that tends to diminish my confidence in correlations is that when people add more of something to a diet, it often means they consume less of something else. What protects RFKJr from sewage is that it perfectly matches his cranial contents. 😁

Plus one for creativity and making me laugh. My condolences to the poor otter! Let the garret surveillance continue.

Haha. Charybdis may only be a weak statistical correlation. I think the jury is still out. I meant that lactose intolerance is really hard to track. Most people, especially in areas with fewer doctors and medical infrastructure, never create much if any public record. Milk doesn't sit well, so they avoid it.

Casein also has been linked to greater prostate cancer risk, in some studies, though I think this remains an avenue for more study and not definitive. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4166373/ A family member has been eating a high casein diet (eggs and cheese, as major elements of a vegetarian diet), but they already have enough eating issues that I don't want to bring that up. I'm sure the potential cholera protectant aspect would please them. Curious how that is tracked.

Ha, yes, FAG (forced air gas) is most common here. In places like Oregon, where hydro on the Columbia R used to crank out the watts very cheaply, some places had forced air with electric furnaces. (FAEF?) Some areas, with mild West Coast weather, there wouldn't even be residential gas lines, just electric heat. The worst was baseboard heat, which occupied so much of the room margins that it was awkward placing furniture. It occurs to me now that a better acronym than FAG would be FANG, but I still see only the former used.

Are boiler/radiator systems easily convertible from gas-fired to a heat pump? I know upfront costs are daunting when it's necessary to tear out an existing system entirely. In the US, sometimes the FAG ductwork all has to be replaced with larger bore when a HP goes in, because the old ducts can't move the volume of air required by a HP. So you need new larger registers, plenum, everything. (Boiler systems less common here in homes, but I've heard they can be quite efficient) One reason minisplit HPs are popular is they skip around the whole duct system nightmare.

Also mystified by $1800/month for light/heat. (and does New York allow utility companies to shut off heat in the winter - it's illegal to do that here) We have a 1900 era house, two story, 4 BR, keep temps around 65-67, and not heating rooms not in use so much, and our winter bills (Nov. 15 - March 31) for gas plus electric space heat averages around $200/month. 1800/month conjures images of pampered sybarites keeping every room at orchid-raising warmth so that family members can frolic around in swimsuits, with large-screen tvs blaring in every room, and a hot tub always bubbling away on the back deck, easily accessed through the perpetually open kitchen door. TBH, it makes me want to tell them, "you idiots get whatever you deserve." I know I must be missing something here. Northern tier states of the US are generally acquainted with sweaters, turning heat down in unused rooms or bedrooms where one is under a heavy quilt, and most attics in older homes have either batts or blown-in cellulosic insulation with at least an R-30 rating. Loosefill insulation can also be blown into wall cavities without a huge fuss, and that's been standard for retrofitting older homes for at least fifty years. So, yes, more information needed. I am generally not enchanted with the sense of entitlement and square-footage greed that has been so common in my country. Builders have catered to this palatial concept of personal space requirement for too long. I think the tide is finally starting to turn here (locally, I have noticed a new wave of contractors building 700-800 SF starter homes, which seems like a return to sanity.)

I think there is some market pressure (let's hope it keeps up) on tech companies to build their own power systems for server farms, e.g. wind turbines or solar or geo, with storage batteries. (Grids aren't trustworthy, so they want onsite power) I live in a public power state with 85% of its power from wind and hydro, so our rates are below the national average. (10¢/kwh, iirc) Means EVs driven here are lower carbon than in some places.

I read Chariots of the Gods when I was around 13, and then had the pleasure of hearing Isaac Asimov (who lived not far from us, and occasionally spoke or did readings at local venues) poke some fun at VonD. I guess those Egyptians did build their own pyramids after all. And the Nazca Lines weren't really an extraterrestrial airstrip. And the sarcophagus of Palenque isn't really depicting an alien sitting atop a rocket. In recent years I had read that VonD had gotten the basic idea for CotG from HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos. Enough said.

Yes, we use the word "analogy" with the understanding that it is an imperfect and simplified model of what occurs at a cell membrane. Hopefully, the discussion has underscored that. Relevant to this also is what @KJW mentioned, that there are partial and full agonists, and their effects can differ.

Good explanations all around. Perhaps the OP can look up something like cancer chemotherapy which is a fairly dramatic example of side effects which tend to affect most patients and in a miserable way. Plus side: maybe you get to live some more years. And it's another example of therapy where you want to do something mean to the cancer cells but it's going to be in the bloodstream and also affect normal tissues.

Seems like an attractive approach for the frozen North cities (like mine), where a blizzard sweeps in and you forgot to stock up on groceries/supplies. (Same goes for the sunbelt and its killer heatwaves) Not that we're the frozen North this winter - it has been surreally mild so far and looks to be for the next week. There's also pollution and traffic reduction, if people need fewer or zero car trips with such a living arrangement.

That's a great intro, with clear helpful illustrations to explain receptors and agonists. I haven't delved into the cannabinoid receptors much, but that seems like an interesting topic, especially as to what are the natural agonists for that receptor. They are called endocannabinoids.

Is that the correct term, Eric? What is modern grammar cumin to? Sometimes it is just beyond bay leaf.

Well I don't. Put up with people who are annoying, that is. If you ever become annoying, you will be dead to me. You and all your descendants unto the tenth generation. 😁

The body is complex. Think of it as like the global weather system. Organ systems interacting, complex metabolic pathways, complex biochemistry, our cells interacting with bacterial symbionts in the gut, immune system interacting with invaders and with our own tissues, etc. Tinkering with all that is somewhat like tinkering with weather - all kinds of unforseen consequences emerge. It would be weird if there weren't side effects. Even a drug like acetaminophen (paracetamol, Br.) which seems gentle and harmless can adversely affect liver function in some people. Ibuprofen can be hard on the kidneys. Dosing many drugs is based on the good outweighing the harm.

It relates a Ben Franklin attributed quote to the thud with which the unionize joke landed. Had I hyphenated unionize (after, in parentheses), the "charge less" double entendre would have been clearer.

Emily Lime has been keeping up with the news in South America. Tin Maduro boss a Caracas SOB or u damn it.

This Gordian knot, of when intervention is a police action against an oppressive tyrant and when it's war, goes back a long time. I generally see the important criterion as: do most citizens want regime change and can they, with assistance, implement a transition to democracy and rule of law. The problem, as with say the Sandanistas in Nicaragua, is that what people want and what they get often diverge. Our (US) interference probably made the Sandanistas turn more authoritarian and brutal, and ultimately our ham-handed effort to further stable democracy failed. The CIA training and funding of the Contras led to a horrible civil war and brutalized both sides. We should really stick to humanitarian aid and economic soft power.

Correction: No lava, a Toyota's top sedan (a despot's) - a Toyota Avalon. Thanks.