Will Trump get to sidle up to Russia and
quell the beating of the war drums? Not
so sure.
I think what we have here, for various
reasons, is an attempt by a Deep state
apparatus to derail president Trump.
It's no surprise that Trump vs CIA
and Trump looking like Kennedy have
been themes recently.
We all know now that Kennedy was
iced by the secret service guys for similar
skulduggery.
So what is Russia selling to the US? Is it
the culmination of so many years of hard
work by Putin, against sanctions and
rhetoric and warmongering on Russia's
doorstep? Or is it a dark train ride to
nowhere?
It certainly is Risky Business
Who is Guido the Killer Pimp in this story?
Chuck Schumer?
John McCain?
Bill Kristol
Do they have links to the Dark side?
They have all insinuated that they do.
It's not wise to encourage the Deep State:
Monday, 20 February 2017
Sunday, 29 January 2017
Joggerfy 101: Archipelago
definition:
1 an expanse of water with many scattered islands
2 a group of islands
3 something resembling an archipelago; especially : a group or scattering of similar things an archipelago of small parks within the city
(Merriam Webster)
This is what HRC's fans are faced with.
Thanks to geography and technology, we
can now see which parts of the US voted for
Clinton.
Do you recognise this land mass?
It includes most of the urban areas in Cali and New England
(where Trump is known too well)
This happened despite there being
network coverage of HRC's campaign
Now, you would think that a philanthropist
with time on her hands would use her Foundation
to do good around the world. However, if your
Foundation is a political slush fund where
pay for play rules, you might be dumped by
all the oily kings who wanted to buy your
influence.
Maybe if they're lucky, the family Clinton
can still rule over Haiti as their last
fiefdom.
links:
https://polination.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/trumpland-vs-clinton-archipelago/
1 an expanse of water with many scattered islands
2 a group of islands
3 something resembling an archipelago; especially : a group or scattering of similar things an archipelago of small parks within the city
(Merriam Webster)
This is what HRC's fans are faced with.
Thanks to geography and technology, we
can now see which parts of the US voted for
Clinton.
Do you recognise this land mass?
It includes most of the urban areas in Cali and New England
(where Trump is known too well)
This happened despite there being
network coverage of HRC's campaign
Now, you would think that a philanthropist
with time on her hands would use her Foundation
to do good around the world. However, if your
Foundation is a political slush fund where
pay for play rules, you might be dumped by
all the oily kings who wanted to buy your
influence.
Maybe if they're lucky, the family Clinton
can still rule over Haiti as their last
fiefdom.
links:
https://polination.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/trumpland-vs-clinton-archipelago/
Saturday, 28 January 2017
We don need no steenkin feckan wall
There's a duel coming soon to the
I like this, but it seems strange that a guy
who wouldn't have been President of
Mexico if he wasn't a puppet, actually
let loose on the US, goading the present
Prez of Mex to get a spine and refuse to
talk to Trump.
In another , earlier tweet, he called it
a FACKEN wall. I'll find it later.
Thin-skinned Von Clownstick Trump
took offence, and also got all moral
on the use of bad language.
Siera Madre
or
Mother's Bush
between the US and Mexico. When
countries should be building bridges,
it seems Trump wants to build a wall.
This has caused more than one Mexican
president to get very upset, since he is
said to be picking up the bill for the
wall.
Even Vincente Fox, a previous prez
has been getting upset, on twitter.
who wouldn't have been President of
Mexico if he wasn't a puppet, actually
let loose on the US, goading the present
Prez of Mex to get a spine and refuse to
talk to Trump.
In another , earlier tweet, he called it
a FACKEN wall. I'll find it later.
Thin-skinned Von Clownstick Trump
took offence, and also got all moral
on the use of bad language.
I'm guessing that Clownstick thinks that
the Mexicans are to blame for the porous
border, and not lazy US administrations.
I can now safely say this because, on twitter,
as always, there are videos circulating that
show both Obama and Clinton HRC singing
the praises of a wall. But, these folks were
just showboating, perhaps intimidating
some of the uppity Hispanic congresspeople
like Rubio and Cruz.
What else could it be?
Last point is the personal nature with which
Trump acts. It's not personality politics, it's
up in your face, grabbing your shit politics.
links:
the Mexicans are to blame for the porous
border, and not lazy US administrations.
I can now safely say this because, on twitter,
as always, there are videos circulating that
show both Obama and Clinton HRC singing
the praises of a wall. But, these folks were
just showboating, perhaps intimidating
some of the uppity Hispanic congresspeople
like Rubio and Cruz.
What else could it be?
Last point is the personal nature with which
Trump acts. It's not personality politics, it's
up in your face, grabbing your shit politics.
links:
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/01/former-mexican-president-vicente-fox-goes-off-trump-hashtags-fcking-wall-video/
Ra Ra Ras-Putin
Here we are in the 21st century,
faced with another wildly charismatic
Russian, just like Rasputin, the priest
who charmed the Romanov women,
i.e. the Russian royals.
Putin seems to have a way with words,
and with hacking, and undermining the
"shining democracy that is the EU"
at 3:10, the oft-repeated Putin-Trump Christmas exchange:
Wow, Baldwin is good, but doesn't he have anything better to do?
--
Things were not quite this way, before Putin arrived.
Here's Mark Ames and Abby Martin to tell the rancid way in which
the US used to run Russia, as a vassal state.
It was disgusting.
You could even say that Russia would want to
get revenge on the US. WATCH the video.
It was amazing to hear, from another angle, Putin's rise.
As usually happens, the US and Soros have civil
society groups that chatter all day, and then undermine
your government, if you don't play along.
One such lady, I'll find her in my files, said about
Vlad the Impresser, that he was such a polite, mild
man, and how she feared for him in politics, about
him being eaten alive.
Well, that speaks to KGB training. He had everybody
fooled, on the American side. On the Russian side,
he had to prove himself to the Yeltsin Mafia, who
feared going to jail. Oddly, Vlad had made it to
KGB boss.
Case in point. One judge tried to work up a case
against the Mafia and lo and behold, his fat
butt was shown on national tv cavorting with
2 hookers.
Vlad was in like Flynn. One day, he was called in
to Boris' office and given the reigns to what was
left of Russia.
[UPDATE 13 Feb]
If you want to see an Alternative Reality version
of events of the 1990s in Russia, check the BBC.
I won't call it fake news, cuz it's now Fake History.
The statute of limitations on Fake News has to
be somewhere around 6 months, doesn't it?
I actually saw this on the BBC today!
"My husband loved his people. He did what he could
for them" oh, fuck me silly. this is bullshit.
"Yeltsin handed over to Putin a normal country." ftooie.
[you could see how much skin Mrs Yeltsina gave off
her butt for the starving poor that her dead husband
had essentially slow-mo murdered. i.e. none]
Ya. I can see the likeness in the eyes. Many of the qualities
are being equated with Rasputin. Of course, Anglo people
thinking everybody from the Continent are all cavorting pigs,
without the slightest irony. Check SNL above.
This guy takes me way back to the age of 10 when there
was a popular song about him, Rasputin. I wonder when
Pussy Riot will do a song about their lover boy, Vlad.
Musical detente during the late 70s
and to the Wiki:
Grigori Rasputin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Yefimovich and the family name is Rasputin.
Born 21 January 1869
Pokrovskoe, Siberia, Russian Empire
Died 30 December 1916 (aged 47)
Petrograd, Russian Empire
Cause of death Assassination
Occupation Peasant, pilgrim, healer, adviser
Spouse(s) Praskovia Fedorovna Dubrovina
Children Mikhail, Anna, Grigori, Dmitri, Matryona, Varvara, Paraskeva
Parent(s) Efim Vilkin Rasputin &; Anna Parshukova
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (Russian: Григорий Ефимович Распутин; IPA: [ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲɪj (j)ɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ rɐˈsputʲɪn];[1] 21 January [O.S. 9 January] 1869 – 30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1916[2]) was a Russian peasant, an experienced traveler,[3] a mystical faith healer, and trusted friend of the family of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of the Russian Empire. He became an influential figure in Saint Petersburg, especially after August 1915 when Nicholas took command of the army fighting in World War I. Advising his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, in countless spiritual and political issues, Rasputin became an easy scapegoat for Russian nationalists, liberals and aristocrats.
There is uncertainty over much of Rasputin's life and the degree of influence that he exerted over the extremely shy Tsar and the strong-willed Tsarina.[4] Accounts are often based on dubious memoirs, hearsay, and legend.[note 1] While his influence and position may have been exaggerated by society gossip and his own drunken boasting[8] his presence played a significant role in the increasing unpopularity of the Imperial couple.[9] Rasputin was murdered by monarchists who hoped to save Tsarism by ending his sway over the royal family.
more soon
links: http://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2013/08/grigorii-rasputin-and-fall-of-romanovs.html
faced with another wildly charismatic
Russian, just like Rasputin, the priest
who charmed the Romanov women,
i.e. the Russian royals.
Putin seems to have a way with words,
and with hacking, and undermining the
"shining democracy that is the EU"
Well, Putin certainly has
the MSM
the Democrats
the US security matrix
that's 17 organisations
the EU with its
new anti-propaganda law
Merkel, Hollande
ALL
the EU with its
new anti-propaganda law
Merkel, Hollande
ALL
shitting their pants
over his influence in politics
directly or through the RT channel
(one of my favs).
[ That's without mentioning
their fear of Trump and his
choice for EU ambassador,
one Malloch. see next story]
over his influence in politics
directly or through the RT channel
(one of my favs).
[ That's without mentioning
their fear of Trump and his
choice for EU ambassador,
one Malloch. see next story]
at 3:10, the oft-repeated Putin-Trump Christmas exchange:
Wow, Baldwin is good, but doesn't he have anything better to do?
--
Things were not quite this way, before Putin arrived.
Here's Mark Ames and Abby Martin to tell the rancid way in which
the US used to run Russia, as a vassal state.
It was disgusting.
You could even say that Russia would want to
get revenge on the US. WATCH the video.
Male life expectancy dropped from 68 to 57
in ONE decade!
It was amazing to hear, from another angle, Putin's rise.
As usually happens, the US and Soros have civil
society groups that chatter all day, and then undermine
your government, if you don't play along.
One such lady, I'll find her in my files, said about
Vlad the Impresser, that he was such a polite, mild
man, and how she feared for him in politics, about
him being eaten alive.
Well, that speaks to KGB training. He had everybody
fooled, on the American side. On the Russian side,
he had to prove himself to the Yeltsin Mafia, who
feared going to jail. Oddly, Vlad had made it to
KGB boss.
Case in point. One judge tried to work up a case
against the Mafia and lo and behold, his fat
butt was shown on national tv cavorting with
2 hookers.
Vlad was in like Flynn. One day, he was called in
to Boris' office and given the reigns to what was
left of Russia.
[UPDATE 13 Feb]
If you want to see an Alternative Reality version
of events of the 1990s in Russia, check the BBC.
I won't call it fake news, cuz it's now Fake History.
The statute of limitations on Fake News has to
be somewhere around 6 months, doesn't it?
I actually saw this on the BBC today!
"My husband loved his people. He did what he could
for them" oh, fuck me silly. this is bullshit.
"Yeltsin handed over to Putin a normal country." ftooie.
[you could see how much skin Mrs Yeltsina gave off
her butt for the starving poor that her dead husband
had essentially slow-mo murdered. i.e. none]
Ya. I can see the likeness in the eyes. Many of the qualities
are being equated with Rasputin. Of course, Anglo people
thinking everybody from the Continent are all cavorting pigs,
without the slightest irony. Check SNL above.
This guy takes me way back to the age of 10 when there
was a popular song about him, Rasputin. I wonder when
Pussy Riot will do a song about their lover boy, Vlad.
Musical detente during the late 70s
and to the Wiki:
Grigori Rasputin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Yefimovich and the family name is Rasputin.
Born 21 January 1869
Pokrovskoe, Siberia, Russian Empire
Died 30 December 1916 (aged 47)
Petrograd, Russian Empire
Cause of death Assassination
Occupation Peasant, pilgrim, healer, adviser
Spouse(s) Praskovia Fedorovna Dubrovina
Children Mikhail, Anna, Grigori, Dmitri, Matryona, Varvara, Paraskeva
Parent(s) Efim Vilkin Rasputin &; Anna Parshukova
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (Russian: Григорий Ефимович Распутин; IPA: [ɡrʲɪˈɡorʲɪj (j)ɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ rɐˈsputʲɪn];[1] 21 January [O.S. 9 January] 1869 – 30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1916[2]) was a Russian peasant, an experienced traveler,[3] a mystical faith healer, and trusted friend of the family of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of the Russian Empire. He became an influential figure in Saint Petersburg, especially after August 1915 when Nicholas took command of the army fighting in World War I. Advising his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, in countless spiritual and political issues, Rasputin became an easy scapegoat for Russian nationalists, liberals and aristocrats.
There is uncertainty over much of Rasputin's life and the degree of influence that he exerted over the extremely shy Tsar and the strong-willed Tsarina.[4] Accounts are often based on dubious memoirs, hearsay, and legend.[note 1] While his influence and position may have been exaggerated by society gossip and his own drunken boasting[8] his presence played a significant role in the increasing unpopularity of the Imperial couple.[9] Rasputin was murdered by monarchists who hoped to save Tsarism by ending his sway over the royal family.
more soon
links: http://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspot.com/2013/08/grigorii-rasputin-and-fall-of-romanovs.html
I crush your head, Hillary
One of Trump's funny idiosyncracies
is what he does with his too-small
fingers. It's the finger pinch.
[Enquirer]
It's as if he's crushing something in
between, if only metaphorically. It
depends on what he's saying, or
who's in his sights.
This is more about the symbolism:
Trump: "You don't like my wall? I crush your head,
and your country"
Trump: "while you were talking, I crushed your head. yup"
links:
https://drlillianglassbodylanguageblog.wordpress.com/tag/hillary-clinton/
is what he does with his too-small
fingers. It's the finger pinch.
It's as if he's crushing something in
between, if only metaphorically. It
depends on what he's saying, or
who's in his sights.
This is more about the symbolism:
Trump: "You don't like my wall? I crush your head,
and your country"
Trump: "while you were talking, I crushed your head. yup"
links:
https://drlillianglassbodylanguageblog.wordpress.com/tag/hillary-clinton/
Sunday, 15 January 2017
would you like some Vanilla with that?
I know that this issue was dead and buried
10 years ago, sorry 29 years ago,
but I had a thought.
They even fooled the Grammys. Okay, it
broke 29 years ago and took 2 years
for the sync story to catch up with them.
It's about Milli Vanilli. If you recall,
(if not, ask your grandparents), we had
a couple of black dancing lads who
fooled people into thinking they were actually
singing their song. But they weren't.
Okay, call off the fraud squad. most pop
music is fraudulent anyway.
The Spice Girls were just chosen cuz
they was "sassy." they were not musicians
in the traditional sense. But, who cares.
The important issue for me now is,
that even the name of Milli Vanilli is
cynical. Why would you take a "band"
consisting of two black guys (and a
production team in the studio) and call
the group Vanilli? Was it a subliminal
message to middle America that these
guys were white enough?
anyway, these guys were not even
English native speakers, when the
song was clearly in American English.
They signed German contracts and
became famous. Apparently, one of
them committed suicide. Can't fake
that.
Anyway. I got that off my shoulders.
Of course, nowadays, everybody uses that
song box for recording, and even on tour.
I've heard Beyonce, Britney use it. It's not
a sync, it just brings the singers weak
crappy voice into sync with what the
song should be. Ah, technology.
10 years ago, sorry 29 years ago,
but I had a thought.
They even fooled the Grammys. Okay, it
broke 29 years ago and took 2 years
for the sync story to catch up with them.
It's about Milli Vanilli. If you recall,
(if not, ask your grandparents), we had
a couple of black dancing lads who
fooled people into thinking they were actually
singing their song. But they weren't.
Okay, call off the fraud squad. most pop
music is fraudulent anyway.
The Spice Girls were just chosen cuz
they was "sassy." they were not musicians
in the traditional sense. But, who cares.
The important issue for me now is,
that even the name of Milli Vanilli is
cynical. Why would you take a "band"
consisting of two black guys (and a
production team in the studio) and call
the group Vanilli? Was it a subliminal
message to middle America that these
guys were white enough?
anyway, these guys were not even
English native speakers, when the
song was clearly in American English.
They signed German contracts and
became famous. Apparently, one of
them committed suicide. Can't fake
that.
Anyway. I got that off my shoulders.
Of course, nowadays, everybody uses that
song box for recording, and even on tour.
I've heard Beyonce, Britney use it. It's not
a sync, it just brings the singers weak
crappy voice into sync with what the
song should be. Ah, technology.
Monday, 4 April 2016
Anthropocene is not our scene
Albert Enstein once said:
I don't know what weapons they'll use
in World War 3, but WW4 will be
fought with sticks and stones.
What he means is, in our haste for results,
we're going to lay waste to all we've created.
And this is from an intelligent man, who
actually helped atomic research.
We are having such an effect on the planet that
we got our own -cene, the Anthropocene.
The problem is that we are so rapacious as
regards our use of the planet that we seem to
forget that one should not shit where one eats.
Nuclear energy (and bombs, for that matter) is
one sign that we would prefer energy now
and toxic radioactive waste for 50 000 years.
"Just turn the feckin tv on!
Split an atom, if you have to.
I don't care about future generations."
There are parts of this planet that we know as
no-go areas. Unfortunately, animals don't have
an understanding.
the fish will fight back, though
We have Fukishima:
later
Chernobyl:
later
Bikini Atoll
We have wrecked enough of this planet and
still we haven't got the message. Let's not
even talk about standard pollution, or climate
change. Trump and most of the US don't
even agree that it exists, largely because
they think it means we have to surrender
our fossil-fuel-burning toys (supercars, yachts).
And now, there's a new underground bunker
for nuclear waste that will be sealed and have
signs posted warning people not to go in.
What is telling is that they're are trying to
create visual signs for people who don't
speak any earthly language.
What does that mean? That there's every
possibility that humans will destroy so
much of humanity that languages will
no longer be taught in those things we
call schools. The US and UK are well on
their way to de-educating poor people already.
I have some ideas for these people:
-the three-eyed fish.
-the melting man from Robocop
-the pictures of the men who split
the atom. they'll be famous and
believed to be the devil bythe
23rd century shamanic religion.
checkit: Guardian
Generation Anthropocene: How humans have altered the planet for ever
We are living in the Anthropocene age, in which human influence on the planet is so profound – and terrifying – it will leave its legacy for millennia. Politicians and scientists have had their say, but how are writers and artists responding to this crisis?
Robert Macfarlane
Friday 1 April 2016 12.00 BST
Last modified on Saturday 2 April 2016 00.06 BST
...
In 1981 the research field of “nuclear semiotics” was born. A group of interdisciplinary experts was tasked with preventing future humans from intruding on to a subterranean storage facility for radioactive waste, then under construction in the New Mexico desert. The half-life of plutonium-239 is around 24,100 years; the written history of humanity is around 5,000 years old. The challenge facing the group was how to devise a sign system that could semantically survive even catastrophic phases of planetary future, and that could communicate with an unknown humanoid-to-be.
Construction of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, an underground nuclear waste dump. Photograph: Eric Draper/AP
Several proposals involved forms of hostile architecture: a “landscape of thorns” in which 15m-high concrete pillars with jutting side spikes impeded access; a maze of sharp black rock blocks that absorbed solar energy to become impassably hot. But such aggressive structures can act as enticements rather than cautions, suggesting here be treasure rather than here be dragons. Prince Charming hacked his way through the briars to wake Sleeping Beauty. Indiana Jones braved wooden spikes and rolling boulders to reach the golden idol in a booby-trapped Peruvian temple. Sometimes I wonder if the design task should be handed wholesale to the team behind the Ikea instruction manuals: if they can convey in pictograms how to put up a Billy bookcase anywhere in the world, they can surely tell someone in 10,000 years’ time not to dig in a certain place.
Advertisement
The New Mexico facility is due to be sealed in 2038. The present plans for marking the site involve a berm with a core of salt, enclosing the above-ground footprint of the repository. Buried in the berm will be radar reflectors, magnets and a “Storage Room”, constructed around a stone slab too big to be removed via the chamber entrance. Data will be inscribed on to the slab including maps, time lines, and scientific details of the waste and its risks, written in all current official UN languages, and in Navajo: “This site was known as the WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Site) when it was closed in 2038 AD … Do not expose this room unless the information centre messages are lost. Leave the room buried for future generations.” Discs made of ceramic, clay, glass and metal, also engraved with warnings, will be embedded in the soil and the shaft seals. Finally, a “hot cell”, or radiation containment chamber, will be constructed: a reinforced concrete structure extending 60 feet above the earth and 30 feet down into it: VanderMeer’s “Tower” made real.
I think of that configuration of berm, chamber, shaft, disc and hot cell – all set atop the casks of pulsing radioactive molecules entombed deep in the Permian strata – as perhaps our purest Anthropocene architecture. And I think of those multiply repeated incantations – pitched somewhere between confession, caution and black mass; leave the room buried for future generations, leave the room buried for future generations … – as perhaps our most perfected Anthropocene text.
I don't know what weapons they'll use
in World War 3, but WW4 will be
fought with sticks and stones.
What he means is, in our haste for results,
we're going to lay waste to all we've created.
And this is from an intelligent man, who
actually helped atomic research.
We are having such an effect on the planet that
we got our own -cene, the Anthropocene.
The problem is that we are so rapacious as
regards our use of the planet that we seem to
forget that one should not shit where one eats.
Nuclear energy (and bombs, for that matter) is
one sign that we would prefer energy now
and toxic radioactive waste for 50 000 years.
"Just turn the feckin tv on!
Split an atom, if you have to.
I don't care about future generations."
There are parts of this planet that we know as
no-go areas. Unfortunately, animals don't have
an understanding.
We have Fukishima:
later
Chernobyl:
later
Bikini Atoll
We have wrecked enough of this planet and
still we haven't got the message. Let's not
even talk about standard pollution, or climate
change. Trump and most of the US don't
even agree that it exists, largely because
they think it means we have to surrender
our fossil-fuel-burning toys (supercars, yachts).
And now, there's a new underground bunker
for nuclear waste that will be sealed and have
signs posted warning people not to go in.
What is telling is that they're are trying to
create visual signs for people who don't
speak any earthly language.
What does that mean? That there's every
possibility that humans will destroy so
much of humanity that languages will
no longer be taught in those things we
call schools. The US and UK are well on
their way to de-educating poor people already.
I have some ideas for these people:
-the three-eyed fish.
-the melting man from Robocop
the atom. they'll be famous and
believed to be the devil bythe
23rd century shamanic religion.
checkit: Guardian
Generation Anthropocene: How humans have altered the planet for ever
We are living in the Anthropocene age, in which human influence on the planet is so profound – and terrifying – it will leave its legacy for millennia. Politicians and scientists have had their say, but how are writers and artists responding to this crisis?
Robert Macfarlane
Friday 1 April 2016 12.00 BST
Last modified on Saturday 2 April 2016 00.06 BST
...
In 1981 the research field of “nuclear semiotics” was born. A group of interdisciplinary experts was tasked with preventing future humans from intruding on to a subterranean storage facility for radioactive waste, then under construction in the New Mexico desert. The half-life of plutonium-239 is around 24,100 years; the written history of humanity is around 5,000 years old. The challenge facing the group was how to devise a sign system that could semantically survive even catastrophic phases of planetary future, and that could communicate with an unknown humanoid-to-be.
Construction of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, an underground nuclear waste dump. Photograph: Eric Draper/AP
Several proposals involved forms of hostile architecture: a “landscape of thorns” in which 15m-high concrete pillars with jutting side spikes impeded access; a maze of sharp black rock blocks that absorbed solar energy to become impassably hot. But such aggressive structures can act as enticements rather than cautions, suggesting here be treasure rather than here be dragons. Prince Charming hacked his way through the briars to wake Sleeping Beauty. Indiana Jones braved wooden spikes and rolling boulders to reach the golden idol in a booby-trapped Peruvian temple. Sometimes I wonder if the design task should be handed wholesale to the team behind the Ikea instruction manuals: if they can convey in pictograms how to put up a Billy bookcase anywhere in the world, they can surely tell someone in 10,000 years’ time not to dig in a certain place.
Advertisement
The New Mexico facility is due to be sealed in 2038. The present plans for marking the site involve a berm with a core of salt, enclosing the above-ground footprint of the repository. Buried in the berm will be radar reflectors, magnets and a “Storage Room”, constructed around a stone slab too big to be removed via the chamber entrance. Data will be inscribed on to the slab including maps, time lines, and scientific details of the waste and its risks, written in all current official UN languages, and in Navajo: “This site was known as the WIPP (Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Site) when it was closed in 2038 AD … Do not expose this room unless the information centre messages are lost. Leave the room buried for future generations.” Discs made of ceramic, clay, glass and metal, also engraved with warnings, will be embedded in the soil and the shaft seals. Finally, a “hot cell”, or radiation containment chamber, will be constructed: a reinforced concrete structure extending 60 feet above the earth and 30 feet down into it: VanderMeer’s “Tower” made real.
I think of that configuration of berm, chamber, shaft, disc and hot cell – all set atop the casks of pulsing radioactive molecules entombed deep in the Permian strata – as perhaps our purest Anthropocene architecture. And I think of those multiply repeated incantations – pitched somewhere between confession, caution and black mass; leave the room buried for future generations, leave the room buried for future generations … – as perhaps our most perfected Anthropocene text.
Saturday, 2 April 2016
the new suicidal reality show
This is a story which is an indication of how
twisted it is that UK folks defer to upper-
class bosses and their stupid ideas without
questioning danger/stupidity/full-body traction casts.
See banks
See politics
See dying manufacturing sector
The art of ski jumping is ridiculously dangerous.
I can hardly believe that the Olympics has this
human-as-bird lark as an official sport.
Nevertheless, the athletes are obviously well-
trained and rarely get injured.
Now, the UK, in its search for new reality gold,
has tried to send complete neophytes of a ski
jump.
A lot of them are quitting.
Many are injuring their spines.
[so, what's a little spinal tap, amongst friends?]
I would hate to think that it was designed to
advertise the new movie about Eddie the
Eagle. As in, we're proud of Eddie, so
let's chuck ourselves off a ski jump. What
could go wrong?
[a knock-off of Cool Runnings?]
I don't know who's crazier, the show's
creator, the idiot who signed off the
development of this show, or the
contestants.
more later
Checkit: BBC
The Jump: Ex-Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding leaves show
27 February 2016
Former Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding has become the sixth contestant to drop out of Channel 4 series The Jump because of injury.
The 34-year-old said she had "no choice" but to leave the reality skiing show because of a ligament injury.
Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle, actress Tina Hobley and Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington have already pulled out.
Harding, whose departure will be aired on Sunday, said she was thankful for the "once-in-a-lifetime journey".
The Jump sees celebrities taking part in various winter sports competitions, including ski-jumping, bobsleigh and speed skating in Austria.
The show's third series has now seen six stars retire from the slopes.
Britain's most successful gymnast Tweddle, 30, needed neck surgery following a fall during training
Former Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Adlington, 26, withdrew after dislocating her shoulder.
Holby City actress Hobley, 44, also headed for the exit after she dislocated her elbow and suffered two fractures to her arm
Made In Chelsea star Mark-Francis Vandelli, 26, pulled out after fracturing his ankle
1992 Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie pulled out after he failed to recover in time from a hamstring injury
After revealing her injury, Harding tweeted that she had been "gutted" [NOT HALF AS MUCH AS IF YOU LAND ON YOUR STOMACH & BLOW A FAT HERNIA- Cos67] to receive the news that after six weeks of training she would not be able to continue.
But she said to make it as far as she did had surpassed her own expectations.
'Great competitor'
A spokeswoman for Channel 4 confirmed Harding had withdrawn on medical advice after pulling a ligament in her knee during training on Friday.
"She has been advised by medics to rest and will undergo physiotherapy. Sarah has been a great competitor and we wish her a speedy recovery," she said.
Image caption Beth Tweddle tweeted a picture of herself wearing a neck brace before leaving hospital
Former England rugby player Ben Cohen, 37, who was drafted in as some of the stars were forced to drop out, was also injured after he said he had used his face to stop himself in an accident.
He lost two teeth and needed 20 stitches, he said on Twitter, but will remain in the competition.
At the beginning of February, Channel 4 said it had asked producers to "review safety procedures again to further reduce the prospect of accident".
The first review came after Olympic bronze medallist Tweddle had surgery to fuse fractured vertebrae in her neck. She was discharged from hospital 10 days later.
twisted it is that UK folks defer to upper-
class bosses and their stupid ideas without
questioning danger/stupidity/full-body traction casts.
See banks
See politics
See dying manufacturing sector
The art of ski jumping is ridiculously dangerous.
I can hardly believe that the Olympics has this
human-as-bird lark as an official sport.
Nevertheless, the athletes are obviously well-
trained and rarely get injured.
Now, the UK, in its search for new reality gold,
has tried to send complete neophytes of a ski
jump.
A lot of them are quitting.
Many are injuring their spines.
I would hate to think that it was designed to
advertise the new movie about Eddie the
Eagle. As in, we're proud of Eddie, so
let's chuck ourselves off a ski jump. What
could go wrong?
I don't know who's crazier, the show's
creator, the idiot who signed off the
development of this show, or the
contestants.
"you want me to jump what?"
more later
Checkit: BBC
The Jump: Ex-Girls Aloud star Sarah Harding leaves show
27 February 2016
Former Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding has become the sixth contestant to drop out of Channel 4 series The Jump because of injury.
The 34-year-old said she had "no choice" but to leave the reality skiing show because of a ligament injury.
Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle, actress Tina Hobley and Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington have already pulled out.
Harding, whose departure will be aired on Sunday, said she was thankful for the "once-in-a-lifetime journey".
The Jump sees celebrities taking part in various winter sports competitions, including ski-jumping, bobsleigh and speed skating in Austria.
The show's third series has now seen six stars retire from the slopes.
Britain's most successful gymnast Tweddle, 30, needed neck surgery following a fall during training
Former Olympic swimming champion Rebecca Adlington, 26, withdrew after dislocating her shoulder.
Holby City actress Hobley, 44, also headed for the exit after she dislocated her elbow and suffered two fractures to her arm
Made In Chelsea star Mark-Francis Vandelli, 26, pulled out after fracturing his ankle
1992 Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie pulled out after he failed to recover in time from a hamstring injury
After revealing her injury, Harding tweeted that she had been "gutted" [NOT HALF AS MUCH AS IF YOU LAND ON YOUR STOMACH & BLOW A FAT HERNIA- Cos67] to receive the news that after six weeks of training she would not be able to continue.
But she said to make it as far as she did had surpassed her own expectations.
'Great competitor'
A spokeswoman for Channel 4 confirmed Harding had withdrawn on medical advice after pulling a ligament in her knee during training on Friday.
"She has been advised by medics to rest and will undergo physiotherapy. Sarah has been a great competitor and we wish her a speedy recovery," she said.
Image caption Beth Tweddle tweeted a picture of herself wearing a neck brace before leaving hospital
Former England rugby player Ben Cohen, 37, who was drafted in as some of the stars were forced to drop out, was also injured after he said he had used his face to stop himself in an accident.
He lost two teeth and needed 20 stitches, he said on Twitter, but will remain in the competition.
At the beginning of February, Channel 4 said it had asked producers to "review safety procedures again to further reduce the prospect of accident".
The first review came after Olympic bronze medallist Tweddle had surgery to fuse fractured vertebrae in her neck. She was discharged from hospital 10 days later.
Harvard discovers racism
This is a multi-layered story about how the richest,
most famous, best US university has finally decided
to recognise the racism in its midst.
In a similar development, Oxford University is facing
the spectre of Cecil Rhodes, a slave owner. Yes, that
Rhodes, of the Rhodes scholarship.
I think that you have to be transparent and then the
public will decide what to do. In most cases, slave
abetters and especially slave-owners need to be
taken down a rung, because they became the famous
grandees of history because of slavery.
At Harvard, their Law school symbol was taken on
from the Royall family (sounds made up, like Cadillac)
which donated its estate to fund the Law School.
Unfortunately, as the symbol hints at, the Royalls'
money was made thanks to the free but not
freely-volunteered work of slaves.
The wheat bushels on the real crest
have been modified here to show
slaves carrying bushels.
So, the family had slaves? A certain
kind of proof, given to us by the
reality shows which, for example
showed the Ben Affleck's family
were slave owners, is that the
African slaves took on the name of
their slave owner, and often gave
birth to their "illegitimate"
-under-the-"law" children.
It's hard to find any.
[this is why Tarantino is brilliant. As if small-time thugs have been
to Paris and Amsterdam.]
Nevertheless, blacks in the US,
or the UK, did not have
it as easy as Dido.
The blatantly obvious part of this is the fact that,
forgetting what the story below says, the wheat
pictured is not on the backs of workers, but
we can now "see" the slaves, because that's
what they were meant to depict, even if the
Royall family didn't consider slaves to be
people.
I don't think this goes anywhere near the topic
of how much slavery has helped make the US
what it is, including Harvard University. I just
discovered that George Washington was not
only the richest man in revolutionary Americaa,
but also a land speculator and a slave owner. The
US must come clean and admit all this to start
healing the wounds. It's just symbolism, but
it means more than that to many whose family
history is entwined with the chains of slavery.
checkit: Guardian
Harvard law school drops official shield over slavery links
University committee rules shield donated by family that built wealth through slavery does not reflect institution’s values
Staff and agencies
Saturday 5 March 2016 03.59 GMT
Last modified on Monday 7 March 2016 11.44 GMT
Harvard law school will remove its official shield following months of protest at the symbol’s ties to an 18th-century slaveholder.
A committee at the prestigious university, which counts president Barack Obama among its alumni, was convened to rule on the issue and on Friday decided the shield was inappropriate.
Harvard 'black tape' vandalism brings law school's controversial past to fore
Read more
“We believe that if the law school is to have an official symbol, it must more closely represent the values of the law school, which the current shield does not,” the panel, made up of professors, alumni, students and staff, wrote in its recommendation.
The school has sent its decision to the university’s governing body, the Harvard corporation, asking for the emblem to stop being used as its official shield. It was not immediately clear when the corporation would take up the issue.
The shield’s meaning has changed over time, said Bruce Mann, committee chairman and Harvard law professor.
“Too many people think the shield has become an impediment,” he said. “Too many people see the association with slavery.”
The committee’s 10-2 recommendation was backed by Dean Martha Minow.
“I endorse the recommendation to retire the shield because its association with slavery does not represent the values and aspirations of the Harvard law school and because it has become a source of division rather than commonality in our community,” she wrote to students and alumni.
The shield, officially adopted in 1937, depicts three bundles of wheat, an image borrowed from the family crest of Isaac Royall Jr, under the university’s motto “Veritas”.
Royall donated his estate to create the first law professorship at Harvard University. His father, Isaac Royall Sr, made much of the family wealth on the backs of slaves on Caribbean sugar plantations and Massachusetts farms.
Minow created the committee after some law school students formed a group called Royall Must Fall to denounce the shield.
“We definitely consider this a victory that represents our tireless advocacy,” said AJ Clayborne, a third-year Harvard law student and member of Royall Must Fall, adding that the group was also dedicated to fighting other racial injustices at the school.
Not everyone agreed with the recommendation. One professor on the committee, joined by a student, said keeping the shield was a way to honor the slaves whose sacrifice provided the Royall family with its wealth.
They said the shield should be tied “to a historically sound interpretative narrative about it” and suggested adding the word “Iustitia” (justice in Latin) below the word “Veritas”.
The move to drop the shield came after Harvard University announced it would change the centuries-old title “house master”, used to describe the Ivy League’s residential administrators, to the term “faculty dean”.
There were waves of protests in late 2015 across several US college campuses, including Yale and Princeton, where students rallied against what they saw as institutional racism. Activists claimed the title “house master” was inappropriate and conjured a connection to slavery.
Associated Press contributed to this report
most famous, best US university has finally decided
to recognise the racism in its midst.
In a similar development, Oxford University is facing
the spectre of Cecil Rhodes, a slave owner. Yes, that
Rhodes, of the Rhodes scholarship.
I think that you have to be transparent and then the
public will decide what to do. In most cases, slave
abetters and especially slave-owners need to be
taken down a rung, because they became the famous
grandees of history because of slavery.
At Harvard, their Law school symbol was taken on
from the Royall family (sounds made up, like Cadillac)
which donated its estate to fund the Law School.
Unfortunately, as the symbol hints at, the Royalls'
money was made thanks to the free but not
freely-volunteered work of slaves.
have been modified here to show
slaves carrying bushels.
So, the family had slaves? A certain
kind of proof, given to us by the
reality shows which, for example
showed the Ben Affleck's family
were slave owners, is that the
African slaves took on the name of
their slave owner, and often gave
birth to their "illegitimate"
-under-the-"law" children.
It's hard to find any.
[this is why Tarantino is brilliant. As if small-time thugs have been
to Paris and Amsterdam.]
Nevertheless, blacks in the US,
or the UK, did not have
it as easy as Dido.
The blatantly obvious part of this is the fact that,
forgetting what the story below says, the wheat
pictured is not on the backs of workers, but
we can now "see" the slaves, because that's
what they were meant to depict, even if the
Royall family didn't consider slaves to be
people.
I don't think this goes anywhere near the topic
of how much slavery has helped make the US
what it is, including Harvard University. I just
discovered that George Washington was not
only the richest man in revolutionary Americaa,
but also a land speculator and a slave owner. The
US must come clean and admit all this to start
healing the wounds. It's just symbolism, but
it means more than that to many whose family
history is entwined with the chains of slavery.
checkit: Guardian
Harvard law school drops official shield over slavery links
University committee rules shield donated by family that built wealth through slavery does not reflect institution’s values
Staff and agencies
Saturday 5 March 2016 03.59 GMT
Last modified on Monday 7 March 2016 11.44 GMT
Harvard law school will remove its official shield following months of protest at the symbol’s ties to an 18th-century slaveholder.
A committee at the prestigious university, which counts president Barack Obama among its alumni, was convened to rule on the issue and on Friday decided the shield was inappropriate.
Harvard 'black tape' vandalism brings law school's controversial past to fore
Read more
“We believe that if the law school is to have an official symbol, it must more closely represent the values of the law school, which the current shield does not,” the panel, made up of professors, alumni, students and staff, wrote in its recommendation.
The school has sent its decision to the university’s governing body, the Harvard corporation, asking for the emblem to stop being used as its official shield. It was not immediately clear when the corporation would take up the issue.
The shield’s meaning has changed over time, said Bruce Mann, committee chairman and Harvard law professor.
“Too many people think the shield has become an impediment,” he said. “Too many people see the association with slavery.”
The committee’s 10-2 recommendation was backed by Dean Martha Minow.
“I endorse the recommendation to retire the shield because its association with slavery does not represent the values and aspirations of the Harvard law school and because it has become a source of division rather than commonality in our community,” she wrote to students and alumni.
The shield, officially adopted in 1937, depicts three bundles of wheat, an image borrowed from the family crest of Isaac Royall Jr, under the university’s motto “Veritas”.
Royall donated his estate to create the first law professorship at Harvard University. His father, Isaac Royall Sr, made much of the family wealth on the backs of slaves on Caribbean sugar plantations and Massachusetts farms.
Minow created the committee after some law school students formed a group called Royall Must Fall to denounce the shield.
“We definitely consider this a victory that represents our tireless advocacy,” said AJ Clayborne, a third-year Harvard law student and member of Royall Must Fall, adding that the group was also dedicated to fighting other racial injustices at the school.
Not everyone agreed with the recommendation. One professor on the committee, joined by a student, said keeping the shield was a way to honor the slaves whose sacrifice provided the Royall family with its wealth.
They said the shield should be tied “to a historically sound interpretative narrative about it” and suggested adding the word “Iustitia” (justice in Latin) below the word “Veritas”.
The move to drop the shield came after Harvard University announced it would change the centuries-old title “house master”, used to describe the Ivy League’s residential administrators, to the term “faculty dean”.
There were waves of protests in late 2015 across several US college campuses, including Yale and Princeton, where students rallied against what they saw as institutional racism. Activists claimed the title “house master” was inappropriate and conjured a connection to slavery.
Associated Press contributed to this report
Microsoft's Artificial Troll
That's what the world needs. More Internet trolls.
I think that Microsoft's project is worthwhile,
unlike its computer software which is still
the binary version of a bucket of bolts,
even after 30+ years.
It's good because it is supposedly a learning,
mind-like system. So, it may even mimic
some of the human stages of Internet Chat
Literacy (trademark).
What it shows is an arc of development of
that is similar to that of a human. It is
"cognitive" overload.
It is mind-blowing to be able to sit in front
of your computer and chat with people on
the other side of our blue sphere. This is
especially life-changing if you're a lonely
neurotic blogger, like me.
What that means is that you get a response
where in Reality 1.0, you get ignored even
by your mother. That opens a pandora's box
of repressed emotions, from happiness (and
vulnerability) but through a series of
disappointments (cuz others just don't play
in the way you want to) to curmudgeonly
trolling.
Admit it. We've all been there, at least for a
short while.
What I don't like is that the AI bot's twitter
account shows a human face. That can only
confuse things.
Indeed, I've noticed some
troll bots let loose on twitter. They seem
to engage with people but then if you
insult them ever so indirectly, they do
not react. A human troll would.
What I have practiced, in order to discover
if a troll is a computer or not is to use my
Turing Troll Test.
I assume that if you use the word "asshole",
the computer could be programmed to produce
an appropriate response.
If however, you use a more nuanced critique
that nevertheless would insult any human on
the planet, then the Trap is set. If the troll
doesn't get it, then it's a bot.
Then I enquire: "isn't it strange that you're
not responding to my concerns," and again
no answer is forthcoming.
When I claim "you're a bot", some of
the trolls respond back and say that they
"are" not. But I already have my answer.
checkit: Guardian
Microsoft 'deeply sorry' for racist and sexist tweets by AI chatbot
Company finally apologises after ‘Tay’ quickly learned to produce offensive posts, forcing the tech giant to shut it down after just 16 hours
Microsoft’s artificial intelligence chatbot Tay didn’t last long on Twitter.
Staff and agencies
Saturday 26 March 2016 16.52 GMT
Last modified on Tuesday 29 March 2016 09.53 BST
Microsoft has said it is “deeply sorry” for the racist and sexist Twitter messages generated by the so-called chatbot it launched this week.
The company released an official apology after the artificial intelligence program went on an embarrassing tirade, likening feminism to cancer and suggesting the Holocaust did not happen.
Tay, Microsoft's AI chatbot, gets a crash course in racism from Twitter
Read more
The bot, known as Tay, was designed to become “smarter” as more users interacted with it. Instead, it quickly learned to parrot a slew of anti-Semitic and other hateful invective that human Twitter users fed the program, forcing Microsoft Corp to shut it down on Thursday .
Following the disastrous experiment, Microsoft initially only gave a terse statement, saying Tay was a “learning machine” and “some of its responses are inappropriate and indicative of the types of interactions some people are having with it.”
But the company on Friday admitted the experiment had gone badly wrong. It said in a blog post it would revive Tay only if its engineers could find a way to prevent Web users from influencing the chatbot in ways that undermine the company’s principles and values.
“We are deeply sorry for the unintended offensive and hurtful tweets from Tay, which do not represent who we are or what we stand for, nor how we designed Tay,” wrote Peter Lee, Microsoft’s vice president of research.
Microsoft created Tay as an experiment to learn more about how artificial intelligence programs can engage with Web users in casual conversation. The project was designed to interact with and “learn” from the young generation of millennials.
Tay began its short-lived Twitter tenure on Wednesday with a handful of innocuous tweets.
— TayTweets (@TayandYou)
March 24, 2016
c u soon humans need sleep now so many conversations today thx💖
Then its posts took a dark turn.
In one typical example, Tay tweeted: “feminism is cancer,” in response to another Twitter user who had posted the same message.
Tay tweeting
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Tay tweeting Photograph: Twitter/Microsoft
Lee, in the blog post, called web users’ efforts to exert a malicious influence on the chatbot “a coordinated attack by a subset of people.”
Advertisement
“Although we had prepared for many types of abuses of the system, we had made a critical oversight for this specific attack,” Lee wrote. “As a result, Tay tweeted wildly inappropriate and reprehensible words and images.”
Microsoft has deleted all but three of Tay’s tweets.
Microsoft has enjoyed better success with a chatbot called XiaoIce that the company launched in China in 2014. XiaoIce is used by about 40 million people and is known for “delighting with its stories and conversations,” according to Microsoft.
As for Tay? Not so much.
“We will remain steadfast in our efforts to learn from this and other experiences as we work toward contributing to an Internet that represents the best, not the worst, of humanity,” Lee wrote.
Reuters contributed to this report
I think that Microsoft's project is worthwhile,
unlike its computer software which is still
the binary version of a bucket of bolts,
even after 30+ years.
It's good because it is supposedly a learning,
mind-like system. So, it may even mimic
some of the human stages of Internet Chat
Literacy (trademark).
What it shows is an arc of development of
that is similar to that of a human. It is
"cognitive" overload.
It is mind-blowing to be able to sit in front
of your computer and chat with people on
the other side of our blue sphere. This is
especially life-changing if you're a lonely
neurotic blogger, like me.
What that means is that you get a response
where in Reality 1.0, you get ignored even
by your mother. That opens a pandora's box
of repressed emotions, from happiness (and
vulnerability) but through a series of
disappointments (cuz others just don't play
in the way you want to) to curmudgeonly
trolling.
Admit it. We've all been there, at least for a
short while.
What I don't like is that the AI bot's twitter
account shows a human face. That can only
confuse things.
Indeed, I've noticed some
troll bots let loose on twitter. They seem
to engage with people but then if you
insult them ever so indirectly, they do
not react. A human troll would.
What I have practiced, in order to discover
if a troll is a computer or not is to use my
Turing Troll Test.
I assume that if you use the word "asshole",
the computer could be programmed to produce
an appropriate response.
If however, you use a more nuanced critique
that nevertheless would insult any human on
the planet, then the Trap is set. If the troll
doesn't get it, then it's a bot.
Then I enquire: "isn't it strange that you're
not responding to my concerns," and again
no answer is forthcoming.
When I claim "you're a bot", some of
the trolls respond back and say that they
"are" not. But I already have my answer.
checkit: Guardian
Microsoft 'deeply sorry' for racist and sexist tweets by AI chatbot
Company finally apologises after ‘Tay’ quickly learned to produce offensive posts, forcing the tech giant to shut it down after just 16 hours
Microsoft’s artificial intelligence chatbot Tay didn’t last long on Twitter.
Staff and agencies
Saturday 26 March 2016 16.52 GMT
Last modified on Tuesday 29 March 2016 09.53 BST
Microsoft has said it is “deeply sorry” for the racist and sexist Twitter messages generated by the so-called chatbot it launched this week.
The company released an official apology after the artificial intelligence program went on an embarrassing tirade, likening feminism to cancer and suggesting the Holocaust did not happen.
Tay, Microsoft's AI chatbot, gets a crash course in racism from Twitter
Read more
The bot, known as Tay, was designed to become “smarter” as more users interacted with it. Instead, it quickly learned to parrot a slew of anti-Semitic and other hateful invective that human Twitter users fed the program, forcing Microsoft Corp to shut it down on Thursday .
Following the disastrous experiment, Microsoft initially only gave a terse statement, saying Tay was a “learning machine” and “some of its responses are inappropriate and indicative of the types of interactions some people are having with it.”
But the company on Friday admitted the experiment had gone badly wrong. It said in a blog post it would revive Tay only if its engineers could find a way to prevent Web users from influencing the chatbot in ways that undermine the company’s principles and values.
“We are deeply sorry for the unintended offensive and hurtful tweets from Tay, which do not represent who we are or what we stand for, nor how we designed Tay,” wrote Peter Lee, Microsoft’s vice president of research.
Microsoft created Tay as an experiment to learn more about how artificial intelligence programs can engage with Web users in casual conversation. The project was designed to interact with and “learn” from the young generation of millennials.
Tay began its short-lived Twitter tenure on Wednesday with a handful of innocuous tweets.
— TayTweets (@TayandYou)
March 24, 2016
c u soon humans need sleep now so many conversations today thx💖
Then its posts took a dark turn.
In one typical example, Tay tweeted: “feminism is cancer,” in response to another Twitter user who had posted the same message.
Tay tweeting
Tay tweeting Photograph: Twitter/Microsoft
Lee, in the blog post, called web users’ efforts to exert a malicious influence on the chatbot “a coordinated attack by a subset of people.”
Advertisement
“Although we had prepared for many types of abuses of the system, we had made a critical oversight for this specific attack,” Lee wrote. “As a result, Tay tweeted wildly inappropriate and reprehensible words and images.”
Microsoft has deleted all but three of Tay’s tweets.
Microsoft has enjoyed better success with a chatbot called XiaoIce that the company launched in China in 2014. XiaoIce is used by about 40 million people and is known for “delighting with its stories and conversations,” according to Microsoft.
As for Tay? Not so much.
“We will remain steadfast in our efforts to learn from this and other experiences as we work toward contributing to an Internet that represents the best, not the worst, of humanity,” Lee wrote.
Reuters contributed to this report
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