October 8, 2025 · 5:15 am

Thoughts on AI, none of them enthusiastic.

(As you’ll see, all my illustrations are robot/computer themed. Rights to all images remain with current holders)

Henry Farrell speculates that a lot of investment in AI is less about faith in the tech and more about betting on the entrepreneur or figuring that everyone else is investing in AI, maybe you should too?

This theory seems plausible. Case in point company that recently created an AI actor, Tilly Norwood, claims they have studios and talent agencies eager to work with “her.” Maybe so, maybe just hype to generate some real offers. There’s a lot of bullshit in their press relief, like Norwood saying “I may be AI generated, but I’m feeling very real emotions right now. I am so excited for what’s coming next!” No, she’s not feeling real emotions, no she’s not excited, and the article should have pointed that out. SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union, was less kind (good for them!).

Vulture agrees the hype is probably smoke and mirrors and says “Tilly” is very far from impersonating a human. However the issues it raises remain: “Technology doesn’t have to be good to be disruptive, only viable enough for corporations to monetize. The concern isn’t that Norwood will “land” a role but that the system might be ready to cast her. She exists to probe what audiences will tolerate and to remind Hollywood, already anxious and penny-pinching, that the line between performance and product has never been thinner. The question of AI isn’t just a technical one about what the tools can or can’t do; it’s a political and economic one about how industries choose to use them.”

Reading x-rays and similar radiology would seem a perfect use of computers. Yet AI ain’t good enough to replace human radiologists. It can, however, make doctors less effective, relying on AI and not double-checking its conclusions. Which fits with a story I linked to earlier, about how some therapists rely on AI to tell them what to say.

Version 1.0.0

Drew Harwell: “OpenAI employees are very excited about how well their new AI tool can create fake videos of people doing crimes and have definitely thought through all the implications of this” Spoiler: he’s being sarcastic.

Recently an AI Felon promised America medbeds, a nonexistent technology that seems to amount to Wolverine’s healing factor. Melania’s getting in on AI videos too.

If you’re using Google’s AI to research “Trump and dementia,” it will block the search. It won’t if you ask the same question about Biden.

Israel has a plan: put up lots of websites for ChatGPT to scrape data from, said data being pro-Israel, thereby training the AI to give pro-Israel answers. Unsurprisingly the First Family and Oracle bazillionaire Larry Ellison seem to be involved.

Medicare doesn’t require prior authorization for medical treatment. In the Felon era that’s going to change, and AI will make the decisions (at least in a pilot program).

And for a non-AI endbit, the Federal Communications Commission voted to end discounts for library Wi-Fi hotspot lending and school bus connectivity programs on Tuesday, drawing criticism from lawmakers and librarians who say the moves will make it more difficult for people who are low-income or live in rural areas to access the internet.

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October 7, 2025 · 5:16 am

I have no idea what’s going on on some of these covers

Doesn’t mean they don’t look good. With this one by Frank R. Paul, it’s easy to guess this is some sort of dimensional/spatial gateway.

I’m not at all as clear what this Ed Emshwiller cover is saying about the coming century.

This Dean Ellis is simple enough — the Ice Age people used to predict was coming (though serious scientists favored global warming). Great lineup of writers, too.

This Robert Gibson Jones cover appears to show sabotage but what’s the specfic angle?

But this HW McCauley cover? What’s the bright light in the cockpit he ejected from, or is that an effect of the fire and I’m just misreading it?

All rights to images remain with current holders.

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October 6, 2025 · 5:32 am

Harriet Tubman is more awesome than Pete Segseth will ever (Harvey Milk is too).

SecDef Pete Hegseth — I know, Hegseth thinks he’s now Secretary of War, I don’t care — would be the least qualified cabinet member if not for RFK Jr., and it’s possible he’ll get even more people killed. As noted at the link, he’s a racist, misogynist with no experience for this post — but he doesn’t believe in the rules of war and he’ll happily unleash the troops on anyone who dares hurt the Necrotic Toddler’s fee-fees, so that’s enough. (Happily at least some of the troops see he’s going to the Dark Side: “We’ve got active-duty troops who recognize that the military they’re serving in, has become a threat to democracy.”)

Under his tenure the racist The Bell Curve stays on the shelves at the Naval Academy library but a book criticizing it gets yanked. Because he wants a world where white men’s dominance is accepted as normal but nonwhites are dismissed as DEI hires. I’m sure it’s not coincidental that he wants to rename the SS Harriet Tubman and Harvey Milk, among other names that don’t commemorate straight white men. And that as the soldiers who murdered Native Americans at Wounded Knee retroactively lost their Medals of Honor under Biden, Hegseth is putting them back.

This fits with his general view that there are no rules of war beyond win at any cost. And you do that by being merciless and brutal, toxic masculinity incarnate. Which is what lots of people on the right wing think is real manhood and the way to win wars. Which as Paul Krugman points out, is bullshit: the Soviet military, which is the manly ideal for many right-wingers, is showing itself anything but invincible in the Ukraine. Even before the modern, tech-heavy war, the scientists of the Manhattan Project and Alan Turing working on codebreaking were key to victory in WWII.

And as Krugman points out, a lot of the best, toughest and brightest are not white men (the military has a training camp for applicants who aren’t in shape for basic training; most of those who participate are guys). Unfortunately Hegseth can’t admit that so we have policies on facial hair that will affect a lot of black troops, and he doesn’t care for women in combat. I’m sure his insistence on outdated physical fitness standards reflects that.

A number of people thought “Whiskey Pete’s” address to the troops has a subtext that bullying, hazing and sexual harassment are not problems he’s concerned about. Admittedly it’s inconceivable a man with credible accusations of abuse against him would side with abusers and harassers — oh wait, that sounds plausible. But by and large it’s a pointless display that could have been handled on Zoom (or the secure equivalent), and shows the former Fox News talking head’s obsession with looks: “With an emphasis on rules that most impact women and minorities, Hegseth wants to establish his own wokeness, a campaign that stresses looks over actual excellence.”

As others have pointed out, setting dress codes and dealing with soldiers who don’t measure up is the province of much lower-ranked officers, not something the top guy should be worrying about.

Almost all the Republican Senators voted to confirm this manifest incompetent, including my NC senators, Ted Budd and Thom Tillis. The latter interviewed Hegseth’s sister in law, asked for a written statement about Hegseth’s alleged spousal abuse, then kissed the Felon’s ass and voted yes. The party talks a lot about the importance of the military but if they believed that, they’d have voted no. Ultimately loyalty to the Felon is more important, as witness Mike Johnson agrees with his master that unleashing troops on American cities is a great way to train them.

Let us hope Paul Krugman is right and their sheer incompetence will snatch their defeat from the jaws of victory.

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October 5, 2025 · 5:15 am

Knights and attorneys: books read

HUON OF THE HORN by Andre Norton is a retelling of the medieval romance Huon of Bordeaux, which reminds me of Orlando Furioso in its sprawling, random storytelling. The spine of the narrative is that Huon is a doughty warrior at King Charlemagne’s court who accidentally but fairly kills the king’s son. The disgruntled king doesn’t have grounds to kill Huon but he does set him a suicide mission; fortunately Huon has the friendship of Oberon, king of Faerie, who lends him the eponymous magic horn.

All that, however, wanders freely wherever the original author wnated to take it, so at one point Huon is leading the fight to liberate the Holy Land from the Muslims because why not? Plus killer griffins, magnetic islands, giant snakes and more! I found it fun but if you prefer stories with a more coherent structure YMMV.

Erle Stanley Gardner’s THE CASE OF THE BORROWED BRUNETTE opens with a hook reminiscent of The Swooning Lady. Perry Mason and right-hand woman Della Street are driving through Los Angeles when they spot identically dressed lookalike brunettes on a half-dozen street corners. Perry stops and talks with one of them and learns it’s an audition, though they’re not sure for what.

It turns out the man behind it, Hines, wants to move the winner into one Helen Reedley’s apartment and pretend to be her. Obviously something is up, but it’s good money and seems legit (Hines has no problem with the winner bringing along a chaperone). The chaperone, Adele, convinces Perry to investigate, but before he’s dug very deeply, Hines shows up with a bullet in his head. And it appears to be from Adele’s gun. What follows is twisty enough I couldn’t keep track of all the plot threads, but I stayed entertained to the end.

All rights to image remain with current holder; artist is uncredited.

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October 4, 2025 · 5:15 am

A kid’s show and a picture gallery: Jekyll and Hyde on TV

JULIA JEKYLL AND HARRIET HYDE was a 1990s BBC kidcom in which Julia (Olivia Hallinan) is an 11 year old science nerd and a perfect angel, always happy to make life easier for everyone from parents to schoolteachers (it’s to Hallinan’s credit she’s able to make Julia likable to the audience). Then a school bully tampers with Julia’s new elixir and the result is her randomly turning into seven foot tall Harriet Hyde.

The idea of sweet little Julia having a troublemaker hidden inside her could have been fun. Instead the show treats it like a personal embarrassment, nothing more — if Julia broke out in unsightly zits, the plot wouldn’t change much. Still, it lasted for three seasons on the Beeb. “Now drink up and I’ll put that door back on its hinges.”

NIGHT GALLERY was Rod Serling’s 1970s follow up to The Twilight Zone. It was a frustrating experience for Sterling, who discovered the network (NBC) wanted his name but not the distinctive touch he’d brought to his earlier classic. This episode has Alex Cord desperately trying to find a beautiful woman (Keep In Touch … We’ll Think of Something), a woman apparently walling her husband up alive (The Merciful) and in With Apologies to Mr. Hyde, Adam West quaffing a certain potion …nothing unwatchable, nothing that stands out, either. “I keep telling you, go easy on the vermouth!”

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October 3, 2025 · 4:30 pm

Nothing cures like time and love

The title comes from a 5th Dimension song about spring eventually banishing winter and love eventually brightening someone’s life. I quoted it because I’ve been thinking a lot about time this past week or so.

As I’ve blogged about a couple of times, going back to an eight-hour work day has proven successful, more so if I force myself to take regular breaks (I’m bad about that) and to put the computer down at the end of the day. But this week I came to realize that’s been balanced out by my morning schedule going belly up.

Normally I get up, read, pet cats, have breakfast and work for an hour (not in that order). A little after that, TYG comes down with the dogs. If I wake up early, I put in more time. The past couple of weeks, I’ve been more inclined to lie in the bed for a while when I wake up in the middle of the night. That’s understandable but it means I lose time, and inevitably I’m going to take naps later in the day.

The bigger problem is that TYG is putting in more work in the early morning. Typically she lets Trixie come down first, then comes down herself with Plushie, anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour later. That means we do the dog-care stuff later, followed by walkies and then I start the rest of the work day.

Theoretically if we start an hour later I should have an hour of extra work in before we start. Somehow it doesn’t happen, and so I wind up losing anywhere from an hour to 90 minutes of morning time. I think part of it is that this is a relatively new development so I still don’t anticipate the delay. I wind up not jumping back into work after cuddling Trixie because I assume it’s not going to be that long. Oops. Fortunately this is fixable; next week I shall fix it (I did pretty well this morning).

I’ve also noticed I’ve stopped paying attention to my monthly and yearly to do lists. That’s a combination of two factors I suspect. One is that a lot of items on the monthly list stay constant, like the amount I donate to charity every month, buying food for a local food bank, getting exercise daily. Another is that my writing goals are simple at the moment: write my Local Reporter stories, write Jekyll and Hyde, and that’s it. It’ll change when Sam finishes the cover for Southern Discomfort but until then, it’s pretty simple. And I keep a lot of small daily goals (exercise, putting the dogs through their exercises, remembering to apply sunscreen) in my notebook rather than on the computer.

Even before that, though, I’ve been paying less attention. Which is bad because when I’m not in rush-to-finish mode I have multiple projects a month, from actual writing to finding places to submit stories to paying sales tax. I will lose track, trust me. Clearly I need a new process. Whether that’s putting more stuff in the notebook, setting aside time to review the goals or what, I don’t know yet.

That said, how well did I use my time this week? Okay, I guess. I had lunch with a friend, an errand to get doggie drugs and one to get a minor car repair dealt with. Plus I voted.

Once again Local Reporter work sucked up a little too much time. I got one story in — an update on Carrboro’s business loan program — but the multiple other inquiries I sent out got bupkiss results? That meant I spent a good deal of time hunting for an idea for a second story, with no success. Wasted, unprofitable time. Though the inquiries should still pay off down the road.

And I did an interview this afternoon with a 98-year-old woman who’s published a book of reminiscences. She was a hoot — I’ll link to the story when it comes out.

On Jekyll and Hyde, I got every movie slotted into one or the other chapter. That will make rewriting simpler and reduces the chance I missed anything. Some of the chapters will have to be reorganized eventually but it’s a good step forward. I watched more of Dark Shadows‘ parallel world plotline and some episodes of Julia Jekyll and Harriet Hyde, a BBC kids’ comedy from the 1990s. Definitely thought I’d get more done. Once again I didn’t get any Atomic Junkshop posts written.

Oh, and I read a section of the book to my writers’ group. As usual the feedback was excellent.

And so the week ends. As you’ve probably guessed, all the illustrations but Trixie are time-themed. Photos from The Time Machine and Summer Time Machine Blues, comics cover by Curt Swan, paperback cover by Richard Powers. All rights to images remain with current holders.

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October 3, 2025 · 5:15 am

Strange days are these

Noticed these odd, eerie figures around our neighborhood on a recent walk.

What rough gods slouch towards Durham, waiting to be born?

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October 2, 2025 · 5:09 am

Undead sexist cliche: women and men are utterly and completely different

The idea that men and women are fundamentally, innately different is the basis for all of the other undead sexist cliches I blog about. According to this cliche, men are from Mars, women are from Venus. Men crave sex, women crave love. Men are logical, women are irrational. Men are smart, women are stupid. Men are competitive, women are not. Everyone knew this until feminists came along pretending that women could or should do what men do but they can’t and shouldn’t. All nature proves it. Therefore there’s nothing hypocritical or discriminatory when we judge women and men differently for doing the same things.

As I put it in a post three years ago, “Of course there are fundamental differences between men and women. Women get pregnant and undergo menstruation. Men can pee standing up. Men are more prone to colorblindness. But sexists see vaster, more profound differences, which conveniently explain why men run everything.” They ignore that many of the differences are circumstantial or cultural, for example why some women don’t enjoy sex, or that a woman who’s competitive may be judged more harshly than a competitive guy.

The truth, though, is that there is nothing in the universe more like a human man than a human woman, and vice versa (this also applies to intersex and nonbinary people). We have a massive overlap in skills, preferences, emotional and physical capabilities. Take child-rearing: compared to most animal species, most human men are incredibly involved with their kids (even though women still wind up with the brunt of the child-care). For all the talk about our differences being fixed, diaper-changing tables in men’s rooms would have sounded insane when I was a kid — why would we need them?

Men can clean house, raise kids, cook meals for the family. Women can fight in the military, perform brilliantly in science, right books and be skilled, enthusiastic lovers. Statistic — most men are better than women at X, say — have no relevance to the individual. Most men are taller than most women but that hasn’t prevented me being shorter than average.

The irrevocable differences is one of the foundational pillars for patriarchy — men run things because they’re superior. Women simply can’t be leaders/scientists/CEOs/whatever, men deserve their superior status, now go make us a sandwich.

It’s bullshit. The only reason for not having full gender equality is that men don’t want to share. Equality makes logical sense. Equality makes moral sense, and benefits society more than patriarchy, which forces us into roles regardless of competency. That’s great if you’re a mediocre white man who wants more than you deserve but it’s not good for anyone else, or society as a whole.

Plenty of people in my lifetime have complained that equality is too extreme and feminists should compromise. Equality is the compromise position between absolute male dominance and absolute female dominance.

As Frederick Douglass says, power never has, and never will concede anything without a demand. So let’s keep demanding.

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October 1, 2025 · 5:15 am

Jekyll and Hyde research: one book, one movie

Neither one good, unfortunately.

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE AFTER ONE HUNDRED YEARS is a collection of essays about the significance of the novel, what Stevenson was trying to say, how earlier drafts of the novel compare to the finished work and more. Most of it, unfortunately, cries out for the Pooh Perplex treatment — it’s very heavy on Freudian analysis (I thought that was dead and buried by the 1980s but obviously not) such as the reveal Mr. Hyde is small because he embodies Dr. Jekyll’s inadequate penis. I am … unconvinced. However there are some interesting bits of discussion so it was worth the effort.

Barring some obscurity I’ve not heard about, THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (2006) is probably my last film for the book, not counting rewatches (there’s still TV). It is, alas, a poor one to go out on. Reflecting the era when nanotech was the superscience that would change anything, Jekyll (Tony Todd) is a researcher dying of heart disease; as he can’t wait the three years to complete animal testing he injects himself covertly, creating the viciously bestial, acromegalic-looking Mr. Hyde (Todd tested the treatment on a chimpanzee so logically it turns him into an ape-man … that makes sense, right?) who hunts down women, rips them to pieces, then has sex with the corpse.

Todd is good but this is very slasher film and has a huge amount of idiot plot. For example, Jekyll transforms into Hyde during a closed-door session with his boss, whom Hyde kills — why does everyone assume “Oh, Jekyll must have left before this Hyde came by, which somehow none of us in the outer office noticed?” Tracy Scoggins plays Detective Utterson; Tim Thomerson is wasted as a sardonic medical examiner. “I haven’t had a relationship with god in a long time — but on the other hand, I’ve had more than few glimpses of the devil.”

Cover by Jack Kirby, all rights to image remain with current holder.

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September 30, 2025 · 12:24 pm

Republicans insist Zohran Mamdani becoming NYC mayor would be good news for Republicans

For instance, the Necrotic Toddler of the United States, who claims Mamdani’s proposals will fail miserably — the Toddler will cut off all federal funds to NYC to ensure it! Plus it’s good for Republicans.

The “centrist” Democrats are saying the same thing: Mamdani’s policies are bad because Democrats should focus on economic concerns. Which he is, but he’s doing it wrong! Except he isn’t: “He has found a framing that has resonance far beyond New York City: The cost of living is killing ordinary people.”

For too many Democrats, it seems that’s one step away from Mao’s cultural revolution in the 1960s. Worse, Mamdani might redefine what it means to be a Democrat, which would hurt the party with moderates — a New York radical will be a party killer in other areas of the country!

As one Democrat points out in one of those articles, he’s not running in those areas, and nobody is being forced to run on the same policies. Sure, Republicans will try to hang him around every Dem neck but if a candidate were fiscal conservative, watch-the-budget type, Republicans would still call them a tax-and-spend liberal, so what’s the diff? And I don’t recall the same worries about conservative Sen. Joe Manchin hurting the party, not even when he tanked lots of legislation.

And I don’t think grocery stores in food deserts, free childcare and free mass transit would, in fact, be unpopular elsewhere. Mamdani may not be able to accomplish his goals but at least he has good targets. Yet we still have Sen. Charles Schumer withholding an endorsement.

Part of this is undoubtedly that he’s a Muslim and sympathetic to the Palestinians hit with Israel’s genocidal attacks. Which may be why the Jewish Anti-Defamation League falsely claims Mamdani has made no attempt at outreach to the Jewish community. Republicans, of course, are eager to hit Mamdani with every classic anti-Muslim smear.

As for Mamdani’s plans being insane budget busters — well, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has declared open-ended support to propping up Argentina’s economy. The Argentinian president has Republican-style right-wing economic policies that have tanked the country’s finances, so naturally we’ll spend billions to save his butt. Plus it helps Bessent’s friend Rob Citrone, who’s invested heavily in Argentina. What they’re going to spend on Argentina, what they’ve already committed to spending on ICE — Mamdani’s plans ain’t nothing by comparison. It’s not about the national wallet but the national will.

I was going to end there but we have this interesting tidbit from the WaPo’s current op-ed editor explaining they’re not going to be biased: they’ll credit Republicans for valid criticism of Democrats and they’ll credit Democrats for criticism of Mamdani. So long as everyone criticizes Dems, it’s all good.

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