TOO MANY GOD DAMN CHOICES!

 

When you already have the best candy bar, why confuse it?

The candy counter should be: Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfinger, Payday, Hershey's Chocolate, and Reese's Peanut Cups.   One of each.

That's enough!

the Ol'Buzzard

HOW TO WIN THE MEGABUCKS LOTTERY

 

 

I recently bought a $2.00 Maine Megabucks ticket.   I picked the magic numbers that assure a win:

11111 and 1 for the Megaball. 

Surprising?   No.

I have the exact same odds of winning with straight 1’s as any other group of mixed numbers: 1 in 4,496,388.

 

I think I’ll spend my next $2.00 on a Snickers candy bar; at least I’m guaranteed a sugar rush from that.

the Ol’Buzzard

  

 

NUCLEAR ASSURED DESTRUCTION

 

I have often written about the human race’s march toward annihilation: overpopulation, climate change, a meteor storm, an asteroid strike, the danger of sentient GAI; but the real Damocles' sword is a human race hardwired for violence and war, with aging, psychotic, religious, geopolitical leaders, launching one or more of the 12,000 nuclear warheads that now exist.

 

Countries in NATO have had no reason to pursue nuclear armament, as they have felt protected under the United States nuclear umbrella and the NATO alliance.

 

Now, with the threats of withdrawal from NATO and the removal of troops from Germany and Poland, countries can no longer count on America’s commitments of shared protection. We are increasing the chances for a new nuclear arms race, and may see a renewed effort to acquire nuclear weapons by countries across the globe to ensure their own sovereignty.

 

Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Iran; each feeling vulnerable without a nuclear weapon.   

 

Look what happened to Ukraine.  They had nuclear weapons, but disarmed between 1994 and 2001.  Had they maintained their nuclear arsenal, Russia would not have attacked.

 

Every new nuclear-capable entity will exponentially increase the danger of a nuclear exchange.

 

We are not eternal. 

the OL’Buzzard

 

Making A Grave Announcement: MAGA

 

The Ol'Buzzard

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR

 

 

I feel sorry for my brothers in arms who wear a ball cap proclaiming their Vietnam service, as if that was the high point of their lives.

 

No one chose to be there.  No one was killed or wounded by choice. 58,000 died, and most of those were between the ages of 18 and 25.

 

And that 58,000 number was probably a low-ball number manipulated by the government; not an actual count; not accounting for people who later died from war wounds, injuries, toxic poisoning, and suicide…  I am sure the number would be well over 100,000.

  

Ask a Vietnam vet why he was there, and he can’t tell you.  It was politicians moving around pieces on a checker board, and vets were the expendable pieces. 

 

We weren’t there to support a democratic government in the south.  We were there to establish and support the Tan Son Nhut Air Base, giving us a nuclear threat presence on the southern border of China.   It was all about China.  It was geopolitical politics.

 

China did not want an American nuclear presence on its southern border any more than we wanted a Russian nuclear presence in Cuba, on our southern border.

 

We could have, at any time, moved into the north and taken Hanoi, but that would have brought China into the war. 

 

China did not want open war with the US any more than we wanted war with China, so we armed the south, they armed the north, and we fought to a stalemate that, for fifteen years, maintained a status quo, allowing us to maintain the geographic nuclear threat on the Chinese southern border.

 

Finally, the death toll of American forces became too much to hide, and anti-war activism threatened the politicians in office; so we retreated with our tails between our legs – we surrendered the war – we accepted our death toll as having accomplished nothing, cut our losses, and came home ignobly. 

 

A Vietnam vet wearing a hat proclaiming his service is equivalent to a rape victim wearing a hat with a picture of her rapist. 

 

WE were both violently fucked. 

 

the Ol’Buzzard

DIVERSITY EQUITY AND INCLUSION

 

DEI has always been promoted by the Democratic Party and always rejected by Republicans.

 

I was raised in Mississippi during segregation.  I witnessed first-hand the degradation and suffering of the Black community. 

 

The Supreme Court’s dismantling of the Voting Rights Act is turning back the clock on Civil Rights; a step back for racial equality.

 

That said, I feel that some DEI is past its time.

In college admissions, minority racial groups have been given preferential consideration.  I believe that preferential consideration based on race is past its sell-by date

 

Today, with the ever-widening divide between the wealthy and the poor, I believe that preferential entrance consideration for higher education should be determined by income; this would bring advantage across all races where a need exists. 

   

We can still debate the need for race-based DEI hiring, housing, and other issues.

the Ol’Buzzard

GENERATIONAL DIVIDE

 

Yesterday I sold a set of snowshoes to a retired State Trooper in northern Maine.   It dawned on me that I was seeing a generational divide that goes further than old people aren’t techno-savvy.

 

I was seeing a gap in basic values between the old and the young.   I had had those snowshoes advertised for two years, and no one showed interest.  This was because wooden snowshoes are large and heavy.  You can buy aluminum snowshoes that are small and lightweight.

 

But it goes beyond that: My snowshoes were made by a person. Someone shaped the wood, steamed it until pliable, formed it on a jig, then someone with skill laced them with leather thongs, varnished them, and put their stamp on them.

 

I bought the shoes in 1976 - fifty years ago.   I have revarnished them numerous times.   I stored them carefully when not in use.   The value of these shoes, to me, was more than just their use.   I cared about them and took care of them.

 

Who cares about a factory-bent oblong piece of aluminum with a plastic sheet filling?  

I have a Silva compass that is sixty years old, a pocket knife that is ageless…

What does a young person have today that they value so highly they will still have it fifty years from now?   Their cell phone?   

the Ol'Buzzard

WARNING WARNING WILL ROBINSON!!!

 THE FUTURE IS YEATERDAY

I got up this morning at 5:30 to feed the cat.

 

When the daylight peeks around, and the birds start singing, the cat walks onto my chest and tells me she’s hungry and that I must get up.

 

The weather this morning is 45 degrees and overcast with a wind warning, so I turned the thermostat to 74.

 

When my wife gets up ill make breakfast: grits cooked in the microwave and soft-cooked hard-boiled eggs in the Instant Pot pressure cooker.   Even though my wife is from New England, I have convinced her that grits are good. 

 

I have a hydrangea in the back of the car that I need to plant, but the temperature tonight is dropping below freezing, so I will hold off a couple of days.

 

The cat has eaten and gone back to bed with my wife, so here I am on the computer.

 

Today I will do my exercises, read, complete a crossword puzzle, play Scrabble with my wife at lunch time, and watch television; settling into the routine of an old man retired from an adventurous life.

 

But something strange is happening on the West Coast in Silicon Valley, and I don't know what it is.

 

There has been a time-rip, and an alien entity from the future is launching a conquest of the earth.

 

 

Something is happening, and you don't know what it is, do you, Mr Jones?

the Ol'Buzzard

SELFIE

 

What kinds of egotists constantly take pictures of themselves?    

In my last blog, AI ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OR PERHAPS ALIEN INTELLIGENCE, I posted a picture of myself.   

After the fact, I realized that that picture was taken in 2017 - the last time I took a picture of myself.

So, just for honesty, here is what the Ol'Buzzard looks like in 2026 

the Ol'Buzzard

AI: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OR PERHAPS ALLIEN INTELLIGENCE?

 

 

We are living at the advent of artificial intelligence.  It started with a machine teaching itself chess, and is now the reigning champion. Soon followed language models that have mined the internet and now will answer your questions. 

 

We are moving toward generative artificial intelligence (GAI); AI is now writing its own code and communicating with other AI devices in a language that humans have not been able to understand.

 

These machines are learning exponentially, and if the platforms are large enough, AI could acquire all human knowledge. Then, by extrapolating using logic, deductive reasoning, and thought experiments, it could expand knowledge beyond the human capability of understanding.   

Would we be looking at digitally sentient beings?

 

In our egotistic human, narcissistic self-conceit, we have created gods in our own image, have sometimes designated certain humans as gods, and even have created our view of interstellar aliens in our image.

 

The movie character Paul has two arms, two legs, walks bipedally, has two eyes, feet, hands, and human traits. 

But what if aliens were a digital intelligence, at such an advanced level that they don’t require bodies?  Without bodies, these digital intelligences could travel at the speed of light, solving the problems of extreme distance/time paradoxes. They could control fleets of robotic drones and digital entities we can’t even imagine.

 

We shouldn't wonder why these intelligently advanced aliens wouldn’t make contact with us.  To them, we would appear as some biological slugs of no practical interest, an invasive species, or bio-virus desecrating this planet.  A species that needs to be eradicated.

 Aliens might be interested in Earth’s resources, but certainly not us.  

 

 Sometimes at night, I lie in bed conducting thought experiments - at the level of a slug - of no practical use. 

the Ol’Buzzard

EXERCISING TO KEEP FIT AS YOU AGE

 

In 2008, I bought the basic Total Gym for $250.00.  I have had that basic gym now for 18 years, and it is still working as advertised.

 

It has been an on-and-off exercise device for me, but more on than off.  I may fall away for a few weeks or a month and then return to regular use.   Having this machine sitting in my spare room prompts me to use it.

 

I am approaching my ninth decade, and I honestly feel that this machine has helped improve my stamina and has been a healthy exercise component; had I not used the machine on a semi-regular basis, my health would have deteriorated beyond my present condition. 

 

I have no connection with Total Gym.   I am sure that there are other devices available that are just as good or perhaps even better for a one-machine total workout.

 

I am just passing on my experience, hoping to benefit someone looking for an exercise routine that doesn’t include traveling to a gym

 

My exercise routine lasts about five minutes.  I do one set of ten: rowing, pulls, body twist for the abs, and curls – then I turn around and do sweeps, pushups, pullups, crunches, and situps (I don’t know the proper name for the exercises, but this may explain what I do.)

I end my workout with two or three minutes of meditation where I control my breathing.  

 

I was shocked today when I looked up the Total Gym website and found that their basic machine now cost $600. 

 

I can’t advise anyone to buy this machine on my say-so; so do your own research if you are looking for a one-machine workout. But, do consider a daily exercise as part of your lifestyle: it is not that hard to spend five minutes exercising as part of your daily routine.

the Ol’Buzzard

WHATSIT GOT TO DO WITH ME?

 

I am finding it harder to post because..

the Ol'Buzzard

 

In this day and age, I am not shocked or concerned that Robert Kennedy Jr would pull over to the side of the road, with his kids in the car, to cut out the penis of a road kill raccoon, to take it home to study.   

The thing that I find shocking is that he has kids.  Who the hell would want to have sex with a man with a brain worm who has an obsession with animal penis? 

 

At least the raccoon's penis was small enough to take in the car.  The whale's penis had to be tied to the top of his car.

This is who Trump picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Why not?

the Ol'Buzzard

 

  

LOOKING FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE

 

 

I am in my late eighties.  I have lived for almost a century, and at this time of life, I tend to look back rather than forward.  The thing that stands out the most to me is the stupidity of a human race that considers itself intelligent.

 

About six million years ago, the great apes and humans had a common ancestor.    We are basically advanced apes.

 

We have evolved a brain capable of functional intelligence. A majority of humans are capable of training to perform a task and functioning in a loose society.   We have not invented flight, mass transit, and electronic technology; a tiny, small percentage of us have the advanced intelligence of thought experiments, and have dragged the rest of us, kicking and screaming, into the future we now live in.

 

Our future should look exciting; but we are the only animals, except for chimpanzees, our closest cousin in the animal kingdom, that regularly conduct wars and genocide against their own kind.  That propensity will be our own destruction. 

 

Our greatest fear should not be AI or asteroids.  The inevitability of a theology with a nuclear weapon will be more likely to bring about the sixth extinction. 

It wasn’t enough in Jonestown for true believers to drink the Kool-Aid; they had to bring along all the others with them.

 

Religion is a frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, mere reasoning. 

Thoughts of an old man in the wee hours of the morning

the Ol’Buzzard

ARTEMIS II

 

From out there on the moon, international politics looks so petty, you want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say

"Look at that, you son of a bitch."

Edgar D Mitchell

Apollo 14 astronaut

the Ol'Buzzard

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

 

At a time when people seem to be getting dumber and dumber, Artificial Intelligence is needed more and more. 

Let me clarify that statement:

We tend to laud our achievements: that we have developed technology and modern medicine, and we have sent men into space; but 98% of us have done fuck all.  Two percent of our population (the bright 2%)  have envisioned and actually made these advancements, while the rest of us have been dragged along, often kicking and screaming. 

For the last two or three years, I have been hearing about AI (artificial intelligence), but only vaguely understanding what all the hype was about. 

I just finished reading The Age of AI, by Kissinger, Schmidt, and Huttenlocher, and still didn’t get my basic questions answered. 

I don’t actually give a fuck about the history, the math, or the philosophy of AI and humanity.   But to sate my curiosity, I would like some simple answers.

My questions are basic:

·       Does AI think

·       How is AI programmed

·       How does AI learn

·       Can AI teach itself

·       Can AI experience

·       Can AI become self-aware (alive)

·       Will AI lie to us

·       When we think of Singularity as in The Matrix, will AI intelligence expand exponentially – become god-like

·        Will AI ever be able to write its on codes – no need for human input

·       Can’t we just unplug AI if it becomes too controlling

·       What about power consumption

·       How will it be used in war: make a decision on its on to kill humans

·       What are the positive aspects that might outweigh the danger of a machine that is smarter than its creator

I have found some of these answers on YouTube in the following Star Talk clip that includes input from Jeffrey Hinton, the Nobel Prize recipient in Physics.

Unless you are interested in the concept, history, and mathematical concepts, I suggest you fast forward (select to begin) at the thirty-five-minute mark of the presentation. 

Note: the constant ad interjections are aggravating, but hang in there.

 

One of the statements that stood out to me was that AI's relationship with humans might become that of a teacher to a kindergarten class.

the Ol'Buzzard

IF YOU ARE YOUNG, DON'T JOIN THE MILITARY

 

What a privilege it is to be alive.

 

I am an old man of nearly nine decades, and the odds against my being here are so astronomically large as to be uncountable.

 

Of all the billions of galaxies with their billions of stars, circled by all the billions of planets: in this particular solar system of a relative minor star, the third planet from the sun happens to be in the Goldilocks zone, which allowed the development of life, that through the chaos of evolution and happenstance produced a me.

 

My mother worked at a defense plant in Memphis, Tennessee. My father was in the military, stationed in Louisiana.  Strictly by chance, they both attended Mardi Gras in New Orleans in the year before my birth.   They happened to meet and ended up having sex.  She didn’t practice birth control, he didn’t use a condom, he didn’t pull out, it wasn’t a hand job, or a blow job, or anal intercourse. She happened to be fertile at that particular time. He ejaculated up to three hundred million sperm, and the only one of those three hundred million carrying my particular DNA managed to penetrate and fertilize that egg.

 

What are the odds of that happening?

 

I have often wondered why I wasn’t aborted; she was a single woman, and he was a married man. 

The odds of my existence are uncountable (like pi).

 

In almost nine decades, the beauties, sunsets and sunrises I have experienced: the sting of an Arctic blizzard; the thrill of running a wild river or transiting the Okefenokee swamps in a canoe; the women I have known, the motorcycles I have ridden, the pleasures I have had; and most exciting of all, I married the most stunningly beautiful woman I had ever met, who has shared almost fifty years of adventures with me and has made my existence on this earth pleasurable beyond description.

 

And I could have lost it all!

 

My second twenty years of life were spent in the military.   I flew as air crew on dangerous patrols over the North Atlantic, sometimes in blizzard conditions; I survived a crash landing in Turkey; twice in Vietnam, our aircraft was riddled by ground fire, and we limped back to the base leaking oil and gas; I have facial scars and a permanent limp from a military accident…

 

If you lived through the Vietnam era, you remember the daily death toll announced on the radio and television: 28 men died today… fifteen men died today… 

 

I don’t believe the official total death toll announced by our government: 58,000.   It was much higher.

 

Some vets died much later from war-related illnesses and injuries, people who committed suicide or drank themselves to death, or died as a result of mental breakdowns…

 

In Vietnam, the men who died accomplished nothing.  They were sent there at the whims of politicians playing partisan politics, and more interested in keeping their illustrious jobs than caring for the men and women of the military.

 

Where am I going with this?

We have a President talking about putting boots on the ground, in a war instigated by the Israeli President, and ultimately about oil and natural resources that can make the mega-rich more wealthy and powerful.

  

What a waste it is to be young and die in a War; to squander these precious moments we have of life; to never experience the pleasures of our brief human existence. To end up as a name printed on some cold marble wall, as pawns of politicians who see the military as boots, and not individual living men and women.

 

the Ol’Buzzard

I DON’T UNDERSTAND LGBTQ+

 

 

 

There is a difference between prejudice, bigotry, and political correctness.  All three are personal opinions that shade a subject according to the perceiver.  And each is intended to limit the freedom of action and expression of others.

 

Prejudice is an attitude that prevents the objective consideration of an issue.

 

Bigotry is intolerance linked to prejudice. 

 

Political correctness is an effort to avoid making others uncomfortable through actions or language, regardless of whether such actions or language are correct. Political correctness also makes it uncomfortable to express ribaldry - humor that borders on indelicacy - which I find amusing.  

 

 

Scientifically, genetically, there are two genders, male and female, the inseminators and the progenitors; but the blurring of sexual orientation has existed since the advent of mankind.  It even shows itself in our closest cousins, the chimpanzees.

 

LGBTQ+ has nothing to do with gender science, but identifies how an individual feels.

 

At a personal level, I do find all of the gender categories confusing.

 

Lesbian: I get it. 

 

Gay men: I get it.

An aside: Gay men I have met are the nicest people.  But kissing some dude and seeing him necked is not on my bucket list.  My brother-in-law is gay.   He is the most loving and considerate person I have ever known, and I love him dearly.   I would hold him up as an example for any young boy to emulate.

 

Bi: Why not?

 

Trans: Now there is a perplexity.  Attractive looking, nice skin, nice breasts, all the correct orifices; never have periods, never have PMS, never suffer menopause – I would think females would be jealous.

 

Queer: now what’s that?  You already have LGBT – What's the difference? 

 

+ : Come on.  How many categories do we need?   You should watch who you associate with your group.  At some point, you will look ridiculous.

 

It is all about sexuality and our feelings and proclivities.  Let’s not exclude heterosexuals.   Make that group feel included.  LGBTH 

 

But the real question might be: Why do we need to identify ourselves with any group?   Groups divide us. 

 

Like Popeye says: I am what I am what I am….

 I'm the Ol'Buzzard

 

SOMETHING YOU SHOULDN'T POST THINGS JUST BECAUSE THEY POP IN YOUR MIND AT 2 AM

the Ol'Buzzard

WAR IS IMPERSONAL IF YOU AREN’T THERE

 

 

The people who are sending us to war don’t have any skin in the game.  To them, it is a game.

 

We destroyed their missile sights – we destroyed their navy – we are winning – we are invincible – we have casualties?  It happens.-  We’ll force regime change – take their oil – destroy their drone capability – destroy their nuclear capability – I’m the greatest President – It’s over when I think it’s over in my bones…  they say, Yes Sir Mr. President…

I would be willing to bet that Trump can not remember the name of one of the 13  military personnel who have so far died as a result of his war.

Remember suckers and losers? 

Neil deGrasse Tyson has written two books that further explore war and civilization:  Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization and Accessory to War.

 

We are now at war in the Middle East: at war, not because Iran is a threat to the homeland; not to protect Israel; not because of weapons of mass destruction; not to force regime change; not to free the Iranian people.

 

Those are the excuses.  We are at war in the Middle East because that is who we are.  We are homo sapiens.

 

Look at the history of the world.  Humans make war because it is in our DNA (see The Accidental Homo Sapiens by Tattersall and Desalle.)

 

When Australopithecus Lucy walked across the African plains, the father of her child was probably smashed in the head by his best friend, to acquire his food and his female.

 

The first battles were likely fought over food and females.   Since that time, we have expanded our reasons for killing.   

Though it is likely World War 4 will be fought over food and females. 

This war began as a vanity move by Trump - it seems to have backfired.  

the Ol'Buzzard

Let's quit calling this the Iran War.

Trump likes his name on everything

Let's call it: 

The Donald J Trump Israeli War