Tanker War

Washington Post

Wasn't the UN supposed to handle crises like this? In all the talk about this (and there has been plenty of that), the UN is not mentioned once.

I can suggest a solution: make the Straits of Hormuz International Property. Force any tanker there to be under international control,. protected by UN gunboats.

These gunboats could be provided by any country, but be under UN control. There is ample precedent for this, UN peacekeeping forces have been in existence for some time.

Before entering the area, any tanker must wait until a gunboat is assigned to protect it (placing UN observers on the tanker is also possible). The position (and identity) of all vessels in the Straits would be constantly monitored.

This will never happen, however. Countries reserve the right to wage war on any other country, for any reason. If this causes a huge war, this not seen as a problem, because it would clean things up. Weaker countries would disappear, and only the strong would survive.

This is the same reasoning used by the shooters now active in the US. They will survive, but the victims of their shooting will not.

Facebook Romance Scams and Banking Hacks

NY Times Bits newsletter

Scams are nothing new, bu scams based on the latest technologies are.

This article makes a complicated situation simple, as all good writing should.

It is an easy read.

Interpretability

An Introduction to Machine Learning Interpretability

An Applied Perspective on Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Explainable AI

Written by O'Reilly, a computer publisher and a provider of Computer events, and Dataiku, a company I never heard of before.

It was written with some exotic word processing techniques that generated an outline along the left margin. 

Interpretability: what a strange word! I had to look it up in a dictionary to see if it was real. 

But in the context of Artificial Intelligence (AI) it is enormously important, as this paragraph explains:

Machine learning promises quick, accurate, and unbiased decision making in life-changing scenarios. Computers can theoretically use machine learning to make objective, data-driven decisions in critical situations like criminal convictions, medical diagnoses, and college admissions, but interpretability, among other technological advances, is needed to guarantee the promises of correctness and objectivity. 

Without interpretability, accountability, and transparency in machine learning decisions, there is no certainty that a machine learning system is not simply re-learning and re-applying long-held, regrettable, and erroneous human biases. Nor are there any assurances that human operators have not designed a machine learning system to make intentionally prejudicial decisions.

This addresses the question "Can we trust Machine Learning?" Strange things are going on here, that we do not understand. And the more we learn how this is done, the harder it is to trust it. 

Sophie’s World

New Yorker

The Computer has made writing like this possible. The writer lived with this family and got to know them, and their daughter, intimately.

Any search for this story, from anywhere else, will not work!

The Web has its secret compartments, that only it knows about.

Being Stupid is now the Normal way To Be

This is having a huge impact on who we are, and our way of life. And our competence at doing anything.

I spent some time in the Black Foot Indian reservation. just east of Glacier National Park. And I was shocked to notice that they could do nothing, not even change the oil in my car.

Most Americans are now becoming the same way; incompetent at doing almost anything. 

The RLDS felt they were Better than Anyone Else

For them, an important event was Prayer Meeting every Wedneday evening. As a child I attended these, and was encouraged to participate in them.

No one wants to remember them now, because their objective was to feel superior, and encourage this feeling in others.

I didn't attend any prayer meetings when I went to college in the Fifties, even though the first two years were at a church college (Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa).

The idea of the One True Church became embarrasing, and was replaced by the idea of a community of churches. In fact, that was the name of the church that replaced it: The Community of Christ. This felt right to everyone.

Even the LDS church became more like everyone else, and worked at showing what Good Americans they were. The result was a balance between being exclusive and being inclusive - but they have made that balance successfully.

Linda's Doctors are Making Money off of Her

This not the way it should be, but I am afraid it is the way it is.

They have this client (Linda) who has many things wrong with her, and they can chose which ones to work on. Whatever interests them, and whatever her insurance will pay for.

Let me know if you agree or not.