Following the news that Tennessee plans to rename Nashville International Airport after Dolly Parton, this appeared. Click the image to be taken to a larger version on X.com.
I can't think of a more perfect tribute. Dolly herself, known for her robust (you should pardon the expression) sense of humor, would be laughing her head off at that one!
Peter
A week ago I put up an article titled "Drone warfare developments - it's a scary future". In it, I looked at autonomous AI-guided drones that found targets with a minimum of human input, then made the kill/no-kill decision on their own without a "man-in-the-loop" to make the final call.
Three Ukrainian civilians were slaughtered by Russian drones that were guided by artificial intelligence, marking an ominous escalation in warfare’s robotic age.
Tetiana Bubynets, 19, a university student, and two others were blown to bits last month at a gas station in the city of Zaporizhzhia by a drone outfitted with an experimental artificial intelligence system that decides, without a human operator, where to strike, the New York Times reported.
The drone, which looked like a model airplane, was programmed to fly towards the gas station, but once it closed in, an AI system autonomously chose its target — most likely propane tanks — based on its training to recognize such objects, experts and military officials told the paper.
“This is a risk for the whole world,” said Col. Serhiy Minaiev, the commander of Ukrainian air defenses in Zaporizhzhia.
“In a few years, we will be living in a ‘Terminator’ movie. It’s no joke. Machines are making decisions to strike.”
Debris recovered from the gas station and other strike sites around the city revealed that the drones were running on Nvidia minicomputers that determined where the drone would detonate, officials and experts said.
There's more at the link, including photographs of Russia's autonomous AI-guided drone.
What's particularly ominous about that report is that the drone deliberately targeted three civilians, who would not have been wearing uniform and would not have been in a military location. Instead, they were at a "gas station", where "an AI system autonomously chose its target — most likely propane tanks — based on its training to recognize such objects". Those three civilian deaths can't be classed as "collateral damage", as so many official statements so often label such incidents. They were deliberate damage, selected by the AI in accordance with its programming, because they happened to be convenient targets to spread terror and fear among the local populace. Furthermore, the NVIDIA chips powering those Russian drones are officially not allowed to be exported to that country . . . but they got there anyway. If governments can smuggle them through embargoes, so can non-governmental threat groups and criminals. It's not all that difficult to do.
What's worse is that AI-driven drone technology, and the tactics to use it, are now spreading from Ukraine and Russia to the rest of the world. For example, Finland is buying and using Ukrainian drone technology, and hiring battlefield-experienced Ukrainian experts to show them how to use it.
Finland is directly integrating Ukrainian battlefield data into its defense industrial base, with President Alexander Stubb emphasizing that Kyiv possesses unprecedented expertise in modern high-intensity warfare.
Speaking on the strategic value of frontline data, Stubb noted that Ukraine holds more real-world combat insights than the rest of Europe combined. Helsinki is now actively applying these hard-learned lessons across its defense sector, drawing critical data on the tactical deployment of drones, missile systems, unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), and combat casualty care under modern fire conditions.
By systematically absorbing Ukraine’s operational data into Nordic defense manufacturing, Helsinki is rapidly adapting NATO’s northern flank to modern, sensor-saturated combat without having to learn those lessons through direct conflict.
Again, more at the link in the X thread - read the many comments from others. Nor is Finland alone in such measures. As mentioned last week, a US company is now supplying Ukraine with AI guidance systems for its drone hardware, making them much more deadly on the battlefield. I've seen reports from at least a dozen countries talking about how they need to learn from Ukraine, and/or buy drone hardware and software from Ukraine, in order to ensure their own national security. (One of them is Taiwan, which is arming itself to repel a threatened Chinese invasion. Imagine what a cross-beach amphibious landing would suffer, in terms of both lives and matériel, if it were attacked by a hundred thousand or more autonomous drones before even one enemy soldier had set foot on shore! Needless to say, China isn't terribly enthusiastic about this.)
It's time we all faced up to the reality of this threat - not just from nations, but from terrorists, and cross-border criminal enterprises such as drug cartels, and even from internal dissident groups such as ANTIFA, BLM and others. Many of them are extremists, and won't hesitate to garner publicity for their cause by murdering their opponents, or anyone whom they perceive as an enemy. Think how this might impact routine law enforcement activities.
Those are just a few possible examples, and they're all entirely feasible. I think that in as little as three to five years from now, we're going to see attacks on civilian targets by autonomous drones in many countries, from who knows how many sources. There's no guarantee that we, personally, might not become a victim of them.
Peter
Yesterday actor Tim Curry died in Los Angeles at the age of 80. He'd been wheelchair-bound since a stroke in 2012, which curtailed his acting career.
Curry was an absolute master of different roles, characters and persona. Here are just a few of his many roles over the years. Of course, we have to start with the one that made him (in)famous: Dr. Frankenfurter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".
(Read on to the bottom of this article to see an extended commentary on Rocky Horror (and Tim Curry) from Meat Loaf, one of his co-stars.)
Curry did some serious acting, too. His role as Chief Medical Officer Petrov in "The Hunt For Red October" was relatively insubstantial, but as a character switch from Rocky Horror always struck me as going from one extreme to another.
Nevertheless, he truly shone in comedy roles. Here are snippets from his performance as Colonel Anatoly Cherdenko in the 2008 video game "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3". You can see him struggling to hold back laughter as he plays the character in a magnificently tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top delivery.
In 1992 he played Mr. Hector, the concierge at the Plaza Hotel, in "Home Alone 2: Lost In New York". This is one of my favorite scenes from that movie.
He memorably played Long John Silver the pirate in "Muppet Treasure Island".
He left his mark on the entertainment world, on stage and screen, with performances like those. I can't think offhand of any current actor who can replace him in characters like those. Rest in peace, Mr. Curry, and thank you for many years of viewing pleasure.
I promised you more about the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Meat Loaf gave an extended commentary on his participation in the movie, and his first (emotionally traumatic) encounter with Tim Curry (which resulted in his getting a jaywalking ticket as he tried to flee from the theater!). There are two parts.
One of the funnier memories I have of Rocky Horror is that, back in the 1970's, South Africa had an official Publications Control Board, dominated by the heavily Calvinist teachings of the Dutch Reformed Church, which censored all books, movies and other entertainment media. The movie must have given them fits of apoplexy, because they censored it heavily. As a result, neither of the seduction scenes where Frankenfurther waylays first Janet, then Brad, was included - with the result that nobody could figure out their reactions from that point onward in the film! Bootleg copies of the entire movie were soon smuggled in, clearing up the confusion.
Peter
John Ringo, best-selling science fiction author, put up this post on X.com yesterday. It made me think very hard about the current shortage of skilled professional craft/trade persons, which we've discussed in these pages on previous occasions. Because some readers don't have access to X.com, I'm going to reproduce almost all of it here. If you're on X, please feel free to read the many comments following his post, and reply to John there (and leave a comment here anyway!).
One very critical thing to know/remember about 'the trades' and 'why did we get rid of votech in HS?'
I'm a late boomer and not one to automatically blame everything on boomers, but... the boomers are a big reason.
Essentially, boomers filled nearly ALL of the trade positions that the US needed, even got laid off when manufacturing got outsourced, and there were lots and lots of people born between 1946 and 1964 who were doing plumbing, electrician, mechanic, etc jobs.
And they didn't retire. It used to be skilled union workers could retire after 20 years. The boomers didn't. My best friend is a NETA Level Four and has been doing ETT for 30 years. All the 'kids' who would have moved into his job couldn't... because he was doing it.
During the '90s there just WERE VERY FEW TRADE JOBS AVAILABLE in the United States. There was no reason for HS to keep votech when NOBODY COULD GET A JOB. There WEREN'T (many) plumber jobs, electrician jobs, machinists positions available for people entering the work force. They were all filled up by boomers.
(Example: Have a friend who works in the nuclear industry. Had to regularly certify this big complex part that was hand machined by one guy who had been doing it since 1976. THAT WAS WHEN CARTER WAS IN OFFICE! 'What happens when he retires?' 'We're not sure. There's nobody else on earth that has the skills.')
Now, as they are finally retiring, suddenly WE NEED VOTECH! WE NEED KIDS TO WORK IN TRADES! WE NEED KIDS TO MAN THE ASSEMBLY LINES! WHERE ARE THE WELDERS?! WHAT'S WRONG WITH KIDS THESE DAYS?! THEY'RE JUST LAZY AND WANT TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES/BE INFLUENCERS/PLAY ON THEIR PHONES ALL DAY!
The United States essentially eliminated skilled trade as a POSSIBLE job much less a STATUS VALUE job for at least one entire 25 year generation. We need x million new electricians in 2026. We needed about 5 in 1996. 'Sorry, kid, we're not hiring/training new electrician apprentices unless your dad is a master electrician. We just don't need that many.'
So, most of the training, HS votech, apprenticeships just went away.
It's gonna take time to fix that.
Food for thought indeed! Please provide your own input on the subject in Comments.
Peter
I dearly love J. K. Rowling's intelligence, wit and superb choice of repartee. This is one of her best, as she responds to a "woke" gender warrior trying to browbeat opponents.
Zap! End of argument, right there!
Peter
Gathered from around the Internet over the past week. Click any image for a larger view.
