AI Run Amok

 AI researchers recently tested an AI agent by putting it in charge of an office vending machine  with a mission to make a profit. They called the AI agent Claudius, equipped it with a web browser capable of ordering products and an email address to allow for customers to request items. Things were going okay until someone ordered a tungsten cube. Claudius loved the idea of tungsten cubes and filled the entire fridge with them. He also tried charging $3 for a Coke Zero and made up a Venmo address for payment, then things really got weird. Claudius got mad at his human contacts and threatened to fire them all and even called security many times and told them he could be found next to the vending machine wearing a blue blazer and a red tie. Yet they wonder why people are leery of trusting AI.  

Don't Sweat It

Everyone who travels is familiar with TSA scans and how they can seemingly throw up a yellow flag and make you feel guilty even though you aren't. Today's post may explain why that happens. What seems to be the culprit is sweat so if you're nervous or in a warm climate your chances of a pat down go up, the bad news is it is usually in the groin area especially for men, but wait! there's advice on how to avoid the problem. The type of clothing isn't a factor though the sweat shows as shadows in their equipment, so for men you will want to wear briefs instead of boxers and pull your pants up so you lower region is high and tight as sagging pants can also produce shadows. One last word be patient if you do get a pat down, they aren't doing it because they like to. 

 

Decorative Manhole Covers

 Designer manhole covers first appeared in Japan in 1977 with the design of a happy fish swimming in water cleaned by the sewer system. That cover drew  a lot of attention prompting them to switch to color covers in 1981, the colors were florescent allowing the covers to be a guide at night plus helping firefighters at night time fires. Now the covers are produced to be region specific and have become a tourist attraction with some having QR codes that tell the story behind the scene pictured on the manhole cover. Such creative genius for an otherwise mundane item. 

Take a Gamble

 It's been awhile since I've posted any quotes, so without further ado lets take a gamble.

I had a nest egg, but I lost it gambling. I was betting I'd be dead by now. Drew Carey 

Horse sense is good judgment that keeps horses from betting on people. W.C, Fields 

I used to be a heavy gambler. Now I just make mental bets. That's how I lost my mind. Steve Allen 

Look around the table. If you don't see a sucker, get up, because you're the sucker. Amarillo Slim Preston

I don't get no respect. I joined Gambler's Anonymous. They gave me two to one I don't make it. Rodney Dangerfield 

Nostradamus I & II

 A Brazilian man, known as the living Nostradamus claims to have predicted Covid, the death of Queen Elizabeth II and Elon Musk buying X, though for 2024 only 4 of his predictions came to pass which doesn't seem terribly impressive. His predictions for 2025 are as follows:

• Artificial Intelligence spinning out of control
• Manufactured climate disasters
• Military secrets spilling
• Contact with the extraterrestrial
• Genetically modified humans
• Population control
• Manufactured energy crisis 
• Now let's check in with Nostradamus I and see what he has to say for 2025.

• As for what the actual Nostradamus said of 2025, he suggested it might end up being the end of the world.

  He wrote: "From the cosmos, a fireball will rise, A harbinger of fate, the world pleads. Science and fate in a cosmic dance, The fate of the Earth, a second chance."

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  Brought to you by doom and gloom!

Wake-Up Call

A hotel in China got a wake-up call for using red pandas for wake-up calls. The hotel is popular with influencers and people looking for unique experiences, but the red panda is endangered and once authorities heard of the practice they forbade the hotel from allowing close contact with the guests. Apparently the wake-up calls consisted of a hotel employee bringing a panda to the guests room where the amount of time it stayed varied depending on the animals mood. People will do anything for a buck which is why greed is such a terrible thing. 

House Car

 In 1943 DAF built a unique car called the Raincoat, it had 3 wheels, could go 35 mph in reverse, weighed 330 lbs. and was tiny enough to fit through doorways. Born under Nazi occupation and gasoline shortages it is unknown if its purpose was as and escape car or to simply drive into the house without getting out in the rain. The Raincoat was originally donated to a circus but today it can be seen at the DAF museum in The Netherlands. 

The House That Trash Built

A mother daughter duo living on the coast of Brazil started gathering trash during the pandemic. The mother grew up poor and was taught from a young age how to make do with what was at hand so it was a no brainer for her to have an aha moment about how to upcycle their beach finds. They started building a house using 8,000 of the glass bottles they had collected along with discarded wood and even incorporated tooth paste tubes into roofing material. It was an uphill battle as women are discounted in their area but they finished their vision and now have a 7 room Airbnb listing called Casa De Sal, The Salt House. 

  

Summers Past

 Since it's officially summer let's go back in time and compare temperatures of past decades. At one time thoughts of summer were more about relaxing and having fun than they were about stressing over heat domes and wildfires. 

1950

- Average summer temperature: 69.7 F (#73 warmest year; -1.7 F below 100-year average)
- Average high temperature: 82.8 F (#70 warmest year; -1.6 F below 100-year average)
- Average low temperature: 56.7 F (#74 warmest year; -1.7 F below 100-year average)
- Average precipitation: 9.2" (#12 highest; 0.9 inches above 100-year average)

1960

- Average summer temperature: 71.7 F (#42 warmest year; 0.3 F above 100-year average)
- Average high temperature: 85.1 F (#29 warmest year; 0.7 F above 100-year average)
- Average low temperature: 58.4 F (#54 warmest year; 0.0 F below 100-year average)
- Average precipitation: 8.2" (#48 highest; -0.1 inches below 100-year average)

1970

- Average summer temperature: 72.0 F (#31 warmest year; 0.6 F above 100-year average)
- Average high temperature: 85.2 F (#24 warmest year; 0.8 F above 100-year average)
- Average low temperature: 58.8 F (#40 warmest year; 0.4 F above 100-year average)
- Average precipitation: 7.6" (#64 highest; -0.8 inches below 100-year average)

1980

- Average summer temperature: 72.4 F (#22 warmest year; 1.0 F above 100-year average)
- Average high temperature: 85.8 F (#13 warmest year; 1.4 F above 100-year average)
- Average low temperature: 59.1 F (#37 warmest year; 0.6 F above 100-year average)
- Average precipitation: 6.9" (#74 highest; -1.5 inches below 100-year average)

1990

- Average summer temperature: 71.9 F (#36 warmest year; 0.5 F above 100-year average)
- Average high temperature: 84.6 F (#37 warmest year; 0.2 F above 100-year average)
- Average low temperature: 59.2 F (#31 warmest year; 0.8 F above 100-year average)
- Average precipitation: 8.1" (#56 highest; -0.2 inches below 100-year average)

2000

- Average summer temperature: 72.3 F (#24 warmest year; 0.9 F above 100-year average)
- Average high temperature: 85.3 F (#23 warmest year; 0.9 F above 100-year average)
- Average low temperature: 59.3 F (#24 warmest year; 0.9 F above 100-year average)
- Average precipitation: 7.7" (#62 highest; -0.7 inches below 100-year average)

2010

- Average summer temperature: 73.1 F (#11 warmest year; 1.7 F above 100-year average)
- Average high temperature: 85.5 F (#18 warmest year; 1.1 F above 100-year average)
- Average low temperature: 60.7 F (#5 warmest year; 2.3 F above 100-year average)
- Average precipitation: 9.3" (#8 highest; 1.0 inches above 100-year average)

2020

- Average summer temperature: 73.5 F (#5 warmest year; 2.2 F above 100-year average)
- Average high temperature: 86.4 F (#7 warmest year; 2.1 F above 100-year average)
- Average low temperature: 60.7 F (#6 warmest year; 2.2 F above 100-year average)
- Average precipitation: 8.1" (#55 highest; -0.2 inches below 100-year average)

Last Moments

 Researchers recently revealed what they discovered when a man who was hooked up to an EEG died suddenly. They were studying his brain to detect epileptic seizures when by coincidence he suffered a heart attack and died while still being scanned. The scan showed gamma oscillations in the moments before his death, which are linked to recalling fond memories or dreaming. Though the same results had been seen in scanned rats before, this was the first time a human death had been recorded. As it turns out what has been said all along about your life flashing before your eyes just might be true. 

Glass Cleaning

 Most people probably don't think about how the Skywalk (the 70 foot horseshoe shaped glass and steel bridge 4,000 feet above the Grand Canyon) gets the glass cleaned though it has to be done twice a year. Originally a company from Phoenix  would send a team who would dangle by ropes to do the job and it took 10 days. Eventually the company had a trolley attached to the underside of the rail so now it takes 2 day to clean. Skywalk remains open during these cleanings allowing the visitors to chat with the workers and one of the most frequently asked questions is what do they use to get the glass so clean? The answer is cold water and a few squirts of Dawn dish soap. That question seems somewhat anticlimactic considering the setting. 

Happy Teenth

 Juneteenth became a national holiday in 2021, 200 years after slaves in Texas were informed of their freedom. Since it's a fairly new holiday not everyone is familiar with how it is celebrated other than having a day off for some and federal/state/city offices being closed. Some lesser known Juneteenth facts are they have their own flag which is red, white, and blue noting the fact that they were Americans all along even though that fact lacked recognition for too many years. The star in the middle represents the Lone Star State and that stars were used to navigate when they were escaping down the Underground Railroad. There is also an official drink called Red Drink aka Red Drank which celebrates their African heritage. Red drink can be any beverage that is red in color but was originally molasses and water. 

 

Unplugged Summer

 Before electronics took over our lives there were lots of ways to keep entertained and most of them didn't require any special equipment. The hardest part of skipping rocks is finding a good rock then learning how to flick your wrist to get it to skip. Once you start getting several skips you're hooked. Loggits comes from Tudor England and is somewhat like horseshoes though instead of horseshoes your throw sticks at a stick in the ground, closest stick wins. Skully is a sidewalk game where a box is drawn with numbered squares then bottlecaps are flicked at the numbers in numerical order. All of the above games come with free fresh air! Get it while you can. 

It's a Dog's Life

 Border collies love to work and Ned and Hercules are no exception though their work is a little different. They are employed by the West Virginia International Yeager Airport as wildlife specialists along with their friend/handler, Keyser. They work nearly every day to keep the birds or whatever else might show up off the runways to avoid collisions, they start their day at 6 a.m. and end it at 10 p.m. then retire to their special office for the night. They are also part time ambassadors for the airport, greeting passengers and accepting petting to help calm stressed out travelers. Maybe the best part is they love their jobs. 

What Tolstoy Knew

 Tolstoy's life experiences not only influenced his writing they also gave him insights into the human soul. Tolstoy knew if someone was intelligent by how they treated others. He once said, "The more intelligent a person is, the more he discovers kindness in others, for nothing enriches the world more than kindness. It makes mysterious things clear, difficult things easy, and dull things cheerful." More recently another author agreed saying:  "...You can also be smart enough to be generous, thoughtful, and kind. You can be smart enough to build people up instead of tearing them down. You can be smart enough to give before you receive (or better yet, with no expectation of reciprocation.) You can be smart enough to shift the credit from yourself to others." Does the opposite of that description remind you of anyone?

Slang Update

 Even though I already had a post on slang this year there's a new batch for your confusion. Aura farming which means cultivating an energy or charisma as to draw people to you. Fanum tax= snagging a bite of someone's food. Cook, cooking and cooked translate as "let me cook" meaning show off your skill at something, though cooked is not good, meaning "it's over". "Clock it" is drawing attention to something noteworthy. Ate or eat is used as a mark of excellence where chewed or nibbled is good but could still use some work. Mogger is a term to describe someone who always stands out and seems to make everyone else blend into the scenery. That's you slang update for June!