The Junk Drawer

DIY-HP-LED said:

How long will it take before ASTRO becomes ASSHOLE! As in, hey asshole do the dishes, hey asshole take out the trash...

The Future Is Here: Amazon Is Now Selling Astro, An AI Driven Household Robot

This technology may change the face of healthcare delivery at home.

www.forbes.com

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I will never have one in my house, not even if they gave it to me free of charge.
There is no mic connected to my computers unless i want to talk to someone, my phone goes in my desk drawer when i'm at home, i have no alexa bullshit in my house, anything connected that has a mic gets disconnected or de-mic-ed...I'll be fucked in the middle of main street before i welcome any spy device into my home.
No, I'm not a paranoiac that imagine someone is listening to my every word, but there are devices that catch key words and custom sort ads for you, that organize your news feeds, that customize search engine results....I don't want their suggestions, i don't want to see what they want me to see, I want to see what i'm interested in, ONLY...and my search results are none of goofles fucking business.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

...I'll be fucked in the middle of main street, and not lose any voters

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couldn’t (or didn’t) resist

more new age bullshit turning out to be bullshit...
https://www.psypost.org/2023/05/hei...en-narcissistic-rivalry-and-aggression-159736
The article says in several places "they discovered that mindfulness did X...." They've been pushing "mindfulness" as a meditation type practice for a while now, and they have no fucking idea what it does to people, or they wouldn't still be discovering these elemental things that it contributes to or causes.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

more new age bullshit turning out to be bullshit...
https://www.psypost.org/2023/05/hei...en-narcissistic-rivalry-and-aggression-159736
The article says in several places "they discovered that mindfulness did X...." They've been pushing "mindfulness" as a meditation type practice for a while now, and they have no fucking idea what it does to people, or they wouldn't still be discovering these elemental things that it contributes to or causes.

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That is why meditation is always taught in a moral and ethical context. The problem is many people who "teach" mindfulness don't have the requisite backgrounds or skills. It is an exercise that can be used to improve emotional health, but you don't start off weight training without any guidance or any other form of coaching. In Buddhism, mindfulness is only one part of the picture, training in morals and ethics is equally important. There are those who teach mindfulness to corporations with a philosophy based on tribalism to allow for such aggression and greed, they are in it for the money.

One must be careful in this endeavor; it is a powerful agent for change, but it is also a good way to counteract the effects of our online lives, especially among youth. It should professionally taught with this purpose in mind and if one wants to do any more than a light practice, then check out secular Buddhism. The path is not always a smooth one and some people should not even begin the journey and if one does, it should be under the guidance of a teacher, finding one is often an issue and without a religious imperative much of the motivation is lacking.

Mindfulness does not add anything new it just reveals what is already there, good or bad and it is up to us to improve it if we can. Try sitting for a few weeks and you will see your thoughts as you never have before, they were always there, but flew below the radar. It's like being a drunk, you can't be cured if you don't see and accept the problem first.

"But Li said that mindfulness is a relatively new area of research in psychology, and the definitions for mindfulness have not been pinned down. Some researchers have focused on “second generation mindfulness,” which combines mindfulness with Buddhist moral principles, while many others have examined “first generation mindfulness,” which focuses on paying attention non-judgmentally in the moment. The MAAS measures first generation mindfulness, which may not be the same as Buddhist mindfulness".

DIY-HP-LED said:

That is why meditation is always taught in a moral and ethical context.

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apparently not, or we wouldn't have that article to be having this discussion about....

Roger A. Shrubber said:

apparently not, or we wouldn't have that article to be having this discussion about....

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Yep, and this issue was well known and discussed in the secular Buddhist community, it comes as no surprise to many in the mindfulness community either. People bring themselves to a practice, warts and all, it helps heal the warts in most, but can accentuate them in others. 40% of the voters in America think Trump is just fine, what would teaching them meditation do? Most consider themselves Christians, what did it do to or for them? Meditation actually works and is a powerful agent of personal change and growth for most people, which is why so many piled on to make a buck especially in the age of the internet, even if they were nowhere near qualified to teach it. MBSR requires a master's degree and a minimum of 5 years of practice to be a medically certified teacher. When I first learned about meditation and Buddhism the information was in books and you had to climb mountains in remote places to learn! The Tibetan diaspora resulted in many masters leaving their home, go into "trousers" and some moved to Canada, one even lived near Winnipeg where I lived for 20 years.

Elections in Thailand and Turkey today. A good day for Thailand where the Move Forward Party (young progressives) is winning from the ruling military-backed party.

In Turkey things don’t look good. Both sides project a run off (May 28th), thus without the 3rd candidate, a right-wing nationalist whose ~6% share won’t go to Erdogan‘s opposition, leader of the secular party founded by Ataturk. Not enough liberal urban strongholds to beat the many cunt farmers in Turkey. Looks like may 28th is going to be a bad day for Turkey.



Muharrem İnce, the 4th candidate, split off from the same secular party earlier, he ran against Erdogan before. The secular party asked him to drop out as in not split the vote against Erdogan. He didn’t till a sex tape scandal, for which Russia is now blamed. Elections, it’s a messy business.

A driver in Colorado tried to switch seats with his dog to avoid a DUI arrest, police say

It’s been a boring airshow week, and suddenly this whiffles by overhead. Scaled Composites ARES, a one-off ground-attack candidate.

Intake on one side only.

"No one likes you", "cargo pants are out".


Why so shy? Be proud boys and show yourselves.

topcat said:

"No one likes you", "cargo pants are out".

Why so shy? Be proud boys and show yourselves.

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It's brown shirts guys, not brown pants! Geez not long ago they were threatening people who wore masks over covid and since J6 they have become their biggest fans!

Hehehehe

HGCC said:

Lauren Boebert files for divorce from her husband

Lauren and Jayson Boebert have been married for nearly two decades and have four sons together

coloradosun.com

Hehehehe

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and there sharply-etched is the boundary of her religion

How would one ethically test this on humans in a controlled clinical trial! Accidental mushroom poisoning cases seem to be the only way, since it is approved for human use anyway. Even giving a small amount of this mushroom toxin to humans would damage the kidneys and liver, so that would be off the table.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/05/high-temperature-superconductor-report-fails-to-replicate/

Sigh...I would like to think that scientists were above petty ego and glory seeking...I see way too many stories like this, and about plagarism, and about suspect papers with glaring errors in them, being published just to up their numbers. There should be some real consequences for wasting the time and money of the institutions they're working for. Failure is acceptable, fraud is not.

Zappa on evangelicals. "Never bend over for a chrischen."

Today’s random weirdness.


firrrrrre!

In ten years, what will robots be like, in 20 years a lot of people might need jobs, AI will do brain work including creative or artistic jobs and decendents of things like this will do the more mundane physical tasks.

https://wlos.com/news/local/seniors...ain-high-sylva-jackson-county-sheriffs-office

They broke into the school...That is illegal, and they should know that, for fuck's sake.
This is a shitty, bad, stupid tradition, and it ought to end now. Give them some community service, and make it very clear to ALL of the students that breaking and entering is a CRIME, not a prank.