PicoBlog

True FED Yep, they’re failing you! Below you will find a table generated by ChatGPT. This table shows you Chat’s understanding of the management skills of the Federal Reserve Bank (note, it is not a part of the Federal government, has no reserves, and is not a bank). The Fed was created by blackmail, murder, and extortion in 1913. This table shows you their ability to manage things. The Fed has been in existence for 110 years.

Friends, please join me in a round of our new favorite — or at least most ubiquitous — song: This Show Did Not Need to Be Eight (!!) Episodes. This week’s offering clocks in at a total of 47 minutes, including ads, which is VERY short for a drama. And once again it can best be termed an Interesting Mess, with the returns on the “interesting” parts, unfortunately, diminishing — although I am fascinated by some of the structural and storytelling choices.

On Saturday, 6-year-old Muslim American child Wadea Al-Fayoume was savagely murdered and his mother brutally stabbed by a 71 year-old, white Trump loving man who was radicalized by right wing media and GOP politicians. Yet not only has Trump not denounced this latest act of MAGA terrorism on US soil, he used his speech just two days later in Iowa to incite more hate of Muslims. First, let’s talk about Wadea, who was born in the United States and had just days before celebrated his sixth birthday.

Donald Trump wants to deport 15 million people. He has now made that promise on multiple occasions. He made similar promises during his first term, when he said he’d deport 8 million people. Back then, he was thwarted by institutional resistance, other priorities, incompetence, and his general tendency to get distracted. But this time there’s a plan. It is not a smart plan, nor is it an achievable one. But it is an unapologetically autocratic plan.

Google is betting its future on AI. First came Bard — now called Gemini, which competes with ChatGPT. Google also launched an intriguing AI-powered notebook tool called NotebookLM, which I’ll write about soon. Three of Google’s newest free AI tools, part of the AI Test Kitchen, let you generate images, text and music. They’re available so far in the USA, Kenya, New Zealand, and Australia. Read on for a summary of MusicFX, ImageFX and TextFX.

This week I want to write about infrared photography and show a few of my infrared photos. In high school, a buddy of mine shot infrared film, but I didn’t really get into it. I kinda thought it was a little gimmicky, but I’ve changed my mind. A couple of years ago a friend of mine, who passed away just over a year ago, encouraged me to explore infrared photography. He wanted me to offer a class on it, so that he could take it.

Warning: This post contains mentions of religion and sexual abuse. This week, the New York Times reported that Tucker Carlson may have been fired from FOX News for comments about race discovered among his texts in the Dominion lawsuit. The messages are disturbing — especially this one, “It’s not how white men fight.” These racially charged comments, combined with the allegations against Carlson brought by Abby Grossberg, a former FOX News producer, of sexual discrimination and gender bias by him and his staff, surely contributed to the downfall of the most powerful right-wing broadcaster in American politics.

On November 27, 1978, Dan White, a former police officer, shot and killed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. White had himself been onetime member of San Fransisco Board of Supervisor where his social conservatism led him to clash with Milk, California’s first openly gay elected official. The assassinations were immediately understood as a homophobic hate crime. As horrific as the murders were, White had sympathizers who shared his discomfort with gay rights.

Spring 2020, Tucker Carlson went to war with one of Fox News’ most powerful figures.  Carlson had grown so furious with Fox’s communications and PR chief, Irena Briganti, that he attempted to get her fired, people familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone. Briganti, formerly a key lieutenant to the late, disgraced Fox News mastermind Roger Ailes, had been an influential figure in the cable-news industry for years, as an infamously aggressive enforcer within Fox’s public-relations apparatus.