Cats hunt birds, that is undeniable. That they have the kind of cataclysmic effect on prey populations so often alleged is very questionable in my opinion. I wrote a post on my photography blog on this subject ten years ago, and I'm not seeing any new evidence to refute the conclusions I arrived at then.
Questions I am frequently asked on Israel-Palestine
19/11/2023 by Yanis Varoufakis
Bombing cities is a war crime. The Israeli government has ceded all moral authority by its actions in Gaza. The citizens of Israel and the U.S. need to reclaim the high ground.
Here are some links to thoughts about Buffy and the subject of identity which explore the issues beyond such judgements:
Discovering Buffy by David Rovics
Buffy Sainte-Marie: Let First Nations decide by Russ Boswell
Race and class in New Mexico by Deborah Jackson Taffa
A friend was recently the target of an online fraud scheme which began with a popup message alleging that her computer had been infected by a virus, and she found that her control over her browser was compromised. She was unable to close the popup window and mouse clicks did not do anything. The online popup message advised her to not turn off her computer and to contact by phone an online help service offered by Microsoft. She did as directed and then spent the next six hours on the phone attempting to repair the alleged damage. I believe the ultimate outcome was that our friend lost a considerable sum of money.
When our friend finally reported her experience to us I advised her that the initial online popup was the first step of a fraud scheme and that the people she spoke with on the phone were misrepresenting themselves as representatives of Microsoft and government agencies. I said she should turn off her computer and immediately cancel her current credit card and to get a replacement card which would only take a couple days. I also told her to contact her credit union to tell them that no funds should be transferred from her account. I said that immediate reporting might help to reduce her losses and perhaps restore some funds that may already have been appropriated by the fraudsters.
For some additional background on the type of attack which our friend experienced I submitted a question to Google's BARD AI chatbot:
(Me) Describe the techniques used in the online fraud scheme which begins with a message on your computer which says your computer has been infected with a virus, and then says to not turn off your computer and to call a helpline.`Also, describe the proper response to such an attack to avoid becoming a victim of the scheme.
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(BARD) The online fraud scheme that begins with a message on your computer which says your computer has been infected with a virus, and then says to not turn off your computer and to call a helpline, is known as a tech support scam.
Techniques used in tech support scams
Scammers use a variety of techniques to trick people into falling for tech support scams, including:
Fear and urgency: Scammers often try to scare people into thinking that their computer is infected with a serious virus or that their personal information is at risk. They may also tell people that they need to act quickly to avoid further damage.
Social engineering: Scammers may use social engineering techniques to gain people's trust. For example, they may pose as employees of a well-known tech company or use fake caller ID information to make it look like they are calling from a legitimate business.
Technical jargon: Scammers may use technical jargon to confuse people and make them think that they are dealing with a legitimate tech support representative.
Remote access: Scammers may ask people to give them remote access to their computers. This allows them to install malware on the person's computer or steal their personal information.
How to avoid becoming a victim of a tech support scam
There are a number of things you can do to avoid becoming a victim of a tech support scam:
Never call a phone number that is displayed in a pop-up message on your computer. Scammers often use pop-up messages to trick people into calling fake tech support numbers.
Be wary of unsolicited phone calls or emails from people claiming to be from a tech support company. Legitimate tech support companies will not contact you unless you have called them first.
Do not give remote access to your computer to anyone you do not know and trust.
Do not enter your personal information or credit card number into any website or form that is sent to you by email or pop-up message.
Keep your computer's security software up to date and run regular virus scans.
What to do if you think you are a victim of a tech support scam
If you think you may have been a victim of a tech support scam, there are a few things you should do:
Disconnect your computer from the internet. This will prevent the scammers from accessing your computer or stealing your personal information.
Change your passwords for all of your online accounts. This includes your email account, bank accounts, social media accounts, and any other accounts that you use regularly.
Run a virus scan on your computer. This will help you to identify and remove any malware that the scammers may have installed on your computer.
Report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You can do this online at ReportFraud.ftc.gov: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov.
You can also contact your local law enforcement agency to report the scam.
Bard may display inaccurate info, including about people, so double-check its responses. Your privacy & Bard
Gaza needs a humanitarian pause. Then we need a vision of where we go from here
Biden is on the way to the Middle East without a clear agenda. It seems to me that a useful gesture would be for he and Netanyahu to offer themselves in exchange for the hostages taken by Hamas.
Israeli forces are massing for an invasion of Gaza with the objectives of recovering hostages and dismantling the Hamas organization directly responsible for the horrific attacks on Israel. To what extent the invasion will accomplish those objectives is uncertain. What is certain is that the destruction of cities and the displacement of huge numbers of Palestinians will breed the conditions which produce hopelessness and extremist violence for many, many years to come. There is no turning back now of the momentum for violent retribution, but at some point it will have to be admitted that the failure was not just of defensive preparations, but also of the loss of opportunities to create an environment of hope which is ultimately the only real insurance against extremist violence.
We stationed ourselves about a mile south of the launch site to get a view of the mass ascension.
On a quiet Thursday morning we visited our favorite outdoor Albuquerque eatery, Bike in Coffee at Old Time Farm. Margaret and her brother went for the massive breakfast burrito. I opted for coffee and carrot cake.
There is always some music to go with your coffee and, on weekends, crafts and books for sale.
I am mostly happy with the picture quality from my little yard-sale 10 mega pixel Panasonic Lumix.
Not so much, though, on bright, sunny days -- when the sun hits your eye like a big pizza pie that's (not) amore.
One way around the screen blanking reflections is to use a magnifying viewfinder that also shades the screen. I just need to do a little work on the mounting system.
During Balloon Fiesta week I have been carrying around my Nikon FE mounted with a long zoom for shooting balloons. The little Panasonic rides along in a pocket and lets me get color images during the noontime events in the tree-shaded Plaza Vieja.
I have had some fun exploring the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models. I have mostly played with Google's BARD LLM. Questions about social and political issues have consistently produced well articulated responses which seemed well grounded in fact and logic.
With those thoughts in mind I decided to see if BARD might help a friend in getting some idea of what would be a reasonable sale price for a very early Leica 1, Model A camera. Looking at prices on ebay and other sales sources was largely fruitless as prices were all over the map. It was apparent, however, that a camera like hers that is a standard model without a very low serial number could occasionally be found for as little as $550. When I posed the question to BARD I received a sale price estimate in the range of $55,000 to $85,000!
I tried a variety of prompts asking for ranges and averages of prices, but BARD insisted on sticking to estimates that appeared to be in the neighborhood of 100 times beyond reality.
My conclusion at this point is that entrusting decisions about issues of economic importance to Artificial Intelligence can be a very risky business. I don't know if any of the other AI/LLM systems which are currently available might better handle such a task. It is possible that prompts which are more specific and better formed could get more sensible responses even from BARD, but at this point it would take a lot to get me to entrust crucial decisions to any such source.
We nearly always include the Albuquerque Aquarium in our visitors' itinerary. At the entrance level there are tanks of fish found locally. At the back of that floor is an entrance to a deck overlooking the mooring of the Candy M fishing boat. The saltwater fish are downstairs and they can also be seen from the site's restaurant.
I entertain the thought at times that I am making some progress toward emerging from musical illiteracy, but then something comes along to correct that idea. Most recently I was brought back to reality by the discovery of Patti Smith. I would hope I am not the last person on Earth to find her, but I have to admit the possibility.
In my defense I am pretty sure that Patti Smith and I inhabited parallel universes which only intersected a few days ago when I stumbled on a picture of her on the cover of one of her books in which she is arm in arm with the photographer, Robert Mapplethorpe. That improbable pairing prompted me to download her book, Just Kids, to my Kindle.
Just a few pages into the book I found that we were both wandering around the streets of New York's East Village in the late 1960s, eating in the same cheap Polish restaurants and searching for a new life vastly different to what we had known up to that point. A few years older than her, I had made it all the way through college and was able to find work pretty easily. She often slept in the street and really lived hand to mouth for a couple years.
Part of my NYC journey was spent in a basement photography school in the Financial District learning the basics of the craft. Patti Smith developed an interest in photography which included a life-long attachment to a Polaroid 250. (One of the polaroids in her Instagram stream shows the Gem Spa at 2nd and Saint Marks which was just a couple blocks from where I lived.) From there our paths diverged significantly. My path led me through San Francisco and Idaho to New Mexico. Patti Smith, after the rocky beginning mostly stayed in NYC, always knowing who she was and working toward achieving fame as a writer, poet, artist and musician.
I thought Just Kids was excellent and I finished it in a couple days. Her Instagram stream is also worth a visit; it was recently turned into a book as well.
I have been shooting digital more lately due mostly to the fact that I am not willing to pay the inflated prices of color film. When I recently gained unexpected access to the big shop buildings at the Albuquerque Railyards digital seemed a good choice because of the dim lighting and the subtle colors. Having gone out that day expecting to just shoot film, the only digital camera I had available was my android phone. That turned out ok as it also gave me the possibility of trying some panoramic compositions.
From an article by Sarah Scoles in the October 2023 issue of Scientific American October
"Human bodies really can't handle space. Spaceflight damages DNA, changes the microbiome, disrupts circadian rhythms, impairs vision, increases the risk of cancer, causes muscle and bone loss, inhibits the immune system, weakens the heart, and shifts fluids toward the head, which may be pathological for the brain over the long term—among other things."
Physiology aside, the economics don't add up. The cyber moguls currently leading the way into space only do so because of vast subsidies made available from the U.S. budget. The project will never be more than a great drain of resources. Furthermore, the resources launched into the void beyond Earth's atmosphere are not then available for other vital priorities which are actually supported by a majority of citizens -- housing, equitable health care, coping with climate change, curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons...
None of the above, of course, will deflect the enthusiasm for space exploration among people who have been drenched in decades of Star Trek reruns. The lure of casting aside all the old habits and constraints and overcoming great challenges is nearly irresistible -- not to mention those spiffy Star Trek uniforms.
Not mentioned in the Scientific American article was a possible substitution for the challenge of Space which does not require absorbing large doses of radiation. That is the exploration of the Earth's oceans which cover 70 percent of the planet's surface and account for 97 percent of our water. Millennia of engagement with the seas have clearly only skimmed their surfaces.
The challenges of penetrating and living in the depths are surely in many ways as daunting as those presented by Space exploration, but the potential real benefits are greatly more tangible, and the solution to meeting the challenges are more a matter of adhering to sound science rather than pushing human physiology beyond sustainable limits.
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| Katsushika Hokusai |
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Update:
For a good example of NASA boosterism about space travel see the recent NY Times article,
Maybe in Your Lifetime, People Will Live on the Moon and Then Mars
"NASA believes that with 3-D printing and soil made out of moon dust, they can create a subdivision in space in the next two decades."
The article is all about tech gimmicks, with no mention of the daunting challenges to human physiology posed by life in Space detailed in the Scientific American piece.
abcNEWS/538 - Sep.29:
"...Monmouth University asked Americans this month who would be most responsible for a potential shutdown. Forty-eight percent said President Biden or Democrats in Congress, while 43 percent said congressional Republicans. The same share of the vote also said that Biden is "not really concerned with looking out for the economic well-being of average Americans." So those numbers might be a better indicator of respondents' political party preference than actual engagement with the issue."
I spent a Sunday morning at an airshow at the Double Eagle airport on Albuquerque's west side. I shot a lot of digital with my little Lumix, and also most of a roll of Kentmere 100 film in my half-frame Mercury CX. It is an event mostly for vintage and home-built aircraft.
Here are the digital pictures.
