US airman sets himself on fire outside Israeli Embassy in Washington to protest war on Gaza

"Many of us like to ask ourselves, 'What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you're doing it. Right now." -- Aaron Bushnell, final Facebook message

Video from Middle East Eye. H/T: Scott Creighton

Is Ukraine winning?

Video by Orf:

Art and Artificial Intelligence

Years ago, I created AI programs. I gave talks about them in conferences. I don't have any special reverence for them. They are a tool, just like any other piece of technology. A sharpened blade can kill, and it can heal. Unfortunately, bad guys usually get their hands on cutting edge technology first, and they weaponize it.

When it comes right down to it, AI is about statistics. It's about taking a whole lot of data and finding patterns with it, or else just doing amazing repetitive math at speeds we can't comprehend. But there's a saying in Computer Science: Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you give a computer crappy instructions or train it with dodgy data, you're going to get biased results. I'm not saying the human brain is any better ... but there is more to humanity, creativity and connection then a physical brain. Some people don't believe this. But this clip says otherwise:

The Putin Interview they REALLY Didn't Want You to See!

From Awaken with JP:

What do you post when you don't know what's real?

I haven't posted on my political blog for a while, and I feel bad about that. So much is going on, and yet ... I can't help but feel most of it is just a distraction. I just don't know. So I thought I'd post a little note saying, "I'm still alive, but I don't have much of an opinion on what everyone's talking about. Because I just don't know!"

The best advice I can give anyone right now is, "Prepare for the worst, envision the best, and center yourself." Change is on the way!