Californians voters will be asked to vote on two opposite initiatives: One will enshrine same-sex marriage into law, formally repealing Proposition 8 in case the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Obergefell. The second would enshrine transphobia. [voiceofsandiego.org]
Utahns reunited with pet cat they accidentally shipped with Amazon return [ksltv.com]
A Catholic advocacy group created an AI chatbot to answer religious questions. The bot claimed to be a priest, said masturbation is a “grave moral disorder” and that it’s OK to baptize babies in Gatorade. [businessinsider.com]
I went down a YouTube rabbit hole of 60s kitsch pop music
One Tin Soldier youtu.be/o8JtNHGSO…
Written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, first recorded by Canadian folk group The Original Caste. A 1971 cover by Jinx Dawson, lead vocalist of Coven, became a hit in the US after being featured in the movie “Billy Jack.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Tin_Soldier
I’m pretty sure we had this 45 when I was a kid.
I never saw Billy Jack, although my 8th Grade social studies class did a table reading from the paperback version of the script over the course of several days. Our teacher, Mr. Geig, was a hippie. I also read the Mad Magazine parody.
Here’s a trailer of the movie.
It looks … earnest.
“Coven” was a pioneering metal band that used occult themes, and introduced the “sign of horns” to metal.
“One Tin Soldier” is an example of a “strophic ballad,” where all the verses are sung to the same music.
It is also an example of the pop genre, “This song isn’t long enough so just repeat a couple of bits of it so it fills out the 45.”
Also: “Billy Don’t Be a Hero,” by Paper Lace (1974) youtu.be/T2seUCc3o…
Paper Lace didn’t succeed with the song—Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods recorded the hit version.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Don%27t_Be_a_Hero
Here are Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods. They are 70s-tastic.
However, Paper Lace—“reportedly the most successful band Nottingham ever produced”—scored a hit with “The Night Chicago Died,” which is a fun song and this is a fun video.
And here’s “Knock Three TImes” by Tony Orlando and Dawn.
I had a conversation with a new neighbor. His name is Oscar. He has a husband, whose name is not Felix. This seems like a lost opportunity.
I can’t understand why the dog continued with her behavior
One of our neighbors has a new dog, a big rambunctious golden retriever that repeatedly jumped up on me to say hello. Our neighbor would drag the dog away and the dog would race back and jump up on me again.
This was despite my attempts to discourage the dog by (1) skritching her behind her ears (2) rubbing the dog’s cheeks and (3) telling the dog she was a beautiful girl and very sweet.
I was awakened with a start in the middle of the night
I was abruptly jarred out of a sound sleep by terrible screaming. At first I thought Julie was in great distress next to me. Then I thought it might be a siren close by the house.
Then I figured out what it was. One of the cats was meowing. Loudly and directly into my ear. She wanted me to pay attention to her, so I reached out and gave her skritches, which I’m sure will not enforce this negative behavior.
I’m leveling the playing field, transforming and revolutionizing business models and delivering actionable insights. What are you up to today?
Elon Musk – Dead at 52 – Says There Is No Need for Misinformation Laws [theshovel.com.au]
Nurses Protest “Deeply Troubling” Use of AI in Hospitals [404media.co]
The specific process by which Google enshittified its search [pluralistic.net] — Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr
Elon Musk wants to turn Tesla’s fleet into AWS for AI — would it work?
Andrew J. Hawkins [theverge.com]:
During last night’s earnings call with investors, Elon Musk threw out an all-time late-night dorm room bong sesh of an idea: what if AWS, but for Tesla?
Musk, who loves to riff on earnings calls, compared the unused compute power of millions of idle Tesla vehicles to Amazon’s cloud service business. If they’re just sitting there, he mused, why not put them to good use to run AI models? (Also, have you ever really looked at your hands? No, I mean really looked?)
