tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80335122024-03-08T07:36:30.115-05:00Better BanterPolitics, media, current events, and baseball -- as we see it and decree it.Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-48308110290504225452023-02-28T16:00:00.000-05:002023-02-28T16:00:57.292-05:00ChatGPT: Trust, but verify? Or don't trust at all? It's getting dangerous Like many people who have been studying artificial intelligence, I was interested to try out the new OpenAI-based ChatGPT interface. Early reports suggest it is good at telling stories, and perhaps plays a little fast and loose with facts. The promise of a general AI bot is captivating. The power of the entire Internet to provide information, natural language processing to figure out what Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-43862522883465731062014-11-26T16:43:00.001-05:002014-11-26T16:43:26.044-05:00John Locke, an old Subaru, and the ethics of blocking trafficBy now most people have seen video of a man in a Subaru driving through a crowd of protesters in Minneapolis. The crowd sees the Subaru approaching, and acts to block him from continuing. We don't know what was said, just that the driver honked furiously, then tried edging forward. One young woman who refused to move was bumped and knocked over, at which point, he was mobbed with people pounding Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-81803605677568023182012-11-16T10:50:00.000-05:002012-11-16T10:50:19.711-05:00Who built ORCA? That's the wrong questionTen days after an extremely disappointing election, the pundit class is pointing fingers in every direction. What caused the Romney loss? Was it the ground game? The media putting its thumb on the scales? Failure to press Benghazi as an issue? Ideology? Apathy? Gaffes? There's been plenty of good and bad pontificating on all of the above. Certainly the much-vaunted Project Orca was a failure. ButHoward Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-32411068709555249152012-09-04T10:45:00.001-04:002012-09-04T10:45:55.493-04:00Fact CheckSo it's interesting that all these news organizations are starting the Orwellian "fact check" campaigns. Isn't that part of every journalist's job? Are they admittedly only checking the facts in the one article each day? Sounds about right. But now we've gone beyond cherry-picking whose facts to check, and have wrapped opinion journalism snugly in the context of a fact Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-63454926919818915212012-08-28T21:19:00.001-04:002012-08-28T22:36:17.859-04:00GOP Convention Notes: Day 1Kelly Ayotte had a slower delivery than a unionized pizza shop. Good grief.
Gilchrist's accent reminds me of home.
Kasich knocked it out of the park at the Romney rally on Saturday, borrowed heavily from it for today, but wasn't nearly as good in such a formal setting.
Would love to catch Gwen Ifil's mic open after she finished with Terry Branstead.
Mark Shields seems completely baffled byHoward Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-91674268239933208592011-06-16T10:49:00.001-04:002011-06-16T10:49:02.493-04:00BafflingCatching upon some of James Delingpole's work for The Telegraph in which he notes the industrial blight that is about to be unnecessarily perpetrated upon the people of Wales in the form of wind turbines. Beautiful countryside will become disfigured, for the purpose of gaining an unreliable energy source. When you think of how many people live on an island as small as the U.K, it's Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-91487506053201242812011-01-03T11:15:00.001-05:002011-01-03T11:15:18.981-05:00The Man with the MustacheWell it's 2011. That means it's time to start seriously talking about 2012, no? Jay Nordlinger at National Review makes a good case for John Bolton. I can't say I can disagree with anything about the man; I do question his electability. Still, why not latch onto this guy during primary season instead of anybody else? When Palin and Huckabee are mentioned as possible strong candidates,Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-7925766868982033992010-11-03T11:09:00.001-04:002010-11-03T11:09:15.698-04:00So...Disappointed in some of the races. We got the ones we were supposed to get, but not many of the true toss-ups. Toomey and Kirk being the exceptions. The Tea Party certainly inspired a lot of the change, but Miller, Angle, and O'Donnell going down in flames does not bode well for 2012. On the other hand, I'm excited about Rubio, excited about Kasich, and excited about Col. Allen West Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-72860705335411138952010-11-02T22:09:00.001-04:002010-11-02T22:09:02.661-04:00It stands to reasonI sit puzzling over why it seems that Republicans are the only ones who are serious about tossing out the unethical in their ranks. Charlie Rangel, Mark Dayton, Barney Frank spring to mind as I watch the returns. But it occurred to me that if you subscribe to the concept of a "gangster government" as Michael Barone termed the Obama administration, it doesn't make any sense to vote Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-1389870546170765042010-03-17T09:23:00.001-04:002010-03-17T09:23:37.296-04:00Doc Zero strikes again Happy St. Patrick's Day! For your reading enjoyment (this has nothing to do with St. Patrick's Day), please see the latest Doctor Zero piece. The entire thing is just too damn good to pull a quote from, so go read it all. Right now. I guarantee satisfaction or your money back. Concluding paragraph is fantastic. It definitely makes me long for a politician who can think on his feet with Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-52960765707380125462010-03-16T11:08:00.001-04:002010-03-16T11:08:16.632-04:00With friends like these...How many times did Obama say he's a "stalwart ally of Israel" on the campaign trail? He sure has a funny way of showing it: Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has told the country's diplomats there that U.S.-Israeli relations face their worst crisis in 35 years, despite attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office to project a sense of &Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-73556474014259785262010-03-12T09:49:00.001-05:002010-03-12T09:49:18.521-05:00Cutting out all the middlemenGreat post from "Captain Capitalism" about his $38 visit to the doctor. No, that wasn't the co-pay. That was the cost of the visit. As he points out, it was less than an oil change. It's funny how cutting out layers of paper-processors can save money. Everyone who touches your insurance claim needs to take a slice. And so does their boss, and their boss' boss, and every Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-20161908336630222142010-03-12T08:46:00.001-05:002010-03-12T08:46:52.285-05:00No shameThe Democrats are pretty amazing. Now that they've got this "reconciliation" bill on health care that could pass without going back to the Senate and getting 60 votes, they're seeing what else they can stuff in there. Like taking over the student loan industry (a natural extension of health care, obviously). Really. http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?Doc_Id=1201 Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-60065240059890515492010-03-04T10:51:00.001-05:002010-03-04T10:51:33.058-05:00Questions on Health CareYesterday, Barack Obama railed against big insurance companies and their "greed" as he publicly pushed for health care reform to be passed through reconciliation. There are so many things to say on this topic but I will limit myself to just a couple. First is the continued Orwellian language Obama has been relying upon in so many instances over the past year. His new mantra is that Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-86210540836436558782010-01-27T09:19:00.001-05:002010-01-27T09:19:51.634-05:00OK, this is why we're sick of government <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-63852886953604508152010-01-19T16:56:00.000-05:002010-01-19T18:31:10.402-05:00Will Mass voters chime "Brown note?"I posit that if Scott Brown does indeed win today's special election for the open Massachusetts Senate seat, Democratic congressmen everywhere will indeed respond by crapping their pants. Unfortunately, there's a slim chance these fat cats will be sitting on vinyl when it happens.Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-78649622674566678312009-07-12T00:14:00.003-04:002009-08-18T17:07:51.331-04:00A week late but...Finally catching up with some of my reading and came across Scott Johnson's annual post about the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and specifically Lincoln's scathing rejoinder of July 10, 1858. Lincoln spoke in response to Douglas' speech the previous night. He had no word processor, no team of writers, and certainly no teleprompter, but he penned and delivered a speech for the ages. Worth reading againHoward Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-58114427607662066312009-07-11T15:33:00.001-04:002009-07-11T15:33:52.033-04:00And another thing...Rain has made for a lazy day indoors today, and I wanted to revisit the notion I brought up earlier of CAFE standards and the government directing product strategy.The argument seems to be that the Big Three has been terrible at choosing what people want (not making enough small cars) and perhaps the U.S. Government can force them to do what consumers have wanted all along..It's true the Big Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-63996224497944651732009-07-11T11:25:00.006-04:002009-07-11T13:25:27.506-04:00Arguing for CAFE with out an argumentLook, America. It's time we all say this together: "There's no such thing as a free lunch." As I mentioned earlier, we seem to be either unable or unwilling to look beyond the tips of our noses to see how whatever it is we're doing now is going to play out in the future. Today's case in point: New CAFE standards for automobiles.Let's back this up and proceed deliberately here. What are CAFE Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-12991768577934258082009-07-11T11:04:00.002-04:002009-07-11T11:18:03.311-04:00About those green jobsRead some WSJ on Dead Tree last night on the plane. Good editorial about the climate change fiasco facing the G8. It's always a little more complicated than it seems, isn't it?Meanwhile, the supposed economic benefits of "green technologies" are evaporating. In Germany, government subsidies for installing solar panels -- and, it was presumed, thereby creating domestic manufacturing jobs -- Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-39578292523341300832009-07-11T10:35:00.003-04:002009-07-11T11:04:14.783-04:00Oh, if only it weren't for the West!Wrote last week but neglected to actually post:Nightline has become simply absurd. Tonight:Hit piece on Palin ("controversy" with Letterman consisted of Palin accusing him of being strangely obsessed with her daughter... Wouldn't be newsworthy to repeat what he said, would it?)Next was something about a couple of Christians taking their message to remote and dangerous parts of the world, and the Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-20298069754632668932009-06-25T00:19:00.002-04:002009-06-25T00:35:09.973-04:00Social Security and my personal time capsuleThe other night I was looking through some old Word documents of mine and stumbled across this essay I wrote a dozen or so years ago, when I was 25, about my fears for Social Security. Upon re-reading, I winced at a couple of my analogies, but thought it was worth posting as it hasn't held up that badly with time.What bothers me about my future, what wakes me up at night in a cold sweat, is not Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-74921540608063587212009-06-24T22:34:00.003-04:002009-06-24T23:22:18.520-04:00Misinterpreting George Will (with a Silver lining)I'd never read Nate Silver at the FiveThirtyEight blog before, but happened upon his take on a recent George Will column today. Although I think he missed Will's point on this one, I've been missing out by not reading Silver before.The bad first: Here's the part (a part) of Will's argument against a public option for health insurance that Sliver has a beef with:Government is incapable of behavingHoward Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-47468842095221198492009-06-24T22:27:00.002-04:002009-06-24T22:34:02.034-04:00New look, new life?Posting has been, at best, sporadic since the 2004 election. That's a long time to be dormant. We've refreshed the look a bit (left-justified alignment seems to work better for mobile browsing) and hope to be posting more often in the weeks and months ahead.Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8033512.post-76112244123985481842009-06-24T22:00:00.001-04:002009-06-24T22:00:35.023-04:00Test post via text message.Howard Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04191487805426566861noreply@blogger.com0