The government is now allowing our local peeping Tom’s  at Palantir to use Anthropic’s initiative AI model to shift through government data for purposes not entirely known.  This is both nuts and confusing.  That they would use a model that has hallucinations built in to it foundation is, frankly, disturbing. Palantir, named after an evil…

Yes, I am well aware of what happened on Tuesday, and I will have more to say about it tomorrow. But one of the ways you stick it to authoritarians is joy, and books bring me joy. Living as good a life as possible, letting them see you laugh at them and the idea that…

I just want you all to know that I originally wrote “Polling Addition” and it took me a good ten minutes to figure out why it looked wrong. One of the things that bugs me about a lot of algorithmic technology is that it is often used as an excuse to push expertise to the…

Or: the one in which KC loses a bunch of subscribers. This is going to be about politics and the process of politics. I suspect that anyone who has paid attention to pretty much anything I have written here knows I am voting for Harris and would have happily voted for Biden. The Growth Gurus…

Should I read this? Yes. BookShop link (not a commission link): Devil in the Stack Author’s Website: Andrew Smith I am a programmer by training and desire. I am largely self-taught, with most of my experience coming from learning on various jobs I held in college, combined with teaching myself on the side. Devil in…

If you buy a bad product at a store, one that harms you, then the manufacturer and sometimes the retailer can be held liable for hurting you if the product was deemed defective or deliberately harmful. It is one of the reasons that we can generally be assured that the lawnmower we just bought isn’t…

Philly fans are the worst. When I was a teenager, my dad was stationed close enough to Philly that we could go see the Cubs (my dad was from Chicago) versus the Phillies. Even in a half empty stadium, my dad’s hat attracted curses and threats. At the end of the game, three drunks threatened…

I have not written anything substantial for several weeks, as is likely clear from the lack of these posts. This is entirely due to my health. I spent two weeks in the hospital at the end of last month and the beginning of this month, and the recovery has not been as smooth as I…

A quick note. I do a fair amount of short book reviews, but in the interest of trying to impose some rationality to this little setup, I am going to try and limit them to one day a week. Hence the new section. If you don’t want the book reviews, feel free to remove yourself…

Tesla employees were passing around videos taken from parked Tesla vehicles, including those in people’s private homes: Such footage offered Tesla employees a glimpse inside “people’s garages and their private properties,” one ex-employee told Reuters. Footage of “distinctive” findings on customer property would then be posted across the company. This reminded be about an article…