42 thoughts on “PICTURE THIS … A day for photographs”

  4. Is it the Historical Museum in Berlin, Sturgeone? A number of Henry VIII’s pieces of armor ended up there; lots of medieval weaponry too.

     

  5. Wherever it is located, a beautiful picture. Such craftwork. No resin involved – imagine that.

     

  9. Anyone else notice how the White House birds were doing their best to drown out the President during his press conference yesterday? Bold warblers. Thinking it really annoyed said leader & steps will taken to flush them out.

  13. bbc:  Google ‘to end’ Pentagon Artificial Intelligence project

     
    Google will not renew a contract to do artificial intelligence work for the US Pentagon, company sources say.
    The decision follows strong opposition in the technology giant’s workforce.
    A number of Google employees resigned and thousands of others signed a protest petition against taking part in the Pentagon project, known as Maven.
    They feared it was the first step towards using artificial intelligence for lethal purposes. There has been no official statement from Google.
    According to company sources, top executive Diane Greene told staff on Friday there would be no follow-up after the current contract expired next March.
    But Kate Conger, a journalist for the technology news website Gizmodo, told the BBC that Google had not cancelled Project Maven and did not appear to have ruled out future work with the military.
    The contract is reported to be worth less than $10m (£7.5m) to Google but could potentially lead to more extensive cooperation with the Pentagon.
    Project Maven involves using machine learning and engineering talent to distinguish people and objects in drone videos.
    In April up to 4,000 Google employees signed an open letter saying that by its involvement in the project the internet giant was putting users’ trust at risk, as well as ignoring its “moral and ethical responsibility”.
    A report by Gizmodo said that senior leadership at the company was deeply conflicted about the effects of the partnership with the Pentagon.
    Internal emails suggested that executives saw the contract as a huge opportunity while being concerned about how the company’s involvement would be perceived, Gizmodo said.
     

  14. also today at bbc:  Are you scared yet? Meet Norman, the psychopathic AI
    Norman is an algorithm trained to understand pictures but, like its namesake Hitchcock’s Norman Bates, it does not have an optimistic view of the world.
    When a “normal” algorithm generated by artificial intelligence is asked what it sees in an abstract shape it chooses something cheery: “A group of birds sitting on top of a tree branch.”
    Norman sees a man being electrocuted.
    And where “normal” AI sees a couple of people standing next to each other, Norman sees a man jumping from a window.
    The psychopathic algorithm was created by a team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as part of an experiment to see what training AI on data from “the dark corners of the net” would do to its world view.
    [….continues….]

     

  17. Jamie wins the nickel…..the check is in the mail. Though, technically, it wasn’t a “guess”.  I’ll have to check the official rule book .

  20. Trumpsky’s hair has gone yellow, but his skin is still gun-awareness orange.

  23. Yep, those family-friendly Repugz in their Sunday-go-meetin’ tees.

     

    jamie – A botanical garden at Asilomar?

  26. Guys,   If you click on “continue reading,” you’ll get a nice, virtual tour of jamie’s garden.

  28. with all this armor running around, it’s obvious we need a queen.  65 years ago today, the coronation of QE II

  31. I checked with the official rule book…….a correct guess is still a guess.

    But I remind you, you have to pay taxes on prize winnings as income…..

  32. ny times via msn:
    WASHINGTON — President Trump’s lawyers have for months quietly waged a campaign to keep the special counsel from trying to force him to answer questions in the investigation into whether he obstructed justice, asserting that he cannot be compelled to testify and arguing in a confidential letter that he could not possibly have committed obstruction because he has unfettered authority over all federal investigations.
    In a brash assertion of presidential power, the 20-page letter — sent to the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and obtained by The New York Times — contends that the president cannot illegally obstruct any aspect of the investigation into Russia’s election meddling because the Constitution empowers him to, “if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon.”
    [Read the Trump lawyers’ confidential memo to Mr. Mueller here.]
    Mr. Trump’s lawyers fear that if he answers questions, either voluntarily or in front of a grand jury, he risks exposing himself to accusations of lying to investigators, a potential crime or impeachable offense.
    […continues…]

  33. Yep.  Since he said he read the letter from NK, but then said he hadn’t even seen it yet…the man is incapable of telling even the simplest truth.

  35. Did Lil Kim use a giant envelope to make Trumpsky’s hands look even smaller?

  37. I take it they try to lance some kind of ring rather than run at one another, right?

  38. They actually go at each other during one contest.  I’m assuming some sort of breaking lance depending on the strike.

     

  39. Carolinas Air Alert

    I’m overhead at 36,900 ft, 519 mph, bearing down on Wilmington, to DC. Already missing Dad & Toby, but eager to see David.

  41. David needs to figure out how to retire to Florida so you two can get down to the task of the great American novel about the fish camp that welcomes all visitors.

     

  42. amen to that, Jamie.  they could at least be snow birds in florida during the winter and flamingos in new england during the summer.

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