Spotify invests in military AI

NeuM

@kidslow said:
You left out the smell of urine that permeates the air, especially in large parts of downtown San Francisco.

I don’t even want to go there anymore. So sad what has happened there.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

NeuM

@tja said:
@NeuM wrote:

And there’s only one reason this stuff is happening: A political monoculture with no realistic opposition to challenge these crazy changes in the laws.

What laws are that?
Being from Old Europe, I am curious but don't know the situation.

Police departments were “defunded” (budgets slashed, so there are now far fewer police) in a nationwide irrational reaction to the George Floyd death (due to a combination of ingestion of a life-threatening amount of illicit drugs and him not being able to breathe, possibly as a side effect of how he was arrested) in Minnesota. Police departments were suddenly considered no longer necessary to uphold public safety and enforce the laws. Finally, there has been a wave of bail reform and sentencing changes. This last one means that crimes which are valued under a certain dollar amount are basically ignored. This has led to widespread looting, theft, robberies and other crimes against people and businesses. These things are only happening in the more liberal cities and States. Not in States like Texas, Florida, etc.

It should be noted in nearly every large city where the police were “defunded” that they are now attempting to rehire even more police than when they were foolishly let go. Chicago, Portland, Seattle and other cities have been struggling to get officers back and it has not been going well for them. For some reason, the public has mysteriously communicated to their political leaders that they actually don’t like getting robbed, assaulted and murdered in the streets… who knew?

AudioGus

@NeuM

That is so sad. Sorry to hear/see that. Seemed like paradise when I visited in the 80s.

NeuM

@AudioGus said:

@NeuM

That is so sad. Sorry to hear/see that. Seemed like paradise when I visited in the 80s.

I first visited California in the 70s. It was much better back then, all things considered.

ExAsperis99

First of all, despite the National Review's scaremongering, there has been no mass exodus from California. That's preposterous. In a state of 40 million, California's population dropped by 137,000 last year, largely, according to Department of Finance demographers, to Covid-19. That's 0.3 percent.

People have always abandoned California, but until the pandemic, it had been offset by a massive inflow. That has slowed down a lot. Is it because Fox News shows the same B-roll of shantytowns in San Fransisco or Venice Beach? Or is it because the climate — the Golden State's greatest draw, surely — has gone haywire and drought and wildfires are threatening the entire population? Still, California is quite healthy. If it were a country it would have the fifth-largest economy in the world, ahead of Britain and India.

And no, of course, not a single police department was "defunded" — a stupid, over-reaching progressive neologism that played entirely into the hands of Fox News hosts. Some had their budgets cut, generally to shift resources from military-grade weaponry to community outreach. Clearly, this has failed, and the current politicians bear the blame. If money has been shifted to outreach and the homeless problem is still so pronounced, the outreach isn't working.

But is there no sympathy for the homeless? It's disheartening that the response to these dire images doesn't take into account the massive disparity in the distribution of wealth. To think that the source of the problem is not enough police to clear the streets of undesirables instead of maybe hypercapitalism is out of whack...?

NeuM

@ExAsperis99 said:
First of all, despite the National Review's scaremongering, there has been no mass exodus from California. That's preposterous. In a state of 40 million, California's population dropped by 137,000 last year, largely, according to Department of Finance demographers, to Covid-19. That's 0.3 percent.

Wait a second... 0.3% is nearly an order of magnitude more than the percentage of people who die from COVID (about 0.05%). And that's considered a global catastrophe!

ExAsperis99

@NeuM said:

@ExAsperis99 said:
First of all, despite the National Review's scaremongering, there has been no mass exodus from California. That's preposterous. In a state of 40 million, California's population dropped by 137,000 last year, largely, according to Department of Finance demographers, to Covid-19. That's 0.3 percent.

Wait a second... 0.3% is nearly an order of magnitude more than the percentage of people who die from COVID (about 0.05%). And that's considered a global catastrophe!

I see you're playing all the hits.

NeuM

@ExAsperis99 said:

@NeuM said:

@ExAsperis99 said:
First of all, despite the National Review's scaremongering, there has been no mass exodus from California. That's preposterous. In a state of 40 million, California's population dropped by 137,000 last year, largely, according to Department of Finance demographers, to Covid-19. That's 0.3 percent.

Wait a second... 0.3% is nearly an order of magnitude more than the percentage of people who die from COVID (about 0.05%). And that's considered a global catastrophe!

I see you're playing all the hits.

That's math. It's inconvenient only when it works against one's argument.

And yes, cities did in fact "defund" their police departments: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/07/us-cities-defund-police-transferring-money-community

Why in the world would anyone defend what is going on in these cities? It's insane.

And real people are being harmed and killed in these badly run cities: https://www.chicagonow.com/getting-real/2021/08/chicago-murder-map-and-neighborhood-totals-2021-update/

By the way, what's the response to all this?:

https://twitter.com/johnschreiber/status/1481770722271760384

ExAsperis99

One is a death rate; the other is a drop in population. No one would reasonably read that to mean 137,000 people died of covid. No one reading in good faith, that is.

Your dissembling is not worth responding to. You now holler into the void. We all know what to think of the guy who is still trying to suggest that maybe the man who had a knee on his neck for 8:46 seconds might have somehow contributed to his own death.

NeuM

@ExAsperis99 said:
One is a death rate; the other is a drop in population. No one would reasonably read that to mean 137,000 people died of covid. No one reading in good faith, that is.

Your dissembling is not worth responding to. You now holler into the void. We all know what to think of the guy who is still trying to suggest that maybe the man who had a knee on his neck for 8:46 seconds might have somehow contributed to his own death.

Because a Fentanyl overdose (which was just one of several powerful drugs he was on, by the way) could never contribute to a person's death.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm

And: https://lawandcrime.com/live-trials/live-trials-current/george-floyd-death/judge-allows-evidence-that-george-floyd-ingested-drugs-suffered-heart-trouble-in-may-2019-police-stop-during-derek-chauvin-murder-trial/

By the way, it was not the knee on the neck that did him in. That was in the coroner’s report.

gusgranite

@NeuM said:

@ExAsperis99 said:
One is a death rate; the other is a drop in population. No one would reasonably read that to mean 137,000 people died of covid. No one reading in good faith, that is.

Your dissembling is not worth responding to. You now holler into the void. We all know what to think of the guy who is still trying to suggest that maybe the man who had a knee on his neck for 8:46 seconds might have somehow contributed to his own death.

Because a Fentanyl overdose (which was just one of several powerful drugs he was on, by the way) could never contribute to a person's death.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm

And: https://lawandcrime.com/live-trials/live-trials-current/george-floyd-death/judge-allows-evidence-that-george-floyd-ingested-drugs-suffered-heart-trouble-in-may-2019-police-stop-during-derek-chauvin-murder-trial/

By the way, it was not the knee on the neck that did him in. That was in the coroner’s report.

I can’t actually believe I am reading this on the Audiobus forum. Thank God you were not on the jury.

JeffChasteen

@ExAsperis99 said:
First of all, despite the National Review's scaremongering, there has been no mass exodus from California. That's preposterous. In a state of 40 million, California's population dropped by 137,000 last year, largely, according to Department of Finance demographers, to Covid-19. That's 0.3 percent.

People have always abandoned California, but until the pandemic, it had been offset by a massive inflow. That has slowed down a lot. Is it because Fox News shows the same B-roll of shantytowns in San Fransisco or Venice Beach? Or is it because the climate — the Golden State's greatest draw, surely — has gone haywire and drought and wildfires are threatening the entire population? Still, California is quite healthy. If it were a country it would have the fifth-largest economy in the world, ahead of Britain and India.

And no, of course, not a single police department was "defunded" — a stupid, over-reaching progressive neologism that played entirely into the hands of Fox News hosts. Some had their budgets cut, generally to shift resources from military-grade weaponry to community outreach. Clearly, this has failed, and the current politicians bear the blame. If money has been shifted to outreach and the homeless problem is still so pronounced, the outreach isn't working.

But is there no sympathy for the homeless? It's disheartening that the response to these dire images doesn't take into account the massive disparity in the distribution of wealth. To think that the source of the problem is not enough police to clear the streets of undesirables instead of maybe hypercapitalism is out of whack...?

Thank you for cutting through the attack parrot bullshit. Seriously.

JeffChasteen

@JeffChasteen said:

@ExAsperis99 said:
First of all, despite the National Review's scaremongering, there has been no mass exodus from California. That's preposterous. In a state of 40 million, California's population dropped by 137,000 last year, largely, according to Department of Finance demographers, to Covid-19. That's 0.3 percent.

People have always abandoned California, but until the pandemic, it had been offset by a massive inflow. That has slowed down a lot. Is it because Fox News shows the same B-roll of shantytowns in San Fransisco or Venice Beach? Or is it because the climate — the Golden State's greatest draw, surely — has gone haywire and drought and wildfires are threatening the entire population? Still, California is quite healthy. If it were a country it would have the fifth-largest economy in the world, ahead of Britain and India.

And no, of course, not a single police department was "defunded" — a stupid, over-reaching progressive neologism that played entirely into the hands of Fox News hosts. Some had their budgets cut, generally to shift resources from military-grade weaponry to community outreach. Clearly, this has failed, and the current politicians bear the blame. If money has been shifted to outreach and the homeless problem is still so pronounced, the outreach isn't working.

But is there no sympathy for the homeless? It's disheartening that the response to these dire images doesn't take into account the massive disparity in the distribution of wealth. To think that the source of the problem is not enough police to clear the streets of undesirables instead of maybe hypercapitalism is out of whack...?

Thank you for cutting through the attack parrot bullshit. Seriously.

I no longer engage with that one.

Simon

@NeuM said:
By the way, it was not the knee on the neck that did him in.

Not a useful way to put it. The actual knee pressure on the neck did not cause death by "asphyxiation from sustained pressure" as many people think.

But it was very appaling behavior by Officer Chauvin and triggered the whole disaster. Mr. Floyd's overall medical condition and the drugs in his system would probably also contribute.

Had they just tried to cuff him and he fought back then the same thing might have happened... or not, he might be alive today - we will never know.

Interestingly, he also had COVID.

Instead of relying on media reports here is the official autopsy:
https://www.hennepin.us/-/media/hennepinus/residents/public-safety/medical-examiner/floyd-autopsy-6-3-20.pdf

NeuM

@Simon said:

@NeuM said:
By the way, it was not the knee on the neck that did him in.

Not a useful way to put it. The actual knee pressure on the neck did not cause death by "asphyxiation from sustained pressure" as many people think.

But it was very appaling behavior by Officer Chauvin and triggered the whole disaster. Mr. Floyd's overall medical condition and the drugs in his system would probably also contribute.

Had they just tried to cuff him and he fought back then the same thing might have happened... or not, he might be alive today - we will never know.

Interestingly, he also had COVID.

Instead of relying on media reports here is the official autopsy:
https://www.hennepin.us/-/media/hennepinus/residents/public-safety/medical-examiner/floyd-autopsy-6-3-20.pdf

Gosh, he was the picture of good health until the police attempted to arrest him for trying to pass counterfeit money. And besides the 9 times he had been arrested for theft and drug crimes, he was otherwise a model citizen.

 _Toxicology (see attached report for full details; testing performed on antemortem blood specimens collected 5/25/20 at
 9:00 p.m. at HHC and on postmortem urine)

 A.   Blood drug and novel psychoactive substances screens:
      1.   Fentanyl 11 ng/mL
      2.   Norfentanyl 5.6 ng/mL
      3.   4-ANPP 0.65 ng/mL
      4.   Methamphetamine 19 ng/mL
      5.   11-Hydroxy Delta-9 THC 1.2 ng/mL;
           Delta-9 Carboxy THC 42 ng/mL; Delta-9 THC 2.9 ng/mL
      6.   Cotinine positive
      7.   Caffeine positive

 B.   Blood volatiles: negative for ethanol, methanol,
      isopropanol, or acetone

 C.   Urine drug screen: presumptive positive for cannabinoids,
      amphetamines, and fentanyl/metabolite

 D.   Urine drug screen confirmation: morphine (free) 86 ng/mL_

Regardless of his criminal record and obvious drug problems I don't think those are crimes worth dying for. He was not healthy, nor was he a saint. Anyone saying otherwise is a dishonest person.

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/george-floyd/new-court-docs-say-george-floyd-had-fatal-level-of-fentanyl-in-his-system/89-ed69d09d-a9ec-481c-90fe-7acd4ead3d04

Simon

@NeuM said:
Gosh, he was the picture of good health until the police attempted to arrest him for trying to pass counterfeit money. And besides the 9 times he had been arrested for theft and drug crimes, he was a model citizen.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/B0006IU7JK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2B179O7FLBZK9&keywords=dale+carnegie&qid=1642150487&sprefix=dale+carneg,aps,381&sr=8-1

NeuM

@Simon said:

@NeuM said:
Gosh, he was the picture of good health until the police attempted to arrest him for trying to pass counterfeit money. And besides the 9 times he had been arrested for theft and drug crimes, he was a model citizen.

Maybe he could've used a little Dale Carnegie and then the billion dollar riots, looting, arson and murders which swept the country afterward could've been avoided.

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2021/09/09/realclearinvestigations_jan_6-blm_comparison_database_791370.html

0tolerance4silence

I know @Michael has better things to develop, but a more efficient way to ignore would really be useful.

Simon

@NeuM said:
Regardless of his criminal record and obvious drug problems I don't think those are crimes worth dying for. He was not healthy, nor was he a saint. Anyone saying otherwise is a dishonest person.

And what do you say about Officer Chauvin?

NeuM

@Simon said:

@NeuM said:
Regardless of his criminal record and obvious drug problems I don't think those are crimes worth dying for. He was not healthy, nor was he a saint. Anyone saying otherwise is a dishonest person.

And what do you say about Officer Chauvin?

Seems like he was not a very good officer and he was found guilty of murder. Presumably his case will be appealed, as is his right under the law.

supadom

How on earth did we get from Spotify funding military AI to the quality of life California??!!

NeuM

@supadom said:
How on earth did we get from Spotify funding military AI to the quality of life California??!!

Threads can be quite an adventure.

Simon

@NeuM said:
Seems like he was not a very good officer and he was found guilty of murder.

That's a bit understated for you

NeuM

@Simon said:

@NeuM said:
Seems like he was not a very good officer and he was found guilty of murder.

That's a bit understated for you

What would you have me say? Ours is a nation of laws. If the laws aren't followed, you end up with Portland.

Simon

@NeuM said:
What would you have me say?

I thought you might have a bit of that trademark NeuM sarcasm you used describing Mr. Floyd. Something along the lines of "what a great officer Chauvin is and how his actions brought honour to the police force".

But you a right - he's behind bars for what he did.

I didn't read the transcripts of the trial, but was it ever explained why Officer Chauvin kneeled on the neck of a man who was already handcuffed and on the ground and surrounded by several armed officers? What possible threat did Mr. Floyd pose?

I could never get my head around why Officer Chauvin felt the need to do that? Was that explained in the trial? Anyone?

wim

@0tolerance4silence said:
I know @Michael has better things to develop, but a more efficient way to ignore would really be useful.

I'm curious what isn't efficient about the current system. Just click on the name to open the profile, tap the down arrow just to the left of the profile picture, then select ignore.

What I'd love to see is a way to add oneself to other people's ignore lists. As it is, you have to go to all that trouble to annoy them repeatedly until they block you.

Simon

@NeuM said:
Maybe he could've used a little Dale Carnegie and then the billion dollar riots, looting, arson and murders which swept the country afterward could've been avoided.

I think the person who could have used "a little Dale Carnegie" is Officer Chauvin, not Mr. Foyd.

Decent, law abiding cops must be so pissed with Chauvin.

kidslow

@Simon said:
I could never get my head around why Officer Chauvin felt the need to do that? Was that explained in the trial? Anyone?

It was never explained at trial.

Might I add that those who blame the victim are using a standard deflection to downplay the appalling actions of a terrible police officer who deserves to be behind bars. I would go so far as to call him a sociopath. A jury of his peers found Chauvin guilty at trial, despite the best lawyers the FOP could buy.

Wrlds2ndBstGeoshredr

@Not1Iota said:

@wim said:

@0tolerance4silence said:
I know @Michael has better things to develop, but a more efficient way to ignore would really be useful.

I'm curious what isn't efficient about the current system. Just click on the name to open the profile, tap the down arrow just to the left of the profile picture, then select ignore.

I’d appreciate the number of accounts you can ignore being increased.

Also the ability to ignore a thread or category would greatly improve the experience. This platform is definitely antiquated and in need of an update.

Are these things achievable @Michael?

Really? I’m not filtering anyone and have no problem enjoying the forum. I didn’t even know there were more than fifty regular posters, much less more than fifty people so terrible they require software filtering. In fact, this forum is the least combative place on the Internet (that allows free discussion anyway) and the few fight threads are usually very easy to identify and not open.