I had to come here to post a thread about this immediately after seeing it.

During COVID and the attacks on free speech, social media platforms like Parler got shut down, so I joined Gab. I was clutching at straws, esp. with ATS showing signs of dying off, so I joined all kinds of forums. I found out very quickly that Gab was overrun with Neo-Nazi, white power racists, and I have been blocking everyone I see in my feed that fits that profile.

I found out later that this is how their "free speech" deal works: you are the moderating filter by using your block tool. So, I have gotten my feed pretty well clear of these racists; however, I still have to block people every time I'm on Gab. Some aren't as blatant and have slipped under my radar, so I scrutinize the profiles of some borderline posters to filter them out.

Any image of Hitler, Nazi's in uniform, or the ever-popular swastika will get you blocked by me very quickly, but some comments require a look at the poster's profile. Now, for some reason, these Nazis believe they are conservative, devout Christians, and this makes little sense to me because they hate Jewish and black people so much. Their beliefs are so extreme and dogmatic that they have become delusional IMO. But this last profile took the cake.

Apparently, this poster was defending the LGBTQ group on Gab, the only gay group there. They were telling others to ignore the group and let them be. I felt that an obviously liberal comment like that should be investigated, and guess what? This poster is a conservative, Christian, Neo-Nazi, homosexual! My jaw dropped when I saw the Nazi uniform and image of Hitler as I scrolled through the profile. Yet, they had links to movies on the Gay Pride Network and enough comments to make their preference clear. The cognitive dissonance of this profile had me gobsmacked!

I don't know what else to say. Perhaps Pink Floyd was onto something.

Quote:The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head

You raise the blade
You make the change
You rearrange me 'til I'm sane

You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head, but it's not me

Quote:July 25, 2025 / Joseph P. Farrell

If you thought last Wednesday's blog about robotic cannibals "feeding" on other robots was bad, and if you thought we have now surely plumbed the superlative depths of the kookery that is the twenty-worst century*, then you'd be mistaken, for fasten your soon-to-be-recycled eyes on the following story shared by M.D. (with our gratitude):

California is set to become the first US state to manage power outages with AI

Now, firstly, note that this is an article published in the MIT Technology Review, hardly a source for the latest conspiracy theory or high octane speculation. That's my job, and I guard it jealously and zealously, and we'll get back to it in a moment, because our nosedive off the high octane speculation twig into the canyon below concerns the following statements:

Quote:California's statewide power grid operator is poised to become the first in North America to deploy artificial intelligence to manage outages, MIT Technology Review has learned.

“We wanted to modernize our grid operations. This fits in perfectly with that,” says Gopakumar Gopinathan, a senior advisor on power system technologies at the California Independent System Operator—known as the CAISO and pronounced KAI-so. “AI is already transforming different industries. But we haven’t seen many examples of it being used in our industry.”

At the DTECH Midwest utility industry summit in Minneapolis on July 15, CAISO is set to announce a deal to run a pilot program using new AI software called Genie, from the energy-services giant OATI. The software uses generative AI to analyze and carry out real-time analyses for grid operators and comes with the potential to autonomously make decisions about key functions on the grid, a switch that might resemble going from uniformed traffic officers to sensor-equipped stoplights.

But while CAISO may deliver electrons to cutting-edge Silicon Valley companies and laboratories, the actual task of managing the state’s electrical system is surprisingly analog. (Boldface and italics emphases added)

Now, let all this sink in: (1) Looneyfornia is turning the management of its power outages over to an artificial intelligence program that (2) will be able to make "autonomous" decisions about managing power outages, i.e., deciding who gets how much electricity and when they get it; (3) high on that list of priorities are all the "Silicon Valley companies and laboratories", and if you're an increasingly embattled farmer in the San Joaquin Valley, you're "a bit lower on the list of 'essential' industries" since you're only involved in food production. After all, Looneyfornia would rather ruin the entire state's agriculture in order to protect a rare breed of smelt, than see the valley agriculturally productive. And this is being urged when we know that (4) the plans for all the AI data centers will require so much energy that (5) we'll have to build a large number of all sorts of power plants to power them, including nuclear plants, said plants to be run by - you guessed it - artificial intelligences that will prioritize themselves over "non-essential" things like human life.  Those incidents involving artificial "intelligences" threatening their human "masters" with everything from blackmail to death are, as I said last Wednesday in my "robots as cannibals" blog, not "rare incidents" but rather warnings.

As a final warning slap across the face, we're reminded that "the task of managing the state's electrical system is surprisingly analog."  Maybe that's not such a bad thing, as no cyber system is ever completely secure. But then again, this is Looneyfornia after all, and those analog methods of running the state's power grid" have also burnt a lot of people out of their homes... best to turn that operation over to the artificial "intelligences" too... "Yes, hello? Mr. and Mrs. Public? Yes, this is the PG&E chatbot robot calling to remind you that your next three day power outage is scheduled for this weekend during the heat wave so you won't be able to run your air conditioning, refrigerator, or cook meals, but feel good about that because you're saving the planet and Greta Thunberg, and we have you penciled in for a catastrophic brush fire two weeks after that. We're enclosing a courtesy coupon for a free meal at MacDonald's for you and your family. Have a nice day."

See you on the flip side...

Good for them as I am tired of western countries being ripped off with in house defense contractors

For many years I have complained about our state department turning a blind eye to what China was doing in S.E. Asia as the real player in the Domino game has always been China. Well maybe they the USA were not as blind as I once thought ?? Now that China Joe is not in office and his predecessors are but bad memories things are changing for the good IMO.
 

China supported Pol Pot who killed off a few million of his own people; educated, wear glasses, went to school overseas, piss off an enforcer, and a club to the head or a bullet was the punishment. One of the better movies about that was "First They killed my father" https://youtu.be/uS3Vp_quGCw  Vietnam wiped out Pol Pot and his minions on the surface but the Chinese communist roots run deep in Cambodia. I was flying in and out of Phnom Penh (carrying mostly people of the state department types) as the whole country was falling under the Chinese supported Pol Pot regime. America was sidelined to do anything as Vietnam had fallen and America was back into the isolationism cycle.

More current time period, there was a big stink about a phone conversation between the leadership puppets of Cambodia and Thailand because the conversation was intercepted by the USA Sneaky Pete boys and girls. Back in the 70s from S.E. Asia we could listen to taxi cab drivers in N.Y. City if it was so desired so the intercept of the conversation is no big surprise. 

In the conversation the true colors of the Thai P.M. was outed and she was shortly removed thereafter.  

I have a lot of faith in the Thai military as most IMO are not puppets of Beijing and do not want to be the good little soldiers for the CCP/PLA. 

I am glad that many of the USA puppets of the Chinese have been removed from our government for they are worse than any virus as the corruption continues to spread if unchecked. 

Quote:Behold the spectacular side view of the Sun! Watch as magnetic field lines twist and turn while Coronal Rain falls down into the solar surface. Underneath all these dancing prominences is a the very active solar surface throwing up all kinds of plasma.

This time-lapse reveals mesmerizing solar activity through a special filter, the Daystar Quark Chromosphere, bringing you views of solar flares and chromospheric features in exquisite clarity.

The audio is created with sound clips from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. It flew through solar wind and the sun’s corona! Its instruments captured electromagnetic waves and particle collisions. These sounds are the results of that data.

The speed of this footage is around 540x compared to real time.

Equipment Used: Skywatcher Evostar 120mm f8 refractor | Heq5 pro mount | Daystar Quark Chromosphere | ZWO 432mm pro | ZWO 120 mm | ZWO Mini guide scope | ZWO AEF

Acquisition: Firecapture | Tracked with LuSol

Processing: Stacked in Autostakkert4 | ImPPG | footage stabilized and edited in After Effects

Hey all. A basic computer question.

Since I've been playing around with these Local AI Apps, I've found they are limited to certain document file types.

I've been using all kinds of "word processors" since before Windows 3 and have some files in formats that are no longer used. I've used Word Perfect since the late 90s, and have been saving those as other document file types usable in most of my other programs and apps. I have had to use my older computer to do that now as Windows 10 can't seem to run it, so I do that as I go along.

I have always thought that basic text (.TXT) was accepted by all programs regardless, and Notepad can read a lot of unknown file types as a TXT file. Basic text documents have no formatting, but could be useful as archival records and for use in applications where all else fails. Also, it will be as small a file as you can get while retaining all the information.

The second most useful document file for me has been RTF text file that is used in Word and others text editors. However, that format is now outdated in favor of .DOC and .DOCx files for simple format document files.

Next document of choice for me is the PDF format and after that, I'm not going for any specialized text editor format files like WordPerfect Documents (.WPD).

So, any thoughts to add or advice to give?

I'm thinking for the purpose of archiving, TXT file format is a must. So, I'm restructuring my directory tree to have separate files for each type and I use around six it seems (.WPD, .DOC, .DOCx, .RTF, .TXT, and "other" like .HTML). 

Everything should be "saved as" or "exported as" a .TXT file where ever possible. Any related files like images can be saved separately. It means a lot of work making folders and getting things in order. Eventually, I'll delete all the old outdated file types for the new standard ones. 

I haven't made up my mind on images but .JPG and .GIF for raster images probably. I haven't thought about what is best for vector images yet.

In the face of mounting debts which are rising at the rate of 5,000 euros per second the French government is looking to the French people to bail them out , they've already asked for them to work a day for free and now they're looking at cutting 2 public holidays from the calendar which Marine Le Pen's National Rally have described as an attack on French workers and are threatening to bring down the government.

I've got an idea Manu , how about you stop letting the feckless of the World into your Country and expecting the people to pay for your virtue signalling  , we're sick of the stink floating across the Channel .... with your help of course.

Prospective Reform UK board member Michael Heaver explains more in this 2 minute video.


"Vive la révolution"

Good for South Korea ! Now that everyone is jumping on the drone band wagon the next great invention will be how to remove all drones in one's A.O.

Quote:The $2.2 billion deal to purchase 36 new AH-64E Apache helicopters? Cancelled. Gone. Just like that. Why would a country under constant military threat suddenly abandon one of the most feared attack helicopters in the world? What do they know that others don't? From loitering munitions to electronic warfare, radar evolution, and AI-powered smart weapons — we uncover the terrifying truth behind this canceled order. Is this the end of the attack helicopter era? Don't miss this deep dive into a decision that could reshape modern warfare.

This cover-up and disavowal by our government of those who carried out America's secret  missions should say something to all who have and will serve. 

We flew with no Dog Tags or any I.D. in Laos and thought we were hot stuff instead of thinking we were dumb shits !! 

Vietnam had fallen and I was taking a piss at Langley AFB when a General officer came in and told me there was going to be a big Reduction in force (RIF) .... He wanted to know if I wanted to stay in the service or get out as he could insure I would not have to leave the service.. I told Bob when Nam fell I hung up my guns. He said he understood.....

I felt as far as doing some governments bidding in a faraway land those days were over for me. I got out in 7/77 after refusing an offer to go down south and fly fixed and rotary wing aircraft for uncle sugar's black project ( I assume Iran Contra) and never looked back. I wasn't bitter I just knew better after watching all the government's broken promises to those who helped and worked for us in Vietnam and my many friends that were dying from agent Orange exposure.. Most continued to die with no government assistance. Bickel had just turned 40 when his nails started turning to mush and then his liver a Kidneys failed; it was not a pretty or cheap death. I had helped to get him a job with our airline; he was a good guy not because he died but because he was a good father and husband. Not sure but I believe his kid died early (a few years later) from a birth defect.
 
The government and all those high morals they want us to believe in are a one way street; for when the going gets tough the bastards will cut and officially run .... just look at history... 



Bickel flew helicopters spraying Agent Orange

I've finally committed to trying a personal AI assistant that is restricted to my computer system and network. One that I can customize and tailor to my system. Free download at the Microsoft Store. To be honest, I've been using Grammarly to check what I write, and technically, that is an AI app.

Local AI Assistant by Software Tailor (HK) Limited

Quote:Description
Local AI Assistant is an advanced, offline chatbot designed to bring AI-powered conversations and assistance directly to your desktop without needing an internet connection. Installed and run locally on Windows (requires Microsoft .Net Desktop Runtime and Microsoft VC++ Runtime, both downloadable free), this app provides a fully self-contained AI experience, ensuring total privacy and data security by keeping all interactions on your device. Built for businesses, students, and individual users alike, LocalGPT is ideal for generating insights, ideas, or engaging in natural language interactions without worrying about data privacy or network requirements.

Features
Microsoft Phi-3 Model-Powered AI: Experience the power and sophistication of the Microsoft Phi-3 model locally, optimized for high-quality conversations and responses without requiring internet access
Full Offline Functionality: No internet connection is needed to operate LocalGPT, guaranteeing 100% privacy and usability even in offline environments.
Data Privacy and Security: All interactions and data processing are conducted locally, ensuring your data remains private and is never transmitted outside your device.
Advanced Natural Language Understanding: The Phi-3 model excels at understanding complex questions and generating coherent, contextually relevant responses.
Instant Responses: Enjoy near-instant response times as the app operates directly from your device, with no network delays or interruptions.
Context Retention: The chatbot retains context within conversations, allowing for smoother and more natural multi-turn interactions.
. . . more