Anti-AI: Desk Set

My first corporate job was to write code for an antiquated Univac computer relegated to a dedicated room on the second floor of the manufacturing plant where I got hired into.  The computer required, in 1983, IBM punch cards to feed the code into the machine, which then got turned into binary signals stored on giant reels of magnetic tape, to then get fed back into the computer for processing.  I actually loved this work; though I did not have the knack for COBOL, the company had a whole bevy of other hardware where I was able to excel in my coding skills for RPG and micro-computer Basic.  

Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon the 1957 romantic comedy, "Desk Set", starring Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn!  Set in corporate America, with the premise of a mainframe computer coming into the office environment "to free up the staff of their tedious, day to day functions".  LOVED IT!  (Still do!). 

But on hindsight, the movie was a portent... in 1957... of the AI revolution.  Artificial Intelligence was only a concept that came into being just a few years prior to the movie.  I never really gave it much thought until I caught the movies mainframe image as a widget on the YouTube video, "The Machine That Came For Our Jobs".

Almost verbatim, word for word, what was seen on screen is now parroted by the AI drivers.  How the concerns of the ladies in the research office are echoed by today's staff, working to enter the tedious information about their jobs into the AI model.  

I will always have a soft spot for this Tracy / Hepburn classic, but the to realize that 70 years ago, our future was then.

Remarkable!

Rade 

 

Melania's Presser.

 

Spot on!  

Your Daily Meme - The Titanic

RMS Titanic sank on 15 April 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean. The largest ocean liner in service at the time, Titanic was four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States, with over 2,200 people on board when she struck an iceberg at 23:40 (ship's time)[a] on 14 April. She sank two hours and forty minutes later at 02:20 ship's time (05:18 GMT) on 15 April, resulting in the deaths of up to 1,635 people, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. 

The fascinating YouTube channel, "Oceanliner Designs" offered a detailed overview of the final hours of the Titanic.  

Sadly, in our generation, we only have Tech-bros who insist that, because of their money, they have agency over the visiting the site.  On 18 June 2023, Titan, a submersible operated by the American tourism and expeditions company OceanGate, imploded during an expedition to view the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Aboard the submersible were Stockton Rush, the American chief executive officer of OceanGate; Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a French deep-sea explorer and Titanic expert; Hamish Harding, a British businessman; Shahzada Dawood, a Pakistani-British businessman; and Dawood's son, Suleman. 

Please, let the remnants of the Titanic rest in peace.  
 

A working filter...

 

Morning Coffee Roundup - April 14

 Fun things found while savoring my first sip of the morning...

Thank you, Wiley!

 

I know the feeling...

I hope this is a portent of things to come!  

 

And this, too.

(The lightning bolt, that is...) 

 

 

And finally, a few words from the always

enchanting, John Waters. 

The editors at QUEERTY posted an exceptional commentary by the legendary John Waters;

"I don’t know if you saw the picture of me at the No Kings march. My sign said, ‘Trump Ruined Bad Taste,’ and that’s true. It’s not funny anymore. He ended bad taste. There’s nothing fun left about bad taste."  

Pretty much sums up Trump; when the "Prince of Puke" says you're trash, you're trash.  You can read the entire commentary on Queerty. 

I've also felt the same about him when he began popping up on the Manhattan scene in the 1980's.  There was never anything authentic about him other than he was trashy. 

 

Rade 

 

Your Daily Meme

 

Monday

 

 

Thank you, Wiley. 

Sunday Morning Sip

How about a Sunday morning distraction...?

 

 

(sigh)  

 

...but does anyone listen? 

Tax evasion.  Check.

Crime boss.  Check.

Syphilis. Check.

Florida Estate. Check.

Soon... soon... 

...or we could go this route? 

 

Ah-yup. 

 

 

The Church of Unlimited Credit. 

 

Yes, I'm happy. 

Ah-yup. People these days!

 

Even worse when you work alone from home... 

Thank you, Wiley! 

 

 

Why, yes!  

 

You will, anyway.

  Something pretty to round out our Sunday.