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Italy Plans to Send Anti-Migrant Military Mission to Niger
Welcome to Your Future: An Inspiring Holiday Message
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Out of boredom, I did a Google News search for "arcology". This was the lone result:
Paolo Soleri accused of sexual abuse by daughter
No serious arcologies have been built despite decades of research/advocacy. Various projects have been proposed but not realized:
Crystal Island
Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid
Dubai City Tower
Sky City 1000
X-Seed 4000
But the dead stiff Paolo Soleri is now just another #MeToo rapist. Is disinterment on the table?
In the future, there will be no arcologies. Soleri's ideas have been celebrated and studied, and others have proposed arcologies, but there will always be pesky obstacles like a global financial crisis, lack of lengthy carbon nanotubes, or the threat of terrorism. If you put one million people in a single building, the incentive to find the one or handful of weak spots becomes that much greater. Because more kills = higher score. Instead of arcologies, expect more apps and socially-conscious VR.
If we don't see nukes flying in every direction, we'll get to experience new and exciting wars soon. Perhaps right here on American soil. They'll be fought with bioweapons, maybe some directed energy weapons, and Hackaday-chique explosives powered by 3D printing and Raspberry Pis. American ingenuity is not dead: it has to kill America first.
A select few elites may be able to escape the carnage. The Musky One will soon have four spaceports from which to launch his escape vehicle to Mars. Why else would he plan for 2024 when everyone else is talking about 2035? He saw the writing on the wall and wants to print his "Get Out of Judgment Day Free" card ASAP. Assuming Muskman survives the journey, he will live in a cave on the side of a cliff as the free market's chosen God-Emperor of the Red Planet. The ratio of women to men will be around 10 to 1, if not 50 to 1. You can guess what comes next. Homo sapiens sapiens erectus muskii.
So as you celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, or New Year's this season, take a look at the people around you. Look for the pressure points, the joints, and any visible signs of weakness that could be exploited. Do so reflexively. Make a higher level of paranoia your new normal. Become more ascerbically cynical and distrustful than you already were as a SoylentNews reader. Get ready for mankind's final adventure, a global battle royale with no winners.
Miss America on Life Support
The Miss America Emails: How The Pageant’s CEO Really Talks About The Winners
In late August 2014, the CEO of the Miss America Organization, Sam Haskell, sent an email to the lead writer of the Miss America pageant telecast, Lewis Friedman, informing him of a change he wanted to make in the script: “I have decided that when referring to a woman who was once Miss America, we are no longer going to call them Forever Miss Americas....please change all script copy to reflect that they are Former Miss Americas!” Friedman replied, “I’d already changed “Forevers” to “Cunts.” Does that work for you?” Haskell’s short reply came quickly: “Perfect...bahahaha.”
[...] In December 2014, Friedman emailed Haskell to offer his condolences on the death of former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley, writing, “So sorry to hear about Mary Ann Mobley” The subject line of Friedman’s email read: “It should have been Kate Shindle.” Haskell replied, “Thanks so much Coach...even in my sadness you can make me laugh...how was the Kennedy Center Honors? Love you and appreciate you! Sam.”
[...] Haskell and Haddad also appeared to dislike Gretchen Carlson, who won the Miss America title in 1989 and was on the organization’s board of directors for many years. The root cause of their disdain, according to three sources, was Carlson’s push to modernize the organization and her refusal to attack former Miss Americas.
Haskell told Carlson not to have Hagan on her program, according to three sources familiar with the conversation. Carlson refused.
On Aug. 15, 2014, Weidner sent an email to a group of former Miss Americas, including Carlson, about Shindle’s book, saying, “Is it possible for each of you to speak out in defense of Sam and the organization?” Carlson replied, “It’s one thing to talk about your own personal experience as Miss America … but totally different to attack people individually.” Haskell forwarded Carlson’s response to Haddad, who replied to Haskell, “Snake but now u have not doubts as to her loyalty. Makes it easy not to respond. Right?”
Just before Shindle’s book came out, Haddad emailed Haskell and said, “Why don’t u read susan POWELL’s [former Miss America] email on the board call and say it’s a shame that only one miss america who has come forward to offer help in any way.” Haddad was referring to an email Powell had written that was supportive of Haskell. Haskell replied, “Brilliant…..fucking Brilliant!!!! That will drive Gretchen INFUCKINGSANE.” After the email exchange, Haskell did not feature Carlson in the next Miss America broadcast ― an unusual decision given her prominence.
[...] Adams recalled an encounter with Haskell at his home in which Haskell attempted to convince Adams to break up with Hagan and instead date his daughter. Haskell stretched out his arms and told Adams, “All of this can be yours,” ostensibly referring to his Oxford mansion and the family’s money. “You don’t need a piece of trash like Mallory. You need someone with class and money like my daughter,” he said, according to Adams.
[...] In August 2014, Haskell received an email from someone he knew, who said Hagan’s hairdresser in New York had been commenting on Hagan’s sex life while Hagan was living in Los Angeles, as well as her recent weight gain.
Haskell forwarded the email to Friedman saying, “Not a single day passes that I am not told some horrible story about Mallory.” Friedman replied, “Mallory’s preparing for her new career … as a blimp in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade As she continues to destroy her own credibility, her voice will attract less and less notice while she continues her descent to an unhappy pathetic footnote.” Friedman ended the email with, “Ps. Are we four the only ones not to have fucked Mallory?” Haskell replied and said, “It appears we are the only ones!”
Miss America CEO suspended over leaked emails revealed in story he calls 'unkind and untrue'
rDT summoned.
Holiday Recipes
Humanoid Robot Can Exercise and Break a "Sweat"
[Put here because it isn't substantially different than when the story ran last year.]
A robot designed to resemble the anatomy of a human boy can perform actions such as push-ups and sit-ups, and uses "sweat" to cool its motors:
The design of a new life-size bot named Kengoro closely resembles the anatomy of a teenage boy in body proportion, skeletal and muscular structure, and joint flexibility, researchers report online December 20 in Science Robotics. Compared with previous humanoid robots with more rigid, bulky bodies, Kengoro's anatomically inspired design [open, DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aaq0899] [DX] gives the bot a wide range of motion to perform humanlike, full-body exercises.
Video (37s).
Also at Motherboard.
Previously: "Sweating" Robot can do More Push-Ups
Sexual Harassment in Indonesia's Cosplay Scene
And in other Indonesian news:
Gay Crackdown Continues in Indonesia Despite Court Ruling
Indonesia court jails men for two years over 'gay sex party'
Australian, American, Malaysian arrested in Indonesia's Bali for drugs
Vigilantes Stalk Indonesian Transgender Women
Indonesia is the world's 4th most populous country, behind the United States.
Sex Harassment and the Office Christmas* Party
Holiday Parties Gone Wrong: Careful Where You Hang The Mistletoe
*Holiday Party #WarOnChristmas
Facefook feature - creepy or not?
Well, I sat down at a computer which I haven't used in a long time. More than a year? I'm really not sure when I last logged into Facebook with it. For some reason, I thought I'd click on Facebook. Firefox has my saved password, I should just click and be in. Ooops - I'm not in. It wants me to enter a password, or click the "forgot password" thingy. Well - actually, I didn't want on Facebook very badly. It's far to much trouble to go to my own computer, and retrieve the password. I remember now that I changed the password about a year ago, give or take a little.
NOTE: I did NOT click the button to ask for a new password or anything. I loaded the login page, entered an invalid password, and was redirected back to the login page. End of story - the page was then closed.
So, a few days later - not minutes later, or hours later, but DAYS later - I check my email, and Facefook is offering to log me in. Hmmmm? Fact is, I've logged in, from this computer, since then. I wanted to check up on a group of veterans, and checked their Facebook page.
From: Facebook
Guy, get back on Facebook with one click
Hi Guy,
It looks like you're having trouble logging into Facebook. Just click the button below and we'll log you in.
Get Back on Facebook
If you weren't trying to log in, let us know.
Now, I might understand this email, had I received it within a few minutes of the failed login. The system noticed that someone failed a login, and automatically generated an email - that seems like it might be a "feature". But, this email is days, almost a week, after the fact. WTF? Doesn't look like an automagic script thing to me. Worse, as I say, I DID log in, and check the page that I was interested in, then logged out. That probably should have turned off any automagic actions that the system was working on.
The email APPEARS TO BE from Facefook, but I'm sure as hell not clicking the link provided.
So, who thinks that I'm being phished, and who thinks that Facefook (or someone at Facefook) has chosen to give me some personal attentio? Shit looks weird to me!
Oh, before anyone asks, I'll decline to provide the actual email with identifying information. True, those identifiers are false, but I'd rather not associate them with this, or other accounts using this username, etc.
Episode VIII
So, I went and saw Episode VIII today at noon. I figured, screw opening night; I'll catch it Saturday in the daytime so I don't have to stand in line, fight for elbow room, or listen to a bunch of shitheads talk through it.
tl;dr: I wish I'd just given up on the franchise.
I'm not going to bore you with a lot of detailed analysis because that's not how you watch a movie for enjoyment. I'm just going to tell you it wasn't good and boil the "why" down to the most crucial bit: the dialogue.
If you ripped out the voice track from the movie, rewrote it, and re-recorded it, VIII could have been about as good as VI. As it stands, the dialogue was worse than I or II. Yes, even considering Jar-Jar. After mostly enjoying VII and the much better Rogue One, this was to me the biggest let-down in franchise history.
Final Trump Tax Bill Version Released
The sausage is made. You may now officially commence the bitching that you prepared long before you knew what was in the bill.
