Troy

When anything really good is made, music, books, ideas, discoverability is the problem. The last time I looked cardi b and Meghan the stallion topped the rap charts. I doubt anyone serious about rap would consider their music the “best.” i used to tell an poster (from long ago), @CDBurns, that there isn’t any good rap music today, and he would say essentially the good stuff is under ground it is not the stuff you heard in the hot 97s and the power 99s. Cream does not rise to the top. the stuff with the most money behind it does. Currently, in the book world, Heaven and earth grocery store is outselling all other black novels by a wide margin—the next 5 books combined don’t come close. But I don’t know a single black person who has read the book that likes it.

Oh, OK. I kept going back trying to figure it which photo Chevdive was about. When Ms-77-looks-like-35 can make a baby I’ll be impressed. note if this was posted in the black excellence forum, I works have kept that comment to myself 😉

In a few days it will be the 54th anniversary of the Kent State massacre. While I can't speak for the motivations of the individual protestors, considering the number of Black boys killed in the Vietnam "conflict," these protests disproportionately benefited us. @ProfD, I don't know if the protests are staged. That is a cynical, but understandable, perspective. @aka Contrarian, It could be that the information you've consumed regarding the protests are biased in such a way to lead to a "false ring" feeling. It could also be that these protests are unsustainable, when the semester ends the kids will go home. sort of the way the Black Lives Matter protests when home after the end of the pandemic... I don't think the protests are staged and I think the participants are, largely, sincere in their protests.

The reality is that I'm largely defenseless against a direct malicious attach 😞

@Delano simply "educated" is sufficient. We have been filled with propaganda. We've been taught what to think, not how to think. This is getting worse. On this conversation I tend to agree more with @aka Contrarian part of this is my bias to intelligent elders. When I encounter such individuals. I generate reevaluate my positions, for experience is a great teacher. But back to @nels question: Since there were no specific predictions, it is not possible to provide an adequate answer. If Nels was talking about a race war, a collapse of the US government, sea level rise, the Rapture, I'd say yeah, we are prepared, simply because we have survived everything else hurled our way 😉

I've spoken about this subject with several current educators and the verdict is largely the same, were have lost a generation of students and we are in for a "shit-show" (my phrase based upon what I've heard). Our reaction to the pandemic has made an existing problem FAR worse. In one school system students are 5 grade levels behind upon graduation and are being pushed out the door with a meaningless diploma. My information is purely anecdotal, bit one sister I spoke with was apoplectic over the situation in her system. It was also a community in which gun violence, already high, is increasing (that was a correlation I made later). If we chose to fight, for the Palestinians, for reparations, against Trump, for lowering carbon admissions, for the right for abortions, for universal health care, or to save the whales, none of it will really matter if our population is dumb and ignorant.

Vox also explains how they get made. “It’s partly AI, partly a get-rich-quick scheme, and entirely bad for confused consumers.“ The internet, though, has always been a safe harbor for those with plans to innovate that pesky writing part out of the actual book publishing. On the internet, it’s possible to copy text from one platform and paste it into another seamlessly, to share text files, to build vast databases of stolen books. If you wanted to design a place specifically to pirate and sleazily monetize books, it would be hard to do better than the internet as it has long existed. Now, generative AI has made it possible to create cover images, outlines, and even text at the click of a button. If, as they used to say, everyone has a book in them, AI has created a world where tech utopianists dream openly about excising the human part of writing a book — any amount of artistry or craft or even just sheer effort — and replacing it with machine-generated streams of text; as though putting in the labor of writing is a sucker’s game; as though caring whether or not what you’re reading is nonsense is only for elitists. The future is now, and it is filled with trash books that no one bothered to really write and that certainly no one wants to read. Read the full article ▶

Bots have been dominant on the web for a very long time. We know most of the posts on Twitter is generated by bots. Now that AI has demonstrated its power, things will just get worse, The following is a bot generated post which originated from a foreign language. I've seen spam before, but this is absolutely terrible. This type of crap regularly shows up on Richard's Blog. It does not get displayed live, but periodically I delete this stuff from the server. Guest Scottdiumb Posted 5 hours ago · IP · Hidden - Member is in a group which requires approval for all content. As someone who straight tried CBD like [url=LINK DELETED]cbd melatonin sleep gummies[/url] representing the at the outset time, I requirement bruit about I'm genuinely impressed! I've been hearing about CBD in place of a while on occasion, but I was a bit skeptical less how it would feign me. I decided to try a niggardly administer of CBD fuel to reflect on if it would serve with my persistent mix with pain and nervousness, and the results were more reliable than I anticipated. There are also spam member sign ups. I'm sure more than 90% of new signups are spam. I know some of the names below look legit, but there were other tells that indicated these are accounts would have been used to deposit spam on our forums. This is a recent list. Even Google serves spammy advertisements. The Big red "Next" on the screen shot below is an advertisement being served by Google. Of course, it is designed to trick the visitor into clicking the ad. Google will penalize website for this type of thing and bury them in search, but Google is happy to take money and allow advertisers to use this trick. Google used to make it easy to hide ads you did not like... not anymore 😞

honestly, I’m really not paying that much attention however, I was not aware that Israel was trying to claim Gaza. I walked by the campus recently. It was locked down. People had to show IDs to enter the grounds where normally is completely open to the public. The sign said that was due to an event… @ProfD similarly the house in the Senate quickly garnered by partisan support to ban TikTok or at least get China to sell it. some argue that this too is a free speech issue. Speech has never been free or protected by the government that has always been a pretense. if they don’t like what you’re saying, they figure out how to shut you down. Let some young black man try mouthing off to white trooper here in the south. Let’s see how far free speech gets them. All the recent book banning should tell you something about hire we feel about free speech. Whatever the government is doing their motivation, I’m sure, is to protect interests the ultra-rich both abroad and domestically.

@Chevdove, people do stupid things things over the world every single day. We don’t need to know about any of of, for it is of little consequence. The problem with sharing this stuff is it leads people to draw faulty conclusions about the entire group as if those idiots are representative of the entire group of Jews. it is no different than the media’s bias to black dysfunction and how white peoples think all black people must be like that. @ProfD I don’t have a problem with Black individuals picking a side. Have any black organizations picked a side?

Me neither. i wonder Who the brother with the cigarette is.

I don’t Look at the Israeli Palestinian conflict as a racial one. There are Black people on both sides of the conflict. What does appear to be true is that that Hamas’ initial attack on the Israel was brutal and Israeli reaction is over-the-top. I won’t pretend to understand the source of the strife, partially religious, partially tribal, but clearly very violent. Why should domestic Black people be overly invested in either side of the conflict, when we have our own immediate problems to deal with right here at home?

The kids in this video are being stupid. I think making us a new story was not a good idea what it does is exactly what the kids wanted to do go viral get a lot of attention which is something that is fueled by people motivated by social media. Similarly, the so-called new outlets looks for this type of thing as it attracts attention by generating outrage, but does little to inform or enlighten. The algorithm which allowed Africa diaspora news to discover this video is, at fault. but this type of crap is amplified then the media outlets, take it and amplify even more My take on this is, yeah some Jewish kids created a stupid racist video. So what? what is news worthy was the Jewish kids that that were murdered in Mississippi fighting for the civil rights of Black people.

what makes you believe we are thinking now 😉 “for now” is the operative phrase for now will probably not be as long as you think. That would seem to make sense, but what appears to be happening is we have more followers people who are more easily manipulated by the information they consume rather than using it to develop better and more sound ideas @aka Contrarian thank you. you are, as people in some circles would say, blessed 🙂 Do you think someone in your position 75 years ago would’ve been less well off? You are old enough to have been able to witness this, a time before personal computers, cell phones, televisions, and maybe even plush recliners. You are in the last generation of people old enough to have known someone who was formerly enslaved. Did I ever ask you if you did?

@ProfD Transportation: Planes fly themselves (for all practical purposes). The trains I ride in many places are fully automated, and self-driving trucks are on the roads today as well as self-driving taxis. There are people who will never stop working. I'm one of them. People are addicted to their phones. I have to be very intentional on how I used my phone in order to avoid becoming addicted to it. Itis a great tool, so I'm not getting rid of it but I have to be careful with it. I OFTEN see men at urinals one hand on their penis and the other on their phone?! These dudes usually leave the bathroom without washing their hands. How many of us know someone who has dropped their phone in the toliet by accident. People can't even drop a deuce without their phone. @Delano I don't read a daily newspaper anymore (1) they are very expensive and (2) they are not as widely available as they once were. You used to be able to buy a newspaper or get a free like the Village Voice or Newsday one in most subways stations, but those days are long gone...

The idea that these companies are so wealthy (and desperate) for data that buying on of the world's largest publishers is on the table boggles the mind. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/06/technology/tech-giants-harvest-data-artificial-intelligence.html "At Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, managers, lawyers and engineers last year discussed buying the publishing house Simon & Schuster to procure long works, according to recordings of internal meetings obtained by The Times. They also conferred on gathering copyrighted data from across the internet, even if that meant facing lawsuits. Negotiating licenses with publishers, artists, musicians and the news industry would take too long, they said."

@Delano that’s true and with AI you can solve even more difficult problems, which is more rewarding. @ProfD it is artificial intelligence, so while AI can tell you how to do something, Artificial labor will probably take a bit more time, unless you are a truck driver 😉

🙂 you don’t consider graphic novels, literature? A day or two later, I did put it in the culture section but only because I wanted people to see the video.

You just now getting around to asking that question @frankster?

Mecca is a place that draws many people. I don't understand how you are defining "non phenotypical racial groups." By definition races are based upon phenotype. NYC is becoming a city for the wealthy and most of these people are white. Middle class and poor people are leaving, and a disproportionate number of these people are Black. Cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, et al, are becoming a Mecca for Black people in much the same way Harlem was one a century ago.

Sorry in my haste I made a mistake. @Pioneer1 wrote that the following is sufficient to make you a Christian. The point I was trying to make is being brought up by Christian parents does not make one a Christian, you have to be “saved.” You must profess acceptance of Christ and be baptized. That is what I was taught in the Baptist church, but of course there are more denominations of Christianity than I can name and they are all practice differently. But as it’s always the case, it is a waste of time trying to Expose @Pioneer1 to anything different to what he already believes. I don’t think he’s ever changed his position on anything. This makes it impossible for one to learn new things. It was pointed out that Christianity has a basis in Africa, and despite all the evidence to this pioneer rejects this outright. I know a lot of us grew up with the portrait of the white Jesus hanging in our homes. I bet Pioneer still has his hanging up. and that’s cool with me if he brings him solace.

Harlem was a Mecca for black people but this was fleeting and these sort of things changes over time. NYC has been a Mecca for write people for a few hundred years now, I don’t see it changing in the next hundred. NYC’s population is on the decline. The decline in black people, as a percentage of population, is even greater. I see this continuing perhaps accelerating for sometime too. We are in the midst of a reverse migration out of the north to the south.

isn’t it though? If you are an upper middle class white person in New York City you can take advantage of everything it has to offer live anywhere you like, and benefit from all the explicit and implicit cultural biases. obviously, they have every intention on maintaining this. they take over of Harlem from Central Park moving north is evidence of this. I think we will see in our lifetime dismantled or privatization of all of the housing projects running from the East river to Lenox Avenue between 112 and 110th St.

I noticed that too @Delano. On some level, that imperfection made her more human 🙂 I know it’s too late to ask because you know the answer but if I didn’t say anything, would you have suspected for a split second at this was all generated by AI?