This is a kind of fun human interest story about the first Hispanic woman in space.
She recounts a few stories and shares some accomplishments.
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Third-Party Pin Trading App Blames Meta for AI Ad Altering Creator's Likeness Following $85,000 Legal Demand - WDW News Today
I found this to be an interesting example of the relative dangers of AI. The summary goes a little like this:
A company developed an app for pin trading. They hired an influencer to make a few videos promoting the app. She did and that was that.
Then, she discovered that a version of her was appearing in new ads. There was the obvious problem of AI producing content with her likeness. But there was a secondary issue that the AI had slightly adjusted her likeness to make her appear “more white.”
She asked them to take them down, and it seemingly got contentious. They said it wasn’t them who produced the new ads, and blamed meta for the problem.
So shes suing to get it to stop. In reading through it, it seems meta has this baked into their agreements. They can, will, and do continue to make content without consent of the owner by default. And just who is the owner since she was hired to do ads?
Sunday, September 20, 2026
The Macklemore problem
This … for lack of a better word … nonsense ... surrounding Ed Sheeran and one of his opening acts - Macklemore - is just another example of how messed up we are as a society.
Let me preface this by saying that the entire situation in the middle east as it relates to Israel and Palestine is complex. I don't think there is a "right" answer, and support or distrust of one element doesn't automatically mean that you are taking a stand. And to be clear, no matter what, there is a humanitarian crisis.
So, Macklemore says something. And people lose their minds. Doesn't he have a right to free speech, too? Yes, he has a public forum, and maybe he's abusing it in a way. But IMHO the conversation should be about whether that's the right forum - not whether he should be saying such things. And arbitrating that he's wrong.
Then Robert Kraft got involved, and it blew up. He told Sheeran that "you can't use my stadium" - which is also a complicated statement. The world of professional stadiums is just a mess. Like all stadiums, he took public funds to build it, and continues to get tax incentives and other considerations to continue to operate it. So while he will tell you he owns it, it's not quite that simple since it was a very nebulous "public-private partnership"... I would argue that he's speaking on behalf of the taxpayers who contributed to it. Which just makes this all somehow worse.
In the end, we all just need to settle down. Stop focusing on *what* the guy said and the kneejerk to it (seemingly based on politics by the way) - and focus instead on there being a large humanitarian crisis with no easy answers... but where people are dying based on actions outside of their control, with no way out.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
BASF sues Apple in US, says iPhones infringe face authentication patents | Reuters
The world of corporate intellectual property is always interesting to me.
Here’s a case where BASF created a means to detect people’s faces, and patented it.
And Apple is accused of having stolen it for use in iPhones. They filed suit and the most likely outcome is that Apple winds up licensing it from BASF. Of course it’s also possible they created a new piece of technology, and they get the case dismissed.
But one thing to keep in mind: when Apple first invented the iPhone, much of their camera technology was “likely” infringing on some things Kodak had developed. But Kodak was a little disorganized at that time and also had some financial difficulties. So they chose not to pursue legal action. Thus letting Apple “steal” some of their work (or so would seem).
Never Forget the Space Monkeys That Made It All Possible
Although the stories are not well chronicled, and they aren’t all that well known, monkeys played a critical part in understanding human space flight.
This story summarizes their contributions. I would like to note that among them, Bonnie is perhaps the most interesting one. And that’s because they wanted to study longer term effects in space, but Bonnie’s condition deteriorated rapidly and they had to abort the mission - and this was concurrent with the moon landing. Surely this was a concern among scientists.
And second, the public reaction to using Bonnie in this situation caused nasa to re-think how they handle primates in experimentation.
Farmers let 200 wind turbines go up across their corn ground in Iowa, and instruments in the rows found the crop running a degree and a half cooler by day and up to three degrees warmer at night
Well, would you look at that?
In addition to creating clean (and at least mostly free) energy, the wind turbines have a net positive effect on the crops where they stand.
The still layer is stirred out. Heat leaves faster, moisture leaves faster, and gases exchange with the atmosphere faster in both directions.
A little science, yo!
A flow of air is good for the crops. So in the end we also get better yields.
Why are people opposed to this? Are we that dumb?
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Flocking cameras!
Technology has evolved to the point where cameras and data are all connected to provide surveillance literally everywhere. We are, for all intents and purposes, a police state.
The information is used for some legitimate purposes, but its also misused, too. By organized groups, factions of government, and even what might be considered rogue police officers.
The information is used for some legitimate purposes, but its also misused, too. By organized groups, factions of government, and even what might be considered rogue police officers.
And there's not much we can do to stop this. Sure, there are moves to limit the use of flock cameras, but the companies that run them are working to undo those limits and in some cases to simply re-brand as another name; make no mistake, they're still installing them just with a different logo.
Do you have any idea how many there are in your community? Well, here are some tools to find out. The first is information about how much is being spent and where they are located. The second tracks the details of where they are installed. You can also get a sense of how quickly the number of them is growing.
I live in a small town near Ft. Lauderdale. 5 years ago, we had zero cameras. Today, we have 48! The city and police tell us its for safety. The city was relatively safe 5 years ago - and appears to be about the same today. So please enlighten me on why this surveillance is needed?
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