The Almost God-Like Power of AI

Or is that of the BBC? 6/18/26 Houston Chronicle:

International visitors to Houston this summer are enjoying the full splendor of the Bayou City, from Houston's iconic stadiums to its sprawling gas stations, to its delicious beer and barbecue.

One international news outlet added one other feature to Houston during its broadcast of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Wednesday: majestic mountains.

No, that's not a typo. BBC, the British news outlet, hosted a World Cup studio show on Wednesday shortly after the completion of DR Congo's 1-1 draw against Portugal in the second 2026 World Cup match held at Houston Stadium. The studio show broadcast an AI-generated image of Houston's skyline in the background as analysts discussed the match, featuring a largely accurate depiction. One issue with the AI image? The left side of the screen was adorned with rolling foothills and mountains, depicting a scene more fit for Los Angeles, Salt Lake City or Phoenix than Houston.

This is a problem at two levels: the misuse of AI (although an ordinary green screen can also be manipulated to have this effect) and a reminder of how little BBC, often considered a good standard for news media, cars about truth. 

My wife's great concern about AI is is power to deceive.  If young people were receiving adequate educations, this would be less of a problem.  Seeing the Apollo 11 footage with a tiny set of McDonald's arches, or more realistically with a microphone boom shadow in the foreground, will deceive many 

Incremental Progress to GOTO

Every night, I learn something new. Tonight, it was that having adjusted the polar axis to the right latitude, the locking bolts need to be tightened.  These are either M8 or M10 Allen wrenches and my garage is too chaotic preparing to move to find my metric Allen wrenches at this hour. 

From The Blazing World

This history of the English Civil Wars is approaching the end as we approach the Glorious Revolution. A brief mention of Seth Ward: "he studied at Cambridge where, in fulfilling the rather bizarre role as official university jester, he so offended the vice chancellorthat he was temporarily suspended." (p. 355)  

I do not know if this is bizarre. Many professors at Poison Ivy League schools are hard to distinguish from jesters already. 

Balancing the Budget by Dealing With Fraud?

6/21/26 New York Post:

A fugitive accused of running a $1.2 billion Medicare fraud conspiracy has been captured overseas and returned to the United States, becoming the second suspect taken into custody from the FBI’s new “Most Wanted Fraudsters” list.

Federal officials said Herbert Leon Kimble, 60, was arrested in the Philippines after allegedly evading authorities for nearly two years.

Prosecutors said Kimble operated a healthcare fraud scheme that generated more than $1.2 billion in Medicare charges and affected thousands of beneficiaries, many of them elderly.

Authorities said the operation used call centers to steer patients toward medically unnecessary orthopedic braces.

Kimble pleaded guilty in 2019 to multiple federal offenses, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, healthcare fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, making false claims and offering kickbacks and bribes.

Okay, I know it is only a billion dollars, but to paraphrase Sen. Dirksen, "A billion here, a billion there, after a while it adds up to real money." 

Outrageous (Earned) Weslth Produces Outrageous Envy

People who type for a living and have never created anything technological are envious that someone who can getsabsurdly rich.

If they had not transed his son, he would not have broken their rice bowls. Immorality has consequences. 

Belarus

6/26 Council on Foreign Relations reminding of the supposed incompetence of the Trump Administration in foreign policy:

For the past year, the Trump administration has been slowly renewing relations with Belarus, partly to enhance that country’s autonomy and thus diminish Russia’s ability to use Belarus to pressure NATO’s eastern flank. The warming fits a broader pattern of U.S. outreach to Armenia and Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus and to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia, also with the goal of restricting Russia’s influence. But Washington needs to tread carefully. The challenge is to reduce Russia’s sway over Belarus without provoking Russia to formally annex the country, while preparing for that eventuality regardless.

Russian annexation would be an admission that Putin does not trust Lukashenko to be his puppet. Nor should he. Belarus' army is woefully inadequate compared to Ukraine. Belarussian reliance on Russian air defense systems after the last few days of wildly successful attacks on Russian petroleum refineries should be a hint that directly going to war with Ukraine might end badly for them. To quote Lukashenko:

In the interview, the leader went into great detail and spoke very frankly about this position.

“First, Belarus is highly vulnerable militarily should Ukraine begin attacking Belarus in the same manner it attacks Russia (we recognize this reality, so we have no desire to engage in war). Belarus is laid out like an open palm before the Ukrainian military. We are fully aware that our critical life-support systems, production facilities, and logistics hubs would come under attack. They have stated, they have already identified 500 such targets on the territory of Belarus.,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Second reason, the head of state continued, is that the Belarusian people hate wars: “We have already suffered enough throughout our history; we understand that many of our military personnel would die. For what? Why should they die?”

Third reason: if Belarus joined the war, the front line would be extended significantly. “If Russia were to attack Kiev from Belarusian territory, the front line primarily for Russia (and naturally for us) would be extended by 1,500 km along the Belarusian-Ukrainian border,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “We and the Russians would be unable to defend this sector.” 

What a Shocker: Racial Discrimination is Illegal

6/18/26 College Fix:

The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down a state-funded scholarship program Thursday that awarded financial aid to college students based on certain racial categories — a decision that drew praise from conservative legal groups.

Dan Lennington, an attorney at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which represented taxpayers in the case, celebrated the ruling as a “major win.” 

“Wisconsin Supreme Court holds that [Gov. Tony] Evers Admin cannot offer scholarships based on race. This is a huge win for equality & provides a ROADMAP for Wisconsin Taxpayers to challenge many other programs worth BILLIONS,” he wrote on X. 

Sarah Parshall Perry, an attorney and vice president of Defending Education, also praised the ruling in an X post Thursday.

“The way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,” Perry wrote. “Wisconsin got the message. Their Supreme Court just ruled the governor cannot administer scholarship opportunities based on race.”

 This is a sensitive subject for me because when I graduated from high school 27th in a class of about 1000, it seemed as though poor white kids were outside the scope of what university knowledge. I had a classmate of East Indian origin, back when East Indians were considered a victim group, who ended up with a full-ride scholarship to one of the Poison Ivy League universities.

If scholarships are awarded based on poverty or socioeconomic class, this will still award a lot to blacks and Hispanics, but not Robert L. Johnson's kids.