The Weekly Whatever: Kenny's Logins
Updates
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US National Eating Disorder Association, which replaced its crisis helpline staff with a chatbot after they unionized, discovers that the chatbot has been offering weight loss advice.
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Another tourist in Hawaii follows GPS directions and drives into the harbor.
Artificial stupidity
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Texas A&M professor asks ChatGPT if it wrote his students’ final assignments. It assures him that it did, so he gives them all a failing grade.
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German Lutherans attend a church service written and delivered by ChatGPT.
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“OpenAI’s plans according to [CEO] Sam Altman”… “This content has been removed at the request of OpenAI.” Now that’s openness.
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OpenAI says it may have to stop doing business in the EU if it’s required to admit where it got its training data from. More fantastic openness there.
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Lawsuit states that ChatGPT has made libelous claims. Who is responsible?
Technology
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Instagram’s algorithms are promoting pedophile networks.
Pride
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NYPD cars are decorated with pride rainbows and the slogan All Colors Are Beautiful. Neat slogan, I wonder if they’d consider shortening it to an acronym?
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Grace Jones hula-hoops for 6 minutes while performing the whole of the song “Slave to the Rhythm”.
Law and order
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Chicago cop got out of traffic tickets by saying his girlfriend stole his car — 44 times.
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An NYPD traffic cop decides that “Get Out of Jail Free” cards are corrupt and refuses to ignore lawbreaking by bearers. The police union tells him he’ll be reassigned if he writes tickets for people with cards. Reprisals and lawsuits ensue.
Business
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DuPont knew that Teflon was toxic in 1961, but went ahead and sold it for use on food preparation surfaces anyway. One small crack can release 9,100 particles of PTFE.
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Mass shootings finally prove too much for one gun shop owner’s conscience.
Science
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Scientists have a new theory about why monkeys spank the monkey.
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Any pattern in Conway’s Game of Life can be built using 15 gliders.
Politics
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Rhode Island Republican councillor who was found passed out in his car with a crack pipe in his hand is arrested again, this time for child molestation.
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Indicted and impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says that Trump would have lost Texas if Republicans hadn’t managed to prevent people from voting by blocking distribution of mail-in ballots.
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Republicans are pulling states out of the system that checks for people illegally voting in more than one state.
Transport
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Texas vehicles will no longer have to pass annual safety checks, but you’ll still have to pay the fee.
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Maryland license plates now advertising an online casino in the Philippines.
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Vancouver cyclist recovering after crashing into a bear.
Reasonable people
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Indian government official has a reservoir completely drained so that he can retrieve his phone, after dropping it in the water while taking a selfie.
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The Bible is removed from Utah elementary and middle schools over its vulgarity and violence.
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Racists are review-bombing “The Little Mermaid”, upset with the notion that a mermaid might be Black.
Environment
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State Farm announces that it’s no longer going to offer home insurance in California, because global warming means wildfires are too likely. Florida homeowners can expect another 40% increase in their premiums for this year.
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Greenhouse gas emissions are at an all-time high.
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That biodegradable plastic used for single-use utensils? Yeah, that’s going to end up in the ocean’s garbage patches too. And probably in rainfall as well.
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Scientists conclude that it’s too late to save the Arctic’s summer sea ice.
Permademic
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China’s new COVID wave is expected to hit 11 million cases per week.
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Someone in Ohio has been shedding incredible quantities of an unknown COVID variant for 2 years.
$8chan
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Los Angeles DA’s office quits Twitter over homophobic abuse.
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Elon confirms that anti-trans abuse is definitely allowed; the company’s new head of trust and safety resigns. So does the head of brand safety and ad quality.
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Research confirms that Twitter now refuses to act on 99% of complaints about hate posted by subscribers — pay for a blue checkmark and you can be racist or antisemitic without consequence.
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Anti-harassment tool Block Party is forced to leave Twitter because of API fees.
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Elon considers disallowing blocking after Andy “Milkshake Boy” Ngo complains that people keep blocking him.
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Twitter ad revenue is down 59% year to year, and the company is now #4 on the list of most hated brands in America.