#Reprogramming backlogs

[garochetarkinslicersimlish]

Unnecessary cellphones

Unnecessary communications devices

Reprogramming backlogs

Estimated time of completion

Return on investment

Devices too full of information related to devices' locations to perform additional functions

Devices too full of information to perform additional functions

[adultswim2021]

Metalocalypse #36: “Snakes n’ Barrels II” | August 25, 2008 - 12:00AM | S02E16

Well! This certainly is a momentous episode! I guess. Well, it’s the first thirty minute episode, which isn’t nothing. The next season would be presented in the half hour format, I’m guessing in part due to the direct success of this episode. This is sorta the “Fonzie's Getting Married” of Metalocalypse. 

This one is basically about the perils of sobriety. Pickles old band Snakes n’ Barrels gets back together without him. The effects of the dangerous drug they were dosed with in the first Snakes n’ Barrels episode turned all but Pickles into a blank slate, prime for reprogramming. Ricky Kixx, an obnoxious sober rock star (voiced by Mike Patton), happens to be the first guy to waltz into the band’s orbit. He does indeed reprogram them as a “bragging about sobriety” band. Pickles intends to settle the score with them, but they have a restraining order against him. Pickles will have to violate a legal boundary!  

Meanwhile: Ricky Kixx turns out to be a rageaholic who murders one of his assistants after revealing to him that he hates being sober, and considers it to be a terrible prison. He preaches sobriety just to make those around him as miserable as he is. Murderface feels angst from not having his side project PLANET PISS properly registered, and goes apeshit when he finds out Toki registered every planet piss web domain there is as a mean prank. Murderface goes to confront Toki at the Snakes n’ Barrels concert but Toki has gone absolutely mental beating an especially obnoxious straight-edge fan half-to-death. This is during the show’s climax when lingering effects of the drug in the bands' systems cause mass chaos. 

It is time for me to list stuff now. Here are some other things in the episode: Dr. Rockso is in this, no longer a clown and two months sober (give or take). He is eventually tempted by his old clownsona in a series of hallucinations. There is a funny scene where Nathan explosion slaps the vendors at the sober rock show, he just slaps them silly. Uh, that’s only two things, which isn’t really a list. Okay, a third thing: they cut the theme song short for fun. That’s fun! 

I like this episode fine, but I don’t think I loved it. It ends fairly strong, it feels slightly experimental in that we get some longer scenes, like when Dethklok bash their manager’s lamp collection, and a fun aside where Pickles gives his tour of LA. Both of these things would have probably been cut from an 11 minute version of the episode. They’re fun, but I wouldn’t consider these among my favorite scenes in Metalocalypse history. I will forever be curious what an edited-down version of this episode would be like. It will haunt me for the rest of my days.

MAIL BAG

Hello, I am here and I'm nice. Time to answer some messages that the people (my many very real fans) are sending me:

these "tasty tuesdays" have really been running me for a loop

Oh, I don't know... tuesday is tasty to me, but maybe for you? (??)

i log it and there's nothing, every tuesday, for whatever reason. out partying with your friends? hmm? can you at least have a microblog every tuesday about the tastiest thing you had in the past week. people would actually like it. that's the thing.

Okay: for real: My initial post on this blog I basically said "I'm gonna update mostly every day but please don't mind it when I skip a day" and I'm basically exercising that clause right there. But yeah, I have a thing I do on Tuesday nights and I seemingly, no matter what, wind up working later than usual on Tuesday so I almost never have time. I also tend to burn out on the blog when I consciously build up a backlog. Maybe you noticed or maybe you didn't, but MONDAY evenings have sorta become a crapshoot for me lately, too.

Very fun fact: I was going to attempt a Tuesday post last night, and figured I could knock out this episode/write-up very easily, and then put it on and saw it was a double episode instead of the previously-assumed 11 minutes. So I bailed! What could have been!

Also, the elite group of very real hackers who humiliate me by titling my Tuesday posts as some variation of "Tasty Tuesday" have gotten in touch with me and told me that they need more time to come up with new titles. I hate that they are disgracing my blog with their vandalism, but I respect the creative process enough that I feel I must oblige.

Also the tastiest thing I eat each week is always PUSSY

[yessir-rightawaysir]

Can't WAIT to see how you mess up your current scheme, or what new way you'll debase yourself just to cling to life a little bit longer.

My current scheme is going along right on schedule, actually. The Sandblasters discovered that the prototype directed magnetic beam I was building them to solve their little nearby legionnaire problem was a dud, and I've kept the working model for myself. Thanks for all the materials, suckers! I've made an entire starter army of robots and it's time to bail.

They'll discover my network of underground tunnels far too late to catch me.

Although, I'd prefer to not cut escapes so close in the future, fetal positioning inside of my ant lion robot while it burrowed out of the city wasn't exactly fun.

I've got a message backlog, I'll answer some of the shorter ones, I've some time right now:

Anonymous asked:

Strange but true- in at least one zone, YOUR first name is 'Julian'. Weird, no?

What is Robotnik's first name there? Is it just Ivo? Does he not have a middle name there? And what the heck is MY middle name there?

On the subject of names, did you know Colin means "whelp"? Cool name, dad, way to pass that on.

One person in my life had the solution of calling me CJ which I actually kind of liked.

Anonymous asked:

Given your reputation in the world, how do you intend to attract others to your cause?

They'll know a good thing when they see it.

Anonymous asked:

So what drew you to go work for your uncle to begin with??

Ironically I wanted to escape military service. Also he seemed okay back then.

Anonymous asked:

If you could find a reformed version of your uncle, would you work for him?

No.

Anonymous asked:

Wow. From being the punching bag of one big fat machinist with anger issues to another. Some things truly ARE constant, huh?

Well, I'm small and there's tons of these people out there. It's ok, I'm faster than them and smarter.

Anonymous asked:

When you used reprogrammed the ultimate annihilator to kill your uncle. Why didn’t you also have it kill the freedom fighters also. That way no one could stop you from ruling Mobius.

Because that sounds incredibly boring to me. Also, it's just funny that they owe their lives to me. Do you think they ever think about that? In the middle of the night, just wake up like "Wow. Pretty wacky!" I hope so. But, I doubt they ever think about me at all.

Anonymous asked:

What would you say is the worst way that you’ve been injured?

I believe I mentioned that time my arm popped off. Factories are dangerous, kids! I've been stabbed, had various bones broken, shot with so so many lasers, been roboticized, but that arm thing was the worst. Having concussions isn't fun either, I would not recommend it.

[go-redgirl]

Fact Checking Biden’s First Press Conference D'Angelo Gore  17 hrs ago

Neil Gorsuch Couldn’t Stop Complaining About the Rest of the Justices Today

 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: How ‘The Bachelor’ Went Off the Rails Dealing With Racism In his first press conference since being inaugurated 64 days ago, President Joe Biden got some facts wrong Biden claimed that former President Donald Trump “eliminated” over $700 million in aid that Biden helped get for Central American countries. 

That didn’t happen, but the Trump administration did reallocate some money and temporarily suspended other funding.

The president used the wrong statistics when saying that “nothing has changed” regarding “children” trying to enter the U.S. at the southern border. There was a significant 63% uptick in unaccompanied children being apprehended from January to February.

Biden said, “We’re sending back the vast majority of the families that are coming.” But in February, 41% of those in a family unit apprehended at the southern border were expelled.

The president said “over 50%” of Republican voters supported the American Rescue Plan Act. Some polls show that but others show a majority opposed the COVID-19 relief legislation.

He repeated two familiar talking points on taxes, including the misleading claim that “83%” of the benefits in the GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are “going to the top 1%.” That only becomes the case in 2027 when most of the individual income tax cuts are set to expire but corporate tax cuts remain.

Biden got it wrong when he said there were five times as many cloture motions “last year alone” than there were “between 1917 and 1971.” There were twice as many motions filed last year than there were from 1917 through 1970.Biden took questions from reporters on March 25.Aid to Central America Biden falsely claimed that his predecessor “eliminated” and “didn’t use” more than $700 million in funding to address migration from Central American countries that Biden helped secure when he was vice president.

“They’re coming because of the circumstances in country, in country,” Biden said of the thousands of people who are illegally entering the U.S. through Mexico. “The way to deal with this problem, and I started to deal with it back when I was … vice president, putting together a bipartisan plan of over $700 million to do the root causes of why people are leaving. What did Trump do? He eliminated that funding. 

He didn’t use it. He didn’t do it. 

”Biden appeared to be referring to funding for the “U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America,” which was as high as $750 million during the Obama administration in fiscal year 2016. It’s true that the annual budget for that initiative declined significantly during Trump’s presidency, but it wasn’t completely “eliminated” or unspent, as Biden said. According to the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research arm of Congress, appropriations for the program declined to $685 million in FY 2017, $615 million in FY 2018, $528 million in FY 2019, $533 million in FY 2020 and $506 million in FY 2021.

Biden may have been referencing money that Congress authorized for use in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that the Trump administration either reallocated to other initiatives or temporarily suspended in 2019.As a January CRS report said: “From FY2016 to FY2020, Congress appropriated more than $3.1 billion to improve security, governance, and socioeconomic conditions in Central America as part of a whole-of-government initiative to address the drivers of irregular migration.

 However, in March 2019 — less than two years into the initiative’s on-the-ground implementation — the Trump Administration suspended most foreign aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Administration proceeded to reprogram approximately $396 million of aid appropriated for the Northern Triangle countries in FY2018, reallocating the funds to other foreign policy priorities within, and outside of, the Latin American and Caribbean region.

”The report indicated that the Trump administration “withheld most of the assistance Congress appropriated for Central America in FY2019 while it negotiated a series of agreements intended to stem the flow of migrants and asylum-seekers from the Northern Triangle to the United States.” As a result, the report said, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development were forced to close down or cancel some projects and planned activities.

But CRS also said that — amid criticism from members of Congress who argued the funding freeze was counterproductive — aid to the Northern Triangle countries that was previously held back began to be released late in 2019, and “all of the previously suspended assistance for the region” had been “programmed” by June 2020.Immigration: Unaccompanied Children

Biden used the wrong statistics when saying that “nothing has changed” regarding “children” trying to enter the U.S. at the southern border. To be sure, there have been spikes before in unaccompanied children arriving at the border, but the uptick in Biden’s first full month in office was significant.

Biden: Truth of the matter is nothing has changed. As many people came, 28% increase in children to the border in my administration. 31% in the last year of – in 2019, before the pandemic, in the Trump administration. It happens every single solitary year. There is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months of January, February, March.

Biden’s figures don’t pertain to an “increase in children to the border,” as he said. Instead, they pertain to the total number of apprehensions at the border — including single adults and family units. Those figures were cited in a Washington Post opinion piece by immigration experts who, similar to the president, said the rise in total apprehensions reflected “a pattern of seasonal changes,” in which immigrant apprehensions increase in the cooler months of the year.

We get slightly different figures using Customs and Border Protection data. There was a 29% increase in total apprehensions from January to February, when the level reached 96,974. In 2019, the January-to-February bump was 39%. As we’ve written, the recent increase in border apprehensions did begin prior to the election under then-President Donald Trump. 

But the spike in unaccompanied children in the first full month of Biden’s administration is noteworthy — and, with a backlog of processing those children out of border custody facilities, it’s the main aspect of border immigration that has garnered media and political attention. 

The number of unaccompanied children being apprehended at the border also began rising in October, before the election, but it spiked 63% from January to February, reaching 9,297 kids.

The Washington Post opinion piece noted that the apprehensions of unaccompanied children “appears to be more than just a seasonal pattern. ”CBP data show the fiscal year 2021 numbers of unaccompanied children apprehended are on track to rival or surpass a spike that occurred in 2019.Immigration: Families The president went on to say the “vast majority, the overwhelming majority of people coming to the border and crossing are being sent back,” mentioning “single people.” That’s correct. But then he added, “We’re sending back the vast majority of the families that are coming.” That’s not the case for the month of February, the most recent data from CBP.

The administration expelled 41% of family units in February. (See the figures for Title 42 expulsions.)Single adults, who make up the vast majority of those apprehended on the border, have been largely expelled under Title 42, a public health law. We asked the White House about Biden’s claim, but we haven’t received a response. Polling on American Rescue Plan  Act told Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Biden has gone too far left, the president responded by saying “over 50%” of Republican voters supported the American Rescue Plan Act.

But public polling offers a more mixed reaction among Republicans to the new law than the president lets on. Biden: I would like Republican, elected Republican support, but what I know I have now is, I have electoral support from Republican voters. Republican voters agree with what I’m doing. 

And so unless Mitch says the last thing I did, the last piece of legislation I did was so far left, well, then he ought to take a look at his party. Over 50% of them must be over that edge, as well because they support what I did. This has become a talking point for the president. He stated something similar on March 19, when he said “we didn’t get any help in the Senate or the House, but you have 55% of the Republicans in America supporting it,” referring to the COVID-19 relief bill. For sure, there are polls that show more than 50% of Republicans supported the bill earlier this month when it was before Congress.

A Morning Consult/Politico poll conducted from March 6 to March 8 found 59% of Republicans surveyed said they “strongly support” (29%) or “somewhat support” (30%) the COVID-19 aid package. Similarly, a Data for Progress poll conducted from March 5 to 7 found 54% of Republicans supported the bill. However, other polls found Republican support below 50% — not “over 50%,” as Biden said. A CNN poll from March 3 to 8 found only 26% of Republicans supported the bill (see Table 031).

A Pew Research Center survey from March 1 to 7 found that 41% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they supported the bill. That poll showed a pronounced partisan divide in particular on the cost of the legislation — which was the primary reason for Republican opposition in Congress. Sixty-one percent of Republicans told Pew that the $1.9 trillion bill, which Biden signed into law on March 11, spends too much.

Lastly, we found a CBS News/YouGov poll taken from March 9 to 10 found 46% of Republicans supported the American Rescue Plan Act. “Among Republicans, there is more support for it among those with lower household incomes than among those with higher incomes,” CBS News wrote.

Taxes Comparing his tax priorities to those of Republicans, Biden revived two talking points from the campaign: the misleading claim that 83% of the tax cuts in the Republican tax law championed by Trump went to the top 1%; and the false claim that middle-income families pay a higher tax rate than “the average person making $1 billion a year. 

”Biden said he found it “kind of interesting that my Republican friends were worried” about “the cost” of tax cuts and relief checks in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act. The law, he said, “puts money in people’s pockets. Ordinary people. 

”The law provides an average tax cut to middle-income earners of $3,720 this year, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center. The law also includes stimulus payments for most Americans, and extends unemployment compensation. Biden said he didn’t remember hearing Republicans express similar concerns about the cost of the Republican-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which is projected to add nearly $2 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. “Did you hear them complain when they passed a close to $2 trillion Trump tax cut, 83% going to the top 1%?” 

Biden said. This is a well-worn but misleading claim. As we have written, in order for the legislation to be passed via reconciliation, most of the individual income tax provisions are set to expire by 2027, while the corporate tax cuts would remain, making the tax benefit distribution more lopsided for the top 1% than in earlier years. So, while the top 1% got 20.5% of the total tax benefits in 2018, and 25.3% of the tax benefits in 2025, the share of the total tax savings that accrues to the top 1% in 2027 is 82.8%, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center. Republicans say they expect a future Congress will extend the individual tax cuts, rather than allowing taxes for many to increase, but of course there is no assurance that will happen .Biden went on to claim Republicans “reduc[ed] taxes to a point that people who are making, you know if you are a husband and wife, school teacher and a cop, you’re paying at a higher rate than the average person making $1 billion a year is. Something’s wrong. ”Actually, that claim is wrong.  This is another version of a claim Biden made during the campaign, that the top 1% of taxpayers, on average, pay a lower effective tax rate than middle-income people.

In general, people in higher-income categories pay a higher tax rate. According to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, the top 0.1% — those making over $3,452,300 a year — paid an average federal tax rate of 31.3% in 2019. That’s a higher rate than any other income category below it. By comparison, for example, those in the middle 20% of earners — with an expanded cash income of $50,001 to $87,300 — paid an average federal tax rate of 12.4%, according to the TPC analysis.  Tax Policy Center did not break down its analysis for billionaires, but they would obviously be a fraction of those in the top 0.1%.“On average the top 0.1 percent of income pays more,” Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, told us via email. “Are there outliers? Sure. But would be very rare. ”As Gleckman told us back in 2019, “You can invest all your money in tax-exempt bonds and pay no federal income tax on the interest. Investors can avoid paying tax on capital gains by simply not selling the assets (but they’d also have no income). 

But in general, the federal tax system is very progressive. The more you make, the more you pay. 

”William McBride, vice president of federal tax and economic policy at the Tax Foundation, told us Biden may be referring to an analysis by economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman of the University of California at Berkeley that concluded the average effective tax rate (for federal, state and local taxes) paid by the richest 400 families in the U.S. was 23%, slightly lower than the 24.2% rate paid by the bottom half of American households.

notes, however, that the Saez/Zucman data “excludes refundable tax credits so that the tax burden is overstated at the lower end of the income spectrum. When they are included, average effective tax rates for federal taxes go from 3.3% for the lowest quintile up to 30.3% for the top 0.1% (about 120,000 households).”McBride said the Saez/Zucman estimates for the top 400 households “rely on their assumptions about returns imputed from underlying wealth and income shares, which have been challenged by other economists like Gerald Auten and David Splinter. 

They find that the top 0.01 percent (a bit more than the top 400) paid an average combined tax rate of nearly 50 percent in 2018.”In a post challenging some of the methodology of the Saez/Zucman report, Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center said that while it is true that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “cut the taxes of high earners by more on average than for low- and moderate-income households, as a share of after-tax income,” that doesn’t mean, as a Washington Post headline put it, that “billionaires paid a lower tax rate than the working class. ”Cloture Motions Even though he pulled a card out of his pocket to read aloud statistics on the rise in cloture motions, Biden got the numbers wrong.

 Biden: That it used to be that from between 1917 and 1971, the filibuster existed, there were a total of 58 motions to break a filibuster, that whole time. Last year alone, there were five times that many. So it’s being abused in a gigantic way. Cloture motions are filed to set a time limit on debate and bring a bill to the floor for a vote. The motion must receive 60 votes to pass — not a simple majority.

The Senate website lists all cloture motions since 1917, when the Senate first adopted the cloture rule. We counted a total of 58 from 1917 through 1970, the figure Biden cited. But last year alone there were 118 — which is more than double 58, not five times greater.

It appears that the president meant to say in the last Congress — not “last year alone.” In 2019 and 2020, which was the 116th Congress, there were 328 cloture motions filed — which is more than five times the motions filed from 1917 through 1970.But cloture motions aren’t necessarily filed “to break a filibuster,” as Biden said. That used to be the primary use, but not in modern times — a fact noted in a Congressional Research Service report on filibusters and cloture motions.

“In recent times, by contrast, Senate leadership has increasingly made use of cloture as a normal tool for managing the flow of business on the floor, even when no evident filibuster has yet occurred,” the CRS report said. “It would be erroneous to assume the presence or absence of cloture attempts is a reliable guide to the presence or absence of filibusters.

 ”Also, both parties are responsible for the escalating use of cloture motions. 

There were 504 filed in six years (2009-2014) when the Democrats were in control, and 657 in six years (2015-2020) when the Republicans were in charge.

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The post FactChecking Biden’s First Press Conference appeared first on FactCheck.org.

_______________________________________________________

OPINION:  Joe Biden need to be “Fact Checked every time he makes a Statement or comment about anything that he says!

[w-ht-w]

Replacing Guilt: half monkey, half god (3)

You’re allowed to become (completely) different, whenever it suits you. Don’t worry about giving others whiplash.

Accept that you are different each day, recognizing it for the gift that it is.

Be a new homunculus

Close your eyes, and pretend you're arriving in this body for the very first time. Open them and do some original seeing on this person you now are. Rub your hands together, look around, and take stock of your surroundings. Do some internal checks to figure out what this body values, to figure out what it is you're fighting for. Check the catalog of plans and upcoming actions. Check the backlog of memories and obligations.

There will probably be some housecleaning to do: ... the old homunculus that you replaced probably let a bunch of useless tasks accumulate without realizing it. As a new homunculus you have the privilege of pruning the things that obviously need pruning. 

It can be quite liberating to be a new homunculus, without any obligation to propagate the errors of the old one. ... the new homunculus has no reason to honor the old homunculus' sunk costs.

The best action for the new homunculus to take, usually, is to check what regretted action caused the guilt, check what pattern of behavior led to the regretted action, mark down a note about which cognitive pattern needs to be reprogrammed, and then dismiss the guilt (which has now served its purpose).

^Like a mindfulness exercise. Asking oneself: how do I want to be/act in this moment? 

With practice, it is possible to reflexively treat the initial gut-wrenching guilt as an instruction to update your behavioral patterns, and then dismiss the lingering guilt immediately. (Cognitive patterns, after all, take some time to train.)

In the interim I suggest pretending you're a new homunculus. If you start to feel guilt, ... Notice the guilt, listen to the message it bears, and actually write down the behavioral pattern that you wish to change. Then spend five minutes (a full five minutes, by the clock) brainstorming ways that you might change the pattern and start retraining your mind. Then thank the guilt for carrying you this message, and dismiss it. (1)

People berate themselves whenever their brain fails to be engraved with the cognitive patterns that they wish it was engraved with, as if they had complete dominion over their own thoughts, over the patterns laid down in their heads. ... As if they were supposed to choose their mind, rather than being their mind. As if they were already gods. We aren't gods. Not yet. We're still monkeys.

Almost everybody is a total mess internally, as best as I can tell. Almost everybody struggles to act as they wish to act. Almost everybody is psychologically fragile, and can be put into situations where they do things that they regret — overeat, overspend, get angry, get scared, get anxious. We're monkeys, and we're fairly fragile monkeys at that.

You don't need to berate yourself when you fail to act exactly as you wish to act. 

Don't berate the monkey. Help it, whenever you can. Retrain the monkey. Experiment. Try things.

And be kind to it. It's trying pretty hard. The monkey doesn't know exactly how to get what it wants yet, because it's embedded in a really big complicated world and it doesn't get to see most of it, and because a lot of what it does is due to a dozen different levels of subconscious cause-response patterns that it has very little control over. It's trying.

The things we're trying to do are hard.

One day, we may gain more control over our minds. One day, we may be able to choose our cognitive patterns at will, and effortlessly act as we wish.

But we aren't there yet. We're not gods. We're still monkeys. (2)

Willpower is scarce in this world. Sometimes, you can will yourself out of a mental rut you're in, but only rarely ... Willpower is a stopgap, not a remedy.

The real choice isn't in whether or not you explode in the moment, it's in whether you exit the situation five minutes earlier.

Most people's coulds are broken. They treat themselves like they "could" start bingeing a TV show and then stop at a reasonable hour. They put themselves in a situation that tempts them against their better judgement, and then berate themselves when they succumb.

I don't treat myself as if I "could" stop binge-reading a good book, and therefore I don't feel terrible if I binge. ... [Instead] I will treat 'read an engaging book' as a single atomic action that takes five to twenty hours, with no choice nodes in between."

Where others are berating themselves for failing to complete an impossible task ("stop binge-reading halfway through and get back to real work"), I am learning what I am and am not capable of, and learning where my real action nodes are.

^When it comes to destructive behaviors/emotions, it’s key to notice and catch yourself early. It’s much harder to do so when you’ve already been swept up in the tidal wave of habit/emotion.

We often lack the willpower to override our impulses, instincts, and habits.

The goal is to win anyway.

Search for the choices that let you act as you wish before the decision gets difficult to execute. Learn how to identify the moments when your mind is readily responding to your will. (3)

Many people hold themselves to a very different standard than they hold others. They fret over past mistakes and treat themselves as failed gods, rather than ambitious monkeys.

My suggestion for dealing with guilt, roughly speaking, is to first focus your guilt, by dispelling the guilt that comes from not doing what other people think you should or from from false obligations, and shifting all your guilt into guilt about the fact that you have not yet made the future how you want it to be. Then, once your guilt is focused there, remember that you are a denizen of the mortal realm.

In the past, you have failed to act as you wished to act.

They have some bearing, insofar as your memories still hold lessons that can teach you about how to better steer yourself to steer the world, but they do not say anything about the color of your soul. They are simply the background knowledge against which you move forwards, from here, looking only towards the future. (4)

^Nobody can foretell the outcome. Each decision you make holds meaning only by affecting your next decision.

we already know we're fallible. We don't need to suffer over that fact: our failings provide only information about what to do next, if we want to steer the future. (4)

I think many people are motivated by an intrinsic (often subconscious) desire to be virtuous, or perhaps by a strong aversion to "being bad." I think many other people are motivated primarily by whatever obligations currently sit on their plate. They don't need to ask themselves what they are doing or why; they simply continue fulfilling the obligations in front of them so that life continues proceed. They fulfill obligations at school, they fulfill obligations at their jobs, they find a spouse, they start a family, they fulfill obligations to their family. The obligations keep flowing in a steady stream, and there is never any need to soul-search in a grand quest for some sort of deep intrinsic drive (except, perhaps, during the occasional "midlife crisis," which is a fine distraction that they're expected to eventually overcome).

Yet here I stand, suggesting that you ditch the notion "being bad" and drop your obligations entirely, keeping only what remains. But dropping an existing framework is a far cry from creating a new one, and dropping guilt does not often reveal a blindingly virtuous non-obligation that you're supposed to pursue instead of what you were currently pursuing.

I'm not going to give you something to pursue. Rather, I'm going to do my best to give you a different way of looking at the world. I'm going to describe a vantage point from which guilt motivation seems quaint, and something else — maybe cold resolve, maybe hot desire, maybe a different drive — guides your actions instead. (4)

Be a new homunculus

Not yet gods

Where Coulds go

Residing in the mortal realm

[nightlandsrp-blog]

c:\nightlands\reboot\artificial_intelligence.exe

With WATI Corp as the leading manufacturer of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the models currently available to consumers are limited to those already publicized or on the books. This includes the Europa model, their attempt to market AI as family friendly companions, and the manual labor force assembled en masse for the colonization of the Asteroid Belt as well as Mars. The latter have been introduced back into circulation, some scrapped while others have been adapted to perform menial jobs.

All AI on the open market are required to be registered through the ESC. Registration information on now-defunct models is often outdated and inquiries may be backlogged for weeks at a time. Undercover Eyes are not subject to registration and are instead monitored by their respective handlers.

Standard AI

The standard for artificial Intelligence (AI) has made great strides in recent decades. Unfortunately, without access to WATI Corp’s patented technology, their hardware has lagged far behind. Independent models are generally re-purposed and reprogrammed from older generation prototypes that require regular upkeep and periodic fine tuning.

Despite their deficiencies, AI sentience has become nearly indistinguishable from a human’s due to the proliferation of open source coding. However, this also leaves space for bugs, glitches, and even unwanted personality traits to find their way onto the market.

Expedition models

Once commonly referred to as “the Marco Polos”, WATI produced a hardier version of the standard AI in existence. These models were discontinued roughly fifty years ago, as human labor on Mars proved more cost-effective. 

The models created for colonization were extremely costly to produce, having titanium enforced skeletons and damage resistant dermis. Most Marco Polo models were retired, scrapped, and re-purposed, but a few still exist.

EYES

The release of Eyes into the public was deemed a 'necessary step' in gaining further insight into competitive industries, internal affairs, and the underground. Eyes are WATI Corp’s own brand of AI, the pinnacle of modern technology, human in every way barring their inner machinations and soul.

Nearly indistinguishable from people, Eyes are able to exist and lead human lives, passively gathering information on those closest to them. An Eye’s role varies from complete passivity to active participant, depending on their individual assignment. There are those who stand at the ground level of competitive industries, forming decisions based on their Handlers’ input, and those who live the life of average workers in a more blended fashion.

Currently two models of Eyes are in public circulation: the Argus model and the Europa model.

Argus models are highly specialized and possess all bodily functionings and all the same biological capabilities as a person, including sleep and food as a matter for ‘recharging’. This is to facilitate longer undercover operations and more specialized missions that necessitate complete submersion.

Argus models are able to be 100% remotely monitored and controlled by their Handlers at any given time, including streaming and storage of their passively-gathered intel. Handlers are often undercover with an Argus model or else living parallel.

Europa models are Argus models pared down to be mass produced for consumers. They require no handler, although many still do, and can be as custom in personality and functionality as requested by client.

Europa models feature affordability and durability. With the intelligence of a person, they are the ultimate family partner. Europa models are a form of passive eye and continue to gather intel on those they are purchased by, dumping said info when passing certain 'checkmarks' or during monthly maintenance.

Hacked Models of all WATI types are rare, but exist. Actively flagged in the system, these faces are looked for on high alert as a 'missing persons' and activity around them is tagged as 'suspicious persons'. Europa models are dealt with as 'stolen goods'.

Hacked models live a life on the run. While WATI tech is cutting edge, the underground has been adapting and hacking for years– what they do or don't know presides on a sliding scale.

[manishbhutada]

Shhh... Secrets.. how to add 30% more to your active life - How to #Sleep less but enough. Sleep is a naturally recurring state of mind & body.. altered consciousness.. reduced sensory activity.. minimal voluntary muscles action.. reduced interactions with surroundings. The body systems are in an anabolic state.. helping to restore immune nervous skeletal & muscular systems.. to maintain mood memory & cognitive performance. Sleep occurs in repeating periods.. body alternates between two distinct modes.. non-REM and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Why is Sleep important Our brain consumes 20% of our bodies energy. We need to physically restore & heal ourselves by removing waste which builds up during periods of activity. This restoration takes place mostly during slow-wave sleep.. during which body temperature heart rate & brain oxygen consumption decreases.. the reduced rate of metabolism enables countervailing restorative processes. Sleep enhances memory.. procedural memory benefits from late REM-rich sleep.. declarative memory from early slow wave-rich sleep. During sleep there is widespread weakening of synaptic connections throughout the brain.. this counterbalances the overall strengthening of synaptic connections occurring during learning when awake. By pruning away excess synaptic connections during sleep we start afresh to learn again next day. Sleep time is age dependent Human sleep needs vary by age and amongst individuals. Medical science loves statistical ranges.. anything beyond these numbers is abnormal.. not statistically different.. but abnormal.. so if you can train your brain to be different then I won't bother too much about these ranges for the average human.. but who amongst us is Average Normal anyways? Important.. infants need maximum sleep.. 17hours.. their brain size is 90 percent of an adult.. kids under 10yrs 10hrs+.. maximum learning early in life.. maximum brain energy consumption.. long story short.. kids need a lot of rest for best brain development & memory. Beware.. this blog does not apply to kids.. it's for adults only. So how can we sleep less but still achieve enough rest? So we now know we sleep to reduce brain energy consumption.. remove waste toxins.. create & store memories.. so on. What if we can achieve all this by simply reprogramming our REM & non-REM sleep physiology.. instead of 4 to 5 cycles of 90 minutes REM non-REM sleep.. can we reduce to 3 cycles or reduce the cycle time? Ok, let me keep it non technical.. give you hints.. unfortunately there is no one size fits all.. we are all different.. our lifestyles different.. so how we modulate our brains to our advantage is different too.. trial & error or seek guidance to make your own formula for your bodies & souls needs. - Diet: stick to Ayurved principles. Example.. diet high in protein - fewer wakeful episodes during sleep.. high carbohydrate diet - shorter periods of restful sleep. Avoid alcohol or other addictions. - Consciousness & Pranayama breathing: internalize your thoughts.. helps your brain help itself.. reduces brain & body energy consumption.. increases oxygenation to brain & body systems.. removes toxins.. revitalizes and freshens mood. - Meditation: reprogram the brains synaptic connections.. clear unwanted thoughts draining brain energy to make it tired.. deep sleep while meditating. After all sleep is reduction of bodies & brains metabolic rate.. meditation also helps does the same. - Be creative: creativity localizes brain focus.. limited energy drain elsewhere.. increased awareness & consciousness. But learn to materialize creativity to memory quickly.. uncontrolled unfocused creativity drains brain energy quickly. - Control Emotions: excitement, too much happiness grief anger stress.. all excessive emotions put the brain in overdrive.. excessive energy consumption.. sleepy. We know how we pass out to sleep when we get extremely stressed or angry.. abh samjhae. - Yog sadhna - Music & Aromas: the Raga's and musical notes reprogram the brain.. remember my blog on Biaju Bawra? Aromas do the same. - Open your energy chakras: be in a state of love gratitude bliss.. tap into the energy of the cosmos.. go consciously tap into the energy source faster; instead of waiting for your resting sleeping body to do the same via dreams & relaxed focused dream or non-dream energy channeling. Remember.. you live a different life when asleep.. new dimensions to your life when asleep.. dreams.. energy states.. interesting stuff for a future blog. My love affair with #Sleep will continue & be elaborated in my video blog.. watch out. #ManishBhutada Like many, I too find time for most things.. I minimize backlogs.. I speak to everyone.. I reply to every email.. I treat every patient regardless of time.. watch every movie.. cook to my merry.. read voraciously.. spend ME time.. I always have time for that something new. People ask me how.. perhaps I'm not busy enough? I like to fool myself by saying.. I'm modulating my sleep & circadian cycles to live two lives at once.. 7AM to 10PM.. then 10PM to 2.30AM.. once a fortnight 10hrs lazy sleep. Love my 3rd adventurous life the most though.. DREAMs.. what's in store for me tonight :)

[elizabethcariasa]

Taxpayers get more time to deal with COVID-delayed IRS notices

One of the reasons the Internal Revenue Service has called more of its staff back to their offices is so they can deal with the backlog of tax notices.

When the agency sent most personnel home earlier this year as a coronavirus pandemic precaution, some previously-printed balance due notices didn't get mailed.

Now with some IRS operations restarting across the county, these notices will be delivered to taxpayers by the U.S. Postal Service in the next few weeks.

Original notices, old dates: These notices, however, won't be updated versions produced by staffers who now are back at their desks.

They will be the documents that were printed months ago. So if you get one, don't be surprised by its, say, March date.

The IRS opted to send out the original notices that were left when offices closed because the agency doesn't have the time in this already recalibrated tax season or money (thanks, Congress) to reprogram its systems and generate updated notices.

Overdue tax action deadlines: OK, no problem with the official tax correspondence having an older creation date, right? We get it.

But where the calendar designation could cause some concern is within some — actually, probably most — of the notices.

The deadlines by which the notice-recipient taxpayers should have taken action will likely have long passed by the time the mailings are delivered.

New deadlines inserted: Don't panic. The IRS says each notice will include an insert confirming that the due dates printed on the original notices have been extended.

Those new payment due date will be either this coming July 10 or July 15, depending upon the type of tax return and original due date.

So don't toss that insert. Read it for details on the delay and the correct payment due date(s).

Affected notices: So just which notices will show up with out-of-date deadlines? The IRS says those that will include the new deadline inserts are —

CP11, Math Error on Return - Balance Due

CP14, Balance Due, No Math Error

CP15, Civil Penalty Notice

CP15B, Civil Penalty Notice for Trust Fund Recovery Penalty

CP15H, Shared Responsibility Payment Due

CP21A, Data Processing Adjustment Notice, Balance Due of

CP22A, Data Processing Adjustment Notice, Balance Due of

CP23, Estimated Tax Credits Discrepancy - We Changed Your Return to Match Your Credits or Payments Posted to Your Account - Balance Due

CP23T, Estimated Tax Discrepancy, Balance Due of $5 or More

CP47A, Tax Assessed- Notification of the Requested Credit Elect/Refund Being Applied to Section 965 Tax Liability

CP47B, Tax Assessed- Notification of a Credit Elect/Refund Being Applied to Section 965 Tax Liability

CP47C, Tax Assessed- Including Section 965 Tax Liability

CP51A, We've Calculated Your Income Tax For You - Balance Due

CP60, We Removed a payment Erroneously Applied to Your Account. - Balance Due

CP94, Criminal Restitution Final Demand Notice

CP101, Math Error, Balance Due of $5 or More on Form 940

CP102, Math Error, Balance Due of $5 or More on Forms 941, 941SS, 943, 944, 944SS, 945

CP103, Math Error, Balance Due - Form CT-1

CP104, Math Error, Balance Due of $5 or More - Form 720

CP105, Math Error, Balance Due of $5 or More - Forms 11C, 2290, 706, 709, 730

CP107, Math Error, Balance Due of $5 or More - Form 1042

CP126, Math Error, Balance Due or Overpayment Less Than $1 on Forms 990PF, 4720, 5227

CP132, Math Error, Balance Due on Forms 990C, 990T, 1041, 1120, 8804

CP134B, Federal Tax Deposit(s) (FTD) Discrepancy - Balance Due

CP141L, We Charged a Penalty Under Internal Revenue Code Section 6652(c) - Form Filed Late

CP161, No Math Error, Balance Due (Except Form 1065)

CP162, Untimely Filing Penalty - Partnership

CP165, Penalty Assessed for Dishonored Check

CP210, Examination (Audit) or Data Processing Tax Adjustment - Balance Due, Overpayment, or Even Balance

CP215, Civil Penalty - 500 and 600 Series

CP220, Examination (Audit) or Data Processing Tax Adjustment - Balance Due, Overpayment, or Even Balance

CP220J, Employer Shared Responsibility Payment (ESRP) 4980H Adjustment - Balance Due, Even Balance or Overpayment Notice

CP230, Combined Annual Wage Reporting - CAWR/DP Tax Adjustment Amended Return Filed

CP233J, 4980H Adjustment balance due, even balance or overpayment Notice (ESRP)

CP240, Combined Annual Wage Reporting - CAWR/DP Discrepancy Tax Adjustment

CP260, An Erroneous Payment Previously Applied to Your Account Has Been Reversed - Balance Due

CP283, Penalty Charged on Your Form 5500 - Late or Incomplete Form

And some of the notices will be in Spanish. They are —

CP711, Spanish Math Error - Balance Due - Error en la Planilla - Saldo Adeudado

CP714, Spanish Balance Due - No Math Error - Planilla Radicada - Saldo Adeudado

CP721A, Data Processing Adjustment Notice, Balance Due (Spanish) - Cambios a su Planilla - Saldo Adeudado

CP722A, Spanish Data Processing Adjustment Notice, Balance Due of $5 or more - Cambios a su Planilla - Saldo Adeudado

CP802, Spanish BMF Math Error, Balance Due of $5 or More on Forms 941PR, 943PR - Hemos Hecho Cambios a su Planilla Porque Creemos que hay un Error de Cálculo

CP834B, Federal Tax Deposit(s) (FTD) Discrepancy - Balance Due (Spanish)

CP865, Spanish Penalty for Dishonored Check on Forms 94XPR FTD

Open, read, act: Again, if you get a notice from the IRS, don't ignore it.

If you have questions about the balance due or other matters addressed in the notice, visit the website listed or call the number provided on the notice. The web options probably should be your first move, as the IRS says its phone lines remain extremely busy as it resumes operations.

And definitely take note of the notice's new deadline day in the insert. It's just a couple of weeks away.

You also might find these items of interest:

Tax notices: A scary letter from the IRS

Ways to pay that IRS bill that arrived in your mailbox

EITC filers have more time to answer claim questions

  Coronavirus Caveat & More Information In 2020, we're all dealing with extraordinary circumstances, both in our daily lives and when it comes to our taxes. The COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to reduce its transmission and protect ourselves and our families means that, for the most part, we're focusing on just getting through these trying days. But life as we knew it before the coronavirus will return, along with our mundane tax matters. Here's hoping that happens soon! In the meantime, you can find more on the virus and its effects on our taxes by clicking Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Taxes.

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Trump Administration Wants to Buy Jets Meant For a Defunct Russian Airline

A Boeing 747 jet, such as the one pictured here, could be the next Air Force One that carries the U.S. President and entourage on trips. Julie Johnsson / Bloomberg

Skift Take: Besides the optics of purchasing two planes originally bound for Russia given the ongoing Russia investigation in Washington, it sounds like the deal might be too good to pass up.

— Dan Peltier

President Donald Trump’s administration may be poised to strike a peculiar deal for the next Air Force One planes: buying jumbo jets abandoned by a defunct Russian airline.

The U.S. Air Force is in talks to purchase two 747-8 jetliners from Boeing Co. that were originally bound for Transaero Airlines, once Russia’s second-largest airline, said a person briefed on the talks. The carrier never signed for the humpbacked passenger jets before it dissolved in late 2015, and the aircraft have been in storage since rolling out of Boeing’s factory near Seattle earlier that year.

While the Pentagon has also explored fresh-out-of-the-factory models that wouldn’t be available until the end of the decade, it has an incentive to move quickly. Boeing is offering favorable pricing if a contract is awarded by this month, according to a government funding request. As president-elect, Trump railed against the cost of new Air Force One jets.

“We are still working with the Air Force on a deal for two 747s,” said Caroline Hutcheson, a spokeswoman for Boeing, who declined to say whether talks were centered on the Transaero planes. “We are focused on the best deal and price for the Air Force.”

Jet Deals

The potential deal is in keeping with Trump’s knack for finding aircraft from unconventional sources. His gold-plated Boeing 757 that was a fixture on the campaign trail last year had previously been owned by billionaire Paul Allen. A Boeing 727 that served as an earlier personal jet was originally operated by American Airlines and was more than 40 years old when he sold it in 2009.

Boeing never built the other two of four jumbos ordered by Transaero, which liquidated as Western sanctions slapped Russia’s tourism industry. Aeroflot PJSC absorbed the remnants of the airline but opted not to take the order for the four-engine jets.

The contracts with Transaero were finally canceled last month, freeing up the aircraft for purchase, said the person, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the discussions. The planes have been parked in a Victorville, California, storage yard.

“We’re working through the final stages of coordination to purchase two commercial 747-8 aircraft and expect to award a contract soon,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said in an email while not directly discussing specific aircraft.

‘Out of Control’

Shortly after last year’s election, Trump tweeted that the “costs are out of control” for the new Air Force One planes and wrote, “Cancel order.” He later boasted of negotiating with Boeing to reduce the expense.

As part of a Pentagon request to shift, or reprogram, $2.4 billion in previously approved funds, the Air Force last month requested $195 million to speed up the purchase of two Boeing 747-8 commercial planes for the project. The model carries a list price of $386.8 million.

The Air Force said the acceleration will take advantage of Boeing’s favorable pricing, which is contingent upon a contract award by this month. “This effort will ensure delivery of two aircraft by December” instead of late fiscal 2019 and early 2020, said the formal request, which must be approved by all four congressional defense committees.

Flying Fortresses

The planes would still require extensive — and pricey — modifications to turn them into the flying fortresses that ferry U.S. presidents and their entourages around the world. The Air Force expects the aircraft to have the range to fly between continents and provide work and sleeping quarters for the president and first family. They also have to be equipped with highly advanced, secure communications and classified defense capabilities.

For Boeing, the deal could signal the end of the line for the iconic 747, which pioneered long-range travel in the 1970s. The Chicago-based planemaker has just one other passenger version — bound for a VIP client — in its backlog along with orders for 15 freighters.

“We are currently evaluating several scenarios, including sales campaigns, that may determine how long we continue the 747 program,” Boeing said in a federal filing last month. “Depending on market conditions, it is reasonably possible that we could decide to end production of the 747.”

The potential purchase of the Transaero 747s was reported earlier by DefenseOne.

  This article was written by Julie Johnsson and Tony Capaccio from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.