Googling Stuff: Then v Now.

From SFGate, "Tech startup Artisan is a month into an ad campaign in San Francisco that criticizes human workers and plugs the company's AI replacements. One of the ads played on a digital billboard on Mission Street on Dec. 5, 2024."

I feel for the people looking for jobs at this time. Is there any type of employment that won't be negatively affected? Some in the construction, landscaping trades? The problem too is that AI is dependent on human intelligence which could falter as AI spreads. And, the AI developers (humans) will be the ones to decide if their bots are intelligent enough thus leaving out important data?

“It was only in September that the area started to get bombarded with information about the pitfalls,” said Zalewski. “Uninformed buyers saw cheaper prices [in the summer] and figured they better buy now so that they could own a piece of South Florida. There is a lot of buyer regret right now.”

• A Florida 'condo cliff' is coming as owners deal with fallout from 2021 Surfside collapse

The president-elect said "he will move to end birthright citizenship — long enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution..."

Should be interesting. It's not easy to change the Constitution. Wonder what he thinks he can get away with. Or, it's just another lie.

There was a bunny in our yard just sitting there for two or three days. At first it looked like there was some ear movement. Then it moved less and seemed smaller. We thought a bunny was dying in our yard. I took a towel to cover it up. Lo and behold it was very much alive. It ran off as I got close. I guess the bunny was burrowing down for the winter. I hope it finds a good place. I feel bad I disturbed the bunny. I had no idea. Learn something new every day.

Update: the bunny is back in the exact same spot. It has a nest in the grass. I wish I could give it more protection. I doubt it would like it if I tried to makes changes.

One of the country's largest health insurers has reversed its decision to no longer pay for anesthesia care in certain states if the surgery or procedure goes beyond a particular time limit. The original move by Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, which would have started next year, alarmed doctors and policymakers.

Hard to believe someone even said that out loud in a meeting much less that it made it that far.

Along same lines, private equity groups need to be forbidden by the feds from controlling emergency rooms.

Anthem reverses plans to put time limits on anesthesia coverage

Lead was banned from automobile fuel in 1996. The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, looked at its lasting impact in the U.S. by analyzing childhood blood lead levels from 1940 to 2015. According to the findings, the national population experienced an estimated 151 million excess mental health disorders attributable to exposure to lead from car exhaust during children’s early development.

Lead in gasoline tied to over 150 million excess cases of mental health disorders, study suggests

Maybe intermittently along the way.

Stunning glow-in-the-dark bicycle path in Poland is powered by solar

Yager, who serves as the Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus chairman, was booked into the Glynn County Detention Center Tuesday after being arrested by the Georgia State Patrol of Jekyll Island.
...
Troopers located the Ford Edge in the parking lot of Jekyll Market, a grocery store on Jekyll Island, a beach resort town and popular tourist destination. Emergency medical services were already on scene evaluating Yager, who had tripped and fallen, according to police.

He had to spend the night at the jail. Heh. Must be a MAGA.

Governor Kane?

Tim Burchett says hold my beer...

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) told Axios that "folks have talked about" him running for governor and that he is "not actively seeking it nor ruling it out."

He told Knox News yesterday “I’ve been across the state, and a lot of folks have talked to me about running. I’m not actively taking any steps toward a run, but never say never."

Democrats fear ending the conservatorship would cause mortgage prices to jump since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would need to raise fees to make up for the increased risks they would face without government support. The two firms guarantee roughly half of the $12 trillion U.S. home loan market and are a bedrock of the U.S. economy.

Trump allies hope a win means changes to the mortgage system. Opponents warn it will cost consumers

President Biden pardons his son Hunter Biden

"I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice — and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision," Biden said in his statement.
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The president issued a "full and unconditional pardon" for any offenses Hunter Biden has “committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024," according to the White House statement.

I'm fine with it. I can't imagine what the new president's administration might have tried to do to Biden's son. I hope I am proven otherwise, but the next four years scares me.

John Dean, the former White House counsel who helped bring down President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, said he didn’t go far enough ― and urged Biden to issue blanket pardons to everyone President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to target when he returns to the White House next month.

That list includes those who have investigated Trump ― including Robert Mueller and Jack Smith and their teams ― as well as “all on Trump’s enemies list.”

I'm fine with Dean's recommendation as well.

In Texas...

School districts won’t be forced to introduce the curriculum in their kindergarten through fifth-grade classrooms, but if they choose to do so, they would earn a financial incentive of $60 per child beginning next year.

“When a public school plays religious favorites by emphasizing Christianity more than any other tradition, and by teaching about Christianity in a way that’s likely to promote encouragement of Christianity’s religious claims, then that violates all of our religious freedom,” Chancey said on NBC News Now.

Separation of church and state? Religion in public schools is being tested by Christian conservatives

Between 2007 and 2021, the percent of U.S. fresh fruit and vegetable availability supplied by imports grew from 50 to 60 percent for fresh fruit and from 20 to 38 percent for fresh vegetables (excluding potatoes, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms).

In 2022, Mexico and Canada supplied 51 percent and 2 percent, respectively, of U.S. fresh fruit imports, and 69 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of U.S. fresh vegetable imports in terms of value.

I have noticed the Canadian tomatoes at the grocer and they actually taste good. Why is it we have to get fresh tomatoes from Canada?

Wait until the new president's 25% tariffs are applied to all goods from Canada and Mexico.

Whatever.

Be safe. Install smoke alarms this cold weather season.

Your local government may provide a free smoke alarm and may even install the smoke alarm.

State of Tennessee Fire Marshall (615-741-2241), Request a FREE Smoke Alarm. Smoke alarms are not guaranteed. Your local fire department must be a participant in the Get Alarmed program.

The Knox County Fire Prevention Bureau (865-215-4660) in conjunction with Rural Metro Fire Department, can provide and install (free of charge) one smoke detector per residence for those persons unable to purchase one.

Knox County Community Action Committee Office on Aging Smoke Alarm Program (865-215-4667) smoke alarm provided and installed free to Knox County homeowners who are elderly, disabled, or low income. Will replace battery yearly if called.

You can contact your local governments and fire departments and Senior Centers to find out what is available in your area.

Thanksgiving dinner is historically affordable this year.
Farm data shows holiday meal staples are collectively at their cheapest, after adjusting for inflation, in nearly 40 years — not including the Covid-hit year of 2020.

The costs of this year’s holiday feast — estimated at $58.08 for a 10-person gathering, or $5.81 a head — dropped 5% since last year, the lowest level since 2021... But the picture improves further when adjusted for inflation.

Oh, well. The lies carried the election.

"As 53% of renters continue to have to put between 30-50% of their income towards housing there is less to be spent in the greater economy. Not only can this impact the local economy, but can also impact the future wealth building for renters," the report said.

More than half of all renters in Knoxville metropolitan area are cost-burdened, report say

I am curious what will happen with Trump's DOJ regarding this lawsuit?

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that it is suing the real estate company RealPage, saying it engaged in a price-fixing scheme to drive up rents.

Something that has been extensive in Knoxville.

DOJ accuses real estate software company of helping landlords collude to raise rents

These matters once were limited to awkward moments at Tennessee Thanksgiving tables, but the explosion of social media (and lies perpetuated via those platforms) means that every day is Thanksgiving in terms of encountering a distant right-wing family member at your Tennessee table spouting Donald Trump cultist nonsense. The ubiquity of the form also means we can have awkward and possible tense exchanges with complete strangers. This problem only has been exacerbated recently as Trump devotees take to all forms of media to bloviate about his recent win, securing the greater share of popular votes for the first time and a second term in the presidency.

I generally fall into the camp relying on the advice attributed to George Bernard Shaw, “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.” I understand the impulse, however, to not let inaccurate (verging on insane) comments go unanswered. So let me offer some descriptive advice about how these exchanges typically proceed. Remember that fact-driven messages have little appeal to Trump-oriented relatives who gleefully voted for Tennessee’s senior U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn. Some likely believe that the moon landing was faked, but televised wrestling extravaganzas are real.