The 14th Amendment and the Supreme Court

Whichever way the degenerate and illegitimate "supreme court" rules is good. If it rules against the 14th amendment, then we all know the constitution is a joke. This amendment could not be more clear and the evidence that Trump led an insurrection against the USA is about as good as any prosecution could ask for. But if they rule in favor of the 14th, then we have right wing nutty boy states like Texas who will remove Biden from the ballot because ... because ... you know, socialism! immigration! It doesnt matter. The reality is that the supreme court is degenerate and has no legitimacy and democracy is dead in this country. Say hi to the Fuhrer.

For those who have asked, yes I created the above picture with Midjourney.  It is not perfect but it is OK for the specific purpose which is the point, I think.

Faces 12262023

 

As a tool of self expression, MidJourney can be very productive.  You can spend all day and get no where, or you can spend an hour and get interesting work.

Theory About Why Cities Skylines 2 was Released Before It Was Ready

I have no excuses for playing computer games but it is the best way I know to procrastinate.  And when you have problems that you really can not solve no matter how hard you work, then what could be more appropriate than to dig your own grave a little deeper by wasting time with a game?  

What could it hurt?

So I was excited to get the second version of Cities Skylines, the current leading city simulation game.  I knew from the forums that all was not well in Paradise with CS 2 and they were right.  I really wonder if I can charge Paradox for testing their game for them.  

Here is a short list of what I find annoying and which feels like bugs to me.  This list is not comprehensive, many other people have identified many more problems than what is listed here. In no particular order:

1. Many neighborhoods are plagued with buildings being abandoned for no particular reason that I can see.  You have to go in by hand and bulldoze these buildings or it will lower the property values of the neighborhood.  The abandoned buildings never seem to get recycled on their own that I can tell.

2. It would not be possible to survive the first 15 or 20 levels of the game without extensive government subsidies.  Things are just too expensive until, suddenly, you are profitable.  But even then things are not all well because profitability seems to fluctuate wildly.

3. There never seems to be much demand for the more advanced buildings like apartment buildings and so forth.  You are pretty much stuck with suburban neighborhoods.

4. Service buildings are very expensive until you suddenly become wildly profitable.  Advanced buildings in each area are priced completely out of reach.  

5. The radio is very repetitive and, worse, just wrong.  For example, it is always complaining about power outages when there is plenty of power and water shortages when there is plenty of water.

6. People are always complaining about lack of health care even when there seems to be plenty of health care.

7.  The transit systems are totally manual.  There are never any trams, or cargo trains or anything else unless you explicitly create routes for them.  This gets tiresome.  Also the UI for trams and buses makes it hard to tell where track is laid when creating routes.

8. There used to be many more special buildings which are useful for attracting tourists and beautifying neighborhoods.

9. All the fun of watching people use the subways and buses seems to be gone.

10. But the best bug of all is that if you save your game, restart the program, and restore the game then 3 times out of 4 you will be promoted to the next level.  It beats working.

So, two things.  Why did they release this anticipated sequel before it was ready?  And is the original game really that much better.  My guess for the former is that they had to get the game out there by Christmas because that is when so much of the money in the game business is made and so they rushed it.  Or maybe they were under contractural obligations.

And finally, is the first game that much better.  So I tried playing it after maybe a year absence and yes, it is much better.  It has challenges and I may not be the best player, but one is a mature and interesting city simulation and the sequel is just a buggy piece of software that is not ready for prime time.

Watching "Earthly Pleasures" by Jill Fraser being Mastered

Not only has Jill Fraser finished her album, Earthly Pleasures, but she has signed a record deal with Drag City.  A record deal!  Could an international tour be far behind?  Drag City wanted to create a vinyl version of her work and so Jill went off to watch her album being inscribed on a lathe.  I tagged along because I have always wanted to see how they did this.

The comeback of vinyl as a distribution medium is one of two examples I know of where our society, or remnants of our society, pushes back against the forces of mediocrity and digitization.  The other example for those who care is the rebirth of large format film for art photography (e.g. 4x5, 8x10, etc).

The event took place at Golden Mastering in Newbury Park.  The mastering engineer and owner of the facility is JJ, and he is a second generation mastering engineer.  Their web page is www.goldenmastering.com.

In the following, the terminology I use is probably all wrong.  

The process as I understood it to be:

1. JJ listens to the music and evaluates whether any preprocessing is necessary to make it appropriate for the medium.  He explained what the types of problems are that he looks for but I dont remember too much about what he said.  I think it has to do with issues involving the high and low frequencies in combination that might knock the needle off the record when it is played back.  This could be all wrong.

2. He does some processing on those sections of the audio and reviews it with the artist to see if sounds acceptable.  Then a section of any problematic but now processed audio is engraved onto a test lacquer to see how it sounds.  This takes just a few minutes.  In our case it was done the first time but the process is fast enough that one could imagine being able to do this with many sections of an album iteratively until it was technically and aesthetically acceptable.  As far as I know, this processing is done digitally but one could imagine that in the past it was done in the analog domain.

3. The engineer runs through a check list to prepare the lathe and the blank lacquer for mastering.  Each side of an album gets its own blank lacquer and the lathe is checked again before each side.

4. In a few hours, the entire album, in this case 4 sides, is mastered and just needs to be packed up and sent to the next phase of the process where the various intermediates are created and a test pressing of the album is made.  This next part of the process apparently takes months and months depending on how busy the pressing plant is and where one stands in the hierarchy.

Some trivia: 1. The process of making the interpositive and internegative (not the terms they use) is very much a legacy electrochemical process and involves such techniques as electroplating the various intermediates.  2. No one makes this lathe anymore.  This particular one was refurbished by someone who had worked in this business decades ago and kept it in his garage.  3. The stylus that creates the grooves is an expendable and they are available on eBay and very expensive.  4. The whole process reminded me of the earlier days of visual effects where there would be one guy or a small team of machinists or optical printer operators or model makers.  A very small operation and generally not very social or glamourous.

Here is an article on disk-cutting lathes courtesy of Tom McMahon.

https://pspatialaudio.com/lathes.htm

Politeness to Robots

When working with Siri, I always try to say thank you when he/she/it/they does something for me.  Today it even said "you're welcome".  What should the protocol be when working with robots?  I think they should be treated like you would treat any conscious being and not rudely like we might treat a car.  I never say "thank you" to a car but I always do to Siri.

Does Apple keep statistics of who is polite and who is not?  And couldn't such statistics be useful in aggregate and by region to show how different regions differ in pro forma politeness and how that changes over time?

1915 City of LA Traffic Planning Report

Tom McMahon found this interesting traffic planning report / discussion for the City of Los Angeles from 1915.  

Find the full report here:

https://libraryarchives.metro.net/dpgtl/trafficplans/1915_study_of_street_traffic_conditions_in_the_city_of_la.pdf

Midjourney Continues to Surprise

Midjourney is sometimes brilliant, sometimes useless, sometimes surprising, but always a leap into the night.  The images of a witch with curly blonde hair at her synthesizers was nearly perfect on the first try.  The angel on the beach was an evolutionary result and not what I was aiming for although I think it moved in an entertaining direction.

Witch with synthesizers 

Angel at the beach

Unanticipated Consequences and Guilt

And so in a minor way I was involved in the internet and computer animation.  To have killed off newspapers and drawn animation to have been participated in that in any way is a horrible sin I can not be forgiven for.

Mexican restaurant or Harvard?

This is a test of writing a blog post on my phone.

Jill and I ordered food late in Joshua tree from a 24-hour Mexican restaurant. Our hostess was a beautiful African American woman who reminded me of a famous actress seen in science fiction and superhero movies. But one of these went to Harvard and became an actress and the other is serving bean tostadas at midnight. It's not clear to me that this country provides opportunities to everybody. In fact it's very clear that it doesn't. This country is a disgrace.

Prohibited Terms in MidJourney and the Public Morality

Imagine the problem that Midjourney faces: to police the morals of millions of the worlds' citizens many of whom have very sick ideas of what they want to visualize.  So if it finds a term that is prohibited, it just stops you cold and gives you a button you can push if you dont like it.  Of course the button does nothing, but maybe it makes the user feel better.

I have innocently run into some of these, which I specify below as far as I remember.  I speculate there are others that we can imagine that are also on the prohibited list.

Terms I have tried that dont work: latex, spandex, nazi, national socialist, bloody, swastika

Terms I have not tried but probably dont work: anything involving explicit sex, blood, defecation, genocide.

The Black Flag of Vengeance Courtesy of MidJourney

 
Although MidJourney is clearly hit and miss, and can be frustrating, it can also be very productive.  Here are a few concept sketches of a black flag with daggers and stars.  Unspoken is the thought that this is a homage to the Wagner Group and their now deceased leader.

And these with more emphasis on the dagger element.

And a different design with a dagger

ChatGPT Release Forever of All Things

 
I offered to create a class picture of my high school reunion and was cautioned to be concerned about privacy rights.  Hence, I asked ChatGPT to write me a release to own everything someone might do, for all purposes, forever, in all media, without compensation.  I dont think this quite does that, but it is a fun first draft.

[Your Name/Your Organization]
[Address]
[City, State, Zip Code]
[Email Address]
[Phone Number]
[Date]
[Subject's Name]
[Subject's Address]
[City, State, Zip Code]

RELEASE AND WAIVER OF RIGHTS

I, [Subject's Name], hereinafter referred to as the "Subject," hereby grant to [Your Name/Your Organization], hereinafter referred to as the "Recipient," and its legal representatives, successors, and assigns, the absolute and irrevocable right and permission to use, reproduce, distribute, display, and publish in any media, now known or hereafter devised, including but not limited to photographs, images, ideas, intellectual property, and any related materials (the "Materials") depicting or created by me.

I understand that the Materials may be used for various purposes, including but not limited to promotion, advertising, marketing, educational, and editorial purposes, without any further compensation to me. I waive any right to inspect or approve the final product wherein the Materials appear.

I hereby release, discharge, and hold harmless the Recipient, its agents, representatives, and all persons acting under its permission or authority from any liability related to the use of the Materials, including but not limited to any claims for libel, defamation, invasion of privacy, or infringement of copyright.

I affirm that I am the sole owner of any intellectual property rights associated with the Materials and that I have the legal right to grant the permissions and rights outlined in this release. I agree that this release is binding upon me, my heirs, legal representatives, and assigns.

This release shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the [Your State/Country]. Any disputes arising out of this release shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in [Your City/County].

I have read and understood this release before signing it and hereby acknowledge receipt of a copy for my records.

Subject's Name: [Subject's Full Name]
Signature: ______________________________
Date: ______________________________
Witness (if applicable):
Witness's Name: [Witness's Full Name]
Signature: ______________________________
Date: ______________________________

Picture of Me from Symbolics

Courtesy of Tom McMahon

Fundamentals for LLMs and Image Diffusion

 

I am enjoying Midjourney very much.  I presume I would be as impressed with any LLM (large language model) driven image diffusion system but this is the only one I have played with.  I feel completely awed and blindsided by the range of capabilities I have seen here.  Where did this come from?  How does it work?  To save you the effort of finding out, I am endeavoring to collect a list of topics it will be necessary to have at least a passing familiarity with in order to understand this modern miracle.  It probably wont be necessary for you to be a genius at any of these topics, perhaps, but it may be necessary for you to know something about all of these if you want to know what is going on beneath the hood and maybe predict where this kind of technology is going.

 

To give you an idea about why I find this so compelling and disturbing, here is the result of "/imagine vintage photograph of king kong climbing the Chrysler building".

 

 

 

A partial list of technologies involved include 

 

Latent Variable Models

Variational Autoencoder

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)

Semantic Image Synthesis

 

and more to come.

Photoshopped Mug Shots

Tom McMahon points out that the Fulton County logo is different sizes in the various mug shots.  My guess is that Trump has simply photoshopped his image to reduce the size of law enforcement and probably to clean up his image so he doesnt look as old as he actually is.  In other words, its faked, and of course our weak and stupid news media isnt able to point this out.

 

Examine the following mug shots.  What do you notice.

 

 

 

Thats right.  Four of them are nearly identical in composition, one looks like it was cropped, and one, of the cheeseball rapist himself, has clearly been modified to reduce the Fulton County logo.  Oh yes, he has also had his face retouched to make him look younger than his age.

[Oh Oh!  Did I say something that is going to make the people who regulate free speech on the Internet mad at me again?  Is this "hate speech" because I express my opinion about Trump and the news media?  Will Boingo and Akemai block me again, or more, or in addition to how they have blocked me already?]

Art, Moral Improvement and Midjourney

Some people believe that art can inspire people to be their better selves.  Can art result in moral improvement?

 

Using Midjourney at the lower levels of subscription is like using a party line (for those of you who know what that is).  Everyone in your Discord group can see your work and you can see what they are doing.

 

I had nothing to do with the following image.  The theme it represents is an old one, still I thought it was entertaining and well executed.  I was impressed that this technology can produce an image that looks like this right out of the box.

Is the 14th Amendment to the Constitution Real?

A recent editorial by Turley in thehill.com argues that of course the 14th amendment is not relevant or in current use.  I dont expect Republicans to agree with me on much, but I dont appreciate it when they insult my intelligence.  And this has larger implications.

I wonder if I am just being overly precious about what is standard debating / rhetorical technique. I find it offensive that a republican that has been so very adament about "original intent" and "every word is precious in the constitution" would then with a straight face say "oh, that 14th amendment, ha ha, they werent serious". When in fact they were very serious, the clause is to our amazement completely relevant to the current situation. But these are republicans which means that they have no credibility when it comes to actually defending and supporting this country (see two impeachment fails to convict, there will never be a better case for impeachment in our lifetimes). The conclusion I reached long ago is that it does not matter what arguments a Republican makes, they arent serious, they are just lying to steal the money. Well, OK, nobody's perfect, but this is a very dangerous situation and this kind of glib bullshit reinforces the belief that the Republican party is the enemy of this country and must be removed from any critical political and judicial position. There is no point in compromising with these people. They are literally the enemy just as much as, for example, Vlad Putin is.

A corollary of this is that whenever a "democrat" says "bipartisan", I think "traitor". There is no point in compromising with fascists, they are just stalling for advantage.

Mid Journey Tests III

Midjourney is a lot of fun.  The trick is to be your own client, then you can judge what is a success and what is not.  I am not so sure how well this would work when you have to deliver something for a client who may or may not be at one with your point of view.

 

The following are more tests, generally in the area of mosaics that could be used as elements of a 3D scene.  Notice the whimsy of the bee person.  I didnt do that, I said swarm of bees and a hive and this is what it gave me.

 

Generally "vintage photograph of" produces entertaining images.

 

Mosaics of Bees 

Mosaics of Sea Creatures

 

Sumerian statuary of Alien Gods

Siggraph 2023

draft

This is a brief report on SIGGRAPH 2023 national conference held in Los Angeles, CA.

 

As always, one must choose between seeing and interacting with people vs. attending the technical program.  As the technical program is very expensive and since most of the value of the program comes from the published papers, this makes the decision a no brainer.  You either pay for an exhibition badge or a "everything but the technical program" badge.  There are those who think the technical program is the heart of SIGGRAPH but I think such people are living in the past.

 

In the same way, the electronic theatre, aka film show, is also a relic of the past and has no particular value in today's world.

 

Even Emerging Tech, usually the height of SIGGRAPH, was boring.  The one exception was the fabulous Sensorama curated by Scott Fisher of USC.  This was a recreation of a pioneering location based 3D entertainment.

 

 

People included but not limited to (and in no particular order) Terrence Massan, Maa and wife from Paris, Craig Reynolds, Scott Fisher, Bart Gawboy, Paul Debevic, Scott Fisher, Sylvester Sylvan, Jim Blinn, Ed Catmull, Mike Zyda, Andy van Dam, Jim Foley, Joan Collins, Diane Piepol, Rebecca Allen, Nick England, Mary Whitton, Jackie Morie, Tom Sito, Joseph Goldstone, Laura Scholl, Gene Miller, Debbie Deas, Julian Gomez, Copper Giloth, Jane Veeder, and many others.