Trike Tuesday

Haven't had any trikes here for a minute...

How about this one?


OK, maybe it is more bike and sidecar.

Or not, it's all guesswork as to what the other side looks like...

Can't Touch This

Melons

Black Holes from NOODLES on Vimeo.

Big Data

Big data is one of those things that, perhaps, doesn't get the consideration it deserves from most people.

Certainly, not from me...

Sort of an amorphous term, abstract to most people.  Just a couple of words that sound techish.

I read an article a while back that got me to thinking about it more than I had.
It prompted me to go read more about the big data idea, even...
Here is a bit of it:

But it was not just about "likes" or even Facebook: Kosinski and his team could now ascribe Big Five values based purely on how many profile pictures a person has on Facebook, or how many contacts they have (a good indicator of extraversion). But we also reveal something about ourselves even when we're not online. For example, the motion sensor on our phone reveals how quickly we move and how far we travel (this correlates with emotional instability). Our smartphone, Kosinski concluded, is a vast psychological questionnaire that we are constantly filling out, both consciously and unconsciously.
 Above all, however—and this is key—it also works in reverse: not only can psychological profiles be created from your data, but your data can also be used the other way round to search for specific profiles: all anxious fathers, all angry introverts, for example—or maybe even all undecided Democrats? Essentially, what Kosinski had invented was sort of a people search engine. He started to recognize the potential—but also the inherent danger—of his work.
 To him, the internet had always seemed like a gift from heaven. What he really wanted was to give something back, to share. Data can be copied, so why shouldn't everyone benefit from it? It was the spirit of a whole generation, the beginning of a new era that transcended the limitations of the physical world. But what would happen, wondered Kosinski, if someone abused his people search engine to manipulate people? He began to add warnings to most of his scientific work. His approach, he warned, "could pose a threat to an individual's well-being, freedom, or even life." But no one seemed to grasp what he meant.

So, yeah...

The futurist in me thought technology was meant to free us.
Maybe, not so much.

I knew all this was happening, but only when you dig into it do you have to confront how terrifying the scope of it really is.


The link, again.

LOL

How about an update on the murder of that North Korean dude, in Malaysia?

Another arrest and more details on the whole deal over here.




Admit it, it's a good distraction from our own political pussy power grab.


And from dwelling on the terrible things going on in Sweden...

Nothing

I have got nothing for you today...





Nothing but this picture of a turkey, standing on a car in Boston.

Fractals

You can play around with a fractal generator over here...



It's based on this kind math stuff.

Here

How about a Russian music video about getting one's eyebrows tattooed, or something?

Seriously

I don't care if you are liberal, conservative, agnostic, following the paleo diet or whatever.
This summary from the Guardian is disturbing...

Trump fired off an angry series of tweets on Wednesday morning, claiming: “This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton’s losing campaign.”  

He attacked the intelligence community for what he saw as “unAmerican” leaks to newspapers that have written anonymously sourced stories about his and his advisers’ alleged links to Russia in recent days. “Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?),” he wrote. “Just like Russia.” 

That was the “real scandal”, he said. Trump also complained that the “fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred”, echoing the language of the Kremlin reaction to the latest reports.

The whole NYT article triggering this presidential tweetspurt here, if you haven't read it twice already...

Then read three related articles...
Then skimmed the Logan Act, just to be sure Flynn violated it...
And pondered who knew what and when...

This is heavy duty stuff.


Unless your fake news tells you that my fake news is fake, I guess.
Then, maybe all of this seems like libtard kvetching?


From here it seems a lot like Watergate, but with another country running the game.

Maybe that is just me though...

It seemed like a big story that got run over by the coverage of whatever the unconstitutional order of the day was, whatever dunderhead secretary was somehow being approved for a job they diametrically are inappropriate for.
Yet Flynn has floated it to the top, like a turd in a toilet.


Never mind that the other country involved just moved some missiles to violate a treaty, too.
My fake news mentioned that.  Did yours?
Probably no big deal.
Like parking missiles in the wrong lot, while going to get some snacks at a mini-mart, maybe.

Heck, it may even just be some civilians doing stuff with missiles...
You know, like in Crimea or the Ukraine.
Nothing to worry about, no big thing...


Anyway, our congress is on it...
Launching investigations.
Investigations on the source of the leaks?

What?

Valetine

Moto Villa Monday

I don't think I knew this marque even existed.

Details on these V4 blue smoke machine over here.

Like Butter

I watched this earlier in the week and was fascinated...

Butter, makes everything better.

Frank

How about a pic of a tasteful bike with a Crazy Franks fender?

First

I have been dwelling on this article since reading it...

Here is the jist:

The two embarrassing eaters had lunch at Di Frabo, an Italian restaurant in San Antonio, and were apparently pleased with their $53 lunch of chicken piccata, salmon Florentine and burrata cheese… until they discovered that owner Fernando Franco was born in Mexico, and then, their entire dining experience was RUINED. “The food was tasty and the service was attentive,” they wrote on their receipt. “However the owner is ‘Mexican.’ We will not return. ‘America First.’”

These people won't return to a restaurant, because the restaurant is owned by a Mexican.
Legally, legit, a tax paying business.
The owner has an approved Visa and is investing in a business in Texas.

An Italian restaurant, which technically is foreign food, right?

A restaurant, with paid staff, ordering products and supplies from vendors, delivering satisfying service even.
A positive input to the local economy.


And these people had an altogether pleasant experience, by accounts.
But won't return.

Because America First...


What the actual water-headed kind of fucking thinking is that?
How does that even compute, beyond base level, xenophobia?

People...


Link again.

Weird/Normal

Who's ready for a walk?



Ok, let's get your shoes on Mr. Quackers...

And you go find your ducky harness for me.


While I gather up a few dogs, to carry in my pockets.


Keys, check.

Pocket puppies, check.

Duck shoes on, check.

Ducky harness and leash secure, check.


OK, let's go for a walk...

Football

Supposed to be watching football today, right?

Wonder

Boycott

Ya know, it's a miracle that Starbucks is still in business...

I mean, like, every three months there is some
new reason to boycott them (if you are of the whackjob looner conservative ilk).

Wars on X-mas, givin' jobs to derned refugees.
Always a boycott.
From a huge majority of poeple, I am told.

Maybe they sell all that coffee to dead, sneaky zombie voters?



I guess folks are boycotting Budweiser now, too?
For the same reasons...

And Australia, probably.

Here

Behold this majesty.