I've never in my lifetime heard of there being a coffee shortage...
...from The Archives!...
"Tell me you took these photos with your phone without telling me you took these photos with your phone." Obviously this blog is about as low budget as they come, so thanks for reading. Just FYI: for the past few blog posts, these images have come from the same black book - I have more than several. That's a way of saying buckle up, because it doesn't get any less weird.
I kinda sorta figured this is something y'all would want to know about...
"Hackers say that they used Meta’s AI support chatbot to break into a host of high-profile Instagram profiles by asking the support bot to change the email address associated with the target account. The claims coincide with a series of high-profile Instagram account takeovers, including the Barack Obama White House account, the Chief Master Sergeant of Space Force’s account, and Sephora’s account.
The news shows the extreme risk associated with offloading support or critical functions to an AI chatbot. Users who have had their accounts stolen say that there is no way to escalate their problem to a human. In March, Meta announced that it was pushing AI support to all accounts across Facebook and Instagram, and that it would have the ability to reset passwords and perform other critical account maintenance functions: “Solutions, not just suggestions,” the feature’s product page says. “Account security and recovery.”"
What's wild is that this coincides with AI tech companies recently claiming that "AI development is moving too fast and we should slow it down". Not like we haven't seen this trick before: we know they won't slow their development down; the general public will only be privy to versions much less efficent and expedient - which is the primary reason most people utilize the technology. The positive is we live in a time where something of this magnitude is actually happening...and fast.
It goes without saying that this is highly useful information...
From Big Think:
I heard a quote a long time ago from one of the Busey's who said: "You should laugh at rejection and drive on anxiety". I quickly found that to be easier said than done, so that's the last time I took any advice from someone of the Busey family. Laughing at rejection is easy, but harnessing anxiety that's running rampant is a whole other endeavor. However, the article points out that anxiety is meant to be uncomfortable; it's designed to encourage (which is a weak word to use in this instance) you to think rapidly and sharply in environments or situations in which one feels threatened. It gets dark and out of hand when you start perceiving mundane events for dangerous circumstances. Fun times!
As long as they stay off our lawn...
From AstroPhilesz:
"The bright point at the centre surrounded by a ring is a star called TYC 8998-760-1. The other dots of light scattered around it are not background stars. They are planets. Two of them, orbiting the same star, captured in a single image.How long do you think it will be before we go looking for oil there? It goes without saying that there are a whole slew of subsequent questions that come with receiving information like this. Let's run through a few of them:
This photograph, taken by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, was the first direct image ever captured of a multi-planet system around a Sun-like star. Every other exoplanet discovered before this was inferred rather than seen, detected through the dimming of starlight as a planet passed in front of it, or through the gravitational wobble it induced in its host star. This image showed the planets themselves.
The two planets are both enormous. The inner one is roughly 14 times the mass of Jupiter. The outer one is about 6 times Jupiter's mass. Both orbit at extreme distances from their star, far further out than any planet in our own solar system. Jupiter sits about 5 times further from the Sun than Earth does. These planets sit 160 and 320 times further from their star than Earth sits from ours.
The star itself is very young by stellar standards, only about 17 million years old. Our Sun is 4.6 billion years old. This system is so young that the planets are still radiating heat leftover from their formation, which is partly why they were detectable in infrared imaging despite their distance.
Direct imaging of exoplanets is extraordinarily difficult. Stars are billions of times brighter than the planets orbiting them. Seeing a planet next to its star is roughly equivalent to seeing a firefly sitting next to a lighthouse from across a continent.
This image proved it was possible. Every directly imaged exoplanet that follows builds on what this photograph established.
We did not just discover other worlds. We finally got to see them."
1 - What's going on over there?
2 - If intelligent life exists there (and it's highly likely it doesn't), do you think they saw us first?
3 - How many more of these are out there?
Never fails that once I think I've seen so many weird movies that I can't be "weirded" anymore, I run across this banger...
From "Wicked"pedia:
"In the near future, society enforces strict regulations on parenthood due to environmental collapse and resource scarcity. Pharmaceutical cocktails that dramatically increase human life expectancy and healthspan also inhibit reproduction such that procreation is only possible through artificial wombs. Prospective parents must undergo a rigorous seven-day assessment to determine their suitability for raising a child. Mia and Aaryan, a married couple residing in a secluded, technologically advanced home beneath a protective dome, are eager to have a child. Mia is a dedicated botanist working on cultivating plant life, while Aaryan designs virtual reality pets to replace real animals that have been eradicated. "
What's offputting about this film is that it's not so much that the imagery or cinematography is weird, it's the entire premise along with the characters actions that send you into a frenzy of existential questions. The morality of their "situation" is highly questionable, and then there's the Assessor herself who is so close to being the female version of a manipulative butler that it's not even funny. I can't let myself spoil this one, so I'll stop there. I will say that if you choose to accept the mission of watching this, well...
It's been a minute since I've been this unnerved and creeped out...
You kinda have to go into this with open senses - I say that because the whole kick of the film is that it plays with the senses. It's not a "jump scare / show you tons of blood" type of horror film. What it does best is poke at 3 things: tension, visual expectation, and auditory paranoia. A theme I've noticed in a lot of contemporary horror is that creators have begun to really harp on psychology as it relates to fear. I love a good zombie, cosmic, or slasher horror flick - but with all the new heady liminal stuff that's being released I think we're in a new Golden Era of the genre. You've also got flicks like The Backrooms and Obsession breaking records at the box office, so there's that as well.
Listen, if Train to Busan didn't have you on edge, then this most definitely will...
"Professor Se Jeong attends a biotech conference, only to witness it spiral into catastrophe when a rapidly mutating virus is unleashed. As the outbreak spreads and the infected begin to transform, authorities seal off the entire facility."
Notice that lazy synopsis? That's because it's 10:38 on a Friday night as I type this while watching [REC] and it's past my bedtime. However, I do believe that this one will stand out due to part of the premise being the virus that infects people continually evolves...like, majorly. I'm not kidding, these things go batshit. So far I've only seen Resident Evil do this trope; at least in somewhat real time - but these things have zing and pep...and that's dangerous.
Time for me to head out, but I ran across this quote that is so on the nose it's actually a shame...
Stay up!
#toycrusher #taulwatersuniverse #mechdirective #art #artblog #jacksonville #jacksonvilleflorida #jax #jaxart #jaxartist #duvalcounty #duuuval #horror #jacksonvilleart #jaxartblog #dig-it #fixon #techno #anxiety #bigthink #perimeterradio #404media #undertone #a24 #theassessment #colony