Thursday, March 16, 2017

Hoomins v2.0a

Sir—There are few things of which the present generation is more justly proud than of the wonderful improvements which are daily taking place in all sorts of mechanical appliances. And indeed it is matter for great congratulation on many grounds. It is unnecessary to mention these here, for they are sufficiently obvious; our present business lies with considerations which may somewhat tend to humble our pride and to make us think seriously of the future prospects of the human race. If we revert to the earliest primordial types of mechanical life, to the lever, the wedge, the inclined plane, the screw and the pulley, or (for analogy would lead us one step further) to that one primordial type from which all the mechanical kingdom has been  developed, we mean to the lever itself, and if we then examine the machinery of the Great Eastern, we find ourselves almost awestruck at the vast development of the mechanical world, at the gigantic strides with which it has advanced in comparison with the slow progress of the animal and vegetable kingdom. We shall find it impossible to refrain from asking ourselves what the end of this mighty movement is to be. In what direction is it tending? What will be its upshot? To give a few imperfect hints towards a solution of these questions is the object of the present letter. [continues...]

 -----

The above is an excerpt from:

Darwin Among the Machines — [To the Editor of the Press, Christchurch, New Zealand, 13 June, 1863.


What has changed? Not much in intent just greatly in extent.  And never forget, if cats had thumbs humans would be thought of as their hairball reducing snack treats. 

58 comments:

Unknown said...

first??

Super humans who are sexier, stronger and smarter will arrive by 2029 as brains begin to fuse with machines, Google expert claims


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4319436/Singularity-create-super-humans-Google-expert-claims.html

Rob Dawg said...

Hoominz as musical instruments and a special shout out to sm_refugee who is going to go out and buy one the second he sees this:

http://www.frys.com/product/8935223?site=16email031617

Unknown said...

I have a fever..and the only cure is more VLM Madlab Theremin

Rob Dawg said...

A couple of seasons ago someone really good/famous played one at the Hollywood Bowl with the LA Phil.

Unknown said...

whose coming to the Hollywood Bowl this year?? Have they released their schedule yet??

sm_landlord said...

http://www.frys.com/product/8935223?site=16email031617

Looks like fun - of course the trick is building the case and antennas so it looks cool. Not easy to play well. The one in the picture has only one antenna - a proper one has two.

Rob Dawg said...

Prices keep going up and the content is thinning out.

Oh crap. We are "Friday 1" and get damn Diana Krall -again-. Sigh. More trading.

Rob Dawg said...

The one in the picture has only one antenna - a proper one has two

Properly a long thin loop aimed at the entrance of the vertical round loop in the universal symbol so you can ummmm... "interact."

Unknown said...

Sigh. More trading.

might just be a down year for concerts this summer. Milwaukee Summerfest is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year..and all they've got so far is Tom Petty (celebrating his 40th year touring)..and then not much.

Rob Dawg said...

The Playboy Jazz Fest looks thin as well. You might be right. Still, We get her repeatedly. As part of a series. No way I would pay half what the ticket costs me to see her and face it. The Bowl is too big for her. I might pay half for a theatre scale performance. This is just cheaping out on the part of the Bowl. Captive audience for those of us with awesome seats.

Lawyerliz said...

Oh noez, the hub is starting to talk about cleaning out the garage.

Rob Dawg said...

My series:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban™ - in Concert

Friday, July 7, 2017 - 8:00pm
Artists:

Los Angeles Philharmonic

Justin Freer, conductor

Kool & the Gang
Morris Day & The Time
Village People

Friday, July 21, 2017 - 8:00pm
Artists:

Kool & the Gang

Morris Day & the Time

Village People

Diana Krall
Diana Krall

Friday, August 11, 2017 - 8:00pm
Artists:

Diana Krall

Hollywood Bowl Orchestra

Thomas Wilkins, conductor

Gipsy Kings

Friday, August 25, 2017 - 8:00pm
Artists:

Gipsy Kings

The Muppets
Fireworks Finale: The Muppets Take the Bowl

Friday, September 8, 2017 - 8:00pm
Artists:

The Muppets

Hollywood Bowl Orchestra

Thomas Wilkins, conductor


Not pleased.

Unknown said...

yeah..that looks kind of weak

Rob Dawg said...

he hub is starting to talk about cleaning out the garage.

Can I have the ohhh I don't know. The box of unused nozzle directors?

I don't want the second stage explosive bolts unless he wants to trade for Korean tracer 50cal.

Unknown said...

all of my favorite musicians are getting too old to tour (or at least tour well)...very sad

Unknown said...

The box of unused nozzle directors?

Houston..we have a problem

Rob Dawg said...

yeah..that looks kind of weak

Where are the Internationals? Where are the Phil exchanges? Where are mix-ups? A few years ago they tried "multicultural" as in best bar band in Peru. That didn't work. Now they "seed" the series with one candy and two hard tack and one rotten bisquit.

Rob Dawg said...

Nozzle directors. My bad. Liz' hub knows I mean the actuators. "We" went through a bunch in testing and then ordered many times too many for missions.

Lawyerliz said...

Just ordinary junk and stuff that could work but doesn't.

Lawyerliz said...

Sadness. Nobody was much interested in my longest foreclosure lady.

Rob Dawg said...

No! I just thought you were drawing us out. Such a juicy story. Dish. Please.

Rob Dawg said...

You think ordinary junk. I have the wing pivot bolt for the American SST as a paperweight.

Unknown said...

I totally grilled you on longest foreclosure lady Liz.. ;<)

Unknown said...

I'm interested in why Option One gave up on the foreclosure..do you know if they were just servicers on the loan..or did they retain ownership (might speak to motivation in collection)...

Unknown said...

Liz goes silent...

Lawyerliz said...

Yes you did, but nobody else.

Lawyerliz said...

Option one disappeared u years ago. She paid somebody a couple of payment which I regarded as iffy because ownership of the loan was uncertain, but she owed somebody and it would be a grand defense if somebody else demanded payment.

Lawyerliz said...

I was watching Antiques Roadshow.

Unknown said...

so Option One...just servicing or did they own the loan??

Lawyerliz said...

Option One hasn't exisTed in 5 or 8 years. There is no valid chain of assignments. Back then some then-posters tried to track down their remnants to no avail. I no longer remember who she stopped making payment to. . . That was 10 years ago
.

Unknown said...

so she lucked out by taking a mortgage from the worst (or maybe the best!!) company around at the time. Good for her!!

Lawyerliz said...

I had another client ewho seems to have won the mtg jackpot. I woder how many of them there are.

Unknown said...

Liz doesn't want to get into the details....

nighty nite!!!

Rob Dawg said...

I loved the one where the beaded Plains Indian vest was "no there is no price" it is too beautiful and perfect and important and so much so it would be a sin to ask museums to drain their resources trying to bid on it.

Unknown said...

speaking of Indians....reading a biography of Andrew Jackson....dang that dude was awesome

Rob Dawg said...

If you wern't a Native American maybe.

sm_landlord said...

Entertaining Statistics, for those who have had their fill of politics and economics:

https://wallethub.com/edu/happiest-places-to-live/32619/

Lawyerliz said...

Some of the details are on the previous thread. Maybe the opposing attorney was Stern. The motin to Dismiss from the judge doesnt even say who it is, and it would take quite a lot of effort to find the file. If I still have it. I thought she settled for some reasonable payments 2 or 3 years ago, and it c was over with. Then she had trouble getting them to accept the payments. I told her to get another attorney. If she. Has actually making those payments I'll fall off my chair.

Lawyerliz said...

Err. Genocide.

Lawyerliz said...

Happy st. Patrick's day.

Rob Dawg said...

I think St Paddy's should be a two day affair.
🍀🍀🍀🍀

Lawyerliz said...

Perhaps we should bring him over here, to get rid of the pythons.

Lawyerliz said...

3 launches in days possible. Wowswer!

Rob Dawg said...

What's going up? We had a vandenburg launch last week.

LBD said...

Good Morning!

Corned Beef, It' what's for dinner!

84F yesterday, cooler today.

Lawyerliz said...

Supplies for Space station , military and a communications satellite which went already.

Cinco-X said...

Got tired of waiting for the ball to drop

LBD said...

Sand hills cranes migrating through.

Cinco-X said...

It's is... One day to party, the next day to recover

Lawyerliz said...

Goldman is buying bad loans from Fannie Mae, as fulfillment of punishment for bad loan packaging. It's supposed to reduce balance. And or make payment reasonable, which counts against amount of fines or whatever you want to call it owed to Feds as punishment.

Lawyerliz said...

Well, how about a discussion about Fannie and Freddie? It seems they have repaid all the money they got from the Federal go by t to be saved plus more. They made another 10bIllino last quater. Should the treasury get it? Should the shareholders? Who owns them
. Plus they are too thinly capitalized, so if corporate taxes are reduced, the taxpayers would have to recap alive them anyway, for tax reasons I don't umnderstand. Not to speak of, you know, Covering losses. . But real estate always goes up. . . I think the 10b $ should be used to revcapitalize, which must be the right thing because it makes no one happy. From the NYT paper edition. Plus my opinions.

Lawyerliz said...

Grumble grumble
You all do not deserve to be further informed, but Bloomberg sez commercial loans are in trouble., and that's the next real estate crisis.

Unknown said...

Record number of high rise commercial buildings being built in Seattle right now...not sure if they have tenants lined up or just being built on spec..

LBD said...

Sorry I'm loading up and making a run to the dump. Land lording has it's privileges. LOL!

sm_landlord said...

It's about time commercial loans took a breather anyway. The Fed has been pumping for eight years now, and they still are. At some point, they have to be pushing on a string.

Rob Dawg said...

Liz, sorry for being an inattentive host. The real world™ keeps intruding. I'll be putting up a CRE post a little later.

Rob Dawg said...

A friend is looking at CRE definitely outside of California. The cap rate and guarantees for owning the property that Starbucks long term leases is attractive.

Lawyerliz said...

The problem is dept stores and malls whose sales have fallen so much due to the internet. Not hotels or smallet buildings, here at least.