Rants on The Truth Imperative

Artificial definitions

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 09:52:19 -0800

Just saw a post talking about someone predicting when we’ll see “ASI” (artificial superintelligence). The grifters haven’t even managed a decent definition of “AGI”, let alone, “AI”. What is “ASI”? We’re told it’s “defined” by Nick Bostrom. I went to find that definition because the way it was paraphrased didn’t “define” anything in a meaningful way – certainly not in any measurable way.

Nick’s definition of Superintelligence (not Artificial superintelligence, BTW):

Dangerous Plastic Packaging

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 15:54:00 -0800

I’ve been wondering this and noting that more and more products are coming wrapped in this stuff. I use a tchochke that I got from Tripwire that has a tiny corner of a razor blade on it to open these packages, but even then, the cut plastic package is sharper than the razor. I’ve cut myself on several occasions. The unusual shapes of the packages doesn’t make it very easy to cleanly open either.

Apostrophe Abuse Is Cruel

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 15:48:00 -0800

Boing Boing: Atrocious apostrophe’s and “quotation” “mark” “abuse” photo galleries

Two Flikr galleries dedicated to photo’s of apostrophe and quotation mark abuse. I can’t believe my previous post on Common writing mistakes didn’t touch on this pet peeve of mine.

Data Shows Overuse Of The Word 'Pandemic' Becoming 'Global Pandemic'

Wed, 07 Dec 2005 06:33:00 -0800

One example: https://bankinfosecurity.com/node/2696

Isn’t “Global pandemic” a bit redundant? Also, is the term “pandemic” even appropriate, or the most appropriate, to describe an Internet-based malady? Pandemic implies distribution over a large geographic area.

Plenty more https://news.google.com/news?q=pandemic&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=nn&oi=newsr

And thankfully I found this article criticizing this trend: The ‘Pandemic’ Epidemic

The complete toll of the Iraq War

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 14:11:00 -0800

It really miffs me to hear media focus entirely on the number of death-specific casualties of the Iraq war but completely ignore the other horrible casualties. From the McLaughlin Group, 11/4/05:

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Okay, the human toll: The U.S. military dead in Iraq, including suicides, 2,035; U.S. military amputeed, wounded, injured, mentally ill, 48,100; Iraqi civilians dead, 117,700.

Note to the media: Why don’t you ask yourselves why it is only the number of _dead_ servicemen who you choose to highlight? Isn’t 48,100 WOUNDED US CITIZENS an even more horrific number? Yes, 2035 dead US Citizens is tragic, but death is not the only tragic consequence for the soldiers.