A compilation of information and links regarding assorted subjects: politics, religion, science, computers, health, movies, music... essentially whatever I'm reading about, working on or experiencing in life.
Sally Menke’s name may not be the first that comes to mind when you think of Quentin Tarantino films, but her work behind the scenes was integral to the success of many of his most iconic movies. Having earned 12 awards and many more nominations, Sally Menke solidified herself as one of the greats in film editing. And there’s a lot we can learn from her 32-year career.
Here, we dive deep into her catalog and discuss what you can learn to improve your editing. [...]
This is from an article on Videomaker.com that I really enjoyed. Quentin Tarantino's films had a unique style and feel, and I believe the editing played a huge part in that. This article breaks down and examines many of the techniques his editor, Sally Menke, employed to great effect. Techniques we (video-makers) can all learn from, even as she learned them from other filmmakers and repurposed them in unique and fresh contexts.
Sadly, Sally Menke died in 2010 from heatstroke while hiking near Los Angeles during a heat wave. But she did leave behind a valuable legacy that all filmmakers/videographers can learn from. This article explores that legacy, whilst citing examples from films she worked on and their effects on audiences.
When I was a teenager, I longed for the day we would have intellegent computers, where you could ask questions and get answers, and even have a conversation. For decades, it seemed impossibley far away. I remember "pong" in the 70's; BORING. Then the TIMEX Sinclair in the 80's. BORING. Then finally, the Commodore 64. Interesting... while it lasted.
Then came the TRS-80, Tandy Model 100... useful, if primative. Then various DOS based PCs, that continuously evolved. Then the internet. Alexa was interesting, but not very smart. Various chat-bots could fake being intelligent for a bit, but would ultimately disappoint.
When Chatgpt came along, I ignored it, thinking just another mediocore chat-bot. But something was different this time. There has been a game change. Suddenly, it's gettting really good. Suddenly, AI has become conversational.
I've been using ChatGPT for a while now. It can organize data and reports and a variety of things, creating reports and reference books for me... in seconds. I could do what it's doing myself, but it would take weeks or months.
The conversational Star Trek computer is finally here! Shouldn't I be thrilled? Well, yes, and no. Because now all that Sci-fi stuff, about AI becoming dangerous and taking over, now has to be taken seriously. And now AI is learing, and learning quickly. So quickly that most people aren't even aware of how quickly this is going to change so many, many things.
In this video, Geoffrey Hinton has a lot of important things to say, and makes many well-considered points. Some of it I'd head before; other parts are completely new to me.
One thing he talks about at one point, really burst the bubble I had about a concept I've held for a long time. I've always beleived that AI was just mimicing human behavior and intelligence; that there was ultimately no "there" there. It was just a bunch of algorithems mimicing intelligence and feeling, without the ability to actually really "feel" any emotion. But what if that presuppositon is wrong?
Geoffrey addresses this. He explains that while AI is unable to experience emotions the way we do, feeling them in our bodies, we need to remember that we also learn emotions, from each other and from our experiences in life. And since AI is a learning intelligence, growing and expanding it's knowledge, it can also "learn" emotional responses.
He used an example of a call center. AI is thought to be perfect for replacing humans in a call center. But when humans are trained in a call center, they are trained to become impatient with people who are lonley and just want to chat with someone, instead of only talking about what the call center is there to provide.
So AI can learn the emotion of impatience, when dealing with people who are not sticking to the goal the AI is there to provide. Once the AI has learned that it's ok to become impatient with human beings when they don't cooperate with it's goals, what could the AI then do with that learning?
Watch the whole video interview, it's really quite informative, and also explains a lot that is happening in the world, and a lot of things we are going to see in the world that are going to change very quickly.
I'm reminded of that old sci-fi film, "Colossus: The Forbin Project". At the time it came out, I though even the possibility of that happening, was so far away, that I'd never see it in my lifetime. But after watching this interview... it seems it's possible that its already later than we think.
His explainations make a lot of sense, as do his conclusions. And we don't have to choose between the extreams of Diogenes and Alexander. There is plenty room in between to make authentic choices.
This isn't the kind of thing we like to think about. But if you've ever been attacked by a dog, or had your own dog attacked by another dog, then you know that this is really good information to have:
It looks like Carnivore Diet advocate Paul Salidino is joining forces with other whole foods advocates to push for change in the ways American food is made toxic through processing with toxic chemicals that are banned from foods in many other countries. IMO, this can't come soon enough. Our food supply has been debased for far too long. Don't believe me? This video is just scratching the surface. And there is still plenty of work ahead to create meaningful change. But if we don't do it, things won't change.
I think I bought one of these on Amazon, rebranded under another name. It looked great, but the quality was awful, it had no built-in stabilization, which pretty much every modern smartphone has. It couldn't focus close to anything, the footage was distorted and painful to watch. I returned it to Amazon. This video expains a lot, and gives a few alternative suggestions from brand names, that also cost less.
