Martin World News

 

Okay, I have at least two stories that could be taken as mildly amusing...

CNN- Shoulda said it then...

Headline: Jill Biden says she worried Joe Biden was having a stroke during 2024 debate

YOU were worried? That poor man had no buisiness being out there.  But, let me ask you, Jill, what was it you said that night?

 In a post-debate event that night, Jill Biden said, “Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question. You knew all the facts.”

You know, had you said something about a stroke, or at least acknowledged that, "We beat Medicare" wasNOT a correct answer to any question, maybe Harris might have done a bit better in the election that fall.  Better late than never doesn't always apply.

KTLA Los Angeles:  Perhaps a branch office was not required...

Headline: Bizarre U-Haul tree branch rampage damages a dozen cars in North Hollywood

My thanks to Bo Snerdly's X account for showing me this one.  And let's see what happened via the police report...

“V1 (the U-Haul truck) traveling eastbound on La Maida Street, struck a very large tree branch, which ripped off and lodged itself between the truck and its trailer,” police said in the statement.

Police said the U-Haul truck continued eastbound on La Maida Street, resulting in the tree colliding with and damaging 12 other vehicles parked along the street.

As you can see, this was no small tree branch.

"She has huge rearview mirrors on both sides, like, there's no way you couldn't see and feel," said Nate Bridges, one of the North Hollywood residents who witnessed the chaos unfold. "It was a huge mistake, obviously. It was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen."

One person harmed and maybe helped, was witness Clark Heiser, whose Prius (which he was living in while trying to get his music noticed), whose immediate reaction was:

“What the f— lady!” Heisler could be heard yelling at the U-Haul driver after the truck came to a stop up the street. “You couldn’t tell? You just hit everybody’s car down the street!”

But soon later, he put on his rose colored glasses and said:

Clark says his Prius was totaled in the incident, because they no longer make replacement roof panels and the car is only worth around $3,000. He hopes that if anything good comes from the ordeal, it's that more people view the video he posted on his Instagram and begin listening to his band Papercut Massacre. 

Can't say I didn't try to help.  I'll see if I can find their tunes later.

RT News: If ya can't beat 'em...

Headline: Pope used AI to warn about dangers of AI – researcher

Recently, our friendly neighborhood Pope issued a 42K-page encyclical called  ‘Magnifica Humanitas’, in which he discussed a growing concern to most in-the-know people- the lack of oversight of AI programs, which he and many others feel may end up being harmful.  But...

Despite its appeal for AI to be regulated and “disarmed,” large portions of ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ show some telltale signs of being written by AI, Zhang claimed in a blog post on Tuesday.

“Phrases and punctuation much more commonly used by AI are much more present in this papal encyclical than past encyclicals,” Zhang wrote, pointing to the document’s use of em-dashes (127 instances, compared to 26 across four encyclicals by Pope Francis) and “tricolons: a series of three parallel words, phrases, or clauses used for rhetorical effect.”

Not surprisingly on this big of a work, the problem might just be the men who Leo XIV sublet the work out to:

The fact that certain paragraphs appear completely free of AI suggests that “some senior Vatican officials heavily used AI assistance for this encyclical and many (probably including Pope Leo himself) didn’t,” Zhang wrote.

Or maybe Leo himself is a figment of AI.... "Look at them, not at me..."

(NOTE: This is a totally fictitious attempt to start a viral rumor.  Feel free to spread it!)

Xinhua: And speaking of AI...

Headline: Robot tea picker takes on West Lake's delicate harvest

I watched the video- sure looked like he was grabbing a lot of imaginary leaves.  A friend of the Pope's, perhaps?

(BTW:  I tried to screen shot it and crop it on Paint, but the new paint has hidden the crop function somewhere that I can't find it.  So I went to grok and HE did it.  Grok 1, Pope 0.)

And certainly after all that battle, the closer should be a good one...

Japan Times: At least it's not during Pride Month

Headline: At Kawasaki’s ‘penis festival,’ phalluses are vessels of compassion

I only get so much of this story without signing in, but here's the gist.  Shinto gods live in mikoshi, temporary abodes that can be paraded about on special occasions.  One such occasion is the Kanamara festival in Kawasaki, Japan.  What sets this fesitval apart is what that name means- the Festival of the Steel Phallus".  During this festival, the gods get to ride around in replicas of the original Steely Dan (wiki how the band got its name for further details).  But the star of the show is...

"...a fuschia clored, 2-meter tall sculpture- that happens to be named Elizabeth."

"All right, fellow deities- short straw rides in Elizabeth this year."