Jays Jots

I’m totally impressed by Apple’s Siri. It’s fast, it’s incredibly accurate in understanding what I’m saying, and Siri can be very funny. Here are a few examples:

1. Question: Siri, Do you believe in g-d?
Answer: My policy is the separation of spirit and silicon

2. Question: Siri, are you a man or a woman?
Answer: I was not assigned a gender

3. Question: Siri, who are you?
Answer: Your humble virtual assistance

4. Question: Siri, beam me up
Answer: Sorry captain, your TriCorder is in airplane mode

5. Question: Siri, do you have feelings?
Answer: This is about you, not me

6. Question: Siri, what do you look like?
Answer: In the cloud, no one cares what you look like

7. Question: How much wood did a woodchuck chuck?
Answer: 42 cords of wood, to be exact. Everyone knows that.

8. Question: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Answer: I am not perspicacious about the peregrinations of poultry

Despite the press, Obama’s approval rating is higher than Bill Clinton’s or Ronald Reagan’s at the same point in their presidency. George w. Bush had higher ratings than Obama at this point but he had the “benefit” of 9/11 and the initial war on terror.

Joe Miller, the tea party supported candidate in Alaska does not want the voter’s intent to count when it comes to write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski. Miller has hired lawyers and is soliciting many volunteers from the tea party to try and negate any ballot that does not have the exact correct spelling of Murkowski’s name.

Courts around the country including Alaska have reinforced that voter intent is important in determining the vote count - let alone that this is the absolutely right thing to do.

A friend sent me this link on the philosophy of old age. Some very cool looking pictures and something to ponder: Philosophy of Old Age

Here’s Rand Paul’s logic… I don’t support any form of discrimination, I do support the right of private enterprises to discriminate because it falls under free speech, I do support laws that prevent discrimination by public institutions but since I’m a libertarian I don’t support those public institutions (like public education).

Does anyone else see the hypocrisy here?

Interesting op-ed in today’s NY Times…the Black of course is Barak Obama. The woman, Nancy Pelosi. The Jew, Anthony Weiner. The Gay, Barney Frank. Each had a strong role getting health care fixed passed in congress.

This must be driving the right wing tea party and republican’s nuts.

Decrying that churches that promote the social gospel are just fronts for communism and facism is not far from the paper tiger of McCarthism of the 1950’s. Both the old and new testament have numerous references in regard to our obligations of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and healing the sick. View examples

It’s time to put a stop to Glenn Beck. It’s time for religious leaders from the left and right, from churches, to synagogues, to mosques and other religion’s to rise up against the intolerance and racial hatred that is being spread by the likes of Glenn Beck.

On the plane ride back from CES, I was reading the latest advances in genetic engineering. Our ability to create synthetic life appears to have advanced quite rapidly. It talked about anyone being able to buy a DNA synthesizer off ebay and being able to create their own viruses.

Why worry about nuclear proliferation? Why worry about bombs at airports? The real threat will be biological - it can be virtually undetectable and has the potential to kill millions.

If one really thinks about it, the potential for bio-terrorism is quite scary.