Interesting Stuff from the Internet
Forget sharks and bears – it’s deer that you should worry about hurting you | CNN
Deer-vehicle collisions are a significant problem in the United States and many other countries. Each year, around 2.1 million collisions with deer occur in the U.S., leading to more than $10 billion in economic losses, 59,000 human injuries, and 440 human deaths. Deer are more dangerous to Americans than sharks, alligators, bears, and venomous snakes combined. The problem is not confined to rural areas; suburban areas also experience high rates of collisions due to difficulty in managing deer populations in those regions.
Safety Tips for Driving to Avoid Deer Collisions
Be Aware of Peak Activity Times: Deer are most active at dawn and dusk. Be extra vigilant during these times.
Understand Seasonal Risks:
Spring: Increased activity due to fawning season.
Autumn: Especially November, due to mating season, leading to more movement.
Know High-Risk Areas:
Suburban areas with high deer densities.
Areas where habitats transition, such as from forest to field.
Roads with woods close to the roadside.
Defensive Driving Techniques:
Slow Down: Reduce your speed in deer-prone areas.
Use High Beams: When driving at night and safe to do so, use high beams to spot deer earlier.
Stay Alert: Continuously scan the road and edges for signs of deer.
Do Not Swerve: If a collision seems imminent, brake firmly and stay in your lane. Swerving can lead to more severe accidents.
Pay Attention to Signs: Look for deer crossing signs and be especially cautious in those areas.
Travel in Groups: Deer often travel in groups. If you see one, more may be nearby.
The Rules for Rulers (youtube.com)
The main idea behind the YouTube video "The Rules for Rulers" is to explain the principles and strategies that guide political leaders in maintaining power. The video, based on the book "The Dictator's Handbook" by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith, outlines how rulers, whether democratic or autocratic, use a combination of rewards and strategic alliances to ensure their survival and control. It delves into the importance of securing the loyalty of key supporters, managing resources to keep these supporters satisfied, and the often pragmatic and self-serving nature of political decision-making. The video distills complex political theory into an accessible format, emphasizing that the actions of leaders are driven by the need to stay in power rather than purely by ideology or the common good.
On June 4, 2024, Christopher Manning, director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University, condemned the actions of some researchers at the university for plagiarizing work from China's Tsinghua University. The incident involved Stanford's Llama3-V model, which was claimed to be highly cost-effective compared to other large models like GPT-4V. However, industry insiders suspected plagiarism from Tsinghua's MiniCPM-Llama3-V 2.5 model.
Tsinghua's model was uniquely trained using ancient Chinese texts, the "Tsinghua Bamboo Slips," which were never publicly released. Tests indicated that Stanford's model could also recognize these texts, suggesting clear plagiarism. Following public criticism and mounting evidence, the Stanford team removed online references to their model, and team members Aksh Garg and Siddharth Sharma issued apologies.
This incident highlights the broader issue of unethical practices in Silicon Valley and the rising influence of Chinese AI research. Despite leading in AI technologies, the U.S. still faces significant challenges and competition from international researchers.
Photographer Disqualified From AI Image Contest After Winning With Real Photo | PetaPixel
In the article "Photographer Disqualified From AI Image Contest After Winning With Real Photo" on PetaPixel, a photographer named Miles Astray was disqualified from the AI image category of the 1839 Color Photography Awards after his real photograph of a flamingo won third place and the People’s Vote Award. Astray entered the real photo to highlight the merit of natural photography over AI-generated images. The contest organizers appreciated his message but disqualified the entry to ensure fairness for other participants. This incident underscores the ongoing debate and challenges surrounding AI in creative fields.
Snippets from the Newsletters/ Newspapers/ Books
Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, on failure:
"When my brother and I were growing up, my father would encourage us to fail. We'd sit around the dinner table and he'd ask, "What did you guys fail at this week?" If we had nothing to tell him, he'd be disappointed. The logic seems counterintuitive, but it worked beautifully.
He knew that many people become paralyzed by the fear of failure. They're constantly afraid of what others will think if they don't do a great job and, as a result, take no risks. My father wanted us to try everything and feel free to push the envelope. His attitude taught me to define failure as not trying something I want to do instead of not achieving the right outcome."
Sociology professor Daniel Chambliss, who spent years researching the qualities of elite swimmers, on what creates excellence:
"Excellence is mundane. Superlative performance is really a confluence of dozens of small skills or activities, each one learned or stumbled upon, which have been carefully drilled into habit and then are fitted together in a synthesized whole. There is nothing extraordinary or superhuman in any one of those actions; only the fact that they are done consistently and correctly, and all together, produce excellence. When a swimmer learns a proper flip turn in the freestyle races, she will swim the race a bit faster; then a streamlined push off from the wall, with the arms squeezed together over the head, and a little faster; then how to place the hands in the water so no air is cupped in them; then how to lift them over the water; then how to lift weights to properly build strength, and how to eat the right foods, and to wear the best suits for racing, and on and on. Each of those tasks seems small in itself, but each allows the athlete to swim a bit faster. And having learned and consistently practiced all of them together, and many more besides, the swimmer may compete in the Olympic Games... the little things really do count."The sands of history form an uncertain foundation on which to establish a creed composed of factual statements. We can rest broad conclusions on these sands, but if we pin our faith to details they are liable to be washed away by the incoming sea of knowledge, and faith may crumble. If we rest on the broad truth of experience, we become more conscious of, and better able to breathe in, the spirit that moves above the ground level of consciousness. That is the breath of life.
“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” — George Bernard Shaw
“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatsoever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me; it is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got a hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” — George Bernard Shaw
Bloomberg
Artificial intelligence has morphed into a license for wide-eyed speculation about the future, akin to the mid-20th century apex of science fiction. That’s fun and exciting today, but consumers can and will turn against it if nothing useful arises.
Cautionary tales already abound: the Humane AI pin and the Rabbit R1 are two failed attempts this year at selling AI in a hardware package. In part because “I don’t have enough gadgets” is not a problem anyone needed solving, and in part because they weren’t anywhere close to replacing the smartphone.
The AI PC phenomenon I witnessed at Computex in Taipei last week is another example, in my view, of just cramming AI into a familiar gadget and selling it like something entirely new. But what if people buy one of these Copilot+ laptops this fall and are underwhelmed?
There is a very real risk of consumer aversion, as we’ve seen with things like 3D TVs and virtual reality glasses, if products don’t live up to the promises. And yet, when I asked one executive about his company’s plan B in case AI doesn’t sell more laptops, I was met with a prolonged pause.
Many hundreds of miles of beach, and millions of dollars in property value, are protected by recurring beach nourishment projects, which generally need to be reinforced every five years. Federal, state and local governments have spent close to $16 trillion since 1926 (in 2022 dollars) to replenish beaches in the U.S., according to a database maintained by Western Carolina University.
In North Carolina, over $124 million was spent in 2022 alone on beach nourishment projects for shore protection or in response to emergencies, per the data. Almost half of that was spent in the Outer Banks, with $50.9 million going to shore protection projects in Avon, Buxton, Kitty Hawk and Southern Shores. The majority of the funding—close to $40 million—came from local sources.
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”—HUNTER S. THOMPSON”
Of the world’s 20 largest stock markets, 14 have hit all-time highs recently. The MSCI ACWI Index, which tracks developed and emerging markets, has been on a record-breaking run, setting another new high on Friday. In the US, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes hit records this week, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed 40,000 for the first time ever. Meanwhile, the biggest bourses in Europe, Canada, Brazil, India, Japan and Australia are currently at or near their peaks.
A new report from the U.S. trade representative’s office finds that President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese products reduced Americans’ real incomes and depressed investment but didn’t increase manufacturing employment. Though China made some changes to its abusive trade practices in response to the tariffs, it “largely took superficial measures aimed at addressing negative perceptions.”
NYTimes
In a study published on Thursday in the journal Science, Australian researchers estimated that a human pregnancy demands almost 50,000 dietary calories over the course of nine months. That’s the equivalent of about 50 pints of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream, and significantly more than the researchers expected.
The time it’s taking for some of China’s electric-car makers to pay suppliers is ballooning — a further sign of stress in the nation’s increasingly cutthroat auto market.
Nio was taking around 295 days to clear its receipts payable, the vast majority of which are owed to suppliers, at the end of 2023 versus 197 days in 2021, according to the most recent available data compiled by Bloomberg. Xpeng, another US-listed Chinese EV maker, was taking 221 days to honor its obligations to vendors and related parties, up from 179 days, the data show.
Elon Musk’s Tesla, by comparison, only took around 101 days, and that period has remained largely stable in the past three years.
Wendell Berry’s standards for technological innovation. Hard to follow but good to measure any new technology against:
1. The new tool should be cheaper than the one it replaces.
2. It should be at least as small in scale as the one it replaces.
3. It should do work that is clearly and demonstrably better than the one it replaces.
4. It should use less energy than the one it replaces.
5. If possible, it should use some form of solar energy, such as that of the body.
6. It should be repairable by a person of ordinary intelligence, provided that he or she has the necessary tools.
7. It should be purchasable and repairable as near to home as possible.
8. It should come from a small, privately owned shop or store that will take it back for maintenance and repair.
9. It should not replace or disrupt anything good that already exists, and this includes family and community relationships.
“From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it’s different. Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there—on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam”
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.” ~Sir Francis Bacon