Know what a scarecrow is but not sure what a “strawmen” is – looked it up yesterday and it seemed to be another Republican/Conservative/Classic Liberal (and probably Democrat) political catchall for opposing views and/or anything remotely negative about President Trump. This is probably another “strawmen” comment, but not so to me…
Political catchall in much the same way that Legacy Media ‘n MSM gets blamed for most all the woes in America. Has anyone here ever notice how often Legacy Media ‘n MSM gets blamed here on The New Neo Blog? Pretty much a daily occurrence, and most always when a News source has a hint of criticism about President Trump. Then two comments down, that same News outlet has another article that is positive for President Trump, and it apparently OK to use that News outlet then (?!?). Heck, now AIs are becoming an even worse “source” than Legacy Media ‘n MSM—if that is even possible.
This is an article from the New York Post – a News outlet that seems acceptable here at least most of the time.
Lots of Signs lately that the Trump Administration is in trouble, which is one of the reasons I haven’t done a ‘Trump Tally’ update recently. Plenty of negative Signs from almost the beginning on Trump’s Foreign Policy, but just recently there are negative Signs showing up on his Domestic Policy. “Strawmen” Signs?
The work the Department of Government Efficiency and the overall Trump administration are doing to cut federal fat, make the executive branch more accountable to taxpayers and drive out woke ideology is crucial and welcome.
Leftist ideologues have parasitized and mushroomed the federal bureaucracy, using their position and power to advance poisonous politics on race and gender and perilous policies on energy and economics.
But those people are a loud and obnoxious minority; reformers from the president to Elon Musk on down must beware the perils of gleefully declaring how much they enjoy making tens of thousands unemployed.
Same article has a “Elon’s chainsaw act is:” poll. CRINGE @ 51.86%, EH @ 13.83%, an PRETTY DAMN COOL @ 34.30%. Polls at Daily Mail have also been showing displeasure with some of Trump’s actions.
***But most of the federal workers clock on for the same reasons everyone else does: just to keep a roof over the family’s heads and food on the table — not to ram progressive ideology down our throats.
Letting someone go — apart from the most obnoxious of ideologues — is no cause for celebration.
It was ugly in 2019 when Joe Biden told coal miners losing their jobs they’d need to learn to code.
***
It’s not just wrong for our leaders to overly relish what is necessary and solemn — it’ll come back to bite them when elections roll back ’round in districts across the country that bear the brunt of the hit.
So, Mr. President, let’s leave the sophomoric triumphalism for cognitively impaired lib gerontocrats, social-media nobodies and the whole crowd of MAGA kibitzers. (And tell Elon to knock it off, too.)
(NOTE: I get emails from New York Post and used that title for article – the article’s actual page shows “Why Team Trump should beware its job-slashing triumphalism”)
Like Kate, I am tending to bypass the books.
well they declared it a planet in 1930, and not so recently, of course Clyde Tombaugh had limited technology around at that time, some more advanced than Percival Lowell, when he did the Mars observations, some way he was observing the capillaries of his own eye,
so the people who have not even considered making real reform, about agencies who have mispent the money, cry fowl, you can’t win with these people,
we can go through a long list of things, we were told were wrong by the media, Reagan was going to blow up the planet, from the people who tell us a hot war in the Caucasus is just fine, marijuana is perfectly harmless, the planet is warming and we’re going to freeze or boil, (make up their minds) Wuhan came from batsoup, and masks are the answer
Obamacare was going to save us money, and you could keep your doctor and your plan Biden was a sentient and warmhearted fellow, it’s a much longer list,
A strawman is a false claim made by the opposition of an argument put forth for the purpose of being disproven.
Karmi:
A Strawman argument isn’t anything like your assessment:
seemed to be another Republican/Conservative/Classic Liberal (and probably Democrat) political catchall for opposing views and/or anything remotely negative about President Trump.
Playing Humptey Dumptey with “Strawmen” is weak.
How has the cataract surgery turned out BTW?
Funny Karmi didn’t ask Grok or ChatGPT to explain what a strawman is. He must not really have wanted to know…
Q: what is a strawman
A: A strawman is a logical fallacy or rhetorical technique where someone misrepresents or simplifies another person’s argument to make it easier to attack or refute. Instead of addressing the actual argument, they create a distorted or weaker version of it—often one that’s easier to knock down.
For example, if person A argues that we should have stricter environmental laws, person B might create a strawman by saying, “Person A wants to shut down all factories and ruin the economy.” This is a misrepresentation, as person A didn’t say anything about completely shutting down factories—just that there should be stronger environmental protections.
It’s called a “strawman” because it’s like building a figure out of straw to knock over, instead of engaging with the real, more solid argument.
There you go Karmi, now you’re informed from a source you trust.
Picking up from the open thread of Saturday and the numerous AI posts I have noticed lately. I guess I am a bit intimidated by AI. I dont understand the technology behind it, and maybe only a little better, how to use it. Other than playing around with free AI image and video generators, the experience I remember most left me perplexed. To make a short story long, one of my favorite pieces of music is Beethoven’s Archduke Trio. I noticed in more than one Youtube video of the piece, comments sections that would be filled with entries along the lines of “Hoshino sent me here”, “Thank you Mr. Hoshino”. I did a little non-AI research and found out the references were to a character in a novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami titled “Kafka on the Shore”. Eventually I got curious and decided to get AI’s take. Using, I think GPT-4, I asked, “Explain the significance of the Archduke Trio in the novel Kafka on the Shore”. This was several months ago, so I hope I am remembering correctly. I was offered a choice between a short response (less than 500 words) or a long response. I eventually asked for both. Well, the results I got seemed to match up with the subsequent non-AI research I did vis-a-vis the novel and the three main characters in it, but the short response said that the Archduke Trio was a work in 3 movements by Franz Schubert. Well, no, it’s 4 movements and hey AI, you can’t even get the composer right? The long AI response was better in that it got Beethoven, but still insisted it was a 3 movement work. So, I guess my question to experienced AI users is whether, what seem to me as simple factual errors are common, or does what I experienced sound more like a one-off event? Thanks.
Pluto was found in the place where they thought a planet ought to be, but it was nothing like big enough to be the planet they were looking for. But it was there, and they gave it a name, and a lot of people learned about it in grade school and got attached to it, I guess.
There are rocks of all sizes in the Solar System, do we call them all “planets”? Somebody has to draw a line somewhere, and if Pluto is a “planet” then there’s dozens more rocks which should also be called “planets”. Other rocks like Ceres and Vespa used to be called “planets” in the 19th century and later got demoted, with a lot less fuss from the public.
I think grandfathering in Pluto would have been a fair compromise, though.
Went to eye doc a couple of days ago and got the word: cataract surgery both eyes and soon. Yippee.
the orbit suggests a planet, doesn’t it have a moon called charon, moons would be orbiting planets, asteriods are clustered in belts, of course since those discoveries I heard about the kuiper belt and the oort cloud, and the eclyptic plain, so some objects are a different angle from the standard position, now does pluto matter in the big scheme of things, odd we would do any further exploration in the new future is unlikely considering how remote it is from our vantage point, so it’s kind of an academic question,
speaking of, part of the narrative that is ignored by foreign policy experts, because reasons,
Grok has become my first choice of search engines. One question is usually all it takes, no searching through pages and pages of something that just maybe might have the info I need somewhere on them. Yes, it still has reliability problems.
@miguel cervantes:moons would be orbiting planets,
Rocks can orbit rocks, and do, and they can’t all be planets or we have to learn thousands. Rocks can orbit the sun, and do, and they can’t all be planets or we have to learn thousands. Rocks are found everywhere, not just in asteroid “belts” (which is a label of convenience that we invented).
Fun fact: the planets do not “orbit the sun”. The point they, and the sun, orbit is usually a little bit outside the sun. It is only intermittently inside the sun.
If anyone here is from Arizona, or visiting and looking for things to do, here is a great option.
Giovale Open Deck Observatory. Truly first class facility where the public can look through great telescopes. No reservation required, just walk up and start chatting with one of the folks manning the telescopes. And if you’re so inclined you can also visit the Lowell observatory (on the same grounds) and see the telescope Clyde Tombaugh used to discover Pluto.
Not sure I trust AI.
I mean how canine possibly know when it’s hallucinating…or not?
(Though I guess I could always ask it..)
– – – – – – –
And in other hallucinatory news…that rollicking, irrepressible, sophisticated Obama sense of humor(TM) has just become a lot more “up front” to a no-doubt skeptical audience.
Yeah, “strawmen” is beyond my understanding, and definitions make no sense to me at all. Seems to be something political that is known by the college educated…
How has the cataract surgery turned out BTW?
Long long story. Medical outfit that was supposed to take me in tomorrow morning and wait for surgery and drive me back home didn’t even have anyone setup to do it when I called to check last night!?!?! Told me they would try today. Anyway, a brother in Ocala FL told me his nephew (my grandnephew ?) lives in Gainesville FL.
Grandnephew will now wait for me in Gainesville in morning. He’ll then take me to the outpatient surgery center in the morning…take me back to my truck when surgery is done. If I’m OK, then will drive myself home. If not OK, will wait in truck until I am.
Breaks rules…but am tired of going thru this. Thanks for asking!
Good luck with the surgery, Karmi.
Yesterday marked the beginning of the fourth year of the Russia-Ukraine War.
Commander Salamander has an excellent overview here, complete with his February 24, 2022 post on the Russian invasion and an assessment of how his first-day comments have held up (spoiler: pretty well):
He also includes Grok-assisted comparisons of the war in Ukraine with the Korean War and the Vietnam War (but not the Soviet-Finnish wars of 1939-1940 and 1941-1944).
Bottom line: CDR Sal supports Ukraine but thinks that it is currently in a weaker position to continue the war than Russia is. His conclusion:
“I’ve remained firm in my beliefs I’ve held since before 2014, a staunch supporter of Ukraine’s drive for self-determination. I also hold the same position that I had in the months before the February 2022 invasion—Ukraine should trade some territory for peace and time.”
CDR Sal is not a Russophile. He is a realist.
Niketas Choniates
Funny Karmi didn’t ask Grok or ChatGPT to explain what a strawman is. He must not really have wanted to know…
You’ve tried to put your words in my mouth before – now you’re attempting to put your thoughts into my mind.
Yes, I searched for the definition of “strawmen”. Makes no sense. I wasn’t arguing with or debating anyone when someone said I was using “strawmen”. Was simply making a comment, provided a couple of links, made a statement and offered some opinions. I dunno…
BTW, Niketas Choniates, why won’t you answer this question I asked back on 11/22/2024, and at least once since then?
You said criminals ought to prefer death to life in prison…
I replied:
Show me where I said that…
Thanks Kate!
@Karmi: why won’t you answer this question I asked back on 11/22/2024, and at least once since then?
Digging up old arguments would be tiresome. You provided the link. Anyone who reads what you wrote, and how I paraphrased it, can judge for themselves if I was unfair to you. That’s plenty for anyone who happens to be interested, which I can’t imagine anyone is.
You’ve tried to put your words in my mouth before
I don’t agree that I have, but doing so would be a form of “strawman” argument. Hope that helps, since you said
“strawmen” is beyond my understanding, and definitions make no sense to me at all.
Exact quote and link provided so you won’t have occasion to accuse me of “putting words in your mouth” again.
Niketas Choniates
Yeah, right – you couldn’t prove it back on 11/22/2024 and you still can’t prove that false accusation today.
You are pathetic—at best…
Leave a Reply
HTML tags allowed in your
comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>
Know what a scarecrow is but not sure what a “strawmen” is – looked it up yesterday and it seemed to be another Republican/Conservative/Classic Liberal (and probably Democrat) political catchall for opposing views and/or anything remotely negative about President Trump. This is probably another “strawmen” comment, but not so to me…
Political catchall in much the same way that Legacy Media ‘n MSM gets blamed for most all the woes in America. Has anyone here ever notice how often Legacy Media ‘n MSM gets blamed here on The New Neo Blog? Pretty much a daily occurrence, and most always when a News source has a hint of criticism about President Trump. Then two comments down, that same News outlet has another article that is positive for President Trump, and it apparently OK to use that News outlet then (?!?). Heck, now AIs are becoming an even worse “source” than Legacy Media ‘n MSM—if that is even possible.
This is an article from the New York Post – a News outlet that seems acceptable here at least most of the time.
Stop gloating over job cuts, Don
Lots of Signs lately that the Trump Administration is in trouble, which is one of the reasons I haven’t done a ‘Trump Tally’ update recently. Plenty of negative Signs from almost the beginning on Trump’s Foreign Policy, but just recently there are negative Signs showing up on his Domestic Policy. “Strawmen” Signs?
Same article has a “Elon’s chainsaw act is:” poll. CRINGE @ 51.86%, EH @ 13.83%, an PRETTY DAMN COOL @ 34.30%. Polls at Daily Mail have also been showing displeasure with some of Trump’s actions.
(NOTE: I get emails from New York Post and used that title for article – the article’s actual page shows “Why Team Trump should beware its job-slashing triumphalism”)
Like Kate, I am tending to bypass the books.
well they declared it a planet in 1930, and not so recently, of course Clyde Tombaugh had limited technology around at that time, some more advanced than Percival Lowell, when he did the Mars observations, some way he was observing the capillaries of his own eye,
so the people who have not even considered making real reform, about agencies who have mispent the money, cry fowl, you can’t win with these people,
we can go through a long list of things, we were told were wrong by the media, Reagan was going to blow up the planet, from the people who tell us a hot war in the Caucasus is just fine, marijuana is perfectly harmless, the planet is warming and we’re going to freeze or boil, (make up their minds) Wuhan came from batsoup, and masks are the answer
Obamacare was going to save us money, and you could keep your doctor and your plan Biden was a sentient and warmhearted fellow, it’s a much longer list,
A strawman is a false claim made by the opposition of an argument put forth for the purpose of being disproven.
Karmi:
A Strawman argument isn’t anything like your assessment:
Playing Humptey Dumptey with “Strawmen” is weak.
How has the cataract surgery turned out BTW?
Funny Karmi didn’t ask Grok or ChatGPT to explain what a strawman is. He must not really have wanted to know…
There you go Karmi, now you’re informed from a source you trust.
Picking up from the open thread of Saturday and the numerous AI posts I have noticed lately. I guess I am a bit intimidated by AI. I dont understand the technology behind it, and maybe only a little better, how to use it. Other than playing around with free AI image and video generators, the experience I remember most left me perplexed. To make a short story long, one of my favorite pieces of music is Beethoven’s Archduke Trio. I noticed in more than one Youtube video of the piece, comments sections that would be filled with entries along the lines of “Hoshino sent me here”, “Thank you Mr. Hoshino”. I did a little non-AI research and found out the references were to a character in a novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami titled “Kafka on the Shore”. Eventually I got curious and decided to get AI’s take. Using, I think GPT-4, I asked, “Explain the significance of the Archduke Trio in the novel Kafka on the Shore”. This was several months ago, so I hope I am remembering correctly. I was offered a choice between a short response (less than 500 words) or a long response. I eventually asked for both. Well, the results I got seemed to match up with the subsequent non-AI research I did vis-a-vis the novel and the three main characters in it, but the short response said that the Archduke Trio was a work in 3 movements by Franz Schubert. Well, no, it’s 4 movements and hey AI, you can’t even get the composer right? The long AI response was better in that it got Beethoven, but still insisted it was a 3 movement work. So, I guess my question to experienced AI users is whether, what seem to me as simple factual errors are common, or does what I experienced sound more like a one-off event? Thanks.
Pluto was found in the place where they thought a planet ought to be, but it was nothing like big enough to be the planet they were looking for. But it was there, and they gave it a name, and a lot of people learned about it in grade school and got attached to it, I guess.
There are rocks of all sizes in the Solar System, do we call them all “planets”? Somebody has to draw a line somewhere, and if Pluto is a “planet” then there’s dozens more rocks which should also be called “planets”. Other rocks like Ceres and Vespa used to be called “planets” in the 19th century and later got demoted, with a lot less fuss from the public.
I think grandfathering in Pluto would have been a fair compromise, though.
Went to eye doc a couple of days ago and got the word: cataract surgery both eyes and soon. Yippee.
the orbit suggests a planet, doesn’t it have a moon called charon, moons would be orbiting planets, asteriods are clustered in belts, of course since those discoveries I heard about the kuiper belt and the oort cloud, and the eclyptic plain, so some objects are a different angle from the standard position, now does pluto matter in the big scheme of things, odd we would do any further exploration in the new future is unlikely considering how remote it is from our vantage point, so it’s kind of an academic question,
https://x.com/CherylWroteIt/status/1894392257593115051
speaking of, part of the narrative that is ignored by foreign policy experts, because reasons,
Grok has become my first choice of search engines. One question is usually all it takes, no searching through pages and pages of something that just maybe might have the info I need somewhere on them. Yes, it still has reliability problems.
@miguel cervantes:moons would be orbiting planets,
Rocks can orbit rocks, and do, and they can’t all be planets or we have to learn thousands. Rocks can orbit the sun, and do, and they can’t all be planets or we have to learn thousands. Rocks are found everywhere, not just in asteroid “belts” (which is a label of convenience that we invented).
Fun fact: the planets do not “orbit the sun”. The point they, and the sun, orbit is usually a little bit outside the sun. It is only intermittently inside the sun.
If anyone here is from Arizona, or visiting and looking for things to do, here is a great option.
https://lowell.edu/discover/telescopes-exhibits/godo/
Giovale Open Deck Observatory. Truly first class facility where the public can look through great telescopes. No reservation required, just walk up and start chatting with one of the folks manning the telescopes. And if you’re so inclined you can also visit the Lowell observatory (on the same grounds) and see the telescope Clyde Tombaugh used to discover Pluto.
Not sure I trust AI.
I mean how canine possibly know when it’s hallucinating…or not?
(Though I guess I could always ask it..)
– – – – – – –
And in other hallucinatory news…that rollicking, irrepressible, sophisticated Obama sense of humor(TM) has just become a lot more “up front” to a no-doubt skeptical audience.
(But what do they know from humor…?)
https://tinyurl.com/3nbdw2m8
H/T Blazingcatfur blog.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRO5nqvxieQ
om,
Yeah, “strawmen” is beyond my understanding, and definitions make no sense to me at all. Seems to be something political that is known by the college educated…
Long long story. Medical outfit that was supposed to take me in tomorrow morning and wait for surgery and drive me back home didn’t even have anyone setup to do it when I called to check last night!?!?! Told me they would try today. Anyway, a brother in Ocala FL told me his nephew (my grandnephew ?) lives in Gainesville FL.
Grandnephew will now wait for me in Gainesville in morning. He’ll then take me to the outpatient surgery center in the morning…take me back to my truck when surgery is done. If I’m OK, then will drive myself home. If not OK, will wait in truck until I am.
Breaks rules…but am tired of going thru this. Thanks for asking!
Good luck with the surgery, Karmi.
Yesterday marked the beginning of the fourth year of the Russia-Ukraine War.
Commander Salamander has an excellent overview here, complete with his February 24, 2022 post on the Russian invasion and an assessment of how his first-day comments have held up (spoiler: pretty well):
https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/the-4th-year-of-the-russo-ukrainian
He also includes Grok-assisted comparisons of the war in Ukraine with the Korean War and the Vietnam War (but not the Soviet-Finnish wars of 1939-1940 and 1941-1944).
Bottom line: CDR Sal supports Ukraine but thinks that it is currently in a weaker position to continue the war than Russia is. His conclusion:
“I’ve remained firm in my beliefs I’ve held since before 2014, a staunch supporter of Ukraine’s drive for self-determination. I also hold the same position that I had in the months before the February 2022 invasion—Ukraine should trade some territory for peace and time.”
CDR Sal is not a Russophile. He is a realist.
Niketas Choniates
You’ve tried to put your words in my mouth before – now you’re attempting to put your thoughts into my mind.
Yes, I searched for the definition of “strawmen”. Makes no sense. I wasn’t arguing with or debating anyone when someone said I was using “strawmen”. Was simply making a comment, provided a couple of links, made a statement and offered some opinions. I dunno…
BTW, Niketas Choniates, why won’t you answer this question I asked back on 11/22/2024, and at least once since then?
Show me where I said that…
You had wrote:
I replied:
Thanks Kate!
@Karmi: why won’t you answer this question I asked back on 11/22/2024, and at least once since then?
Digging up old arguments would be tiresome. You provided the link. Anyone who reads what you wrote, and how I paraphrased it, can judge for themselves if I was unfair to you. That’s plenty for anyone who happens to be interested, which I can’t imagine anyone is.
You’ve tried to put your words in my mouth before
I don’t agree that I have, but doing so would be a form of “strawman” argument. Hope that helps, since you said
Exact quote and link provided so you won’t have occasion to accuse me of “putting words in your mouth” again.
Niketas Choniates
Yeah, right – you couldn’t prove it back on 11/22/2024 and you still can’t prove that false accusation today.
You are pathetic—at best…