On we?

BREAKING NEWS: Barron Trump has resigned as the son of President.

UPDATE: There was a slight miscommunication in the last story. In actuality Barron Trump is resigned to being the son of the President. We regret the ennui.

Expedia! For Trump voters only!

Background: someone used my email address to open an Expedia account (I assume they did not use their own email because they have already been through the following).

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Subject:            Other:Account Settings        
Sent:            Feb 15, 2018 7:15:17 AM        

            Name: Kristy *** 
Message: I am not Kristy ***. I do not know anyone with that name. I do not know how you allow people to create accounts without proving their email address is theirs. Please close this account and STOP EMAILING ME!  

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Expedia customer,
Thank you for contacting us. We will do our best to respond to your inquiry within 24 hours.
-----------------------------------------------------------------


Dear Kristy, 

We understand how important for you to close your account.

For your reference, please be aware that if you have accounts on multiple Expedia websites with the same email address these accounts will also be closed. Also, as a result of closing your account, you will lose any Expedia + points, associated status and benefits available in these accounts. 

In addition, any itineraries without reservations or ticket purchases with this account will be deleted. You would not be able to sign in or access any information associated with this account, but you can open a new account at any time. 
If you wish to proceed with this request, please email us back with your confirmation. 

Your business means a lot to Expedia. 


Shiella 
Expedia Customer Service Team 


-----------------------------------------------------------------



Subject:             Re: Other:Account Settings - Case ID : [REQ:M-***]          

Thank you for not even reading my email. Now please close this account! 



-----------------------------------------------------------------



Dear Customer, 

We apologize for the confusion and allow us to provide you information on how to close your account. 

In order for us to continue to permanently delete this account, we recommend that your reply to this email with your approval on deleting your account.    

Please be reminded that, account closure is permanent and cannot be reinstated. In addition, once you have closed your Expedia account, any itineraries without reservations or ticket purchases with this account will be deleted. You will no longer be able to sign in or access any information associated with this account, including your Expedia Rewards. 

We are always willing to assist you whenever you need Expedia again and we hope this information would help to resolve your concern. 


Cross 
Expedia Customer Service Team 

What about his Goppelganger

Mussolini was known as "il duce" and is it only for that our dear leader get a similar Italian nickname during for him. Therefore, I declare that from hence forward Trump shall be know as "la doccia". Congratulations!

Second place went to "Your/His assHoliness".

First Amendment

A while ago I predicted Paul Ryan would be the next President. I no longer think that will be the case. I still think the Speaker of the House will be our next President but I no longer believe that will be Ryan.

As the Mueller indictments wash in, it will certainly be interesting to see if Nancy Pelosi can keep her Democratic leadership position.

Where are those centrifuges I ordered?

Who are the most important people in the World? The ones most in need of protection?

If you answered "the children" then you are absolutely wrong. It's the politicians! How can we we hope to have any sort of life without them? We can't!

Trump and others propose arming teachers to prevent another shooting atrocity in schools but what about Congress? Or the White House? Or Mar-a-Lago? These places bar gunsbeing brought in by the public and that is dangerous and just asking for disaster. We need to immediately lift this gun ban and ensure everyone entering these places is armed to the teeth. It is the only way prevent another tragedy.

All my love,
Wayne La Pierre

Thought, no prayer required

This time feels different. (4/20/1999)
No, this time feels different. (4/16/2007)
No, this time really feels different. (7/20/2012)
No, wait, this time really feels different. (12/14/2012)
No, seriously, wait, this time really feels different. (6/12/2016)
No, totally seriously, wait, this time really feels different. (10/1/2017)

That's enough. Now, I should explain why this time will be different, except it won't. Best case: kids march on Washington. Some hollow law gets passed. Nothing measurable results. Apparently this makes me a defeatist and thus the cause for the problems. Sorry but no.

People who think a few marches will do anything are the problem. People who do not understand politics and our country are the problem. You want to actually do something? Here are two concrete plans that would go in that direction.

1) Take over the NRA. The NRA only has about 5 million members. Membership is $40. So, find a few million people who feel strongly enough to spend $40 on the cause. Vote out the NRA leadership.

2) Bribery and blackmail are theoretically illegal in our country but if a group says to a Representative, "vote this way or we will vote you out) that's fine! Pick some jackass that you find abhorrently supportive of gun rights, say Jim Jordan (actually I just assume he's a big gun supporter, I do not assume he is a jackass). Have a huge number of democrats vote in the Republican primary and out goes Jordan. Then start the #yourenext campaign. There are plenty of districts where this would work.

Or continue with the plan that seems to be working great.

AI has already taken over

There has been much made over the past year or so about the danger of a "rogue" AI destroying humanity or some such. The reality is this may have already occurred. Let me explain.
Not long ago, I wrote an AI to play the game Can't Stop. This is a simple dice rolling/press-your-luck game. The AI (it's actually a neural network but that is not important) looks at all the current information and decides what combination of dice to choose. Then it decides whether to roll again or stop (and end its turn). To create this AI, I start with a network, copy it and make some random changes to the copy. I then let these two networks play against each other many times. I then look at the results and if the original was clearly better than the copy, I keep it. Otherwise I replace the original with the copy. I make a copy of the winner, add some random changes and repeat. Eventually, the network learns the best way to play. Google is doing something similar with their Go playing AI.
And so is Facebook and Twitter and Amazon and Scott Adams. It most of these cases, the changes aren't random but the effect is the same. Eventually, to the extent that it is possible, they will consume all of your time and/or money. CNN, Fox News and MSNBC operate on much the same principle (as news has for a very long time). If you find something that doesn't operate like this, it is likely a failure (or on its way) or something that can ignore popularity/money/power (like a personal blog).