Let Them Print Cake! #227
By Hank Silverberg
Technology is a good thing. If people didn't strive for better gadgets and the solutions they bring, we would still be living in the stone age. But sometimes technology can also have some unforeseen and annoying consequences. Two things happened this week that put that into perspective.
I sat down to watch some TV the other day hoping to catch a movie on Prime Video before streaming a Red Sox preseason game. I hit all the proper buttons on the remote and then got this message on a darkened screen:
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"Internet browser will be closed due to internal error."
My initial reaction was--darn, the internet is down again. But no. After a quick check with Verizon it became clear the problem was with my nine-year- old SONY Smart TV.
I could not get through to SONY until the next morning where it was explained to me that the software in my TV was obsolete, and I could no longer stream with it. They are working on a fix I was told, and they should have it ready in THREE MONTHS.
NO WAY! My "Smart TV," which cost a thousand dollars, has now become "stupid" and will no longer do what it was purchased for.
It turns out attaching an Amazon Firestick to an HDMI port is a workaround, and after about an hour of pushing buttons and re-entering passwords on all the streaming services, I have everything back. The firestick cost 42 bucks.
But I will probably never buy a SONY product again. It appears they made this TV to become obsolete. They provided no software update to fix the anomaly before it occurred, and the attitude of the company has been terrible. (Many people had been calling in the same problem, I was told.) It makes me want to go back to my old analog TV which ran faithfully for 22 years without a hitch. The problem of course, is that most programming is now digital and most of the quality TV is on streams (or very high-priced cable packages).
As I was recovering from the streaming withdrawal, I found an article in Smithsonian Magazine that has me questioning the future.
My wife is a baker. She has her own in-home bakery and a small loyal clientele. But now she too can become obsolete (as a baker at least), because of 3D printing.
A team of scientists has now used a 3D printer to make an edible slice of cake. Apparently, the printer takes the ingredients and squeezes each element out of syringes to form the layered cake, and the lasers in the printer bake it.
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| (inkedibles.com) |
Scientists 3D Printed a Slice of Cake | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine
The concept of producing food with a machine is right from science fiction. We all know about those handy "replicators" used in the Star Trek franchise. But "printing" food seems bizarre.
There's no word on how this 3D cake tastes. But I would put it up against anything my wife makes, and hers would be better, I am sure.
Let's just hope the printer is not made by SONY or it might stop baking after a few years.
Parent's Rights?
Banning books, limiting what their kids learn about Black history and science, putting alternative lifestyles back in the closet? Is that really what the majority of parents want in this country?
Republicans seem to think so. On Friday, House Republicans narrowly passed what they called the "Parents Bill of Rights Act." Included were amendments added by right-winger Lauren Boebert
The right-wing was unable to add some provisions that would have abolished the Department of Education and endorsed vouchers that would send public school funds to private schools.
Before I write any more, I should note this bill is dead on arrival in the U.S. Senate where Democrats are still in control. Not a single Democrat in the House voted "yes" on this legislation.
There is a lot of "inside the beltway" politics here, but we need to take a look at just what Republicans want to do. For years the GOP talked about keeping away from local school boards and letting local leaders make decisions that were best for their communities.
But now, when many local school boards have made tough decisions on race, gender identity and curriculum, the radical right is saying local school boards, elected by people who care about local schools, have made the wrong decisions and need help from Washington. They say they "want parents involved" in the decisions. Well, guess what? Parents have always been involved in local schools and have always been involved in making decisions about such things as curriculum.
The right-wing of the GOP is only screaming about all this now because they don't like the decisions local school boards have made. I might add that here in Virginia, our Governor Glenn Youngkin made some headway in his last campaign on this issue by using a small minority of complainers to make it look like parents were being ignored by local school boards. Anyone who has ever sat through a school board meeting knows that's never been the case. But like many issues, those who complain the loudest, whether they are informed or not, always seem to get attention.
Support your local schools. You already have the right to say what you think at public meetings and vote for people who agree with you. Let's keep these radical right hot heads who are out of touch with most of America, from taking us backwards.
GOP Passes Parents’ Bill of Rights Act in Clash Over Schools – NBC New York
NEWS BREIFS
Students Against Youngkin
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| (George Mason statue on campus) |
A petition asking that the invitation be withdrawn has already obtained over 5,100 signatures. Senior Alaina Ruffin who wrote it says, "...selecting a speaker that has passed anti-trans legislation, promoted the abolishment of racial equity curricula and restricted the availability of literature in public schools..." intentionally targets historically marginalized communities comprising Mason."
GMU, where in full disclosure, I have occasionally taught as an Adjunct Professor, promotes the school's very diverse student body. The University's motto is "Fostering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion."
Ruffin calls the invitation to Youngkin a betrayal of every minority group on campus and "hypocrisy and dishonesty from Mason's administration itself."
Several other organizations on campus have joined
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| (Gov Youngkin) |
Inviting a governor to speak at a state university's commencement is not unusual. Four of Virginia's last five Governors, Terry McAuliffe, Tim Kaine, Mark Warner and Jim Gillmore, spoke at Mason graduations. As of this writing, there has been no comment from Governor Younkin's office.
GMU has more than 38,500 students, more than any other four-year state university in Virginia.
One must wonder what Mr. Mason, the author of the Virginia Bill of Rights, the model for the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights, would have thought of all this.
Banned Books!
Don't be surprised if you see a display like the one pictured below at your local Barnes & Noble bookstore. Some of the stores in the national chain are promoting books, particularly children's books, that are being banned in some places across the country.
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So, you may ask, how does a Dr. Seuss book, popular since 1967 and read by millions of children for decades, all of a sudden get banned?
All it takes is one or two complaints to a local school board by a parent to stir up such nonsense. Most of the time the parent misinterprets what they have read or haven't even read the book.
It seems someone was offended with "Hop on Pop" because they thought it promoted parental abuse by children. I don't know about you, but when my kids were young, they would hop on me all the time, and my grandkids do it too.
Then there is Seuss's book "The Lorax." It seems someone thought his promotion of a good environment and ways to stop climate change were an attack on capitalism. Well, that's downright un-American. Nonsense of course, but few school boards have enough guts to stand up to screaming parents, even if there are only two or three of them.
Expect this nonsense and the issues of the previous stories to creep into the presidential race in the next year. Sometimes I think people have lost all sense of reality.
Your response, of course, should be to run out and buy any book they ban so you and your kids can read them. We need young people to get a well-rounded education if our experiment in Democracy is to succeed.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This quote is not really dumb. It's actually quite accurate about what's wrong in the media and politics today. What makes it this week's dumbest quote is who said it. The comment comes from Fox News pundit and liar, Tucker Carlson, who was talking about what is wrong with the media and its coverage of China-U.S. foreign policy.
“You take a collection of dumb, desperate people in middle age hoping to keep their stupid TV jobs, you add scripts and some hairspray, and they repeat the lies for you."
Carlson, though, may be too egotistical or dumb to know he was talking about himself on just about every topic he has ever mentioned. He needs to look in the mirror for something other than combing his hair.
My NEWEST book is now available. It is designed for use in Public Speaking and entry level communications classes.
HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-
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