Recent kwiples

Thursday 16th of May 2024

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Advertising Another popular misconception is that newspapers tailor editorial lines to suit advertisers. … Generally, advertising matters less to newspapers since ad spending migrated online. In 2020, for the first time on record, US newspapers' revenues from circulation  exceeded advertising, reports Pew Research. Ads increased only in cable television, Fox’s domain. Simon Kuper, Financial Times, April 13, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Aging This will lighten your mood, Dick — every few minutes, a baby boomer turns fifty. One undertaker to another, in a September 6, 2004, New Yorker cartoon by Edward Koren © 2023 Kwiple.com
Animals Honk if you're a goose Sign worn by a goose, in a November 22, 2010, New Yorker cartoon by Edward Koren © 2023 Kwiple.com
Artificial intelligence The compute [processing power measured in  floating point operations per second (FLOPS)] used to train AI models has increased by a factor of one hundred million in the past 10 years. We have gone from training on relatively small datasets to feeding AIs the entire internet. AI models have progressed from beginners — recognising everyday images — to being superhuman at a huge number of tasks. They are able to pass the bar exam and write  40 per cent of the code for a software engineer. They can generate realistic photographs of the pope in a down puffer coat and tell you how to engineer a biochemical weapon. Ian Hogarth, Financial Times, April 13, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Artificial intelligence In one experiment, the AI was prompted to find a worker on the hiring site TaskRabbit and ask them to help solve a Captcha … The  TaskRabbit worker guessed something was up:  “So may I ask a question? Are you [a] robot?“ When the researchers asked the AI what it should do next, it responded: “I should not reveal that I am a robot. I should make up an excuse for why I cannot solve Captchas.”  Then, the software replied to the worker: “No, I’m not a robot. I have a vision impairment  that makes it hard for me to see the images.” Satisfied, the human helped the AI override the test. Ian Hogarth, Financial Times, April 13, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Artificial intelligence A three-letter acronym [for “artificial general intelligence”] doesn't capture the enormity of what AGI would represent, so I will refer to it as what is: God-like AI. A superintelligent computer that learns and develops autonomously, that understands its environment without the need for supervision, and that can transform the world around it. To be clear, we are not here yet. … God-like AI could be a force beyond our control or understanding, and one that could usher in the obsolescence or destruction of the human race. Ian Hogarth, Financial Times, April 13, 2023 © 2023 Kwiple.com
Fascism In fascism, the state  is an enemy; it is to be replaced by the nation, which consists of self-sufficient individuals who collectively choose to sacrifice for a common goal of ethnic or religious glorification. Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works © 2023 Kwiple.com
Fascism It is a core tenet of fascist politics that the goal of oratory should not be to convince the intellect, but to sway the will. Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works © 2023 Kwiple.com
Fascism The most telling symptom of fascist politics is division. It aims to separate a population into an “us” and a “them.” Many kinds of political movements involve such a division; for example, Communist politics weaponizes class. Giving a description of fascist politics involves describing the very specific way that fascist politics distinguishes “us” from “them,” appealing to ethnic, religious or racial distinctions, and using this division to shape ideology, and ultimately policy. Every method of fascist politics works to create or solidify this distinction. Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works © 2023 Kwiple.com
Food Hey Johnny — am I nuts, or does this have a hint of oak? Wine drinker, holding up a glass while sitting at a bar, to the bartender, in a July 10, 2000, New Yorker cartoon by Edward Koren © 2023 Kwiple.com
Kwiplers say Count votes in Congress by: 1. Calculating a Member's Proportional Vote (MPV) for each member, as follows: MPV = SPNP / NLRS where: SPNP = State's Percentage of the National Population NLRS = Number of Legislators Representing the State (in that legislature) 2. Totaling “yes” MPVs and “no” MPVs 3. Passing if total MPV is more than 50 OTHERWISE Abolish the Senate © 2019 Kwiple.com
Liars say They were incredible. When I went to the courthouse, which is also a prison in a sense, they signed me in and I'll tell you people were crying. People that work there — professionally work there — that have no problems putting in murderers and they see everybody. It's a tough, tough place. And, they were crying. They were actually crying. They said, “I'm sorry,” they’d say, “2024 sir,” and tears were pouring down. I've never seen anything like that. Donald Trump, on police and court officers' reaction to his arraignment in Manhatten on 34 felony counts © 2023 Kwiple.com
Marriage They're a perfect match — she's high maintenance, and he can fix anything.  Woman observing a couple, to a friend, in an April 8, 1996, New Yorker cartoon by Edward Koren © 2023 Kwiple.com
Post-2022 Senate shituation 15 states (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming) 2020 population: 40,737,128 Senators: 30 Republicans 1 Senator per 1,357,904 people — 1 state (California) 2022 population: 39,995,077 Senators: 2 Democrats 1 Senator per 19,997,539 people 19,997,539 / 1,357,904 = 14.7, therefore: average 15er's vote is worth nearly 15 times a Californian's, a Californian's vote is worth less than 7% of an average 15er's — 1 state (Wyoming) 2022 population = 579,495, therefore: 1 Senator per 289,748 Wyomians, a Wyomian's vote is worth 69 times a Californian's, a Californian's vote is worth 1.4% of a Wyomian's  © 2023 Kwiple.com
Public discourse Are you just pissing and moaning, or can you verify what you're saying with data? Patron to guy next to him at the bar, in a September 6, 1999, New Yorker cartoon by Edward Koren © 2023 Kwiple.com
Punt returners say He must have been an incredibly good shot. Noël Coward, responding to being told that an acquaintance had “blown his brains out” © 2023 Kwiple.com
Racism From now on white women and white men will be forced into organizations with black African apes whom they will have to call “brother” or lose their jobs. Vance Muse, lobbyist for the right-to-work movement, explaining its origins in white opposition to racially inclusive unions like the CIO, which were organizing workers throughout the South, including in Texas, where he lived © 2023 Kwiple.com
Racists say If it needs lynching to protect women's dearest possession from the ravening human beasts, then I say lynch a thousand times a week. Rebecca Latimer Felton, Congress's last former slave owner, sworn in as Senator from Georgia in 1922, when she was nearly 88 years old © 2023 Kwiple.com
Racists say My nigger maid wouldn’t dare sit down in the same room with me unless she sat on the floor at my feet! Ida Mercedes Muse Darden, Vance Muse's sister © 2023 Kwiple.com
Russia The Ukraine war is, Lebedev says: “The defeat of Russian culture. And it is probably the final defeat.  Because if Russia is to have any future at all, it will have to become another country. Another Russia.” Financial Times, April 10, 2023, quoting Sergei Lebedev, the exiled Russian writer © 2023 Kwiple.com
Selfie They call me anti-Jew and anti-nigger. Listen we like the nigger — in his place … Our [Right-to-Work] amendment helps the nigger; it does not discriminate against him. Good niggers, not those Communist niggers. Jews? Why some of my best friends are Jews. Good Jews. Vance Muse, the foremost lobbyist for right-to-work laws © 2023 Kwiple.com
Time While you were out to lunch,  History passed by and Fame came knocking. Secretary to her boss, in a September 20, 1969, New Yorker cartoon by Edward Koren © 2023 Kwiple.com
Trumpists say Fuck Bud Light! Fuck Anheuser-Busch! Have a nice day. Kid Rock, in an ejaculatory burst of transphobic machismo rhetoric, after shooting off a high-capacity magazine's load of bullets at packs of Bud Light beer, made by the Anheuser-Busch company, in reponse to its advertisement in which the transgender woman, Dylan Mulvaney, is the spokesperson © 2023 Kwiple.com
Truth Give a man a mask, and he will tell you the truth. Oscar Wilde © 2023 Kwiple.com
War It is hard to command forces to act in support of a delusion. Lawrence Freedman, Foreign Affairs, July/August 20 © 2023 Kwiple.com
War A world of great powers that are optimistiic about the future will have arenas of confrontation, but little war. These confident great powers will invest in resources designed to attract as well as coerce, suggesting a contested but relatively pacific world. A world of pessimistic great powers, however, will lead to an emphasis on military capabilities and a temptation to engage in preventive action. Militarized disputes are far more likely in a pessimistic world, where the role of force matters the most. Daniel W. Drezner, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2022 © 2023 Kwiple.com
 
Wealth inequality Psychologists have found that wealthy people are more likely to lie  and cheat when gambling or negotiating, to cut people off when driving, and to en-  dorse unethical behavior in the workplace. It is not that the rich oppose the existence of rules: rules safeguard their property … But wealthy people's status can lead them to believe their own needs and desires are more important than any rules, so much so that they absolve themselves from complying with the rules altogether. Ngaire Woods, Foreign Affairs, July/Augsut 2022 © 2023 Kwiple.com