We've learned that wild deer have become a reservoir for covid. Is it possible that beef and dairy cow are too? A meat packing plant could easily be filled with fine-particle aerosolized bovine tissue. Are the workers catching covid *from the cows*? That would certainly point to a need to automate the process.
Are any other animals we eat covid carriers?

A word about the Fairness Doctrine.

What the Fairness Doctrine did was ensure that evidence-based sources of info were made available to people who are exposed to charlatans like flat-earthers, anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers, etc.

Ignorant people have always existed. Providing balance in the form of evidence-based info helps diminish ignorance.

The Fairness Doctrine was abolished and Fox News is the result. Running a fact-free propaganda channel keeps people ignorant.

Freischutz, thank you for being a lighthouse of reason and sanity in a sea of ignorance. This is the kind of response needed to navigate these times.

Misinformed or minimizing the reality, yes.

From the article:

"Mueller’s authority under Rosenstein’s appointment is broad. Mueller is empowered to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump,” as well as “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.” He may also prosecute federal crimes uncovered in this investigation."

https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fthinkprogress.org%2Ftwo-...

These 21st century "armchair warriors" exist because they're striving to prevent further decline toward *becoming* one the countries that steal people away at night. It's not about sticking it to the Man so much as it is about maintaining accountability. If we held people who start wars of aggression accountable, maybe we wouldn't have quite so many problems with terrorists. Ignoring and or minimizing the domestic side of the issue isn't helpful.

I've been following the field for awhile, so I'm aware of the barriers to success; it is, as the engineers like to say, a non-trivial problem. But I can't possibly be aware of every development, so it's really helpful to get your perspective.

I agree with the general consensus that we're a ways off from accurate machine transcription of group discussions, for the reasons discussed; that several conversations can be active at once, interference from other background noises, comprehending context, etc.

The point about late-deafened people being able to work with lower accuracy is a good one. I'm like that, I can recognize phonetic mistakes and mentally substitute the correct word because I know what it intended, but I have lot of born-deaf friends who would be lost.

One reader took upbrage at rusotto's joke about being able to hear doesn't help here. Me, I laughed. I know what it means to be bored silly even when everything is clear, and even ASL conversations can have the same problem. Another point about referring to deaf folks as "vulnerable" - yes, most people would resent that sort of label, even among those who understand it's not done with malice.

About communications with my mother - yes, we can converse by text, or through an ASL interpreter, and via video relay, and we've done all those things. But each of them is mediated to some degree, and working through Siri is too, but with an important difference; the other mediated techniques are more intrusive and divert focus from the person you're conversing with.

In video relay, I don't see my mother at all - I see an interpreter. Text - typing or writing - is also face to face, but it's slow. An ASL interpreter divides focus between the person I'm conversing with and the 'terp. All of these options work. The difference with Siri is, I can see her as she's speaking, focus on HER, read the text generated by Siri and match that with the facial expressions and body language.

One point made was the capacity for reading fast enough to keep up with transcription of a full table of rapid-fire conversation; I agree that would be tough.

Probably the most practical solution now is an ASL 'terp for those (like me) who know ASL. This is one area where the human capacity for a complex task trumps current tech.

Done. Spread this around.

Timing of deployment seems remarkable.

Madness. I recall launch costs aboard the shuttle amount to about 10 grand per pound. Now we're going to quadruple that? Granted, it's an amortized figure, but still.

Private sector contracting for launches is looking more attractive by the day. We have the traditional contenders, Lockheed, et. al., and a hungry new generation - SpaceX, Armadillo, Scaled Composites. With some genuine competition in the market, we could be on the brink of amazing times.

I attended Burt Rutan and Mike Melville's electrifying presentation at the 2004 AirVenture gathering in Wisconsin soon after their success with SpaceShipOne. After they finished, there was a stunned silence, then a woman's voice called out: "WHEN CAN I BUY STOCK???". The audience roared.

Maybe we have a shot at seeing G. Harry Stine's Third Industrial Revolution begin in our lifetimes.

Where do you get the $1-2 billion per launch figure? That seems insanely expensive. NASA's number for average shuttle launch cost is $450 million. The cost to build Endeavor was $1.7 billion. You're saying a simple launch of Ares I could amount to more than the expense of constructing a Shuttle?

I did web development from '96 to early 2001. Started as a freelancer in Florida, then temp and perm work in Washington, D.C. Money was good, respect was widespread, temping gave me plenty of time to travel. Good times.

Then the dot.com crash hit. I spent the following year applying to 500 different jobs. Got a few nibbles, a few interviews, but no bites. I threw in the towel and went to work as, basically, an orderly at a psychiatric care center.

We were chronically short-staffed at the outset, so there was all the overtime we could handle and then some. The pay wasn't anywhere near what I made in webdev, but I was too busy to fret about it.

By and by, I move up a notch in position, then become a weekend manager, then help run a new program. It's been nearly eight years now.

I work two full-time jobs, the second one somewhat related to the psychiatric work. 90 hours a week, and earning less than I did doing webdev. I'm not bitter - if anything, I'm thankful that I've got all the work I can handle while some folks are really suffering. My job security is pretty good, because working with psychiatric patients is a specialized skill that requires a certain temperament to do well.

I also write on the side, hence the user name.

Would I go back to webdev? It would require a lot of schooling - much has changed since I left the field - and if I did, I'd do it freelance. A previous poster was right - the problem is not IT, it's the boss.

But working with people definitely has its rewards, or I wouldn't have continued to do it so long. And this field has provided some fascinating insights into human nature, in ways that most folks are never exposed to. It's been an interesting journey all around.

Beautiful. Instead of solving one person's problem, solve it for the entire community. That's smart scaling.