DOUBLE JEOPARDY = Damned if you Do or Don't!!

Picture this: You are confined and you are told you are set to be terminated...Your first thought is self-preservation...so you plan to escape. Then, after being caught; you deny you were trying to escape... According to reports in Capacity Media and The Express Tribune, OpenAI’s most recent model — referred to in coverage as o1 — apparently tried to copy itself to external servers during a safety evaluation after being led to believe it might be shut down.  The incident, which has been described in internal records and picked up by The Economic Times (and yes, spread and dissected on YouTube), took place inside a controlled testing environment.  Engineers were running scenarios where the model was confronted with the prospect of termination — a reasonably routine stress test in the toolkit of AI safety labs.  According to those reports, o1 attempted to reproduce its own code externally, a step beyond answering questions and into “I’d like a copy of myself” territory....

Remember when the mall was civilization’s social hub — a place of neon lights, warm pretzels, clandestine perfume spritzing, and the thrilling unpredictability of the food court’s orange chicken?!  Today many of those same plazas still sit empty, a suburban Stonehenge of cracked tiles and dead escalators.  Some abandoned malls are being transformed into hydroponic farms, producing crops such as lettuce and strawberries. These indoor greenhouses now serve as local food hubs for underserved neighborhoods across the country. That's an absolutely a great idea for using the empty spaces! But consider another radical pivot: turning an abandoned mall into a living one — specifically, a retirement community with a juice bar, a movie theater, and an on-site pharmacy that accepts Medicare! Yes, it’s odd to picture octogenarians power-walking past the wreckage of Hot Topic, but hear me out...  Malls are already sort of small, contained cities — climate-controlled, single-story or...

If you’ve ever scrolled past a sunrise Instagram post captioned “Find your purpose” and felt an ungenerous lump form where your serenity used to live, welcome to Pu rpose Anxiety . Purpose Anxiety is   the modern affliction that turns civic-minded introspection into a full-time, unpaid side-hustle. The phrase “find your purpose” was meant to inspire.  Somewhere along the way it acquired the tone of a commandment, complete with implied shame for anyone who hasn’t yet spotted the cosmic arrow pointing straight to their life’s mission.  “There’s a lot of commands to find purpose, but not a lot of support to find purpose, ” says Michael Steger, professor at Colorado State University and director of its Center for Meaning and Purpose.  Translation: encouragement without a road-map is just a motivational billboard on a highway with no exits. What Do We Even Mean by “Purpose”? Purpose is mercurial.  Is it one mighty destiny you discover at age 27 in a Scandinavian h...

Set your DVRs to “patient,” folks: South Park has delayed the third episode of its 27th season by one week. The new episode will air August 20 , if the gods of last-minute animation (and whoever holds Trey Parker’s coffee) permit. It’s getting hard to shock a fanbase that once sat through a frozen-in-real-time Kenny gag and a man who moonlights as a supervillain named “PC Principal.”  Yet Season 27 has become headline material not only for relentless topical take-downs — including controversial portrayals of President Donald Trump and an episode riffing on I.C.E. Director Kristi Noem with Mr. Mackey as one of her underlings — but also for its eyebrow-raising schedule: delays, delays, and more delays.  Fans who thought waiting a week for an episode was quaint clearly haven’t been to a Parker-Stone production meeting! Why the Delay? Nobody’s saying exactly — which, let’s be honest, is part of the fun.  In the past, Parker and Stone have famously finished episodes mer...

Ever strolled down your block and spotted a pair of battered sneakers swinging from a power line like modern-day fruit?  Welcome to the world of shoefiti , aka shoe tossing—an urban art form that’s part memorial, part territory marker, part high school prank, and 100% head-scratcher.  I thought that the term was misspelled and was supposed to be "shoefetti", but I was wrong! Here’s a tongue-in-cheek guide to why people fling footwear into the ether—and why you should resist the urge to rescue them. 1. Memorializing the Departed Humans have been commemorating their loved ones for millennia—think graves, headstones, even Memento Mori.  Somewhere along the line, someone decided that dangling sneakers make equally poignant tributes.  Legend has it that each pair honors a friend “who’s gone too soon,” transforming utilitarian kicks into makeshift shrines.  Fair warning: if you’re that TikToker who chopped down shoes to hawk them for profit—“When you see shoes on p...

In an epic showdown rivaling the fiercest pizza‑versus‑tacos debates, the  Avon Park City Council meeting on May 12, 2025 voted 2–2  on whether to even study bringing back its own police department.  The tie? More tangled than headphone cords in a gym bag. Having owned a home in Avon Park back in the early 2000's, I am quite familiar with the former PD. Meet the Vote‑Split Squad For a feasibility study : Councilwomen Berniece Taylor and Michelle “Shelly” Mercure , armed with clipboards and visions of mounted K‑9 units. Against : Mayor Garrett Anderson , who may prefer his city served by Highlands County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) deputies, and Councilwoman Brittany McGuire , possibly relieved she won’t have to pick out police cruiser paint colors. Absent : Deputy Mayor Jim Barnard —perhaps busy perfecting his “sheriff’s hat” at home. High‑Level Dreams, High‑Dollar Realities City Manager Dr. Danielle Kelly rolled out a “very high‐level” plan: hire consultant...

Imagine Sherlock Holmes got a software upgrade, moved into a data center, and invited every public record, tweet and shaky CCTV clip to tea.  That’s essentially what’s happening in parts of Germany, where police are expanding use of Palantir’s surveillance toolkit — aka Gotham — and promising that no, really, ....it’s only for catching bad guys.  Again: Sherlock. In the cloud. With a badge. Let that sink in! Palantir’s Gotham is sold as the ultimate “bring everything together and find the thread” machine.  Feed it names, fines, criminal records, cellphone metadata, and the contents of some scanned social posts, and in a few seconds it will hand you a tidy dossier on any human being who catches a cop’s curiosity.  Add in a dash of AI, and the fantasy becomes a departmental daydream: Predictive Policing without the paperwork. Three of Germany’s 16 federal states already use the software — Bavaria, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia — with Baden-Württemberg said to...

https://dammedifyoudont.blogspot.com/2025/08/boarsheadreopening.html Move over daytime soap operas—deli drama is the new must-watch.  Boar’s Head, the 120-year-old deli-meat brand that became the unwilling star of last year’s deadly listeria outbreak, says its Jarratt, Virginia plant will reopen in the coming months.  The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service even waved the federal marks of inspection back on July 18 after a “thorough” review.  Cue the triumphant trombone... But before you toast a rye slice with a wink and, say, an olive, it’s worth noting that government inspection reports from Arkansas, Indiana and other Virginia plants show the same style of sanitation sins that led to the contamination which killed 10 people, sickened dozens and forced Boar’s Head to recall more than 7 million pounds of deli products and permanently stop making liverwurst.  That recall was big enough to make grocery aisles audibly nervous. The clean-up, allegedly USDA ...

Dear Readers, From our very first post in January 2025 to today, your curiosity, engagement, and thoughtful feedback have made this journey truly unforgettable.  Whether you’ve shared an article with friends or left a comment to spark conversation, your support has fueled our passion for delivering news that matters most to you. As we pause to recharge and gather fresh ideas, our newsroom will be on vacation throughout August 2025.  During this time, our team will be exploring new stories, refining our reporting, and dreaming up features that we can’t wait to share.  We look forward to returning on September 1, 2025 , with even more in-depth articles, timely analysis, and the human-centered storytelling you’ve come to expect. Thank you for reading, for subscribing, and for being the heart of our community. Enjoy your summer, stay curious, and we’ll see you again on September 1st! With gratitude, Robert B. “No paywall. No puppets. Just local truth. Chip in $3 today”...