GIGO

audio version of GIGO

The operator of a motor vehicle is an integral part of that motor vehicle during said operation. The operator decides what the destination is and what route to take. They decide the urgency level of the trip. They make decisions concerning the safety and efficiency of the trip.

The operator, whether they are actively aware of it or not, makes use of a LOT of factors including their familiarity with the area(or the lack thereof), the weather conditions, time of day, physical health of the operator, what they are transporting other than themselves etc etc etc. Not to mention monitoring the output that the vehicle sensors send to the dashboard.

The condition of the vehicle, the design of the vehicle, the condition of the driving surface, the chance(s) that an animal of one sort or another will dash into the path of the vehicle are all considerations and the operator must do the considering.

We humans have a pretty large capacity for ignoring things that are functioning as expected. So we might not think about things we consider automatic even as we make decisions based on them. The look, smell, sound and even feel of an area can (and should) affect choices the operator makes.

The ongoing effort to automate vehicular operation specifically by the immigrant oligarch that understands far less than he claims, appears to be ignoring the truth of the previous sentence. In deference to the perversion masquerading as capitalism, he wants to use as few sensors as possible to keep material costs and development costs down. To paraphrase an old canard, things should be as simple as possible, but no simpler.

It is my considered opinion that fewer sensors are not better. Even if your visible light sensors can see from infrared through ultraviolet, relying solely on visual sensors seems irresponsible. Radar sees better in rain and fog. The last several times I have moved over for an emergency vehicle, I heard it well before I saw it. Why would we not have audio sensors incorporated into the design of the electronic operator of the vehicle? As a matter of fact I honestly believe that olfactory sensors, barometric pressure sensors and temperature sensors should be included with the LIDAR, RADAR, cameras and precipitation sensors that are available to the industry.

In the old school programming traditions there was a saying that applies here. "Garbage In, Garbage Out" generally abbreviated to "GIGO". I see no reason for humanity to be controlled by the lowest bidder. We need the electronic vehicle operator to be at least as sensitive as I am - and in an ideal world, it would be 10 times as sensitive.

Recess Appointments

Audio version of Recess Appointments 

Allow me to tell you some stuff you already know.

Travel these days is pretty easy, especially compared to travel a couple of hundred years or so ago. Back then there were no airplanes or airports. The surface vehicles mostly had one or two horse power in that they were being pulled by one or two horses. If you were lucky, you might get to make the majority of the trip via train but, that is a train with no HVAC and not a ton of speed.

Yep, as far as travel goes, things are far better now than back when - say, the Constitution was being written. Pretty obvious so far, right?

As it turns out, in general there have been some pretty large technological changes in human culture not just in the transportation sector. But we need to acknowledge that back when the Constitution was being written, there was no Zoom, no telephones - mobile or otherwise, no digital file sharing. To effectively collaborate with someone or several someones, you really needed to be in the same building.

In the early days of the US government, there was a lot of collaboration going on. But most of those doing the collaboration did not live in the same specific area as their collaborators. The distance of separation could be miles or several hundreds of miles. Several hundred miles of travel using one or two horsepower can take a while. Also, bad shit could happen along the way. So the collaborators attempted to make sure that the functioning of the government did not stop just because of some travel hassles on the part of current or future officials or collaborators.

I find it incredibly unlikely that they intended their efforts to be used as a means of circumventing the other rules, laws and guidelines they put into place.

Look, if during a Congressional break, the Secretary of Defense has a stroke and dies, yes the POTUS should make an appointment during the recess to keep us fully staffed. However, if there is a strong chance that the Senate will advise POTUS to not hire a given individual OR they appear to be heading towards declining that individual's confirmation, it was almost assuredly not the intent of the founders that recess appointments be uses as a means of circumventing the Senate. They were there at the beginning. If they did not want the Senate to have that responsibility, they could have left it out.

Unfortunately partisan divisions have functioned as predicted by some of the founders and candidates that are to all appearances fully qualified for the position have been blocked as a means of wielding undeserved power. Also unfortunately, unqualified candidates have been installed by waiting until Congress recesses. Rather obviously we need to watch out for this and avoid it when we can. However, the Senate needs to take their "advice and consent" mandate seriously and carefully evaluate each candidate and confirm or deny as appropriate. Assuming the Senate (at least in part) feels like they can willfully abdicate that responsibility, the citizenry is not doing their job.

A Test After Not Having Used This Thing In Forever

 Due to some drastic changes in my social media life, I find myself in need of a place to publish my mental meanderings that does not require me to break it up into idiot sized chunks.

I was not sure I still had access here even after I was reminded of its existence.  So we do a test that will also serve as clear demarcation line after the idle period.

Perhaps others will resume posting as well.  As an easy way pissing off a trumptard I expect to like it.