Aliens or basic but still poorly understood physics of complex dust plasma?
Most likely just regular physics, but RantWoman has the quaint expectation, based only on clean science fiction, that aliens should arrive in a nice proper vehicle like the Starship enterprise, not in a raggedy trail of dust with high potential to mess up the entire heliosphere.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the way we live, work, and connect. But is it working for everyone?
The American Foundation for the Blind is conducting a study on how people interact with AI. We want to hear from adults with and without disabilities, whether you are an experienced user or not. Your input will help us better understand how AI is being used across different communities.
To ensure the depth and accuracy of our findings, we are actively seeking responses from individuals without disabilities. We continue to welcome participation from people with disabilities as an essential part of this research.
If you qualify, you’ll receive a survey link within 24 hours
The online survey takes 10 to 45 minutes, depending on your AI use
You’ll have a chance to win one of twenty $50 gift cards
We invite you to share whether you’ve used AI, how you use it, your opinions about it, and any challenges you’ve encountered. To begin, go to: www.afb.org/AISurvey.
Questions? Email: asilverman@afb.org. The survey will close on September 30, 2025.
If you have already completed this survey, please disregard this email. Thank you for your participation!
Something 1/2 THE SIZE of the SUN has Entered our Solar System 👁️🗨️ THI...
Imagine: LabLm will read a bunch of scientific papers aloud.
What can people on Earth expect when this interstellar object passes through the heliosphere?
Does a blind person actually need to interact with the images or is there plenty of information in the narration in spite of "this one here" and "that one there."
One indication that RantWoman is rapidly approaching an age that can be described as "older than dirt:" RantWoman has never really gotten into binge-watching, say, TV series.
We will not discuss whether or not a raging YouTube habit counts.
The last couple days, RantWoman has so badly wanted to escape everything to do with the President and his disagreeable Cabinet shredding the constitution, that RantWoman has fled to....drum roll, please...Court TV.
RantWoman barely dipped her toes into the sentencing of Brian Kohlberger for 4 heinous murders of University of ID students.
RantWoman thanks Mr. Kohlberger for pleading guilty. RantWoman was not looking forward to a whole summer of gruesome testimony and trial related social media.
RantWoman realizes this path probably will not ease grieving families gut wrenching grief.
RantWoman would not mind never again hearing Brian Kohlberger's name and having celebration of lives every year for the 4 murdered students as often as they need.
RantWoman had ZERO desire to even dip her eyeballs into more info about the sentencing than a short news snippet.
The other legal situation RantWoman is binge watching: the case of WA vs. Ali and Ali. Videos are widely available on YouTube via CourtTV or another called Justice is a Process, as well as J.D. A lawyer explains.
The next several posts will feature RantWoman opining about different aspects of the case. RantWoman had been holding off with commentary until verdicts have been returned. Verdicts have now been returned and sentencing has been set for August 18. That is still miles to go before we sleep. So please read on.
YouTube thinks RantWoman needs another video especially of African Americans telling people to CHILL OUT about Hason Aldean's "Try that in a small town."
Quote from the video below: "CMT took it down because it could incite violence (?)."
But of COURSE.
According to NPR, yes liberal nemesis to the President, Jason Aldean is performing at the Gorge in George WA this very weekend.
Just to play along, RantWoman did a search and discovered a bunch of draft posts with still other Reaction videos. RantWoman is NOT going to post everything in drafts.
Instead RantWoman is going to link a previous well-read item.
RantWoman offers the following slices of international media coverage.
RantWoman apologizes for not having energy to summarize key points. RantWoman is afraid her head will explode if she spends too much time on this coverage of #GazaGenocide, lies, lies, lies
Brave act by Pakistan; calls US veto blocking food for Gaza children ‘mo...
Geologists ISSUED Red Alert as Subduction Zone Under Vancouver Surges in...
This post is dedicated to anyone who wants a refreshing break from multiple strands of human-caused disasters.
The first video is a compilation of comparative data of different kinds and geographies, seasoned with lots of language about "suggests," "could happen," "would happen if..." the Cascade subduction zone ruptures. Readers are invited to consume and consider for yourselves.
And in temporal conjunction, in other news from the Ring of Fire
'Blatantly Unconstitutional!' How Trump CAN be legally STOPPED
RantWoman of late has been watching a lot of legal-themed YouTube channels, including a few that just get ranty, even by RantWoman's pro-rant standards. This channel and this video go on RantWoman's list to come back to.
As an aside, RantWoman has decided a number of times not to go to law school. Nothing is making her rethink that decision but it has shaped comments she might offer if someone she knew where thinking of a career in law.
This video posted for purely lexicographic reasons, explanations of two acronyms.
Okay, RantWoman as a persistent feminist decrees that just brining wifey to meetings without for instance even minimal security clearance efforts is just WEIRD. RantWoman wishes the Hegseths martial happiness, but have some limits, m'kay???
RantWoman sincerely wishes to thank all the veterans relentlessly reminding us all that Pete Hegseth is completely unqualified to be Secretary of Defense.
RantWoman has other thoughts, but they deserve a different post.
RantWoman has discovered a new and exotic way to distract herself from....
It's a YouTube channel called "What's going on with Shipping" RantWoman may have written of it before, but it's time to do it again.
RantWoman considers the channel an AWESOME go-to for LOTS of different shipping and navigation terminology. Not exactly comprehensively indexed as far as RantWoman knows, but a MASSIVE well of terminology.
The other point: paying attention to all the dimensions of global shipping offers one window into why the heck a certain President is getting expansionist about both Canada and Greenland. Global warming could be a GOOD thing if one wants easier shipping and access to mineral resources in the arctic and doesn't care too much about filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide from traffic in and burning of fossil fuels.
No RantWoman, do not go there. Do not wander further into SCIENCE just because someone on Twitter / X brought up the calving of Antarctic glaciers in the spirit of "all this talk of climate change is a hoax."
A chunk of glacier "the size of Rhode Island" has calved off a glacier in Antarctica.
RantWoman did not appropriately mark the tweet that referred to a satellite study saying that an incident like that is about average for yearly glacial calving, a point which is only one of the hazards of attempting scientific discussion 280 characters at a time in Elon's sandbox. The other part of the assertion: so no one can blame global warming on someone's SUV's.
Wanna bet?
First, receding glaciers aside, there a TON of urban design and pedestrian safety reasons for a #WarOnCars.
Next, meander back into historical records of the Little Ice Age, sundry volcanic eruptions and patterns of glacial recission all over the planet over recent decades. Do not attempt precise scientific reasoning 280 characters at a time. Do not mention sea level rise or shifting mountain tree lines or...
Then, although RantWoman is desperately seeking escape from any meditation upon the current occupant of the White House, apparently going there is almost inevitable. As long as #DementiaDonOld spouts all kinds of nonscience nonsense, tries to reroute hurricanes with a sharpie, blubbers about bringing prices down... why the heck NOT also blame receding glaciers on a presidential Bad hair day or something?
OK, OK. RantWoma, ENOUGH for tonight. Save further commentary about Elon's sandbox for another evening.
#BlackHistoryMonth that unfortunately is not history but instead right here in our faces. Alas RFK Jr. Is by far not the only person afflicted by such thinking
TW: an assortment of slurs.
Included here purely for lexicographic documentary reasons
Also #BlackHistoryMonth lasts all year, and hopefully a lot of it is better than this spectacle.
Random item of interest from the blog as electronic scrapbook model of blogging.
RantWoman sincerely hopes that the tides of AI related language standardization do not squash all the subtle regional variations of accents and speech patterns found across the US.
RantWoman is a casual grazer on YouTube, not the kind of linguistic academic who might for instance write whole dissertations about variations in speech patterns even in a single large city.
Interests: Digital Inclusion, Languages and language access, walkability, accessibility, disaster preparedness.
When in doubt, laugh about something!
http://rantwoman.blogspot.com
PLEASE NOTE: I use both screen reading and screen enlargement. I would love to say Blogger is screen-reader friendly, but I am in no position to comment!
