Last weekend it was 17 this weekend it is suppose to be 70….that is life in the South in Winter.

Good news is that Sue is out of the hospital (at last)….the doctor has her on a strict diet and lots of rest…..she has to go to MD Anderson on the 29th for her check-in with some cancer surgeon.

Before I go any further I want to thank my readers for the support and understanding in this situation…..know that we will ne

Now time for the ‘Dump’….

Since I am a dog person and this first report caught my attention.

An Italian province is sick of this crap, and it’s not going to take it anymore. A database is being set up in Bolzano, in the northern part of the country, to register DNA info from the region’s 40,000 or so dogs, so that when they poop in public, government officials will be able to track the dog who did the deed and fine its owner, reports Reuters. Starting at the end of March, dog owners there will be mandated to take their pets to veterinarians or animal shelters for a blood test, from which the dog’s DNA will be extracted. “Bolzano receives a few hundred complaints a year from citizens about improper management of public land,” says Paolo Zambotto, who runs the region’s veterinary department. “More than half are for dogs.”

Around 10,000 dogs have already been registered with the database. Owners who don’t clean up after their dogs do their business and are caught will see penalties ranging from about $55 to $540. Those who refuse to allow their pooches to have a DNA profile created in the first place will see an even steeper fine—anywhere from around $320 up to $1,140. The Guardian notes that the “poo crackdown” has been one mired in controversy, especially since dog owners are on the hook for paying for the initial test (cost: anywhere from $70 to $110). Dog owners who are careful to always scoop the poop don’t get any kind of break, either.

Other critics say it will be harder than it looks to manage the project, especially when it comes to strays or dogs visiting with tourists. “It is easier said than done,” one politician tells local media. “It will only be an additional expense for the municipality and for the police, who have many other things to do.” Arnold Schuler, a council member in the province, is pushing back at detractors, noting that vets have been recruited to help administer the DNA tests, and that the evidence can also be used to ID dead dogs and those who’ve attacked people.

I say bully for them!  It is about time that irresponsible people be made to do the right thing.

I am one of those people that hates the self-checkout at stores….and apparently I am not alone.

Self-checkout machines aren’t only annoying customers, Quartz reports, as a growing number of large retailers have begun rethinking the costly tech. Last year, companies like Target, Walmart, Dollar General, and British grocer Booths have pared down (and in some cases eliminated) how the automated systems work in their chains, largely due to theft. Shoppers are 21 times more likely to slip purchases past scanners than they are human cashiers, doubling theft rates in stores. Human error also accounts for losses—a survey by Lending Tree found that one in five shoppers said they’d unintentionally stolen items during the self-checkout process (while one in seven admitted to stealing outright).

“Stores saw this as the next frontier,” Christopher Andrews, a professor and author of a book on automation’s effects on customers, tells the BBC. “If they could get the consumer to think that was a preferable way to shop, then they could cut labor costs. But they’re finding that people need help doing it, or that they’ll steal stuff.” And it’s quite a chunk that they’re losing. Per CNN Business, stores with self-checkout lanes had loss rates around 4%, double the industry average, as shoppers have found creative ways to short retailers at kiosks. Techniques beyond skipping a scan include selecting cheaper items like bananas when buying pricey items (like steak), scanning counterfeit barcodes, and simply walking out without paying.

And while retailers have seen some savings from eliminating positions, employees are still needed to manage the machines, aid customers through dreaded bagging area errors, and check IDs for age-restricted items. Experts believe the costs retailers sunk into investing in automated checkout systems—four machines can run into the six-figure range—will result in a hybrid employee-machine solution. “They spent billions putting it in stores, and are hoping they can still get the public to buy into it,” Andrews says. Some data suggests that robot cashiers have grown on customers, with 60% reporting they favored them in a 2021 survey despite the majority experiencing errors.

There has been numerous reports of AI replacing humans in the work place…..but is this the money saver as heralded?

team of MIT researchers has found that in many instances, replacing human workers with AI is still more expensive than sticking with the people, a conclusion that flies in the face of current fears over the technology taking our jobs.

As detailed in a new paper, the team examined the cost-effectiveness of 1,000 “visual inspection” tasks across 800 occupations, such as inspecting food to see whether it’s gone bad. They discovered that just 23 percent of workers’ total wages “would be attractive to automate,” mainly because of the “large upfront costs of AI systems” — and that’s if the automatable tasks could even “be separated from other parts” of the jobs.

That said, they admit, those economics may well change over time.

“Overall, our findings suggest that AI job displacement will be substantial, but also gradual – and therefore there is room for policy and retraining to mitigate unemployment impacts,” the team concluded in their paper.

The topic of AI coming for jobs has reached a fever pitch lately, especially with the democratization of powerful tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.

While many have warned of the dire consequences major job losses could have in the near future, tech leaders have remained optimistic about such an eventuality, arguing that these jobs will be replaced by new kinds of professions.

https://futurism.com/replacing-workers-ai-expensive-mit

There is some stuff sold here that is called “gas station heroin” and it can kill you.

As Axios reports, a bipartisan group of lawmakers including TikTok star Jeff Jackson and local theater patron Lauren Boebert has signed a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the regulator to take action on tianeptine, or the widely-available-yet-non-FDA-approved antidepressant better known as “gas station heroin.”

Often marketed as a cognition-boosting supplement, the unapproved drug plays on the same neuron receptors that dangerous opioids like oxycontin do, giving users a similar — and highly addictive — feeling of euphoria that’s long been associated with opioids. Prominent tianeptine products include decidedly gas station-y titles such as Zaza, Tianaa Red, and Neptune’s Fix, and although these products’ availability online and at locations like gas stations and weed shops might trick buyers into thinking the drug is safe, it’s anything but.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/please-dont-take-gas-station-heroin

Seriously, folks: please don’t take “gas station heroin.”

Finally a huge question for some canine companions have been asking for years….

A dog can be a person’s best friend, or so the theory goes. But that relationship can be tested when a dog begins barking at an empty corner of a room, at a door, or anywhere where there doesn’t appear to be any activity at all taking place. Is the dog hallucinating? Is it communicating with interdimensional beings? Or does it simply want to drive its owner to the brink of sanity?

According to the American Kennel Club, the most common explanation for unprompted woofing is that it’s not really unprompted at all. Instead, it’s likely that humans are simply unable to perceive whatever visual, aural, or olfactory cues the dog is sensing.

Dogs are, obviously, equipped with superior hearing, including the ability to detect sounds that are higher in pitch. In theory, a dog could be reacting to a noise that a person nearby wouldn’t be able to hear—possibly a far-off vehicle siren.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/why-do-dogs-bark-at-nothing

There you have it…..today’s ‘dump’….

Sue and I are planning a relaxing day with no interruptions (hopefully)….please go out have have some fun and smile a bit.

As always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”