It is Earth Month, and I’ve only posted a single acknowledgement of that, so far. Meanwhile, Ten Bears has us, with a full post of links regarding how things are, what needs to be done, and importantly, what we can still do.
Author: ali redford
I love dogs and people. I want living creatures to thrive. I love to cook, and share the food, but ya gotta get in line in front of the dog.
A P.S.A. About A.I., Brought To Us By KS A.G. Kris Kobach
Really! Look.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s PSA meekly counters utopian AI promises
Eric Thomas
Whether you are watching the Super Bowl on TV, scrolling make-up tutorials on Instagram or listening to a technology podcast, you are being fed advertising for artificial intelligence.
The commercials are everywhere. And they promise the world.
Since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, the companies that build AI have deployed advertising to recruit us as loyal users of their astronomically expensive software. Persuade us now, and perhaps we will be loyal customers later.
Meanwhile, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach — with some help from a nebulous technology group — has sounded an alarm about AI this week, releasing a PSA.
“The reports are very troubling,” he says about threats posed by artificial intelligence.
Over the next few years, our culture will decide whether we are AI skeptics or fanatics. For that reason, the language that is used to sell AI — or steer us away from it — matters. Let’s listen to what is being said about the technology that could define the 21st century.
From Silicon Valley
In their ads, technology companies describe AI as a wonderland: productivity at work, inspired hobbies at home and wellness nirvana at the gym. The word choices would make a spiritual guru proud.
In marketing AI app-building software, Base 44 urges us: “Consider yourself limitless.” It’s also described as “the next thing you can’t live without.” The company uses the language of religious cults swirled with rampant consumerism. “Elite” plans start at $160 per month.
Besides AI, what product from the past 50 years could have generated all of these promises in one commercial? In 78 seconds of advertising, Perplexity offers:
- “Get your time back.”
- “Access to knowledge is easier than ever.”
- “Discover something new every day.”
- “Knowledge on-demand anytime anywhere. For anything you wanna know.”
There’s no modesty — just hyperbole.
Judging by their advertising, tech companies agree on AI’s greatest virtue: efficiency.
The YouTube description for a Copilot AI ad claims that “Microsoft 365 Copilot isn’t just a better way of doing the same things. It’s an entirely new way of working.” Press play on the video and watch a layered flurry of chatbot prompts, all written simultaneously and feverishly, including: “Want to get a jump start on your day?” The message envisions AI as hyperactive multichannel problem solving.
Other AI advertising promises are more direct. ChatGPT’s advertisement, “What Codex unlocks,” features a technology CEO who boasts about what AI made possible. You don’t need to understand his jargon to understand the promised efficiency.
“We were able to create a JavaScript runtime in just two weeks,” says Syrus Akbary Nieto. “Without Codex, it would have taken us easily one year.”
For people outside Silicon Valley, ChatGPT’s advertising shows tangible AI efficiencies, such as opening a new restaurant.
“I found the perfect spot,” someone types into the chatbot. “Help me write the business plan.”
In another ad, ChatGPT is the elixir for fixing the family car: “Dad said the truck is ours if we fix it. Help us get it running.”
The pitches implicitly promise success when you combine your ambition with AI’s wisdom — never mind the skills required to cook spaghetti bolognese or handle a wrench.
Elsewhere, two of Google’s recent AI commercials blend family values with problem solving. One commercial considers how to reassure a young boy about moving to a new house.
The ad’s answer: Open the Gemini chatbot and ask it to visualize his new bedroom, complete with the family dog’s bed. The commercial closes with words carrying a double meaning: “It will be whatever we want it to be,” the boy’s mom says. Both the house and the Gemini chatbot, the script suggests, can be family dreams. (snip-MORE, including the ad transcript, and info about the organization behind the ads. It’s good, and not much more to read. I just don’t like lifting other people’s work.)
Some Saturday Morning Fun
Consider yourself informed, thanks to Coconut Isle proprietor and friend of Playtime W.E. Hunt! Anyone else ever heard this band?
All About The Birds
Ollie has endeared himself to some house finches who come here to eat. He’s done this by chasing the squirrel off the feeder they prefer. He doesn’t realize he’s doing favors for the birds; he wants to play with the squirrel, especially zoomies. But, for 2 days in a row, I’ve watched house finches, in pairs, chase a squirrel back in Ollie’s direction by swooping the squirrel. They also are, so far, the only birds who don’t fly up away from this feeder when Ollie goes outside. Even the crows tend to fly into the trees until he comes back inside. So the house finches fascinate me this year. Anyway, here are these about more birds, and a bat, too.
Also Known As
- Trile (Colloquial, Chile)
- Alférez (Colloquial, Uruguay)
- Varillero ala amarilla (Spanish)
About
The Yellow-winged Blackbird is a conspicuous species of the Southern Cone of South America, congregating in colonies in marshes during the breeding season, and forming larger flocks in wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural fields the rest of the year. These birds are also extremely vocal, giving a startling variety of calls, including sharp and percussive sounds, clear and musical whistles, and a range of other rattling, chirping, whining, whirring, and gargling vocalizations. Their song in particular makes use of virtuosic trills, robotic whistles, and mechanical whirring or buzzing sounds, coming across as half bird, half sci-fi robot. This iconic song is also the source of one of the Yellow-winged Blackbird’s nicknames, “trile,” and some authors propose it may also be the origin of the name of the country Chile! As if to make the most of their raucous acoustic capacity, the males of an entire colony will sometimes sing together in one big, cacophonous chorus.
In addition to nesting together in the same space, Yellow-winged Blackbirds also synchronize their nesting in time. Most of the females in a colony will lay within several days of each other. As a result, most of the nests in the colony will be on the same timeline, with eggs and nestlings developing at about the same time across the marsh. (snip)
Historic Oregon Bill Generating Conservation Funding Is Signed Into Law
Oregon will soon have a new, dedicated source of conservation funding to support the recovery of struggling bird and wildlife species across the state. House Bill 4134, dubbed 1.25% for Wildlife Bill, passed the Oregon State Senate in February and has now been signed into law by Governor Tina Kotek. American Bird Conservancy (ABC) strongly supported the 1.25% for Wildlife Bill, a proactive measure expected to raise up to $30 million annually for wildlife conservation in the state.
“This is monumental: Oregon has chosen to invest in its wildlife and its future with the passage of this historic law. Habitat restoration, recovery programs, and anti-poaching efforts are just a few of the programs that will be funded by this landmark legislation,” said Hardy Kern, ABC’s Director of Government Relations.
The Act will create a sustainable funding source dedicated to conserving imperiled species like the Marbled Murrelet, a seabird that nests in mature and old-growth forests in the state. Nest predation by jays and ravens contributes to the species’ declining population. Actions that could boost nesting success, such as campground cleanup efforts to reduce jay and raven numbers near sensitive nesting sites, are currently unfunded, but could benefit from the revenue generated by the newly signed law. (snip-MORE)
Some Peace & Justice History for 4/16 & 17:
| April, 16, 1971 The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimated over 2,000 people openly refused to pay part or all of their income tax. “If a thousand [people] were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them and enable the state to commit violence and shed innocent blood.” – Henry David Thoreau on the Mexican War  National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee |
| April 16, 2000 Between 10,000 and 20,000 activists blockaded meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. Sitting down at intersections and locking arms to form human chains, the protesters were opposed to Bank and IMF policies that increased third-world indebtedness and did little to directly benefit the poor in those countries. “The World Bank is subjugating our economic and social independence,” Vineeta Gupta, a doctor from the Punjab in India, said in a letter he delivered to World Bank President James Wolfensohn at his home. “It is time that we shut the bank down, and this boycott is a great start.” |
More from National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee:
War Tax Resistance
What is War Tax Resistance?
War tax resistance means refusing to pay some or all of the federal taxes that pay for war. While you can refuse income tax legally by lowering your taxable income, for many people war tax resistance involves civil disobedience.
In the U.S. war tax resisters refuse to pay some or all of their federal income tax and/or other taxes, like the federal excise tax on local telephone service. Income taxes and excise taxes are destined for the government’s general fund and about half of that money goes for military spending, including weapons of war and weapons of mass destruction.
People take many roads to war tax resistance. Most are motivated by a combination of reasons and actively work for peace in many other ways too. If you consider your motivations this will help you determine your method of resistance.
Refusing to pay federal income taxes is an act of civil disobedience with a long history in the U.S. America’s most well-known war tax resister was Henry David Thoreau, whose refusal to pay his poll tax because of the Mexican-American War earned him an night in jail and the experience that led him to write his influential essay, Civil Disobedience. While those of us who refuse to pay war taxes believe our refusal is just and imperative — and some of us cite international law to back up this belief — the government considers the refusal to pay these taxes to be illegal, and there are potential repercussions through the IRS collection system. For most of us who resist, the dire consequences of voluntarily paying for war are far worse that what the IRS and government can do to us. (snip-MORE)
| April 17, 1959 22 were arrested in New York City for refusing to take shelter during a civil defense drill. |
| April 17, 1960 Inspired by the Greensboro sit-in of four black college students at an all-white lunch counter, nearly 150 black students from nine states formed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, with Ella Baker, James Lawson and Martin Luther King, Jr., the founders set SNCC’s initial goals as overturning segregation in the South.   They also considered it important to give young blacks a stronger voice in the civil rights movement, as many had participated in sit-ins that had proliferated to dozens of cities over the previous three months. At the Raleigh conference Guy Carawan sang a new version of “We Shall Overcome,” an adaptation of an old labor song. This song would become the national anthem of the civil rights movement.People joined hands and gently swayed in time singing “black and white together,” repeating over and over, “Deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day.” What SNCC did to make change happen |
April 17, 1961 Cuban leader Fidel Castro during the Bay of Pigs invasion. An army of 1500 anti-Castro Cuban exiles, mercenaries equipped and trained at a secret Guatemala base by the CIA, landed at Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) in an attempt to “liberate” Cuba from Communist rule. Within three days, the invasion proved disastrous with nearly 1200 members of Brigade 2506 (who had been trained in the U.S.) taken prisoner. Known as Operation Zapata, it was conceived by Vice President Nixon, planned and approved by the Eisenhower administration, and executed shortly after President John Kennedy’s inauguration.  President Kennedy receives the Brigade 2506 flag in Miami in 1962 and declares: “I promise to return this flag in a free Havana.” Soviet General Secretary Nikita Kruschev sent a telegram to President Kennedy: “Mr. President, I send you this message in an hour of alarm, fraught with danger for the peace of the whole world. Armed aggression has begun against Cuba. It is a secret to no one that the armed bands invading this country were trained, equipped and armed in the United States of America. The planes which are bombing Cuban cities belong to the United States of America, the bombs they are dropping are being supplied by the American Government . . . .” What actually happened |
April 17, 1965 The first national demonstration against the Vietnam War took place in the nation’s capital. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the organizers, had expected about 2000 marchers; the actual count was 15,000–25,000. This was the largest anti-war protest ever to have been held in Washington, D.C. up to that time. The number of marchers approximately equaled the number of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam. Several hundred students in the protest broke away from the main march and conducted a brief sit-in at the U.S. Capitol’s door. An exam prepared by SDS about the Vietnam War (answers available) |
April 17, 1965 Gay rights advocate Jack Nichols The first demonstration promoting equal treatment of homosexuals, Jack Nichols, Barbara Gittings and others picketed in front of the White House. There were no media present. Read more (Go-it’s interesting!) |
| April 17, 1986 Reverend Jesse Jackson, future congresswoman Maxine Waters and others co-founded the Rainbow Coalition, initially intended as a progressive public-policy think tank within the Democratic Party.  Representative Maxine Waters, Harry Belafonte, John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Willie Nelson August 6, 2005-Atlanta, Georgia. Brief history of Rainbow Push Coalition |
| April 17, 1992 On Good Friday morning, about 50 people accompanied Fr. Carl Kabat and Carol Carson to Missile Silo Site N5 at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the same silo that Carl and other members of the Silo Pruning Hooks (see below) disarmed in 1984. They cut through a fence and, once inside, Carol used a sledgehammer on the concrete lid of the silo while Carl performed a rite of exorcism. Eventually, the police arrived and arrested Carl and Carol. They were jailed and held until their court appearance. At that time, they made a preliminary agreement with federal prosecutors wherein they would plead “no contest” to trespass in exchange for the property destruction charge being dropped; they were sentenced to six and three months, respectively, in a halfway house.  Carl KabatA History of Direct Disarmament Actions About the Silo Pruning Hooks action |
It Still Makes A Difference
(Personally, at this stage of my life, I’m thinking of tattooing DNR on my forehead and chest. There is no need to rescusitate me now. But, over the years, I’ve watched little to no progress on women’s cardiac treatment; they’re treated as if they’re hysterical, and also by using research on men’s cardiac. Frequently, women’s heart attacks don’t present the way men’s do. Even though women bother to learn about this so they know when to get help, they aren’t able to be treated properly because of lack of knowledge, and, as reported below, disbelieving the women. Anyway, here is this.)
If your heart stopped right now, would a stranger save you? It depends on your sex.
Why women are less likely to receive CPR—and less likely to survive
If you’ve been watching The Pitt Season 2, you may have caught one of the most medically important scenes on television this year. (Alert: small spoiler from last week’s episode coming!)
A woman arrives at the ER by ambulance, clutching her chest, complaining of pain. Her EKG comes back looking normal. Doctors are puzzled. Then her heart stops.
Dr. Robby, played by Noah Wyle, figures out what happened: the paramedics placed her EKG leads too low on her chest, and far too low to get an accurate reading, missing her heart attack. Later, he confronts the paramedics directly. They felt uncomfortable moving her breasts to place the leads correctly. He turns to his staff and asks: “Shall we put it to a vote? Ladies in the room—show of hands—death with modesty, or life with brief nudity?”
The vote from the women is clear: they want to live.
It’s a fictional scene (and in real life, public chastisement is certainly not the way to correct medical staff), but it highlights a very real problem we see every day.
Women are less likely to receive bystander CPR.
If someone collapsed at a restaurant, would you start CPR? It turns out that for many people, the answer depends on the sex of the person who collapsed: women are less likely than men to receive CPR from a bystander (a nonmedical professional who is nearby) in public, and they are less likely to receive defibrillation (shocks that can restart the heart).
A Duke University study of more than 309,000 cardiac arrests found that women who had a cardiac arrest in public were 14% less likely to receive bystander CPR than men. This is true around the world, too.
And women are less likely to survive. Chest compressions and shocks in those first few minutes are critical, and bystander CPR can double to triple the chance of survival.
Why are women less likely to receive CPR? The same reasons The Pitt depicted.
Researchers have asked the public why they think this happens, and the answers are striking:
- Concerns about touching a woman’s chest to provide compressions.
- Concerns about accusations of sexual assault.
- Fear of causing injury to women, in part due to perceptions they are more frail.
- Gender stereotypes that women are emotional or overreactive to symptoms.
- Misperceptions that women are unlikely to experience true cardiac arrest.
While these fears may be common, actual cases of lawsuits against bystanders performing CPR are not—and Good Samaritan laws protect individuals genuinely trying to help in medical emergencies.
A 2020 review of CPR lawsuits in the U.S. found the vast majority of lawsuits were related to withholding CPR (not providing it). Lawsuits alleging harm from CPR were extremely rare (only 3 out of 170 cases), and all took place in medical facilities (not bystander CPR). The review found zero cases where a layperson was found liable for harm by providing CPR.
When should CPR be provided?
If someone is unresponsive and not breathing (or only gasping), start CPR. The basics are simple, and anyone can do it. Here’s a quick refresher:
- Call 911 immediately (or have someone else call while you start CPR).
- Push hard and fast in the center of the chest: press 2 inches deep to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” (or any other song with a beat of 100-120 per minute). Let the chest return to its normal position between each compression.
- Don’t stop until emergency services arrive. CPR is a WORKOUT. If you get tired (which is normal), try to switch out with someone.
- Use an automated external defibrillator (AED) as soon as one is available. Follow the voice prompts, it walks you through where to place the pads and when a shock is needed.
Common questions and misconceptions about CPR
(Note: this is for the general public, if you are health care provider, different guidance will apply.)
- Do I need to check a pulse? Nope! It turns out most people are pretty bad at this. Instead, if someone is not responsive and not breathing (or only gasping), assume their heart has stopped and start compressions.
- Do I need to provide rescue breaths (mouth-to-mouth)? If it’s a teen or adult, for most cases the answer is no. Chest compressions alone (“hands only CPR”) can be just as effective. While rescue breaths are important in cases of drowning, suspected overdose, and for children, in most other situations chest compressions alone is enough!
- Do I need to remove clothing to start chest compressions? Nope! The priority is starting compressions as soon as possible. If you find something they are wearing is getting in the way, then don’t hesitate to remove it, but otherwise you can do compressions on top of clothing.
- Do I need to remove clothing to use the defibrillator (AED)? Yes—the pads for a defibrillator should be placed directly on the skin. Place them where the stickers show they should go, and reposition or remove any clothing that is in the way. (This may include a bra!) Metal in bras is not an issue for shocks—you can leave it on as long as it’s not in the way of the pads.
- What if we’re in public and other people might feel awkward from exposure of a woman’s chest? Do it anyway. Remember, the alternative is letting the woman die. Other people’s potential opinions or discomfort should not be weighed as more important than a woman’s life.
- What if they appear frail and I might injure them? Start compressions anyway. You can’t get more injured than dead—which is what a cardiac arrest is. Broken ribs are common in CPR (for both male and female patients), but people can heal from those. They can’t heal from a heart that stops beating and isn’t restarted.
- If I haven’t taken a CPR course, should I still provide CPR? Yes! Any chest compressions—even imperfect ones—are far better than no compressions. If you’d like to take a course, find one at redcross.org or heart.org.
Bottom line
Women are less likely to receive CPR, less likely to be defibrillated, and less likely to survive cardiac arrest. The first few minutes after a cardiac arrest are the most critical, and CPR from someone like you significantly improves chance of survival. If someone isn’t responding and isn’t breathing, start chest compressions. Even if it’s a woman.
Love, KP
Thank you to Dr. Sarah Perman, emergency physician and cardiac arrest researcher, for reviewing this post!
Kristen Panthagani, MD, PhD, is completing a combined emergency medicine residency and research fellowship focusing on health literacy and communication. In her free time, she is a contributing writer for Your Local Epidemiologist and creator of the newsletters You Can Know Things and The Public Health Roundup. Views expressed belong to KP, not her employer.
Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE) is founded and operated by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD—an epidemiologist, wife, and mom of two little girls. YLE reaches over 450,000 people in over 132 countries with one goal: “Translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people will be well-equipped to make evidence-based decisions. This newsletter is free to everyone, thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. (snip)
Open Windows & Clay Jones
Trump’s DOJ is trying to throw out Jan. 6 convictions
This seditious president is using the Dept. of Justice to rewrite history and keep his Sturmabteilung available
Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and Trump toady signed motions to vacate convictions of Jan. 6 rioters including Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leaders Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs.
Dr. MAGA
Dr. Fucknut will see you now
As you will recall, Donald Trump attacked the pope, and then he posted an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ healing the sick.
The New York Times described it: The image had showed Mr. Trump dressed in white and red robes, with the president’s hands emitting shining lights. His right hand was touching the forehead of a man lying on a bed in a hospital gown, evoking religious art that depicts Jesus healing the sick.
In the image posted on Sunday, the man in the bed is surrounded by figures looking up at Mr. Trump, including a medical worker with a stethoscope, a praying woman and a man in a camouflage uniform. The background of the image includes the Statue of Liberty, a building resembling the Lincoln Memorial, fighter jets, eagles, fireworks and a billowing American flag. (snip-MORE, and it’s Hot!)
An Action Alert
of sorts.
Note three: Jeanine Pirro just launched her latest bad idea. She has set up a tip line for people to call about crimes Eric Swalwell might have committed. Ok cool. We hope people use it. We also hope they let her know about the rapist piece of shit she works for. The number is 202-252-0809. (snip)
Another Vote In The US Legislature
Senate rejects effort to halt arms sales to Israel, but most Democrats vote to block them
By MARY CLARE JALONICK Updated 7:35 PM CDT, April 15, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than three dozen Democrats supported an effort by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday to block arms sales to Israel, signaling a growing discontent in the party with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the wars in Gaza and Iran.
The two resolutions to block U.S. sales of bulldozers and bombs to Israel were opposed by all Republicans and rejected 40-59 and 36-63. But Sanders has repeatedly forced votes on the issue to put pressure on his colleagues — both Democrats and Republicans — to oppose Netanyahu’s regime.
Similar resolutions forced by Sanders in 2024 and 2025 were also rejected, but the number of Democrats voting with the Vermont Independent has more than doubled in less than two years amid Israeli campaigns in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon and a stepped-up campaign by party activists who have increasingly seen support for Israel as a litmus test for support.
“It’s clear that Democrats are beginning to listen to the average American who is sick and tired of spending billions of dollars to support Netanyahu’s horrific wars when people in this country can’t afford housing or health care,” Sanders said after the vote.
Scottie's Playtime 