<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"><html><head><meta content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"></head><body ><div style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><div>As in love, war, sales, science, history, and most everything, I find that truly listening to others, especially those I differ from, helps me learn new things, and sometimes leads both sides to higher ground. I also learn more by following: "The beginning of wisdom is 'I don't know'" (Socrates); or Bill Mahar's “I don’t know 99.9% of stuff.” <br></div><div><br></div><div>The problem is news is for sale now. Google sucked out most news channels' ad revenue, so channels had to sell out more or less. This means it takes too much time to find out what actually is happening in a field. One way I save time is to permanently discard a news source that lied (or grossly omitted) in a major story. After doing that for years, I've had to throw out pretty much all the formerly top news sources, which presents the whole new problem of finding reliable news. <br></div><div><br></div><div>One solution I tried was Musk's <a href="https://x.com/i/grok" target="_blank">Grok</a> LLM because, on a purely technical basis (it would take hours to explain), Grok seems to vectorize recent data better than the other top LLMs which compile data every few months while merely slapping on more recent data. I tested Grok by asking it to examine opposing stories about DOGE. If you are one who selects facts to fit your existing understanding, and you hate DOGE, you'd love some of Grok's replies to my queries. But in general, Grok, by citing and linking to actual sources within a perspective that considered opposing views, made all the extreme views look silly. <br></div><div><br></div><div>I've long thought that the greatest threat to those who aim to destroy democracy is an LLM "Truth Machine." You might think that Grok, coming from, not Musk, but teams Musk hired, must be evil so not worth trying. Myself, I try to avoid prejudice (that is, not pre-judge), and so far I have found Grok has resolved extremes to useful, nuanced assessment, which taught me a lot I did not know. ChatGPT has done so too, but not so well with recent data, and hardly at all with very recent data. While Grok beta is still free, why not ask it about, for example, the constitutional issue of <a href="https://x.com/i/grok/share/uDBx1CGKhPgYFA0mLTaLpdXUE" target="_blank">executive vs. congressonal managment of federal agencies</a>? (That's a Grok thread.) I think you'll be surprised to find that valid points on both sides of an issue are addressed, in contrast to this or that news source that excludes one or the other side and thereby incites US neighbors to attack rather than learn from one another. <br></div><div><br></div><div>Regarding SS payments, it's <i>really</i> worth knowing what Musk said in this one minute video: <a target="_blank" href="https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxit7SyqsJxYkfVJGYIKNYGEe8AtT5-wJX?si=4VVWpzQnubES1r1R">https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxit7SyqsJxYkfVJGYIKNYGEe8AtT5-wJX?si=4VVWpzQnubES1r1R</a>. Will that happen? I don't know, but I sure as heck expect a half-decent news source to report that statement to me, because then I can follow-up on it later. <br><br><b>Here's the punch line:</b> harmony among citizens depends on news channels that are balanced and not mere editorial fed to fan our feelings and clock click revenue. I'm still seeking one such news source, if anyone has suggestions. I've heard an India news source is good, but I forget which. Though using a "truth machine" takes much less time than verifying each news story I read, it still takes a lot more time than good ol' news that obeys no party, cites the relevant sources, and does not omit crucial parts of the story. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div id="Zm-_Id_-Sgn" data-sigid="1535369000000073001" data-zbluepencil-ignore="true"><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px"><span class="font" style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif">Best Regards,<br></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px"><span class="font" style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif"><br></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; color: rgb(170, 48, 37)"><b><span class="size" style="font-size:13px"><span class="font" style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif">Rob Laporte</span></span></b><span class="size" style="font-size:13px"><span class="font" style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif"><br></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px"><span class="font" style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif">CEO | R&D Manager</span><span class="font" style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif"><br></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px"><b><span class="size" style="font-size:13px"><span class="font" style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif">DISC - Making Websites Make Money</span></span></b><span class="size" style="font-size:13px"><span class="font" style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif"><br><a href="mailto:Rob@2disc.com" target="_blank">Rob@2disc.com</a>, <span class="size" style="font-size:13px"><span class="font" style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif">413-584-6500</span></span></span></span><br></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px"><span class="size" style="font-size:13px"><span class="font" style="font-family:verdana, sans-serif"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.2disc.com">www.2disc.com</a></span></span><span class="size" style="font-size:16px"><span class="font" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif, sans-serif"></span></span><br></div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal"><span class="size" style="font-size:16px"><span class="font" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif, sans-serif"></span></span><br></div><div><b style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal"><span class="size" style="font-size:16px"><span class="font" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif, sans-serif"><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(153, 0, 0)">NOTE:</span></span></span></b><span class="size" style="font-size:16px"><span class="font" style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif, sans-serif"><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(153, 0, 0)"> Emails can be blocked by spam filters throughout the web. If you don’t get a reply within an expected span of time, please call.</span></span></span><br></div></div><div><br></div><div class="zmail_extra_hr" style="border-top: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); height: 0px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; line-height: 0px;"><br></div><div class="zmail_extra" data-zbluepencil-ignore="true"><div><br></div><div id="Zm-_Id_-Sgn1">---- On Tue, 01 Apr 2025 12:55:20 -0400 <b>Michael Muller via Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net></b> wrote ---<br></div><div><br></div><blockquote id="blockquote_zmail" style="margin: 0px;"><div><p><span class="font" style="font-family:Calibri">Considering the recent backtracking and
re-hiring of some of the more important fired personnel at
critical federal agencies, the slap-dash eager beavers running
around DOGE without a leash feel like drunk moshers in china
shop. Any conversion by these people will be a fiasco, because
they intrinsically don't care.<br></span></p><p><span class="font" style="font-family:Calibri">Log in to the SSA portal and download your
payments and benefits report before it's offline.<br></span></p><p><span class="font" style="font-family:Calibri">Mik<br></span></p><pre class="x_1740788390moz-signature">Mik Muller, president
Montague WebWorks
20 River Street, Greenfield, MA
413-320-5336
<a target="_blank" href="http://MontagueWebWorks.com" class="x_1740788390moz-txt-link-freetext">http://MontagueWebWorks.com</a>
Powered by ROCKETFUSION<br></pre><div class="x_1740788390moz-cite-prefix">On 3/29/2025 1:12 AM, AI Zuckerman via
Hidden-discuss wrote:<br></div><blockquote><div dir="ltr"><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;"><a style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small" target="_blank" href="https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/03/28/2148205/doge-to-rewrite-ssa-codebase-in-months?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed">https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/03/28/2148205/doge-to-rewrite-ssa-</a><br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;"><a style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small" target="_blank" href="https://developers.slashdot.org/story/25/03/28/2148205/doge-to-rewrite-ssa-codebase-in-months?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed">codebase-in-months?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed</a><br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;"><br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">Hi
Hidden Techies,<br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">Here's
one for coders on the list. A friend sent me a link to this
article in Wired. Apparently, DOGE techies are claiming they
can rewrite the SSA code in months. Wire reports that the SSA
codebase has <a style="color: rgb(0, 102, 102); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px" target="_blank" href="https://oig.ssa.gov/congressional-testimony/2016-07-14-newsroom-congressional-testimony-july14-ssa-modernization/">over 60 million lines of COBOL</a> and
handles record keeping for all American workers and payments
for all Social Security recipients. <br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">The
aim is to migrate all SSA systems off COBOL ... and onto a
more modern replacement like Java within a scheduled tight
timeframe of a few months," notes Wired.<br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">Some
questions:<br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">Is
it possible to handle this mammoth job in a month?<br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">What happens
if the techies in DOGE make mistakes?<br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">Would
SSA have a backup system of the COBOL code?<br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;"><br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">Let
all of us oldsters who depend on our SSA benefits keep them
safe. If any people can do this, I know either you can or know
someone who can. Please post your thoughts to the list.<br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">If
you want to chat with me about this situation then call me at
413-362-4392. <br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">thanks!<br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;"><br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">Amy
Zuckerman<br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">HIDDEN
TECH mother emeritus<br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;"><br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;">I<br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;"><br></span></span></span><span class="colour" style="color:rgb(54, 54, 54)"><span class="font" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif"><span class="size" style="font-size: 13px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border-left: 3px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); display: block;"><br></span></span></span></div></blockquote></div><div>_______________________________________________<br></div><div>Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net <br></div><div>Hidden-discuss@lists.hidden-tech.net <br></div><div> <br></div><div>You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion list. <br></div><div>If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members <br></div><div>page on the Hidden Tech Web site. <br></div><div>http://www.hidden-tech.net/members <br></div></blockquote></div><div><br></div></div><br></body></html>