That Was The Year That Was

Back in 1962, the British had a TV show called, That Was the Week that Was, which starred David Frost, who also starred in the American spin-off of the show in 1964.  It satirized the news of the week and influenced later comedic shows like Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.  It was a forerunner of fake-news programs like The Daily Show.

Well, now it’s December and this long year is finally about to end, so I thought I’d take a look back at 2024, and oh what a year it was.  The U.S. Presidential election was held in 2024, but I’m going to ignore that here.  I promised some friends that I would lay off politics for the rest of December, as an early Christmas present to them.

Politics may have dominated the news in 2024, but, fortunately for me, it wasn’t the only thing.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the most talked about development in computing.  Like politics, though, it also had people divided.  AI had strong supporters who see it as a tool on par with the first use of fire and the invention of the wheel. It also had strong detractors who saw it as a weapon that would eventually eliminate humans from the planet, or make us slaves or pets to our robot overlords.

Originally, most AI programs available to the public just dealt with text.  You could type a prompt into your computer and the AI would type back a response.  Sometimes it was very accurate and at other times it was caught “hallucinating” an answer that it made up out of thin air, with no actual connection to reality (kinda like Fox News).  Ooops, it’s not easy for me to go off politics cold turkey.

AI now gives us images, such as the one above, where I asked AI to show Old Man 2024 staggering at the finish line on New Year’s Day.  I had to reword my description several times before the AI finally created an Old Man 2024 who didn’t look and dress like Santa Claus.

My AI photo problem was nothing compared to the Pandora’s Box of fake images that were generated by AI in 2024.  Every scandal seemed to find itself accompanied by dozens of fake images that supposedly “proved” the false claims.  I found it odd that AI’s photo creator doesn’t seem sure about the number of fingers people are supposed to have.  In addition to everything else, AI’s training input must have included hundreds of thousands of pictures from cartoons.

Space was also a big tech topic of 2024, with various companies offering customers a taste of what it was like to be an astronaut by taking them on short flights into upper space.  Elon Musk even started touting journeys to Mars. I can’t wait for the day when science can send Elon to Mars.  (Ooops, I’m slipping.)

Combining big tech with AI, the concept of self-driving cars was another big topic in 2024.  As usual, it had its proponents and detractors.  The proponents celebrated its convenience.  The detractors screamed that self-driving cars were not 100% perfected and could lead to traffic fatalities.  Of course, the proponents showed data that even if a few cars did kill a few people, they were still a whole lot safer than human drivers, especially ones who had been drinking. I wondered if self-driving car companies would be held responsible for vehicular deaths since gun manufacturers are not responsible for gun deaths. I’m sure that Elon Musk’s new Department of Government Efficiency will figure that one out.

One item that made the news this year in Europe, but was ignored by American media was the reverse art theft at a German art museum.  The “reverse museum heist” took place at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Germany. An employee, who was also an aspiring artist, decided to hang one of his own paintings in the museum’s modern art collection.

He managed to do this unnoticed because he was carrying tools for an installation project and had access to the gallery outside of opening hours. The painting, which was about 45 inches wide and 25 inches tall, hung on the wall for several hours before museum staff discovered it.

The museum staff decided to leave the painting up until closing time before taking it down. The employee was later fired and banned from visiting the museum. The German police are investigating him on charges of property damage because he drilled two small holes in the wall to hang his painting.

In January of this year, the airlines were also in the news, when an Alaska Airlines flight experienced a door flying off mid-flight.  Remember that?  I’ll bet they do. For the rest of their lives, too.

As this year comes to an end, the manhunt for the man who murdered an insurance company CEO, seems also to be ending with the apprehension of Luigi Mangione in a MacDonalds restaurant in Altoona, PA.  One of the employees recognized him from his photo and called the cops.  McDonalds, if the e-coli doesn’t get you, our employees will. 

As usual, even this case had people on both sides of the fence. It seemed that people who had previous problems with their insurance companies saw a silver lining in the enormous black cloud.  They (secretly, if not openly) hoped that the murder might lead to insurance companies lowering their rates and denying fewer claims.  We really do need universal health care in the U.S.  (Ooops, I don’t want to slip into politics again.  So, I’ll let the late great Barry White do it for me.)

Somebody’s Gonna Off The Man – Barry White and Love Unlimited Orchestra (1974) – YouTube

What intrigued me most about the CEO murder case, though, was the fact that a “ghost gun” was used.  A “ghost gun” is a weapon that you can make at home using a 3-D printer.  “Alexa, make me an untraceable gun.”

We’re worried about what AI can do…Heck, anything bad AI can do, we can already do better (or should that be worser?)  I wonder how Congress will react to a do-it-yourself gun.  Will they spring into action and outlaw the machine code that enables a 3-D printer to make such a weapon, or just blame “Tik Tok,” social media, and video games?  I bet they just sit on their thumbs until somebody actually prints out an “assault ghost gun” at home and takes it to school, or to the Capital.  (Ooops, I can’t seem to avoid that slippery slope into Politics.)

Don’t get me wrong.  All the gun news wasn’t bad this year, though.  We did all get to enjoy clip after clip of Australia’s Olympic answer to the Jamaican Bobsled Team, Rachael “Raygun” Gunn doing her now world-famous break-dancing routine. Here’s one more clip for you. I got a kick out of this short video that Terry Moore compiled for YouTube.

Raygun

So, that was just a bit of the year that was.  Last year, I didn’t make any New Year’s Resolutions, but this year I do have one.  Stop making promises to not write about Politics and You-know-who, the orange guy, because that appears to be a harder resolution for me to keep than my usual failed-resolution of trying to lose 25 pounds.

Peace & Love, and all of the above,

Earl