Every night last week, I dreamt of having a girlfriend. None of the women in my dreams were anyone I know in real life. And, each night, I dreamt of a different woman. These dreams were kind of wonderfully unremarkable. In them, we were doing normal, everyday things together. We were making dinner, walking the…
AI Is Scraping My Blog
Ever since ChatGPT and other LLMs burst onto the market last year, I’ve noticed an uptick in views of my blog. Every few days – especially if I’ve posted something new – the stats will show me that a “visitor” has viewed multiple posts. I’m pretty sure it is the LLMs scanning for content to…
Ten Devils In The Freezer
I don’t know the lyrics to many of the songs I listen to all the time – which has never stopped me from singing along and enjoying them. I listen to two types of music: From Bruce Springsteen’s Tenth Avenue Freeze-out (referenced in the title of this post) to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the…
Motive Misattribution
It’s common practice for pundits, media, podcasters, reporters and the general public to firmly declare what someone else’s motives are. While this is particularly strong when it comes to the actions of politicians and public figures, it doesn’t stop with them. We all do this – with nearly everyone. Even me. When I do it,…
Religion In Schools
The governor of Louisiana recently signed a law that mandated that a poster displaying the Ten Commandments be hung in every public school classroom from kindergarten through state-funded universities. When I first read about this my immediate reaction was “this violates the separation of church and state law in the constitution”. My next thought was,…
How I’m Dealing With Climate Change
It has undeniably gotten hotter during my lifetime. I’ve also observed there seem to be more severe storms, droughts, fires, floods, tornados and hurricanes. Having spent my entire life in Pennsylvania, Florida and North Carolina, I have personally experienced “once in 100 year” and “never in recorded history” weather events. Is this due to fossil…
Might As Well Ask
When I was a younger man I was a terrible negotiator. I rarely returned anything I ever bought – even if it didn’t fit or function well. I accepted whatever salary, terms and conditions were placed in front of me when I made a purchase or signed a contract. I would hear other people brag…
Believe Your Eyes
One of the saddest times in my life was when I realized My Little Sunshine Puppy had dementia. As I wrote last year, I hadn’t known that dogs could get dementia. Nor had I had previous exposure to it in people. So I mistakenly thought many of the signs of dementia in Snickers were from…
This is US
Barring death or disablement, either Joe Biden or Donald Trump will be elected our next president in 2024. Marjorie Taylor Green and AOC will continue to hold onto their positions in Congress. Lauren Boebert just won her primary in a landslide. Chuck Shumer, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McDonnell and hundreds of other congresspeople will be re-elected…
There’s No Debating It
Trump and Biden, our geriatric presidential candidates, will be debating tomorrow night. I won’t be watching. Every word, gesture and moment will be analyzed ad infinitum by pundits and media for months so I’ll hear all about the debate regardless. I won’t learn anything of value from Biden stammering through his scripted talking points and…