President Jimmy Carter
I don’t believe there has been any President who did more good with their life than Jimmy Carter.
Merry Christmas
I am sitting at home. The house is quiet. Our tree is beautiful. Tomorrow is Christmas and I am thinking about family and past holidays. I think about mine growing up and how each one was unique in some way yet, the same in other ways. I think about the first ones with my Daughter and how you look at that day differently when you look at through your child’s eyes. Now that same child is all grown and looking at it through her child’s eyes. I wish you all a safe and happy Christmas and remember to cherish these moments.
We Are Not the Jetsons Yet
It is an inevitability that there will come a day when all cars or at least a majority will be autonomously driven. That day is NOT today and to be honest, I hope it’s not in my lifetime. As amazing as the technology is, please do not reply upon it, keep alert and undistracted when behind the wheel. This post is not a political post per se, even though I believe Elon Musk is a con man and has gained his notority on the backs of many talented people. This video is a Wall Street Report on why Tesla’s Autonomous system in particular is not to be trusted and that Tesla as a company is also not to be trusted.
The biggest problem with these systems is they give a false since of security and lull you into thinking that you (and those around you) are being transported safely.
Intel Not Inside
To give you an idea of just how good a decision it was for Apple to make their own chips.
In 2003, Apple released a 64-bit dual-core 1.8Ghz system: Power Mac G5.
In 2023, Apple released a 64-bit dual-core 1.8Ghz system: Apple Watch Series 9.
The Watch is faster and has more RAM.
The G5 was too hot to put in a laptop. It’d use up S9’s Watch battery in under 2 minutes.
Just a Dog and Her Blanket
Sunny enjoying time with her Humans cuddled under a blanket. #Greyhounds
Short Run
Just getting in a short run after having been down with a head cold for almost a week. Baby steps.
Thankful
Here in the US we are celebrating Thanksgiving. I have many things I am thankful for but this year I feel a little extra thankful for my health and the love from my family.
New Clue
Did anyone else realize that Hasbro reshuffled the Suspects in the board game Clue? The originals were: Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, Professor Plum, Mrs. Scarlett, and Colonel Mustard Now we have a Miss Scarlett, Colonel Mustard, Professor Plum, “Mayor” Green, “Chef” White, and “Solicitor” Peacock
I am not sure how I feel about this.
Music That Influenced Me #1
I was listening to some music the other day, just a random playlist in the background, but a song came on and it struck a memory. It’s funny how our senses will do that to our brain, an aroma, a song, a picture, and suddenly you are reliving some memory or event or person that wasn’t even close to the front of your conscience.
This time it was a song, Maybe Monday, by ‘Til Tuesday, from their 1984 album Voices Carry. Most everyone my age (or near my age) probably knows the album and the huge title hit the band had that year, but this was not that song but a different track altogether. “Maybe Monday” is track 8 from the album and about 30 seconds into the song my Brain said “Hey…. Remember mowing the yard growing up and listening to this cassette on your Walkman?” I responded to my Brain by saying “Yes, I remember that vividly like it was yesterday and not literally 40 years ago. Why are you bringing it up now? I have work to do.” Brain said, “No reason, just thought it would be neat to think about that for the next 20 minutes.” ….. I replied, “Brain, you can be pretty weird sometimes…. But I do like the song and the memory.”
What? You don’t have conversations with your Brain like I do? That’s weird. Anyway, the memory triggered another thought about other albums that I have memories of that hold some sort of special place in my brain and that maybe it would be cool if I share a few on this blog every once in while. I may not have a post like this regularly and there will be posts that don’t have a long winded explanation like this post does. But here we go.
Today the Album is Voices Carry, by ‘Til Tuesday.
Sometimes you need to stop and admire the artwork. Lucky Goat Coffee
Still Rocking
Formed in 1976, Def Leppard have released 12 studio albums and the latest one, Diamond Star Halos, is as great as they have ever done. Check out the video for Take What You want.
Brilliance of John Williams
Nice quote from Steven Spielberg at the beginning of this trailer… “The greatest way to demonstrate how much music affects movies, play it absolutely with no music at all. And then, go back and do the whole scene again, with all the cues, and you’ll recognize the brilliance of John Williams.” He is absolutely correct. I cannot even imagine Star Wars, Superman, Jurrasic Park, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Olympics, list goes on and on without the amazing iconic themes he composed. Excited to watch this documentary.
Baseball Season Ended Today
The Atlanta Braves were eliminated from the playoffs. To be honest, it’s a miracle they made it there at all with the number of injuries suffered by some of the most key players on the team. Manager Brian Snitker completely deserves to be named Manager of the year for the outstanding job he did piecing together this roster to win the number of games they did. Go Braves!
Another Storm
Once again another major hurricane storm is approaching my home of the Big Bend in North Florida. You live in Florida long enough these storms are just a cycle of life and locals understand what to do to prepare or when to evacuate. Unlike many areas of the Sunshine Sate, North Florida is a little different in their flora. Most think of Florida and the beaches or maybe the Everglades, central Florida has rolling hills of agriculture and farm lands and there are amazing springs, lakes and rivers throughout. The Big Bend has a different look, the live oaks and abundance of tree life here provide amazing visuals and a sense of calm to those that take the time to look up. The history here has preserved the trees, we build roads under them, sidewalks around them, and most visitors find it so unique they will purposely take a longer route if it means traveling down one of our many canopy roads.
I have very real and logical fears that this storm will wreck absolute havoc on this biosphere and I am bracing for the real possibility that there will be no recovering the original beauty.
I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray …. Joyce Kilmer
Stop Outsourcing Cashiers
An example of why I will always choose a person to check me out instead off doing it myself at a self check-out register. First, as someone who worked as a cashier many timties in my life, I prefer to support and encourage that business to employ actual cashiers. Second, like I said, I know how to properly scan bar codes, doesn’t mean I am highly skilled, I could see this happening to me. Last, a big FU to that Wal-Mart manager. Mis-Scan-Stake
Fandom Level
My Florida State Seminoles football won their first game of the season last night. At my age I can actually feel my level of frustration disappear. Not that many years ago I would have been screaming and angry all the time at a team like this. Now…. it seems I have a much more mellow outlook about my fandom. Go Noles!
Just a reminder…. maybe hold off before installing the latest updates on your iPhone, iPad, Watch, and Mac. Give it a few days.
Thank You and happy update day for those that celebrate. Apple iOS 18
Facebook Not Usable
Not sure if it is just personal to me but Facebook is becoming practically useless to use lately. There are just too many ads taking up the feed and I am finding too many angry people.
Also…. these could be related.
An AI Rose by Any Other Name Is Still An AI Rose?
Been reading a fair amount about software companies adding AI features, specifically the design applications I use on a regular basis. I find it funny how much they are falling over themselves with the Look! Look! Look, and see what AI can do for you! What I find even more interesting is how many of the tools and features ther are that we have been using for quite a while. It’s just they were marketed differently, maybe called machine learning instead of AI. Take Red-Eye Removal tools as an example… it has been in most photo editors for years now, but somehow, give it fancy new AI labeling and it becomes magical all over again. The big worry, and I believe rightly so, is the ability for software to completely alter the photographic reallty of an image so realistically that it becomes a very real legal problem. I have been using design tool, including Photoshop for decades and I understand that making complicated edits to a photo can take hours and requires even more time to master the skills to do what can be done almost instantly. Jess Weatherbed at The Verge wrote up an amazing article explaining why this is a very BAD thing. Take a look and remember, in the ever changing landscape of image technology, you should also keep in mind that the unbelievable image you are looking at could be absolutely made out of thin air.