Wait! Those Wacky Liberal Arts Folks Might Do Well in the World of AI?!? The shadow of AI continues to loom over the workplace as the AI companies have their IPOs, but don't worry, McSweeney's has a handy guide to understanding the economics of the situation. Meanwhile, on a personal level, you…

Narrator: After Noah Wyle, the Criterion Collection accounting department deployed guards to the famed closet... youtu.be/RU3Csk-y1-w?...

Dads Wanting it All With another Father's Day in the rear-view mirror, I happened across this older article by Brigid Schulte for the Washington Post about how dads also want to have it all. It's from 2013 and a book of hers also delves into the modern overwhelm, which I should check out. But I…

#FathersDay #StarTrek

#FathersDay #Dune

It's not magic, it's quantum mechanics. www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-zx...

Before Loving v Virginia, Another Trial About Interracial Marriage It's Loving Day today, a relatively recent and unofficial day celebrating the anniversary of the 1967 decision in Loving v Virginia which struck down laws banning mixed-race marriages. I've been reading and watching more about the…

AI Entering the Danger Zone? As AI continues to tap-dance through the zeitgeist of society, I don't have any family references this week, but I do have an Archer/Kenny Loggins reference, and isn't that the same? An AI chatbot would say so... unless you correct it. Anyway, OpenAI, Anthropic, and…

Yeah, it's the right day for this...

AI as a Kind of Magic Trick Growing up, my dad exposed us to a number of board games and, while he was open to all sorts of game mechanics, he especially enjoyed the wonkily strategic ones that might be best described as "simulations." Yes, we're talking cardboard chits and plenty of rules in…

All Good Things to Those Who Persist A little over a year ago, I felt the need to post a motivational video about beginnings. Today, we're beyond beginning, into persisting with a video from Lewis Woods that reminds us that it's not about the expectant outcome, but the journey and the journey and,…

Stephen Colbert takes another Michigander at Monroe Still thinking of The Late Show coming to an end last week, I enjoyed Colbert's joke that he'd probably go to hosting a cable access show, clearly forgetting that, back in 2015, that's exactly what he did in the run-up to his tenure on The Late…

When Writing, You Can’t Beat the Beats Writers are sometimes asked if they fall into one of two camps. First is the plotter: someone who outlines their work assiduously and only then begins their draft. Second is the pantser: someone who discovers the plot as they write. There is a third proposed…

It helped that I watched one of the designer's how to videos before the game... but I didn't expect to meet him at the table! None of them are likely to trust me fully again. Long live the first-time fighters!

A reminder that the Pandemic broke some of us, including Mr. Pringles.

A Great Show Needs a Great Theater Speaking of all good things coming to an end as I was on Tuesday, tonight is a good thing I definitely don't want to end: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Tonight is its last night. In fact, they may have finished recording their final episode by the time…

All I'm saying is that a full children's book version of this would sell far above its weight in water. #Busytown has wormsign! #TheSpiceMustFlow

You Weren’t Wrong About Panera They say all good things come to an end, which mainly makes me feel “They” need to stop doomscrolling and go outside. However, one thing I don’t remember them touching upon is how some good things don’t just end, they wither. And that withering often comes from a…

Syttende Mai: Metal Mom Edition I am, perhaps, remiss in having a regular post around the 17th of May, because the second oldest constitution in use deserves some democratic love, but if you haven't seen this one, it's a humdinger. There are many places around the United States that celebrate…

Everybody -er, every AI- to the Limit! Discussions at the dayjob have included the both the risks of AI and the risks of not implementing AI. I mean, the problems of AI as an accelerator for cybercrime were already apparent and are now becoming iridescent (metaphorically). But my guess is that…

But You Were the Chosen One, AI! Yes, given the posts earlier this week, I couldn't resist... but let's face it: AI, in the form of our current crop of large language models, has been touted as the technology that will change everything. Well, for humans, anyway. And for humans, AI has proven…

I Find Your Lack of Bach Disturbing After May the Fourth became the official unofficial Star Wars holiday (much to the consternation of Orthodox Star Wars fans, who only celebrate May 25th and maybe Life Day) the people who can start singing Yub Nub at the drop of a Stormtrooper helmet tried to…

Same, Captain Shaw. Same. #ThisIsTheMay

He finds your lack of faith... most vexing. #ThisIsTheMay

Hokey religions and ancient weapons, you say? #ThisIsTheMay

Well played, Heathrow. Well played. #StarWarsDay

Starting the bountiful 5/4 memes with Boynton. #StarWarsDay

46 Years Ago, In a Cinema Far, Far Away… The Empire Strikes Back came out in 1980, a time long before today's norms where you can wait a few months for any film in theaters to make it to streaming. So it was not uncommon to go back and see a film in the theater again. Alas, unbeknownst to us young…

Dang post holes... #Archaeology

Well this sounds fun. youtu.be/jtq0-cknQnE?...

I did not fully appreciate what the "shadow docket" is.

Hobbies as a Way to Unplug from the Algorithm As I mentioned back in February, I've been musing about a longer piece about AI, the catch-all if imprecise term lobbed at the current crop of large language models (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Co-Pilot, Grok, Gemini, etc.). I get more examples of videos and…

When the PuppyCam is a NoPrivacyCam Okay, so it's a couple months since the Super Bowl, so I'm arguably late to the post-SB-party, but I haven't stopped thinking about one of the commercials that aired as it was cheerfully pro-dystopia: Yeah, even people who think "Orwell" might be a brand of…

For those who celebrate. #LLAP

'Tis the season!

Happy Easter from John and Harvey!

The classic #AprilFools youtu.be/8scpGwbvxvI?...

Sadly #TrueStory

I knew it!

What's in a name? (credit: @basicinstructions.bsky.social)

It's coming! #BewareTheIdes

Your Oscar 2026 Summary Video I'm in the midst of some other writing, so to feed the Internet algorithm, I give you Screen Junkies' now-annual tradition of explaining all the best picture nominees in their irreverent manner. You can check out all the nominees on the academy's web page and if…

Winnie-the-Pooh (and others) offer excellent voice acting advice Some folks may first think of Jim Cummings as the "new" voice of Winnie-the-Pooh (Hal Smith had a couple outings in the 80s, but most people probably remember the distinctive voice of Sterling Holloway as the silly old bear).…

Still true.

Sure it’s World War II, but can we still use the classics? One of the kids is currently studying World War II, so I reminded them that dads (not just Baby Boomers) are required to know all sorts of military history. It's like a Dad Merit Badge. In fact, I think World War II is only the first one.…

Hitchcock on Happiness Anecdotally, I'm given to understand many purveyors of horror and spine-tingling thrillers are some of the nicest, chillest folks around... so I though of that when I came across this excerpt from a 1964 CBC interview with celebrated filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock: Interviewer:…

So, We’re Going to Take This to Eleven It's time once again for a self-referential post as 11 years ago today, I relaunched my personal website. Neither I nor Nigel Tufnel thought we'd get here, but Nigel at least had a plan. (Incidentally, in searching for the appropriate graphic, I learned that…

Exploration and Science in (Mock) Spaaace! Going through some of my old research on space exploration --because why shouldn't one write science fiction of space explorers knowing some related science fact?-- I came across this article by Denise Chow for Space.com back from 2011. It's all about how…

Apparently I’ve been using mind-altering substances all my life. Hopefully, you have too. A definite plus of last year was reading the number of books I did: far more than I had the previous few years. Not only did it help with my writing, but it also helped provide some solace amid all the happy…

For folks who want a horribly good #ValentinesDay.