When most people speak of Artificial Intelligence (AI) they’re really meaning Artificial Consciousness (AC). Intelligence is considered a side-effect of consciousness. That’s not quite correct (consider a termite mound, for instance; very intelligent, sophisticated aspects to the design of any termite mound — ask a 3rd year architectural engineer — Read more…
I was there during the 60’s, but I was never a hippy. Not then. As I child and young person I was too conservative for such things. Also too driven by the lust for knowledge (about almost everything) to worry too much about life styles. The word “nerd” was not Read more…
I used to be a Barista, before the leading edge of the Recession (finally noticed by the news media around 2007) caught up with me and caused me to have to close that. It was great fun, until then. It was also depressing at times, because I was all about Read more…
I don’t get it. I just upgraded my edition of Microsoft Office, which I still use only because of Publisher for which, so far, there is no really good alternative, unless you go into the high-dollar range. Open Office and Libre Office are great alternatives to all the rest of Read more…
(This turned into an unexpectedly long posting; my perfunctory apologies.) There is no election happening this year. What do I mean? I mean that it’s not a campaign to select the best qualified with the best agenda to move the country forward in the best way. Nope… it’s a campaign Read more…
I’ve been bothered by something for years and years and years. (This will be short posting.) Why do movie covers (VHS, DVD, BluRay, movie posters on the internet… doesn’t matter, they all do it) consistently show the actors faces (when they do that) in a different left-right order than the Read more…
There is a long, long, long standing problem in the computer industry: the progress bar. They don’t work. Well, actually, sometimes they do, from some manufacturers. Others do not; they give you no real idea how long a thing will take. You may think this isn’t a problem; to a Read more…
I accidentally ate some MSG last night. It was in some food in a particular restaurant. I won’t be eating there again; the food was good, but the ingredients aren’t for me. Bad night: sweats, headache, aches especially in the joints. If I didn’t know the symptoms of MSG in Read more…
In 1966, Season 1 of Mission Impossible, on prime time TV, they said a very interesting thing. Watch the clip, then continue reading … That was Mission Impossible, 1966. The “team” was posing as a group of agents who were to infiltrate America, so were being coached in detail Read more…
Once upon a time in America [which was a good movie, by the way, but unrelated here] folks had to go outside to the well or hand pump to fetch in a bucket of water for use in the house. This naturally, lead to a very conservative (in the real Read more…
I talk a bit here and there about obedience just for obedience being a bad idea. However… I don’t mean to suggest that when I’m in someone’s private home or professional space that I do what I want regardless of that person’s wishes. It’s His Space, therefore it’s His* Rules. Read more…
I have had a report, that I can not verify, but from a source I trust — which means only I give the report the benefit of the doubt. The report goes: A woman was in Hospital, and, according to her doctor, dying of Corona. There was nothing more they Read more…
I have heard something that disturbs me, and I just had it corroborated by a Doctor. Doesn’t mean it’s true, your mileage may vary, etc… Friend of mine, his wife was in line to get a drive-by CoV test. They had given her a number (under the windshield wiper) and Read more…
I have my favorite celebrities: movie actors whom I particularly enjoy, some leaders in Science and Industry. Otherwise I don’t have the Celebrity Bug the way some folks do. Sometimes people come to me with the latest Scandal about So-and-So and I let them talk, but honestly, I’d prefer not Read more…
There’s an old belief in the Advertising world that the more annoying an ad is the more “effective” it is, because people will remember it. I find this reprehensible. Even before I was aware of that fact, though, I had developed a tendency to avoid companies whose commercials and advertising Read more…
About 3 years ago (as I write this) the European Union (EU) decided (for reasons that escape me) to require all websites who wish to do business with EU citizens to announce that they use cookies — assuming that they use cookies. Problem with this is: all websites use cookies Read more…
A true event happened to a friend of mine. It involves “Cheetos” but it is not about that product, nor the manufacturer and this story in no way is meant to accuse anyone or detract from any one or anything. It’s not about Cheetos. She (my friend) was visiting with Read more…
It used to worry me that Sports Medicine seemed to work so much better than main stream, ordinary, go-to-the-doctor medicine does. Then it occurred to me that of course it works better. In Sports Medicine the healthy athlete is the product; in main-stream, for-the-rest-of-us medicine, the treatment is the product. Read more…
Some people think Blind Obedience to Authority is proper and moral behavior. That anything else erodes a society. Martin Luther, for one (which is kind of ironic, actually, since he is best known for refusing a certain, particular Authority). Problem with that (obedience, not Martin Luther) is that it is Read more…
Did you know that your cell phone End User License Agreement (EULA) allows your service provider to rummage through your phone anytime they wish? Look into it; it’s there. Same with Windows 10’s EULA; Microsoft reserves the right to rummage through any and all of your files when ever they Read more…