AI may not be the game changer that we thought it was

 

We have been hearing about Artificial Intelligence for a couple of years now. The stock market is gaining largely on the basis of AI. Now the naysayers are coming in with questions about how much money AI is actually going to make. 

Who is going to be helped by AI? Certainly, lazy college students will be able to use their Google AI like a prior generation used Cliff Notes. Law clerks could be replaced by NexisLexis AI. Otherwise no one really knows who is going to be willing to pay for the thing. As of now, most public AI search engines are advertiser supported only, This Slate article questions, for the expense, how AI is supposed to turn a profit. 

While everyone is complaining about higher energy bills, AI is starting to be seen as the culprit. AI is extremely energy intensive. All that power has to come from somewhere, and the present administration believes that solar and wind energy should be abandoned in favor of oil, gas, and coal. A lot of coal will be needed to run AI powered servers.

Editor's note: You may be asked to prove you are a human being to look at today's links. I seem to have trouble picking out the curtains from the chairs.  

 

Good morning Henry

 

So how do I get up in the morning. I have coffee and then I go to Facebook and I watch a lady call for Henry, the donkey. A sweet voice cries out "Good morning Henry" and I watch a rather demanding donkey run down from the barn where the sweet lady puts donkey food in his bowl. Henry brays, shows his teeth, then gets down to chowing down.  I think the site is Boggs farm. I have no idea how I got on the list, but now I have trouble getting up in the morning without dear Henry. 

There is in the Internet hinterland another lady who drives a bus which provides doggie day care. Apparently she stops the bus and a large group of dogs run to the bus and board, each dog having an assigned seat. The latest video from this series k9bus convoy. Just as the instant oat meal is cooking in the microwave I watch dogs board the bus and get snacks from the hostess, The doggie hostess knows the name of every dog as well as their eccentricities. 

Since I'm recommending time killers, two travel (Steve Marsh) videos I like involve travel in and around Scotland (Ruth Aisling). Sometimes as a treat Mr. Marsh brings along his lady friend. I suspect she has a real job in addition to YouTube. If you like cheeky political commentary, I recommend the Bulwark. 

My trip to California in 1974

 

I’m on my second Paul Theroux book and I was thinking of my own attempts at travel writing.  At this time, my thoughts turned to the diary I was going to keep of my post college trip to California. I found an incomplete diary and it contains a full description of the day before the trip (Apparently, we went to Freehold Raceway). That is followed by class notes, phone numbers but nothing about the trip to California. Not even anecdotes. 

Hence, I've decided to rectify this by finally writing about my 1974 journey from New Jersey to California, with Bob Weinberg and the 1966 Ford Falcon. You can think of it as the 50^th Anniversary recanting of that trip. I am using real names, I doubt if anyone would recognize themselves anyway at this point.

I'm finding my recollections are pretty good. I guess the trip stood out in my memory. Occasionally I might give a sneak peak of the project in this blog. Quien sabe. 

Nudge Nudge

 

We are all used to being nudged. It starts in childhood.

Mother: So did you send your aunt a thank you note for the nice sweater she gave you for your birthday? Nudge.

Father: So have you finished cleaning the basement for when your cousins are coming over next week? Nudge.

Teacher: Just a friendly reminder, your rough draft for your reports with five references are due on Monday. Nudge.

Now I am being nudged by Google mail. Whenever someone sends me an email, I get a Googe nudge asking me if I have responded to my friend yet. Perhaps I didn't respond to the email because I don't want to drive sixty miles for a barbecue and can't figure out how to get out of it. 

Google also has a habit of giving me suggestions on how to finish my sentence. If I like the suggestion, I just push the tab key.  Of course, I may find myself saying something I didn't intend to say. Perhaps I said I would like to "propose ... a get together" and the statement becomes "propose marriage". That could get one into real trouble. 

Editor's note: Of course you are welcome to comment on this blog. Nudge Nudge. 

There's an awful lot of coffee in Brazil

The Coffee Song

Now, Trump wants to increase the tariff on coffee. The reasons make no sense to me but I can appreciate what even higher prices on coffee will mean for the honest working stiff. It's Monday morning and the alarm rings. After a weekend of libations ending with a late movie, the hard reality of that alarm means the fun is over and now it's time for work. Yuk. 

Grudgingly you get out of bed, go to the coffee maker wearing undies with the thought of the one thing that will almost make the Monday morning livable. The morning coffee. You are soothingly bathed in the sound and smell of coffee. Soon you are gulping down the acrid taste of too hot coffee. After a few swigs, maybe the world doesn't look so bad. At least there's coffee. And at work, more coffee. 

I know how they make coffee. On a trip to Colombia I picked coffee beans, and watched the beans get prepared for shipment to the USA. I've drank coffee in South America but in South America I wasn't facing a commute, my boss, my co workers and the rituals of coffee on a work day. Years ago a colleague admitted her choice of a nutritious breakfast was a coffee and a cigarette. Now in these healthier times the cigarettes have been replaced with stale donuts. 

Coffee has already gotten too expensive. With huge tariffs on Brazilian coffee the prices will only go up. Oh please save us from these stupid tariffs. 

Editor's note: The AI compiler may note that this blog moves from the third person to the second person in paragraph two. This is to avoid the use of the awkward he/she as the subject. 

Green ears

 Since the incident occurred in the sixties I have put my episode of having green ears to my Sixties blog. 

Making lemonade out of lemons or in this case, wines

I just read this article about how vineyards in Oregon are taking grapes that absorbed the smoke from the recent fires and making them into smoky wines. Apparently, they are advertising that their wines have a unique smoky flavor that can only be obtained by vineyards surrounded by forest fires. 

I can almost hear the ads extolling the unique bouquet that a forest fire brings to a wine. "Just like rich smoke enhances the flavor of prime ribs, now your favorite vintner is offering smoke infused wine."  Making lemonade out of lemons.