TO MAKE IT CLEAR, SAY IT CLEAR
When Kurt Hoefle, a cameraman with whom I worked, had an issue he thought required serious attention, he would announce it was time for “clearspeak”, clear being the operative part.… Read the rest
UNIQUE NO LONGER EQUALS OBLIGATORY
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the world’s most powerful military and largest economy affords the U.S. “…unique influence on global affairs…”. Their expertise far exceeds mine. But…… Read the rest
TWO SIDES OF A VERY FINE LINE
The line between inanity and insanity has become so fine that deciding who, and what issues, fall on which side, comes down to a toss-up between disastrous and laughable.… Read the rest
100 ISN’T JUST A NUMBER IT’S A TESTAMENT
My mother just turned 100, So instead of ruminating on the fatuous and the feckless who are ruining the world, this week’s post is an unabashedly prideful reflection on making it better by what she would call “just getting on with it.”… Read the rest
OBVIOUS CLUES FOR CONTROLLING AI
To make sense of the point-counter-point, jargon-riddled, self-serving debate over control of the development and dangers of AI, think Formula One, and an observation by an ancient Greek philosopher.… Read the rest
TWO AT ONCE VERSUS ONE OR THE OTHER
A clue as to why the problems that beset the world seem intractable lies in the sad fact that the only vote against a UN resolution for a small but positive contribution to resolving them, was cast by the U.S. delegate.… Read the rest
THE ABSURD HAS BECOME THE OBSCENE
Much as I hate to admit it, punditry (dread word) is on a par with variations of the old adage that today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s birdcage liner. Barely ten months ago, I posted an offering entitled “When Absurdity Passes for Wisdom”.… Read the rest
THERE’S JUST NO PLEASING SOME PEOPLE
Canada curtailed the wildfires enough that President Donald Trump didn’t impose tariffs over the smoke. Now he’s slapped on 50 percent ones because Canadians are apparently ingrates.… Read the rest
DEAR AI COULD I HAVE A HUMAN PLEASE
This week’s post is being written in trepidation of déjà vu. Last week’s effort didn’t make it online until Sunday, because a glitch in the website drove me, against my will, to enter a version of Hell — the mind-masticating maw of AI.… Read the rest
SOMETIMES REALITIES CAN BE A CHOICE
Mathematicians took 2,300 years to prove squaring the circle is geometrically impossible. In one day, six kayakers and two loons showed me why it became the perfect idiom for trying to reconcile two conflicting things… Read the rest