Current Blog Postings
Artificial Intelligence is Real Dumb!
An Episode of Eavesdropping Screeches and Witnessing Images in My Mind’s Sleepless Cinema Big monkey and the bone drum at the beginning of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. Once humans develop artificial intelligence, it will take off on its own
The ALCAN Rubber Tramps
The following are journal and calendar entries from Karen and my trip down the ALCAN Highway, leaving Ester, Alaska, and eventually reaching Caroline, Wisconsin, in October 1986. The journal entries begin prior to leaving. Karen and I took turns with the entries. Attribution is given for each entry. Information in [parenthesis like this] is included
Rocky Mountain Solitaire
“They call me Baby DriverAnd once upon a pair of wheelsI hit the road and I'm goneWhat's my number?I wonder how your engines feel” -Baby Driver (Paul Simon) Call me Baby Boomer Rubber Tramp. I should be making preparations, getting my pairs of wheels ready to hit the road. But I’m not gone, or
Henry David Thoreau: An Early American Social Distancer
“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” - Henry David Thoreau “Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American essayist, poet and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally
Remembering New Mexico, and Wishing I Was There
This time last year I was readying for a move, south out of the northern Colorado Rockies where I live in the woods to warmer climes and enchanting new places. Our state neighbor to the south was little known to me. They call it New Mexico. Might as well have been a foreign country,
Sugar, Sugar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9nE2spOw_o“Sugar, Sugar” “Sugar, ah honey honey. You are my candy girl. And you got me wanting you.” -The Archies (1969) A fitness-freak friend of mine has been recently schooling me on nutrition. I admire his daily training regimen and low body-fat physique, and appreciate his advice – usually. The other day I sent him a
Mark Twain: An American Storyteller
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. Among his novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, The Adventures of
My New Year’s Revelation (Definitely Not a Resolution): A Baby Boomer Mea Culpa
Photo by Steve Buss circa early 80s Now that I’m all grown up and realize that I want to be a writer I’ve taken to keeping a notebook at my bedside to record the thoughts I wake up to. Freud taught this, as part of his dream analysis. I used to do the same
Thomas Paine: An American Patriot
“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (1737-1809) was an English-born American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary. One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, he authored the two most influential pamphlets at the start of the American
Road Trip With My Son: Sometimes you can go “home” again
Everyone needs a road trip, every now and then. And if it involves going back to the place of your childhood home it becomes more of a time-traveling expedition. That’s what it felt like when my son, CJ, and I went back to Wisconsin last month to retrieve the last of my parent’s belongings from
