Vacation – Part 2

Vacation – Part 2

This will be a 4 part event. I’ve already taken a solid week off last month. This month, I’ll take another week and then a week in August and then September before we head into “peak” season.

This is the first year that I’ve taken the vacation I’ve been given. I usually have so much going on that I don’t really get to take the time.

I am grateful for it. I have a boss who likes to see his employees take some time away to refresh the batteries.

I am really torn between writing music or writing short stories. Music may win this time. I have some song ideas I’d like to explore and write.

July 14, 2018 by Drive By Blogging

Man Charged in Stabbing…has NO arms

Sad but true from Reuters…

(Reuters) – A 46-year-old homeless man with no arms was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida, for stabbing another man with a pair of scissors using his feet, police said on Wednesday.

Florida native Jonathan Crenshaw stabbed a 22-year-old Chicago man twice with the scissors before running away, according to the Miami Beach Police Department report on Crenshaw’s early Tuesday arrest.

I really don’t know who is at fault but I’ll probably side with the homeless guy with no arms.

July 11, 2018 by General Musings

AI is Starting to Get Uncomfortable

Alibaba has an AI that they claim has passed the Turing test. However, they are using it for writing ad copy.

The Chinese-language tool is reportedly able generate copy that can be “promotional, functional, fun, poetic or heartwarming” with a single button click, and will be used on mainly Alibaba’s version of Amazon in China, Tmall and Taobao. There’s no word if it’s being developed for other languages just yet.

Unfortunately, I could see the real life Terminator shizz play out while I am still around. I was hoping to avoid it altogether. People do not pay attention or learn from movies, books, or history.

July 5, 2018 by Artificial Intelligence

Oh Yeah! Another Power Outage!

This is super cool. Well, since it is currently 92 degrees maybe cool is the wrong word.

Power went off around 11:00 am. Projected time of repair is 2:30 pm.

Makes for an interesting start to the week.

My guess is that a power transformer exploded (heat related) but it could just as easily be a stupid motherfonker who hit a stupid motherfonking telephone pole. Telephone poles, in and of themselves, is a funny term because we don’t use landlines anymore.

Update: 3:47 pm – “They” do not anticipate power restoration until the early evening hours. Some gizmo or “do-dad’ broke. It’s technical.

Updated: 7.16.2018 – Added a cool photo I took in extremely low light conditions.

July 2, 2018 by Sh*t Mike Says

Great Idea!

I saw this post this morning and totally agree that this would be a great way to go with the Mac Mini.

Apple could still claim that Mr. Cook’s promise is in force. Apple could offer the most basic configuration of the 2019 Mac Pro as the 2019 Mac mini. At Mac mini pricing levels.

Of course, if properly designed, that very same chassis could be outfitted with the highest level of computational power. Say, 32 Xeon cores, 256, 512, or 1,024 GB of RAM, a 4 TB SSD. Plus a monster graphics system and all kinds of other plug-ins that would be beyond the realm of an ordinary Mac mini. That’s the $10,000 Mac Pro we’ve always been thinking of.

By cleverly designing a 2019 Mac Pro modular chassis, Apple neatly avoids product overlap and gives the Mac mini user base the upgradable Mac mini they’ve been dreaming of. And so customers of all kinds could start low, upgrade as they go, or start in the middle or go right to the top. The Mac world will have achieved computational heaven.

June 20, 2018 by General Musings

Fonking Shizz

I’m reading a book series called “Space Team.” The characters have translation chips imbedded in their heads that allow them to communicate with alien species.

The funny part about the whole thing is that the company who created the technology doesn’t allow cursing. When it picks up a curse word, it substitutes that word with something considered “safe.” Just hearing that from the Audible book reader is enough to make you laugh.

And that…is some fonking shizz!

June 16, 2018 by General Musings

Currently Reading

Banshee's Last Scream

Banshee's Last Scream

Series: Tyrus Rechs: Contracts & Terminations

Authors: Jason Anspach and Nick Cole