Friday, 9/11

25 years, huh? Doesn't seem that long, does it?

I'm sure you'll be reading a ton of stuff today about the 25th anniversary of 9/11. It's one of those touchstone moments, like Pearl Harbor, Kennedy being shot, or Challenger blowing up--you knew exactly where you were when you heard the news, and and that day is seared forever into your brain

After all, we're still feeling the reactions to 9/11 in the way we live even now.

When you tell a younger person that you grew up in a world without omnipresent security cameras or that you used to be able to walk into an airport with getting undressed they look at you like you're from another world. And in a way, you are--you're from a world before planes went crashing into buildings, before layer upon layer of draconian security was imposed upon every day life, and before countless wars were launched in the name of making the world safe.

That's how much things have changed in the past quarter century.

Now, there can be a debate as to whether or not the world is a safer place; that, however, is best a debate in other forums and by people who know more than I. I guess I'm just stunned by two things--by the fact that the defining moment of this century was a quarter of that century ago, and by the fact that the after-effects of that incident are still being felt today. 25 years after Pearl Harbor, we were allies with the Japanese. 25 years after Kennedy was shot, the republic still stood. And 25 years after Challenger, space shuttles were still flying.

It's like we moved on after those events. But 25 years after 9/11? It feels like in many ways, we're still living with it.

I'll be curious to see what it's like in 2051, when the 50th anniversary rolls around. Will we have moved on? Will some other disaster, either man-made or natural, have taken over our everyday life? Or will we still be living in the shadow of events that occurred on a sunny day in New York City in 2001, 25 years ago today.

It'll be interesting to see.

On that note, have yourself a great weekend. And maybe keep your fingers crossed that we DON'T have another disaster like that in the next 25 years.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 9/10

I guess we now have an answer to the question that's been plaguing mankind since the dawn of time.

A couple of months ago Loraine, Deanna, and I were having dinner when Deanna posited one of those interesting questions she comes up with. To wit--

"Do you think our parents have ever watched 'Friends'"?

It's actually quite the legit question. For our generation, "Friends" is a touchstone. It's one of those shows that defines who we are and how we act. It was a big chunk of our lives, and we're still watching episodes for the 45th time. But what about the generation older than us, our parents? They probably knew of the show, and may have even watched it once out of curiosity. But did they really know the show the way we did?

That question was answered this past weekend when Loraine and I were downstate visiting her dad. We were showing him some stuff on my laptop when a picture of the cast of "Friends" popped up (maybe in an ad, or something). He took one look at that picture--of the six actors on the show--pointed at David Schwimmer, and said, directly quoting him here--

"Hey--that's the guy from 'Band of Brothers'".

Yup. He had no idea that David Schwimmer was on "Friends", but he sure did remember him from his memorable one episode role on a TV mini-series 25 years ago.

Now, this is just a one parent sample group; other people's parents may vary. But if you've ever wondered, like Deanna, Loraine, and I did, if our parents generation ever watched "Friends"...

Well, now you have your answer.

By the way, we DID show him an episode and he thought it was a hoot.. So who knows...maybe slowly but surely, we'll get the older generation hooked on the show that defined our generation yet.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 9/9

And greetings from somewhere on I-75. I’m not quite sure where, but it’s the place where there are trees on the left and trees on the right.

So wherever that is, that’s where we are.

We had a very nice, very extended weekend down in Reese, visiting Loraine’s family and for a few short hours actually forgetting what day of the week it was.

And that VERY rarely happens.

Otherwise, we just spent time with Loraine’s dad's cats, eating a lot, and, uhm, going to the one place we can’t go to in Marquette, if only because we don’t have one--Aldi. I told you if you behaved I'd take a picture, and you did, so...

Hi, my name is Jim, and I’m an Aldi-holic. And if you think I’m bad now, just wait until we actually DO get one in Marquette. After the first week, I may need an intervention.

So be forewarned.

We also spent some time just wandering around Loraine’s home town. Reese reminds me a lot of and is about the same size of Gwinn, and that led to something you may—just may—see on TV next Monday night.

But that's next week.

For now, how about a couple of pictures, like yet another example of “The Awesome Flatness of Reese”--

It’s actually hard to capture in a picture just how flat Reese is; in sections with no trees you can see for miles and miles and miles. Because it’s flat it’s home to hundreds of farms, which means that the only things that rise more than 20 feet above the terrain would be the grain elevators, as you see in the picture above, although some of the farm equipment on sale might qualify, as well.

But if you know where to look, you can see things in the nooks and crannies that make Loraine’s home town uniquely “Reese”.

But for now, it's back to reality...not that reality is in any way a bad thing. The past weekend did, however, show just how nice it is to escape from that reality on occasion, if only for a few days.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 9/3

Now, it's all over except the shouting. Or the sobbing.

After all, it's been that kind of week.

It's actually been a couple of “that kind of weeks”, as you well know if you've been perusing these rantings on a daily basis. But like I said, after today it slows down...or, at least changes venues. Tomorrow morning Loraine and I head downstate to visit her dad over the Labor Day weekend, which means that we get to do three things--

1.  Hang out with her nieces & nephews

2. Visit the Aldi in Caro (a town a quarter of the size of Marquette but, for some reason, has an Aldi while we don't), and

3. Enjoy the awesome flatness of Reese--

That's a phrase Loraine once coined, and she's right. Growing up where there are a LOT of hills I never had an idea any place could be so flat. It's so flat, in fact, that on a clear day you can see the top of the Zilwaukee Bridge, which is TWELVE miles away.

That's flat.

So there won't be one of these either tomorrow or Tuesday, which is the day we'll be driving back. Wednesday, you'll get to see picture of the “Awesome Flatness” and, if you behave, maybe even one of the Caro Aldi, as well.

I know...THAT will get you through the weekend, won't it?

8-)

Speaking of the weekend, have yourself a great one. Back on Wednesday!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 9/2

Nope. I will never, ever use it. Not even if you put a gun to my head.

The world has been turned upside down the past few years by the advent of AI, artificial intelligence. It's crept into every facet of life these days, whether you want it to or not, and it's been used for many different purposes, up to and including replacing writers, musicians, and other creative individuals in doing things like writing daily blogs.

But I'll make this guarantee to you right now--

You'll never have to worry about one of these being written by a machine.

After once again talking about how busy I was this week, someone sent me a note and suggested that if I'm ever in a time crunch, I should try & see if AI could write one of these. She says she's used it, and no one was the wiser. In theory, I suppose I could outsource these to a machine. I've written almost 3,000 of them, and I could feed those 3,000 into AI, have it analyze my writing style, pick out a topic, and then have it write 500 words. And you know what? I'm guessing that it could come up with a reasonable facsimile of what I do.

And that's just one of the scary parts.

I mean, no "artist" (not that I consider myself an artist) wants to be replaced by a machine, but these days it is possible.. And seeing as how we're only in the early days of artificial intelligence, I'm guessing that in a couple of years the machines may supplant human creativity. But that's not the point. Up until a few years ago creativity was just that--a human endevour. If we allow AI to do it for us, does that make us a little less human? The machines more human?

The mind boggles.

Aside from the ethical consideration, there's also the environmental ones. Every time someone uses AI it sucks up a huge amount of electricity to power the computer chips behind it, and a huge amount of water to cool those chips so they can keep working. With the way we've been wrecking the planet lately do we really want to spew more power plant pollution into the air and suck more precious water out of the ground?

It blows my mind that some people are okay with that. But apparently, they are.

I realize that I sound like a technological Luddite in writing this, but as we all know I'm really not. It just seems like we're at a tipping point in our growth as a species. Do we really want to outsource the most human of our activities--the arts--to a machine that gobbles up finite natural resources? In my opinion, at least, it's not a thing I want to be party to. I mean, I realize that I'm probably in the minority on this, but change just for the sake of change isn't always the best thing in the world.

So, if you don't mind, I'll just keep writing these with my human brain, powered by chocolate and green tea. You won't catch me using AI to assist in anything to do with these. And I hope that's okay.

I do wonder, though, if that means I'm somewhat akin to a dinosaur standing on a North American plain 66 million years ago, watching a fireball streak across the sky, and not knowing that things are about to change forever, and not for the good.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 9/1

And here, after I did two TV bits last night, I thought things would slow down.

You may recall that I had a bit of a busy week last week. Even though I'm getting ready to head downstate to see Loraine's dad in a few days, I was hoping it would be a little slower this week. But you know what?

I was wrong.

I mean, I'm on course to make sure everything's ready for radio while I'm gone. As I said, I taped next week's TV piece (to air on Labor Day) last night. But now, I all of a sudden find I have meetings today and tomorrow, plus an interview someone scheduled for me without (ahem) asking if I have the time to do it.

So, you know, now I have those to look forward to.

I keep thinking back to a coffee cup I once saw that said “being an adult means hoping your schedule clears up next week”. Well, it's now next week, and (checking his calendar) my schedule hasn't cleared up yet.

I think the coffee cup may have been on to something.

So with that in mind, I'm going to leave you with one of the TV things I did last night. It's horrifying, it's chilling, and it's apocalyptic.

Or maybe that's just me.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 8/31

I'm not ready for summer to be over.

The rain & cooler temperatures of this past weekend, and the fact that I just typed “8/31” when starting this blog have added to the feeling I've been carrying around the past couple of weeks that my favorite time of the year is coming to a close. Not only that, but it's been a weird summer—really hot some days, quite cool on others, rain when there was supposed to be sun, smoke descending from the heaven. I keep hoping that we'll get a couple of “normal” days so we can at least go out on a high note.

But I don't think that's gonna happen.

If you're a weather professional, the season actually ends today, when “Meteorological Summer”, the months of June, July, & August, wrap up. And that's how I usually think of summer, even though the three weeks of September before the actual equinox occurs can often be nicer than the beginning of June. However, there's just something about the high sun angle and the promise of warm days to come in June that you can't get in September, no matter how hard you try.

But...what are you gonna do, right?

I know there are plenty of people who are looking forward to the cooler days, the changing leaves, and the pumpkin spiced everything that mark the next few months. I don't begrudge them that at all. But for me, summer—even an insanely busy one like this one—is an escape from reality. It's a time when I can head to the beach or jump on my bike and just mentally run away from everything.

Call it a character flaw on my part, but I, at least, can't do that when it's cold or snowy or pumpkin spiced. I just can't.

Hopefully, everything that I was able to get out of summer this year will help me get through to summer next year. Given the way this year has gone so far, I'm not 100% sure, but I'm hopeful. Otherwise, come January or February get ready for me posting a lot of pictures of sun & leaves & blue skies and maybe, just maybe, a lot of whining about I'm soooooo ready for summer to begin.

Don't say you weren't forewarned.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)