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Sunday Morning Reading
Whew. Regular readers here will know that since the middle of December we’ve been spending time helping my daughter and her family move into a new house, with an interim stop to an Airbnb over the holidays until the new place was ready. It’s been as chaotic as any move could be, multiplied by the antics of our two grandchildren who had their small worlds turned upside down. The chaos didn’t allow for much Sunday Morning Reading, but here we are again, playing a little catch up as well as looking ahead. As much as anybody can look ahead these days.
What Just Happened? That title for Andrea Pitzer’s piece sort of explains the look I see on most people’s faces during the events of this January. If it seems like too much to think about. That’s because it is. Think on it.
Brian Merchant’s Abolish The Senses plays on the same themes and the dismay we’re all feeling.
“Do math. Check your facts.” That’s the message from Neil Steinberg in Wrapping Our Heads Around A Trillion, Now That The Alphabet is Worth $4,000,000,000,000. Don’t let others think for you.
Dealing with much smaller numbers, NatashaMH’s Five Dollars For Catastrophe explains how a $5 book about genocide can offer much more value, should you actually inquire and think for yourself. Words have meaning folks.
And while I’m linking to posts on the numbers, let’s talk gambling. Apparently it’s reaching epidemic proportions and you can bet on when the USA is going to invade other countries, among other catastrophic outcomes these days. Especially if you’re in the know. Saahil Desai says America Is Slow-Walking Into A Polymarket Disaster. I’m not so sure about the slow-walking part.
If gambling is betting on predictions, Artificial Intelligence, with its ability to predict the next word ought to be able to figure out most outcomes ahead of time. It’s all math, right? Remember that earlier admonition to think for yourself? While doing so, check out Steven Adler’s AI Isn’t “Just Predicting The Next Word” Anymore.
Are Tech Companies Allies Or A Threat To Press Freedom? I’m not spoiling Emily Bell’s conclusions with the obvious answer, because the piece is about more than that.
Jill Lepore explores How Originalism Killed The Constitution. It’s an earlier piece that contains context that most have no idea about. I’d suggest finding out.
Speaking of killing things, Russel Berman and Elaine Godfrey ask the simple question, Does Congress Even Exist Anymore? Applying the Ian Betteridge law of headlines, that any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no, you don’t have to guess at my answer. Berman and Godrey call it a fast fade. I call it a slow self-suicide.
Closing out this week, I’m pointing to a venture from a raconteur I feature here often, David Todd McCarty. He’s gathering up his words and images from over the years on a new website. David is quite a storyteller. If you think for yourself, I suggest you pay attention. For a taste check out David Dreams Of Everything.
Go Bears!
(Image from Rey Seven on Unsplash)
If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
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When Irony Turns Historic Symbols On Their Head
Symbols, logos, insignias always have meaning. Certainly they do for their creators. For others they hold and take on meaning over time. Those that endure rarely take on a new and different significance. Often they just blend into the background unless they represent something that becomes contentious. We’ve all seen that happen in our lifetimes. But on occasion the fickle finger of irony points in a new direction.
I was born in Virginia, though I don’t live there now. The Commonwealth of Virginia’s symbol and motto Sic Semper Tyrannis (thus always to tyrants) took on a historically ironic meaning today with the swearing in of the Commonwealth’s first female governor, Abigail Spanberger. She’s taking office in what can only be called tempestuous times brought on us all by a tyrant. And it sounds like she’s up for the fight.
The seal and motto were first adopted in 1861 at the start of the American Civil War as Virginia seceded from the Union. For those, like myself, who think we’re currently living through the long delayed continuation of that conflict that’s been simmering since the fighting concluded, the twists and turns of history featuring the same female figure of virtue standing astride a fallen king symbolizing the defeat of tyranny for a state now led by a female governor is irony just too delicious to ignore.
I note that one of Governor Spanberger’s first acts was to veto the Executive Order that enabled Virginia’s participation in the program that allowed local law enforcement to act as ICE agents.
Here’s hoping there’s more of that to come from the new governor.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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It’s Time To Stop Hiding From The Obvious
During these extended grand-parenting trips to help my daughter and her family move one of the favorite games Grandpa plays with the little ones is Hide and Seek. My granddaughter is very good at the hiding part. She plays for keeps. There were a couple of times we worried we’d lost her.
My grandson on the other hand likes to change the rules mid-game, always to his benefit whether he’s hiding or seeking.
It’s not easy to hide. Especially in plain sight. But that’s what so many have been doing in our country for far too long, pretending that they are as good at hiding as my granddaughter, but hiding the way my grandson does by shifting the rules and lowering the bar to avoid being caught.
Hiding from the reality of what’s happening bears no fruit. Hiding from what needs to happen to bring it to an end yields even less.
There are too many ostriches among us and that needs to change.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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Shadow Dancing
Everyone and everything is now in the new house for my daughter’s family after more twists and turns in the journey than I have energy to describe right now.
Moving is never easy. But when you see the kids discover that they can shadow dance at a certain time of day in the sun room, and then laugh themselves silly doing it, it makes the journey worthwhile.
Back to unpacking…
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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“Then No Line Exists”
I recently linked to Eizabeth Lopatto’s excellent and scathing article pointing fingers at Apple and Google for continuing to allow Elon Musk’s Grok AI to undress without consent adults and children. Calling Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai cowards in the headline on this issue is, in my opinion, table stakes and will be until they take public action and actually apologize for violating their own rules and the privacy of the users that pump money into their bank accounts.
Following that up I’m linking to another excellent article on the topic from Charlie Warzel and Matteo Wong, published in the Atlantic. The headline is strong, saying Elon Musk Cannot Get Away With This. The article is stronger still. Yet, the sad reality is that he already has, and even if Cook and Pichai suddenly change direction, the damage has already been done. Like the political figures they have bent knees to, they won’t be able to find a mirror to look in that won’t reflect their cowardice back at them.
Hiding under their respective rocks, both Cook and Pichai have let Musk turn this from a ruinous troubling feature into a paid premium feature, which is not only ridiculous but makes a mockery of both Apple and Google. I’ve already said that any X users who still hang onto that platform are just as culpable.
But then that’s the world we live in. We ignore the horrible nature of what’s unfolding in front of our faces. So many demons have flown out of this era’s Pandora’s Box we find ourselves it is impossible to count them, much less have any hope of banishing them. But then, that’s what the demons are counting on. As the article says:
This crisis is an outgrowth of a breakneck information ecosystem in which few stories have staying power. No one person or group has to flood the zone with shit, because the zone is overflowing constantly. People with power have learned to exploit this—to weather scandals by hunkering down and letting them pass, or by refusing to apologize and turning any problem into a culture-war issue.
As Warzel and Wong also say, “the silence says everything.”
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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Apple’s New Siri Will Be Google’s Gemini
In news you wouldn’t need AI to hallucinate, Apple and Google in a joint statement to CNBC announced that Apple will be using Google’s Gemini to power Apple’s long anticipated and delayed New Siri in a multi-year deal.
You can call it a surrender. It is. You can call it an admission of failure. It is. Even if Apple rarely admits mistakes.
Stating that the new models will continue to run on Apple’s private cloud compute in a joint statement, (published on Google’s news blog and to my knowledge not in any Apple press release), the statement said,
Apple and Google have entered into a multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology. These models will help power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri coming this year.
After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google’s Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and is excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for Apple users. Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple’s industry-leading privacy standards.
Given the delay in releasing the promised and once heralded update to Siri, this isn’t really news and has been thought to be the path Apple would adopt for quite some time. Speculation is that users might see this as early as this spring, but I’m still thinking it won’t roll out until WWDC 2026 this summer.
For what it’s worth, the statement to business network CNBC tells everyone who the audience is for this news that isn’t news and I’m guessing the complete retrenchment from Apple’s initial endeavors to try and create a AI powered Siri is quite a blow and the fallout won’t blow over soon.
Saying “Apple determined…” is quite some shade from Google, even in a joint statement.
I doubt this is the end of this saga, but in the end, does this really matter? Who knows. But given the C-suite shakeups at Apple, whatever happened with Apple Intelligence and New Siri has changed how iPhone users, investors, and probably a bot or two view Apple going forward.
For future curiosity purposes it will be interesting to see how Apple’s New Siri/Gemini will respond if someone prompts it to generate a summary of this news.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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The Grandkids Fill The New Digs With Laughter
When you move into a new place one of the things you notice is how sound echoes around an empty house. Especially when there are little ones who love to run at what seems the speed of light, laughing at levels that set off Apple Watch loud enviornment warnings.
Today the movers arrive at my daughter and her famiiy’s new digs. As the place fills up with furniture and the stuff of living, the echoes will diminish, but the volume won’t as the new digs will still be overflowing with the sounds of laughter and life. We’re still mostly on babysitting duty, thus the grandkids first coloring session with Grandma waiting for the movers to do their thing.
Everyone’s excited.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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Sunday Morning Reading
Sunday Morning Reading is on hiatus this week as we’re helping my daughter and her family with the second phase of moving into a new house by watching the grandchildren.
Oh, and watching the Chicago Bears pull off an improbably win in the wildcard. My granddaughter’s concern mirrored mine for most of the game, but the Bears pulled off another miracle comeback. Go Bears!If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
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The Taint of X
With the pretense, facades, and myths we’ve all lived with for some time being stripped away in most areas of our lives, we’re also beginning to see more and more folks finally calling things like they actually see them.
Just a quick post here to highlight Elizabeth Lopatto’s epic Verge post called Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai Are Cowards. She’s talking about the fact that Elon Musk’s X social network is still up on both app stores as of this writing, given that he’s not only allowing deepfake porn, which violates guidelines on both app store platforms, but in some bizarre twist of reality, somehow paying to post that kind of heinous crap apparently should ameliorate any concerns.
The bottom line has always been the bottom line and knows no morality when it comes to shoring it up. There’s no new bottom here, just the same old greedy capitalistic depravity.
Just remember allowing this to continue is essentially working as a pimp. I don’t care what your business model is, that’s the business you’re in.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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Why It’s Worth Being Angry
Settling in for another out of town stay to help my daughter and her husband with phase two of moving into their new house. Grandma and I got right into watching the kids as their parents are working at the new digs to prep for the movers.
It’s been a rough week. All of the news has hit me hard. Harder than I would have imagined. But I listen to the laughter of these kids (I provoke a lot of it), and I relish the cuddles, and I imagine a better time ahead, yet feel a tightening resolve to make sure that’s possible for these precious innocents. I’d sacrifice anything for this bunch.
I cringe when I think this feels selfish or cocoonish, when I know others are closer to the fire than we currently are. But I hope all across this country that those who are as blessed as our family are also taking stock of what level of sacrifice they are willing to make.
The time has come to stand and be measured accountable.
You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.
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Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3
Musings on life, the theatre, technology, culture and the occasional emu sighting
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3 