Category: Society
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The Not Knowing
Sometimes, we know exactly what we want to be doing. And sometimes we don’t. Life offers us plenty of chances to leap into the abyss, not knowing what we’re going to find after our feet leave the ground. We like certainty. Some of us like to calculate probabilities. We often feel uneasy with uncertainty. The…
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Will AI Reduce Call Wait Times?
I’m curious how long it’s going to take for AI to improve customer service drastically. For many reasons, great customer service is difficult to find these days. Today, I was on the phone for over a half-hour attempting to get a simple question answered. The automated prompts failed to connect me to someone who could…
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Deep Cleaning
It’s been an insane day of deep cleaning. While I don’t collect much, I tend to let bills and other paperwork accumulate. Today, I recycled lots of paperwork and removed some clutter from my office. Karilyn dived into the deep cleaning: dusting, vacuuming, and helping to make my office more functional. Dare I say liveable?…
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Experiences Required
We can not create art from nothing. Even science fiction and fantasy stories must be grounded in our human experiences. Sometimes, writer’s block occurs when we feel empty and depleted. When this happens, we must pay attention to our experiences and create new ones. My favorite way to do this is to travel. Especially when…
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Smaller Plates
I’m imagining a large plate of food piled high and spilling over the edges. There’s no way you can eat it all. You feel bad letting it go to waste, but the plate is overflowing with food. There’s just too much. Maybe you eat what you can and then walk away. Sometimes, my life is…
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Conflicting Priorities
We want many different things throughout our lives. Sometimes, the things we say we want are not consistent with our actions. So here’s a question. Should we believe our actions or our words? And if we don’t do the things we say we want, what’s holding us back? While I think fear often holds us…
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I am NOT a Dog Psychologist!
For context, you need to know a few things about Bean. He’s the funniest dog we’ve ever owned. I mean, just look at him. He loves tummy rubs, dog treats, and playing fetch. He’s fast. He’s much faster than I expected for such a small dog. He’s smart. He has learned to sit for a…
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Rare Events
We can learn a lot by noticing rare events. This is especially true in physics and astronomy. Examples include the following. Eclipses and conjunctions eventually improved our understanding of gravity, from Kepler’s Laws to Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Supernovas provided insights into the life cycle of stars. Victor Hess won a Nobel Prize in…
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Politics
Last night, I watched Kamala Harris give her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. I’m impressed. She knows how to face Trump, and she’s the kind of leader I want in the White House. While I would have voted for anyone over Trump, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to vote for…
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Better or Worse? (Part 4)
Now that I’ve answered Question #1 (in parts 2 and 3), let’s move on to Question #2. Is my life better or worse now (in 2024) than when I was a kid (in the early 1970’s)? This is a difficult question to answer. The things we want and need and value change over time. Should I evaluate…