Category: Various and Sundry

Various and Sundry

Before Loving v Virginia, Another Trial About Interracial Marriage

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

It’s Loving Day today, a relatively recent and unofficial day celebrating the anniversary of the 1967 decision in Loving v Virginia which struck down laws banning mixed-race marriages. I’ve been reading and watching more about the 1920s recently and this article by Bryan Green for Smithsonian magazine reminded me of how much class and race were very much on the minds of ‘proper’ folk then — to say nothing of eugenics. It’s well worth a…

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Various and Sundry

AI Entering the Danger Zone?

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

As AI continues to tap-dance through the zeitgeist of society, I don’t have any family references this week, but I do have an Archer/Kenny Loggins reference, and isn’t that the same? An AI chatbot would say so… unless you correct it. Anyway, OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX are all looking to have IPOs this year which has market musing being cranked up to 11 (if you want analysis in manic video style, Hank Green has your…

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Various and Sundry

AI as a Kind of Magic Trick

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Growing up, my dad exposed us to a number of board games and, while he was open to all sorts of game mechanics, he especially enjoyed the wonkily strategic ones that might be best described as “simulations.” Yes, we’re talking cardboard chits and plenty of rules in strict number-outline order about how those cardboard chits operate. My dad was tough to beat in such simulations, because he absorbed the rules with a precision that many…

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Producing Various and Sundry

Stephen Colbert takes another Michigander at Monroe

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Still thinking of The Late Show coming to an end last week, I enjoyed one of Colbert’s jokes: that he’d probably wind up hosting a cable access show. I clearly forgot that, back in 2015, that’s exactly what he did in the run-up to his tenure on The Late Show. So, in what must have been planned as part of his exit, Colbert closed his show Thursday… and then he went back to host that…

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Various and Sundry

You Weren’t Wrong About Panera

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

They say all good things come to an end, which mainly makes me feel “They” need to stop doomscrolling and go outside. However, one thing I don’t remember them touching upon is how some good things don’t just end, they wither. And that withering often comes from a serious of decisions. For instance, take Panera… and if a bunch of you just reflectively reacted “No, please no!” you know where this is going. Back in…

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Various and Sundry

Syttende Mai: Metal Mom Edition

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I am, perhaps, remiss in having a regular post around the 17th of May, because the second oldest constitution in use deserves some democratic love, but if you haven’t seen this one, it’s a humdinger. There are many places around the United States that celebrate Norway’s Constitution Day, but no one should be surprised that towns in Wisconsin and Minnesota celebrate it. Enter Stoughton, Wisconsin, founded by Norwegian immigrants and don’t you forget it! In…

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Various and Sundry

Everybody -er, every AI- to the Limit!

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Discussions at the dayjob have included the both the risks of AI and the risks of not implementing AI. I mean, the problems of AI as an accelerator for cybercrime were already apparent and are now becoming iridescent (metaphorically). But my guess is that most of you are dealing with workplaces where there’s a cohort of people wanting to implement AI to do everything. They want a silver bullet. They really need to understand some…

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Various and Sundry

But You Were the Chosen One, AI!

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Yes, given the posts earlier this week, I couldn’t resist… but let’s face it: AI, in the form of our current crop of large language models, has been touted as the technology that will change everything. Well, for humans, anyway. And for humans, AI has proven problematic. Because, when it comes to Chosen Ones, you generally want them to do good. That’s one of the reasons they get the moniker of “Chosen One” versus “Eternal…

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Various and Sundry

I Find Your Lack of Bach Disturbing

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

After May the Fourth became the official unofficial Star Wars holiday (much to the consternation of Orthodox Star Wars fans, who only celebrate May 25th and maybe Life Day) the people who can start singing “Yub Nub” at the drop of a Stormtrooper helmet tried to extend the revelry into the rest of the week. Hence Revenge of the Fifth. Hence this video. I have to say, it works for me, not that I’d tell…

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Acting Producing Various and Sundry Writing

Hobbies as a Way to Unplug from the Algorithm

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

As I mentioned back in February, I’ve been musing about a longer piece about AI, the catch-all if imprecise term lobbed at the current crop of large language models (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Co-Pilot, Grok, Gemini, etc.). I get more examples of videos and articles motivating me to write that longer piece on AI every week. The current hucksterism selling AI strikes me as the same overconfident idiocy that led some to believe microwaves would replace…

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