Various and Sundry

Six Skills to Stick it to Skynet

Building on last week’s post about liberal arts majors having value in this brave new AI world, here’s Daniel Pink (whom longtime readers may remember I posted about at the beginning of the year) and he lists six skills in his usual pithy style. You can absolutely use them to make yourself more valuable in the workplace (void where Skynet goes full murderbot or bosses go towards “maximizing innovative synergies”).

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Various and Sundry

Into the Woods… with Laika

As the seven or nine longtime readers of this blog will recall, I love a good movie trailer, which I define as a trailer that gives you that emotional tone of the story and type or story you’ll be going on with said film… without revealing too much of the story. Indeed, I would say the central question such a trailer should ask is “Look at this! Can’t you imagine what kind of journey you’ll…

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Various and Sundry

Wait! Those Wacky Liberal Arts Folks Might Do Well in the World of AI?!?

The shadow of AI continues to loom over the workplace as the AI companies have their IPOs, but don’t worry, McSweeney’s has a handy guide to understanding the economics of the situation. Meanwhile, on a personal level, you might be wondering how your job may or may not be impacted or outright obliterated by the implementation of AI. However, thinking of my AI post last month, there are several people who are noting the sometime…

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Various and Sundry

Dads Wanting it All

With another Father’s Day in the rear-view mirror, I happened across this older article by Brigid Schulte for the Washington Post about how dads also want to have it all. It’s from 2013 and a book of hers also delves into the modern overwhelm, which I should check out. But I also found myself wondering about what studies have happened since then, what the Pandemic did to help or hinder that quest for it all…

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Various and Sundry

Before Loving v Virginia, Another Trial About Interracial Marriage

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?

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

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

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

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

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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