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Welcome to the School Year

August 29, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

As the run-up to back-to-school time is starting up again, I’m thinking about students and teachers and technology.

With that in mind, I share this short in the tongue-in-cheek spirit in which it was written:

How I Learned to Stop Teaching and Love AI by Brian Michael Murphy

All students, for all assignments, should use ChatGPT to complete each task. Why would you waste your time writing a paper? We now have a tool that can do that for you. And all professors will save massive amounts of time and energy by using ChatGPT to grade all those papers. Isn’t that great? I mean, what an educational revolution.

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A More Joyful Life

August 28, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

“I get it. We all want easy. But that’s the devil talking, because the reality is that the ‘easy’ life is a mirage. People who choose easy end up living a much harder, less joyful life.”

— Arnold Schwarzenegger

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Today’s Lesson

August 27, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

For whatever reason, today has been filled with technical and other issues. I’ve spent the last few hours troubleshooting a number of different problems, but happily have found my way through most of them.  

The lesson? Even if you’ve tried everything, step back, reassess, and try again. You never know when conditions may have changed and that thing you tried half a dozen times will suddenly work. 

Hooray!

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The River of Time

August 26, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

Have you ever wanted to see history ebb and flow like a river of time? Me too!

This 5-Foot-Long Chart Lays Out Over 4,000 Years of World History

In 1931, John B. Sparks created the Histomap, condensing more than 4,000 years of world history into a vibrant infographic…

“Clear, vivid, and shorn of elaboration, [the] Histomap holds you enthralled as you follow the curves of power down time’s endless course,” the map’s front cover reads. “Here is the actual picture of the march of civilization, from the mud huts of the ancients through the monarchistic glamor of the middle ages to the living panorama of life in present day America.”

(Conflating “monarchist glamor” and the Middle Ages is a bit much, but such information provides yet another view of history, and how it changes.)

Time waits for no one but this map stops at the beginning of the 20th century. Even so, it’s a fascinating visualization of the rise and fall of civilizations, both common and lesser known.

The link above will take you to the article and smaller image of the map. For a more detailed, digital version of the Histomap, head over to Yale University Library and enjoy!

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Looking Forward, Looking Back

August 25, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

I love it when what I’m reading crystallizes my thoughts into something beautiful. 

Here’s one such case, where friend and fellow Writer of the Future Arthur H. Manners captured (in Analog, no less!) the essence of a question I have all the time: Even as we look ahead to the future, how will the future see us?

Looking Back

by Arthur H. Manners

When they look back at us,

stumbling on petrified arXiv

in the tombs of the

internet like a

Cretaceous mosquito

trapped in amber,

will they distinguish our

grandest theories of

quantum gravity

from red ochre bison

painted on the walls of

Lascaux caves?

…

Visit Analog to read the rest of the poem, and for more of Arthur’s excellent work, including online shorts and the detailed hard-science Sci-Fi Writer’s Guide to Reality, check out his site!

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And the Winners Are…

August 24, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

Who won Hugo Awards at this’s year’s Worldcon in Seattle? So glad you asked.

Here’s the final list!

2025 Hugo Awards – The Winners | Pixelated Geek

All nominees are included, with winners in bold. Congratulations to awardees, and to everyone on the roster!

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What Comes After? Or Before?

August 23, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

Today, a little free fiction from Jo Jones, who writes speculative fiction and loves reading, history, writing and Star Wars. A woman after my own heart!

STDD CASE FILE RUS1896JM – by Jo Jones

“This is not the first time we have met Miss Michaels. But….. we are getting ahead of ourselves. Or maybe behind?” He shakes his head. “Even I can’t keep up! Anyway, where are you thinking of this time?”

Enjoy!

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For Your Consideration

August 22, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

What are the most beautiful words in the English language? Here is one person’s list: 

The 100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language – Dr. Robert Beard

Not so sure about “moeity” but I like the first one:

Ailurophile A cat-lover.

* Thanks to Messy Nessy for spotlighting this!

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How to Live

August 21, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

“Beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living within that way of life.”

— Hunter S. Thompson

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A Tip for the Modern Age

August 20, 2025 by J.R. Johnson

I don’t usually curse, and when I do I try to pick my moments. Now that we’re in the AI era, here’s one such moment:

“Just give me the f***ing links!”—Cursing disables Google’s AI overviews

If you search Google for a way to turn off the company’s AI-powered search results, you may well get an AI Overview telling you that AI Overviews can’t be directly disabled in Google Search. But if you instead ask Google how to turn off “f***ing Google AI results,” you’ll get a standard set of useful web suggestions without any AI Overview at the top. (asterisks added to protect delicate reader sensibilities)

Seems to work with DuckDuckGo too. A handy tip for the modern age!

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