Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, empathy, magic, reading, Thoughts on August 21, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“I believe that books-and all stories—are magic. They connect us, they shape us, and they make us more than who we are by causing us to care about the impossible—to care about people who are living lives that never were and never could be.
Real magic.” — Sarah Beth Durst
* * *
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, AI, projects, reasoning with bots, speedbumps, technology, Thoughts on August 19, 2026| 2 Comments »
Some days you just don’t feel it, whatever “it” may be. I’ve been there, certainly, we all have, but today I’m not talking about myself.
I’m talking about AI. (Or as John Scalzi puts it, “AI.”)
Here’s (my tongue-in-cheek analysis of) the issue: I have a nonfiction project that’s been sitting on the back burner for a while (fine, years) because I’ve been avoiding the tedious formatting work required to put it all together. Like a more complicated version of getting Excel to extract URLs from a long list of hot links; hardly rocket science but annoying to have to do by hand.
What if, I asked myself, I could get this new fangled tech-no-logy to do that boring work for me? I’m not interested in it as a creative tool, but is this the sort of task it might do well?
At first, the answer seemed to be a solid yes. Terrific, I thought, I just need to prep a list of inputs and I’ll be good to go.
But that was yesterday.
Today, I used the same prompt and got a much different, and not nearly as useful, answer. Many followup prompts along the lines of “Hang on, this isn’t at all what you gave me before” and “Please return the thing I asked for, for crying out loud!” later and I have come to the inescapable conclusion that the program just isn’t feeling it today.
It also got me wondering: Is this the way actual intelligence arises from the primordial soup of 1s and 0s, in a haze of distracted mediocrity and foot-dragging compliance? More Murderbot than Star Trek’s tirelessly competent Data? And if so, what does that mean for the future?
Here’s hoping for a better tomorrow!
* * *
Posted in Food and..., tagged food, Thoughts, quotes, baking, delicious, #365Ways, #365Ways2026 on August 18, 2026|
… and I don’t regret it!
“A slice of cake never made anyone fat. You don’t eat the whole cake. You don’t eat a cake every day of your life. You take the cake when it is offered because the cake is delicious. You have a slice of cake and what it reminds you of is someplace that’s safe, uncomplicated, without stress. A cake is a party, a birthday, a wedding. A cake is what is served on the happiest days of your life.” ― Jeanne Ray
* * *
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, do good things, inspiration, legacy, quotes, Thoughts on August 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“Statues are torn down, buildings with people’s names on them erode. The world is in constant change. The only legacy I recognize is doing good. I’m human, with my terrible faults, but I’m an admirer of good deeds.” — William Shatner
* * *
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, curiosity, inspiration, Thoughts, universe, Writers on August 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“We ought to view ourselves with the same curiosity and openness with which we study a tree, the sky or a thought, because we too are linked to the entire universe.” — Henri Matisse
* * *
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, generosity, ideals getting things done, practicality, Thoughts on August 6, 2026| 1 Comment »
“Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
* * *
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“To begin anything — a new practice, a new project, a new love — is to cast upon yourself a spell against stagnation. Beginnings are notation for the symphony of the possible in us. They ask us to break the pattern of our lives and reconfigure it afresh – something that can only be done with great courage and great tenderness, for no territory of life exposes both our power and our vulnerability more brightly than a beginning.” — Maria Popova
That said, finishing is good too!
* * *
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, art, creativity, imperfection, inspiration, life, perfection, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 2, 2026| 1 Comment »
Imagine a world in which
you were actually perfect.
Finished.
Done.
With nothing to chase
nothing to walk toward.
How boring.
God, how boring.
— Arthur Brooks
* * *
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, connection, creativity, emotion, Thoughts, Writers, writing on July 30, 2026| Leave a Comment »
“Why else do we write but to make people feel, and perhaps even think a little?” — Gail Carriger, The Heroine’s Journey
* * *
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2026, creativity, hope, inspiration, joy, Thoughts, Writers, writing on July 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Today in happy history: On July 29, 1954, The Fellowship of the Ring was first published.
What did past generations of my fellow nerds get excited about before then? No idea! But now I’m happy to share my love of Tolkien’s books with the world.
“[The fairy tale] does not deny the existence of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance. It denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat…giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy; Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien
* * *
You must be logged in to post a comment.