Dear Pat Sajak

Thanks for forty-one years of Wheel of Fortune.  You've been an awesome host and I've also enjoyed your writing whenever you've published something.Anyone else feeling like the Eighties are finally over?We'll miss you Pat.  Enjoy your retirement (and your new acting career I'm hearing abou...

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"To remember": June 6th, 1944

 Company A, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Divisionwading onto the Fox Green section of Omaha Beach(Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France)on the morning of June 6, 1944.Photo credit: Chief Photographer's Mate Robert F. SargentToday is the eightieth anniversary of the single greatest military maneuver in recorded history: the invasion of the Normandy coast by the Allied Forces.No...

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In memory of a good man

The sad word came late yesterday evening that Dav Gerrells, who owned and operated Cafe 99 in Reidsville, North Carolina for many years, passed away after a brief illness over the weekend.  I used to eat at Cafe 99 when I still lived in Reidsville and Dav always made me feel welcome.  The man was a thoroughly great guy and he was an amazing cook.Early in 2007 I entered...

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Last batch of AI-generated pictures that I'm posting

Here's that previous collection of artificial intelligence-created images that I prodded a computer to produce.  But it's time to move on.  ChatGPT has its fun uses but it's a tool, not a toy.I would be lying if I said that I haven't had fun though.So, here is the final bunch of artificial intelligence generated "art" that I'm putting on this blog.  Be sure...

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First images I'm generating with ChatGPT

Still playing around with AI, for the first real time ever.  Consider it research.  I'm getting professionally involved with an endeavor that is heavy on artificial intelligence so I'm having to see what the thing is capable of doing, exactly.(I'm adamantly sticking to my policy of NO writing blog posts with AI.  If you see something written here and it's not...

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My first foray into using an AI chatbot

No, I am still not going to "write" a blog post using artificial intelligence.  I'm sitting in front of a keyboard composing these words.  If you ever do see a product of AI being displayed, it's going to state as much.  Which is what I'm doing now.  What you are about to read is definitely the product of artificial intelligence.  It also represents...

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Happy 80th Birthday George Lucas!

 It was on May 14th, 1944 that a little boy was born in Modesto, California.  Growing up he was a restless young man, with no clear idea of what he wanted to do with his life.  He finally settled on being a race car driver.  But a near-fatal car crash a few days before graduating high school put a damper on that idea.Our hero eventually decided he wanted...

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Ever wonder what BioShock's Big Daddy looks like without the helmet? Ehhhh...

I've been a massive fan of the BioShock games (admission: I've never played BioShock Infinite) almost since the beginning of the series.  From the first moments of the original BioShock I was swallowed whole by this tale of sub-Atlantic horror.  To me the story of the city of Rapture is a fable, a morality play.  It is about what mankind is reduced to after...

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Boy Scouts of America: 1910 - 2024

 Those are the words that I first spoke as an eleven-year-old in the fall of 1985.  And I have done my very best to live up to them, every day since.That is how I choose to remember what it is to be a Boy Scout.  They are the words that I made a lifetime commitment to uphold.As of today the Boy Scouts of America is no more.  It is now "Scouting America". ...

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"Weird Al" Yankovic and me!

Earlier today I was going through a bunch of photos and came upon one showing me with "Weird Al" Yankovic: arguably the most successful recording artist in the history of pop culture.  I say that because not only has Al earned multiple gold albums and several Grammy awards for his work, he has also been part of many other endeavors throughout a career now going back more...

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Found this on Twitter tonight

&nb...

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I'm three episodes into Amazon Prime's new series Fallout...

 "War.  War never changes."Actually, Ron Perlman's voice for opening narration is pretty much the only thing missing from Fallout: Amazon Prime's new streaming show based on the legendary video/computer game series.  I was looking forward to what those first words would be.But that can be forgiven, in light of how epically faithful a live-series adaptation of...

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Happy Birthday Tammy!

It was actually a few days ago on April 8th, the same day as the solar eclipse.  Here's the pic I snapped of Tammy on her twelfth birthday. Such a sweet little dog.  Tammy has been a little angel on four legs all these years.  I definitely could not have gone far without her company.  She keeps me going.  And she has saved my life more than once. ...

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We entered The Matrix a quarter century ago this week

I had seen the commercial that ran during the Super Bowl.  While browsing the magazines at Barnes & Noble I flipped through the pages of Starlog and ogled the photos, which had to be the most abrupt juxtaposition of images from a single movie I had ever beheld (martial arts, Giger-ish metal, what?).  But none of it made any sense.Then about a month after The...

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Fifty

First photographMarch 31, 1974Moses Cone HospitalGreensboro, North Carolina For a very long time I've believed that if you can make it to fifty without once getting told that you're "middle-aged" it means that you'll never have to be a grown-up.Ahhhhh, so Fifty, we meet at last.  I've been waiting for you.  You thought I wouldn't make it this far but you were...

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