I didn’t sleep well last night – probably because I had too much caffeine yesterday. I didn’t have what one would call “a lot” but it was enough to keep my brain active at night when I was trying to fall asleep. I gotta keep myself aware of that moving forward.
Got a lot done in the city yesterday, but was unable to find a Milwaukee M18 weed whacker at the pawn shops. I did, however, find a fretless bass guitar for $150 (and negotiated down to $100) that I picked up. It is in excellent condition (for a cheap guitar) but was never set up properly – I need to fiddle with the bridge to dial in the intonation and maybe replace the nut. Aside from that, it plays well and has a great tone. It feels surprisingly light, but then again, all my other basses are maple or heavy wood and weigh more than your typical one. I’ve always wanted to build a guitar – not go into it full time and become a luthier, but just as a hobby. Perhaps once I have my shop set up, I’ll build a couple to see how the process goes, and see if I can make the “perfect” bass for me.
We also picked up some more plants yesterday. These are just decorative, but the flowers looked nice framing the steps to the house so I wanted to make sure to do that again this year. Also got some ground cover for an egress window well I was turning into a “catio” so our dumb indoor cats could get a bit of outside time when they wanted. That idea didn’t last because about 50 toads promptly moved in, so it became “Toad Hollow” instead. Now we look forward to the arrival of our little friends, and the ground cover plants will be going into their summer home – they should be arriving sometime in the next month.
Anyhow, time to go outside and touch grass…
Interesting Tidbits
Justice Clarence Thomas: ‘AR-15s Are Clearly Arms Under the Second Amendment’s Plain Text’
Managers Are Speaking Out About What It’s Really Like to Work With Gen Z – “Because of COVID-19’s impact on this cohort’s high school and college years, many in the group missed out on experiences like internships and summer jobs, so they’re starting their professional careers without already having learned the “How work works” lessons that generations before them often got before graduating.”
Meta plans to replace humans with AI to assess privacy and societal risks – “Inside Meta, the change is being viewed as a win for product developers, who will now be able to release app updates and features more quickly. But current and former Meta employees fear the new automation push comes at the cost of allowing AI to make tricky determinations about how Meta’s apps could lead to real world harm.”
Your family photos are training AI – here’s why it matters and how to stop it
Gemini will now automatically summarize your long emails unless you opt out – “The company announced Thursday that users no longer have to tap an option to summarize an email with AI. Instead, the AI will now automatically summarize the content when needed, without requiring user interaction.”
The Intelligence Community Plan to Make It Easier to Buy All Your Data – “the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) not only wants to ensure that our personal data remains for sale, but also see to it that the government’s intelligence community gets ‘the best data at the best price.'”
Ban on child marriage is deemed ‘un-Islamic’ by Pakistan’s religious leaders – “Pakistan’s Council of Islamic Ideology – a prominent body that advises the government of the Muslim majority nation ‘whether or not a certain law is repugnant to Islam’ – has opposed the bill.”
Doctors Proved Couple Didn’t Hurt Their Kids – the State Took Them Anyway – “Other renowned medical experts, including Dr. Eli Newberger and Dr. Marvin Miller, came to the same conclusion: Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Metabolic Bone Disease, not abuse. Nevertheless, DCF denied them after two appeals.”
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