Mitch's Blog

Nov 24, 2024 ↓

RIP Alice Brock, 83, the restaurant owner who inspired and co-wrote part of the Arlo Guthrie Thanksgiving and antiwar classic song "Alice's Restaurant."

She died Thursday, just a week before Thanksgiving.

"You want to know if I'm moral enough join the Army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug."

It seems from this obit that she had a well-lived life, of which being a restaurateur was only a part.

Nov 24, 2024 ↓

I asked ChatGPT how we would know if AI had achieved artificial general intelligence, and whether using AGI as a tool would constitute slavery.

Nov 24, 2024 ↓

Something I saw while walking with the dog: This Christmas tree.

I usually oppose Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, but I'll make an exception here because it's so clever.

A bare tree about 10 feet tall, on a grassy island in a parking lot in front of a condo, with a couple of ornaments on top and Charlie Brown figures at the base. A sign on the tree reads, β€˜Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree.’

It's on one side of a corner unit of a condo complex. On the other side is this toy village, which I've shared here before. I suspect the same creative person did both.

A village of toy houses against the wall on a green lawn, surrounded by candy canes.

Nov 24, 2024 ↓

I stepped over one of the cats this afternoon and she panicked and bolted and I changed the direction my foot was coming down and she changed her direction and I stepped on her a little bit and nearly fell on my face and she bolted out of the room.

That was eight hours ago and we have not seen her since.

I'm sure she's plotting to kill me.

I'll be sleeping with one eye open.

Nov 25, 2024 ↓

California's farmers backed Trump, whose immigration policies could be dangerous to the state's agriculture and the nation's food supply. Half of California's farmworkers are undocumented, and California grows half of America's fruits and vegetables.