Who knew?

Am taking a break from remembering the Covid days -- wish we could have taken a break from them while they were actually happening.  Anyway -- today I write about the astounding and unexpected possibilities of Artificial Intelligence.  AI.  I have discovered that Artificial Intelligence has a sense of humor.  Who knew?  The possibilities are endless.

A bit of background.  I am blessed with funny children -- their spouses and children included.  The adults of this bunch, including me, have a group texting chat that is used on a daily basis for important communications including daily greetings, stupid, funny memes,  assorted humorous videos, and "questionable" jokes, etc.  All my children are good at exploring the possibilities of this group chat.  Personally I absolutely love it and am thankful to be included.

This past Sunday was a new experience.  AI came into play.  My brilliant daughter discovered through a random post on TikTok that it was possible to have ChatGPT provide photographs of what your dogs would look like if they were humans. Yes -- you read that correctly. Needless to say -- let the fun begin. She also tried Twitter's Grok but not with the same success.  (I think that perhaps Elon is busy with other, more important things at the moment.)  Moving on ....

Much laughter and funny commentary ensued. Texts were flying back and forth. I could feel the laughter of everyone. Just imagine what a German Shepherd, a Norwegian Elkhound/Shepherd mix and two Bassett Hounds would look like if they were people.  What a fun way to start the day.  I just feel sort of bad for the people in the AI photographs.  I wonder if they are real or if they were created by Artificial Intelligence? They did look like the family dogs. 

What a day we live in!  I also wonder who thinks of these things.  I would very much like to have lunch with them and just listen... and laugh....

It's a gift to have a break from the serious "stuff".

I wish you some laughter every single day.

I wish I had a magic wand.

                                             

                            April 5, 2020 - April 11, 2020

                                              Week 4

• More of the same...  Seclude. Wash. Sanitize. Social Distance.
• Recluse has become a verb.
• Medical care is struggling to become remote. Many are not a fan of patient portals.
• Church services are being held in parking lots.
• Jigsaw puzzles are enjoying a renewed popularity.
• The "grief bat" is continuing to slam people all over the globe. 
• The word Zoom has taken on new meaning.
• Thankful here that two of my grandchildren are only a pasture away.
• The spirit of the American people is shining forth all over the place. Small kindnesses become huge. 
• Clorox wipes shortage continues.
• The stock market is volatile. Some investors are nervous.
• Many jobs are furloughed -- struggles of uncertainty continue.
• Libraries are closed.
• Summer plans are cancelled. 
• Two week quarantines are put in place in Indiana and some other states.  If one leaves his/her home state they must quarantine for two weeks once they get home.
• Many small businesses are forced to close while large chain stores are permitted to stay open. ???
• Senator Kennedy of Louisiana says:  "... if President Xi Jinping was held upside down and shaken, the WHO (World Health Organization) would fall out of his pocket."
• I haven't seen a single plane flying overhead in days.
• It is so quiet. Not much car or truck traffic either. The world seems to have gone into silent mode and slow motion.
• Deep fear of any germs and of Covid is a real thing to many. We are perhaps losing perspective. Who really knows what is going on?
• The world continues to try to do its best.

My grandson mentioned that "every day has the feeling of a cloud or something heavy hanging over everything." I totally get where he is coming from.  

Wish I had a magic wand.

Change Runs Rampant

 This blog entry should have been posted last week. Sorry it is one week out of order.  I will do better from now on. Promise. 😊 

There are times when something happens -- perhaps in one moment -- and nothing is as it was before.  Every single thing is changed. You find yourself in a profoundly different world.

            March 21, 2020 through March 28, 2020

• Rampant confusion about the "lock down" for those 70+
• States in conflict with Federal mandates
• Rumors abound about tax preparation and filing Income Tax forms with the IRS. How?
• Children, especially, struggle with social distancing.
• There is speculation that the National Guard may be called in to set up testing sites.
• Corona virus news changes from moment to moment.
• Early shopping hours set for Seniors.
• Convention Centers are converted to hospitals.
• People are missing hugs.
• Some restaurants offer take-out in an attempt to survive.
• "Stay-in-place" is one new mantra. It will evolve shortly into "Sheltering-in-Place". (Notice the semantics in that.)
• Stimulus checks seem to be a real thing in the offing.
• Grandparents wave and smile from behind glass and cry later.
• Fauci enters the picture speaking of "social responsibility".
• Pelosi introduces legislation on gender and racial diversity on corporate boards.
• Biden appear to be confused at times.
• Skype - Zoom - FaceTime gain popularity.
• Insurance providers refuse to cover Corona virus and vaccine issues.
• Staying in contact with friends and loved ones here mostly by phone, text, Messenger, FaceTime and snail mail.
• Some large corporations lay off 70% of their work force.
• The border between the United States and Canada is now closed.
• Stay-at- Home orders issued as of the 25th.  Ghost towns begin.
• People at home are sorting cupboards and cleaning closets. No one will take donations though because of covid fear.
• I begin to write Thank You notes to garbage pick-up and delivery guys. I placed a basket of "treats" on the porch for delivery people.
• Day confusion becomes a real thing.
• Pasture walking with family (socially distanced) has become my favorite pastime and my family takes me out of that strict quarantine. I feel like I can smile and breathe again. I know now that I will survive. That is no small thing.
• Pelosi et al try to add $35 million dollars for the Kennedy Center and gender equity issues to the Corona relief bill.
• Drove by an empty lot to see my Grandkids with other neighborhood children sitting at least 6 feet apart -- enjoying time together. I wave and they wave back. Neighbors have complained about children being out in the fresh air riding bikes. Insanity spreads.
• The Commonwealth of Virginia closes all public schools for the rest of the academic year.
• It is revealed that about 50% of local students and 23 teachers have no access to Internet from their homes -- makes online learning/teaching impossible here. 
• School packets become available locally. It's not enough.
• AOC wants illegal aliens to receive relief checks.
• Dogs across the world are beginning to beg to stay home. Some hide their leashes.
• Compulsive cleaning and cleanliness continues.
• "Don't Touch Your Face!"
• Joe Biden commented that "...some people are getting this virus who had never had it before."  Duh...  Why aren't more people concerned about him?

Change runs rampant and ... I am so not good with change.  Struggling here.  

Hello Fellow Inmates!

                                              

                                           March 29, 2020 - April 4, 2020

• Mental Health expert recommends no naps.       ???
• Groups of friends are tailgating in parking lots. 
• People are to "distance" for another 30 days and continue to "shelter in place".
• The challenge continues to be -- do well, do right, come out the other end of the tunnel a better person.
• Covid fear runs rampant.
• Several companies, including Jockey and My Pillow convert to make masks and hospital gowns. Others begin to manufacture ventilators, etc.
• Shortages of medical supplies begin to appear.
• China emerges as the possible source of the virus (Wuhan).
• China continues to hide facts, silence doctors, etc.
• Naval hospital ship arrives in NYC harbor.
• Am watching too much TV. I think it is making me dumber.
• After  begging for them, NY Governor Cuomo puts thousands of ventilators into warehouse storage.      ???
• Texas shuts its borders to those from Louisiana, California, and Washington state.
• PA Governor Wolf, shuts down PA schools indefinitely.
• Healthcare workers are suffering by working double and triple masked all day.  Their skin is breaking out from trapped moisture and ears are raw from mask elastic... not to mention total exhaustion from double shifts, etc.
• Speaker of the US House of Representative Pelosi continues to try to attach pet projects on to lifesaving legislation.
• Compulsive cleaning continues.
• Prince Harry and his wife are to move to LA.
• Layoffs continue across the nation.
• Satellite TV is considered an essential business.
• Best gift ever -- fresh air and sunlight.
• Fear continues to make people do ugly things.
• Shortage of Clorox wipes and of masks.
• Online grocery shopping with curbside pickup becomes the "latest thing'.
• Some people are afraid to open windows.  Common sense is dying.
• Stores are limiting the number of customers at any one time.
• Plexiglass dividers make an appearance in checkout lines.
• The world seems cold.

My nine year old granddaughter goes through my junk drawer looking for old refrigerator magnets and puts two back up on the fridge:  

                   "Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful."  

                                                  and

 "Everything will be okay in the end.  If it's not okay, it's not the end."

Lest We Forget

As Isabelle Allende wrote: "Maybe the most important reason for writing is to prevent erosion of time, so that memories will not be blown away by the wind.  Write to register history and name each thing.  Write what should not be forgotten."  With that in mind, turn back the clock to March of 2020 when the world was forever changed.   According to my email communications of the times....

             Some events of "Friday the 13th" to March 20, 2020:

• College classes were cancelled across the nation and within 3 days colleges began to close -- completely shut down.
• K-12 schools in this area were closed for 2 weeks and some schools moved to online instruction.
• Many adults began to work from home.
• Drive-thru covid testing places began to open.
• High Schools across the nation began to cancel Spring sports, Senior trips, proms, graduation ceremonies.
• "Nonessential" businesses were forced to shutdown.  These included Dentist offices, Optometrists, Ophthalmologists, etc. as well as barber shops, hair salons, and liquor stores.
• Disinfecting everything from packages and door knobs to cell phones and steering wheels began in earnest.
• Fears mounted...  people struggled, hanging on to common sense by a thread.
• Weddings were cancelled, postponed or adapted.
• Even physical therapy struggled to go "virtual".
• The word Chloroquine entered our vocabulary and then was ignored.
• Compulsive buying and hoarding began.
• Italy took a beating -- highest in Covid deaths... and the virus continued to spread at an alarming rate.
• Some schools began to offer online "office hours" so students could communicate with teachers. Most school districts seemed to be doing nothing.
• California was in complete shutdown except for the governor who continued to go about his own way -- eating out and partying in a fancy restaurant with a large group of unmasked friends, enjoying their self proclaimed elite status. Meanwhile...  
• People were making homemade masks and pretty much confined within the walls of their homes -- fortunate were those who lived in rural America where they could at least go outside and breathe fresh air. Some did not even dare to do that.

Red letter day -- March 20, 2020

As Covid had spread to my county and people my age were specifically endangered, after serious deliberation and with loving concern, my children decided to quarantine me. I was to stay home as much as possible (they would shop for me, etc.) and I was not permitted any in-person contact with my family (or anyone) for two weeks.  A bit reclusive I didn't mind continuing my "estrangement" from the outside world. I understood and once again, was thankful for my wonderful kids, but ... I was left feeling isolated and alone -- one of many across the globe. I deeply missed my family. I became especially thankful for electronic communication.  Here I had thought that a no hugging policy would be enough. Things became serious....

To be continued...  Lest we forget.

Show Your Face

The protesters currently adopting the Arab headress (or some homemade version of it) and protesting with covered heads and faces are interesting to say the least. Personally I think they look foolish and cowardly.  I have to wonder if the women wearing them know what their life would be like if they were suddenly and magically transported to the Gaza Strip where the Hamas they are supporting would actually be in control of their lives.  It certainly would be different for them -- they might even have to trade in their scarf for a full length Burka with a total face covering and be subject to the primary purpose of a woman in that part of the world which is, simply to "manufacture men" as is stated in the 1988 Hamas Charter.  That would be cultural shock for sure. There are no such things as women's rights there. Am thinking protests wouldn't work well there either. According to my research, Hamas doesn't tolerate criticism well. There are cases of actual and recent beheadings on record. You also won't find any LGBTQ support there either.  I shutter to think of the Hamas treatment of the LGBTQ.  And yet the anti-Semitic "protests" in support of Hamas continue here in the "land of the free". Ignorance is rampant among these hidden faces.

Then there is the whole hide my identity issue.  Why?  If you are so committed to the reason for your protest, why not stand up tall and show your face -- tell the world how proud you are of what you are doing?  You could even write about it and sign your real name.  One theory is that the protesters do not want to be identified because they do not attend the college they are protesting. Paid protestors for certain.  I know this was the case in 1968 when the activist SDS  (Students for a Democratic Society) moved onto the campus of the first college I attended.

I offer a second theory based on the protests at the second college I attended during that era where the campus was actually taken over by outside agitators at one point. They even controlled the Administration building for a time.  (Thus the underground classes that I have mentioned in previous blogs.) Impressive and ... scary.  Anyway -- my theory is that protestors may not want Daddy to see them on national television and then pull their financial support.  Yep -- I have seen that happen too. That even happened in the days before social media and national coverage by the "legacy media".  I would think it would be a real possibility in these days of posting every detail of one's life on three or four platforms. Daddy would find out for sure and the danger of him cutting the purse strings is real. Yes -- this need for disguise is interesting to me and ... I am so sick of it.  And this doesn't even touch the protesters off campus -- the ones who love to destroy and share their hate.

Oh how is wish there were no room for Anti-Semitism in our world.  It is ugly and shameful to the core. And to have a bunch of masked cowards dancing around like Bedouins lost in the desert is disgusting. Actually they give Bedouin sheep herders a bad name.  The potential and proven violence of these protests is not free speech. It's an attempt to control and to spread hate and fear.  Not good. Deep down, I don't think any of them could be proud of themselves.  If they were, why wear scarves wrapped around their faces and hold them in place with large ugly sunglasses? Why are they hiding? Ridiculous! 

All the Rage

It was one of those days.  Been there before.  Will be there again.  Was looking back on my life in a nonserious way and thinking about the changes from days of yore and about which ones have made what seemed to me, at first, to be small improvements, but which have really turned out to be huge.

• automatic garage door openers
• ball point pens
• snow blowers
• remote control everything
• all weather tires
• personal computers, etc.
• permanent press clothing
• waterproof outerwear

The list could go on and on. Bet you could come up with a bunch more. 

Then I was thinking about bullet points. Look at them.  Fun, aren't they?  They make such a nice, clean list.  And ... they are so in the news these days... all the "rage". One day last week -- just for fun -- I made a bullet point list of what I had done around the house in what were the previous ten minutes and came up with seven relatively substantial accomplishments. Doesn't seem like it would be hard to come up with five things a person had accomplished in an entire week.  And ... bulllet points are such a good way to make a list ... easy peasy. 

Reminising again... back in the day when I worked as a teacher I was required to submit lesson plans each Friday that would account for how I planned to spend every minute of every work day for the following week -- listing each lesson for each class and how it would be accomplished... in some detail.  Then from time to time, I was observed by an administrator to make sure that I was doing what I said I was going to do. In contrast -- a five point bullet list covering an entire week seems like a piece of cake. Maybe the request is simply a "pulse check" after all. I am okay with that too. Nothing to whine about really. 

Not sure I am keeping up well with all the change, but - one thing for sure -- I am not going to make myself nuts about it. Whining seems to be all the rage these days too.  It's not just bullet point lists that are making the news.  The thing is -- I am just not into whining.  No one listens anyway -- except maybe other "high pitched constant complainers". Sometimes I wish they could hear themselves. I don't think the whiners listen well -- to themselves or to others.  It's sort of sad really. Maybe they should make a list of good things going on around them. I wish they could smile about something ... anything. 

Actually - after watching the behavior of the frowny faced, seemingly hateful Democrat "leadership" Tuesday evening during the President's Address to Congress,  I wish they could, not only hear themselves, but also see themselves. They seem to be caught in the Grinch mode or worse. It's not a good look ... tone deaf, self-servingly blind, rude and insensitive to others who have suffered greatly. As a writer friend of mine says -- like the Grinch, their hearts seemed 3 sizes too small. It's a bad combination of surly behaviors. It doesn't serve them well. It was ugly. They seem stuck somehow. Sad really.