Lynn's photo of our apple tree in bloom

Talk like Artificial Intelligence

Before the current wave of articles and reference to Artificial Intelligence (AI), I often found that reading what other humans had questioned or said stimulated my brain to think in new directions.  Whether it is a party, a ride together, a group of researchers or just friends sitting and talking, such a human group has been a major problem-solving tool. It probably doesn’t pay off unless some or all of the people in the group speak the same language but with modern tools like photos, translating software, who knows what the outcome will be?

Kirbyvariety1 and 2 websites

If you read my blogposts, you probably know that each post appears on the Google blog site.  More people look at the posts on the blog site than get a copy in their email.  The total number of pageviews is approaching one million but that is since the first posts appeared in March 2008. The name of the blog (from “web log”) is Fear, Fun and Filoz, my attempt to suggest thoughts and items about worries and pleasantries and comments about them.

I sometimes feel that my daily blog is somewhat like a newspaper or magazine, being a place for immediate and short-term subjects. I want to point out that I have another place of information, one that serves more like a filing cabinet.  Kirbyvariety1 and Kirbyvariety2 are Google websites where I have information that may be seen as longterm.  Much of the information that appears on the website pages relates to various courses I taught between 1968 and 2005 at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.  

Once I was teaching in a certain classroom on campus a class for graduate teachers.  Teachers all over the US can often get raises if they earn a master’s degree, beyond their bachelor’s degree or get a doctorate.  Somebody from the campus department of information technology mentioned that the certain classroom was equipped with distance education tools that could allow teachers in a classroom 90 miles away to see and hear the lessons I taught.  Most graduate teachers are older adults who know themselves and adulthood.  The thought of such students gathering in a classroom right in their school after their teaching day ended to listen and learn was wonderful instead of not only driving 90 miles dodging deer and other animals on the road but driving 90 miles back home.  

Information, explanation could be made available using the school computers as well as increasingly affordable home computers and community businesses offering internet connections to schools and homes.

Take a look:

https://sites.google.com/view/kirbyvariety1/welcome-to-my-home-page

CNN Photos of the Week 5/3/26

https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/30/world/gallery/photos-this-week-april-23-april-30?utm_source=cnn_Five+Things+for+Sunday%2C+May+3%2C+2026&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=Hr%2FihbdNIWvhohCuX2VoMdqriU6tlApnbmO%2FpZ5cfuWp4krshJcq4Vww97haB%2FI3&bt_ts=1777812217678

State music evaluations

I tried to remember what I had written today’s blog post about, but I couldn’t.  I looked at the blog page for FearFunandFiloz and found I hadn’t written a post for today.  It makes sense.  My greatgranddaughter had musical state trials today.  She is a percussionist and I was the drum and bugle corps drum sergeant in my all-male high school.  She plays a full set of drums including a snare drum and a foot-pedaled bass drum. Naturally, when music students from many central Wisconsin high schools assemble to be evaluated by state judges, it is a big deal.

Her parents had gone to a nearby city to watch her younger brother play soccer but both her grandmother and her greatgrandmother showed up for her state evaluations. She is a senior so this was her last state evaluation.

Happy May Day!

It is not that happy here since it is too cold.  It is reported to be 46 degrees Fahrenheit here but with a cool wind, “It Feels” like 36 degrees.   That is a bit cool for May Day.  Hope we do better by July Day.

People here have a tradition of avoiding the word “cold”.  It is ok to use the word “cool”. 

Repeated subjects

I can search my 6000 blog posts for a word or phrase.  As I get older, a subject pops up, some subject of interest. That can happen repeatedly without my remembering that I have written in my blog about it before. So, yes, I can state that X is of interest when I have stated that interest previously.  

I made a note that I might want to state that I read that people who have a job of testing ballpoint pens to see that the pens write properly often use the name “Eisenhower”to get a new ballpoint working properly.  You know how it is: you don’t want to put a big dent in the ink supply just to test the pen.  I read that in my granddaughter's beloved cursive style of writing, the 34th president’s name has handy dips and curves that tend to get a ballpoint working nicely.

But since I have found repeated subjects before, I searched “Eisenhower” and found at least two posts that made the pen-testing point.  As Whitman nearly said, I repeat myself?  So, I repeat myself. Teachers are used to repetition.

Along the gum line

My friend is a retired periodontist, a gum specialist.  He told me to run my electric toothbrush right along my gumline, the place where tooth enamel and gum meet.  He said that is always the location where decay begins.

Dark chocolate

As a student, I read a book or two by Andrew Weil, professor at the University of Arizona.  He commented somewhere that ginger had a molecular structure that makes it a valuable food to people. I took up the practice of having a cup of tea in the morning with a bit of ginger.  Over the years, I added other items to my mid-morning habit.  Now, I have a date, 6 almonds, a teaspoon of pumpkin seeds and a handful of shelled pistachios.  A few years back, I looked up the benefits of dark chocolate and immediately found a page that said,”Eat more chocolate!”

Yesterday, I wondered if that page was just a come-on without real data behind it so I looked up “is dark chocolate healthy?”. I found a list of important and valuable nutrients in dark chocolate.  It seems that younger people often steer clear of dark chocolate in favor of milk chocolate.  I would not be surprised if older tongues naturally get a better taste for more intense chocolate.

Men, women and pockets

I am surprised at the difference pockets make.  One little slit and some cloth.  I have not had any strong desire to let my natural body curves and contours show through my clothes.  So, I can put what I use in my pocket and there is little chance I will forget one of the items I want with me all day.  I don’t have to lug a large, expensive bag around and try to remember to pick it up and carry it along.  I do have a fine bag if I need one but I call it a “case”, not a purse