July 11

 Almost half past July already. The Weather Channel says we will have some sun this morning and the possibility of thunder showers in the afternoon. They predict temps in the 80s. So I just went out and harvested the lemon balm (oh how delicious the smell) and sage. The weather can do whatever because until those cuttings are dry and ground I won't be cutting any more.

There isn't much news to talk about--same old, same old.

Jeff Jackson described his day when the proposed $890billion defense bill was to be voted out of the House Armed Services Committee. He writes that some 800 amendments were offered by members most of which were not really serious attempts to improve the bill--merely efforts to grandstand or offer "poison pills" that would sink the bill. Most were shot down but will probably be proposed during the floor vote--which will be another circus for the clowns to show off.

Every time a new technology is introduced people line up in pro and con sides: those who see it as ushering in the apocalypse and those who think it will solve all our problems. Marc Andreessen at The Free Press is on the AI as savior team. Though he acknowledges that both sides of the technology argument are, often, both right as to the advantages and to the negative effects. He clearly thinks the advantages outweigh the negative effects. But Michael Klar sees the other side especially with respect to military applications. I am skeptical on both sides. I tried three different PDAs before I realized that they simply don't work for me. I can write any of the appointments, contacts, or notes down on paper far more easily that imputing the data on a PDA. I also don't use such apps on my computers. I resisted e-books for some time but finally yielded to that trend because my physical library was exceeding the available space. (I have a hard time getting rid of books.) But I still prefer the physical. My major skepticism about the military applications involves how often such technology and techniques seem to migrate to the civilian in our age of militarized police.