Today, AI is looming over the average person’s future, subtly transforming how we access and interact with information. In my experience with ChatGPT, which I’ve affectionately named “Chet” for ease, I’ve found it incredibly useful in my daily life. Previously, when I had a question about a random subject, finding the answer involved multiple web searches, sifting through untold websites with conflicting information, and often resulted in a significant time sink. By the end of this process, a minimum of an hour would be gone, and while I might be more well-informed, I often had no clear answer to my original query.

Enter Chet to solve these inconsequential dilemmas. With the new option of conversing with Chet, a new world has opened up for me. Chet is amiable and knowledgeable, able to answer general questions and follow-up queries to refine the answer further. Ultimately, I get a comforting and satisfying feeling that I’ve completed my “mission” and now have the answer. But then, a question arises: “Do I have the answer?”

Most computer-literate folks know the acronym GIGO—Garbage In, Garbage Out. This term means that a computer can only provide an answer based on the information it can access. And herein lies my problem. Chet can provide me with information on almost any subject, but he only has access to the pool of information provided by his creators. I have no idea who these people are—likely a large group of programmers or a corporation. What are their social and political leanings? How easy would it be to influence a large portion of the populace by providing skewed information?

For instance, I asked Chet about the number of employees at OpenAI, and he responded: “OpenAI currently employs about two thousand one hundred people as of 2024. This includes a wide range of roles, from researchers to engineers and support staff, all contributing to developing and deploying advanced AI technologies.” In my experience with large groups, I’ve seen many subgroups form, each with its agenda, often causing rifts in the overall mission. Years ago, I worked for a Fortune 500 company attempting to transition into the Internet age. Despite having all the resources to leap, inner divisions crippled the company, and it eventually went bankrupt. This company had over 70,000 employees.

I have low confidence in the general populace’s ability to evaluate information critically. Let’s project ten years into the future. Chet has been supplying the public with large and small answers for quite a while and has done chiefly so admirably. Then, a nefarious agency decides it needs to change public opinion on an issue. They subvert Chet’s information with their own. The public is now presented with a biased view from what has become a trusted source. It has been years since anybody “Googled” anything, and Chet has never been wrong. Chet is our friend; why would he lie?

This scenario underscores the importance of understanding our information sources and maintaining a critical eye, even toward trusted entities. AI like Chet can be incredibly beneficial, but we must remain vigilant about the potential for manipulation and bias in their information.

I started my job after a great honeymoon in Hot Springs, AR…I had interviewed before the wedding and had been given a phone sales job…I didn’t have any experience with sales but, what drew my boss to me was that I knew the hardware inside and out…Plus, since I had a technical background I could talk “geek”…We had space for about 24 salespeople but, I don’t remember ever having all the cubes full…They sat me with a veteran sales guy named John for the first few days and he taught me quite a bit about closing…It wasn’t really necessary though because at the time the personal computer industry was exploding…It was all you could do to answer the phone…In the beginning, I spent the majority of my time working the queue, which was the general sales orders, mostly from individuals…We sold hardware, software, and accessories…If it was available, we had it for sale…It was fast-paced and high pressure, just the way I liked it…I was also lucky in that we had a pretty good group that watched out for each other.
If you read my earlier post about CCC, I mentioned J…He finished up there and was having trouble finding work so I set up an interview and he got hired…I have to set this up for you yo understand…SW sold more products at that time than any other company in the US…I came into work one day and noticed several brand new BMWs parked out in front of the office…When I asked my boss, he explained that we had sold the most copies of Lotus123 in the world…The cars were leased as a gift from Lotus for the executives…We also sold tons of Sony diskettes which caused Sony to send a wide variety of their products…These were all kept in a locked room and were used as rewards for, particularly good sales…One day, I remember it in particular because it was my birthday, one of the owners started collecting business cards in a box…When he told me there was going to be a drawing, I asked if it meant anything that it was my birthday…His reply was “no”…After we shutdown the phones, we all gathered and the owner announced that it would be a drawing for a trip to Hawaii…The card was pulled and my friend J was the winner…The next day J came over and explained that it was a trip for two an would I like to go…I called my new bride and she told me that I was not going to Hawaii without her…J took his brother.
I had been doing corporate sales for two years and had accounts like Blue Cross, Motorola, and GE when I was approached by G…He explained that we were coming out with our SW branded computer…One of the sales points was on-site service…He was forming a new group to troubleshoot the problems over the phone and then FedEx parts to resolve the problem…Since I was technical and had phone experience he wanted me on the team…Bear in mind that at the time Windows 3.0 had just come out…It was again a very challenging job to determine the problem over the phone…We developed a lot of tricks and techniques that help speed the calls up…Time was the enemy in any support call since there was always another customer waiting to be serviced…I thought it was great since I enjoyed the pressure and the day would fly by…Not long after that, We implemented a 900 pay per minute line for customers that didn’t have a service contract…G gave me about 4 guys and we were off and running…The pressure stepped up because they were paying $1.99/minute for expert advice…As a general rule, I would have us stop after 5 minutes if it looked like we would be taking a while to figure out the problem.
I have fond memories of my time with the company…We were more family than coworkers…We had a company basketball team…Numerous parties where the salespeople, technicians and main office folks would get together and socialize…The company had three stores when I started and expanded to 250 by the time I left…I got to travel to tech sales folks in different stores on how to sell on-site service and how it worked…All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 13:03
My experience with the computer industry was the result of a long string of coincidences…After I moved to Dallas in the mid-eighties, I was in the market for any kind of job…With the anti-tank skills I learned in the Corps, Pickings were slim…I scoured the want ads (remember those) in the paper for literally anything that would bring in money…I had two prospects out at the time and to be honest, I don’t remember if I called or sent them a poor excuse for a resume…One was a warehouse shipping job at a company that produced various tapes, as in packing…The other was shipping also but, for a company that built IBM clones…I had no computer or tape background but, felt I was qualified to slap labels on boxes…I afternoon, while I was at the want ads again, the phone rang…I had done an extensive and bizarre interview at CCC (Competitive Computer Components) earlier…M was on the line and offered me the job…I immediately accepted…Within fifteen minutes I got a call from the tape company with an offer that I declined…I have often wondered, over the years, what might have happened if the calls had been reversed in order.

---

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 13:18
My career started at CCC and I was given a desk by the loading dock door in the tech shop…Deon (D) and Melinda (M) were the owners…D was a self-taught genius with computer hardware, that was sourcing parts from Southeast Asia and assembling them in south Dallas to ship all over the US…M ran the office where all the accounting and such stuff took place…The tech shop sounds impressive but, really consisted of a large rectangular room with plywood workbenches around the walls…We would have anywhere from 3-5 techs working at any given time…It didn’t take me very long to realize that the IQ level did not need to be very high to assemble clones…As part of my shipping job, I had a very basic computer to print labels…It had no case and sat on a cardboard box wide open to the room…In a matter of weeks, I got the basics down because my shipping computer would breakdown and, since the techs were to busy to fix it, I would…I also was I charge of the warehouse of parts that D bought for assembly…In short order, I was in charge of the shop and would help out with building when things got busy…At that point, D hired another guy to help with shipping and the warehouse…Jamie (J) and I ended up good friends and he followed me to my next job…There was a weird dynamic between D and M…D was an alcoholic that would come in about one in the afternoon every day…I later realized it was because he would stay after close to drink and work on personal projects to the wee hours…M was paranoid to the point of extreme…She was very suspicious of anybody that she didn’t know, being on the property…What I didn’t know, was that D would get violent with her when he went home…After a year or so, one day I noticed that M wasn’t around…The rumor was that she took all the company cash reserves and disappeared…I guess she had finally had enough…There were whispers around the office but, nobody openly asked D about what was going on until one day M returned…Nobody knew what was going on and rumors were rampant…It finally came out that she had been in Denver the whole time…While that drama was taking place, my Fiancé was telling me to get another job…I have always had the problem of giving 110% to any job I had…The stress I was under was causing me to talk in my sleep…I was doing inventory in my dreams…Calling out serial numbers all night long wasn’t very good for my fiancé’s sleep…Without D knowing I somehow interviewed with a company called Soft Warehouse in north Dallas and was offered a sales job starting after our honeymoon…I have always had an extremely hard time quitting a job…I had psyched myself up one day and spent the better part of it getting up from my desk and the chickening out ant sitting back down…In the late afternoon, D cam back to the tech shop and told us to drop what we were doing and head to the accounting office…Space was tight but we all squeezed in…D announced that they were going to be closing the business…He didn’t say it but, M had been gone long enough with all the cash assets that suppliers were going to stop doing business with us…As I remember it, it was effective immediately and that they would keep J on for a week to help with the closing inventory…As the meeting broke up, I asked D if we could talk in his office…As I closed the door, I apologized for his troubles…He immediately started apologizing to me, saying that he felt bad about my upcoming wedding and all…I paused, and then told him “no problem, I was quitting anyway”…He got faux mad and called some names for not letting him know that I would be fine…My short time at CCC had taught me a lot and I found that I had an aptitude for this computer thing…So I went off to get married and start a new job…I did see D a few years later in a bar bathroom, really drunk…He didn’t recognize me and I didn’t say anything…On to Soft Warehouse

For those of you that are not lucky enough to live in the Midwest…You never know what the weather will bring…This is Friday and next week it is supposed to be in the 70’s.

---

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 14:36
I am going to start adding a time stamp to blog posts to give you context to when I was writing that exact thought…

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 14:45
The entire virus thing has caused something that I think I should have anticipated but, didn’t…The cats have started to show their stripes…”Famous Personalities” have seen their time in the spotlight and on the front pages dwindle drastically over the past several weeks…It has caused them to act out in ways that cause me to drastically change my view of them…Like any addiction, these folks are jonesin for a fix…They are willing to do anything to get people talking about them…Donating money, bashing POTUS – government – republicans – democrats, announcing their positive/negative test results…I have heard about celebrities selling their time for voice mail recordings and doing video shorts for a price…Duffy (I guess that’s her name, had to look her up) has gone public with her past abduction and rape…I have no doubt about her account but, I don’t need to hear about it either…I have had bad experiences in my lifetime yet, cannot fathom sharing them with literally the world to get people talking about me…My advice is, stick with what your good at…Be it acting, singing or telling jokes…Spare me from the drama in your life.

Does anyone really understand what the C- students in Washington are doing?…I know I sure as hell don’t…I watched the proposal double in size over a two to three week period…This allows for the politicians to sneak in their pork to satisfy the campaign donors in the shadows…I have done a fairly thorough search of the web and cannot find the official document…I am reminded of the smell that the Obamacare bill gave off…“We [need] to pass the bill in order to find out what [is] in it.” (Pelosi)…Time will tell.

For those of you in the dark ages, times they have changed…Initially when we moved into this house, we had cable TV installed…This was fine for over a decade…Since it also provided the Internet access in the house, I frequently partook in the infamous technical support line…For those that may not know me, I worked in that capacity for a couple of decades…This causes me to have overly high standards…Our local cable company is notorious for hiring folks that are lucky to turn on their work computer…In a fit of rage after several years, I thumbed my nose at cable and made the leap to satellite (To be accurate, we had C-band satellite in Texas years before) Once installed, it was smooth sailing for a few years…I was aware of Netflix and the like but, only used them to augment what satellite provided…A few years ago with internet speeds increasing, I toyed with the idea of “cutting the cable”…Technically this means to stream video via your internet connection…There are those of you that know this whole process…You can move on…Those that need more info, let me know.

Your glorious US Postal System at work…I ordered an item, doesnt matter what it is, and this is the progress it has made after a little more than two days…And folks wonder why nobody mails anything anymore…Actually, no we dont…The Posatl system is the dinosaur of the letter/parcel moving world…Yet our vaunted government insists on propping it up over and over again…As I write this, they are projecting that I will have to wait another three days…I live in Nebraska, I could drive round trip faster.

My name is Phil and this is my method of getting my views on different subjects out into the world…The title comes from the random thoughts that streak across my mind from time to time…About me, late 50s, midwestern raised, served in the Marine Corps, worked in the computer industry for several decades, Chef, Gun Nut, etc…And you never know what I may be addressing when you swing by here…Welcome

If you are so inclined, I added a link to Joe’s official website…Is this really the BEST that the Democratic party has to offer?…Unfortunately, I think so…I followed the campaigns and debates with a fair amount of interest…There were some that I liked and others that I still think are out of their minds…Tulsi Gabbard caught my attention, mainly because she seemed the most reasonable of the bunch…If you don’t know me personally, understand that I couldnt vote for any of these folks…That said, I did like her.

Now let’s get to what I think is really going on here…Somebody, primarily the DNC, has hold of Joe’s strings…I have watched the poor guy struggle through the process thus far…I actually feel sorry for him…I think his fellow Dems should too…He is not in either mental or physical condition to undergo the stress of POTUS…But, I think the DNC knows this and has a plan in place…The options are many, Hillary, Michelle, and now I here Cuomo…If you think I am nuts, turn MSNBC or CNN back on and allow them to numb your brain…Mark my words, if Joe goes the distance, he will lose.

Can’t skip this…I have been watching the progress of the virus and am thoroughly confused…Depending on who you listen to, the facts, statistics an general information varies widely…I have seen the death toll with a 50% difference…What I have noticed is that different outlets are generating their own numbers…I really wish they would standardize on one source to get all the reports in line with each other…I mean, who are you suppose to believe?

I have found a few sites that I relatively trust…None of the are media outlets…I try to stay away from them.

• CDC
• Johns Hopkins
• Google

I know you could argue that Google is a media outlet…My page, my rules…I don’t know what I can tell you that you already don’t know…IMHO, things are nowhere near as bad as all the Chicken Littles are screaming…I know there are those of you that have elderly or very young (I don’t fall in those categories) that see this in a different light than me…I think common sense will carry the day, if you use it…Stay home if you can, wash your hands frequently when out and about, wash them again when you get home, etc…The same thing you hear every talking head on TV parroting…On a side note…I have been storing food, water and ammo for years and feel slightly vindicated…Folks laughed behind my back for years…Guess what, I did not have to run to the store and fight for toilet paper…That brings me to a point I would like to make…Regardless of the outcome of our current situation, what changes are you willing to make to be ready next time…Yes, there will be a next time…It is really simple, find a place you can store items out of the way that is climate controlled…When you go to the store and are buying something you regularly use, buy two, store one when you get home…Over a period of a few months, you will find that you have a decent store in your own house…Remember, you do live out of this unless you are rotating with fresh items…Spend a couple of days carrying a notepad…While you use something, Take a moment and decide if it is something you would miss if it was gone…Put it on your list…After review and whittle down your list…A good example is peanut butter…I personally don’t care for it but I have family members that do…Since it is shelf stable, I try to keep a couple extra jars downstairs…Taylor this to your lifestyle and you will soon find yourself with a decent sized pantry to get you through a situation akin to our current one…Just a suggestion.

A friend of mine asked me recently “What should my “goto” cookbook be?”…Once I started thinking, about it I realized what an open-ended question that was…I honestly don’t think there is an answer.

Background…Since you read this far you must have some time on your hands…Growing up, my memories of my Mother revolve around her cooking…If she wasn’t at the stove, she was washing dishes, if not that, getting ready to be at the stove…Granted it was not quite that bad and my memory sucks, but it was close…She also did not have all the contraptions that are all over today…Microwave, food processor, Kitchenaid, George Foreman (I could go on as I own most of them)…With the lack of these timesavers, she stayed pretty busy…Yet, what I do not remember, is a cookbook…A large dusty book that she referred to when she had questions…She just knew…Well, that is not quite accurate but, I will get to why.

Since there was always a meal when I was hungry, I was lacking in the “cooking” department after I left home…As a true American, I resorted to McDonalds and Kraft M&C…This worked well for quite a while, until the birth of the Food Network…I don’t know about you, but I was hooked…Even when I found some shows unwatchable, there would be another that I couldn’t get enough of…Enter Culinary School.

I checked, and one of the better Culinary programs in the country was offered right here in Omaha…Who would of thought?…True to form, I enrolled and started taking classes…Not full-time, yet enough to move through the program…Wow, the things I learned…There is an actual name for the reason that a steak turns brown when you sear it (Maillard Reation, look it up)…Breads, proteins, veg, starch, sauces…The list goes on and I am know where close to a degree…Or knowing what I have supposedly learned…I do know one thing I have learned though.

Inspiration

This is where true cooking gets done…Not a cookbook…My wife has always envied my ability to like in the fridge and think of something to make.

The problem with cookbooks (the way most folks use them)
You browse until you find something appealing…This means you have never made it before…Yes it does…If you have made it before you would not be looking in the book.
You determine what you do have and what you need…Make a list and head to the store…You usually by only what you is on the list and milk.
Back home, you find a comfortable position for the book and begin the step by step process…Since this is your first time, you will more than likely miss a step or two.
The dish turns out OK, but not quite what you thought it would be…Not bad, but now you know what you would have changed…Unless it was fantastic you never make it again…What a hassle going to the storre and all that reading.

If you can learn a couple of sauces and maybe how to braise, instead of sauteing…You can begin to work with ingredients and not recipes…I am not demeaning recipes…What they really are was somebody else’s inspiration…Change it up and add that other stuff or take something away and make it yours…We tend to remember how to cook something that is ours…That is why my Mom never had a cookbook…She cooked what she knew.

I make it sound easy and it is not…Take a little effort and more than a little failure…The part that hooks you is when you can make something your friends and family ask for…We have one of those sticker things in the kitchen that says “Good cooks never lack friends”…It sounds cliche but, it is true.

After all that, is I had to recommend a book;

James Beard’s American Cookery
ISBN-13: 978-0316098687

Tells you how to cook just about everything…Plus some good stories…Well, that is my not so humble opinion…Agree or disagree…Let me know…We are all curious.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I sit here wondering about the kid at Rutgers that committed suicide the other day…I hear the media decrying the lack of privacy in our daily lives, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, blah, blah, blah…Let’s get real about what happened to this poor kid…Setting the scene,

He is a young kid dropped into the pressure cooker that is college life…He has leanings towards a homosexual lifestyle but, feels the angst of disappointing his parents, friends, society, whichever or maybe more…His “friends” decide that it would be funny to stream an encounter the kid has with another male on the Internet…When the kid finds out, he is distraught and seeing no other alternative, takes his life.

Forty Years Ago,

He is a young kid dropped into the pressure cooker that is college life…He has leanings towards a homosexual lifestyle but, feels the angst of disappointing his parents, friends, society, whichever or maybe more…His “friends” find out about an encounter the kid has with another male and tell everybody they can about it…When the kid finds out, he is distraught and seeing no other alternative, takes his life.

I, by no stretch of the imagination, mean to minimize the tragedy that happened…My point is that kids are still kids…By their nature they will do things that cause terrible results…This may have been intentional, maybe not…The problems arises when we think this is the only kid that decided to end his life because of the embarrassment of a situation…If you look, it happened within one hundred miles of you in the last month.

It happens, not because of lack of privacy.