


My Latest Posts
Super Bowl 2025
Yeah, I know it was Super Bowl LIX, but it gets really hard to tell the different games apart, and the Roman numerals don’t help me much with that. No matter what you call it, the game itself this year was underwhelming at best, and this is coming from an Eagles fan. I mean, I’m glad my team won, and it felt good to just dismantle the Chiefs to that extent, but at the same…
Presenting at Boskone
If you’re going to be in the Boston area next weekend (2/14-2/16), you can swing by a convention I’ll be participating in: Boskone. I’ve been a couple of times in the past, but it’s been a good long while since I last went. (This is part of my “go to more conferences” initiative, which is also what brought me to Scotland. For the record, if I need to have my gall bladder removed next weekend,…
The End of the Appendix Saga
Here we are, about six months after I had my appendectomy, and it looks like (knock on wood) I’m finally through with all of it. Every now and then, I still have a bit of discomfort internally, but that’s virtually gone now. Yay! And at long last, my insurance paid its part of the bill. How much was it? Well, if you don’t count the impact on my vacation plans and just look at it…
Media Diet for 2.3.25
It’s been a busier week than most for me. Planning a good Groundhog Day party is hard work, people. (And we had a record turnout this time. 37 people! I thought my house might explode with Groundhog goodness.) But I still found the time to watch a little bit: TV: Skeleton Crew 1 (Disney+)–This is very much a live action kids show set in the Star Wars universe. As long as you don’t go in…
Cat IQ Survey
Lest you be led to believe that I’ve stopped working on cat studies, allow me to disabuse you of the notion. Not only am I still working on cat studies, but we’re officially in the middle of our largest study yet! This one is focused on trying to begin to explore cat intelligence. There have been quite a few studies around dog intelligence (likely because they are, on the whole, more agreeable to being studied),…
Media Diet for 1.27.25
Another week, another report for what I’ve been up to. Movies: –Tangled–Still a very solid more modern take on a Disney princess story. –Inside Out 2–I’m trying to watch Oscar nominated movies, and this was a gimme. So, on the one hand, this was another fascinating look at how emotions can influence the course of our lives. Plenty of good humor and thought provoking things. On the other, I have a personal hang up with…
Pick Your Battles
So . . . Trump was sworn in on Monday, and I haven’t said a darn thing about it on the blog. Part of this is just due to exhaustion. I’m far from excited for what’s coming up, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the firehose of yuck coming out of DC. But some of it is also because I’m trying to change my approach over to something that might have a chance of…
My Current Approach to Using Artificial Intelligence
As I get ready to teach my first day of two separate classes this semester, both of which center on Artificial Intelligence, I thought it would be useful (to me, at least) to take a minute to talk about my current approach to AI in general. This is something I think about fairly regularly and it’s something that has steadily changed over time as I get more and more used to incorporating the technology into…
Media Diet for 1.21.25
I’m in the middle of another Stormlight Archive book, so nothing new that I’ve read this week. (Honestly, I think I deserve some credit for being 1,000 pages into Oathbringer in a week. I will definitely (definitely) be picking some shorter books after these 5.) More things to report on the TV/Movie front: Penguin 1–The HBO production was really well done, and a great example of how to make a bad character likable. (Just make…
A New English Composition Course
I’ll actually be teaching not one, but TWO courses this semester. One will be a team-taught course focused on Artificial Intelligence: the philosophy behind it and application of it. I’ve known about that one for a while, and I’m very excited for it. We’ll be exploring multiple platforms, and it will give me a chance to get even more familiar with AI and how I can put it to use. In addition to that one,…