Author: tallthinman72

Frequent (enough) flyer

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Daily writing prompt
What’s one piece of travel advice you always follow?
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I saw a piece of advice a long time ago that went something like, “Pack everything you think you need and then take out half of it.” I don’t know if I’ve ever followed that, but one thing I’ve found that makes things easier is minimizing the pieces of luggage and, if you don’t have TSA Pre-check, make the walk through security as painless as possible by following their guidelines.

Besides just preparing logistically and familiarizing yourself with the destination, don’t carry a pocketful of change. And enjoy your layover with a drink from your favorite coffee spot, then sit back and people watch and marvel at the the dynamics of take-off and landing.

Sparse

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Daily writing prompt
What was your first ever videogame?
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There haven’t been many. We did break down and get a Nintendo Wii a number of years ago, and I think we might have gotten a Tiger Woods golf game. And maybe Super Mario Brothers, though we may have found a version of that to play on our Gateway 2000. Our kids played that one so often that our daughter memorized the theme song and played it on the piano.

I don’t believe I’m of the video games generations.

2800

Smell Those Roses

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Daily writing prompt
Do you set personal goals for yourself?
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Hardly ever. Maybe in broad terms, but nothing along the lines of “Here’s where I want to be in five years… ten years.” That strictness and discipline has escaped me, and I’ve always been averse to moving through life with blinders on, anyway. That has always seemed like a set-up for stress and disappointment and an overly regimented, even self-centered way of going through life.

At this stage of things, any goal I set has more to do with getting the lawn mowed or completing some small project, or getting some steps in so my watch doesn’t offer up its motivational drivel disguised as patronizing compliments.

Don’t Swallow the Hook

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Daily writing prompt
What do you think is the future of AI?
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I’d like to think that the future isn’t as foreboding and dystopian as current sound bytes might have us believe. It would be unrealistic to think that everything will come up roses, but I think I’ll hold out for more good coming from this technology than bad.

Regulation won’t be a dirty word, or shouldn’t be, and we’re already seeing applications that benefit us in multiple ways. One troubling development is how pervasive AI has become on sites like YouTube and in political advertising, where it is becoming increasingly difficult or at least more frequently necessary to assess a video’s authenticity before subscribing to its message.

And the brains behind some of the big AI companies are to be listened to critically, with a mix of awe and skepticism, because some of these folks appear not to hold humanity in the highest of regards.

Way past time

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He still holds rallies. Mid-term. But how can they laugh? How can they listen to the drivel and filth and then applaud?

I guess they’re the 30 percent, or whatever the number is. They’re the sifted diehards, the religious lunatics still standing and clinging, still feeding the beast; the ones who love sticking it to the libs and somehow manage to believe that Donald Trump is a man of God.

They will vote as if he is on the ballot, because he told them to, and because deep-down his views on immigrants and guns and money resonate with their own. But they are only 30 percent.

This time around, maybe the other 70 will finally say No. Even in the gerrymandered red districts.

Good riddance

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Epstein

Will there ever be a precipitating factor, a bridge too far? Seems we should have encountered that by now, don’t you think?

The overarching issue is what the Heritage Foundation and Stephen Miller and Russell Vought and JD Vance and the rest envision for this country, but first things first.

Everything since Donald Trump and his trophy wife descended the escalator in 2015 has been gasoline poured on a fire. And now we wait and see if it isn’t too late to do anything about it.

This isn’t really about any one of the myriad stupid, shocking things we see and hear every day from Trump or someone in the administration. Ultimately, it’s about the rotten-to-the-core idiot roughly half the country voted into office. Twice.

Strip away all the mind-numbing streams of consciousness, all the draconian Executive Orders and defunding and verbal attacks and bridge burning and distractions, the ballroom construction—complete with bunker—and FIFA Peace Prize and an appropriated Nobel Peace Prize and a reflecting pool disaster and a “gorgeous” helipad and all the rest. What we’re left with is the walking, talking narcissistic ego monster and disaster of a human being who sits at the seat of power.

By all means, vote as if Donald Trump is on the ballot, and then tell him and the rest who apparently still think he’s a good idea to walk east ’til their hats float.

Or tell ’em all to fuck off. That might be more cathartic.

Epstein

Pleasant Surprise

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Daily writing prompt
What’s the most underrated movie you’ve ever watched?
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I haven’t watched a ton of movies, and what one person thinks is good, another person might think, “meh.” Anyway, we recently watched Mr. Church, with Eddie Murphy and Natascha McElhone, among others. I believe it was released in 2016. We hadn’t heard of it but decided to give it a watch a couple weeks ago. I’m glad we did. A sweet, touching story.

Devil-eyed Sociopath

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Throw us a bone, right? Just in time to make Donald Trump look like a Boy Wonder, a dealmaker par excellence? Release a political prisoner two weeks before the midterms, interject the possibility of peace talks—sans Zelenskyy—two weeks before the midterms, and so on…

The mind-numbing thing is that it might work among the 30-percenters who think Donald is a prophet sent from God. But for the rest of us? We’ve long tired of Vladimir Putin and his bloody trip down memory lane, using his own people as ammunition and Trump as his whipping boy, living in some Soviet-era dream world that would turn back the clocks and maybe make him happy.

Where do people like Putin come from? He is an anachronistic boil on the world’s ass.

Couple Things

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Daily writing prompt
What’s something you’ve done that you never thought you could?
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I’ve never had the urge to climb Everest or run a marathon. My goals in life have been modest, by most standards. Travel-wise, I never thought I’d have a chance to see Jerusalem and spend time exploring Israel, and that happened in 2013.

On a more personal level, in my mid-20s I wondered if I’d ever marry and make a life with someone. That’s happened, too, and she’s a saint.