(A carefully considered compendium of contemporary commonsense concerns and [contestable] critiques crafted by an ex-California crusty curmudgeon.)
Make it Make Sense
[The following column was generated by a sentient being with operating fingertips and a genuine brain.]
Surely you’ve seen this sentence accompanying many articles on the internet: “Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.”
Do you continue reading – or move on?
Guess it’s too much to ask or (gasp!) demand that a real human being edit the piece to find and correct errors, right? Or is the objective to include intentional “mistakes” to advance a slanted narrative? I know, freedom of speech and all that.
Warn potential readers and let anything rip?
I will ask Grok about this.
Kidding.
Seems that disclaimer confers blanket indemnity for whatever is subsequently read and affords avoidance of responsibility for potential adverse repercussions (or brainwashing) from spreading bogus information, granting exemption from those “annoying” time-honored journalistic tenets of truth and integrity.
It’s even worse with internet videos on your favorite platform. Typically there will be no warning. Avoid judging the value of any vid by the number of clicks.
Pilot extraordinaire Trevor Smith, aka “Hoover,” who expertly dissects ofttimes horrific aircraft mishaps on his Pilot Debrief channel, recently evaluated some of the multitudinous delusive AI-generated reports concerning the fiery crash of the UPS MD-11 in Louisville. What he discovered was frightful. He even crosschecked erroneous information with AI, which sometimes deemed it was nevertheless true!
Confessions of a Cable Junkie
Do you subscribe to cable TV? If so, I do not have to echo the frustrations felt when the bill mysteriously – and regularly – goes up. It happened to me yet again last month. Another unexplained $20 hike. Guess I should be thankful it remained steady for a few months after my last disputed rise. The other night I turned on my 75-incher, only to discover my sports channels were gone. What?! Big football Saturday ahead and no college networks?
How fast did I get on the horn?
After waiting only 35 minutes to speak with a rep, he informed me in reasonably good Indiphilipakinglish that my promotion had run out. What promotion was that? He could not go into billing details because he worked on the tech side. However, he could instantly return the channels for another $15 monthly hike, which billing would gladly explain later. We both had a good laugh over the absurdity of this.
Three days later I received the new bill in the mail.
I have yet to open it.
“Pin the Tail” is So Boomer
Seems ESPN is now broadcasting participation “sports” aimed at college students and dolts.
I always considered cornhole a drinking game for Sunday barbeques at a frat house.
Wrong.
Now there are world championships sponsored by baked bean, sausage, and boozy drink companies, with athletes, ahem, wearing garish outfits like NASCAR drivers. Prize money in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
If you consider that outlandish, you must have missed – and I kid you not – ESPN’s broadcasts of Big League Chew’s presentation of the National Bubble Gum Blowing Championship, or the “rowdy” Pillow Fight Championships. Were you tuned in for the Big Boy Soap Hockey League title game, sponsored by Puck Mama? Three grown men wearing shorts faced another trio, all sliding barefoot around a soap-bubbly plastic tarp, smacking a pink ball with Flintstone-like plastic golf clubs at a goal. Breathless announcers call the “riveting” action. But taking the (cringe) cake has to be the Donk Toss World Championships, where from designated lengths, participants throw a small inflatable donkey onto a hexagonal plate. Difficult landings are awarded higher points. Plop that sucker upside down and you score a Sudden Donk – game over!
Imagine the hours of dedicated practice time going into perfecting these uh, sports. Beats the drudgery of writing papers – AI can do that.
Is Curt Gowdy crying from the Great Beyond?
The Godawful Greenlighting of Misguided Muslim Momentum
I pay attention to television commercials because they are a reliable indicator of the latest subterfuge the mainstream media is trying to sublimate, in conjunction with their brazen agenda of antagonizing conservatives. Do you think it was mere coincidence that black folks started to heavily dominate ads after the BLM riots? They still do, but I have noticed an increasing preponderance of guys who look just like NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani now appearing in commercials.
And I am not on any meds to be off of, so verify that for yourselves.
Through learned distrust via Christian teachings and study of history, I tend to keep my distance from Muslims. I do not discriminate against them (but could). Seriously, nothing personal, but why do they suddenly warrant our alliance? Do Muslim immigrants ever peacefully assimilate within western societies?
Perhaps ICE could redirect some energy towards Minnesota or Michigan?
Apparently that won’t be happening on President Trump’s watch. Has there ever been a more Muslim nation-cozy commander in chief?
Are the Israelis concerned about their (self-proclaimed) best buddy’s newfound love for Islamists?
Three recent examples of unabashed presidential Muslim bromancing:
1) With executive branch promulgation, Qatar is now building an F-15 facility within the confines of Mountain Home AFB in Idaho, USA! Well, they must be good Muslims, after all they gave The Don that shiny expensive new airplane, right?
2) On November 10, Trump welcomed new Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa to the White House, a man who he admitted has a “rough past.” Yes, the former leader of ISIS was imprisoned for five years in Iraq after caught planting roadside IEDs near Mosul. This reformed(?) murderer of U.S. soldiers was feted on the official birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Hard to imagine worse optics.
3) President Trump just approved the sale of F-35s, the most sophisticated jet fighter in our arsenal, along with nearly 300 Abrams tanks, to Saudi Arabia as he showered Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with pomp and circumstance. The same MBS the CIA concluded ordered the brutal butchering of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
I support President Trump. However, I harbor concerns that his embrace of problematic, Mideast strongman leaders may exacerbate an escalating Muslim menace.
Community Calendar:
Got a Santa Barbara event for our community calendar? Fenkner@sbcurrent.com
Keep your Friends close but your enemies closer.
All goes back to the Las Vegas shooting and they were trying to kill the Saudi Leader,who in turn owa his life to Trump.
That is why Trump received the sword dance during his first term.
The use of non Caucasians has started after BLM and DEI programs and has extended into movies and TV shows
Anyway they aren't even producing movies in Hollywood or the US as it's too expensive. They mostly film in Europe now.
Anyway the Somalias TPS has ended as of yesterday.
and Omar is not happy.
BO is a Muslim and that's why Christians were targeted during his term.
And moving on to Sports programs,they have all gone to paid Subscriptions via streaming. Which started years ago during the World Cup. FIFA has to make money somehow.
Find someone you can share their password with. That's how it's done.
Sounds like a RINO. "I support President Trump but" let me tell you about the things I think he's doing wrong. I can get this on the major news networks, CNN and CNBC.