Aug
23
Imagine yourself taking middle-of-the-night photos with your iPhone balancing on a dragged-over beach chair. Carefully press the button, then jump out in front of the lens, standing still for the remaining 25 seconds.
Aug
09
I asked ChatGPT, “Would you kindly create an image of a big orange bully extorting money from lawyers, corporations, countries, or TV networks, or all of them?” This is what we finally landed on.
“Where is all the money going?”
That’s a great point. My buddy Bill and I were yapping on the phone this morning and he asked that rather simple question. We were both perplexed about how the Big Bully was getting away with extorting millions and billions from seemingly everybody; corporate America and Academia; law firms and TV networks; foreign countries and even other big billionaires.
Mar
29
James Marsden in Paradise, Angela Bassett in Zero Day and Paul Fitzgerald in The Residence
Three New Presidential Dramas
To Help You Avoid All The Presidential Drama
It’s been really rough, tuning into the news these past several months. All of the presidential drama has made us downsize our daily dose of disaster and instead, eagerly engage in escapist entertainment.
So naturally, my wife and I have latched onto three wildly entertaining shows that, ahem, focus on pretend presidents. All of the presidential drama has unprecedentedly pushed us toward presidential dramas. Funny how that works.
Jan
17
When we finally sat in the BZ4X, my wife and I both felt like Goldilocks breaking and entering into the bear’s bungalow. As previous Prius owners, we both thought, “This is just right.” The acceleration threw us back in our seats and all the gauges & clusters felt normal. It was pretty instantaneous for both of us and a big upgrade.
EVs are fun and great for the planet.
I just bought the LAST car I thought I’d buy. And I LOVE it!
We are the proud owners of a barely used Toyota electric vehicle, the oddly named BZ4X. It lived in California for all of its 3,000-mile-life, was marked down about $25,000 from its 2023 new price and is fully loaded with every bell & whistle you could ring or blow.
Nov
21
Arriving on the ship for our Galápagos expedition, my dad’s cousin, Dick, takes a break, relaxing after our long journey to arrive here.
“I’m not getting any younger,” he said as we were sitting in his Chicago home, readying to fly to South America. “This may be my last hurrah.”
A photo expedition to The Galápagos
A sea lion rests atop a rocky climb on South Plaza Island in The Galápagos while frigatebirds fly overhead.
The sea lion couldn’t have cared less about me. It was as disinterested as the iguana that I almost stepped on while photographing my cousin getting off the plane. That tortoise I took a dopey picture with? Yeah, as indifferent as they come.
I wasn’t expecting that down here on The Galápagos, just a touch south of The Equator and 600 miles out to sea.
Yep, that’s me doing the iconic tourist shot of Machu Picchu. (You have no idea how many tries it took this professional photographer to actually get it right!)
I’m sitting in a courtyard 11,000 feet up in the mountains. Breathing is difficult, especially since our tour guide pressed us to climb even higher into the Andes to see the impressive stonework of Incan ruins. I’ve sucked in several minutes of hotel oxygen, provided in the lobby. And I’ve downed cups and cups of coca and mint teas to combat altitude sickness. Every website warns against alcohol consumption.
I order a drink.
Our friend Shamamta celebrated her 90th birthday over the weekend. She’s the matriarch of some good family friends and I was lucky enough to be invited along to hang out, eat some great food and snap some photos of her family and friends at the happy occasion.
In my favorite photo from the day, her daughters take their mother to the sanctuary of the Church of the Transfiguration in Southfield, MI.Read More
Jul
11
I use both my countertop compost container and a bigger bucket to feed my compost pile out back.
“There’s food back here!”
At first I didn’t understand what she meant, but then I let loose a laugh when I heard my granddaughter’s young friend yelling to her mother, shocked and intrigued by my compost pile out back.
Nov
29
This past July, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was part of a bipartisan group of senators who wrote up legislation requiring the United States to collect and publicize records about UFOs or UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) as they’re now called. The legislation said information had to be disclosed to the American public immediately. The Schumer Amendment — as it’s known — mentioned “non-human intelligence” 22 times!Read More