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How I'm Using AI

I have been using ChatGPT as a sort of medical/lifestyle partner/advisor for several months now. I created a project specifically for the purpose of sharing my vitals and other health related data, e.g. sleep patterns from my Apple watch, BP info from my weekly visits for Epoetin injections, weight and blood sugar measurements, as well as the results of blood tests, which Kaiser gives me access…

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My Brief Naval Career

Fun fact about me. I was born with congenital talipes equinovarus, or club feet. I had my first cast put on my left foot (the worst one) when I was two days old. Since infants are growing at a somewhat accelerated pace, they generally have to put the casts on reasonably loose and they need to be changed frequently. My First Cast At some point in my early infancy I managed to kick this one off.…

[rickladd]

My Brief Naval Career

Fun fact about me. I was born with congenital talipes equinovarus, or club feet. I had my first cast put on my left foot (the worst one) when I was two days old. Since infants are growing at a somewhat accelerated pace, they generally have to put the casts on reasonably loose and they need to be changed frequently. My First Cast At some point in my early infancy I managed to kick this one off.…

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The U.S. is Not 1930s Germany

Claiming that America today is equivalent to 1930s Germany is both historically shallow and strategically counterproductive. Nearly a century has passed since Adolf Hitler rose to power amid the wreckage of World War I, a global depression, and the collapse of the Weimar Republic. Germany in the 1930s was a humiliated, war-torn, economically devastated nation with no democratic tradition, no…

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The Monster in the Suit: Emil Bove, Authoritarianism in Legal Garb

There are monsters among us. They don’t crawl from caves or erupt in public tantrums. No, the most dangerous among them walk calmly through courtrooms and government buildings, armed not with violence but with credentials and legalese. Emil Bove is one such figure—a reminder that authoritarianism often arrives not with a bang, but with a briefcase. Bove, a former federal prosecutor and now a…

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Americans are Ignorami

Reclaiming the Hammer and Sickle: Symbolism, Struggle, and Systemic Illiteracy In large part because of my activities in the antiwar and peace and justice movements shortly after I celebrated my 20th birthday, I began reading Marx, Engels, Lenin, Mao, Castro, and Guevara, as well as Black authors and activists like Eldridge Cleaver, Malcolm X, and George Jackson, among others. I was especially…

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Screw "The Rule of Law!"

Can we please stop using the phrase “Rule of Law?” The law has been used in this country for some of the most racist, vicious, and nefarious acts committed anywhere and it’s not, IMO, a useful phrase. Better that we use “Equal Justice Under the Law.” Here are a just a few examples of laws that have been passed or rulings that have been handed down that make the point: Chinese Exclusion Act of…

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The Trump Vacuum and the Opportunity of Idealized Design

There’s a strange sort of energy in the air these days. You can almost feel it—the wheels coming off the rickety jalopy that is Trumpism. The man himself, once a master of chaos and distraction, is looking more and more like a washed-up carnival barker whose tricks have lost their shine. The legal walls are closing in, the rallies are less electric, and the “movement” has become less about a…

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My 78th & Fuck Zuck

Even though I was unfairly booted from all Meta products I was using (FB, Insta, and Threads), I’ve managed to create another persona and have re-connected with many of the people I was “friends” with previously. As a result, I received a lot of birthday wishes this past Wednesday (06/04). I did my best to individually recognize everyone who sent me a greeting (and yes, I’m aware that FB makes it…

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Due Process? Don’t Make Me Laugh.

There’s a reason we supposedly revere the Constitution in this country—at least, that’s what every flag-waving “patriot” keeps screaming about at school board meetings and on Twitter (sorry, “X”). But I’d like to know: When was the last time any of these self-anointed constitutional scholars actually read the damn thing? Or, for that matter, when was the last time anyone in the Trump…

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The Art of Putting: Or, How to Turn the Green into Your Frenemy

Ah, putting—a small word for an enormous source of joy, frustration, and the occasional golf-induced existential crisis. If driving is the glamorous star of the show and iron shots are the dependable character actors, putting is that quirky sidekick who can steal the whole scene… or ruin it entirely. It’s an art form, a science, and sometimes a cruel joke. But fear not! With a little humor, some…

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The Secret to Innovation Isn’t Learning More—It’s Forgetting Less

In today’s hyper-connected, information-overloaded world, companies spend billions on training programs, knowledge-sharing platforms, and professional development. The conventional wisdom is simple: the more you learn, the better you’ll perform. But what if the key to innovation isn’t about learning more, but rather about forgetting less? It might sound counterintuitive, but this subtle shift in…

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At The End Of The Day

I prompted Poe’s chatbot, “Assistant”, with the following. It’s response seems almost like it enjoyed doing it. “Write a corporate pep talk of at least 300 words that sounds reasonable, but is nothing more than corporate gibberish.” Team: As we embark on the next fiscal quarter, it’s imperative that we synergize our verticals and double down on our core competencies to truly unlock…

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Evolving with AI

If Artificial Intelligence takes over in the future, and that seems to be what causes the most hand-wringing nowadays, wouldn’t it most likely follow that we will have evolved into cyborgs? Is there anything actually WRONG with that? Unlike Data, from Star Trek: The Next Generation, we’d almost certainly bring our emotions with us (unless evolution proves them to be detrimental to our long-term…

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American Descent

Something new. Bluesky is my goto social media site and I just now discovered I can paste in posts and, in this case, my response to this particular post by Robert Reich. Thought I would give it a test spin. This may become a staple of my blog moving forward. I tend to do a lot more writing there than I’ve been doing here. This way I can blend in the two. Remember: Almost all of us are the…

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The Crisis of Leadership: Toxic Masculinity, Bullying, and the Betrayal of Accountability

The meeting on February 28, 2025, at the White House, bringing together Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, serves as a stark illustration of the political, economic, and social chaos that toxic leadership has wrought on the United States. On one side of the table sat Trump and Vance, embodying the very traits that have plunged America deeper into division and dysfunction—traits of…

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The Legacy of DOGE

Recently I’ve been studying Generative AI (ChatGPT, et al), and learning how to use it effectively. This is somewhat difficult as I’m not currently employed and haven’t been for about two and a half years. As a result, I have few specific tasks to work on and discover how to implement AI, either to automate or to speed up their completion. Regardless, I’ve subscribed to Quora’s Poe, which is a…