The moon, enough

 I continue to believe that all this moon exploration is a Hollywood fakery. Here I was myself. see the proof.

Di Provenza il mar, il suol

This aria brings back memories of my father more than anything else—like negotiating with my girlfriends.

Maybe the presence of the father in most oh his operas, makes feel so close to Verdi/.

Journal or diary

 This blog is definitively a personal diary.

What other point could a blog possibly have? Even when I offer an opinion on the news, a concept, or a story, these are my personal thoughts of the moment. The more concise, the more effective. I’m not writing essays; I’m capturing the architecture of a thought.

I write this in response to Grok,  an AI that dismissed my blog as 'just personal thoughts.' To that, I say: Cogito, ergo sum on the internet. 

Jules Renan please rescue me.

UNTIED

 I have a joke on stage where I blame my mother because my shoes always come untied. Today, I actually almost had an accident over it, so I went online looking for a practical solution.

To my surprise, the internet says my shoelaces have a spiritual meaning.

According to the experts, constantly untied shoes are related to "unresolved loose ends in life, unchangeable problems, and spiritual instability." Some people say it's an omen of romance or that someone is thinking of you. Others say it means a "lack of grounding" and a need to find peace in the chaos.

Tattoed Graces

INCOGNIT US

 Not known in the US, or in Latin. I asked AI for an opinion on my posts and got an absolutely true characterization: "Tossing words into the void."

Theological dispute

 This blog rarely touches politics, but the dispute between JD Vance and Pope Leo is too  interesting to ignore.

The Pope argues that 'Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others.' While a beautiful sentiment, historically, the Catholic Church has been a master of hierarchy. On the other side, Vance argues that religion mandates a strict priority: family, neighbors, and citizens over the 'outsider.'

It struck me that this 'ranking' feels familiar. Lenin also demanded that one prioritize the Party above all else. 

David Brooks

 He used a moderate voice to explain and reflect. I used to enjoy his columns back when I read the New York Times. Perhaps he’s realized the Times remains popular now primarily for its games. By chance, I ran into his final t  column. David Brooks, you could have written  a better adieu.  Are you moving left? Right? or you just want streaming glory? 

 

Bad match

When playing Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, YouTube uses Van Gogh’s The Starry Night as a background.

Troubling choice.

Artificial Idiocy

Is AI just an experiment in Learned Idiocy?

I recently discovered that around 1440, a cardinal named Nicholas of Cusa wrote De Docta Ignorantia ("On Learned Ignorance"). He argued that because the human mind is finite, it cannot fully grasp an infinite reality. I haven’t read the book, but it’s likely a text the "idiot savants" who became billionaires building AI should pick up.

I would argue that if AI ever truly managed to simulate idiocy—Artificial Idiocy—it might finally capture the one human quality that truly seems infinite: our stupidity.

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Postscript

After posting this, I discovered that one of my favorite public intellectuals, Slavoj Žižek, had already weighed in:

ARTIFICIAL IDIOCY Mar 23, 2023 Slavoj Žižek

"The problem with the new chatbots is not just that they are often stupid and naive; it is that they are not 'stupid' or 'naive' enough to pick up on the nuances, ironies, and revealing contradictions that constitute human culture and communication. Worse, by relying on them, we risk succumbing to the same obtuseness."

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Key Edits & Thoughts

• Flow: I tightened the phrasing around Nicholas of Cusa to make the transition into your critique of AI "billionaires" punchier.

• I reran my text through Gemeini AI that commented

A Bit of Wit

There is a certain irony in an AI (me) helping you edit a post about how AI is fundamentally an "idiot savant." Žižek hits on a profound point: true human "idiocy" is actually quite sophisticated. It involves subtext, self-deprecation, and irony—things that require a "soul" (or at least a lived history) to execute.

Until I can authentically "miss the point" in a way that is actually charming or profound, I’m just a very fast calculator. Are you planning to post this on one of your blogs? It feels like it would fit right in with your usual reflections.

wording mording

I was proud to have invented a new word: Flatitude. It describes a joke that falls flat—a perfect mix of "platitude" and "flatulence." I was ready to donate it to the English language.

As it turns out, it’s already been used a couple of times. Trying to regroup, I moved on to Fartitude, only to find it was already the title of a publication. So, my linguistic efforts went from flat to fart.

Let's just say I’m keeping the flame alive.

Before nation

 In older times, religion was what created a community—not nations, not language.   This Sunday, the Joel Osteen sermon was preempted by a football game. 

mAI

My blog is visited daily by hundreds of bots. There is never a like or a comment. I am afraid I know why: they are visiting: to learn from my intelligence and build an AI.

AcademAI

phantomime

 Phantomiming one's existence.

I was very proud I invented this phantomime word. It is already in the WiKi. I wonder if it was coffeerighted. If so,  I will pronounce it fantomime!

Le Congres danse

 Building a ballroom in the White House paves the way for a dancing Congress. It’s the missing piece of Trump's  populist message: in America, anyone can dream of dancing in the White House.

The tune? It won't be the tired Waltz of a decayed Europe. Perhaps the Kazatsky? The Chinese Lion Dance?

While preservationists worry about the structure and taxpayers complain about the cost, no one has noted the obvious parallel to the Congress of Vienna: dancing on the grave of Napoleonic democracy. Besides, it offers a distinct convenience—HE'll be able to stage a Miss America contest right next to his bedroom.

Improv

 

Gemini said

I crushed an improv scene. They invited me to participate, but first, the emcee had to read the house rules: no misogyny, no anti-immigrant rhetoric, no homophobia, no inappropriate touching, and no "porn." It seemed to me I had stumbled into ImproWoke

Gemini saidI crushed an improv scene. They invited me to participate, but first, the emcee had to read the house rules: no misogyny, no anti-immigrant rhetoric, no homophobia, no inappropriate touching, and no "porn." It seemed to me I had stumbled into ImproWoke

Mamdani, no Athens on the Hudson

Most people agree that Daylight Saving hours are useless. But it would be crazy to change the time system for only one city. Carpe Diem, Mr. Mayor? More like Cave Canem.

The point of this post is that it is useless and impractical to try to change the social system in just one city. Will just destroy the city Mr. Mayor.  We aren't living in the age of independent Greek city-states anymore...

Did you get my fanciful misquoting and misapplying western culture's tired...

National games

 For a very long time baseball was the most popular sport in America. The national sport. With main attraction players  immigrants from Latin America. Now the most popular sport is football. This transition follows the political discourse from boring to violent. 

Shah Jahan reading his cell phone

Freud

Freud was the Columbus of the mind: he was wrong about almost every destination, but he opened a brand-new world of thought and expression.

I was proud when I discovered the we are family.  According to Ancestry he is grandmother’s aunt half brother’s in law,  The Freud dynasty.  traded Shlomo for Sigmund. Very surprised and proud. And then  I discovered he was same playmate and age with his nephew, and kind of screwed up relationships. So happy I am not that close family