If you’re in the path of Hurricane Milton and chose to evacuate, I hope you were able to do so safely. If you chose to stay behind (which I also think is a valid choice), I hope you’re ready for the adventure of a lifetime.
No one is going to make your life awesome except for you. Relying on other people, whether it’s financially, politically, socially, isn’t going to work. Only you can find your awesome self.
The way to make the world a better place is to be authentic in who you are.
Screaming into an echo chamber on social media accomplishes nothing. Blogging into the world where anyone can read what you’re writing barely makes a dent, and that’s if you’re lucky. Go out and live to your convictions.
Following her page on Facebook is one of the main reasons I still keep my account alive on that wretched platform.
I find Mel to be quite pragmatic. Her observations on life, and especially what we can do with our lives with just a bit of common sense, is inspiring.
I like to be inspired. Stop being fine. Start being awesome.
These iPhone 16 Pro ads were all over Denver and they’re all over San Francisco. As mentioned in an earlier blog entry, I have the new iPhone 16 Pro. The Camera Control has not impressed me at all; I find the UI (User Interface) very confusing. Light press, hard press, press once, slide, press twice, what do I do to take a photo. It’s easier to just use the Volume Up button like I’ve done since the iPhone 3G or so.
I’m surprised that Apple is advertising Apple Intelligence so much since it hasn’t been released. There’s now rumors that the first pieces of Apple Intelligence, but not the complete package, will be available to consumers by the end of October. I refuse to install the beta version of iOS 18.1 on my brand new iPhone because beta software is used for testing, not pre-releasing new features to the public. Traditionally, beta software has meant “it’s not ready for production yet, it’s buggy, and we need some folks to test it so we can continue to move it towards production”. Releasing beta software to millions of users just seems like typical gross (as in ‘yuck’) marketing.
I’m hoping that Apple Intelligence steers this whole “A.I.” trend in a different direction that what we have to do. A.I. is not smart. In fact, all A.I. does is predict the next word that you’ll want to see based on what it’s presented in response to your request. It’s a word salad maker. In fact, it’s like throwing words into a salad spinner and getting the words out in the expected order. That’s it. A.I. does not know fact from fiction, it just knows what the next word in the paragraph should be.
I’ve gotten into the unfortunate habit of disregarding work emails that were obviously written by the company’s in-house A.I. by the way. If you can’t take the time to write an email to me I can’t take the time to respond.
I’m getting off track.
I’m hoping “Apple Intelligence” steers A.I. into a direction akin to what was described as a new approach to operating systems about a decade ago with the “MercuryOS” project. The desktop paradigm that we use on our desktop and laptop computers has become woefully outdated, as it’s based on actual office desktops from the mid 20th century. You shouldn’t have to organize all your stuff into files and folders. You shouldn’t care about file names and the like. Anything touting “Artificial Intelligence” should handle that stuff for you, so you can find your words and images and the like in your personal word salad.
I don’t want “A.I.” to find facts, I want A.I. to find my stuff and perhaps guide me into a natural workflow for responding to emails and scheduling meetings and the like. Sure, it can summarize those meeting notes, just don’t actually write my notes. It’s not that smart.
Just for fun, I had ChatGPT summarize everything you’ve read in this blog entry thus far.
In this blog entry, JP discusses his experience with the iPhone 16 Pro, expressing disappointment with its Camera Control interface, finding it confusing and preferring the old method of using the Volume Up button to take photos. He is surprised that Apple is heavily advertising its upcoming “Apple Intelligence” feature despite it not being released yet, and he avoids beta software, viewing it as an unpolished product for testing.
JP is skeptical about the broader trend of AI, criticizing its limitations as a tool that merely predicts the next word without understanding fact from fiction. He shares his frustration with work emails generated by AI, seeing them as impersonal, and hopes that Apple Intelligence will take AI in a more practical direction, such as helping users manage files and workflows instead of generating content. Ultimately, he advocates for AI to assist in organizing and navigating tasks rather than replacing human thought processes.
See? ChatGPT and the like are great at spinning the word salad.
I’m hopeful that Apple Intelligence is going to spin the words in the right direction and focus on productivity and the like, instead of content creation. We shall see.
Yesterday we drove from Westminster, Colo. to Cheyenne, Wyo. to visit our friends Tim and Gordon. It’s been too long since we last saw them; our last visit was back in 2016. We’ve been friends since 2001 or so, keeping up correspondence over email and chatting from time to time. Tim is an avid clock collector and we met through having collected the same type of clock systems from The Standard Electric Time Company.
In my typical ways, I couldn’t simply drive up Interstate 25, so we took US 287 through Longmont to Fort Collins, and then over county routes to US 85 to make the rest of the trip north.
North of Fort Collins the landscape is very comfortable to me. It’s wide open, with ranches dotting the landscape here and there, and just a whole lot of nothing. I love it in these parts; it’s one of the reasons I enjoy storm chasing so much. I feel like I can just wrap my arms around the big, wide open spaces.
I remarked to my husband my affinity for the area and asked him if he’d ever live in these parts and his answer was a quick, solid “no”. I grew up a little closer to farms than he did, and he likes to be relatively close to urban development, so the answer was not unexpected. Me? I could easily live in the middle of nowhere and not complain about it.
I am a big fan of this new trend of “Lifestyle Centers” popping up in suburban America. If you’re not familiar with the concept, a Lifestyle Center creatively blends retail and entertainment establishments with apartments or condominiums. These centers are popping up around major cities as an alternative to suburban sprawl.
One of the things I enjoy about these developments is the walkability. By having the retail and entertainment venues close by, residents of these Lifestyle Centers can walk to the services they need. This is healthier for the resident, saves on auto pollution, and encourages a neighborly vibe reminiscent of the villages and small cities of the mid 20th century.
Our first encounter with such a development was back in 2012 when we stopped at The Woodlands near Houston, Texas to see what that was about. I found that area appealing. I know something similar recently went up outside of Phoenix, Arizona. The Lifestyle Center, with the prominent JCPenney sign seen in the photo above, is outside of Westminster, Colorado.
As we made our way to the Rocky Mountains during our recent vacation in the Denver area, I noticed a number of these lifestyle centers popping up along the routes taking us from Westminster to the Rockies. While they ring a little upscale in appearance and demeanor, they seem like a better solution than suburban sprawl.
I’m fortunate. I have been in all 50 states, and aside from Seattle and Denver, I’ve driven in all the major and many of the smaller cities in the United States. Not to focus on the negative, but the worst drivers in my encounters have been found in Omaha, Nebraska. Driving that city is maddening, because it’s like the folks there have been given a bunch of freeways and don’t know what to do with them.
Denver, Colorado comes in a close second.
Denver has a myriad of freeways throughout the metro area. One of the big trends in the area is toll based Express Lanes. Instead of HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes found in most major cities, the Denver area charges a toll to use these “express lane”, which is just a striped off lane from the rest of the freeway. The tolls change based on popularity.
This is not what makes driving Denver freeways maddening.
The growing trend of “camping in the passing lane” is gaining steam in the area. Drivers will hang out in the second to left lane (because they don’t want to pay the toll) and then shoot across the remaining lanes to get to their exit at the last minute. Or motorists will bang on their brakes for no reason. There’s no one in front of them. There are no exits coming up, but for some bizarre reason, Denver area drivers like to randomly bang on their brakes.
The Colorado Department of Transportation, like many other states in the United States, believes that only Interstate numbered freeways should have numbered interchanges. If you’re on a freeway that’s carrying a U.S. Route Number, there’s a good chance you’re not going to know how far it is until your exit if you’re not using GPS because the interchanges are not numbered to the mileposts. It’s only when you’re a mile or less from the interchange that you realize you need to start moving to the right. That’s when you discover that folks will continue to bang on their brakes in random fashion.
Another thing I noticed is that folks either strictly adhere to the speed limit (which changes quite a bit) or they are wildly ignored. The ones adhering to the speed limit tend to stick to the passing lane as an act of defiance to the rest of the world, deluded into thinking they’re doing some sort of public service by crunching up traffic behind them, all the while bang on their brakes at random intervals.
And don’t get me started on whatever they’re trying to do with this Peña Blvd. taking you to Denver International Airport. But as a quick aside, I will never understand why airport authorities like to design the road signs on their property to look as completely different from standard road signs as possible. I want to get to Terminal West, not enjoy the creative design of some bored designer throwing road sign symbols around in Microsoft Paint.
Yes, Denver, you are not the worst drivers I have encountered. That title solidly belongs to Omaha, Nebraska. But wow, do you come in a close second.
Dave over at Blogography wrote a most excellent review of his new iPhone 16 Pro. Much of what he talks about in the review mirrors my feeling on my new iPhone 16 Pro. I like my phone very much, but even upgrading from my iPhone 13 Pro has felt quite iterative instead of evolutionary.
And what in the world is Apple thinking with touting “Built for Apple Intelligence” everywhere when Apple Intelligence hasn’t been released to the masses yet?
I really miss the days of tech being released when it was evolutionary or revolutionary instead of just a mark on the calendar.
When we live in a society that no longer prioritizes verifiable facts and the actual truth over rumors, fear mongering, and outright lies, we no longer live in a functioning society.
I’ve been tapped out of the news and most of social media for a while, so I was unaware of the idiocy firing around the Internet around Hurricane Helene recovery efforts. I should have known better, it is election season with Donald Trump running again as the worst presidential candidate in history.
FEMA has created some webpages addressing these lies, rumors, and other disinformation. FEMA is trying to do good things.
It’s a shame the MAGA crowd is trying to countermand their efforts with their disinformation campaign.
We had a nice drive through the eastern Rocky Mountains today. Our intention was to drive up to Mount Evans (Mount Blue Sky), along the highest paved road in the continental United States.
It’s closed.
That’s right, they have closed this scenic route through Memorial Day 2026 so they can rebuild a 3/4 mile stretch of this road. This really agitated me as I have been looking forward to going up there for a few weeks now, but it is what it is. When the federal government is doing something, expect it to be a mess.
The ride started with a stop in Nederland, Colorado, where the Farmer’s Market was in full swing.
We found a really cool BBQ and beer place called Busey Brews. I had a delicious brisket sandwich and a pint of their porter.
From there we made our way to Idaho Springs and then intended to go up to Mount Evans (Mount Blue Sky). We took the scenic route through the area and stopped at the gate to the Scenic Byway. I did some hiking and put together some footage that will eventually make its way to a video.
All in all a great little experience in the eastern Rocky Mountains. Our highest elevation of the trip was just about 11,000 feet MSL.
Earl and I have been enjoying LoDo and Larimer Square in Denver today. The weather is beautiful. The vibe is enjoyable. I told Earl that Denver reminds me of a western spin on Philadelphia. He agrees.
Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.
