Greetings from the University of New Hampshire! You know what word I have been using with some frequency, lately? Bonkers. I find myself saying it all the time. As in, today was bonkers! And in fact, it kind of became so. It started out great - while I was working out in my COVID gym (the living room), I decided to bake a beer bread to bring to work, so between reps I ran down to the basement and grabbed a can of Guinness (one should always have a can of Guinness in the basement) and whipped up a batter and popped it in the oven. That’s the great thing about the COVID gym - it is attached to the kitchen. I showed up at work with a steaming loaf of Guinness bread just in time to make a call to an old Army friend, then I had a call with an old Navy friend - and the day really was off to a great start. Then things started going a bit downhill. Nothing bad - just much busier than expected. A lot of time on the phone to a couple of different customer service reps at three different financial services companies - and here I am getting to the Wednesday links at 9:59 PM. And I have some other things to do before I crash -
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Bonkers, I tell you.
It’s nicer than other words I might use.
Anyway - here we go. Enjoy this week’s links! I’m going a little light this week. I’ll be back Sunday with an essay. As usual, willing good for all of you!
(pic above is Central Ave in Dover - one down over from us - you know, over in Dover - or as we say it here, ovah in Dovah.)
(Poem is of course Frost)
Read
What: Cigar Aficionado, Rolling By the Book
https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/rolling-by-the-book-9085
Why: Did you know there is a tradition that someone reads poetry and novels to the workers in Cuban cigar factories?
There is nothing more captivating or more pure in nature than the aroma of a cigar. But I am not going to write more about the pleasure of smoking right now. I am going to tell you about another pleasure in life: the pleasure of reading and being read to—like when we were children and our parents used to read to us. Having someone read to you is one of the greatest joys for the spirit.
This is a lovely tradition.
**
Watch
What: Conor Neill, Let go of the past to open opportunities for the future | Tarzan analogy (2 min)
https://youtube.com/shorts/qEOci_mgwIE?feature=share
Why: Who doesn’t want a good analogy to Tarzan?
**
Listen
What: Conversations with Tyler, Jonathan GPT Swift on Jonathan Swift
Why: Let’s talk about bonkers. This was bonkers. Cowen instructs ChatGPT to answer a series of interview questions as if he were Jonathan Swift (as in the guy who wrote Gulliver’s Travels). This isn’t really a dialogue - they aren’t having a chat - the GPT responds to Cowen in a series of well-organized, reasonably essay-like answers. I don’t know Swift’s writings or biography well enough to know if the GPT got significant things wrong, but the responses sounded credible. And that is bonkers. This computer program is taking a very specific prompt and scraping the web and coming back with a thoughtful response that would have taken me days to research and compile.
You don’t have to listen to the whole thing - maybe 10 minutes or so will give you a good impression of the quality of responses. And this is an early model. Imagine what this thing will be able to do in a few years. You probably will be able to have a snappy dialogue with it. And then what will be left for us?