Ten years ago I was writing several blogs on various subjects - F1 motor racing, Music, Classic Cars, Great Romances and, most crushingly, a personal journal that included my thoughts on America, memories of England and Africa, opinion, humour, writing and anything else that occurred. It all became too much (I was attempting to update the journal every day) and I collapsed, exhausted and thoroughly disillusioned in the end.
So this blog is indeed a Toe in the Water, a place to document my thoughts in and on WdC but with a determination not to get sucked into the blog whirlpool ever again. Here's hoping.
You are correct: cheese is legal in Holland. In fact, my wife and I enjoyed some when we honeymooned there in '76. Uh-oh, I just remembered she bought one of those Delft Blue cheese slicers, because it was so pretty and all. I'm sure it was buried in the middle of some big box of "Kitchen" stuff when we moved back to the States, but should it have been registered or something? I mean, you can cut stuff with it. Aww, man...
Hey, these comments don't get scraped by any gov-bots, do they? I'd hate to have the authorities banging on my door in the dead of night and demanding that slicer.
This took me back to the 60's. We lived in the thumb of Michigan (it's shaped like a hand) and my grandparents lived in Rochester, NY. Every summer we'd travel across lower Ontario through Niagara Falls to visit them. Mom had bought some Limburger cheese in Canada and not wanting to pay a duty, placed the package in the glove box.
When we arrived at her parent's home, everyone had forgotten about the cheese ... until several days later when it was 'well-cooked' by the heat. That odor was still there when we returned home two weeks later.
"National Geographics" were also a staple at offices I used to frequent, but also those "Highlights" magazines. I always enjoyed seeing what Goofus and Gallant were up to.
The palindromic Damon Nomad has put up a Newsfeed post about publishers requiring guarantees from writers that they have not used AI in their submissions. I am amazed that they should think that this constitutes an effective defence against such cheating (which is what it is, after all), since cheats can hardly be expected to tell the truth having already demonstrated their nature in this regard.
What astounds me even more is the number of writers who dabble with this demon called AI. If there is anything that threatens the profession of writing more than AI, I have not had the imagination to conceive of it so far. And, that so many writers play so merrily with the means of their own destruction is incomprehensible to me.
I am stupid enough to have thought that writers, of all people, would have the sense to do nothing whatsoever to assist in the fortunes of AI. If there is one invention that should be uninvented now, while we still can, it is AI.
All Writing.Com images are copyrighted and may not be copied / modified in any way. All other brand names & trademarks are owned by their respective companies.
Generated in 0.20 seconds at 12:32pm on May 02, 2025 via server WEBX1.