As if we needed further proof of human folly, apparently there have been some strides made in creating the kind of Artificial Intelligence that will render us all obsolete. There’s been a lot of buzz recently about Artificial Intelligence models that can interact conversationally and answer…
It’s a symptom of how degraded our society has become, but I long ago ditched the delivery of a daily newspaper to my front doorstep, and read my news now on my phone every morning. Aside from the ocular damage that ensues, it means I am prone to being sucked down clickbait rabbit holes unt…
There was an interesting document among the top secret files found in Joe Biden’s garage. Or maybe it was Donald Trump’s. Or was it Mike Pence? It was one of those guys who took advantage of the federal government’s new Eyes Only Keepsake Program, where former politicians can take home u…
Two things stirred me to make the following call to action yesterday. First, there was earnest discussion of Marjorie Taylor Greene being Donald Trump’s running mate next year. (And lest you dismiss that as an unlikely scenario, let me recall you to the wee hours of November 9, 2016, when …
I’m sure by now everyone’s heard that the New York State Legislature voted itself a $32,000 raise last month, a 29% boost that makes them the best-paid state legislators in the country by a considerable margin. Certain that there was every good reason to do so, but also curious about the th…
Jack Reacher was a difficult man to describe. A drifter with a primal sense of justice? A modern knight-errant, not looking for trouble, but righting wrongs when they intruded in his existence? He’d been in Ithaca for two weeks, rather long for him but just long enough to learn where thin…
SCENE: The shop floor in Santa’s North Pole compound. It’s ten days before Christmas, and normally the place would buzz with supremely choreographed, assembly-line toy making, but the floor is jammed to capacity and work is at a standstill, as a routine status meeting has turned into a col…
I got a jump on Christmas this year, and sunk the whole budget in FTX, with the thought of bestowing the cryptocurrency of the future on friends and family. It was a rare mis-step. My instincts for Christmas presents are usually spot on. There’s plenty of time to start over, though for ‘…
Open the door and get a jolt to the eyes from the unexpected, a vision of something askew, like that surprise party years ago, walking to the back of the restaurant with two friends and all of a sudden there’s the image of another friend, then another, not seen for how long, and for a few se…
My instincts tell me the time might be ripe for a new movie set in ancient Rome. We haven’t had a decent Rome picture since probably Gladiator. Here’s an excerpt from a screenplay I’m working on. Hoping to interest some enterprising film students at IC, so if you know anyone....
It’s been quite a two weeks since the last column. For one thing, the Queen of England died, which apparently came as a shock to a lot of people. The words “died unexpectedly” don’t often figure into the obituaries of people who pass away at age 96, but whatever. Some of my more democratic-m…
It’s an apparently inevitable problem in commercial fishing that there is a portion of every catch that consists of marine animals (unwanted fish, but also marine mammals, sea turtles, and seabirds) that are caught unintentionally and ideally ought to be returned to their habitat. Similarly…
The state of the world being what it is, I’ve taken to reading old newspapers instead of scrolling through the parade of disasters in my news feed. It still feels like reading the news, but I know how the stories end.
Lately, my long-held faith in the Wisdom Of Crowds has seemed maybe a little naive. I used my connections up on The Hill to analyze some popular current folklore, using real science.
The following took place two weeks ago in a fictitious small college-based city nestled in the Finger Lakes region. I accessed through the County Clerk’s office the transcript of court proceedings in which one M. T. Fagin was being arraigned on five charges of 3rd degree Burglary, supplemen…
Mike, my time-traveling letter carrier, likes to surprise me every so often. Just this week, he dropped off the Cornstarch Adventure Clothing Catalog for Winter 2032. Kind of reassuring to think that they’ll still be publishing hard-copy catalogs in ten years, and using the U.S. Postal Servi…
There’s a lot of analysis and, dare I say it, hand-wringing lately about how social media content algorithms have turned people, and especially the Young, into anxious pawns of Big Media. By the time you ask “what’s trending?”, the answer’s already changed. You see it when a new iPhone is re…
Since my last appearance on these pages, I completed a journey. Also, there have been two high-profile mass shootings. I say “high-profile” because regular mass shootings are a common, everyday occurrence in these United States.
There is a disquieting chunk of our population that believes in absurd conspiracy theories. Obviously, there’s the Big Lie, which 35% of all Americans (and 68% of Republicans) claim to accept. One in five of us holds to QAnon beliefs and, according to NBC News, 15% of our fellow citizens, wh…
There are peer-reviewed studies out there that suggest that having hundreds of billions of dollars does not inevitably turn you into a demented narcissist prone to alarming business decisions. That just hasn’t been borne out yet in the wild. Elon Musk has placed some remarkably good bets in …
My sister thinks it started in 2020 when Harry and Meghan renounced their royal perks, and a month later COVID hit. Probably a coincidence. In any event, the poop show that was 2020 caused all of us to look hard at our lives and consider what our priorities might actually be. It turns out th…
Ithaca realtor Kelly Cornstarch had settled into the comfy chair in her home office, her laptop flipped open on the table in front of her. As she waited for her client to join the Zoom meeting she’d set up, she checked her notes on this prospective buyer, who had dropped into her world just …
Welcome to the Ithaca Loves Teachers Festival 2022! Ithaca Loves Teachers is open to all public school teachers, school district employees/staff, teachers union retirees, homeschool teachers, and childcare workers with discounted lodging, dining, and activities. A perennial favorite for part…
Spring Break is coming up, and with coastlines on both the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, sunny Florida is home to plenty of surprises. Visit perennial Florida favorites such as beaches and theme parks – then go beyond them to discover natural treasures, first-rate cultural attractions a…
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