Category: Effective Writing

I *NOT* Robot

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28 COMMENTS

Maybe you’ve heard about the new artificial intelligence thingy called ChatGPT? According to Wikipedia – my go to source for quick explanations, music trivia, and unreliable medical facts – ChatGPT is, “a prototype artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI which specializes in dialogue.” You create an account (it’s free), log-in, and type in a question or request. However, unlike a traditional search engine (Google, Bing, etc.), it doesn’t point you to things out on the Internet. Instead, it responds, in dialogue form, based on the vast trove of “knowledge” it has at its robotic fingertips. […] Click to read more…

One-Armed Bandit

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13 COMMENTS

For the past two weeks, I’ve had my arm in a sling. That’s because a week ago Thursday, I had rotator cuff surgery on my right shoulder. Apparently, this is pretty significant stuff, and so for the month or two leading up to the event, I was focused on the surgery itself. Fortunately, all went well. But, as I soon learned, the procedure, at least from the patient’s perspective, is not the hard part – all I had to do was show up on time and go to sleep (insert your […] Click to read more…

How I Write This Newsletter

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30 COMMENTS

(Listen to this post, here.) My wife and I were in Atlanta last week visiting our son Evan who moved there from Memphis a few months ago. Wow. What a great city. And it didn’t hurt that the weather was beautiful, bringing people outside for all kinds of eating, drinking, walking, pedaling, and scootering activities. I knew when we headed down there that I’d uncover some story fodder worthy of inclusion in this newsletter. But, rather than just writing it as I usually do, I’d like to walk you through the […] Click to read more…

Don’t Do These 2 Things

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33 COMMENTS

(Listen to this post, here.) I arrived at my office yesterday morning as always. But I kept on going, until I drove eight more miles, wandering aimlessly through my little town. Why? Because the odometer of my 2013 Ford Focus read 99991, and I wanted to see it when it reached 99999. I knew I’d forget to look if I didn’t make a deliberate effort, so I drove around until I reached this impressive milestone (see photo). I’m quite pleased that my car has fared so well with few needed repairs, […] Click to read more…

Crystal Blue Persuasion

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34 COMMENTS

(Listen to this post, here.) I ordered the Vegetarian Stir Fry: “Linguine tossed with sauteed broccoli, mushrooms, onions, finished with sesame ginger sauce and homemade sriracha aioli.” It seemed like a safe choice. Only it wasn’t. One bite and I knew that it was WAY too spicy for me. My bald head began sweating immediately (TMI?). Was the description of the dish on the menu accurate? Absolutely.  After all, as anyone can tell you after they return home, dip their tongue in a bowl of ice water, and google the word “sriracha,” this is […] Click to read more…