stupidity

What To Say, What To Do

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What in the hell* is happening to the world? Excuse me while I sputter and mumble and collect my thoughts.

DJT has renamed another geographic entity. Apple and Google both said they immediately adjusted their maps to record the executive order. My google maps used both names with Lake America from a distance and Lake Ontario when I zoomed in. But the dual names lasted only 30 seconds before Lake Ontario disappeared. For good. What in the hell? FYI: we still have the Gulf of America.

Is there a Trump supporter reading this who can explain Trump’s need to rename everything? Is he marking his territory? And how much do these name changes cost? And how much will it cost to change them back? And who pays???

Bah humbug. Let’s ignore DJT and move on to better things.

I’ve complained about drivers not using turn signals, but it might be me that is in the wrong. As an older American who tries to ignore news, I’m wondering if our traffic departments have announced a new way of signaling turns. Maybe an executive order from someone? The new way I’ve seen many times today is to signal a right hand turn by getting as far left in the road as possible. And to make a left hand turn, get as far to the right as possible. Who says an old dog can’t learn a new trick. I have adopted the new system enthusiastically. ***

The memory supplement ads are interesting. Wonder how many watchers tell themselves “Hey, I need that stuff” and then forget to get it when they’re out shopping.

There was finally an ad for one of my diseases.** A gray-haired photographer says he was going blind until he started taking the drug in question. Now he’s back behind his camera taking pictures…and smiling.

With much of America in a bad mood maybe we should all take any drug advertised on television and start smiling. There’s an evil soft drink commercial where young people do nothing but smile and laugh as they hold bottles of soda upright, with the labels facing the camera.

The truth is finally making it into advertising, at least for Airline ads. I wasn’t going anywhere, but was curious about current airline fares. 30 minutes after I emptied my online cart and logged off a certain airline’s website, I got a TEXT: buy your tickets now before dynamic model pricing raises the fare! I’ve paraphrased because the text disappeared. Google Dynamic Model Pricing if you haven’t read my previous essays about it.

Under the Are They Listening To What They Say, heading: The current administration has “Special Envoys” flying all over the world to broker peace in some of the areas engaging in war-like activities, some of which have been going on for years. There may even be a Board of Peace meeting somewhere. A reporter had the chance to ask one of the “Special Envoys” about the success of the Special Envoys, since there are active hostilities in Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, The West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen, and The Congo. According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCPDA) “there are 65 active armed conflicts involving states, which is the highest recorded count since 1946.”

In response to the reporter’s questions one Special Envoy said they are “working hard” for peace per the instructions of President Trump, and “I can’t guarantee success, but…we are going to do everything we can…to try and make progress.”****

One of the Special Envoys has been working hard for peace since 2024. An additional Special Envoy joined the team in January 2026.

An old Trump-supporting friend of mine argued there would be no wars under Trump. “He ends wars, unlike Obama and Bush.” There might be a Nobel Peace Prize in there somewhere.

Enough. It’s time to take a nap and stop thinking.

*Per Google: ”’What in the hell’” is a rhetorical question expressing extreme confusion, surprise, or anger. The word hell has been used as an emotional intensifier…for centuries.”

**To paraphrase Will Farrell in the movie Elf: “I know that one!”

***Text book example of passive-aggressive language.

****The entire, complete quote is available online. It has been edited here, for brevity, not to change meaning or context.

Of Intelligence and Something Else Like It

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It’s been days since last you had something to read. Hope you didn’t forget how. Weather here in NY has been cold and wintry so I hibernated for a few days. It was the smart thing to do. I am an intelligent being, after all.

Am I? Are we? Ai, when asked, says “Defining intelligence is a bit like trying to pin jello to a wall.” I scrolled to the bottom of the answer to make sure the disclaimer was there: “Gemini can make mistakes, so double-check it.” I asked Ai to double-check itself. The answer was illuminating. And who trained Ai about jello?

Illuminating but not clear. I tried the Oxford English Dictionary People and got something more succincter(sic)*: “The faculty of understanding, intellect.”

The Brittanica Dictionary took a similar view: “The ability to learn or understand things or to deal with new and difficult situations.”

Both dictionaries did not have warnings at the end of their entries. They had confidence in their intelligence.

Take a moment and think for yourself: what is intelligence? Why do we not use the word “Real” in in front of intelligence? Or “Natural”? And why are we so afraid of Artificial Intelligence? Everyone asked in public likes to mention there are “different kinds of Intelligence”. There is Science, Street, and Sports intelligence, for example. The unsaid theory is we can be intelligent in one thing but not everything?

What is the opposite of intelligence? Unintelligence(sic)? Lack of intelligence? Stupid? Let’s ask Ai: “While the knee-jerk answer is usually stupidity or ignorance, the opposite of intelligence depends on how you define intelligence itself.” It then goes on to list three possible “opposites” of intelligence, ending—as usual–with the required disclaimer. What a crock.

Wait a second, can other animals be intelligent? Ai? “The short answer is a resounding yes. While we used** to define intelligence strictly by human standards—like the ability to solve algebra or write sonnets—science has shifted to seeing it is a diverse toolkit for survival.”

Algebra? You need to be able to solve Algebra to be considered intelligent?

It’s been fun talking about this one word, but the real issue is how we communicate, how we talk with each other, how we decide, even, what intelligence is or means. Think of existence as one, big contract. A legally binding contract where we all agree about things. If I wanted to argue intelligence meant stupidity, would you participate, agree, or think me an idiot and ignore me? It doesn’t make any difference how far back in time a word goes or whether or not it came from Latin roots, or whether or not it is “foreign”. If we all agree, roughly, on a definition, the world keeps turning on its axis and we get ready for the Super Bowl.

But there are forces at work in the World, and have always been at work in the World, trying to let intelligent people know they might be the only ones, and most of the world is stupid. Not intelligent. It doesn’t help when the citizens of the world act stupid.

To make a too-long essay short, the point: War is stupid. Poverty is stupid. Homelessness is stupid. Disrespect is stupid. Who uses these things for profit or gain? Who ignores them as if they don’t exist?

We do.

And at a time when we think we are the most intelligent. We have fast moving machines and high-flying machines and medical machines to see inside the body. Yet, still…

An intelligent society? Are we stupid or only intelligent when it suits us?

*I Like this word because it sounds like “sphincter”, one of the funniest words in the world.

** ”Used” to? And a “tool kit”? Who is kidding who, now.

Questions for Concerned and Thoughtful Americans

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When you end your workout at your fitness center and go to the showers where there are three empty stalls, do you select the weird stall with the handrails, folding seat, water controls below waist level, and hand-held shower head?

Do you know the difference between an indictment and a conviction?

Do you now the “distance” between an indictment and a conviction?

Does the term “respect law and order” come up only when you’re talking about someone else’s actions?

Is the driver in front of you doing 10 miles per hour over the speed limit getting in your way and holding you back?

Do you believe in and repost things from your favorite websites to your on-line accounts and state “How True!”, or ask “How True?”

Is everything your political opponent says wrong and everything you say, correct?

Do you get mad when people use “facts” to make their point?

Do you think America is a place only for natural born Americans and there is no room for minority people or religions?

Is it okay to think anyone who doesn’t think like you has a screw loose?

Can you own a gun and still be Anti-NRA?

Is it possible President Trump is doing some thing(s) right?

Is it possible Joe Biden did ANYTHING right?

Do you feel better about yourself when someone agrees with you or disagrees with you?

Is a “tribal validation” of your opinions necessary or are you an independent thinker?

Is it really an insult to be called “sheep” by your political rival?

Should “leaders” of institutions be held to a higher moral standard than the bots and trolls who criticize or praise those leaders?

If you own an AR-15 what do you do with it?

Can we, the people, solve our own problems, or do we need a centralized form of government to make things work?

Do you know anyone who has no place to sleep tonight?

Do you have an idea where you will be sleeping at age 80?

Any relative already in Long Term Care?

Think you won’t need Long Term Care?

Think anyone has the answers to most, all or none of these questions? Life is “a tapestry of rich and royal hue”, said Carole King in 1970. But The Buffalo Springfield said it best in 1968: “We better stop, children, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down.”

That was 57 years ago.