Category Archives: Coping

AI, Arts: Blogging, Chatbots, Coping, Cross-Generational Issues, Current Affairs, Quaker Theology, Quakers, Science, Signs of the Times, Technical Stuff

AI Quakerism, Part Two: ChatBot Delivers Solutions for Our Five Biggest Problems. (Or Does It?)

March 15, 2023 Chuck Fager 7 Comments

A sign from the heady days of Occupy Wall Street, in Fayetteville NC. The message still seems apt.

Yesterday, we asked ChatBot to identify the five biggest issues facing Quakers today, and posted the query and the full text of its reply.

Then, as promised, we followed up by asking ChatBot (CB for short) to sketch out practical solutions to these problems, again based on its familiarity with the presumably vast resources of the web.

This interchange is below, in full. We suggested a thousand words for the reply, but it only sent bout 560 words; we suspect it’s under instructions to keep replies short. This might be due to demand: our first two submissions were in fact denied, based on overload; seems CB is a popular dude. Continue reading AI Quakerism, Part Two: ChatBot Delivers Solutions for Our Five Biggest Problems. (Or Does It?) →

“New Normal”, China: Peace or War?, Coping, Minority Rule, Signs of the Times

Shrinking China: A Desperate Wave of Nonviolent “Civil Disobedience”

March 1, 2023 Chuck Fager 5 Comments

Washington Post
China’s collapsing birth and marriage rates reflect a people’s deep pessimism

Opinion by Nicholas Eberstadt  [Excerpts] — February 28, 2023

China is in the midst of a quiet but stunning nationwide collapse of birthrates. This is the deeper, still largely overlooked, significance of the country’s 2022 population decline, announced by Chinese authorities last month. Continue reading Shrinking China: A Desperate Wave of Nonviolent “Civil Disobedience” →

“New Normal”, Carolina & the World, Climate, Coping, Current Affairs, Signs of the Times, Weather

“New Normal” Notice: Bloggus Interruptus: Power Outage

December 24, 2022 Chuck Fager 4 Comments

Friends,

Most of the time, our all-electric house setup works fine: heating, cooling, cooking, lights, internet, etc. we’re not all-electronic, and the bills are tolerable.

But as of 9:19 PM Friday, in a blink we entered one of those other times.

“Dangerously low” temperatures in our darkened corner of Durham (there are lights on up the street; so near, and yet so far) were down to 14 F Friday night. The Fair Wendy & I huddled and swaddled and snuggled; candlelight and all that.

Continue reading “New Normal” Notice: Bloggus Interruptus: Power Outage →

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Quotes for the Day

December 22, 2022 Chuck Fager Leave a comment

It was tempting to open with a passage from Volodimir Zelensky’s memorable address to Congress. But that is everywhere today. Instead, here’s a bit from a tribute by columnist David Ignatius:

Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, likes to quote a comment attributed to Napoleon: “In war, the moral is to the physical as three is to one.” Zelensky is the embodiment of that everlasting truth.”
Quoted by David Ignatius, Washington Post, 12/21/2022: Continue reading Quotes for the Day →