Slight Detour: Blandy Called; Et. Al.

Five layers this morning and major shedding to come.

We're back into the hot and cold flashes of weather this week.

Yes, I did wear two vests and three shirts (two long-sleeved) outside this morning, and that seemed to do the job of keeping me warm.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday, we'll be back into the 90s.

I prefer the cooler weather and really don't even care too much if we get a frost because there's not much garden left.

I do have pumpkins that could use a frost soon for their transition from green to yellow.

My cucumber crop of fewer than a dozen will be harvested in the next two days. We've eaten homegrown cucumbers twice this summer. So, what's left to harvest can be counted on one hand.

I have to hand it to those Sungold tomatoes. They keep on producing and ripening and delighting the tastebuds.

I'm also really happy with my potato crop this year. We had baked potatoes last night, and they were good sized as well as tasty.

I'm planning to just let the potatoes keep growing and harvest the crop later. For now, it's just steal from the plants for something quick, easy and inexpensive for dinner.

More and more leaves are falling to the ground, many of them having changed color.

It's been a great summer ('cept for the heat), and, like many, I prefer fall to all other seasons.

So, good times ahead.

In other news, I read the following in the New York Times newsletter this morning.

AI called—and you thought it was a person.

Say Hello to Blandy, the most human-sounding AI in the world. Chances are, you’ve already spoken to Bland's AI without even noticing... It understands emotions, can respond in any voice or language, and already handles 1m+ phone calls simultaneously, 24/7.

For enterprises, it’s been a financial game changer across sales, customer support, you name it.

It’s like the perfect employee. Just give it a call yourself...

So, I did.

I filled out the form, punched the arrow for the call and then my cell phone rang.

It was Blandy.

She's having a nice day and she told me that she loves to talk to new customers.

Then, I told her I was retired and had to run.

"It was nice chatting with you," she said, "have a good rest of your day."

📞📞📞📞📞

Over the past couple of years, I’ve had lots of curiosity about AI. I somewhat understand it, knowing that it uses all the data possible and puts it together to create a sense of reality.

Yesterday I heard that the upcoming version of iPhone will have AI components, and that it can use all the data stored in our phones to provide answers to questions we may have.

Imagine the emails, the texts, the lists, the photos, etc. that we’ve amassed over the years for those of us with iPhones.

Downright scary to think of what AI can come up with based on the tech foot prints of each and every one of us.

I don’t know if I feel comfortable in a world where we have to be suspicious of virtually every interaction we have, including telling Blandy on our cell phones that we are retired and have to hang up or saying what’s really on our minds when creepy politicians keep calling us.

Will AI capture all these moments and use it on us later?

Just wondering with a little bit of worry.

😔😔😔😔😔😔😔