May 29th, 2023 Marc Joseph
Every month of the year has pet awareness events. For instance, June is National Adopt a cat month, it is National Zoo and Aquarium Month, and National pet preparedness month. June also has National hug your cat day, International Corgi Day, World Pet Memorial Day, National take your cat to work day, Ugliest dog day […]
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May 29th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
As I’ve written previously, I have a very difficult time separating hate from ignorance. I take hate to be a subset or a symptom of ignorance. Ignorance can scale, of course. It can be as small as one Hibernophobe burning down my house. It can be as large as one power-mongering lunatic attempting to create […]
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May 29th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
Author’s Note: As I was creating the video that appears at the end of this post, I was recalling a piece I’d written some years ago, inspired by something I’d witnessed in a gym. Thanks to a portable floppy-disc drive and my pack-rat compulsion to hang on to my old floppy discs, I was able […]
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May 22nd, 2023 Mark O'Brien
After seeing the phrase, toxic narcissism, for about the two-millionth time, I did a search on signs of a narcissist. Since the browser I use is Brave, and since Brave doesn’t use Google, I don’t know how many hits I got. But I did learn this: Depending on the source you choose, there are between […]
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May 18th, 2023 Marc Joseph
Baby Boomers think that we are the best generation to come along in this great country of ours. We have been running the government for the last 6 years and look at the chaos we have created. Our children are dying in record numbers from this opioid overdose epidemic and what have we done to […]
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May 15th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
Notwithstanding the myriad of political diatribes I occasionally author in this column, it isn’t my intent to comment on politics particularly or exclusively. Politics is part of a larger discourse — even an inseparable part — but it is no more than a part. Because of my curiosity about all things behavioral and linguistic (and […]
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May 3rd, 2023 Marc Joseph
In today’s world of instant information, uncertainty, cruelty, and differences in ideas, what is the true role of parents? Obviously, parents provide their children with food, clothing, and a place to live. They also are to provide financial support, medical care, and the opportunity to receive an education. And they are to protect their children […]
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April 24th, 2023 Marc Joseph
30% of grandparents are classified as being “remote”, according to an often-quoted study by Cherin & Furstenberg. The remote definition of these almost 1 out of every 3 grandparents is they rarely see their grandchildren and most contact is made on birthdays and holidays. This same study says 55% of grandparents are defined as “companionate” […]
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April 17th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
April 17, 2023 Mr. Chip B. Chippendale 1347 Circuit Drive Binary, AK 99651 Dear Chip, I read with keen interest your post, “Exploring Emotional Intelligence with Open AI and ChatGPT-3”. I readily admit to being curious by nature and skeptical by intent. But I try to temper my skepticism until my curiosity is piqued beyond […]
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April 12th, 2023 Mark O'Brien
Since it doesn’t appear ChatGPT is going anywhere any time soon, the other week I decided I should get to know it. So, I opened an account with Open AI and introduced myself. I don’t mean to appear immodest or braggadocious, but ChatGPT seemed to like me, at least initially. As we were engaging in […]
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