This is yet another post where I write a series of random thoughts, gathered under the title “Thinking Out Loud”. The fourth, if we’re counting, which we’re not. I tend to do this on Mondays but that’s not legally binding.

The Diet (Again)

Simply put, I got fed up with my ongoing diet last week, so I came off the wagon. There were a few glasses of wine too many and a couple of meals that were larger than the new prescribed portion size. As a result, my weight has remained the same as last week’s. On mature reflection, I am glad it didn’t gain weight as that would be very counterproductive. Weight loss and trying to change your diet are difficult tasks and somewhat joyless. Mainly because you are denying yourself pleasure. However, I don’t like what I see when I look in the mirror, so if I wish to regain my former status as a minor deity and sexual Tyrannosaurus (in my mind), then I need to get back on track.

Digital Terrestrial Television

I seldom watch live television these days, although it is something I did all the time as a child. However, there was no other option at the time until the advent of the VCR. Nowadays I use on demand, streaming services most of the time. Especially those paid services without any advertising and on screen graphics. However, because I am a “belt and braces” sort of person, I recently bought a USB digital terrestrial TV tuner for my PC, in case the internet ever goes down. We still have a roof antenna (although it is in the loft) and there’s an outlet in the spare room that I use as an office. Hence, it was no effort to run a cable from the socket, to the USB device and then to my PC.

I don’t know how bad digital terrestrial TV is in your country but it is pretty poor here in the UK. I’m not talking about the prestige channels such as BBC or Channel 4. I mean the cheap, filler stations that fill the extremities of the TV guide. Most of these channels are in standard definition, with poor digital compression and colour grading. There are far too many adverts, so you sometimes only get 9 minutes of actual content before the next commercial break. As for the actual programs, they tend to be low grade reality shows such as “cooking with ghosts”, or cheap cosy crime dramas about a barista who solves murders by night. If these channels broadcast old classic shows, they’re often edited for content so they can be shown at any time of day. Such is the reality of so-called “free” content. If you’re not paying, this is what you get.

Cleaning the Wheelie Bins

Upon adulthood, regardless of whether you cohabitate or live alone, you quickly discover that there are chores that need to be done. Clothes don’t miraculously wash themselves. You have to go grocery shopping to some degree. If you don’t clean your home, it will become verminous. Hence, we usually get into a routine of dealing with these tasks. How effective this is comes down to you as a person. However, not all chores are immediately apparent or even expected. We have 4 wheelie bins provided by the local council, to handle our rubbish and recycling requirements. Due to the hot weather we’ve had of late, these have all needed cleaning because they contained more maggots than a Lucio Fulci movie. Needless to say this chore fell to me.

Armed with a garden hose, an old mop and a couple litres of disinfectant, I set about keeping this sinister plague at bay. It certainly wasn’t a glamorous job. Nor was it something I ever envisaged doing when younger. Along with unblocking toilets, cleaning up fox shit, removing all spiders from the house, clearing leaves from the guttering and expressing the cat’s anal glands when they’re blocked. No wonder kids don’t want to grow up these days. Due to the internet, they know that adulthood isn’t half as good as it’s cracked up to be.

The Ubiquity of AI

I built a new PC in January which meant a fresh install of Windows 10. My policy regarding this operating system is comparable to one I have regarding my own body. Namely, I don’t install anything that isn’t necessary (I’m not sure if that analogy quite works). Hence I tend to check the various updates that Microsoft regularly shunts out, to ensure that I’m only installing essential patches, rather than superfluous new features. Sadly, this is not a process you can 100% control. Which explains how I found Microsoft Copilot installed on my PC, after an alleged minor update,

Now I am not at present pathologically against AI. Artificial intelligence is a tool and like any tool, it is the manner in which it is used which foremost dictates how it is perceived. Currently, AI seems to be running rampant like a schoolyard craze among kids. The world and his wife is trying to crowbar such services into their business model. All too often the results are not good and are subsequently withdrawn. Take courier company DPD for example and its customer service chatbot. AI is also saturating other markets. Take the freelance marketplace Fiverr. A lot of the design work on offer is now AI generated and frankly shit. YouTube is awash with AI generated content which is generic, simplistic and utterly bland. As for AI voiceovers, they are excruciatingly stilted.

I make it my business now to opt out of any potential AI scraping of material that I produce. Today, I went into my Twitter/X settings to ensure that the Grok AI couldn’t parse my tweets for training purposes. I have done the same with my Squarespace website. Again, I want to keep a level head about AI but suspect that senior management in a lot of major businesses see it as a means of bypassing services that previously they’d have to pay for. It’s not so much AI per se that’s the problem but AI in the hands of unreconstructed capitalism.

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