Hurricane Lee 9-11-2023

The 2023 Hurricane Season

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) [via Colorado Statue University (CSU) meterologist Philip Klotzbach] predicted that El Nino will peak to the middle of summer/hurricane season. Apparently this will negatively impact this year’s hurricane season. In their annual tweet CSU predicted a slightly below-normal hurricane season with 13 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Impeached

The Texas House adopted 20 articles of impeachment in May 2023. Paxton was suspended without pay pending the outcome of the trial.

Paxton’s impeachment trial began on September 5, 2023. In this trial he faces 16 articles of impeachment that accuse him of helping his friend (and donor) Nate Paul, a real estate investor, who was under federal investigation; the Senate suspended 4 or the original articles.

Update 9/16/2023

BREAKING: The Texas Senate has acquitted Attorney General Ken Paxton of 16 articles of impeachment, clearing him of the corruption and bribery charges levied by the House.

Source: @TexasTribune

Former President Trump Indicted, Again

This time he has been indicted on 37 counts in the classified documents probe. This marks the first time a former president has faced federal charges.

Former president Donald Trump has been criminally charged in connection with the discovery that hundreds of classified documents were taken to his Mar-a-Lago home after he left the White House — and more than 100 remained there even after officials issued a subpoena demanding their return.

Source: Washington Post

The FBI searched Trump’s Florida resort last August and found the documents; many labeled classified, some labeled top secret. After that search, President Joe Biden’s former office was searched, and documents were found. Then former Vice President Mike Pence’s house was searched, and documents were found.

UPDATE 6/13/2023

Trump was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges in a court in Miami.

Memorial Day Ribs 2023

Hey kids! What time is it? (No, it’s not Howdy Doody time.) It’s time to make our one-of-kind, world famous, finger-licking-good, Memorial Day Memphis Style Ribs! This year I got started late. I didn’t think about ribs until the weekend before Memorial day. Anyway, this month the US officially ended our corona virus emergency, and I’m hoping to finish the ribs on the grill; weather permitting. I haven’t lit the grill since the summer of 2020.

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I used AI to generate a poem, this is what I got

I’m not the first to test multiple AI search (text) engines.

Microsoft, which has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, soon followed with Bing Chat, which uses ChatGPT technology. And then, last week, Google began letting a limited number of people access Google Bard, which is based on Google’s own technology, LaMDA, short for Language Model for Dialogue Applications.

Source: WIRED

My premise was “write a poem about an elemental elephant with a titanium trunk guarding a blessing of unicorns.”

ChatGPT came back with…

In lands where magic whispers, a tale unfolds,
Of an elemental elephant, mighty and bold.
With a titanium trunk, gleaming and grand,
Guarding a blessing, a mythical band.
A guardian of wonders, both gentle and strong,
This majestic creature, where legends belong.
Born of ancient forces, earth, fire, and air,
An embodiment of nature, beyond compare.
With steps like thunder, it roams the terrain,
A gentle giant, with a heart untamed.
In its presence, harmony finds its home,
A sanctuary where unicorns freely roam.
Its trunk, crafted of titanium's might,
An enchanted conduit, a beacon of light.
It weaves through the realms, a bridge to unite,
Elements and creatures, both day and night.
With eyes like diamonds, reflecting pure grace,
It gazes upon the unicorns in this sacred place.
Their silvery manes shimmer with ethereal glow,
A blessing of enchantment, for all to know.
As the sun sets, painting skies with gold,
The elephant stands tall, resolute and bold.
Guiding the unicorns through shadows and strife,
Protecting their essence, the essence of life.
Through forests and meadows, they journey afar,
Under the watchful eye of the elephant star.
Together, they dance, a celestial display,
A symphony of magic, as night turns to day.
In the heart of this realm, where dreams come alive,
The elemental elephant and unicorns thrive.
A testament to wonder, a tale to be told,
Of a guardian so noble, with a heart of pure gold.

Bing Chat came back with…

An elemental elephant with titanium trunk,
Guarding a blessing of unicorns,
The elephant's eyes are bright and clear,
And its skin is tough as iron.
The unicorns are pure and white,
With manes that shimmer in the light,
They dance and play around the beast,
And never stray too far from its feet.
The elephant stands tall and proud,
Its trunk a weapon, strong and loud,
It guards the unicorns with all its might,
And keeps them safe both day and night.
So if you ever see this sight,
An elemental elephant with titanium trunk,
Guarding a blessing of unicorns,
You'll know that everything is right.

Google Bard came back with…

Sure, here is a poem about an elemental elephant with a titanium trunk guarding a blessing of unicorns:

The Elemental Elephant

With a trunk of titanium and eyes of fire, The elemental elephant stands guard. He protects the blessing of unicorns, Whose magic is pure and their hearts are kind.
The unicorns are gentle and wise, And their horns can grant any wish. But they are also very vulnerable, And the elemental elephant knows this.
That is why he guards them so fiercely, With his strength and his courage and his might. He will never let anything harm them, Not while he still has breath to fight.
The elemental elephant is a symbol of hope, And a reminder that good always triumphs over evil. He is a guardian of the innocent, And a defender of the weak.
He is the elemental elephant, And he will never give up.

So, they are what they are. People claim AI chat bots can make them money, write code for them, write news stories for them, etc… But, I think they look and behave like an amalgamation of complete sentence results of just another search engine.

Trump arraignment on April 4, 2023

Former President Trump Indicted

Former President, Donald Trump, has been indicted by a grand jury in New York on more than 30 counts of business fraud.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has been investigating the former president in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election.

Source: CNN

He lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden, but late in 2022 he announced that he would run again in 2024.

One thing to note: he can still run, and win, even if he is convicted. There is no law to prevent a felon from winning the office of President. But, it is very unlikely they can convict him in 18 months. Another thing to note: the Office of Legal Counsel has said you can’t prosecute a sitting president, but they haven’t said what happens if a convict wins the election.

Some think he can (and will) use his mugshot as a campaign poster. Trump said it might help his numbers. He’ll spin this so that he is seen as a martyr; he has already done this at campaign rallies.

UPDATE 4/4/2023

He was arrested, booked and arraigned on April 4, on 34 felony counts of business fraud.

UPDATE 5/23/2023

The trial date has been set for the Stormy Daniels trial.

Donald Trump’s trial on criminal charges over hush money payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels will begin on 25 March 2024, amid the Republican presidential primary and less than than eight months before the general election the former president hopes to contest.

Source: Guardian