Although I passed the AI quiz

 . . . it didn't pass the grammar quiz.  I spent about 30 minutes with a tech support staff member at The Ohio State University yesterday and finally have reinstated my password, which needs to be frequently updated.  While I was browsing, I saw the department offered a quiz on AI with 12 questions and the "chance" for a prize.  It's intended for OSU faculty and students who will be using AI tools in research.  I answered the 12 questions correctly and read the explanations about why the answer was right (important since I was guessing). However, I did suspect whoever wrote it needed to proof her work.  For instance. "What is a important to consider?" That sentence had at least 2 errors--the "a" should be "an," and "important" is an adjective modifying a missing noun.  Also, the singular nouns such as person or teacher or researcher were followed by they/them/their but I think that is a concession to woke and is probably the standard lest we leave out a woman or a trans-something, or even a furry, in the discussion,

The 613 Commandments and the number of Federal regulations for automobiles

I have probably been in 613 Bible studies in my adult life, the number of rules/laws in the Old Testament for observant Jews. I often hear (and maybe I said) one didn't need so many laws to be religious, or to please God. I had hoped to be writing a blog about this, but just thinking about today, 6 a.m. when I got up to 9:30 a.m. when I drove to a hair appointment, I thought I could come up with 613 federal, state, municipal, township, plus thousands of regulations that will affect my life. That doesn't count the general commonsense rules we and our culture expect for us. Like brush your teeth; comb your hair; dress for the weather; check the rear view mirror before backing out.  Imagine that people living 4000 years ago could get by with only 613 and yet survived to the 21st century.

Since I would be leaving my apartment in the car I thought I'd just ask AI an easy question, "How many federal laws and regulations apply only to automobiles." Co-Pilot and I really got into an argument, and I kept feeding back to it its answer and telling Co-pilot that was not what I was asking, especially when it finally came up with 142 after telling me about all the revisions and subsections of the codes. After about 6 responses, AI began to blame it on me that I didn't accept its answer!! It really got snippy and tried to overwhelm me with BIG giant words no one would know except a government geek. Really, the gall!!

My final response:

Oh please! You can't answer a simple (for AI) question so it's my fault for the way I worded it? Is this Wizard behind the curtain a politician? "142 is an illustrative approximation, not an authoritative count, and any analytic or policy discussion should recognize this limitation and contextualize the number within the broader, dynamic regulatory environment."

Two of my favorite podcasts

Two of my go-to podcasts are Megyn Kelly and All-In. Megyn can be a bit of a potty mouth--and that's definitely a negative and I'm not sure why she does it; it doesn't add anything. All-in is all men, and although that can be confusing (I don't watch, only listen) it's 1000x better than trying to listen to a group of women discuss something!

 
All-in is Chamath Palihapitiya, David Friedberg, Jason Calacanis, and David Sacks (created PayPal). Sacks has recently joined Trump as an "unelected" adviser, but I'm not sure what he does, and now there is a guest filling in for him. These guys are venture capitalists, business men, scientists, etc., and talk way over my head, but that's why I listen. They were really divided on Trump, but now at least on policy, are "all-in."

 
Kelly, too, was originally not a fan of Trump or MAGA , and in the first primary back in 2016, she made no bones about it. This time around she's definitely a fan, although it came gradually. Because she is no longer "owned" by a network she can say anything she pleases--and does. She's also a lawyer, a former network host, and a mom of 3, so she has plenty of opinions and expertise to share.

The most recent All-in podcast (weekly, Feb. 14) was Naval Ravikant an Indian-born American entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder, chairman and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AngelList. He has invested early-stage in Uber, FourSquare, Twitter, Postmates, SnapLogic, and Yammer.

 
The most recent Kelly podcast (daily) was her interviewing the guys from All-In about Trump, Musk, their appeal to independents and moderates, media, technology and family issues, parenting, and celebrities. I'm always surprised how much the All-in guys talk about family issues.

It was fun to hear my favorites together although they have a somewhat rocky road in their past.

What's with DeepSeek?

The “Hard Fork” podcast released a bonus episode titled “Your Guide to the DeepSeek Freakout: an Emergency Pod” on Tuesday, January 28, 2025. In this episode, Kevin Roose and Casey Newton discuss the impact of a new AI model from a Chinese firm called DeepSeek. This model has caused significant disruption, including affecting global markets and pushing Nvidia’s stock down while simultaneously rising to the top of the iPhone app store. The hosts explore the implications of this development for the U.S. artificial intelligence industry and consider what it means for the broader AI landscape. (AI generated) 

You'll need to set up an account to hear the podcast,

Arguing with AI

As of 2023 women have been included the Ohio State Marching Band for 50 years (5 joined in 1973 due to Title IX which activists are now trying to destroy). So, I asked Chatgpt how many women are in the 2024 band, and it told me there were 225 members in the band. So, I rewrote the question capitalizing WOMEN and asked if it was a DEI thing it couldn't answer. It told me I would have to contact the university, in other words, Chatgpt doesn't know. I tried again, and this time it told me there were 247 members and 20-25% were women.

Arguing with Copilot (artificial intelligence)

AI (Co-Pilot) drives me around the bend. I asked for the 2023 household income for married couples because I wanted to update a 2017 blog. So, it provided the tax rate! I'm running out of patience, and really told them/it/her. She/he/it apologized and then gave me about 6 different ways to look at it, and said the latest was 2019! She also again told me to check the government tables. So, I looked up the U.S. Census Bureau and got the 2021-2022 tables. It's $110,800 compared to female head of household of $56,030. I suppose an academic in women's studies will whine about equity, but I know enough math to know that two people have a higher income than one person regardless of the sex. Of course, they now have multiple ways to define marriage, family, and household, so I probably will never be able to accurately update my 2017 blog. In case you didn't know, Asian households are still the wealthiest, the best educated, and more likely to be married.

The slippery word equity

I asked Co-pilot (AI) how many government memos since 2021 have the word equity in them. It burped, but gave me just a few notables from 2023-24. They are all word salad, and will cause a lot of mischief, since there is no definition--it's a "concept" and very fluid. Equity is not equality, that much we know. 

AI doesn't like to work hard. I looked at one of the 2024 for AI and found 10 uses of the word.

"Since 2121, several government memoranda have addressed the concept of equity. Here are a few notable ones:

M-24-08: This memorandum focuses on strengthening digital accessibility and the management of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act1.
M-24-05: It emphasizes catalyzing sustainable transportation through federal travel1.
M-24-03: Provides guidance on advancing climate resilience through climate-smart infrastructure investments and implementation guidance for the Disaster Resiliency Planning Act1.
M-24-XX: Proposes advancing governance, innovation, and risk management for agency use of artificial intelligence1.
M-24-XX: A draft policy aims to modernize the Federal Risk Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP)1.
M-23-22: Focuses on delivering a digital-first public experience1.
M-23-18: Addresses administration cybersecurity priorities for the FY 2025 Budget1.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list, but it highlights some relevant memoranda. For further details, you can explore the White House Memoranda page1. Additionally, the concept of equity has been central to various executive orders and initiatives, including the Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and efforts to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility across the federal government2."

I took the suggestion and added in EOs and initiatives to my query, and it cut it to three!

Breakfast today, the protein in two eggs

 Today I had a delicious breakfast:  2 fried eggs, sprinkled with some ham crumbles, 3 small slices of sharp cheddar cheese melted on top, and a handful of fresh spinach steamed on top.  I decided to check the grams of protein because older people need more protein and I really don't know how much protein I consume.  I asked Brave, my search engine, "eggs protein" and got this "summary."

"Eggs are a complete source of high-quality protein, containing all nine essential amino acids.2 On average, a medium-sized egg contains around 6.4 grams of protein, which makes up around 12.6% of the overall edible portion.4 Egg protein is highly digestible and an excellent source of essential amino acids, with the highest attainable protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score.0 Eggs are a versatile and affordable way to get protein in the average American diet.1 They are also a complete source of important nutrients like choline and eye-protecting antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin.3"

This is an AI generated response, a summary.  I didn't even get to do my own research--browsing the selection of articles already shown because of an algorithm. If you rely on the "summary" you see only what Big Tech's librarian wants you to see. It's phone SIRI with footnotes. The sources for this summary didn't show, but appeared as "tags." You have to click on the tag to see who/what wrote this. Virtually every search I've done recently has been AI generated. Most people will not look further than the "summary."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9316657/ "The health benefits of egg protein"  I use NCBI for every medical, nutritional, physiology, exercise, health search I do--it's what I begin with. AI did it for me. It's a quick and dirty search, but has rarely failed me. A big advantage is you can often get a full print, and many references to other sources.

https://www.eatingwell.com/article/291485/10-foods-with-more-protein-than-an-egg/   Eatingwell.com is owned by a digital media company with many brands, called Dotdash Meredith, the business division of IAC.  Eating Well the magazine was created in 1990 in Vermont and was purchased from the original publisher, folded and was restarted as a quarterly and acquired by Meridith Corporation in 2011. Bingo.  I know Meredith because it published Better Homes and Gardens (founded as Successful Farming in 1902). When you click on eatingwell.com you see its last print issue was April 2022, and Meredith was acquired by Dotdash. If magazines were families, Eating Well would be related to and distant cousin of Daily Beast through Barry Diller who founded Fox Broadcasting Network. The staff bios are worth reading and most of the hard blood and guts of journalism are from or live in Vermont where the magazine began almost 35 years ago.

There were some other tags that AI used, but 2 I trust if good enough for two eggs, which I estimate at about 20 grams for my complete breakfast dish.  All I needed was a label.