Searching for contentment
In the fragrance of freshly worked wood⩘
The soft glow cast by shoji lamps⩘
The inspiration of good reads⩘
My heart is with the people of Ukraine
My contemplations about Ukraine⩘
Broken heart: Palestine, Gaza, the West Bank, Israel⩘
Abolish ICE!
Living in the Rockies
After a very dry and overly warm winter and early spring, in May we were overjoyed to experience nicer temperatures and, best of all, several wonderful rainstorms. As a result, the world around us turned green with exuberant life, and my daily walks are much more joyful as my eyes drink in the beauty from the tiniest fresh green plants popping up to entire hillsides of Mountain Mahogany radiating a deep green aura.
Here are two examples basking in the early morning sun: a small salsify flower shining against a deep green Virginia Creeper vine and my favorite old great grandmother cottonwood with her many thousands of fresh green leaves dancing in the gentle morning breeze against a brilliant blue sky. I love this tree, and often pause to lay a gentle hand on her bark to say hello and feel her vibrant energy.
Larger version of these photos⩘
More recent photos⩘
The kids are alright
Knights of Molino. Photo by Beth LaBerge/KQED.
May 26, 2026: While browsing Mastodon this afternoon, I came across these kids who have formed a punk bank, Knights of Molino, and have released a song about AI titled "Take Back Control". I am impressed! They can really play, and their song is a passionate exploration of the humanity of music.
In fact, the music and lyrics are so good that I was a bit skeptical. I've never before heard kids that young play so well. So I started poking around to see if this was indeed legit. I found them on Bandcamp: Take Back Control by Knights of Molino⩘ .
The Knights of Molino are a San Francisco Bay Area middle school punk band – members are brothers Erik and Tommy Birmingham, and Rowan Campbell.
Then I found their website: Knights of Molino⩘ . Here's the beginning of the lyrics of "Take Back Control""
I won't be a slave to AI
It's time for us all to step out of line
Free your mind and look to the sky
End the code and blind the cyber eyeThere's a crisis in the nation
Gotta break free from the simulation
The truth is music comes from the soul
Unplug, join in, take back controlArtificial Intelligence
Can't know the human experience
Finally, I found an excellent article about them and this song by Jody Amable, KQED. Here's a couple excerpts:
Knights of Molino are a new punk band composed of middle schoolers Erik and Tommy Birmingham, 11 and 13, and Rowan Campbell, 12. They recently reached moderate viral fame for another track in which they didn't shy away from speaking their minds. In October, their scathing takedown of generative AI, "Take Back Control," went spinning across Bay Area and punk-rock TikTok. It's currently at 240,000 views and 2,500 comments: definitely not Mr. Beast numbers, but pretty impressive when you consider none of them even are allowed on TikTok yet.
But those interactions aren't from their peers (at Mill Valley Middle School, rock is out and pop and rap are in, they say). They're mostly from adults inspired to see young people picking up the Bay Area punk torch and rejecting the creep of technology. "AI is taking over the arts and it is vile," agrees one comment. Another: "We need more of this human creativity and true punk." More still are various versions of "the kids are alright."…
For the record, they're not totally anti-AI ("It has [some] good uses," admits Erik), but they're increasingly horrified by its infiltration of music and the inability of many to discern it from the real thing. "The problem is not many people can recognize AI as fake," Erik continues. "And I feel like that's one of the reasons we made the song, [to] help people realize that AI's stealing human thoughts and emotions, and, like, human hard work and time."
"We put emotion and feeling, heart, experiences and all that into writing these songs. But when AI does it, it has nothing to go off of," Tommy adds. "'Cause it's not human. Robot on a screen. How is it supposed to connect with humans?"
A Preteen Punk Band From Mill Valley Takes on AI⩘ by Jody Amable, KQED, Nov 24, 2025.
More recent contemplations⩘
Reading
Steve Rosenbaum with a forward by Maria Ressa, The Future of Truth: How AI Reshapes Reality
Well narrated by Chris Ciulla
Update, May 22, 2026: I was incredibly disappointed this morning to learn that it has been discovered that Rosenbaum's The Future of Truth contains improperly attributed or synthetic quotes generated by AI. In my opinion, he has lost his credibility due to his sloppy research and diligence. As a customer who purchased the audiobook and ebook versions of this book so I could carefully listen to and read it, I feel cheated and let down by Rosenbaum. This feels fraudulent to me. I wonder how Maria Ressa, someone I greatly respect, feels about having her name associated with this book. Normally, I would not leave a review of a disgraced book like this on my site, but I'm going to leave this one up with this update preface as a warning that it is not a reliable book. I guess this is the future of truth. Obviously, I need to redouble my skepticism.
Journalist and author Steven Rosenbaum has more reasons than most to distrust AI.
His new book, The Future of Truth: How AI Reshapes Reality, is all about "how Truth is being bent, blurred, and synthesized" thanks to the "pressure of fast-moving, profit-driven AI." Yet a New York Times investigation this week found what Rosenbaum now acknowledges are "a handful of improperly attributed or synthetic quotes" linked to his use of AI tools while researching the book.– AI put "synthetic quotes" in his book. But this author wants to keep using it.⩘ by Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, May 22, 2026.
Original review:
A thoughtful dive into what truth is and how our modern society, social media, and AI are reshaping and distorting it.
It reinforces my viewpoint that the best way to navigate today's world is with a very healthy dose of skepticism.
One phrase I particularly appreciated was introduced when discussing algorithmic judgment systems and the related AI truth assessment systems: prejudice engines.
This episode revealed a fundamental Truth about algorithmic judgment systems: They are, at their core, prejudice engines. When an algorithm turns historical data into a predictive model, it operates on the assumption that the future will mirror the past.…
The parallels to today's AI truth assessment systems are striking. Whether judging exam integrity, job applications, or insurance claims, these systems perpetuate existing biases under the guise of objective assessment. As [Timandra] Harkness presciently noted, "Isn't it strange that we are repelled by prejudice in other contexts, but accept it when it's automated?"
Matt Holt Books, 2026; Bookshop.org⩘ ; audiobook: Brilliance Audio, 2026; via Apple Books⩘ .
See also:
- How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future by Maria Ressa⩘
- Why I dislike artificial intelligence⩘
More recent reading⩘
Fighting for American democracy
We must use our time and our space
on this little planet that we call Earth
to make a lasting contribution,
to leave it a little better than we found it,
and now that need is greater than ever before.– John Lewis, 2020
———
"So what do those of us who love American democracy do? Make noise. Take up oxygen…. Defend what is great about this nation: its people, and their willingness to innovate, work, and protect each other. Making America great has never been about hatred or destruction or the aggregation of wealth at the very top; it has always been about building good lives for everyone on the principle of self-determination. While we have never been perfect, our democracy is a far better option than the autocratic oligarchy Trump is imposing on us."…
I write these letters because I love America. I am staunchly committed to the principle of human self-determination for people of all races, genders, abilities, and ethnicities: the idea that we all have the right to work to become whatever we wish. I believe that American democracy has the potential to be the form of government that comes closest to bringing that principle to reality. And I know that achieving that equality depends on a government shaped by fact-based debate rather than by extremist ideology and false narratives.
– Professor Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American⩘ , Sep 15, 2025.
———
Swearing an oath to our constitution
United States Constitution with its preamble "We the People"
Government of the United States of America
Photo⩘ by Joseph Sohm⩘ ; licensed via Shutterstock
I admire the leadership of retired Maj Gen Paul Eaton who is speaking up in defense of our constitution and against the ongoing effort to politicize our armed forces.
Maj Gen Paul Eaton has sounded the alarm, saying in an interview with the Guardian that the effort to bend the higher echelons of the military to the US president's will was unparalleled in recent history and could have long-term dire consequences. He warned that both the reputation and efficiency of the world's most powerful fighting force was in the balance.
"There is an active effort to politicise the armed forces," Eaton said. "Once you infect the body, the cure may be very difficult and painful for presidents downstream."
I'm hoping that many people, both military and civilians, listen to his message.
Trump push to politicize US military 'reminiscent of Stalin', top general warns⩘ by Ed Pilkington, The Guardian, Jan 5, 2025.
More recent contemplations⩘
Woodworking
A note about the image at the top of this page
The Windtraveler—a shoji lamp I created in the shape of a deltoidal hexecontahedron—is made of 60 deltoid-shaped faces (like kites) framed in maple. Each five deltoids meeting at the more pointed bottom tips form a pentagon, creating a total of 12 pentagons, which is a dodecahedron. Each three deltoids meeting at the broader top tips form a triangle, creating a total of 20 triangles, which is an icosahedron. Within each deltoid frame are thinner 1/4 inch inner frames made of mahogany, with additional strips that run from the top tip to the bottom tip of each deltoid forming 120 right angle triangles, which reveal a hexakis icosahedron. The inner mahogany frames are backed by washi, a traditional Japanese paper, which creates a gentle shade for the light cast by the light bulbs within to pass through.
More about this project⩘
More woodworking⩘
My journey
Love nature. As a kid, I just wanted to be out playing in the woods that surrounded our small town home. When younger, I lived a few places around the world and visited several others … then found a place in the foothills of the Rockies and my heart was home. When I'm out walking, I snap photos and post the better ones on this site to preserve the opportunity to revisit some of these exquisite experiences. Photos⩘
Love reading. Growing up, I carried armloads of books home each week from the library. Now tend to carry around a virtual stack of audiobooks. I deeply appreciate authors, narrators, and translators. Since 1999, I've been posting reviews on this site, in the more recent years focused on just those books I appreciate the most. I listen to or read a lot of genres, fiction and nonfiction, and particularly appreciate well done speculative fiction. Reading⩘
Love woodworking. A passionate amateur, I revere wood. My main focus has been shoji lamps in the shape of polyhedra. I love the light that glows through washi and deeply appreciate the folks who make these papers. I'm entranced by the dance of polyhedra patterns, and keep notes on my website about the experience of making some of the lamps. I've also made a fair bit of our furniture, and have done some woodworking to fix up our old home. Woodworking⩘
Love our beautiful, fragile planet. I'm deeply concerned about our climate and all the life we are carelessly and rapidly degrading and destroying.
Photo credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring
Awed by space and astronomy. Photos of spiral galaxies melt my heart and also inspire me to wonder whether I'm originally from another planet in another galaxy far far away. See also: Our home in this wondrous universe⩘
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Value privacy. I think online privacy should be the default state. Because it's not, I try to protect at least some of my privacy online, especially against greedy corporations. I deeply appreciate the work that folks like Cory Doctorow⩘ and organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)⩘ are doing on our behalf.
See also:
Why I dislike artificial intelligence⩘
Privacy Is Power by Carissa Véliz⩘
McLuhan lecture on enshittification by Cory Doctorow⩘
A helpful online privacy tool:
Keystones: Respect, compassion, empathy, acceptance. We're all in this together.
