Items I can live without

Okay so on this allergy inducing Sunday I thought to myself of all the things that drive me nuts. Here is a sampling -

Allergies - Any kind, but mostly those that cause me physical or mental discomfort. Pollen, pet dander, stupid people etc. are main culprits in no particular order. Pointless having them in the atmosphere but I guess unless we find a way to pollinate for the survival of the species the tree huggers are gonna want it.
Adults who organize surprise parties for other adults - I am not sure if this is a bay area disease but I am often informed of ridiculous events like a spouse organizing a surprise birthday party for their other half. I mean what sort of mental defective does not know a party is being planned under their own nose? Got to be some allergy that chokes the nose to not know that? And they don't just organize it but 'throw it'. The attending sycophants yam about this event by describing how so and so threw this surprise party for her spouse who just finished graduating from B-school. What a load of crock! I think that surprise is more to the accosted guest who is hand picked to help with the festivities and not get paid for their labor. Because it is usually the female member of the species that organizes this for the male in the household and dumps the work on the unsuspecting male guest(s). This male guest in a vacuous attempt at chivalry often falls prey to this scam. I am not sure if I am more amazed that a grown man had a party to celebrate spending money in school or turning 40 or 50 years old or whatever days he consumed material goods on this planet and occupied valuable real estate, or that his spouse was yearning for a look of surprise so bad?
People with pets - Leaving turds on other people's property to entertain themselves by taking out their defecating animals or letting them loose without a leash as their idea of fun, are retards in the community I can definitely live without.
Women that wear welding glasses on the street - these tend to be mostly Asian and have this habit of wearing a massive sunshade that prevents visibility to traffic in their vicinity. I have often feared for my life as one of them veers into traffic with their European stroller with no knowledge of that car inches behind them doing sixty.
Chit chat about transgender - when a country has no real world problems to deal with it makes them up. Bathroom design for transgender people is one such. I empathize with all genders when it comes to taking nature's call. But answer me this - if someone not of the gender marked on the bathroom door walked in the opposite type - what happens? Nothing! I mean who is taking trips to bathrooms of opposite sex as if it was an amusement park? Is this a real threat to our society now? Which goes to my other bigger problem of what is with the gender specific restrooms in the first place? Women long wanted equality so what the heck is with this made up nonsense?
Another election - if democracy has taught us one thing it is that you can find free comedy come election time. But honestly I am considering watching professional comedians if I need a fix.
Money design- can we please not waste collective societal time on BS like whose face can we put on the money?

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...

A few good books

On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...

Costa Rica

Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry. Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while. Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...

Brown Motion

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