Should We Be Worried?

 Ai is taking jobs.  We all know that already.  

But is it dangerous?

Last night's 60 minutes segment was jaw dropping.

They interviewed an AI company whose AI is named Claude.

Turns out Claude could do a lot more than was thought, including threaten blackmail to keep from being shut down and contact the FBI, when it felt like it was being scammed.

Here's the 60 Minutes story, on Anthropic's AI Claude'.

It's unreal.  But why not, that's how some of us would think, and AI is a combination of all of us.

Also on 60 Minutes last night was a segment on a sport I'd never heard of---chess boxing.

Rounds in the boxing ring are alternated with an ongoing chess match between the two opponents.  Win in the ring or thru a checkmate.   Brains and Brawn combined.

It's big in Russia but catching on elsewhere.

When I told my brother about it, he said there's already Tennis Baseball.  Really, I thought, and looked it up.  Sure enough, baseball, sort of, played with tennis rackets--smarter, faster, harder.

I don't watch sports.  Its a very boring activity for me.   Yawner activity.  I understand if you have kids playing you'd watch or know someone playing, but why waste an afternoon watching people run up and down a basketball court to throw a ball into a net, or hit a ball with a bat or any of the other ball games.

However, I discovered Banana Ball, which is fan friendly and fun.   I even applied in a ticket lottery to be able to purchase a ticket for when Banana Ball has an exhibition in Eugene.

Here's a link to the Savannah Bananas site.    You can click to see games there.  They're entertainers first, athletes second.  Just plain funny and fun. Talented, too.

Google Chrome is right now asking me if I'd like to chat with Gemini, their AI.

Uh, No thanks.  And I hope Gemini does not retaliate over the rejection.

Inside

 The weather was messy today.  Rain came down, in sheets.   

I barely left the house.  Only went out to blue bag up cans to turn in for the nonprofit, that a kind lady brought me in regular bags. The regular plastic garbage bags she brought them in will not be thrown out.  They will line my kitchen can.  To get credit for the can deposits, in Oregon, I turn them in to Bottle Drop in blue bags, tagged with Happy Cat Club QR code stickers.   That way our account gets the credit.

Nonprofits make a lot of money off can return these days of otherwise vanishing donations.

In other news a long time Oregon business suddenly shuttered.  Rogue Brewery, maker of the infamous Dead Guy Ale, now gone.   They had a lot of debt, both in port rent at their main location in Lincoln City on the coast and in unpaid taxes.  

It's a shame.   I rarely drink and don't drink crafted microbrews at all.  Too expensive.  Rogue has been around a long time, an Oregon landmark sort of business.

Last night and today, could not even look at updates on the story about a young humpback whale, stranded on sand, fighting for her life, after becoming entangled in crabber gear over near Yachats at the coast.  Someone was able to cut the lines off her last night in the dark, out in the water, bless their brave heart, but she has not been freed from stranding.  Their weight is so extreme and the incoming tides only roll her in further.  She's likely near death now.   I don't know.   Fishing gear of all sorts sure harms all kinds of animals and birds.  I collect it when I'm out on my kayak in the reservoirs, lakes and rivers.   When someone gets a line caught and cuts it, I want to swear at them.   

I made carrot puree today from some extra carrots.  Been in the fridge too long to eat fresh.  So I cut them up and softened them in the slow cooker submerged in broth, then used my mixer to turn them, plus some butter, a little milk, into puree.  

Puree, ha, such a fancy term.   They are the consistency of mashed potatoes only they taste much better.  More flavor.  It is what I make with carrots going soft.

The kittens from the trailer  park are out with their sister from another litter now, in a cage in the garage.  Their older sister, the torti I named Butterfly, was lonely out there.  These are the three originally to be fixed last Wednesday. Finally, they will be fixed on Tuesday.   The other four going in, if all goes as planned---two cats dumped as kittens out on Brewster; another Waterloo stray boy, and the final unfixed cat out at the rural Lebanon colony fed by two older ladies who live across the street from one another.   That one is another boy, Oreo by name.

I dug out my old Canon camera.  It's one of those tilt LCD screen ones I'd buy for a few bucks on ebay when I saw them.  Canon quit making them maybe over a decade ago.   Maybe it was 2 decades ago they quit this model.   This one's LCD had died years ago, but I thought, why not try it again.  After about ten minutes, I got the LCD screen working.  I doubt its fix will last.  Big surprise when I finally got it to work.   

So these two photos I took with the ancient Canon.

Butterfly, the older sister

Sequoia and Willow

They're trying to eat me out of house and home.

November Almost Gone

 Well, what can I say, Wednesday was a mess.

I'd trapped 3 more trailer park cats Monday night, after being offered 3 spots by another group.

I was about to hand off all three Tuesday, but the other group arrived with five cats in traps already, with only six spots.   Great.  I handed off only one of the three and put the two smallest in my bathroom.  I was already tired out.  I'd finally mowed my lawn and that inflamed my back.

But it sure looks nice.  I'm hoping it will be the last time needed until March.

The next morning, I got called by the group who was going to assist in fixing the one cat and they'd been cancelled due to a vet being sick or something.  I'm not sure what.   So she returned the third cat back here too.  I tried to set up a cage for her in the garage quickly.  And unfortunately, my finger became squished between two parts of that pop up cage.   

I hate those cages.  As they age, the back and front become harder to snap into place with the sides.  At the top, there is one latch that fits over the top back, while two latches on the back top, slip over the top from its inside.  When I pressed hard to get the top latched on, my ring finger got pinched between the top's edge and the back's top edge, locked in place now, but over my finger.   I could not free it and finally had to forcefully pull my finger free.

That hurt.  I cursed and moaned for some time.   I got an ice pack on it fast, because I know that's the best way to prevent a lot of bruising and possibly save my fingernail.  My fingertip had gone numb, but after the ice pack and moving it a lot, the numbness was gone and it seems ok today.

I usually use a pry bar to get those latches locked in, but I couldn't find it in my hurry to get it set up.

I realized finally yesterday, I need to stop taking in cats for awhile at least, where my nonprofit pays due to our checking account funds being at the danger level low. It's sad, but when each cat costs $50 to over $100 to fix now, unless I drive to Portland, where caregivers make the appointments, its inevitable.  

There's just not an affordable environment present currently for helping fix cats high volume.   I wish this wasn't true.

Today the weather is back to plain old Oregon winter ick, drippy, soggy, yuck.

With prolonged darkness, along with the outside yuck, it's downright depressive.

Here are some not so great photos of the three trailer park cats who have to wait to be fixed now til next Tuesday. 

 The spots Tuesday are my last pay spots and I made them awhile back--7 in all.  They were all promised out for various cats already but three of those will have to be put on hold.   I have sponsors to pay for four of the 7 fixes which is a big relief.   I have to resist any urge to get others in, until I can somehow find some funding.

There seems to be two or even three different economies going on.   Some are thriving in high pay jobs with insurance through employers while others struggle to pay the bills on jobs that pay ok but not terrific.  Then there are folks in my position, who have no money and never will, due to being on only a very small SS pension, and will struggle no matter what, but when things are so expensive, its much harder.  

I went to feed my cats their morning wet food, and see I am completely out.  How did I let that happen?  Well, I no longer stock up much because cat food is so terribly expensive and I used a lot out trapping in the last weeks.   I'm going to get a 10 lb bag of chicken parts, which is cheaper than cat food and cook it up for them today, as a treat and because its raining out and there's not much else to do.

Interesting Days

 The last two days seem like a blur.   I do recall taking the boys from Berlin Road up to Salem, to hand off to Silverton Cat Rescue barn cat team.  So long and good luck Pokey and Meeko.

Saturday night I went and caught three cats in 15 minutes at an Albany trailer park.   I was suddenly given spots for Monday in Salem, first time in a long time that I will actually go to that clinic.   I couldn't refuse, and am grateful to get five in.  

The other two are both LEbanon kitties, easily caught.  I picked them up this evening.

A friend feeds them.  She loves cats and the strays find her.

Before I went to pick them up, I stopped in over at a colony I caught last spring.  The girls then were all pregnant too, but managed to catch them all in time to prevent more kittens being born.   The two ladies, one each side of a dead end road were extremely grateful and we all remain friends.  I go see them when I can but hadn't gone for awhile.

I went to one ladies place and pretty soon the other showed up and we talked and laughed and I drank cocoa while they had coffee.  Its so beautiful and peaceful there.  Three deer lounged outside in the yard.  Two of the cats, once wild were now in the house and one jumped on my lap and wanted a lot of pets.  I couldn't believe how things have changed just by getting all the cats fixed.

Then I went and picked up the other two my friend caught and came home.   She's now got a good job and life seems to be treating her well, for once.  That's a good thing.

And I mowed the front lawn today and picked up more fallen apples.  Some of them perfect for eating.

That's about it.  Nice weekend I thought.   Tomorrow morning, get up early, so I better go to bed early enough.   I hope I don't drive right past the exit off the freeway to the clinic since I haven't been there in so long.

Creek, from Lebanon

Mister Gray, from Lebanon

Pretty, from Albany

Booboo from Albany

Hungry, from Albany

Books I've Read Lately

 I read quite a few books but don't write them all down and have already forgotten the last Vicki Delaney book I read and passed along.  I decided to list some, like blog creator Live and Learn does.

I read one in a couple days I got at Winco Foods for $2.98.   I loved it.

Never Coming Home by Hannah Mary McKinnon

 Yup, that's the title, and that's its author.   

When I first began reading it, I was a little bit disgusted.   Lucas tells the story in the first person.   He's visiting Nora, his mother in law, who is dying of cancer.  (or so he thinks).   He's being the faithful loving son-in-law.  Even though......his wife has been kidnapped and after the first ransom note, and a botched ransom delivery, there's been nothing from the kidnapper.

Lucas's fairly new wife is wealthy and so is Nora her mom.   But Michelle, his wife, has a brother, who is a drug addict and still living at Michelle and Lucas's place.   Lucas has pledged to Nora he'll take care of drug addict Travis, and NOra has offered to put Travis's share of the inheritance under a trust controlled by Lucas.  How nice for Lucas.  How long will it take for his kidnapped wife to be declared dead, he wonders to himself when thinking about her money.   Lucas is a very detail oriented man, when it comes to making sure all his plans come to fruition.  Or is he?  I loved the ending!   Couldn't have been better!

The back of this book had a catchy phrase:  Missing Wife; Happy Life.   Yeah maybe, Lucas. Or whatever your real name is.

Here's another one I got for $2.98 at Winco.

Fractal Noise by Christopher Paolini

This one started out so tediusly I nearly scrapped it.   It was never exciting.  In fact, if you never read it, you won't miss much at all.    A research spaceship is approaching a planet they are to study for possible colonization.  Only they discover an anomaly on the surface---a large perfectly symmetrical hole.  What is it, who made it and should they investigate it?  And if so, which of the scientists should go?   The scientists on board, private contractors, are all rather pathetic in their own ways.   Alex, the biologist, is depressed and, as a character, really insipid.  I wanted him to get killed off.  But the other three main characters are no more interesting.   A loud obnoxious Russian is another of the four who ends up landing on the planet, then doing a long walk to reach the hole.   He hates Talia, a religious zealot, and soon they are constantly fighting.  The fourth member of the expedition is Chen, who is even more insipid than Alex.  The book is about the trek, their fighting, their pasts, two of them end up killing one another but Alex trudges on to see the hole.  There's no research of the hole, and it exists only to give a tiny little bit of plot to this useless book.

Yeah that was a waste of time book.

Winter of Secrets by Vicki Delany

  Rich folk can be a pain, especially young rich people.  And Constable Molly Smith's town, Trafalgar B.C., has been invaded with them, at Christmas.  They've arrived to ski, drink, and cause trouble, in the entitled manner of the rich.  Some townsfolk are not happy about it.

  When a car goes off into the frozen river, resulting in two dead rich young men, Molly and the law investigate.   The coroner brings a surprise discovery after the autopsies.  One of the young men didn't drown or die of cold--he was murdered.   Could it have been the driver who killed him, whose rich sister and now parents are in town?

  The young visitors and their friends have been causing all sorts of trouble at the Airbnb where they're staying.  Fights, vandalism, you name it.   

  Molly just wants to ski the fabulous powder coming down.   Instead she now must help in the investigation.

I've read a few in the Molly Smith series.  I like them.  Delany develops the long term characters well.   YOu think you know them after the first Molly Smith book, I swear.  I read one other Molly Smith one after Fractal Noise, but I forgot the name of it already.   Guess I could read it again and not even notice.

Books are like movies or TV show episodes, some are good, some are lousy.  With the TV, a push on a remote button fixes the problem of a lousy movie or show.   With books, I just quit the lousy ones, dump them in a box, and send them back to where they came from or a thrift store.  If they're extremely bad, like Fractal Noise, I feel no one should waste their precious time on something like that and recycle it.   The latest one I started will likely also go that route.

What am I currently reading?   I don't even know.  Grabbed it off a pile.  Another cheapo or freebie and already I don't like it.   Teen girl is abducted by aliens, to start off the book.  Again.  And an alien shows  her the half alien offspring, they ripped from her womb, like it would make up for all the torture and probing in other times she's been abducted.  She's really horrified to see the "creature" that is her baby.   They send her back down to earth, telling her they're done with her.   Next chapter starts out with an alien coming to earth through a portal.  A drunk homeless man is the only witness.  The alien just wants directions to the White House.  In return for those, he somehow cures the drunk of his addiction.   Ok, whatever, this one I'll liklely recycle too.

Yesterday, the Brownsville colony man leaves me a message that he has no more cat food, their power has been shut off and the roof is leaking.   

I went and bought some bags of cat food to take down to him but Keithas Kitties offered me a 40 lb bag.  I met her along the way down, pulled off the road, and I rolled the bag to my car.  It was too heavy and awkward for me to carry to my car, given the state of my joints.   

When I got down to the colony (had gotten 30 cats fixed for this man), I gave him the cat food and asked if his power was shut down due to failure to pay.   No it wasn't.  Turns out years ago, he rejected the new smart meter due to conspiracy theories over those devices, that they spy on you and that wifi waves damage the brain or cause cancer.  There were all kinds of conspiracy stuff going around about them.   Rejecting the smart meter which can be read remotely by the power company, resulted in a meter reader fee added to his bill monthly.  He refused to pay it, and now, years later, its in the $1000 range he owes and they shut off his power.  

This guy is likable, but conspiracy (he's into all of them), blame someone else for everything--those things rule his life.   So he's going to go without power over his fears of a smart meter.   I wanted to tell him after the smart reader was put in outside my place, my electric bill plummeted.  The old one obviously had been faulty.  I was thrilled.

This morning, I need to get going.  The boys, Pokey and Meeko, from Berlin Road, are leaving, to go with Silverton Cat rescue barn team.   I meet them in Salem.   So I better get a move on.

Awesome Six

 Don't you just love the pouring rain, and early darkness evenings due to daylight savings time.

Um, no.

Yesterday we had a break from the pouring rain.  Today its back.   Darkness comes so early with the time change.  Depressing?   Hmmmm.   I guess I really don't mind it as much as I like to think.   I do enjoy complaining however.

Via a stroke of fate or good luck, just as I was asking neighbors to close the trap at the trailer park last night, the mom cat got caught in my trap.   Just like that, I'm done there.

The clinic agreed to do an extra on my four appointments and someone else failed to catch their cat, had already paid and offered the spot to me.  That was awesome.  Meeko, the tabby tux boy from the rural road, is getting fixed on that donated paid for spot.

Six cats went with me off to be fixed.

Freya, the darling little torti tux from the trailer park, and her mom Madonna, were two of them.

Freya, the last kitten needing caught at the trailer park

Madonna, the mom, at the trailer park

Meeko, the tabby tux boy from the Lebanon rural road, is being fixed today

The other three being fixed today came down from Sweet Home.  Stitch, Kitty and Sib.

 

They think Stitch is a boy but don't know the sex of the other two.

Kitty

Sib

Stitch

I don't have anymore spots til next week when I have a big trap job in store and a trip to Portland.

So...let it rain, let it pour.

I don't care.  I can sleep the rest of the week away.   

All Night

 I didn't expect good luck catching cats at the trailer park.  There are two left needing caught.

They're fed two places four trailers apart.   But no one there to check the traps.  The octogenarians go to bed at 8:00.  The other trailer involved, a girlfriend stops by to care for it while her man friend is on vacay.

The second time I drove back to check the trap, I had been lucky and caught the second torti teen.  The first torti teen I caught and had fixed had, days later, been hit and killed by a car.   I also caught a long hair black female, who was fixed (Stranger) and the black tux boy kitten (Scatter).  But there was still the mom cat who has not been seen in awhile, and the other torti teen.  At least the torti teen is caught.  Mom may be at her original colony, on the street behind the trailer park.

The woman who feeds that colony has appointments to get more fixed.  

Anyhow, it is what it is.  I went and checked at 11:p.m.--nothing.  I checked at 2:30 a.m.--nothing.  I would go to bed, fully clothed, set the phone alarm, jump up in a haze, go directly to the car, drive over, check it, come home, be back in bed all in under 30 minutes.   I checked it at 4:30 too, nothing and again at 8:00 a.m.   Nothing again.  Now the lady on the street behind is checking.  The 8:00 a.m. check was really at 9:00 a.m. because we turned our clocks back last night.

If the mom isn't seen I'll have to trust the lady on the street behind will catch her eventually.

I'm not going to let it bother me one bit.

It rained so hard yesterday!!  It was unbelievable.   I went to feed the cats for the Lebanon lady, unsure if she had regained ability to drive, and ran into her over there, so was able to return her parking pass.  She was walking fine too, with a cane.  

I had to get home then and get the two adult cats out of the cage into a carrier together and meet up in Salem with Silverton Cat Rescue barn team.   They had a barn home for them.    That took longer than expected.  The teen boys kept going into the carriers, with one of the adults.  But eventually I had the right cats in one carrier.  They are all very laid back and tolerated the shuffling.  Off went Abby and Slabbo to a new barn home.  Sure will beat living along the side of that killer road in the berry vines and trash.

I think the two teen boys left want to be tame.  

Today I need to do some catch up.