the iMentor

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This weB-LOG is about the musing of a technical consultant. It is the iMentor's thoughts on technology and the human condition.

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Author: Rick Thues

Draw Them In

September 2, 2026 Uncategorized No Comments
Episode #918 September 5, 2026 I used to tell my stories in the first person until a college buddy, Bill, questioned their truth.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYCcJZRtkXc “All those things could not have happened to you,” Bill said. The truth is that I have lived a varied and interesting life. I really did win medals in track, have my name on an achievement plaque in high school, survive a head-on collision, and learn to waterski at five years old. But Bill’s skepticism didn’t just challenge accuracy—it disrupted the effect of the telling. It pulled the listener out of the experience and...
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What is in a Name

August 26, 2026 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Episode #917 August 29, 2026 My 10-year-old father came in the living room and said to his parents. “I’m Bobby!”     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DkaRUtp3w8&list=RD9DkaRUtp3w8&start_radio=1   In spite of his given name of Carol Jewett, his parents said, “Hello Bobby,” and the name stuck. Later in his life, Bobby’s mother remarried Hans Thues. My father’s name was now Robert (for Bobby) Thues. A great fan of James Dean, Bob Thues took Dean as a middle name and was now Robert Dean Thues. He never officially changed it, but this is the name he used for his driver's license, when he entered the...
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Stories Well-Traveled

August 19, 2026 Uncategorized 1 Comment
    Episode 916 August 22, 2026 “Stories Well-Traveled,” a book of short stories  by Writers Anonymous, is now live on Amazon.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld6fAO4idaI&list=RDLd6fAO4idaI&start_radio=1 Publishing and contributing to “Stories Well-Traveled” has been my great privilege and joy. Our first Writers Anonymous anthology of short stories was “Matters of Life and Death, Stories on the Brink.” The authors weave tales of unexpected danger, unspeakable dilemmas, bad choices, and dumb luck. In “Stories Well-Traveled,” our second anthology, we return to write about the different paths Writers Anonymous authors have traveled, both real and imagined. Over the last fifty-nine years, we have...
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Living Perception

August 9, 2026 Uncategorized 3 Comments
Episode #915 August 15, 2026 There is a temptation, when we speak about animals and humans, to divide the world too sharply.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnrt6ykm6Do&list=RDwnrt6ykm6Do&start_radio=1   We say animals have instinct, and humans have spirit, as though one is biological while the other is spiritual. But what if both words are describing the same underlying phenomenon—the living perception of reality? A bird waking to a cold dawn does not reason its way into migration, yet when the season changes, something within it changes as well. We call this instinct, but instinct is not a thing the bird possesses; it is the...
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Love Rubber Soul

August 3, 2026 Uncategorized 4 Comments
Episode #914 August 8, 2026 My favorite Beatles album of all time is Rubber Soul.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBcdt6DsLQA&list=RDYBcdt6DsLQA&start_radio=1 Styles range from Nowhere Man folk rock to The Word psychedelic soul to Michelle Medieval rooted chanson to What Goes On country to In My Life baroque pop to Norwegian Wood Indian sitar. It is the album where the Beatles stopped being a pop music group and became album-oriented studio artists. Rubber Soul is where the Beatles’ producer, George Martin, truly became the fifth Beatle. He created a keyboard solo for In My Life that sounds like a harpsichord by recording a...
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Plagiarism

July 27, 2026 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Episode #913 August 1, 2026 Plagiarism is the act of using another person's  ideas, words, or expressions  and presenting them as your own original work.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmnLHbJksGc&list=RDYmnLHbJksGc&start_radio=1 By quoting the dictionary definition of plagiarism, I have just committed plagiarism. Or have I? I did not quote from a dictionary. I typed the word “plagiarism” into Google. Gemini, Google’s Artificial Intelligence (AI), summarized the word with the intro sentence above. I copied the sentence and pasted it into this blog. I asked Gemini if all or part of its overview for the word “plagiarism” was copied directly from any sentences on...
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