the iMentor

Hints & rants

This weB-LOG contains helpful hints and rants about your Macintosh, Apple products and your electronic life.

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Category: Uncategorized

Computer Dreams

July 27, 2021 Uncategorized 2 Comments
Episode #652 July 31, 2021 Computers can make our dreams come true, but do computers dream?     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fdAFmtq-o8 i asked Siri, “Do you dream?” She said, “I once had a dream that all my 1’s switched places with my 0’s. It was weird.” Another answer was, “Well, I don’t sleep. But I do like to daydream. And night-daydream.” i asked Siri, “What do you dream about?” She said, “Flying.” Funny… so do i. i asked Siri, “What do androids dream about?” She said, “Electric sheep.” i’m not sure how she knows. i think she might have looked it up...
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At Rest

July 22, 2021 Uncategorized 6 Comments
Episode #651 July 24th, 2021   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEGL7j2LN84 After a hectic day at the office and the race home on the freeway it is nice to just sit in an easy chair and not move. Good luck with that. As you sit, drinking your beer, the earth keeps spinning. It spins at about 1000 miles per hour. We could do the math: The earth takes 24 hours to rotate once around its axis. Its circumference is 24,898 miles. 24,898 miles ÷ 24 hours = 1037 miles per hour. But, math is etherial.  Let's get empirical.  Consider that the distance between Los Angeles...
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In Control

July 12, 2021 Uncategorized 3 Comments
Episode #650 July 17, 2021 i do not like how much my iPhone controls me. Yet, i would be lost without my iPhone.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Iv3IRF3oA The computer in my pocket nags me constantly. Its alarm tells me when to get up. The calendar tells me where i need to be and who i will meet. This information informs me what clothes i should wear. If it were not for my iPhone i would miss appointments. Really… Even if i remembered who and where to meet i could not get there without my iPhone. The Contacts app tells me where to...
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Impatience

July 6, 2021 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Episode #649 July 10, 2021 The Artificial Intelligence in a Costco water vending machine taught me a lesson in patience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErvgV4P6Fzc The machine was filled with small water bottles, eight slots across and five rows down. The price for a bottle was 25 cents. After inserting my quarter i had to press codes A1-8, through E1-8. This code seemed unnecessary since all the slots were filled with the same water bottles. i pressed B-4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9FExe6KZ44 The automated arm scurried across and up to B-4. The mechanism pushed on the line of bottles, but the bottle did not fall into the arm....
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Ditch Digger

June 29, 2021 Uncategorized 3 Comments
Episode #648 July 3, 2021 When i was a little boy my mother encouraged me to study hard in school. “You don’t want to become a ditch digger when you grow up,” she said. So i studied hard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNI27KOQoF4 i excelled in high school. My grades were good enough to be accepted at a prestigious university. i started my university courses in the sciences and segued to English and the Arts. As VP of my residence hall i had access to the underground steam tunnels. Was this a preview of things to come? Mine was a full and rounded education. With...
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Negotiation

June 23, 2021 Uncategorized 6 Comments
Episode #647 June 26, 2021 It was in high school English class that i first learned about negotiation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho7796-au8U i have never been able to spell. When in high school there were no word processors or spell check applications. In fact, the only computer in the school did little more than run an Adventure game. Only the honors class had access to the computer.   My senior English final exam was divided between vocabulary and essay.  The vocabulary section was based on the “Building Word Power” text book. We were to memorize the words, their meanings and spellings. The essay...
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