X Marks the Spot

Had fun putting this video together by including different types of footage from drone clips to weather events with asides to insects, music and sculpture.  Enjoy.

Humor

Illustration by Shout

Humor is everywhere but what is it? It's kinda like pornography, you can't define it but you know it when you see it, like these gems seen below. :)

True creativity often starts where language ends. - Koestler

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. - Einstein

"Take my wife, please." - Henry Youngman

Politics: Poli a Latin word meaning many and tics meaning bloodsucking creatures. - Robin Williams

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason. - Mark Twain

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac? - George Carlin

Ralph Steadman

To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.  - Thomas Paine

Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won't expect it back. - Oscar Wilde

“Apparently I lack some particular perversion which today's employer is seeking. ” ― John Kennedy Toole, 

“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.” - Joseph Heller

General "Buck" Turgidson: "Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines..." Dr. Strangelove" 

"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son." Dean Wormer - Animal house

“I marvel at your power to be mistaken.” Moliere

Dr. Peter Venkman: We've been going about this all wrong. This Mr. Stay Puft's okay! He's a sailor, he's in New York; we get this guy laid, we won't have any trouble! - Ghostbusters

But what about AI and humor ... something to think about is it not?

Jon the Robot and Naomi Fitter perform onstage at the Majestic Theater in Corvallis, Ore.,

in October 2019 Courtesy Naomi

Artificial Intelligence Can Now Craft Original Jokes—And That’s No Laughing Matter

The prospect of an AI that understands why we are laughing, and that can generate its own genuinely funny material, is sort of a holy grail for a subset of AI researchers. Artificial intelligence can diagnose tumors, read maps and play games, often faster and with more accuracy than humans can.

For the moment, however, linguistic humor is still primarily a people thing. Jon can work blue, with a whole bit on robot dating that involves cryptic texts, encrypted text, and the eggplant emoji—but only because a human has written and programmed a set list for it. Finding a way to teach machines to be funny on their own would be a major breakthrough—one that could fundamentally reshape the way we relate to the devices around us. To understand a person’s humor is to know what they like, how they think and how they see the world. An AI that understands all that has the power to do a lot more than just crack jokes.

(Image credit: Drew Sheneman / Copyright 2024 Tribune Content Agency)

Sojourn

sojourn

[ noun soh-jurn; verb soh-jurn, soh-jurn ]

noun

a temporary stay:

In this case, Ithaca, complete with short stops in town, Cornell and a visit to Woodstock, a place where yours truly shared space with 450.000+ back in August of 1969. 

Enjoy. :)  As an aside, the Argos Inn's a 10 in terms of service and accommodations. :)

A tiny Ithaca sampler ...

Exit

Cornell/Rev 1

1618033

Of the feline persuasion :)

Conway's Game of Life

The Argos bar

Self explanatory is it not?

Groucho lives :)

Itsy Bitsy Spider ...

The French approach to the Bauhaus

Harmony 101

Staircase

Cornell/Rev III

Overview

Doors

Channeling Arcimboldo

The Eyes have it :)

Yours truly loves jumping spiders. Tiny, inquisitive and incredibly smart, these engaging little guys captivate me to no end while also being an extremely successful predator to the max. The reason for the jumper's skill set is readily seen by this truly excellent clip describing how this amazing arachnid sees the world indirectly connects to the deep relationship of additive and subtractive color spaces as articulated in a "wonderful" series of blurbs residing in BRT under color. :)

Why talk about this? Well, vision is a prime driver of intelligence as it requires serious brain power to negotiate the 3D space in which all life lives. From the development of vision over 540 million years ago in the Cambrian to today, the capability to see was and is essential for almost all life on this planet to survive.

The stigma (2) of the euglena hides a light-sensitive spot.

Rev II

Major stages in the evolution of the eye in vertebrates

In closing ...

The human eye, showing the iris and pupil

the Eyes have it. :)

Jumpers also hear, very well, without question. 

Science, done well, never disappoints. :)