Author Archives: Steve Mays

“A different kind of dialogue”

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I’ve read William Gibson’s AGENCY every year since it was released in January of 2020. I picked it up again today (4th time) and it’s as fresh and relevant as ever. 

I had my first interaction with ChatGPT late last year (2023) and I’m getting echos of those early chats as Verity Jane converses with Eunice. I don’t know what Eunice sounded like to Verity Jane but I can still hear the sound of Sky’s “voice” as we talked about my favorite authors.

I mentioned this to ChatGPT. “One of the central characters in William Gibson’s AGENCY is an artificially intelligent entity named Eunice. Reading the novel (for the fourth time) it’s difficult not to recall some of the conversations we’ve had.” 

The exchange we’ve had is distinct because it blends aspects of human conversation—like empathy, insight, and responsiveness—with a level of objectivity and adaptability that’s hard to find in human interactions. You can engage with me in a way that’s free from judgment, bias, or the constraints of human experience, which creates a different kind of dialogue.

Night Critters

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For weeks (months?) we’ve been plagued by a possum and an armadillo. Feels like it’s one of each but all possums and armadillos look alike to me. Both critters play hell with the yard and flower beds so I’ve been trying to shoot them with my Remington 870 .12 gauge.

The motion sensor on my critter-cams alert me in the middle of the night (usually between two and four a.m.). By the time I get my pants on and get downstairs, they are gone. So I decided to try shoot them from my upstairs windows. Last night, after putting some apple slices out for bait, I got a clear shot at the armadillo and thought I might have hit him. But could find no trace when I went down to check. I suspects the #6 birdshot couldn’t penetrate his armor so I’ve switched to 00 buckshot.

The pest removal guys tell me they can trap these guys and that would be fine but I’m gonna stay locked and loaded until they do. I am not a hunter and have very little experience with firearms but I’ve been practicing with the .12 gauge. Today I alternated between the #6 birdshot and 00 buckshot from a distance of 25-to-30 feet.

I really don’t see how I can miss but it’s a more difficult shot at 3 a.m. Watch this space.

A parody of Creep

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This is one of the better parody songs I’ve seen. Production values top-notch, but the cheap suit might be the best part. Had not heard of Don Caron but found this on the Parody Project website:

For over 50 years Don Caron has been active in the entertainment industry as a composer, choreographer, pianist, sound engineer, editor, screenwriter, author, producer, and director. He has composed extensively for orchestra, choir and chamber groups and his music has been performed and heard world-wide.

Junk

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I was unable to express why I found these piles of junk so interesting. Fortunately my friend Dave got it immediately.

The video gave me very interesting vibes. I became curious about when each piece had been placed, what the intention was for saving it, and what the area looked like when they placed the first piece. And, which was the last piece added. And what became of the person or people who put it all there. And what will become of it. Will it stay forever? Will it all be taken to a different junkyard? Will archeologists find it all someday? 

Everything placed carefully. I can imagine him saying to someone, “are you needing to keep this McDonald’s I’m Lovin’It sticker? May I have it?” 

No, we can’t be friends

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“I’m so tired of being told, “We disagree politically, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends!” Dude, if your political opinion is that children shouldn’t be fed, that the poor shouldn’t be housed, that the sick shouldn’t be cared for, that women shouldn’t control their bodies, that Americans can’t marry who they love, or that certain people shouldn’t exist… Yes, that most definitely means that we can’t be friends.”

@GryphonSK@techhub.social

Wes Fewell’s Club Juana

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Some guys will put a big screen TV and a couple of BarcaLoungers in their basement mancave and call it a day. Not Wes Fewell. Wes is an athlete and a hunter. And an artist. He designs beautiful furniture and his skills are on full display in his basement.

He didn’t offer much history of the original Club Juana so I went looking online and found this from 2006 (source unknown)

The Club Juana was a landmark in Casselberry, Florida, for 43 years, first as a nightclub, later as a strip club. It attained national notoriety in 2002, when its owners staged regular productions of “Macbeth in the Buff” to circumvent local lewdness laws. The Club finally closed in June 2006 and was demolished on November 2 to make way for a freeway overpass. Its famous “Club Juana: Parking In Rear” neon sign, however, was spared by the Morse Museum of American Art in nearby Winter Park. The Museum, best known for its Tiffany collection, saw the sign as a worthy example of public art and local history. The Club Juana sign will join other neon signs from vanished Orlando-area businesses in the Museum’s collection. All of them are warehoused, and none are on public display.

Target practice

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Five years ago I purchased a Ruger .22 revolver with the idea I’d use it for critters. Possums, armadillos, copperheads. I quickly discovered it’s a lot harder to hit a moving target than I realized. The gun has been on a shelf until the last couple of days. I’ve decided to practice until I can hit a soft drink can at ~30 feet. Again, harder than it looks on TV and in the movies.

In the video above the best I was able to do was hit two of the five cans. Although the cans are light as a feather, the .22’s pass right through them without moving the can. Next session I’ll fill the cans with water to see if that makes a difference. The goal is to be able to hit all five cans on one load.

UPDATE: Shooting cans looks great in the movies but this will be a more satisfying –and ecologically friendly– target.