Capped off a very strange week that I'm relieved is now in the past with a bowl of Cult BRM in an Al Pascia meer and a Sam Smith lager. Much cooler than they said it'd be, high 70s in my shaded smoking area next to the house. Forgot how hard I can push this blend and still have no chance of tongue tingle. 8.6/10.
Bird report: Western bluebird, California scrub-jay, California towhee, House finch, Steller's jay, American crow, Vaux's swift, Oak titmouse, Hairy woodpecker, White-breasted nuthatch, and Mountain chickadee.
Okay, rant time with Servant King...avert your eyes!
Rarely am I so deeply in thought during an especially long bowl as this (meer's got a pretty deep chamber, as you can see), but I was this time, chiefly due to the global IT problems. It's really just a symptom of a greater problem--this is what happens when you do away with common sense and put EVERYTHING (and I mean that word quite literally) in the hands of the AI.
Every single freaking function of life from the global financial markets down to the weather report lying about the temperature here today by a large margin (14 degrees!) has become so utterly dependent on the AI, of course it stands to reason that something like this would happen! Which really just exposes how fragile the whole damn thing is, and it goes without saying that there's no way this is going to get anything other than worse. For a long time I've done my best to withdraw as much as possible from that whole system; I only use cash, I never use a cellphone unless I have to, and I NEVER do software updates on my computer unless I'm literally forced to. Look what happens when the AI decides it's time for another unnecessary "upgrade!" They've got themselves a 10010101011111011100100001010 pipe problem now...
Pessimism is merely the calling card of a denialist, so I don't even wanna hear it! Happy weekend all.