Her......and him

The Artist

Her perspective on things

Drawn, literally, from studies

As student

As teacher

And from her own inspiration

People's faces mainly

Backed by textures, colors, lines

Backed by a practiced hand

But works unsigned

Why?

Customary for artists?

Until the work changes hands?

And what about titles?

The bearded man - his name?

The lady who visited Yosemite - her purpose?

Is there more about them?

The boy in the collage - the effect

Seriously... seriously good

The self-portrait... somber, colorless

Yet telling of wisdom

Telling of a life

Lived full

The attributes she pursues

In herself and others

In all these, "... something good and true."

Something "... authentic."

Will there be a posthumous 

"Artist Unknown?"

That captions these fine works

I hope not.

Bot?! I Think Not...

I was invited (thanks again Quilldog) to do a short story about bots and how they relate to marketing, content and leader development and include the “seedier side.” In a page or so no less. My knee jerk (yeah, this happens a lot) reaction was; if I was just slightly thorough, I could write an opus on each of those elements. It would just take a little research into the tons of articles and stories that circulate today. So, I won’t. Instead, I’m going to plumb the seedy side a little.  Just with some recent experience with bots (maybe) and some, not so wild speculation on how they might be used for AGI.

First, a couple of the many definitions out there on both topics so we are sort of on the same page with this: 

A bot -- short for robot and also called an internet bot -- is a computer program that operates as an agent for a user or other program or to simulate a human activity. Bots are normally used to automate certain tasks, meaning they can run without specific instructions from humans. 

Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is a form of AI that possesses the ability to understand, learn and apply knowledge across a wide range of tasks and domains. Here is a link to a good, straight forward article on what AI is and what its current applications are: https://www.simplilearn.com/tutorials/artificial-intelligence-tutorial/artificial-intelligence-applications

Now, I will share a little recent personal experience that may include some of both, you know, some probable bot stuff and then some imaginary but possible AGI stuff.

In the past 90 days, Bots in Singapore have apparently cruised my blog stories almost 7,000 times.  That represents about 10% of the near 7,000 hits on my “Travel On" stories since I began posting them in 2008.  Lately I have been working on that very blog, along with my other Harley Davidson (25k+ hits) blog to produce a blockbuster memoir tentatively titled; “Hayseed.”  As soon as it hits the NYT bestseller list, I plan to option film rights to Clint Eastwood who I assume will want to assign the other Tom…Cruise that is, to play lead. As evidence, here is a little pie chart from my “Travel On” blog showing reads for the past three months.

This is what I have gathered from that event.  Those little bastard bots are being used to collect and collate information for generative AI. This will quickly turn each of my 600+ stories for “Hayseed” into bestsellers in and of themselves without benefit of further human touch.  Watch for them under the highly suspicious nom de plume; Abbot Miyagi.    

The Singaporean bots, from what I understand, are quicker than I can key in the word “bot.”  Yes, sad but true.  That means by the time I publish “Hayseed” the country of Singapore will be able to sue me for printing my own words.  

In fact, consider that generative AI may very well be keying in these words right now.  Nah, just pulling your chain…or am I?

 

The Wrinkle's Hand

You may may not be familiar with the terms "wrinkle" and "squeeze." Heard it somewhere a long time ago and was lead to believe it distinguished between a young person, "squeeze" and an old one, "wrinkle. As the title suggests, this story is about the latter.

When I was a "squeeze," I often noticed and wondered  about the appearance of a person's hands.  There's a lot more variety than a person might suspect.  Smooth, rough, callused, manicured, scarred...and the list goes on right?

A couple of nights ago, I was reading Nelson Demille's latest novel and went into scan mode during a somewhat boring section when I noticed the back of my own hand. Yup.  My own. I recalled I had seen the same sort of hands on others before...wondering about the life of the person that possessed them...whether it had been a long and hopefully a good one.  Now, reflecting on my own I would say "yes," mine has been long and good.  Mostly thanks to the people who have influenced me through example and support.  Loved ones past and present.  If you are one and you are reading this...Thank You for nurturing the life that is reflected in a wrinkle's hand.

WSOP Salute to Warriors 2023 - Two Rookies Ride

It began simply. He saw a Twitter post that announced a contest to select a veteran for an expense paid trip to enter the 2023 Las Vegas World Series of Poker. It was for one of over 60 tournaments, this one called the "Salute to Warriors."

The contest was sponsored by self-described "besse frens" Angela Jordison and Jacki Hughes. Over time I've come to think of the two as poker pros although they might disagree. Angela had been playing in a tournament out East I believe. She was so impressed with the sportsmanship and demeanor of one of her competitors (a military veteran) she offered him travel, lodging and entry fees for the upcoming "Salute" tournament.

As news spread, others stepped up to offer sponsorship for more veterans and so, being what I would call expert organizers, Angela and Jacki decided to develop a contest for a total of 10 winners.  Veterans were asked to make a video explaining their military service, interest in poker and the World Series. They also needed to submit documentation of their veteran status.  It was all done online so it was a speedy process.  

I thought; well, I love playing poker and the World Series is right up there on my bucket list so I made a short video and submitted it.  Then, to my surprise, a pal from many previous local tournaments; Charisse Case recommended me. That did it I think.  I was one of the top ten. Donations kept pouring in and in the end Angela and Jacki ended up selecting 15 veterans to sponsor.

Still, I wasn't sure I would be able to make it for a while as some family medical issues needed attention.  Finally, thanks to my daughter Samantha and wife Julieann, things cleared up just a few days before the tournament. Son Tyler also showed interest (To watch over/chaperone his old dad?) so we booked flights.  From Sacramento, Spirit Airlines is the only carrier that offers direct flights to Las Vegas at reasonable times.  They seem to have a pretty bad reputation but our travel both ways was smooth although they do tack on charges for most everything. It was however, a pleasant surprise to find that the bathrooms on the planes weren't coin operated.

For our first morning there, Angela and Jacki had organized a fine breakfast in a private setting.  There, they also handed out gift bags loaded with donated poker merchandise.  We were later joined by Lon McEachern and Norman Chad, legendary voices of poker and both nominees for the 2023 Poker Hall of Fame.  Lon lives in our area. We have played several tournaments together and he also narrated my deepest large poker tournament run a few years earlier so it was a great to see him and introduce my son.

Next, the Salute to Warriors began.  I had a decent day, running deep in the field but not cashing.  Some of our group of "15" ran deeper and I believe a couple of them ended up in the money.  All together, it was most impressive as thousands, more like tens of thousands of players showed to enter dozens of tournaments in and around the Las Vegas strip.

Tyler Thomas Campbell
WSOP winner

On our third day there, it occurred to me that my son should enter a World Series tournament just to chalk up the experience even though he had only played a couple of tournaments many years before. He agreed and at breakfast, he asked many questions about the fundamentals...folding, betting, ranges and such. Together, we covered just enough information to get him started.  It was a $250 Series side event and neither of us had high expectations.  Early on, Tyler caught pocket Aces and had three callers all-in.  His Aces held up, he quadrupled his stack and knocked out two of his three opponents in the process. In a field of over 900 entrants, he played pretty tight from then on and finished in the money!  I was and I am sure proud and happy for him.

In one of the early levels of that tournament, I was in the big blind.  There were mucks all around to the small blind and he called at I think around 2,500.  I looked down at my pocket and it was ten-deuce off suit.  I immediately announced "all-in" and the small blind folded.  I then showed my hand in honor of Doyle Brunson (RIP) and the hand he is most famous for.  The entire table got a kick out of that one. (In case you don't know, he won back-to-back World Series titles with that hand.)

As for me, I met some mighty fine folks, had some deep runs in the three tournaments I entered and enjoyed every bit of it...even the block-long, fast-moving bathroom lines during breaks.  Over the years, I've written maybe a dozen stories about the Texas Hold'em poker experience.  This will likely be the culmination...the end...finis as I gotta' get back in the game and focus on that.  Or will there be more?  We'll see.

In the meantime, for those of you who know, I'll see you at the final table.