Life
17 Years Ago at Muncho Lake
One of the cool things about keeping a DayOne journal is that every day I go in to make an entry, it shows me the entries (and pics) from that day in earlier years. Seventeen years ago today I camped at one of the more memorable lakes I have ever visted, Muncho Lake in northern British Columbia. I remember that it was almost the summer solstice and it was light out very late. I believe we played catch with a football by sunlight at close to 10:30 pm.
We visited Muncho Lake on our way from Portland to Anchorage, Alaska, a drive I think we made in about 9 days. That was a bucket list road trip for me and it didn’t disappoint. Being that far north at the start of summer was fantastic (save for the hungry squeeters).
Fun fact: British Columbia is bigger than California, Oregon, and Washington combined.
That One Random College Roommate
Sometimes, we cross paths with famous people, or in my case, with people whoe who would become famous. The summer after my freshmen year in college I lived in a small, affordable apartment with two other dudes behind the Safeway in east Davis. One was my buddy MI, who I befriended in 2nd grade and with whom I am still friends. Our other roommate that summer was another Davis kid named Josh Davis. I don’t recall how it is that Josh became one of our roommates, as he was a year younger than us and wasn’t part of our crew. As I compose this, I think the connection was that he also worked at Steve’s Place Pizza, which was the local pizza joint (owned by the father of a classmate) that many of my friends worked at at one time or another during the early 90s. Yeah, that’s it–he was a Steve’s Place co-worker!
MI and I lived with him that summer, which was a fateful summer for us because it the summer we became fully immersed in the world of the Grateful Dead, and all that that entailed. (Suffice to say, we didn’t get in to the Cal Expo shows that summer, but we did visit the parking lot.) Anyway, Josh was going in a very different direction. Keep in mind, this was 1990. Josh was getting in hip hop and had a show on KDVS the local college radio station. From there, after parting ways with him that summer, Josh eventually became a world renowned DJ with moniker DJ Shadow. Being an era before social media and the era I went down the Grateful Dead rabbit hole, I lost touch with Josh and didn’t realize he had become a succesful musician until the early 2010s, about 15 years ago. I remember that he as a pretty chill roommate and a good co-worker.
The reason I am sharing this story today is because I came across an article announcing that DJ Shadow is playing a concert this December with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. Pretty cool!
Some More Thoughts on AI
A topic that I continue to think a lot about is AI. As it becomes more ubiquitous, I am hearing more and more opinions about it. Hearing what others think is helpful because my reactions help guide my own reflections about the topic.
On one hand, I am coming to realize that the data center issue is an important one. The controversy in Utah has certainly got me thinking about the behind the scenes consequences of AI. Despite the benefits AI provides, would I want a giant, water and energy sucking data center located near me? The answer is hell no. I also respect the views of Sam Harris and he’s been an AI doomer since the beginning. The recent letter sent by all the giant AI companies to congress seems to indicate that Mr. Harris is right to be worried, not just about his electricity bill, but about our collective future. As a parent, these concerns cut deep. Finally, I worry about how AI seems poised to both displace millions of workers AND exacerbate the already depressing wealth disparities in our society. Will my kid graduate high school into an unimaginable job desert?
On the other hand, despite a keen awareness of my own bifurcated and evolving views about AI, the contrarian in me is irritated by other hypocrisies I detect around this issue. For instance, I use AI to help construct short, highly tailored text for use in class (usually as an introduction to a historical topic). However, I don’t hide this from my students (and of course I still assign reading from the required AP text on a daily basis, along with myriad relevant and challenging primary and secondary sources) nor do I preach to my students about how bad AI is. However, students tell me that other teachers bad mouth AI, while using it heavily (and obviously) themselves in class. That grates.
I also just listened to a podcast done by a doctor who shared her thoughts about AI. She said she’d ‘never write’ with AI, not even an email. She claimed to be irritated by reading emails from others that were AI generated. She also indicated, and I’ve heard many people say the same thing so I believe it is probably a dominate view, that she just couldn’t enjoy any writing if she knew it was AI.
I have a few responses to this. First, while she is of course entitled to her opinion, I believe it is an arrogance born of privilege to assume others want to spend their precious time writing emails. From my perspective, if someone wants, or needs, to use AI to help triage their email, that is no business of mine. Furthermore, for someone who probably hired a nanny to help raise her kids, it seems a bit rich to argue that writing that is partly done by AI is somehow ‘inauthentic.’ If you are not going to call out people for outsourcing their parenting, surely desk jockeys, newsletter writers, busy white collar workers, bloggers, and content creators can use the tools available to get their work done. Indeed, do celebrities and CEOs get shamed for hiring ghost writers to write their memoirs? Do photographers get shamed for touching up their pictures with Photoshop? If I read a newsletter that provides benefit to me somehow, I don’t give a shit who or how it was written. But alas, I realize my current view on this is probably in the minority.
I’ve heard from a few commentators that as AI continues to take over, human authenticity will be the new currency of the realm. Those that can provide a human touch in their work or their business will thrive, despite the increasing powers of AI. I think that is likely to be true. But we aren’t there yet. Instead, we are here now, in 2026, working our mostly 20th century jobs, raising our kids without robot nannys, watching idiots burn our institutions to the ground, and still driving our own cars around town. I can see why people are excited about using a technology that offers time saving, novelty, and in some important ways, hope. However, increasingly I am also aware of the huge potential downsides. One thing is certain, we are in for some major changes and I still don’t know exactly what I think about that.
Meanwhile…
Friendships are True Gold
I came across this article twice in a matter of days and decided to give it a read. The article appeared originally in the Times of India and was authored by Pranav Jain. It is about adult friendships and if you give it a read you’ll see why it went a bit viral over here in North America. The dude makes some good points (including the one quoted below)!
My only commentary is that I agree with Jain’s take. Adult friendship cuts against the grain of so much in our culture, but it is true gold. The stats in America indicate many adults have fewer and fewer friendships. No doubt ‘social media’ is partly to blame. I am lucky to have friends from every period in my life and I try hard not to take them for granted (though I naturally do sometimes). Of course, the older I/we get, the longer the gaps sometimes are between connections. Gotta work on that!
On Judging AI Art
I came across this study this weekend in one the newsletters I peruse from time to time. The study was apparently published more than two years ago.
I saw the study in a post about someone who recently went viral tricking people on X with a Monet. He told people it was AI and asked why it was not better than a real Monet. Well, the catch was that the ‘fake AI’ Monet was an actual Monet.
The controversy interests me because I see both colleagues and students who are very distrustful of AI generally. I’ve been all in on AI since 2022, but I have come to realize there are many negative aspects of the technology, not the least of which is the energy demand and the potential for human extinction. No small things, for sure!
That said, as I’ve noted before, I use AI and I appreciate what it can do for me. The fact that I can relate to the enthusiasm for AI, despite the obvious issues it creates, set me up to enjoy alll the haters getting owned online for criticizing a real Monet just because they thought it was AI derived. Seeing this also made me smile because at this point in my journey I’m sick and tired of people being against issues in a way I find overly simplistic.
The study makes the point that people are specifically biased against AI-created art. To quote the abstract, “Participants were unable to consistently distinguish between human and AI-created images. Furthermore, despite generally preferring the AI-generated artworks over human-made ones, the participants displayed a negative bias against AI-generated artworks when subjective perception of source attribution was considered, thus rating as less preferable the artworks perceived more as AI-generated, independently on their true source."
For me, this is a reminder to think more slowly and deliberately. And to verify before jumping to conclusions. Often, we cannot believe our eyes (or our ears, or our media, or other people). AI’s rapid improvement makes this even more necessary.
Insight Timer FTW, My Choice for a Meditation App
There are several meditation apps on the market that are quite popular. These include Headspace, Calm, and Sam Harris' excellent app Waking Up. Calm was the first such app that I ever tried and I have dabbled with a subscription Waking Up because I dig Sam Harris' podcast and paying for the app provides full access to his enlightening long form interviews.
However, the app I have been using for a decade for meditation is Insight Timer. I do not and have never paid for a subscription because the free version does all that I need. Specifically, I want something simple, with options about start/start sounds, and a decdent choice of ambient sounds I can play while meditating when I’m in the mood. Another important feature I love about Insight Timer is their tracking system. They used colored stars and I love it because a) I like tracking things and b) I love that if gamifies the habit. Despite my age, I’m a sucker for good gamification.
While I’m the first to admit the negative aspects of modern technology, and phones in particular, I love that my phone has helped me build an important personal habit. My meditation sessions are not very long (I have averaged about 10 minutes a day over the past ten years), but I have managed to meditate most days over the past 12 years or so. The habit is important to me personally and has definitely helped with both my mental and physical health.
Daily Smoothie FTW!
Like most people, there are some daily habits I struggle with. However, making a healthy smoothie every day is not one of them. I’ve been tracking this and it is safe to say I’ve had a smoothie most days for about the past 15 years.
Here is the usual ingredients of my daily concoction:
- 6 ounces of organic carrot turmeric juice
- 6 ounces of filtered water
- 1 organic banana
- 1 large handful of organic leafy greens
- Approximately 100 grams of organic wild frozen blueberries (Trader Joes, natch)
- Approximately 40 grams of organic frozen broccoli tops (also TJs)
- 1 packet of AG1 green powder
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of organic ground flax seed
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of organic hemp protein powder (Anthony’s Organics)
- 6 grams of creatine
- Either 1 tablespoon of organic peanut butter OR 1 raw organic garlic clove
I assume most people would think this tastes disgusting. I know my daughter does. I love it.
The exact ingredients have evolved over the years a bit, but this recipe has been locked in for at least 4 years at this point.
I almost always have it between 4:15 and 6:15 pm. Dinner is separate. I try to be done with any food by 7 every night and don’t break my fast the next day till roughly 11:30, depending on what day it is and when I can start my lunch at work.
Bottoms up!
Update to My Daily Wisdom Reminder Protocol
I shared before that I use Notebook LM (on most days) to provide myself with highly curated daily reminders. Yesterday I spent some time building a new Notebook LM that includes curated ‘reminders lists’ from smart people like Morgan Housel. I then used Notebook LM to distill the various lists into a ‘study guide.’ I then shared that study guide with my already created ‘Buddhist and Stoic Wisdom" notebook that I use for my daily reminders.
When asking for reminders today I asked that it included a newly added ‘general’ reminder, pulled from the study guide I created. Below is a screenshot of today’s reminder output. I’m pleased with the result and look forward now to getting 1) a general life reminder, 2) a Stoic wisdom reminder, and 3) a Buddhist wisdom reminder.
As I said before, a lot of people will likely find this practice useless and a waste of time. However, I need the constant drip-drip of wisdom or wisdom doesn’t sink into my mind. Current consensus about learning supports my practice, particularly around the benefits of spaced repetition.
Freedom and Happiness
One of the books I am reading now, Neil Howe’s The Fourth Turning is Here, mentions a group called the Freedom House. They are a Washington DC based organization that studies freedom and democracy around the world and I had never heard of them before coming across their work in Howe’s book. According to their website, they are ‘founded on the core conviction that freedom flourishes in democratic nations where governments are accountable to their people.’ They were started in 1941 in order to help ‘raise awareness of the fascist threat to American security and values’ amidst the Nazi aggression that started World War II.
One of the things Freedom House does is rank the nations of the world with respect to the freedom experienced by the people living in those places. Number 1 on the list is Finland. Indeed, three of the top four most free countries in the world are Scandinavian. Not surprising. Canada is sitting pretty at #6. America is labeled ‘free’ but is ranked below more than 60 other countries, and recently earned its lowest rating ever. Hmmmm, I wonder why…
It is worth thinking about where these countries land with regards to the type of political economy they favor.
Below are the top ten lists from Freedom House and from the 2026 World Happiness Report.
Lost and Found
My kind friend picked us up from our hotel to take us to the airport, but when I opened the back of his car to fetch our luggage, my heart hit the gas pedal. Missing was my suitcase with all my clothes. Anyone who has known me for a few decades knows this is the sort of thing I did a lot in my 20s. Since then though, I’ve become pretty good at not being forgetful or absent minded.
With my heart still working overtime I called the hotel from the curb and was disappointed to hear (after an excruciating wait on hold before a human got on the line) that they didn’t have my bag. That made no sense. My buddy provided good advice: call ‘em back in half an hour once you’re at your gate. Once we said our goodbyes and headed into the (quite lovely and small) Santa Barbara airport, I was in full Dharma Practice Mode, focusing hard on ‘letting go’ of what I was not in charge of any more. Honestly, I thought I did a pretty good job, though my wife would likely disagree with that assessment. Compared to me ten or twenty years ago, I was definitely handling things relatively well in my head.
Once we got some grub and found a spot of wall to hunker down at, I called the hotel again. This time they said they had the bag and would be happy to send it back to me UPS and that they’d use the credit card info they had on file. The cascade of positive feeling that flooded my body upon hearing the good news was better than I anticipated it would be. I’d liken it to the experience I had seeing Rush outside Philly back in 2004 and realizing after an amazing 9 songs in the first set, that I still had YYZ, The Trees, The Seeker, and One Little Victory left in the first set. Pure bliss!
Needless to say I feel grateful that my absentmindedness didn’t cost me too much. I will also go forth with more vigilance and spacial awareness, at least until this lesson has faded, as they all do. Shout out to Santa Barabara too, for coming through with the save. My friend’s helpful vibes and final text from yesterday sums up my departing sentiments exactly.
A Visit to the Getty
I was lucky today to visit the Getty Center and Museum in Los Angeles. Beautiful day, and a beautiful location. The art was beautiful and the garden and attendant views were stunning. I don’t know a lot about art, but the more art museums I visit, the more I enjoy looking at paintings and photo collections. Indeed, I think I like sculpture the most. In recent years I have been able to enjoy the Rikjismuseum in Amsterdam and the Tate in London. On the other hand, last spring break I passed up the opportunity to visit the Chicago Museum of Art. Oh well, that is one more reason to go back there when I get a chance.
Below are some pics from my visit. Note, I used Nano Banana on the red bust to take away the pedestal just to see what it looked like.
Fellow Travelers
When traveling our family’s usual mode of transportation is Lyft. Despite being fairly introverted, I enjoy talking with the drivers and getting their perspective on driving in that particulr part of the world. Sometimes the drivers have the gift of gab, and often they are hardworking immigrants who don’t speak English well and prefer to remain silent.
On our recent trip to Santa Barbara I took a Lyft across town to a bookstore and noticed my driver was a fellow Deadhead right away. It wasn’t the faint but detectable smell of cannabis. No, it was the Dead and Company shirt and the long white ponytail. I immediately indicated that I was a fellow traveler and we talked Grateful Dead the whole ride. He said he saw his first Dead show in 1974 at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Interestingly, he said he only saw ‘30 something’ Grateful Dead shows, but 42 Dead and Company shows. I thought that was interesting since I would expect most people his age to have seen more of Jerry than the what came afterwards. Oh well.
We also realized we had been at a few of the same shows, including the Santa Clara Fare The Well shows and the 2018 Eugene D&C show, which was amazing.
Some YouTube Recs
I got off social media many years ago and it was a great decision. Don’t miss those platforms at all. Not only was it good for my mental health, but it saved me a ton of time. That said, I do probably spend a bit too much time on YouTube. Nevertheless, there are a ton of great channels on YT that I get a lot out of. I thought I’d share 5 of them, mostly on the information side of things. These are all channels that I can have on in the kitchen and listen to, while not feeling like I need to ‘watch’ the video.
In no particular order….
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Caolan Robertson: This young dude is an amazing example of independent journalism. He has been camped out in Ukraine since the war started (he isn’t Ukrainian) and offers fantastic reporting on the war with Russia. If you want to know what is happening there, this channel is mandatory.
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The Warning with Steve Schmidt: Schmidt is a former Republican campaign pro who helped start The Lincoln Project. He has gone independent and offers a view of American politics very close to my own. He knows his history and doesn’t pull any punches.
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Amanpour & Company: This is a PBS show hosted by journalist Christiane Amanpour. They do substantive interviews with major newsmakers and smart pundits. They go deep, are very informative, and have enough respect for their audience not to try and gaslight them.
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C-SPAN: I know, I know….borrrrrring! But hey, I teach AP Governmet so this channel has a ton of content that is relevant to my job. One thing that is nice about this channel is that you can watch what transpires in Washington without it being filtered though the (usually conservative corporate) media. I also love their focus on non-fiction books and writing.
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Nugs: I listen to a lot of music on YouTube and this is one of my favorite channels. Tons of different bands are featured. However, my favorite type of video are their free opening Goose set live streams. Honk!
Reflecting on the Ides of March
Yesterday was the Ides of the March, the anniversary of the violent fall of Julius Ceasar. The Buddhist scripture below came to mind today when thinking about the date.
Caesar, of course, had “gathered” absolute power and “built up” an empire, yet in a single afternoon, that height was brought low. The transition from the zenith of Roman authority to a cold stone floor is a reminder that no amount of worldly accumulation can stall the inevitable cycle of death and decay. It’s a sobering reminder: even the most monumental human achievements are ultimately subject to the same laws of exhaustion and dispersal as the smallest flower.
Indeed, ‘there is nothing you can hold for very long."
On Other Sources of News
The screenshot below is from today’s New York Times. It is clear as day that the people in charge of the United States government today do not believe in the free press, free speech, or the truth. At this point, calling them authoratarian would be understating it. Bullshit from FCC Chair Brendan Carr, together with the near total domination of American media by right leaning, pro-regime corporations (see Bernie Sanders tweet below and this list of local TV stations in America owned by conservative Sinclair Media), means I am making a concerted effort nowadays to read more news from outside the United States and from indepedent outlets.
A great place to find international newspapers is RefDesk.com . Some sources I plan on reading more often going forward include the BBC, The Sunday Times (London), The Guardian (Manchester, UK), The Christian Science Monitor, as well as Israeli papers.
New Pew Polling on Buddhism in America
The Pew Research Center recently published polling about Buddhism in America. A few interesting facts include the following:
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As of 2020 only about 1.3% of the U.S. population was Buddhist.
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American Buddhists are much more likely to live in the West. This isn’t surprising considering the West Coast’s relative proximity to Asia.
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There is high turnover in that many who are Buddhist converted and many who were Buddhist left the religion.
I, of course, live in the West so I am a typical ‘American Buddhist’ in that regard. I also connect with the fluidity of being Buddhist, as I was raised with no religion and my specific beliefs about Buddhism have evolved over the past 30 years since I intially took refuge in the Three Jewels. In my case, I’ve moved from being more religous to what I’d describe as a ‘secular Buddhist.’
Pew also reports that Buddhism is shrinking world wide. I take heart that ‘religiously unaffiliated’ is a growing group worldwide. Sadly, the theistic religions continue to grow. (See the second image below)
The quote shared below is from Pew’s related focus group interviews.
A Helpful Reminder
Today was the day one of the nine Supreme Court Justices of the United States Supreme Court is visiting my school. Pretty freaking cool! Problem is, I came down with a gnarly cold on Tuesday. I ended up taking Wednesday off from work but I spent a fair bit of bandwidth worrying about what to do if I was not feeling great when I woke up this morning.
On the one hand I realized seeing Justice Jackson speak in person with my AP Gov students is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. On the other hand, I knew I didn’t want to get anyone sick and I certainly didn’t want to get any sicker. There’s also the fact that once we were are in the library, we couldn’t leave and come back because a live radio program was broadcasting the talk.
This morning, like I always do, I went into my ‘Stoic and Buddhist Wisdom” Notebook LM and asked it to give me some helpful reminders. Part of today’s response is below. The first bit of advice, specifically the part about irrational fears, landed perfectly because it spoke to the niggling worry I had all day yesterday about how things would turn out today. The bottom line, I was reminded, is that spending mental energy yesterday worrying about how today would play out was not wise. Both the Stoics and the Buddhists argued against getting caught up in worries about things beyond our control. Indeed, I felt better enough to go to school today so my worries about missing the opportunity were for naught. Had things gone the other way, that would’ve been alright, too.
My daily reminder protocol spits out simple advice, but it was very helpful to hear this morning.
More on the Justice Jackson visit in the coming days.
No, You Can't Have My Phone Number
I was at the mall with my kiddo today and we wound up in a Sephora to get something my kid needed. When making the purchase, I was asked for my phone number. I declined, and was asked for it again. I declined for a second time. I was then told I could ‘share my points with someone else." I didn’t know what the clerk was talking about and I think my politeness meter had declined somewhat noticably (at least that is what my child told me once we’d left). I realize this sort of retail experience is common. Nevertheless, it seriously grates. Indeed, over the years I have evolved a habit of not sharing my personal info with brick and mortar retailers because I don’t trust them.
When I got home I did some poking around and wouldn’t you know it, apparently Sephora (owned by European luxury giant LVMH), was busted in 2022 by the state of California for mishandling customer data. According to the article linked here, “Sephora failed to tell customers that it was selling their personal information, failed to allow customers to opt out of that sale, and didn’t fix the problem within 30 days as required by the law, even after it was notified of the violation, state officials said.” Shocker.
My experience at the mall was a good reminder that distrusting large retailers is probably a good idea.
Tsundoku
I came across a Japanese word recently (having stumbled upon this video) that I am pretty sure was invented specifically to describe me: tsundoku. It refers to the practice of acquiring books and letting them pile up, unread. The word is a blend of tsunde (to stack things) and oku (to leave for a while), with a nod to dokusho, meaning reading. So: books acquired, stacked, and left to wait. Guilty as charged.
As soon as I had disposable income, I started buying more books than I can reasonably read. My shelves are a mix of the finished, the half-finished, and the optimistically purchased. Some books have been waiting patiently for years. I’ve made peace with this. More than peace, actually — I’ve come to think there’s something genuinely pleasurable about it.
Indeed, in recent years I’ve noticed that I get real joy just from browsing my books. Pulling something off the shelf, flipping through the first few pages, putting it back. There’s something nice about knowing a good book is sitting there waiting for you. It feels like having a really good meal to look forward to, or a good show on the horizon. The reading is coming; just not today. Tsundoku, it turns out, doesn’t carry a negative connotation in Japanese. It’s more of an affectionate acknowledgment of a very human habit. I appreciate that. The west tends to pathologize accumulation (though admittedly, the general behavior can get out of control). The Japanese apparently just gave it a name and moved on.
Consider me a proud practitioner.
7 Non-Evergreen Takes on the Iran War
America has started a new war. I don’t know what is going to happen, but as a social studies teacher I am doing my best to educate myself about what is going on, the context, and the possible outcomes. Below are links to a few sources I have watched/listened to about the situation. The talking heads in these videos offer a wide range of thoughts. I thought it would be interesting to post the resources, then come back next year and revisit this admittedly not very evergreen post to see what transpired and who was right about what they thought might happen.
