So here’s the AI version of what I said in this video:
Speaker 1 discusses various topics in this transcript. They start by discussing an article about the environmental impact of avocado consumption, particularly around the Super Bowl. The article highlights issues such as poverty, deforestation, water consumption, and corruption linked to avocado production, mainly in Mexico. Speaker 1 suggests looking for avocados grown in the US as an alternative. They then discuss another article about machines aiding in writing and a book about a post-nuclear war society. They also mention an obituary for Ellen Gilchrist, a National Book Award-winning author. Speaker 1 also discusses various cartoons, including one featuring a Trump-like character. They end by discussing an article about a new English dialect emerging in South Florida and the challenges of maintaining good posture.
Hi. Well, it's another Sunday and I was reading the paper and I'm going to ignore a whole lot that was there that just made me roll my eyes or whatever. But what caught my attention, I thought was interesting was The avocado in your Super Bowl guacamole is bad for the environment. You can make it better. (I would have included a "gift link", but one was not made available.)
So this goes into, this article goes into how much guacamole we eat, which is apparently an astonishing amount now. And "there are four major problems with consuming most macho ... Michoacán avocados. Sorry, my pronunciation is terrible.
Poverty: The people who grow avocados are poor and don't benefit from our delight in sweet, complicated, creamy taste of the fruit.
Yes.
Deforestation: To grow avocados, native forests are being destroyed, and with them, critical habitat. Americans love for avocados is voracious. We eat them year round, not just on Super Bowl Sunday,” et cetera, et cetera.
Water: Avocados are thirsty. plants. An estimated 60 to 70 gallons of water go into the production of each avocado fruit.
Drug cartels and corruption: It's no surprise where there is money to be made in Mexico, corruption and drug cartels flourish.
Okay, so yeah, so apparently quite a bit of avocado comes from Mexico, but it is not the only place that avocados come from.
Avocados, an evergreen, native of Mexico, are a subtropical understory tree and grow best in well-drained soil in warm weather and semi-humid climates. They can't grow everywhere and certainly not in the northern United States. In fact, avocados are grown commercially in only three US states. The popular Hass avocado with its bumpy, leathery, dark-green skin is a cultivar from Southern California. Florida produces the larger, smooth, shiny green-skinned ones, and Hawaii not to be outdone grows more than 200 varieties.
Okay, so we have alternatives to Mexican avocados here. So ...
It is estimated that on Super Bowl Sunday we eat more food than any other day except Thanksgiving. Do you favor guacamole or turkey? At least for me, the choice is clear: guacamole.
Me too. I love guacamole and avocado in general.
However, at $10 per pound for organic sustainably certified avocados imported by Equal Exchange, I'll be eating less—but I will enjoy my guacamole more.
I'd be fine with paying for that. But we also have avocados being grown here, so why not look for avocados grown here where you can? Is there a way of certifying that something has been grown in the United States? Anyway, It's just a thought. We don't have to depend entirely on Mexican avocados, do we? There's nothing wrong with it, but you're going to pay more. That's all there is to it. I mean, if it's done right, what they're talking about here.
So the next article that made me kind of laugh was Chat.GPT is nothing new. Machines have helped us write for centuries. Oh yes, of course, we've had typewriters and stuff. Oh, before. Here it is. Let me read it to you verbatim.
Before blocked writers could turn to ChatGPT for help, they might've consulted Wycliffe Hill's 1930s manual, “The Plot Genie”. The genie's magic was held in a series of numbered lists that according to Hill, collectively contained every story ever told. Simply spin the cardboard robot wheel (sold separately) and generate “a complete plot framework with every five minutes.” Perhaps a coffee taster (Unusual Male Character No. 148) and a dope addict’s sister (Usual Female Character No. 50) desire “vengeance against a rival in love [but are] opposed by inclement weather” (Problems List Nos. 5, 11). Or maybe a lighthouse tender (Usual Male Character No. 81) and an attorney (Unusual Female Character No. 23) are “about to permit an unrecognized sister to perish in a fire” (Crises No. 159), when all of a sudden “advantage is threatened by a race riot” (Predicament No. 126).
There's your screenwriting lesson right there, folks. That's what it's all about.
Okay? Having said that, there's an interesting book out called Termush. In Termush, the wealthy emerge after a nuclear war. Now, you know, I'm going to be reading this one.
I couldn't help but notice this obituary for Ellen Gilchrist, droll writer with an eye on the south. She won the National Book Award in 1984 for her short story collection, Victory Over Japan. Well, I had never heard of Ms. Gilchrist. I'm not a literary savant or a literary genius or Lit Major even. I just never heard of her, never read her stuff. But I am intrigued now simply by virtue of her obit, which I will thoroughly read, which I did not thoroughly read, but will probably give a good look now that I have thought about it. And on that note, as always, are the cartoons and where was I looking at here? Yeah, Doonesbury, right? Yeah, dictator. Yeah. Interesting.
This branding as “dictator” versus “president for life”. And I think, here, let me just pause the old recording for a moment and then we'll get back.
That's right. Yes. I'm just reading you from Doonesbury here. Trump is talking to some guy who says,
“Sir, as we close in on the GOP convention, you've got to stop promising to be a dictator.”
“Why? I strongly normalized ‘lying’ and ‘rape’ and ‘violence’ and ‘coup’. Why can't I normalize ‘dictator’?”
“Because it's a slur. Sir, when Biden called X a dictator, it caused a diplomatic incident.”
Wow. And here I compared Amazon to Hitler and I didn't cause World War III. Isn't that something? In fact, only a few people even bothered to notice.
Oh, what else was it? Of course there's always good old, what the heck are they called? Pearls Before Swine, is it? Yeah, on there. I'm getting the online version because you see, even though I read the paper, I always go online because then I can actually see it well. Unfortunately, my eyesight isn't what it used to be. Even with glasses. Yes, yes, exactly. Yes. Here's this. Rat is saying things like
How I have one standard of justice for street level drug dealers and another for pharmaceutical drug dealers. How I take cash and gifts from large donors, many of whom then get favorable treatment. Rest assured, these are all wild concerns.
Basically, this guy is, Rat's pretending to be a kind of a Trump-like character. And he says, “Holy shit, or whatever, “Holy @#@#, what's that crazy thing happening over there?” And then he drops a … nevermind. You have to see it. I'm an idiot. Clearly, clearly an idiot. All right. Yeah. And then the cat.
Yeah, be patient. That's what I tell myself all the time. Be patient. Hello. God, are you there? It's me. Debbi. Be patient. That is all.
Yeah. I forgot to mention the great article that somebody posted on the list. Miss Manners: Writer hates talking about work in social settings, and I'm still not sitting up straight. I'm trying.
Dear Miss Manners, I am a writer. When I am asked about my occupation in social settings, I'm always hesitant to answer. More often than not, the person is not only curious about the entire publishing process from idea to print, but they also have a book idea they want to pitch. For example, “I have a great idea for a book. I just need a writer.” I was even asked once to help someone's child write a college paper.
She goes on to talk about how proud she is of her work, him, in her, I can't tell.
So anyway, whatever. So they feel put upon, they say:
I have a professional website, but some of the topics I write about are controversial, so I hesitate to give out that address outside of a professional setting. It's getting so I dread meeting new people, though I actually love socializing. Help!
Yes, Miss Manners is very polite. I like her for that.
It is an unfortunate truth that every profession has Its social impositions. Doctors are asked to give free medical advice. Lawyers to dispense legal counsel.
Tell me about it.
And performers to perform. Miss Manners assures you that no one is under obligation to do so. If able to say politely with a slightly tired smile, “I'm not on duty tonight.”:
That's great. I love that one. That's a great line. I'm not on duty tonight.
However, it is a telltale sign of amateurs to volunteer these things for an unwitting and usually unwanting audience.
So perhaps rather than saying you are a writer, you could say, instead, 'I write'. This subtle distinction might lead people who do not know you to consider it a hobby and leave you alone. That is if you're willing to trade tiresome, professional requests for amused condescension.
Well, I consider myself a writer and I tell people I'm a writer, even though the IRS considers it a hobby and has considered it a hobby for several years now. So my not-so-polite response to this person would be to anybody who said, 'I have a great idea for a book. I just need a writer.' I would say, no, you write the book. You had the idea, you write the book. That's up to you. Or find a ghostwriter because I'm not a ghostwriter. I write for myself. That's it. That's my response to that one.
The other thing I thought was interesting was an article in Atlas Obscura about "Make a Party” as a New English Dialect Emerges in South Florida. A linguist explains how lonewords and direct"—lonewords, that's one word—“lonewords and direct translations known as calques, I dunno if I'm saying that right, are reshaping the sound of Miami and beyond.”
And I'm still doing that thing, where I twist to the left, damn it. I'm really trying to keep this in mind and sit up straight these days. I'm not doing a good job. I'm trying. Anyway, that was sort of interesting. I didn't read the article, but I liked the headline. And the thing about Atlas Obscura is that it has some of the most obscure stuff you'd ever want to read, and yet, somehow it's turned into this great big thing. How do things like that happen? I wonder, think about that. Anyway. Be seeing you.
PS: That obit wasn’t quite as uplifting as I’d hoped. :)
PPS: We really have to stop meeting like this. I really have to stop this bad habit. I'm only now realizing how ironic this habit of mine is. :)
My Sunday Reading for Feb. 11, 2024