Just thinking about my Birthday

My big 65th birthday falls on Sunday, May 31, 2026.  It’s funny how over the years, I never really thought that much about birthdays.  To me, they were just another day out of the year.  So why is this one so different?

    • I need to contact The Social Security Administration to start the paperwork to change over from Social Security Disability to regular Social Security.  I’m told that as soon as I submit the paperwork, I will probably end up waiting three to six months before anything changes.  I definitely should have thought about this a long time ago.

    • Next was to get my personal finances back on track.  I had nearly a thousand dollars and late payment fees due to this bank’s predatory accounting practices. They had ridiculous fees for everything.  $39 a month late fees, non-usage fees of $9 a month for every month I don’t use the account.  A new replacement card cost $49, and the interest on the account for 32%.  I also had two other high interest credit cards that I wanted to change, or just plain get rid of.  I’m still working on this.

    • I was being charged over $200 a month for my Medicare Part B supplement policy. They were charging me $133 a month more than the policy cost every single month.  I’ve received collection letters from the insurance company that should have been sent to Social Security.  I’m told that if I can get on the Minnesota State Health plan, I can put that extra $200 bank in my pocket.  I’m still working on this, but it is coming along.

    • I applied for a $1 million life insurance policy which will cost me just $37 a month from a reputable company.  I at least want something to be buried with when I’m dead.  Since I don’t really have any relatives that I want to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to, whatever is left over will be donated to the Great River Rescue in Bemidji, Minnesota where I got my boy Johnny from.

    • It’s time for me to quit smoking.  I smoking almost three packs of cigarettes a day. That’s over 9 cartons a month.  I’m take Wellbutrin and wearing a nicotine patch to control the urges to smoke.  I also bought a nicotine vape which is making things easier.

A psychologist once asked me “didn’t you ever think about growing older or dying?”  I told him “not until I started doing it”.  For about thirty years of my life, I was more interested in living.  I was making money and I could do pretty much anything I wanted to do.  Over the last 20 years, since I went on disability, I had to really count every penny.  20 years ago, if I needed a different car, I just went and bought a great looking used car.  Today, I can barely afford to keep gas in the tank.

Now I’m just restarting a few things that I wanted to do.  I’m starting a new blog.  I used to have a blog called BlackysBurrow.com.  About 5 years ago, the webhost that I was using hijacked my WordPress blog site.  They claimed that they found I virus on the server that came from my activities.  There was no way it was me, but they wouldn’t listen to anything I said.  Over the next 6 months, I lost nearly 1,500 posts and over 14,000 regular daily followers.  A year or so later, I learned the real reason why my account was suspended

 

   1. I’m not a Trump supporter, and I never made any effort to hide this fact.  The web hosting company was a big time Trump supporter.

    2. I started adding some paid banner ads and advertising rotators from affiliate programs.  It turned out that they had changed the affiliate program rules making it so I had to ask permission to run ads, and the host had to approve them.  They didn’t approve any of my ads.

One other thing, the person who my host resold my domain, BlackysBurrow.com to  used it to set up one of those cheesy pet product sites with hundreds of product that no self-respecting pet owner would buy for their pets.  I also learned that it was a 13 year old girl who bought my domain name.  I offered to by the domain back, but the kid would have nothing to do with that.  Go figure.

Things that really suck about AI

Hallucinations and Unreliability: AI systems, particularly large language models, frequently generate false information, fabricated citations, and nonsensical content.  Businesses have faced lawsuits and reputational damage after chatbots provided incorrect advice, such as promising non-existent discounts or making inappropriate comments to customers. 

Bias and Discrimination:

AI algorithms often embed and amplify societal biases present in their training data, leading to unfair outcomes in hiring, lending, and law enforcement.  If not carefully managed, these systems can discriminate against users based on race, gender, or other protected characteristics in a non-transparent manner. 

Security and Fraud Risks:

The technology enables deepfakes and synthetic media that can be used for identity theft, financial fraud, and political disinformation.  Criminals leverage AI to create convincing scams, steal sensitive data, and disrupt justice systems by spreading false evidence or narratives. 

Job Displacement:

AI automation threatens to replace workers in customer service, fast food, and other service sectors, potentially leading to mass unemployment and significant industry disruption.  While new roles may emerge, the transition poses challenges for workers lacking the specific skills required for AI-related fields.

Environmental and Resource Costs:

Training and running large AI models requires massive amounts of energy and computational resources, contributing to significant environmental impacts.  This resource intensity raises concerns about the sustainability of current AI development and commercialization practices. 

Lack of Transparency:

Many AI systems operate as "black boxes," making it difficult to understand how they reach specific decisions.  This opacity complicates efforts to ensure accountability, regulate usage, and trust the technology in critical applications like healthcare or finance.