Keeping Up

I got busy a couple of days ago. I had to keep answering questions all afternoon Friday, and didn't have time to post a journal entry.

Sure, that's a lame excuse. During the work day, I was kept busy with actual work. But at the end of the day, when I started shutting my laptop down (yes, I still use a laptop), it said it needed to update some software. I clicked the option for update and shutdown, and waited for a bit. But I got impatient when, after what seemed like a long time, it was only 16% complete, I left the laptop to its machinations, and went home without it.

Once I got home, I realized I couldn't look at Facebook or other websites, including this blogging site. So instead, I read a Terry Pratchett book, and watched Golden Girls. I went to bed pretty early, and woke pretty early Saturday morning.

There was supposed to be an ice storm overnight Friday, so my wife went to Dayton Friday evening, as she was scheduled to babysit one grandson while the other went to swimming lessons with his mom. As it turned out, the ice storm did not live up to the warnings. There were patches of ice on the driveway and roads, but it wasn't scary. It was cold, but I walked the dog anyway. She wasn't bothered at all by the ice. I figured I would walk the dog so my mother-in-law wouldn't have to, as she is approaching her 80th birthday, and I think I'm more stable on the ice. Besides, I was up, and I could use the exercise.

I help Open Lab for a few hours Saturday. Enough students came to keep me busy, so I spent the time answering questions, or asking them, and didn't get onto this blog. Once I got home, well, first I stopped at the library to get a book I had requested. I stopped at the store to buy some wine. I settled into a chair to read some more. I love Terry Pratchett books. I may finish them all in the next year.

Do the data gods suffer when I don't write? I doubt it. I see no evidence that any data systems have noticed me yet. This blog is available to those that have access to the Internet, but it is boring, and I make no effort to draw attention to it. Data gods are on there own, as far as I'm concerned. I also don't think the data gods have sensory systems, in any form, and so are not capable of emotion or sensation. They might know things, but so far, there is no evidence that they are self-aware. Some people claim the data gods, or the computers and algorithms, have intelligence, but I'm not sure how that is defined. Clearly, they are not worthy to be called data gods yet, so I can mock them with impunity. Much like my mocking of His Orangeness, my pokes at the data gods in embryo are unlikely to be noticed by anyone, especially the actual targets.

But I used to like keeping a journal, so I think I'll keep this up for now. Maybe I'll even start writing things I think matter, at least to me. Maybe.