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Should Politics Be On The Playing Field? . Why has just about everything within our lives become political including sports. Should athletes use this form to be political or should they do it off the athletic field and on their own time?

Hi! A little about me. I'm a Wisconsinite. I am in my first year of retirement from teaching. I feel I have had lots of different experiences both in school and out of school. I am a cardiac arrest survivor from ventricular fibrillation  and had an 80% blockage angioplastied. Last year I had my first battery replacement. I am married and my husband has 1 year of retirement  in. We have 2 adult sons. The oldest is married and is a step dad. The youngest is not married yet. My parents are deceased and I have no siblings. My life has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs, right from my birth. I enjoy camping, gardening (though I am not a green thumb), family and my Chihuahua/ beagle, Snoopy. I am a person full of life experience contrast, one beingcontrasts such as being spiritual yet not church going. I hope  my experiences can help others. 😀

Helping my mom ease into AI. I'm thinking about helping my elderly mom get set up with Claude or ChatGPT. (Free ChatGPT allows more usage even after the limit has been reached. This could be a bonus for her.) 

She has suggested interest in it a couple months ago and has not mentioned it again since. AI can be so helpful if used well! I am at her home this week. If I set her up now, I can help her navigate it for the next days before I go home. 

I'm concerned she might use AI to medically self-diagnose or lose skepticism and take answers as facts. Claude has a "personal preferences" area where I could write some instructions on how to engage. With Chat you can enter that into a thread but I've noticed it can forget instructions from other threads. 

She doesn't work so won't use AI for projects. She'll likely use it to ask about health concerns, which supplements to buy, getting help with emails or letters, help with doing things around the house (like how to clean her air purifier, or create recipes). She might ask questions about politics. 

Can any of you with AI expertise give me suggestions?

1. Go wtih Claude or ChatGPT? 
2. Any instructions I can enter as preferences so she is less likely to act on misinformation? There's the thing about limiting the compliments too. 
3. Any other suggestions I am not considering? 

I'm grateful for any help you can offer!

Flowing down the Salt River. If you ever get a chance to paddle board the lower Salt River in Arizona just east of Phoenix, DO IT!!!  

What is it? It's a beautiful river in the middle of the arid Sonoran Desert.  You would not believe there is a flowing river just 30 minutes from a big city in one of the hottest dryest places in this country.  The drive out there is full of Saguaro cactus and the land looks dry as if no water can possibly be anywhere nearby.  Once you get to this Oasis, it's so lush and green, behind you are beautiful rocks that glow at sunrise and sunset.  But the best part of all are the WILD HORSES.

There's something so magical about seeing wild animals with such massive size and living this dream life in 110 plus temperatures, cooling off in the river and eating the river grass (looks like kelp).  Their freedom feels like our freedom.  It's like tasting freedom watching them roam, swim, eat, and often times, they are simply still just looking at you. Their stillness is like nothing I've ever witnessed in the wilds (not yet been to Africa, but something about this unique experience reminds me of my imaginations of a safari).

This river has changed me. It connects me to ancestors who didn't know roads or have vehicles, but created floating vessels to flow down rivers to discover new lands and new homes into the unknown. Every time the river is different, the water level, the power, the positions of the rocks, the wild life, all is always changing.  Like the saying goes "You can't step into the same river twice".  

There is a real magic of healing horses, no secret they are healers for the disabled, the lonely, and everyone. Their hearts are LARGE and they are emotionally intelligent.  You can feel their healing heart energy as you gently pass by within feet of their glory.  It's like being in the painting. It's like living in a nature documentary.

This experience is one of those things that words can recreate the experience, pictures and videos are not the thing. The feels are the thing that make it magical. Feeling like an explorer and witness wild and free creatures who feel you as you feel them.  Makes it feel like the whole world is OK.  It's hard to imagine the real world issues going on when you are quietly gently passing through a wild horse tribe.  They swim across the river, they run, they play, they even do the deed, most of the time they just take you in.  And sometimes when you're lucky, you'll see a beaver building a damn, a cute family of sea otters being cute like puppies.  The birds are all over and the bats come out as the moon rises.  Been down the river almost 30 times since May and it never gets old and it's never the same river twice. 

If you're ever near Phoenix between May and October, get to the river, there are board rentals, there are meet ups and many ways to make it happen, or just ask me and i'll get my spare board ready for you!

Fun to be back on Uptrust!

Thanks for the call to reconnect here Jordan.

Timeline of Events in Brian Thompson Assassination. On December 4, 2024, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was assassinated outside the New York Hilton Midtown. The suspect, later identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, shot Thompson multiple times before fleeing on an e-bike. Thompson was pronounced dead shortly after. Mangione, who stayed in NYC for 10 days prior, was arrested on December 9 in Pennsylvania and charged with second-degree murder. The attack is believed to be a symbolic act targeting the healthcare industry.

November 24, 2024

• 10:11 p.m.: Suspect arrives in New York City on a Greyhound bus from Atlanta, Georgia.

November 24 – December 3, 2024

• Suspect checks into the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side using a falsified New Jersey ID and pays in cash.
• He stays at the hostel for ten days, checking out on December 3.

December 4, 2024

• 5:30 a.m.: Suspect leaves the hostel, likely by bike.
• 6:15 a.m.: Suspect exits the 57th Street F Train subway station.
• 6:17 a.m.: Suspect purchases coffee, water, and granola bars at a Starbucks near the New York Hilton Midtown hotel.
• 6:30 a.m.: Surveillance footage captures the suspect walking while talking on the phone.
• 6:39 a.m.: Suspect arrives in front of the New York Hilton Midtown hotel and waits.
• 6:44 a.m.: Brian Thompson leaves his hotel. The assailant shoots him multiple times, then flees northbound via a pedestrian walkway.
• 6:46 a.m.: Police respond to a 911 call reporting the shooting.
• 6:48 a.m.: Officers find Thompson with multiple gunshot wounds. He is taken to Mount Sinai West hospital. The assailant is seen riding an e-bike into Central Park.
• 6:59 a.m.: Suspect is seen riding a bike on West 85th Street.
• 7:04 a.m.: Suspect enters a northbound taxi at 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
• 7:12 a.m.: Thompson is pronounced dead at Mount Sinai West hospital.

December 9, 2024

• Morning: Luigi Mangione, 26, is arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, in connection with the assassination.
• Afternoon: Mangione is charged with second-degree murder and other related offenses.

December 11, 2024

• Mangione appears in court, contests extradition to New York, and is held without bail pending a governor’s warrant.

What will the future literally look like? This idea comes from watching Mad Men- seeing smoking and drinking freely at the office for example, and my brother once pointing out that if a show or movie ever wanted to make it really clear that it was set in the 1990’s, all they’d have to do is have multiple people driving Saturn cars.

So here are a few of what I think (hope) the future will literally look like:

Gas stations will be very rare, and parking spaces will almost always have charging stations.

Having a garage in homes will be rare because car ownership will be rare. Using self-driving Uber-esque systems will be way more affordable, and car ownership then will be similar to antique car ownership now.

Lawns will be very rare, and permaculture-style of local fauna that doesn’t need care, upkeep, or watering will be common.

What do you think the future will look like?

Dates with an uber-green guy... Tonight is my second date with a guy who’s the head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Austin school district. I enjoy him a lot, but EVERYTHING is identity for him. I brought up integral theory on our first date and he’s super interested. But I find myself surprisingly awkward feeling like I need to side-step all the sacred cows of his worldview. But so far anytime I’ve pushed back on it he has lit up, so maybe I can just chill the eff out.