Very Punny

Steampunk Mattress (AI creation with dream.ai)

Puns are fun. 

What's funny is how serious science can sometimes be when it tries to examine why something is fun. Freud analyzed humor, trying to define what causes people to laugh. You don't, however, need to study psychology to appreciate a good knee-slapper.

Nevertheless, there really are some reasons people enjoy puns. Here are a few of them.

Some are slow burners that you don't immediately "get" so there is a reward at the end. Puns play with the brain's ability to process language. They often rely on double meanings, homophones, or clever wordplay. When someone "gets" a pun, it activates a sense of satisfaction and reward because the brain has successfully decoded the ambiguity. This mild intellectual challenge can be fun and engaging.

Surprise and Creativity: Puns sometmes surprise us by turning an expected meaning upsde down. The humorous twist in meaning appeals to our love for novelty and creativity.

Social Bonding: Humor in general, and puns specifically, can help bring people together. It's fun when you share a batch of witty jokes and everyone is cracking up together. 

Playfulness with Language: Puns reflect a playful engagement with language, showcasing its flexibility and richness. Writers love wordplay. I once wrote a 500 word story called "How Eye One the Wore" which was one-third homophones. People who enjoy playing with words often find puns--and other kinds of word games like crosswords--delightful because they highlight how much fun language can be.

All of these factors combine to make puns an enduring and widely appreciated form of humor. 

In short, after this lengthy introduction, here are some puns I found phun, with a link to the website I borrowed them from. This is a small smattering from a much lengthier list. Enjoy!

I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can’t put it down.

I stayed up all night to see where the sun went. Then it dawned on me.

Broken pencils are pointless.

I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was really just a play on words.

All the toilets in the NYPD headquarters have been stolen. The police apparently have nothing to go on.

Why did the can crusher quit her job? It was soda-pressing.

What do you call a broken can opener? A can’t opener.

A photon checks into a hotel. The front desk asks if it has any luggage. It replies, “No, I’m traveling light.”

I can’t stand Russian dolls. They’re so full of themselves.

I got a job at a bakery, because I knead dough.

If you see an Apple Store get robbed, does that make you an iWitness?

Why couldn’t the pony sing in the choir? He was a little horse.

Did you hear about the woman who loved making archery supplies? Every day she went to work, she quivered with joy!

The past, the present and the future all walk into a bar. It was tense.

A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm, and says: “A beer please, and one for the road.”

My friend fell into an upholstery machine. He’s fully recovered now.

I just found a penny in my dryer’s lint trap, and I can’t figure out where it came from. But that’s ok, I love it when the world just makes cents.

I bought some shoes from a drug dealer the other day. I don’t know what he laced them with, but I’ve been tripping all day.

I don’t trust stairs. They’re always up to something.

If you like these, here's a link to more. And if you can't get enough, ask Google.

A Child of the Lab

Forty years ago, when I first became serious about a writing career, I envisioned being a writer of short stories like Hemingway (In Our Time), F. Scott Fitzgerald or Jack London. Yes, they all wrote novels but I found that writing stories and articles while working full time was within my grasp and a novel was simply to massive of a project in those circumstances.

For the first four years after our return from a year in Mexico Susie and I painted apartments. There were two things I especially liked about it. First, wherever we went looked nicer after we'd been there than before we arrived. Second, there is a mindlessness about painting white on white so it was an opportunity to let my imagination run free. As a result my mind conceived of countless concepts for stories, some which became outlines and others which were completed. (Years later I assembled many of these into books like this short volume, Unremembered Histories.)  

The story below was conceived sometime during the 1980's I believe. Or rather, the concept for this story was birthed and a few notes jotted down. Over the years since that time I've thought about fleshing it out and turning it into something I could share. 

This past week I decided to do something different. I fed my story concept to ChatGPT to see what an AI would generate. Here's what we came up with as a story beginning. For a much longer story it has real possibilities. What do you think?

A Child of the Lab

In the dry heat of the Negev desert, deep within the secure walls of a state-of-the-art laboratory, Dr. Yitzhak Baram and Dr. Leah Mendel spent their days peering into the mysteries of the human genome. Theirs was no ordinary research—after years of studying ancient texts, theological debates, and genetic data, they began to suspect a tantalizing possibility. Buried within the intricate code of human DNA, they believed they had found a signature, a remnant of a primordial flaw, a genetic marker shared by every living human being. They called it "Eve's Mark."

For months, the pair wrestled with the implications of their discovery. Could this genetic trait be a trace of what religious traditions called Original Sin, a fundamental imperfection passed down through generations since humanity's mythical fall from grace? If so, could they remove it? And if they did, would the result be a human being untainted by the imperfections that had shaped human history?

Leah's voice trembled as she proposed the unthinkable: "We could create a new embryo... without Eve's Mark. A human being, like Adam and Eve, before the fall. Imagine the purity, the potential for good."

Yitzhak's skepticism melted away over nights of whispered conversations, and they resolved to do what no one else had ever dared—build a genome devoid of this flaw. In the dimly lit lab, they synthesized the embryo, painstakingly editing the genetic code until "Eve's Mark" was no longer present. Nine months later, the child was born in secret, far from any official record. They named her Miriam, for she was to them a new beginning.

As the months passed, Miriam grew with a vitality that stunned her caretakers. The scientists documented everything—her rapid development, her serene temperament, her uncanny way of absorbing the world around her. She did not cry like other infants; instead, she observed, her eyes, an almost startling shade of blue, scanning her surroundings with preternatural awareness. They began to believe they had succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Yet, beneath their excitement, fear gnawed at them—would others, especially those who might see this as heretical or dangerous, accept what they had done?

Their fears were well-founded.

One summer evening, as the sun dipped behind the hills, a missile struck the lab. It came without warning, an attack from across the border, shattering the building with a force that set the desert ablaze. Yitzhak and Leah died in the chaos, caught beneath the collapsing walls. But as the fire spread, a nurse named Ayla, who had cared for Miriam like a mother, cradled the child to her chest and ran through the smoke and flames, her only thought to save this miraculous little being.

She stumbled through the desert night, following the faintest paths through the dark, driven by some instinct stronger than fear. In her arms, Miriam remained silent, her wide eyes fixed on the stars as if understanding their brightness. The next morning, Ayla reached the outskirts of a small village, exhausted but alive, the child untouched by the horrors that had unfolded behind them.

* * * 

Flashback Friday: Seeing the Unseen (Contemporary Chinese Artists at the Ringling)

Li Wei

As Hurricane Milton was approaching Florida's west coast earlier this month, my thoughts and prayers circled around several of the places I visited from Sarasota to Tampa. Chief among these were the Ringling Museum and the Dali Museum, each of them housing spectacular treasures. There were some early Duchamp paintngs and other surprises. The Circus Museum and Ca' d'Zan, the winter home of John and Mable Ringling are also there. With 56 rooms spread over 36,000 square feet, their home was clearly meant to impress its guests. 

Here is a review I wrote in 2014 after visiting.

I like surprises. Especially nice ones. One of the more exciting unexpected finds for me took place while traveling in Florida a couple years back: the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. I'd already known about Ringling Brothers Circus Museum being in Sarasota where the circus wintered like snow birds. I did not, however, know that John and Mable were art collectors.

Like many from America's privileged classes, they took up an interest in art collecting. During the Roaring 20's post-WWI European art could be snapped up on pennies for the dollar. The Ringlings even purchased a 16th century theater they found on the outskirts of Venice, disassembled and re-assembled the whole of it in Sarasota.

Unfortunately, the Thirties hit and many -- like the Ringlings -- got stung and lost all. Fortunately, a few years before, they donated their art collection to the University. And what a collection. One highlight is an enormous painting Peter Paul Rubens, but there are many other famous artists represented include Benjamin West, Diego Velázquez, Paolo Veronese, Rosa Bonheur, Gianlorenzo Bernini, Giuliano Finelli, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Frans Hals, Nicolas Poussin, Joseph Wright of Derby, and Thomas Gainsborough among others. But the highlight for me was running into two paintings by Marcel Duchamp. Very special.

The museum is host to other exhibitions and through the end of February 2015 The Ringling is featuring eight contemporary Chinese artists in an exhibition titled “Seeing the Unseen.” Artists in this show include Cao Fei, Li Wei, Wang Qingsong, and Miao Xiaochun. A promotional blurb on the show states, "Reflecting the artistic innovations of our media age, their works provide a fresh view of China’s rapidly changing socio-cultural landscape. These Chinese artists apply new concepts and technology to record and present inspiring moments veiled in daily life."

One of the featured artists in this exhibit is Liu Bolin, whose invisible man pictures went viral a couple years back. I remember seeing links being shared extensively, not knowing who he was at that time. Here is a promotional image from the show that may jog your memory on this artist. Yes, there is a man standing in the photo.

Liu Bolin. (Click to enlagre) 

If you're a Sun City resident or a someone who likes to escape South for the winter, the Ringling Museum is worth going out of your way to see. And this winter at least you'll have this treat to look forward to.

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Dig it.

Manufacturing Consent: Do We Really Live in a Democracy?

THINGS I'M THINKING ABOUT DEPT.

I've been intrigued by the concept of "manufacturing consent" as popularized by political theorist Noam Chomsky and economist Edward S. Herman in their book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. "Manufacturing consent" has to do with the way media, governments, and powerful institutions shape public opinion to align with their interests, often subtly guiding what people think and believe.

It's a two word phrase--manufacturing and consent--loaded with implications.

Manufacturing is the process of producing products from raw materials using tools, machinery, and human labor. It involves transforming materials like metals, plastics, or chemicals into finished products, such as cars, electronics, clothing, or household items. It often follows a series of steps, including design, fabrication, assembly, and quality control, ensuring that the final product meets specific standards. It is considered crucial to the global economy, creating jobs, supporting industries, and providing the essential goods that society relies on every day.

Consent is the voluntary agreement or permission given by a person to allow something to happen, often in the context of personal boundaries, relationships, or legal matters. It requires that individuals have a clear understanding of what they are agreeing to, without any pressure, manipulation, or coercion. Consent is a foundational principle in ethics, emphasizing the importance of mutual respect and understanding between parties.

The idea is that media outlets, often controlled by large corporations with vested interests, influence what stories are covered, how they are framed, and what information is highlighted or omitted. This process can create a kind of consensus among the public that supports certain policies or viewpoints, even if they may not serve the broader public interest. Essentially, rather than being purely objective, media and institutions may "manufacture" agreement or acceptance of specific ideas, shaping public perception in a way that maintains the status quo or supports the interests of those in power.

 

In Manufacturing Consent Herman and Chomsky argue that media plays a significant role in American society to prepare it to willingly accept the values of the ruling elite. 

When did this switch happen (where the media is agenda driven rather than neutral) or has it always been this way? Instead of serving as a means for the public to obtain information needed to have sufficient control over the politicians and the flow of power in the country, the press now blatantly serves as a means for the elite to promote its agenda, to defend the economic, social, and political agenda of privileged and dominant groups in the society.

Edward Said addresses this manipulation from the specific manner in which our media controls Americans' view of the Middle East and the Islamic world. The author of Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World shows how the American news media have portrayed "Islam" as a monolithic entity, synonymous with terrorism and religious hysteria. 

One question I have here is, "Who's calling the shots?"

And the follow up: "To what end?"

The manner in which legacy media covered up President Biden's foibles and mental decline (How many times did we hear that he was "sharp as a tack"?) was such a partisan non-neutral effort to influence public opinion that it prompts us to question everything they've spewed. 

What's going on?  

As one Amazon reviewer explains, "This (Edward Said's) book tells ALL about our media prejudices and the shortcomings of our journalists, writers, intellectuals, academics, etc., when it comes to Islam, Arabs and the Middle East. It is a great analytical essay about false propaganda and the wrong views dispersed about the Middle East." 

* * * 

So, the title of this blog post asks if we are really living in a Democracy? I ask, then, how can we have a democracy without an informed public? How much do we know from first hand experience? How much do we really know of what we assume we know? So much of what we believe we know has been mediated to us. How much is spin? 

* * * 

"Tell me why you are crying my son

I know you're frightened like everyone.

Is it the thunder in the distance you hear? 

Will it help if I stand very near? I am here."

Peter, Paul & Mary

Day Is Done

Related Links

Propaganda Revisited

Crowds On Demand: Believe Nothing You Hear, and Only One Half That You See

He Who Controls the Narrative Controls the People

Is the U.S. Media a Mouthpiece for the State? Stephen Kinzer Argues "Yes"

The Purpose of Propaganda: Social Engineering

The AI Revolution and Marketing (Part One)

"If you're not thinking about AI, you're not thinking." ~ Chris Meyer

Cick to enlarge.

One of Paul Gauguin's most famous paintings is a series of questions: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? It’s the last of these questions that especially concerns many of us today. Where are we going with regards to the impact technology is having on our lives and careers? AI is but one facet of the current tech revolution which is re-shaping our lives in ways as yet unknown.
 

In the news media AI seem to be everywhere now with new stories appearing every day. Many play on our fears, stoking concerns about plagiarism, cheating in school, the energy drain caused by AI data centers, mass layoffs and Hollywood-inspired Terminator scenarios.

Other stories present AI as a game changer that will eliminate unemployment and make all of our lives better. Still others suggest that all this hype is a big nothingburger. (On August 6 NPR aired a story titled “10 reasons why AI may be overrated.”)

By way of contrast, Reason magazine recently devoted an entire issue to the AI phenomenon, underscoring its significance. Articles ranged from utopian to dystopian, practical to far-fetched, deepfakes, warfare and poetry. In short, AI touches everything. To be sure, they also issue warnings and underscored AI’s current shortcomings, including Google’s debacle of 2024.

In this article we’ll highlight some of the ways AI is already being used by marketers. A follow-up column will address ethical concerns, risks and other related matters. 

AI in Marketing

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the field of marketing by enabling more efficient, personalized, and data-driven strategies. 

 

Many of the ways AI is being used in marketing are simply extensions of decades-long trends. For example, personalized recommendations. E-commerce platforms like Amazon use AI to analyze user behavior and recommend products tailored to individual preferences, increasing the likelihood of purchase. It’s not really new. It’s simply been enhanced.

 

AI algorithms are now being used to analyze vast amounts of customer data to identify distinct segments based on behavior, preferences, and demographics, allowing for more targeted marketing campaigns. This allows companies to create more personalized marketing campaigns, improving the effectiveness of their marketing efforts by reaching the right audience with the right message. Though customer segmentation has been taking place for decades (Chromaline was doing this in the late 1980s using a Unix computer operating system) AI can process and analyze data much faster and more accurately than traditional methods, enabling businesses to better understand their customers and tailor their marketing strategies accordingly.

 

AI is now being used for Chatbots. Virtual Assistants have come a long ways since Microsoft’s intrusive Clippy, who first appeared in Office 97. 

 

There is currently widespread use of AI for all manner of content creation. The use of AI for ad copy, blog posts, social media updates, and email newsletters is saving time and resources for many marketers. During the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, AI algorithms were generating basic news reports, summarizing event outcomes, and even providing insights based on data analysis. The technology was often used to produce quick, straightforward reports on events like Olympic competitions, where speed and accuracy are important.

 

Many companies are now using AI to predict future trends and customer behavior. Trained on historical data, machines can identify patterns and relationships. Predictive analytics is especially useful for companies that invest heavily in research to develop new products.

 

Walmart uses AI for dynamic pricing which adjusts prices in real time based on demand, competition and other factors, to seize opportunities and maximize profits.

 

AI tools are also being used to gauge consumer sentiment based on media posts, reviews and other user-generated content. Some use this information for reputation management, though small companies can get a feel for how they are perceived by occasionally reading reviews on Yelp and similar platforms.

Ad targeting and optimization is now being managed by AI on platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads. Mailchimp and SendGrid now use AI-driven algorithms to personalize email content and optimize send times for better engagement and conversion rates.

 
I myself have been reading, writing and thinking about AI since 2016. In order to understand AI’s strengths and limitations, I’ve been experimenting with several large language models (LLMs) and various AI art programs. For example, with ChatGPT you can feed your blog post into the prompt box and instruct it to give you 10 potential titles. In seconds you have 10 headlines to play with. Or if writing a book, you can request themes for 10, 20 or 30 chapters. And Voila! There you have it.

 

In other words, it’s great for brainstorming. (I asked ChatGPT for 24 chapters on a book about cars. If I were to follow through it would be a most interesting and comprehensive read.)

Red Flags
“Not too long ago there were many concerns raised regarding students using AI to write their papers,” said David Beard, Professor of Rhetoric at UMD. “Today, colleges are encouraging getting familiar with AI.” He directed me to UMD’s Dr. Liz Wright, who is currently developing a class on the use of AI among writers -- understanding when and how and how best to use it. 

 

“Assuming that the technology stays,” Dr. Wright said, “we have to prepare our students for it.” We also need to be aware that AI is environmentally dangerous, she added, foreshadowin our next column.

 

In many respects AI is big tech’s latest shiny new toy. No one knows yet what will come of it, but we’d be remiss if we failed to examine some of the red flags many observers are waving. 

# # # #

Originally published in Business North, September 2024

Related Links

A.I. Is Already Taking White Collar Writing Jobs. Who's Next?

Interview with David Asch Offers Insights On A.I. 

Surviving AI by Calum Chace Is a Must Read for Those Who Plan to Be Here in the Future

The Ocean Is Vast and It Waits

I was a child from Cleveland who grew up in New Jersey where I left my innocence a lifetime ago; an hour from New York, an hour from Philadelphia and an hour from the ocean's embrace. 

The ocean is vast and it waits, an endless tapestry of shimmering blues and greens, whispering secrets to the shore. Its depths, shrouded in mystery, cradle the dreams of sailors long gone and the sighs of forgotten lovers. Each wave, a gentle caress of foam and salt, lingers on the sand as if to remind us that time is but a fleeting illusion. The horizon stretches endlessly, inviting us to lose ourselves there. 

Beneath the surface life dances in harmony, a symphony of colors and forms, patient and eternal, echoing the heartbeat of a world that exists both within and beyond our senses. A sentinel of stories yet untold, the briny deep beckons us to dive deeper.

How small we become while standing on this shoreline. Even the marks we leave behind are fleeting. In these moments, the weight we carry feels lighter as the vastness murmurs that everything is temporary and we but a small, yet beautiful part of a much larger whole.

* * * 

Tracks in the Sand

I turn to see my footprints in the sand

as wave after wave rolls in.

Now, here I stand, observing.

And though my footsteps be almost gone

they remain, and perchance someone will follow.

And if someone sees my kneeprints

(suspecting I had stopped to pray)

would I have to tell them

that I'd only stopped along

the way to pick up shells?

Yet, even on our knees with tiny shells

there is great glory

and a doorway out of ourselves.

Puerto Rico, 1979