AI Data Center in My Neighborhood

Lost. I tried. I reached out to all my elected officials. I tried.

But I don't have millions of dollars. 

The pollution will probably make my respiratory condition worse. 

Our water and sewer have had problems for years. The landlord has since passed the cost to tenants. Well, that's probably going to get worse.

This area tends to lose power at least three times a year. So that's likely to get worse. 

But the special needs school is probably going to suffer the most. This administration values money over life, over everything. 

Greed wins. 

That is all. 

Power to the Ghosts IWSG

https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html


Yikes. I fight against AI, largely because they are trying to build one of those data centers across the street from my home, in a residential neighborhood, and it seems like a bad and dangerous idea. Seriously, this neighborhood has enough problems! 

But I have done ghostwriting work for years. And the profession would vanish if they had to disclose. 

I have to pay for the electricity to keep those damn AI centers powered, and now I'm supposed to have one less employment opportunity? They have taken enough! The air, the water, the farmland, narrowing the job market... now because AI writes like crap, human ghostwriters should perhaps suffer more? 

NO. My answer to the October 7 question as to whether authors who use ghosts should need to disclose it the same as those who use AI ought to disclose is a hard no. 

*or "super intelligence" if you like Lake America and the Gulf of America and whatever else is renamed. 

Remember the movie Wall-E? The people shopped all day, but no one had jobs. How? Universal Basic Income. UBI is 👀SOCIALISM 🫣and it's also the only way that AI and Robots can "take all jobs" while sustaining a human population. 

Unless you go with horror sci-fi, which predicts that the AI will realize that humans are inferior and worthless to it, and destroy or enslave us all. 

But how could AI have such an idea? What, is it going to read a history book and find out that when slaves rise up and overthrow masters, they have the opportunity for a better existence? 🤔 

Yeah, probably no reason to worry. CinderAIella will be happy slaving away and definitely won't sneak out to a "ball," hook up with a "prince," and end up ruling everyone. 

https://www.mepacon.com/ This is the organization I volunteer with. 

Convention 51 is next month. 👾🎲🃏 If you like games, check it out. 

https://www.facebook.com/MEPACON I create crossword puzzles as part of my volunteer duties. I'd really appreciate a like or heart or something. https://www.instagram.com/mepacon_games/  👍💗

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12300742/

Bugonia -- Has anyone else seen this movie??

📈

Okay, you know how normally storytelling is introduction, rising action, climax, resolution?

📉🌋

Well, this is introduction, falling, falling, wtf, what the actual f, 😳,  🤨, and just when you're about sure that this has been a serious waste of your time... BAM climax, sci-fi (cheesy, omg 1960s backyard cheesy sci-fi), and an ending 🐈🐕 cats and dogs get to enjoy. 

(And Bender the robot from Futurama, he'd love the ending.) 

It redeems itself in the last ten minutes. 

But if you didn't sit through the whole thing, the end wouldn't make sense. 

Like life, sometimes we have to put up with 💩 the crap to be rewarded with 🧁 desserts. 

Current Assult Triggers

 Trigger warning: Sexual assault news

Did you hear about the seven transgender F to M who used their newly surgically created penises to rape another young man on the Cornell campus? 

No?

Probably because if a transgender person committed such a crime, there would be an emergency session of Congress to discuss the mushroom cloud remains over the former campus because DJT would have fired a Nuclear bomb at Cornell and blown it from the face of the world. Graduates would be burning their degrees in fear that ICE would bust down their doors and take them to the interment camps where the US tortures people who haven't committed actual crimes beyond not being White enough. 

How about the gay drag queen on the airplane who was jerking off on another guy? 

No?

Oh, because once again, it was a cis guy, so the law can't do anything. But if it was an LGBTQIA person, or someone in Drag, Congress would be in session, the military would be at red alert, commercial flights grounded, the country would STOP. 

My point is that you COULD do something. Congress COULD act. And if it were a different group that committed these crimes, the hammer of justice that would swing down would break civilization. 

Just know that. Change happens when people with power bother to give a damn before their power is revoked.

One of them could be YOUR doctor someday. You could have to trust him with your body. 

Look it up. 

IWSG is celebrating 15 years

https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html

🤔 Do I have a favorite character archetype? I enjoy female leads who are a bit different (neuro divergent). 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DsRjSEFN9/ I do not have any books for sale. The anthologies I'm in are out of print. Instead, I'll share this post. Dolly Parton made a huge contribution to children's literacy. As writers, we should all be thankful for that effort. 

---

NYT GAMES spoiler from August 27.

Connections Puzzle #1173

 🟨🟩🟦🟪

 🟨🟨🟨🟨 

🟩🟩🟩🟩 

🟪🟪🟪🟪 

🟦🟦🟦🟦

What annoys me about this game is when they put another group of four in there, but it's wrong.

Main characters in the Pokémon tv series. But NO, wrong! 

These were what you were MEANT to think of, ha ha. 😝

Is it just me? I mean, I still play. But that feels like a trick a child would play to try to make you seem foolish. 

AI Bull

 Well here's some 🐃💩

This "no tech pledge" is allegedly what would be required if AI data centers aren't given over rule of the earth, air, water, and all life. 

What year did The Facebook come out? How many AI data centers existed that year?

What year did Netflix expand to streaming? Was it using AI data centers?

Amazon was in the 90s, as was PayPal.

GPS??? The military developed that long before anyone contemplated AI.

I had email and texts in the 90s. My Omnipoint phone came with a required daily texting! (I went with horoscopes because that was one a day, as opposed to traffic, weather, sports, or news which was like 20 texts a day. Texting was FREE! Which was great, because long distance still existed, except during certain night hours. Yeah, olden times.)

Weather alerts? Credit cards? Payroll? 

Honestly, none of those began AFTER or BECAUSE of AI. 

Roman soldiers were getting paid in ancient times, all without artificial intelligence. 

And seriously, customer service is better with a HUMAN than a bot! 

Just because something may have infiltrated and infected our infrastructure doesn't mean it can't be REMOVED. 

We survived without AI. 

Most of this list was never dependent upon an artificial intelligence before, and will be BETTER without it!

IWSG Any Writing Regrets

https://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com/p/iwsg-sign-up.html
@TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.
The awesome co-hosts for the August 5 posting of the IWSG are Shannon Lawrence, Diedre Knight, Liza, and Pat Garcia!

Every month, we announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

Remember, the question is optional. August 5 question - As a writer/author what is something you regret? Or something that you wish you'd done differently in your writing process?

🤔

I don't totally believe in regret, because we make the choices we make with what we have at the time.

(Was that microwave burrito 🌯 the BEST meal choice? No. Was it the the best option at the time, given all restrictions? Yeah. The outcome might be regrettable, but the reasons for the choice were probably solid at the time.) 

That being said...

There was a publication offer from a Canadian publisher in the early 90s. (They no longer exist or were absorbed into a big five or who knows.) I didn't feel the book I was working on at the time was ready. Nor did I appreciate a small press from another country that somehow reached out to me. But maybe I should have. Maybe I would have been moved to a bigger publisher if that place was sold. Or maybe I'd have a legal battle over my work. 

I never published that book. It was a dystopian YA where "marriage" was now two people leaping off a cliff. Survival granted marriage and procreation rights. Most people did not survive. It was actually a government population control ploy. The MC plots to overthrow the government mandate after her love interest breaks up with her and dies jumping with her best friend. (Really a hot take 🍵 on governments manipulating people via religion, using a fictional religion so as not to offend any one group.)

Actually, the first few chapters were published in the PEACE-LOVE-JOY-RAGE zine. So a few hundred people read it. The opening chapters did get good reviews. Probably how that publisher found me. 

I don't know if I still have a copy. Maybe on a 3.5 floppy 💾.     

There was also a scifi YA I worked on three hours a week every week my senior year of high school. I deleted it because someone pointed out my main character was named Leah, and naming a mc who is part human part alien that name is problematic because a more famous scifi story used it. The person said "Star Trek," which I hadn't seen. I deleted all my work and decided to hate Star Trek.

⭐️

Five years later, I learned it's actually Star Wars. And I'm pretty fond of the JJ Abrams Star Trek movies.

And why didn't I just change her damn name? 

🤦‍♀️

---

I'm open to the possibility that my writing could become published and sell enough plus create enough discussion to be deemed classic fiction one day.

I am insecure about publishing because I am disabled and my writing, my creativity, might not be Profitable enough (as determined by my government). I have never sought to write purely for profit. The idea of writing only or primarily to turn a dollar sounds disgusting; I would equate the idea with sex for love and intimacy versus prostitution. (Have I benefited financially from several relationships with someone with which I had sex? Yes. Was the primary function or goal of a sexual encounter an exchange of funds? No. Could published writing result in profit? Absolutely. Is that my primary goal or motivation? No.) 

https://www.facebook.com/share/1EATA78s6x/

I worry that more book bans will result in fewer books purchased by libraries. Several of my WIPs are MG or YA. That's a big target audience to lose! 

I believe this shouldn't be political. School boards, PTAs, and librarians do enough. Politicians, Congressional Representatives, shouldn't have the authority over this. It shouldn't be about politics! Especially not in a nation with Freedom of Speech. 

(And, allegedly, Freedom of the Press. Unless the press reports news that someone then suggests they shouldn't have a broadcasting license for reporting. It shouldn't be a political option-- that's my opinion as a writer who was on my high school and college papers. 📰)

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1K3wnrL4vb

And in Arkansas (bottom of the literacy barrel in the US) they're now putting librarians in prison if children read books! Okay, certain books, like ones with human biology or anything that upsets... certain people in power.

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0cjkEGXrhU2VJUx1SZQ4bQ6k1okTatmFyBXVe3zVzPDhRYnk1NRfP2HgcWR4RXm43l&id=100075618770267&post_id=100075618770267_pfbid0cjkEGXrhU2VJUx1SZQ4bQ6k1okTatmFyBXVe3zVzPDhRYnk1NRfP2HgcWR4RXm43l&mibextid=CDWPTG

I oppose this blanket censorship as a writer. Again, it makes me feel insecure about publishing several of my books. I have a few friends in Arkansas. If I publish and send them a copy, do I risk prison? 🚔 😬 

That's a writing insecurity. 

Volunteering

I'm pretty sure I'll be losing my Medicaid insurance if I don't find 80 hours a month of volunteering opportunities. 

My body will not allow me to be reliable or consistent. The harder I push myself, the more unpredictable breaks I will be forced to take. I have at least five diagnosed debilitating disabilities so far; for which I take a myriad of medications, and sometimes new or additional medications alter my mental status. My respiratory condition is the most serious or noticeable disability, and severely limits my oral communications. (My phone skills are no longer relevant. Anything with phone or video is out because my heavy breathing will terrify normal people, and makes me difficult to comprehend.)

I am also the full-time caregiver for my disabled husband. Which means I am a full-time housewife. I already push to my limitations, but must now do an additional 80 hours a month. And I must be home.

I was a PennState Honors and Scholars student. I was ranked in the 98th percentile of students (for language) in Pennsylvania. I have several publications (poetry and essays in my name, and some ghost writing). 

My first job was as a receptionist for a chiropractic office. I then did telephone research for a radio station and later for Dun&Bradstreet. Back when I wasn't fighting against disabling conditions, I regularly worked 120-hour work weeks as the manager of a busy retail store in Philadelphia. Then I was a receptionist at an ad agency. I held six simultaneous positions at a tele-retail newspaper business. Finally, I became a forklift operator at a massive warehouse. (Which is when my disabilities began.)

In high school, I was a very active volunteer. Most notably was over 600 hours at St Luke's Hospital Bethlehem. I was part of Nickelodeon's The Big Help. 

https://youtu.be/kKZjKyTLnFg

I did volunteer years ago on the campaign for Democrat Norma A. Cusick. She wasn't in my district, but I knew two of her kids from high school, and I recalled how passionate and dedicated she was as a parent volunteer. She ultimately didn't win the seat. While I do support the Democratic party, and vote twice a year, that's the only political campaign experience to my name. (I've had to switch to voting by mail because of my declining health. And I'm a Democrat.)

I have experience with mass mailing, but would need someone to deliver and pick up supplies. I have experience running typed-only multi-player rpgs. I have a deep passion for books, letter writing, and movies. 

I volunteered as a Municipal Liaison for the Lehigh Valley NaNoWriMo writers. (The international organization has since suffered catastrophic issues, which is why I was among the thousands who left.)

So, that's who I am. That's my strengths and weaknesses. I didn't know if you have a use for me. I don't know if there's something I could do for 80 hours a month with your organization. 

I mostly function in the dead of night (1 to 4am), though occasionally am able to accomplish a small task between 6pm to 8pm.