Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Change is Change

Tags

change, Learning, Reading, Thinking Thursday, Watching

I’ve been troubled by this particular day for some time. Why? I’m sure many of you are pretty “over” my weekly synopsis of readings, watchings, and learnings. I know I am. I can’t really tell you much about the books I’m reading because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone else.

The same goes for what I watch. It’s hard to tell you about a show when you may have put it on a watchlist and again, I ruin it for you by dropping a key scene or plot point.

So, I’m going to change this back to Thinking Thursday. It’ll be on a topic in the news, an interesting Ted Talk, or some other piece that I find out on the web and want to talk about.

I think this will be a refreshing change.

Well, as always, have a great Thursday, folks.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – CODMW2 Blog, CODM Blog, Generation Kill, and MS Excel

Tags

CODM, CODMW2, Generation Kill, HBO, Learning, MS Excel, Reading, Watching

I’ve been reading a lot of gaming blogs this week, because there were so many changes in season 3 (CODMW2) and season 4 (CODM). New weapons, new game play, and new maps. I re-watched a 7-part series on HBO called Generation Kill. It’s about a Marine Force Recon unit entering into Iraq during the Iraq War. I’m continuing to go through the MS Excel course and happy to say I’m only a few lessons away from finishing it.

The weather is terrific in Michigan. It’s still a bit chilly, but for those of us who are cold-blooded, me included, it’s polo shirt weather.

This will be short one today. I’ve got some extra stuff to get done today, so I’ll leave you with this: Read and Learn. It is by far one of the best habits I’ve established. It is great to learn new things and read both fiction and nonfiction. I love stories and kick myself for not reading more of it earlier in life. I love a good story. I also enjoy non-fiction and really enjoy history.

Happy Wednesday, folks. That’s it for today.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Facts and Fallacies, Kitchen Nightmares, and World History

Tags

Crash Course, Curiosity Stream, Kitchen Nightmares, Learning, Thomas Sowell, Thursday, World History

Well, it’s been a terrific week. I hope yours has gone well too.

If you’ve never read Thomas Sowell, I highly recommend it. I’m currently reading him and boy does he have a way of opening up your mind. Next up is Gordan Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares. What an entertaining show this is.

Next up is World History, courtesy of Curiosity Stream. Currently we are looking at the world trade system and how it evolved. Fascinating stuff.

We are quickly approaching the end of the week. I’m going to move off topic a bit to wish you and yours a great weekend. Take some time to plan something special for yourself and your loved ones. Will it be a movie, eating out, heading to the gym as a family, or just driving around and taking in the landscape? Take the time and make it special. It’s a great time to be alive.

Well, that’s all I have for today, folks. Hopefully I’ve given you some great ideas for books to read, things to learn, and what to entertain yourself with. Learning for me has been a life-long passion. I love learning new things and boy, with all the technology that is out there, there is so much.

Have a great Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Thomas Sowell, Jordan Peterson Lecture Series, and MS Excel

Tags

Jordan Peterson, Maps of Meaning, MS Excel, Office Newb, Personality, Thomas Sowell, Udemy

I’m still reading Sowell, finished both of Jordan Peterson’s lecture series on YouTube, and approaching the end of the MS Excel course. I’ve also been watching Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares on Amazone Prime. That’s a pretty good show. I was motivated to watch these, because snippets of various episodes started popping up on my Tik Tok feed. I would not recommend watching this series if you have a weak stomach. Some of these restaurants are absolutely atrocious and have some real “health department” issues.

The weather is starting to warm up in Michigan, finally. We were in the high 70s yesterday and it looks like we’ll be heading there again today. It’s nice to open the windows and smell the fresh air. It’s also nice to see all the green.

Well, folks. Short and sweet today. I hope all of you have a great Thursday.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Deep Mind, TED, Curiosity Stream

Tags

Crash Course, Curiosity Stream, Deep Mind, TED, Ted Talks, TedEd, WWI

This week, I revisited a book I started a while back, but put to the side to read my friend’s book. They have quarantined the entire crew of the America and discovered that the infection the crew has is actually intelligent. Wow!

I watch a lot of YouTube. I watch it primarily for tips and tricks on the various games I play. I also watch a lot TED. TED talks now charges a fee, but it’s not too steep. I opted for the monthly payment of $5. For as much as I watch it and TEDEd, it’s worth it. Why not? I use the service and they should charge something for the great content they provide. I learn a great deal from the all the TED talks I watch each week.

I also enjoy Curiosity Stream. I know you are probably tired of hearing me plug this service, but for $19 a year you get access to all kinds of documentaries. I love documentaries. I enjoy watching a show, but I enjoy learning from a show much more. I enjoy movies and tv shows, but I really enjoy learning something new, even if it is just a perspective. Currently I am watching Crash Course World History II. I just finished watching the video on WWI. It is great to learn new things about something I thought I knew. They focused on who really started the war. The answer, everyone. The Germans are easy to blame, but their claim is that the Russian mobilization is what really started the whole thing.

Well, folks. That’s it for today. I hope you have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Economic Facts and Fallacies, YouTube, and TedEd

Tags

Reading, Learning, Watching, TedEd, YouTube, Women's History Month, Thomas Sowell

I’m still reading Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell. He just covered the heated topic of equal pay for men and women. It’s a fascinating read.

I watch YouTube to get tips and tricks on the various games I play, but also watch streamers who use YouTube as a live platform. I also watch them on Facebook, Twitch, and Tik Tok. Many of the educational videos I provide here are on YouTube or TedEd. For those of you who are unaware, TedEd is a an offshoot of the TED talks platform and created to provide teachers and students with some interesting tools for the classroom. These sources have been terrific during Women’s History Month.

I love learning new things and there is always something exciting to pick up.

Well, I hope all of you have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Shariyat Ki Sugmad, YouTube, and Chat GPT

Tags

Chat GPT, Curiosity, Interests, Learning, Shariyat Ki Sugmad, The Way of the Eternal, YouTube

I always read my Bible The Shariyat Ki Sugmad. The Shariyat Ki Sugmad translates to the Way of the Eternal. It is a wonderful book. It is to us in ECKANKAR as the Bible is to Christians, the Tora is to the Jews, and the Quran is to Islam. I read it daily.

I watch a lot of YouTube. I watch videos there to get material for my blog, particularly this month to find videos on various women who have impacted our society. I also use it to entertain myself. There are so many funny videos, tips on the games I like to play, and content creators that are really talented.

Chat GPT is a terrific tool. For me, the best description is it is a new type of search engine and query tool that delivers a great amount of value. There are all kinds of AI tools popping up on the Internet and they are only going to get better over time. They will get better because they “learn”. As more people use them, their learning will increase exponentially.

All of the things I do keeps me young. I like to learn new things and stay relevant. When I look at people like my parents, it is easy to be motivated to do this. My mother struggles with technology. She’s almost 80 and does well with most things, but has no interest in how things work. She just wants them to work. I, on the other hand, like to know how things work. If I know how they work, I gain more insights on how to use these new tools for my benefit.

Learning how things work, requires us to “play” with them. It is awesome to have an interest in everything. I gravitate to many things I am interested in, but also interested in learning about things that I am not generally interested in. I just learn about things to learn about them.

Stay engaged, folks. Get out there and explore the world digitally and for real. There is so much to learn, so much to see, and so much to experience. It makes life worth living.

Well, that’s all I have for today. I hope all of you have a terrific Thursday.

Until next time..

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Women Inventors, YouTube, and Chat GPT

Tags

Artificial Intelligence, Chat GPT, Inventors, Learning, Reading, Research, Watching, Women, YouTube

I’ve been reading all my books, watching a lot of YouTube videos, and learning a great deal about so many famous women this month. Like most months where we celebrate various things throughout the year, it is so hard to grasp the depth and breadth of the contributions of so many women who have contributed to what we call our current day reality.

During one of my searches, I discovered this article, which lists the top 100 women inventors in history. Here’s the link: https://www.cadcrowd.com/blog/top-100-famous-female-inventors-in-history-modern-women-inventors/#:~:text=Top%20100%20famous%20female%20inventors%20in%20history%201,%28Unknown%29%208%208.%20Ann%20Lambrechts%20%28Unknown%29%20More%20items

Here are a few women from that list:

Ada Lovelace is responsible for writing the first ever computer algorithm.

Adeline D.T. Whitney is responsible for the creation of alphabet blocks for children.

Alice Ball was responsible for creating the first cure for leprosy.

Ann Tsukamoto was responsible for discovering and isolating stem cells.

If you’d like to be inspired or awe struck, take a look at all the women who have made great contributions to the many technologies we enjoy today. I grabbed four that caught my eye in the early part of the list. There are 96 more. This is again the wonder of women throughout history that have contributed to our current society. Bravo!

If you want to see some great videos of women in history, simply search for them on YouTube. I have watched so many videos on women inventors, women in history, and the other searches I’ve used, it is mind boggling. I simply spend about 20 minutes a day looking at videos to broaden my knowledge of women in history. There are too many to highlight any here. If you’re interested, do a “women in history” search on YouTube, and you’re likely to see the same videos I’ve watched so far.

Well, I hope you enjoy the link I provided and the adventures you have on YouTube.

What am I learning? ChatGPT. This is Artificial Intelligence. Microsoft has already incorporated this into its web browser Bing, which I use, but the ChatGPT client is something else. You can use this tool to search the internet and create papers, books, and other written artifacts. I’m currently exploring how to use it to learn. Imagine asking ChatGPT about any topic. It will put together a paper for you at the length you specify and even provide the references it uses to support the paper’s claims. I’m very interested in the wars of history. My current interest is the Peloponnesian Wars. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

If you’d like to try this out for yourself, here’s the link to get started: https://chat.openai.com/auth/login?ref=upstract.com

The log in you create is nothing more than your first name, last name, email address and phone number. You’ll have to verify your email address and phone number and then you’re all set. There’s a Chat GPT +, but I imagine that will cost you some money. For now, I’m going to stick with the free version. It’s pretty cool, so far. I hope you give it a try. It’ll be a great addition to my ability to conduct research on all the things I enjoy learning about.

Well, that’s it for now, folks. I hope you have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – One of Those Faces, Economic Facts and Fallacies, YouTube: DMZ Tips and Tricks

Tags

DMZ, Fiction, Grawl, Learning, Non-Fiction, Reading, Sowell, suspense, Watching, YouTube

I recently started reading One of Those Faces. It’s a thriller, and boy is this author great! The author is Elle Grawl, and man she has you tensed up in the first chapter.

Economic Facts and Fallacies is another good one. I’m reading the part of the book that discusses disparities between a man’s income and a woman’s income. His findings are quite interesting. I’ll leave it up to you to read the book. All I can say is he is blowing out most of the stuff we hear in the news about this “fact” and that “fact”.

YouTube is my go-to for anything related to Call of Duty. The DMZ is just one of the games you can play in COD MW2 that was added with this installment of the game. It is what is called an extraction shooter, because you can leave the game play area anytime you wish. If you successfully “exfil”, you get to keep what you picked up. Weapons, keys, missions you complete. Unlike Warzone, which follows the Battle Royale format, the DMZ has missions you can complete that provide new weapon skins and blueprints, character skins, and other things that help your character become stronger.

Many of these missions are easy, but as you progress through each faction’s five levels, the missions get more and more difficult. The great thing about YouTube is there is always some creator that has completed the mission and has a video showing you how to find the mission area and what you are supposed to do to complete the mission successfully. A mission I completed recently was called Muddy Waters. This mission requires you to find three intelligence items: a thumb drive and two documents. Typically, you go into the DMZ with two other players. There is an option to go in solo or with two players if you only want to go in like this. You simply turn a button called fill squad to off and you’ll either go in by yourself or with a teammate.

Well, folks, that’s it for today. I hope you have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Reading, Watching, and Learning – Ancient Wisdom for Today and YouTube

Tags

Blogging, Books, Building Community, Courses, Eckankar, Learning, Reading, Watching, YouTube

I’m still reading the books I listed last week. I’m enjoying them immensely. I am also doing a lot of reading on Activision’s blog. This blog covers all things Call of Duty. One of the books I’d like to mention is a free book that is offered from ECKANKAR. It is written in layman’s terms, so it’s easy to understand. If any of you would be interested, here’s the link to get your free download or hard copy: https://www.eckankar.org/freebook/wisdom/

I watch a lot of YouTube, particularly to learn how to do things in Call of Duty and other games I’m playing. It is a great source of information. I watch videos on weapon builds, maps, all kinds of things that creators put together so others like me can learn something quickly that took hours of game play to figure out. It’s a great service.

I read another person’s blog post today about restarting her blog after finishing grad school. She expressed the same doubts about what to write about–one of the fears I had when I started Daily Ramblings in early 2016. Now, after 7 years, I write about what I like and care about. I’ve found that the people who enjoy my blog are kindred spirits. They like learning, they like interesting videos and articles, they have some spiritual inclinations, and they are politically agnostic–they realize politics is a reality in our lives, but choose not to participate or waste their time and emotions arguing fruitless points with one another.

I want Daily Ramblings to be a place where people can hear from people across history who offer great advice that is still relevant today. I want to share how I run my life, after a lifetime of military service and working in corporate America. I want to share my love of technology, video gaming, reading, writing, and sharing. I like sharing hacks I ‘ve come up with that make my life much easier.

In the end, I write this blog for me. It’s a nice “diary” if you will. I can go back to some of my earlier posts and remember what I was thinking at the time. I also enjoy the blogs I follow. There are artists, philosophers, environmentalists who love animals and nature, people who craft, authors I’ve come to know through their books, and so many others, just because they have interesting things to say that align with what I like to read about.

My advice is this: Write. The followers will come, if you are interested in building a community. Just write. There are a lot of people out there who are interested in what you have to say, because they think the same way you do. They’ll share the same interests.

Well, that’s it for today, folks. Have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave