Mending . . .

First box is mended.

I may regret not buying a manifold to replace this old one, as with the old one I was not able to use the quick release attachments as they were the wrong size. But part of me is a bit tired of throwing money at this project.

The gravel in the bottom is a bonus from a previous project. Hopefully it'll make things look a little cleaner until the bugs move it.

Second box is being more of a challenge. I'm dealing with an odd configuration of pipes (two valves without a manifold) and some really rusted hardware.

I've got one valve out, with the other getting buried a bit as I work. The ground is so dry . . . but we do live in a desert, after all. Also had a lot of root intrusion from the nearby apricot tree. Guess I should have expected that after a decade, but seeing that inch-thick root snaking by one of the valves was startling.

I was going to go out and work on it today, but nah. I need some rest. Also, I have to get ready to go to Island Park tomorrow night to replace the stupid water pump in the camper . . .

Sprinklers Continue to Break

Apparently, this is my Summer of Sprinklers: The Revenge.

In the first few years after we moved into this house, my brother and I worked to install a sprinkler system. It's been a nice way to have the lawns watered automatically nigh these many years.

Then this year came.

I was late getting sprinklers started -- didn't get them tested until the first week of June. I identified some problems with some circuits in the front yard, and worked to repair those.

In the meantime we had a freeze -- not uncommon for our neck of the woods this time of year -- and it blitzed several circuits in the back yard. So I've spent many hours this past week digging up valves and lines, replacing valves, and meeting some success in getting things working again. I'm hoping with what I did today and what I'll accomplish maybe tomorrow -- it's ox in the mire time -- or next weekend will see everything set right. In the meantime, I've been dragging hoses all over the place and the lawn looks like a missile testing site. Here's to getting things up and running and having a better summer from here on out.

 

Sounds Like a Lot of Hoopla

This is this blog's 4,000th post.

I Knew there Would Be Complications

So regular reader knows I did some paver-related landscaping in the front yard earlier this spring. Part of that project included routing a water line and power line underneath a slab of concrete in the front yard. The work went smoothly . . . until it didn't.

Now the valves fed by that power cable aren't working. Well, they're not shutting off fully. I've cleaned the valves twice, so I'm not sure what's going on. Second time involved digging them up and basically rebuilding the manifold.

So tomorrow's activity will include buying a new power line and using that to test if it's the power line that's shorted somewhere or if the valves I have are bad, and their breaking is just coincidental to the relocation of the power supply.

Not really looking forward to that, but I'm also not really liking that our lawn is burning up right now. We have hoses and sprinklers to move around, but that's not fun at all.

A BRAND NEW AI-DRIVEN THAT DOES!

Hey, Caktus AI, c'mere a minute:

Trust me, the good teachers know.

This goes beyond the typos in your ad copy by the way (was it AI-generated? In that case, well done). A good teacher doesn't need an AI checker to identify copy a student didn't write.

And even if we don't, well . . . you got your money I guess. And they got their grade. But they didn't learn anything except to spend money to get a grade.

I get it: AI is a neat tool. I can see legitimate uses for it in the classroom. But those who use it in the way you espouse cheat themselves of a learning experience. If they cut corners like this, what other corners are they cutting, and what price will they (or others) have to pay for those shortcuts?

Just learn how to write a paper. I'd much rather read a paper that's less than perfect but through which a student learned something, than one that's perfect but only cost them a little cash to generate.

And just as AI evasion is getting better, so is AI detection. AI detection isn't limited to using a service to scan a text. I can use my own eyes, my own brain.

Since you don't want your users to "get caught," you already know it's cheating. I know you don't care, because you got their money.

Students: That's what these people want, your money. Use their service once in a pinch and the temptation is there to keep using it and using it, paying every time. How much is your integrity worth?

I Don't Use AI . . . Yet.

As is expected, a writer is aghast they have been accused of using artificial intelligence to do their job.

But, give it a few more years, and maybe they will use it.

Article is linked here. Relevant passage repeated below (emphasis mine):

"Does this issue with AI matter right now?

"Not really. Either it will remain unusable, like now, and we won’t be using it for copy at all; or, it will become usable in the future, but you’ll still need someone like me to check it over and make sure it’s correct. Either way, you’d have to know the best ways to use it, and the nuances of the tool’s prompts. In essence, in the future, if AI becomes that good (which I doubt – remember Blu-Ray, holograms, and polyurethane tires?) we won’t need to worry about it because it will do what I do and you won’t be able to tell the difference, as long as I have worked out the best ways of using it in my job. But I don’t think AI will reach those echelons. I really doubt it. I can see the issues with it now, and it’s janky to say the least. And so I won’t be using it for the foreseeable future."

I'm going to ask their question, but address it differently: Does this issue with AI matter right now?

Absolutely. I failed a student in one of my English classes last semester because they got caught using AI to write an essay in class, and then continued to use it even after they were warned not to. AI in all of its jankiness and sloppiness, is very much a temptation for inexperienced writers -- and I find it hard to believe experienced writers aren't out there playing with it right now, figuring out how they can use it safely. And maybe to the point we won't be able to tell.

Is AI writing going to get better? I think it's inevitable. There are already paid AI services out there that note the jankiness and work around it so as to become virtually undetectable. This author themselves says this about technology: (again, emphasis mine) "Maybe AI could be the end of everything we know now, maybe it will destroy certain systems in that things might change, but change is not an end, where tech is concerned, it's usually progress."

Uh-huh. I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you if you're interested.

I Can Grow Gravel . . .

Gone are the burning bushes that never really went anywhere, and the excessively weedy patch of "flowerbed" that was much more crabgrass than pansies.

In is this:

Because I can grow rocks. Anything else is iffy, to be sure.

But now I have another area of the yard I potentially have to vacuum . . .

God Bless All of You, All of You on the Good Earth

The first voice in this broadcast, given from the Apollo 8 Command Module on Christmas Eve, 1968, is William Anders.

"God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."

Anders died todaydied today in a plane crash in Washington state. He was 90 years old.

He also took this picturethis picture of the Earth from Moon orbit, called Earthrise.

We live in an age where the men who visited the Moon all those years ago are dying. I fully expected to be able to visit the moon when I got older.

As a nation, we have diminished in our ambitions and reach, and are poorer for it.

Save Money? Good Luck.

 

So Rocky Mountain Power wants to goose our electric bills up by about a quarter, spreading that load over a couple of years so maybe we don't notice all that much.

They brag in this news story that we'll still have one of the lowest electric bills in the country. Which is well and good. When everyone's increasing their prices and you're at the bottom, that's easy to say.

And I guess I shouldn't complain that much. We do have solar on the house which pretty much negates our bill for four or five months out of the year. And maybe that's why they're putting their rates up -- a lot of people have gone solar.

Makes me wish we could afford that $20,000 for the battery system we looked at earlier this year, but it's not in the cards nor do we yet have the room for it. Maybe once we get the house paid off in five or six years . . . 

So yes, First World Problems to be sure.

He's Oiling His Brain

I don't have many regrets in life,  but I do regret not getting a photo of Isaac Friday evening after he'd rubbed his nose as he was changing the brake pads and rotors on his sister's van.

Because he 'ad stuff all over 'is face.