Conversational Potpourri

The schedules are being released for the upcoming season soon and before we know it training camp will be starting. So this will be an open topic for all things football from now until the next Super Bowl.

Artificial Intelligence has been used to design brand new viruses that are fully functional and can replicate in the laboratory, say US researchers. It is the first time whole genomes have been successfully designed by AI. The resulting 16 novel viruses were created to infect bacteria and pose no threat to people. The breakthrough has been labelled a "very significant turning point" in science that could unlock a new era for treating disease. But experts have also warned AI-designed viruses raise "urgent" safety and security concerns. AI tools are rapidly advancing and have already been used to design new antibiotics. But that is relatively simple compared with designing …

I am not sure, exactly, how many ChatGPT signs, flyers, or advertisements I had seen without noticing. But I do remember that once I began noticing them, I saw them everywhere. The “ChatGPT flyer pandemic” has become a big topic of conversation among graphic designers, musicians, bars, and small business owners who care about design and showing that they’ve put effort into something. Once you notice a ChatGPT flyer, you will see them everywhere if you keep your eyes open. Source What are your thoughts on these flyers? Have you noticed them everywhere, like the article suggests?

The news that the iconic MySpace could be making a comeback feels far more significant than one might expect from the revival of a long-abandoned platform. Tim and Chris Vanderhook, the brand’s current owners, have confirmed that they plan to relaunch MySpace, although they have yet to reveal a date or any details about how it will work. The brothers also discuss the network’s possible future in Tommy Avallone’s new documentary Myspace, explaining that they are waiting for the right moment to bring it back. It seems that moment may finally have arrived. MySpace launched in 2003 and quickly became one of the central hubs of 2000s internet culture. Users had profiles, frien…

Enshittification is described as "the gradual degradation of online platforms and services, where user experience is sacrificed to maximize profits for advertisers and owners." Coined by author Cory Doctorow in 2022, it refers to a three-stage decline: being good to users, abusing users to reward business customers, and finally, exploiting both. Online examples are far too easy to find: YouTube, Netflix... the list goes on and on. But enshittification is prevalent in the real world as well. For example, this: Became this: What are some other examples of enshittification can you think of, either locally here in Chemung County or in America in general?

by Kai James On May 22, 2026, the Pentagon released a second batch of previously classified photos and videos showing what appear to be unexplained flying objects. These file dumps were the culmination of a process that was set in motion back in July 2023, when a group of government whistleblowers testified before Congress that the U.S. government was secretly in possession of extraterrestrial spacecraft and suspected alien body parts. That congressional hearing marked the beginning of a cultural shift in which UFO reports are increasingly treated as a matter for serious discussion, both within the government and the scientific community. The Pentagon released over 200 p…

Reading the story about the plight of the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca made me realize that I've never been there. And there's a lot of other places throughout the region, or even closer to home, that I still haven't been to. What's a popular local place that you've never been to before? Is there a good reason for it or you just haven't gotten around to it?

Experts at SUNY’s Center for Vector-Borne Diseases are expecting a tough tick season. They say they’ve already seen a lot of early-season tick activity, despite the cold winter and spring. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's tick bite tracker shows that emergency room visits for tick bites in April are the highest they've been this time of year since 2017. According to the data, the Northeast is seeing the highest rates of ER visits for tick bites in comparison to other parts of the country. So far this year, more than a third of the ticks that have come into SUNY's Tick Lab are carrying a disease. In the North Country, Lyme disease is still the most common t…

by Tanya D. Marsh Nearly two-thirds of Americans now opt for cremation – a figure that has been steadily increasing over five decades. On the surface, that proportion tells a simple story: The nation has embraced cremation, while its preference for casket burials has fallen off. But as a scholar of funeral and cemetery law, I decided to dig deeper into this trend. I wanted to know whether people were embracing cremation because they actually preferred it, or if they were rejecting casket burial for one reason or another. I also explored whether consumers were open to new options in death care, like water cremation and human composting. You’re dead – what’s next?With fundi…

What do you think about this list? Is there someone that belongs on this list that isn't? What's your favorite guitar riff of all time?

August 6, 2000 Read the rest of the article here. Question: Is there a celebrity that you would drive across the country to meet? If so, who and why?

I saw a clip from this on Facebook of all places. It's a very interesting listen, especially starting around the 20:00 mark. ( NSFW Language )

Fifty years ago today.