W
Ha. I just used it to give me the skinny on carpeting. We will be replace our aged plush with something more wheelchair friendly. Claude did a great job.
And I also asked about how to set up and use the NMES gizmo that we bought for e-stim to see if we can wake up the arm. It was very comprehensive.
I've used the free version of Claude for reducing imaging reports (MRIs and CT scans) to understandable summaries. Also for interpreting progress reports from physical, occupational, and speech therapists. For both the imaging and the therapy reports I fed in the reports over time and Claude did a good job helping me understand what progress/lack thereof that Mr wtg's therapists are seeing. Saved me a ton of time figuring out all the terminology.
I also used it to help figure out how to use ramps to facilitate wheelchair access to our house. It was lousy at that until I redirected it. And then it was still not very good. It did tell me which manufacturers have the highest quality products. It was probably a toss up whether it actually saved me time or not.
It gave a couple of off-the-wall interpretations about things that happened in therapy. It is much more "emotional" than I expected. I thought it would be more logical and detached.
It did a pretty good job comparing two OTC e-stim devices we were considering for home use to help try to wake up Mr wtg's arm.
I have found its fawning to be annoying. "You're so smart to have figured this out." "Mr wtg is so lucky to have you as an advocate in his corner." I haven't asked it to stop doing this yet, but I'm pretty close.
The mini-AIs that are in Amazon that answer questions about various products are basically useless at this point. And duck.ai (pops up in DuckDuckGo searches) and Leo (part of Brave) also have pretty limited use.
Haven't done anything beyond that.
I feel like I did when I first started using Netscape and AltaVista to access the info on the internet. The information and analysis that are available is amazing. But I'm also a bit troubled by the quality of the results. I still feel like I have to double check a lot of things because it can miss information and its analysis can be flawed. That becomes apparent if you have any background in the topic at hand. The quality of the prompts is definitely a factor; you kind of have to figure out how to use it. If you don't and take it at face value I could see running into problems.
Scary.
Relentless, deadly heat is tightening its grip on Europe, with temperature records expected to not just fall but be obliterated this week. Scientists warn this extreme heat is a huge problem for Europe and a wake up call to a new reality.
Europe is the planet’s fastest-warming continent, heating at around two to three times the global average, yet it’s woefully underprepared. Its infrastructure was not built for extreme heat; when temperatures spike, rail tracks buckle, power cables break, homes turn into heat traps, and thousands die.
This week is yet another brutal reminder that European heat is becoming both more severe and more frequent. It marks the second record-breaking heat wave in two straight months, with the potential for national all-time temperature records to be broken before Europe even reaches July, typically its hottest month.
“This isn’t the new norm at all; this is the foothills of absolute catastrophe,” said Hugh Montgomery, professor of intensive care medicine at University College London.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/23/climate/europe-heat-wave-france-uk-spain
Tulsi Gabbard, her guru and the mysterious messages that helped shape her political career
I obtained hundreds of confidential memos detailing politics and policy guidance for Gabbard from her years in Congress, then embarked on a quest to identify who was behind them.
Pretty interesting piece in WaPo.
The Senate for the first time approved a war powers resolution Tuesday seeking to block U.S. military action against Iran, as lawmakers warily watch President Donald Trump’s efforts to resolve a conflict that the administration launched on its own and now needs Congress to fund.
It was the 10th time the Senate has tried to stop the war, and the outcome, on a vote of 50-48, was a stunning turnaround from past efforts. While the resolution is largely symbolic, and does not carry the full force of law, it reflects the growing concerns from a number of Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate over both the war and the deal Trump struck with Iran to end it. The House approved the resolution earlier this month.
https://apnews.com/article/senate-iran-war-powers-resolution-trump-7462a9a561103f531d995aac91f9fc96
A study on Covid vaccines that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s acting director blocked from publication came out Tuesday in a different journal.
The findings show that Covid vaccines reduced the likelihood of severe illness by about half among adults last fall and winter. The study was originally scheduled to be released in March in the CDC’s flagship scientific publication, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). Instead, it was published in JAMA Network Open, a highly regarded, peer-reviewed journal from the American Medical Association.
Conservative media often direct a lot of ire at the “mainstream press” for getting it wrong — and they are often right. But it is only fair to acknowledge that conservative media get it wrong, too.
And when it comes to President Trump’s disastrous attempt this year at playing war chief, a whole lot of conservatives got it wrong, this author included.
The largest, most powerful, and best-funded military in the history of the world, despite inflicting massive destruction and suffering minimal casualties, was somehow defeated by a shipping channel. Our British cousins must be having flashbacks to the Suez Canal.
https://thehill.com/national-security/5930898-iran-strait-hormuz-us-surrender/
A proposal to honorarily rename the street in Chicago where Trump Tower is located to “Barack Hussein Obama Way" was introduced at city council this week.
The proposal was introduced by 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly on Wednesday, the eve of the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center in the city's Jackson Park neighborhood -- an event President Trump was not invited to.
If approved, the ordinance would honorarily rename the east side of North Wabash Avenue between East Kinzie Street and East Wacker Drive to “Barack Hussein Obama Way."
Plus, an honorary street sign marking the designation would also be put up right outside Trump Tower, located at 401 N. Wabash Ave., and on the Wabash Avenue Bridge, according to the proposed ordinance.
