Photography

I’ve continued on with photography. I’m now doing two challenges a week. I’m still participating in 52Frames, and have added my local photography group. Unfortunately, they use Facebook for the challenges, but then Facebook is pretty standard in Maine.

52Frames Submission

This week was “chair” .

FLCC (First Light Camera Club)

This week was “photographers choice”.

Two wooden fences that line up as one. One has been updates and is red. The other is gray. Snow mounds in front of the fence line.

Motor City Brewing

So, Motor City Brewing is closing down their restaurant in downtown Detroit, MI. We generally visit at least once when we return to Michigan. Alas, no more.

We invite you to join us through Sunday, February 8th, to spend some time reflecting on the last three decades. Until our final day of taproom service we will be displaying a digital montage of historic brewery photos and events pulled from the many chapters that have lived inside these walls.

After February 8, the taproom will pause while we figure out what comes next. Beer distribution to our retailers will continue during this transition as we take a thoughtful look at the future of the building and the brand.

This pause comes down to something very real and very Detroit. The brewery runs on the city’s historic thermal steam system. After more than a hundred years, our section of steam line that powered the kettle and much of the brewery reached the end of its life, and service was permanently shut off on December 31. While that change forced our hand, it also gives us a moment to step back and consider longer-term possibilities.

We’re using this time to explore next steps, whether that’s reworking infrastructure, finding the right partners, or identifying a succession path that respects the history of this place while giving it a future.

We know there will be questions, and we appreciate your patience as things come into focus. We’ll share updates as decisions are made.

AI Training

  • Common Sense Two Truths and a Lie.
    Interesting idea. However, what is now coming forward is more finding sites that you can trust as human created rather than sussing out AI generated stuff. In reality, we’re going to need both.

Discountinued Tech

I listened to a recent Clockwise Podcast where they talked about “outdated tech” that they still use. I started thinking about what “outdated tech” that I use. I was coming up empty. Then they brought up that one of them drives a stick shift. Ouch! That’s me. I like driving a manual. I’m guessing that my next car won’t be a standard. (For those unaware, a standardi.e. transmission, a stick shift, and a manual all refer to a manual transmission.)

Quote from Josh Ritter:
“You can always have too much, but just enough keeps you working hard and doing what you love. Past that, I don’t know if it’s useful.”

Homepod minis

Spend some time with the Homepod minis as the Mac wouldn’t stream to them (previously, this had been no issue). Streaming from my phone worked fine. A simple restart of the Mac fixed the issue. I had resisted that (why?) and spent too much time researching and changing settings.

Perspective

Fact of the day: the Ford Edsel (“a 1950s flop so notorious that it’s taught in business schools to this day”) outsold the Cybertruck 2:1, “in a country with half the population.”
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/ford-introduces-edsel

  • Ford sold 34,481 Edsels in calendar year 1958. Production ended in November, 1959, with total sales of 109,466 cars.
  • Tesla CyberTruck 20,237 units sold in the U.S. in 2025, a 48.1% decrease from 38,965 in 2024 (full year 01/30/2026 12:27g)
    Tesla:
    2025 Total (U.S.): 20,237 units.
    2024 Total (U.S.): ~38,965 units.
    Total Sales to Date (approx.): ~59,000+ units, falling below initial targets.

AI Use

One thing that AI can be useful for is creating Spreadsheet formulas. I used AI to create a few complex spreadsheet formulas. I could’ve written the formulas myself, but it was much faster to have AI create them. Since I do know spreadsheet formulas, I was able to quickly review them, make changes, and implement.