Random Fun Things Including AI

Tanuki

A dog that looks like a raccoon dog

This is a raccoon dog

I think that if we crossed the shipperke and keeshond we could get a dog that resembled a raccoon dog. AI seems to agree. It thinks that crossing a Eurasier might get the color closer, but then you can bring in the aggressiveness of the chow chow and cause issues.

This is what AI thinks it would look like.

#aiart

So I was at the Clifton commons and saw so many crookedly parked cars that I was inspired to ask Gemini to write this song.

"Bad Parking Club" to the tune of "Pink Pony Club" by Chappell Roan. The drama of a night out, but it's the frustration of seeing a terrible parallel park.

Here's the parody:

Bad Parking Club

(Sung to the tune of "Pink Pony Club" by Chappell Roan)

(Synth intro and driving beat...)

Verse 1

Yeah, I saw your little sedan, halfway up on the curb

Looks like you gave up before it even got one-third

It's a two-car space, but somehow, you've used three

A true parking enigma, for all the town to see

Were you texting? Were you stressed? Did the lines just disappear?

'Cause your back end's sticking out, causing widespread fear.

Pre-Chorus

I swear I've seen it all, the double-parked, the crossed-out blue

But this level of atrocity, is totally new.

You're blocking the sidewalk, you're angled fifty degrees

It's a masterclass in failure, brought down to its knees.

Chorus

'Cause I'm joining the Bad Parking Club, yeah, I'm making a scene!

Snap a picture for the 'gram, the worst I've ever seen.

Yeah, they're parking like they're blind, like they don't even care

If you can't see the lines, then you shouldn't be there!

Bad Parking Club, that's where all the rage is

They're taking up two spots, on multiple stages.

(Oh, oh, oh-oh) In the Bad Parking Club!

Verse 2

The Smart Car touching a truck, the truck touching a Jeep

You've created a domino, while the rest of us weep.

In the handicap spot, no visible plate

Just a minivan driver, running an hour late.

You parallel-parked with a good two-foot gap

Did you think you were docking a massive pirate ship?

You're so crooked, you could drive a person insane

When you get out your car, do you feel any shame?

Pre-Chorus

I swear I've seen it all, the nose-in diagonal

But this level of selfishness, is really irrational.

You're blocking the crosswalk, your wheel's on the lawn

I'll still be complaining, from dusk 'til the dawn.

Chorus

'Cause I'm joining the Bad Parking Club, yeah, I'm making a scene!

Snap a picture for the 'gram, the worst I've ever seen.

Yeah, they're parking like they're blind, like they don't even care

If you can't see the lines, then you shouldn't be there!

Bad Parking Club, that's where all the rage is

They're taking up two spots, on multiple stages.

(Oh, oh, oh-oh) In the Bad Parking Club!

Bridge

It's not that hard to back up, it's not hard to be straight

Just a little consideration, before it's too late.

But you've jammed up the lot, you've caused major strife

And now I can't leave—this is my parking life!

Guitar Solo / Synth Break

(Imagine a dramatic, frustrated guitar riff mixed with a pulsing synth beat)

Chorus

'Cause I'm joining the Bad Parking Club, yeah, I'm making a scene!

Snap a picture for the 'gram, the worst I've ever seen.

Yeah, they're parking like they're blind, like they don't even care

If you can't see the lines, then you shouldn't be there!

Bad Parking Club, that's where all the rage is

They're taking up two spots, on multiple stages.

(Oh, oh, oh-oh) In the Bad Parking Club!

Outro

(Oh, oh-oh) The parallel park disaster!

(Oh, oh-oh) Bad Parking Club!

(Oh, oh-oh) Take a picture, it'll last you...

(Beat fades out with a frustrated honk and a sigh)

---

Just when you thought it was safe to go to the potluck ...

In the late 80's, midwesterners called Tabasco sauce on tater tots Mexifries. Let's rewrite history, shall we?

🧰 Ingredients

🔹 Base

- 1 bag thick-cut steak fries (frozen or fresh-cut) (Two bags of tater tots can substitute. Or you can mix and match if you are feeling particularly kinky.)

- Olive oil, salt

🔹 Chili Layer

- ½ lb ground beef

- ½ small onion, finely diced

- 2 cloves garlic, crushed

- 1 tbsp tomato paste

- 1 small can Chipotle chilis

- 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

- 1 tsp ground cumin

- 1 tsp smoked paprika

- ½ tsp chili powder

- ½ tsp ground coriander

- ½ tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

- Salt to taste

- Optional: ½ cup finely chopped mushrooms

🔹 Cheese Layer

- 1½ cups shredded cheese (cheddar, Monterey Jack, or pepper jack)

🔹 Guacamole

- 2 ripe avocados

- Juice of 1 lime

- Salt to taste

- 2 tbsp finely diced red onion

- 1 tbsp chopped cilantro

🔹 Sour Cream

- ½ cup sour cream

- Optional: mix with lime zest or chipotle powder

🔹 Chunky Salsa-Tomato Hybrid

- 2 medium tomatoes, chopped

- ¼ cup diced red onion

- 2 green onions, chopped

- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro

- Juice of ½ lime or lemon

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1 clove garlic, minced

- ½ habanero pepper, finely chopped (adjust to taste)

🔹 Garnish Zone

- 2 tbsp sliced black olives

- 2 tbsp pickled jalapeños

- 2 tbsp crumbled queso fresco

- 2 tbsp chopped green onions

---

🔧 Instructions

1. Bake the Fries

- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).

- Toss fries with olive oil and a pinch of salt.

- Bake 5 minutes longer than package instructions until deep golden and crisp.

2. Make the Chili

- In a skillet, sauté onion and garlic in oil until fragrant.

- Add spices.

- Add ground beef and brown thoroughly.

- Add tomato paste to a bare area of the pan, cook until paste darkens.

- Add can of Chipotle Chiles all including sauce and stir.

- Stir in kidney beans (and mushrooms if using), simmer to meld flavors. Salt to taste. It's done when the chili is thickened.

3. Build the Stack

- Spread hot fries on a sheet pan or serving dish.

- Spoon chili evenly over fries.

- Sprinkle cheese over chili. If chili is not warm, 3 minutes at 400 convection in oven.

4. Add Cold Layers

- Dollop guacamole over melted cheese.

- Swirl or spoon sour cream across the top.

- Spoon chunky salsa mixture generously over everything.

5. Garnish

- Sprinkle olives, pickled jalapeños, queso fresco, and green onions.

---

🧠 Serving Tips

- Serve hot with a wide spatula or fork.

- Optional: modular garnish tray for guests to customize.

- Pair with cold drinks and a sense of humor.

---

(One Giant Coil – 9" Round Pan)

---

🧈 Brioche Dough

Ingredients:

- 2¼ tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast

- ¼ cup warm milk (110°F)

- 2 tbsp granulated sugar

- 2 large eggs, room temperature

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- ½ tsp salt

- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened

Instructions:

1. Activate yeast: Stir yeast, warm milk, and sugar. Let sit 5–10 min until foamy.

2. Mix dough: Add eggs, flour, and salt. Mix until shaggy.

3. Add butter: Knead in softened butter gradually until smooth and elastic.

4. First rise: Cover and let rise until doubled (1–2 hours).

5. Chill (optional): Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight for easier shaping.

---

🍯 Hybrid Pecan Caramel Base

Ingredients:

- 1 cup chopped pecans

- ½ cup brown sugar

- ½ tsp salt (optional)

- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted

- 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup (optional)

Assembly:

1. Grease a 9" round pan generously or line with parchment.

2. Scatter pecans evenly across the bottom.

3. Sprinkle brown sugar and salt over pecans.

4. Drizzle melted butter evenly.

5. Add honey or syrup for extra gloss.

---

🍥 Cinnamon Filling

Ingredients:

- ¼ cup softened butter

- ½ cup brown sugar

- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

---

🌀 Shaping the Giant Spiral

1. Roll chilled dough into a long rectangle: about 6" tall × 24" wide.

2. Spread softened butter, then sprinkle cinnamon sugar evenly.

3. Roll tightly from the long edge (24" side) to form a long, slender log.

4. Coil the log into a single spiral, like a snail shell.

5. Place the spiral directly on top of the pecan caramel base in the pan.

---

🔥 Bake & Glaze

1. Cover and let rise in pan for 30–45 min until puffy.

2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 35–40 minutes, until golden and set.

- Cover loosely with foil if browning too fast.

🍯 Glaze (Apply Before Flipping):

Choose one:

- Maple glaze: 2 tbsp maple syrup + 1 tbsp melted butter

- Honey-butter glaze: 2 tbsp honey + 1 tbsp butter + pinch of salt

- Bourbon glaze: 2 tbsp brown sugar + 1 tbsp bourbon + 1 tbsp butter (simmered briefly)

Brush glaze generously over the hot brioche spiral while still in the pan. Let soak 2–3 minutes.

---

🔄 Flip & Finish

1. Run a knife around the edge.

2. Invert onto a serving plate to reveal the pecan crown.

3. Optional: sprinkle with flaky salt, orange zest, or toasted coconut.

---

📝 Notes

- Best served warm, but reheats beautifully.

- Can be made ahead and refrigerated before final rise.

- For extra depth, add orange zest to cinnamon filling or bourbon to caramel base.

I wanted to post it so I don't lose it.

Using brown butter in your snickerdoodle blondies will add a deliciously rich and nutty flavor. Here's how you can incorporate it into the recipe:

Adjusted Snickerdoodle Blondies with Brown Butter for 8x8 Inch Pan:

Ingredients:

● 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

● 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

● 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

● 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

● 2/3 cup brown butter (from about 3/4 cup of unsalted butter)

● 1 cup brown sugar

● 1/4 cup white sugar

● 1 large egg

● 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. To make brown butter, melt about 3/4 cup of unsalted butter in a pan over medium heat. Continue heating, stirring constantly, until the butter turns a golden brown color and smells nutty. Remove from heat and let it cool.

2. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper.

3. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

4. In a separate bowl, mix the cooled brown butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until well combined.

5. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract.

6. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients until just combined.

7. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

For the Layered Apple and Streusel Topping:

Apple Layer Ingredients:

● 1 cup diced apples

● 1 tablespoon brown sugar

● 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Streusel Topping Ingredients:

● 1/2 cup chopped pecans

● 1/3 cup brown sugar

● 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

● 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

● 1/4 cup cold brown butter, cubed

Instructions:

1. Toss the diced apples with brown sugar and cinnamon, and spread them over the blondie batter in the pan.

2. For the streusel, mix the pecans, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl.

3. Cut in the cold brown butter until the mixture is crumbly.

4. Gently layer the streusel over the apples.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the edges are golden and a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Let it cool before cutting into squares.

Enjoy your aromatic and flavorful snickerdoodle blondies with brown butter, apple, and pecan streusel topping! 🍏🍂🧁

Source: Conversation with Bing, 5/9/2024

1. Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Blondies Recipe - The Gunny Sack

2. Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Blondies - Wood & Spoon

For 70 years, the world has been pursuing a 2 state adjacent solution with progress at some times, severe setbacks at others. Today, after the events of October 7th, we are farther from a 2 state adjacent solution than we have been in many decades. The people of Palestine have been trapped in a shrinking territory without a defined border, sold magic beans of liberation by various malefactors in the middle east who sacrificed Palestinian lives for their own means. (Yes this means you Iran/Hamas.) Due to demographic, economic and many other factors, Israel has reservations about a 2 state adjacent compromise. Hence my conclusion. You have to keep them separated. After everything the Palestinian people have been through, they do deserve a country of their own, unmolested by outside malefactors, and not subject to the insecurity of shifting borders.

• Requirements

The plan must be fair to the Palestinian people as well as to the Israelis. I believe that the only outcome which will be agreeable to Israel will be geographic separation. In addition, the destruction of Israel, demands to take over Jerusalem will need to be placed in the dustbin of history. The burden of having lost and having to retake the holy land has been unjustly placed upon the shoulders of the Palestinian people by the rest of the muslim world. If they think that this is an important goal, they should be the ones to spend their treasure and blood on this project.

• The Plan

Property Acquisition

Obtaining proposals

The first stage of the project would be the acquisition of the land approximately 8,729 square miles, equivalent to the current size of Israel. This obviously must be done in a fair and equitable manner to all stakeholders. A request for proposals for a property of this size is put out to all the countries of the world, and a bidding process begins where the amount of money paid to the country will keep going up until 5 bids are secured. The highest bid will be the money amount that is given the finally chosen country no matter if they were the 5th bid or the 1st. If a country waits too long, they might not be in the running at all. This is a natural optimization of balancing the cost and value of the property. The countries proposal should be voted on by a plebiscite within the country. It should go without saying that the proposal should not be a vehicle for ethnic cleansing. The people displaced by the proposal would need to be compensated.

Evaluating and Deciding among proposals

After the 5 bids have been determined. Each country will then make presentations to the Palestinian people. Several Palestinians will be chosen by some means to visit the country that is bidding, evaluate the proposed state, send back reports and video presentations to citizenry of Palestine. The bidding countries will also make presentations and campaigns. After a certain amount of time, the Palestinian people will decide amongst the five proposals via a plebescite. Whether this plebescite is a standard vote and runoff or by rank choice will need to be determined. Various criteria may be pointed out to the people in this decision, ie preexisting religious makeup of host country, cultural, preexisting good relations and good opinion of each other, etcetera.

Preparation

Once the proposed location for the new country has been established. Several stages of preparation will be needed. Children and adults will need education about their new country. New governmental structures will need to be established. People will arrive in phases to build infrastructure for people who will come later.

Education

For the success of the new country, education of children and adults will be paramount. For the 5 years prior to leaving Palestine, school children and adults will study the language and customs of the receiving country. This will assist in having peaceful relations with their new neighbors as well as enable adults to get jobs in the neighboring country before self sustaining economic activity becomes robust enough to enable prosperity for all. A strong civics and anti authoritarian/extremist education will also be needed. Under current circumstances this will be needed to make the host country more comfortable with hosting this new country as its neighbor. Skills and trades which will be useful to the new country, as well as needs in the host country will be very helpful.

Governmental Structures

Political scientists will need to design an electoral system, structures of government with redundant safeguards against authoritarian regimes as well as religious extremism. This design must exceed the design parameters of current failed and failing democratic states, including the United States of America.

Phased Arrival

Initially, people with specialized skills and the people needed to support them will arrive to pave the way for others. Skilled builders, engineers, water, energy, IT specialists will be needed to build the housing and facilities for new cities. Farmers will need to come to begin farming and producing food so the country can be self sufficient. Initially said produce will probably sold to the host country in order to generate revenue. Solar, wind and hydropower will be the most preferred power sources, supplemented by nuclear. These will have to be built first.

Opportunities

We are building a country from zero. As a result we have the opportunity to avoid all the mistakes of the first world countries. If this new country surpasses the host country and has surpassed the United States of America, we have achieved our goal.

Solar Punk

From the beginning, life in this country will be egalitarian, ecological, and sustainable and self sustaining. A new kind of city design, green transportation, food production and agriculture, communication and information access will form the backbone of this new country and a whole new way of living.

In developed countries, we waste a lot of time travelling to and from work, stuck in traffic in personal automobiles. This causes much sleep deprivation which is impairing and dementing the citizens of advanced countries. Personal automobiles extract a huge cost upon the individual as well as upon society. Personal automobile ownership will be discouraged as there simply won't be the infrastructure for it. The cities will be designed with 5 story buildings in clusters. The ground floor will house shops, restaurants, public spaces, while the floors above will be housing. The plaza in front of the buildings will be for pedestrians and bicycles. Between clusters, buses and trams will get people between clusters as needed and intercity trains will transport people between cities. People could easily walk or bicycle between the clusters in a city as well.

The five story buildings will be draped in plants from each external hallway. These plants may assist with cooling or warming the building, produce food such as tomatoes, squash, etc. The drains of these plants may supply an aquaculture installation on the roof. The plazas in front of the buildings as well as the walkways that link the clusters will be lined with fruit trees that are taken care of by the city. This is a philosophical statement that no matter how destitute someone is, they will be taken care of and that everyone is in this together. Delivery trucks, police and emergency vehicles will arrive from the back of the buildings. It will be a 15 minute city. 15 minutes to work, shopping, school. More rare items will come by e-commerce. No one will need a personal automobile to get around. By not having internal combustion vehicles in the country, the air quality will be superb.

High speed cellular infrastructure and pervasive high speed internet will bring knowledge, speed and convenience to all citizens. A system like Amazon One will enable very fast and convenient border crossing to go to work in the host country, visit for leisure and friends and family as well as no device/ID card needed even to get onto an airplane. (something much farther in the future.) No more will there be horrendous lines at checkpoints, but more likely a human traffic jam after the border crossing as people try to get onto the subway. One word would describe interactions and transactions in this new country, frictionless. In addition, workers who do not have to be at work will work from home. This is not just a convenience or a benefit to the workers who do work at home, but for workers who must go in to perform their job, they will have fast and efficient public transport that is not overflowing with people who are commuting for no good reason.

Energy will be fossil fuel free, solar, wind, hydropower, pumped hydro, supplemented with complementary power sources and storage, ie iron flow batteries.

A New Country, A New Start

This will be a new country and a new start for a people that have suffered for 75 or so years. It's a way out of this terrible conflict. Instead of wars and death, we will solve this through peace and generosity. The Arab states will pitch in to give a new fledgling muslim country a new birth. From the United States and Canada we should give free university education at any of our great state universities to those students who are accepted as well as engineering and expertise to make this a turn key reality. The US and Canada should also provide free specialist telemedicine as the number of specialist physicians may have been decimated and or inadequate due to this current conflict.

Epilogue

So, why put this plan out to the Internet? The past 40 days that started with a horrific act, has continued in terrible loss of life, tragedy, and horror. There does not appear to be any way out. The 2 state solution has been talked about for the past 70 years with steps forward and then steps back with only the perpetual suffering as a constant. After conceiving this plan, I feel it is my duty to the world to put it out there and try to do something. Maybe it won't work. I don't know. I hope that smarter minds than mine will review this rough plan and make the world a better place with these ideas. This is all given freely. Take this and run with it, world.

Some people I hope will flesh this out some more are:

Eliezer Yudovsky

https://twitter.com/esyudkowsky?lang=en

Ray Delahanty

https://youtube.com/@CityNerd?si=k0iU1-avoiecty1R

Dami Lee