PicoBlog

Peak: #3 on the Hot 100 Streams: 3.8 million My husband and I have half-jokingly sketched out the entire plot of Forever Your Girl: The Paula Abdul Musical. It involves a talented woman being manipulated by a ruthless businessman who wants to exploit her gift as a dancer. Fortunately, her feisty best friend helps her escape his clutches, and once she’s li… ncG1vNJzZmikn6jBtLvNoKpnq6WXwLWtwqRlnKedZL1wvMCuo5plkZextriMsJiyZaSdrrV52KisZqSfq7JuucQ%3D

Paula's Daily Zoom Meditation By Paula Throckmorton This newsletter is a communication tool for the community of people who participate in my daily meditation on zoom. Every day a group of us gather at 5:00 EST and I guide a meditation. Here I share insights that come from that practice. ncG1vNJzZmirpZfAta3CpGWcp51kjbGt1KWYraCipLCsuc6rq6im

Welcome to Home & Away. Lots to discuss this week, from domestic politics to the latest in Gaza and how that war is being fought here at home. Also, some thoughts on AI for good measure. So, let’s get to it. Here at Home, the Republican presidential field is shrinking, with former vice president Mike Pence deciding he has had enough. It is a sad commentary that Pence’s best moment, and the one he will be remembered for in history, his standing up for the Constitution on January 6, contributed to his downfall in today’s Republican Party.

Any parent of young kids is familiar with PAW Patrol. What started off as a Canadian children’s cartoon more than a decade ago (created with the sole purpose to sell toys), has ballooned into a world-wide craze with more than $14 billion in toy/merchandise sales since 2014. Two years ago, The PAW Patrol Movie came out as movie-goers were just returning post-pandemic and impressed with $144 million worldwide against a $26 million budget.

Years ago, I used to post on social media every day—oftentimes, multiple times a day. It was a vital part of my morning routine: shit, shower, say something smart. In the beginning, social media was just as entertaining as it was validating. It was fun, creative, and occasionally challenging. I enjoyed the new outlet for writing and observation. But, eventually, social media became a serious distraction. Instagram and Twitter were no longer outlets to use in addition to what I was creating in the real world—they became the very reason for creating—and, subsequently, the writing that I was doing online became justification for putting off the other projects and tasks that I had in my mind.

A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.

INGREDIENTS (for ~10 rolls) DOUGH 3 cups flour 3 tbsp brown sugar 2 tsp yeast 3/4 cup slightly warm milk 4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temp 1 large egg 1 banana mashed  FILLING 4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temp 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tbsp cinnamon 1 banana, sliced FROSTING 4 oz cream cheese, room temp 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temp 1… ncG1vNJzZmign6KyrrHInZxnq6WXwLWtwqRlnKedZL1wvMSapa6sXZfCtcDEq2SbmZ6Wu6J5wqKlp5mdpLtuvs6lo6w%3D

Memphis Tennessee/Southern Arizona I spent countless hours as a boy wandering the woods with my 7x35 binoculars, my dented, surplus canteen and my Birds of North America Field Guide, watching birds, catching snakes and frogs, horned toads, cicadas, Luna moths and whenever possible, turtles. During summers when Dad was teaching at Ole Miss I was able to take this predilection for birdwatchin’ and critters with me for several glorious days, just me and him, attending Dad’s Mammalogy, Herpetology and Techniques in Field Zoology lectures and labs, as the spirit moved, and otherwise exploring both the beautiful campus and the woods and fields, beyond, when it didn’t.

This newsletter is presented by Rebuy, the commerce AI company. If you like the newsletter, feel free to get in touch with me or follow me on Medium, X, and LinkedIn. I try my best to produce useful/informative content. Due to the surge of interest in large language models (LLMs), AI practitioners are commonly asked questions such as: How can we train a specialized LLM over our own data? However, answering this question is far from simple.