This has been somewhat of an unusual summer for me. I was already getting a little tired of my regular hikes, and then there was a lot of rain. The rain was followed by massive plant growth and an explosion of mosquitos. The plant growth affected my yard, and the main perennial section grew properly for the first time since I moved here. It consists of a large boulder surrounded by four large hostas and four orange lilies. Since there was only one minor deer attack earlier, the flowers are intact. The tomatoes are also doing exceptionally well, and this is the first year ever that I had a tomato salad in July. But that also had to do with the fact that I had planted the seeds earlier than usual. Fortunately, since there is very loamy soil here, the grass doesn't grow much, even with a lot of rain, so that takes little time to mow during the season. As far as the mosquitos go, because I was under intense attacks several times, I finally realized that I am immune to mosquito bites, other than the annoying buzz and the biting itself. I looked it up and found that people develop an immunity over time. I never develop lumps or itches from mosquito bites now. I'm not particularly a fan of Friedrich Nietzsche, but I've found on numerous occasions that his phrase "What does not kill me makes me stronger" seems to be correct. I may simply have been born tough, but I often notice how people get upset by things that I just take as a matter of course. I have never needed to attend therapy sessions to build my self-esteem, and I don't care whether I'm included or not. Because of my geographic background and personal characteristics, I have never felt much need to integrate myself within the prevailing belief systems of my immediate environments.
In my yard, there seem to be fewer mosquitos than elsewhere. The day shift of insect eaters includes six eastern phoebes born this year, and the night shift consists of two bats that live on the house. The bat house is occupied during the day regularly now. Otherwise, the animal activities in the yard are fairly subdued at the moment, though, a few weeks ago, a couple of adolescent black bears wandered out of the woods and briefly stood up on their hind legs and had a play fight.
One thing that I've been spending a lot of time on recently is Google AI. I find it especially useful for finding basic facts and dates. It seems to have become more accurate over time, but I still like to find ways to double check its content. My main concern is that it is specifically designed to maintain neutrality on controversial subjects and issues with politically correct implications. For example, it is now a foregone conclusion that Donald Trump is the worst and most corrupt president in American history, yet Google AI maintains neutrality on that topic. I got similar results when I questioned whether Helen of Troy, as depicted in the new film, The Odyssey, is racially accurate. I have read both The Iliad and The Odyssey and have studied Greek mythology and Homeric Greek. The actual probability that Homer conceived of Helen of Troy as black is exceedingly low. However, even classical scholars are reluctant to say that. I went back and forth on this with Google AI, and it finally admitted that it is designed to maintain neutrality on controversial questions as part of Google's business model. So, unsurprisingly, what counts is Google's profitability, not necessarily the dissemination of truthful statements. The film industry is also to blame, because it rewrites history for its own purpose of profit maximization. In this case the studio takes no responsibility for representing the intent of an author or authors who lived in a now-dead civilization. Following this methodology, there might be a future film in which Jesus is portrayed as a transvestite lesbian.
As far as my reading goes, I seem to be more in a winter mode than a summer mode. I enjoy the depth of long biographies and hope to find more good ones. For now I plan to switch to science next and read a new book on the Neanderthals. I currently have a female guest – a cat – whom I am cat sitting.