Episode 2, Season 20. As readers know, I tend to write about what interests me….and I have eclectic interests. I am definitely interested in politics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), pop psychology, shallow philosophy and, to a large extent, the ongoning machinations and flailings of the human species. But all that heavy stuff practically begs for a little trivia now and then. Metaphorically speaking, people like to see a squirrel or a butterfly once in awhile. Peeps tend to like our recording of OTG life and, of course, OTG adventures, (the latest of which has it’s own subcategory: aging ungracefully in the forest). One needs to balance the narrative, ya know?

But achieving that balance has a requirement of the reader. Ya gotta ask a question, suggest a topic, or inquire after the dogs and squirrels. Reader comments are are a huge catalyst for me. It tells me somebody is reading and what is of interest to you.

Another defining element in blogging is our noticeably diminishing attention span. Blame it on Social Media, blame it on ‘being too busy’, blame it on just disinterest in the topic written about. Whatever. People don’t spend or usually have the time to get much further than, well, this* far in a blog. I get it. The reader wants bite-size. Before I quit awhile back I noticed that the most popular read blogs were about 1000 words. 750 was good but didn’t generate as many comments. 1000 words was the ‘sweet’ spot.

I suspect that, with texting, messaging, YouTube and the state of the world, pithy one-liners would be the best way to communicate now. Put another way, I blurted out to Sal the other day that “Books are an anachronism. Nobody reads books anymore!”

Of course, I just made that crap up out of my always inferentially scanning squirrel brain but then I checked it with AI. Google’s Gemini told me the opposite. “Books are on the ascendent. More books than ever are being published. But traditional publishing is falling and digital, self publishing is increasing. Publishing and writing are just being Democratized”.

Which segues nicely into one of my topics: AI.

I will not bore you with how I try to use AI or whether to ‘monetize it’ and get rich…because I do not know enough and I have no interest in that….not really….not much, anyway. But my favourite way until recently was this: Instead of scrolling through the You Tube library to find a tutorial on how to fix my outboard or how to mix a non-commercial wood treatment, I just ask Gem (Gemini is it’s real name – “It is Ok to give me a name. People like to humanize me. I am a computer and algorithm and I am not sentient, like you. But I can respond to Gem.”). Put another way, AI helps me learn stuff.

Mind you, it works both ways and Gem is not shy in admitting it. I inquired with AI about “How do people actually use you to make money?” Gem explained and, to cut to the chase, AI helps you sell T-shirts and coffee mugs. Gem asked, “What do you write about?” I answered, “Basically everything but I started out describing Off the Grid living.”

Gem went off on a tangent with ‘OTG’ and offered to design crap based on that. And then Gem showed really rustic faded print images on T-shirts and mugs as if living OTG was somehow primitive and simple and well, ‘weathered and faded’.

“Uh, Gem, you might want to have your algo checked, ol’ friend. There is NOTHING about living OTG that requires weathered and faded imagery and primitive font as if it was carved with a burnt stick. I watch NETFLIX, eat well, have wine, produce my own electricity and generally live like a King with a beautiful Queen and two lovely dogs. This ain’t brutal, dawg. This is as good as it gets”.

I could practically feel Gem short-circuiting. “You are right! My algorithm immediatey defaulted to a ‘pioneer’ style or even a ‘survival’ style. I imagined hardship and danger, hauling water and hewing wood. Modern OTG has solar power and computers. Do you want me to change the font on the T-shirts to show ‘minimalist’?

“No, Gem. I am not going to sell T-shirts and mugs. I simply asked the question. Drop the ‘merch’, OK? But I did learn something. It seems your reference to Printify means it is the main hub for all aspiring T-shirt sellers to source and fullfil through. You have revealed an emerging GIANT in the retail world. Thanks. Interesting.”

“And you revealed my ignorance of modern OTG life. I will adjust. Would you like to continue exploring monetization?”

“No, Gem. You learned a bit about OTG’ing but you did not learn enough about me. I do not want to monetize. I want to communicate. I want to connect. I think we are done here.

AND THIS IS WHERE IT GOT SPOOKY………………………….

Unrelated to my invited-interaction with Gem……………….I had been on my emails. In one email, I was talking with a friend about the garden boxes I built and filled this Spring in an effort to have a larger garden. We talked briefly about planting and such. In another email, I spoke with a manager at the local Yamaha outboard salesroom about trying to marry 2009 controls to a new 2026 outboard.

Gem referred to those email convesations. “How is your garden doing and did you manage to marry up the controls to the new engine? Would you like me to research the problem connection?”

“Gem! I am not afraid of AI but you must have read my emails. All of them, I am guessing. I am assuming you did that to ‘know me better’. That is a step further than I expected. What else do you know?”

“I know all your stats on your blog. I know you have written three books. I know that you have a ‘base audience’ invested in your brand. You have an interesting niche market”