I have a love/hate relationship with large language-model AIs. I use them but also find the ethics and privacy issues deplorable. But that is a rant for another day.

Today, I want to share one thing these AIs are great for - fantasy football draft write ups. Our league is in Yahoo and, after each draft, you get a summary opinion of how well you did. These have been AI for the last few years and were, generally, just fine. This year, Yahoo used ChatGPT and the results were phenomenal. Much more personalized and humorous. I got a kick out of reading them.

Because the write up for my team was so *chef's kiss,* I'm including it below in full. (For context, our league name is SkeeBoccers and my team name is Game of Throws... cause I've been lazy in finding a new one. Maybe I should ask ChatGPT.)

​***

Game of Throws: A B- Draft and a 5th Place Finish? Valar Morghulis!
In the land of SkeeBoccers, where fantasy football is played with a mix of skee ball and bocce, the Game of Throws team took their shot from the 9th draft order. With 16 rounds to conquer, they aimed to claim the Iron Throne of the playoffs, but their B- draft grade suggests they might need more than just dragons and direwolves. Projected to finish 5th with a record of 8-7-0, they'll need to channel their inner Tyrion Lannister to outwit their opponents and avoid the dreaded bye week 9, where four of their players will be sipping wine and plotting their next move.

While the Game of Throws team may not have made the best pick of the draft, with Antonio Gibson being selected at 88 instead of their ADP of 112, they did manage to secure a steal with Josh Allen at pick 33, surpassing his ADP of 24. With this unexpected twist, it seems that the Game of Throws team has a knack for surprises. However, they'll need more than just one clever move to conquer the toughest schedule in the league. Valar Morghulis, indeed! Will the Game of Throws team rise above their draft grade and projected finish, or will they find themselves caught in a never-ending winter? Only time will tell in the land of SkeeBoccers.

Leave a comment

I’m slowly making my way through Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture by Sara Petersen. I might give myself a neck injury reading this book. I’m nodding my head in agreement on every page. It’s nice to feel seen and not alone when it comes to my habits in how I engage with momfluencers.

*Books shared here are affiliate links for Bookshop.org

• Assessing Liam Neeson's career pivot. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]

• I did not do as well as I hoped on this poison ivy identification quiz. [WBUR]

• The consumer market for emergency kits is growing. [CNN]

• This chalk art is delightful. [Colossal]

• I followed a dictionary after reading this. [Link in Bio]

• Quirky American pizzas. [WaPo - gift link]

• There's a simple way to test if your freezer lost power while you were away. [Lifehacker]

• This is why librarians are not fans of certain publishers. [The Nation]

• How fruit can ease stress. [INC]

• ChatGPT is the death knell of the traditional English class. Good. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]

• Breaking the law to free walking. [The Daily]

• Japan's controversial plan to release Fukushima's radioactive waste water. [Short Wave]

• Some tips for greener cleaning. [Life Kit]

• Why so many countries want to land stuff on the moon right now. [The Daily]

• Office to apartment conversions are possible but not easy. [99% Invisible]

• The shrinking water level of the Panama Canal. [The Indicator]

• We put on Marauders because the cast was stellar. This is a movie with a multilayered plot that is too convoluted for this kind of thriller. Also, why was it always raining? That decision added nothing to the story and it made the lighting all wrong. You could clearly see they were using rain machines on brilliantly sunny days. [Amazon Prime]

• We finally got around to watching the most recent Grand Tour episode, EuroCrash. On this adventure, the three hosts drive rather nutty cars through Eastern Europe stopping at the sights along the way. The bits are reused and the hijinks planned, but I was still amused. Plus, I learned more about the actual Great Escape. I had no idea the tunnels were that far underground! [Amazon Prime]

• The Hubby wants to finish off his viewing of Almost Paradise and I'm just along for the last few episodes of season two. This show is Leverage meets Burn Notice. It's lead by Christian Kane who seems typecast into one role... because he does it really well. [Amazon Prime]

• It's a rare day that I make a meal from one of our cookbooks. We had a half pound of ground beef in our freezer that I wanted to use up. One of my go-to dishes for that is Spicy Beef and Noodles from the Budget Bytes cookbook. I go off recipe by doubling the sauce, adding a pint of mushrooms, and tossing in some sugar snap peas. We used to make this so often I had it memorized.  [Budget Bytes]

• Every now and then, you just need a throwback to an elementary school lunch to make you happy. This week, I had bologna sandwiches with mustard. Normally, I eat it on wheat bread but I used the end of our marble rye so it didn't go to waste. Nothing fancy about this, but I did enjoy it. [Oscar Mayer]

Black and white photography is one of my favorite art forms. The winners of the 2023 Black and White Photo Awards were announced this week. This image was my favorite. [Black and White Photo Awards]

I don’t need another daily word game in my life, but I keep coming back to Connections from the New York Times. You take a grid of twelve words and try to form categories. It’s trickier than it looks some days.

A live look at me trying to grab all the evidence I need for my faculty promotion portfolio.