You hear the most remarkable things sometimes, and I mean unbelievable things, marvelous in their stupidity, in passing in You Tube commercials. I let some ad run while doing something else today, some AI service that promises — pretty big promises — to be your peachy-keen personal assistant in some way. The line that caught my half-attention: “And don’t worry! [Product name] won’t be offended if you want to talk to a real human being.”

Let me italicize the part of that that needs it: “And don’t worry! [Product name] won’t be offended if you want to talk to a real human being.”

What? It’s just my opinion, of course, but taking offense means some sort of emotional capability, yes? As in, one specific to human brains. And AI systems have the emotional capability of a bag of hammers, yes?

At Cantigny in late May, I wasn’t feeling that photo urge. Yuriko was, at least when it came to flowers in arrays.

And as singles.

We go to Cantigny every few years, usually in late spring or early summer, a time of exuberant greenery and, of course, vivid flowers. Not a flowerbed is idle.

An image from Cantigny in 2010. A favorite.

This time, I did take a few snaps of some of the Cantigny buildings and landscapes. Such as the former McCormick manse.

Some long views of the grounds.

As the publisher of a great metropolitan newspaper, back when there were such things, Col. McCormick had the scratch to keep the place running. What are tech barons doing with their lucre? Nothing so stately.