Category Archives: Blogs

Two subtle updates

Leave a reply

I’m talking a couple of modest changes to the presentation of this blog.

First, I moved the invitation to subscribe up to the top of the right-handn sidebar. This section has a place to enter your email address so that future blog posts will be emailed to you. That’s useful when I get buried in trying to research or write a complex piece, which results in missing blog posts here for a couple of days. With email delivery, you don’t have to wonder when something new gets posted.

So if you haven’t taken advantage of the free email subscription, you can easily do it now.

The second small change, at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar, is the addition of a link to my FB page. I post sunrise and dogs photos there almost daily, but only post them here occasionally (“Feline Friday arrives here every Friday, but dogs, well, those get posted here only occasionally). So if you’re interested in such things, check it out.

Thanks for reading.

What ChatGPT had to say about this blog

10 Replies

I’ll be bogged down today and probably tomorrow as well. It’s tax time, so TurboTax and I will be trying to complete our federal and state tax returns. Hopefully I won’t run into any real problems.

I happened to notice another news story this morning about useful things to do with ChatGPT, and decided to ask a couple of questions and see what this AI system would come up with. The results were interesting.

IL: describe the blog ilind.net

Ilind.net is a blog that covers a wide range of political and social issues, primarily focused on the United States. The blog is authored by Ian Lind, a journalist and commentator with a background in investigative reporting and political analysis.

The topics covered on ilind.net range from local politics and community issues in Hawaii, where Lind is based, to national and international news and events. The blog often delves into the inner workings of government and politics, analyzing policy decisions and the actions of elected officials.

In addition to political analysis, ilind.net also features commentary on a variety of social issues, including civil rights, environmentalism, and social justice. Lind’s writing is characterized by a deep knowledge of history and politics, as well as a critical and often humorous tone.

Overall, ilind.net is a thought-provoking and insightful blog that offers a unique perspective on the world of politics and social issues.

IL: how could ilind.net be improved?

As an AI language model, I do not have an opinion, but here are some general suggestions that could potentially improve ilind.net:

Increase interactivity: ilind.net could benefit from more interactive features, such as comment sections or social media integration, to encourage greater engagement and discussion among readers.

Incorporate multimedia: While ilind.net includes written articles and images, incorporating multimedia such as videos, podcasts, or infographics could make the content more engaging and accessible.

Diversify perspectives: While Ian Lind offers a unique perspective on politics and social issues, ilind.net could benefit from featuring guest writers or diverse perspectives to offer a wider range of voices and viewpoints.

Improve website design: ilind.net could improve its website design to make it more visually appealing and user-friendly, which could encourage readers to spend more time on the site.

Expand coverage: While ilind.net covers a wide range of political and social issues, expanding coverage to include more topics or regions could attract a wider audience and increase the relevance and impact of the blog.

Warrants seek info on a former FBI employee in Miske investigation

3 Replies

The story that cause the delay in Feline Friday appears today at Civil Beat (“The Miske Files: The FBI Is Investigating One Of Its Own“).

This was an unexpected find. I was actually poring through files while working on the initial stages of a different story when I noticed an unfamiliar name in a list of search warrants that were part of the Miske investigation. Each description was only part of a line and contained the case number, and then a description of less than 50 characters. But the entries for these two warrants contained a name, one that hadn’t come up in the Miske case before. So, as usual, I entered a note in the software I use to track story details. Sometime later, I came back around, saw the note, and looked for info background on this person. Nothing much came up until I tried LinkedIn. And it was one of those “Aha!” moments. There on LinkedIn, this person pointed to their experience as an investigative specialist for the FBI. That got my full attention!

They talk about the importance of pattern recognition, and that played a role here. Poring over Miske files, I’ve gotten used to seeing a lot of now-familiar names. Even while just quickly scanning the list, the new name caught my eye. And the seed of what eventually became this story was planted.

Please subscribe to receive email notices of new blog posts

3 Replies

I have to apologize. If you previously tried to subscribe to this blog but never got the promised email notices of new posts, you are not alone.

Over the weekend, I finally got around to trying to deal with several complaints about problems with subscriptions. According to these complaints, people had signed up but never received any email notices of new blog posts.

Turns out those who complained were correct. I tried to enter a new subscription, and it didn’t work. So I spent some time trying to troubleshoot, but finally gave up and just deleted the previous subscription set-up and started anew.

There is now a new section of the sidebar to the right, “Subscribe via email.” Just submit your email address and you should receive emailed notice each time a new post appears.

And if problems continue, don’t hesitate to let me know.