Q&A #1: Risky.tv; death and friends; AI Tools to save time; opinion on parenting.
5 Questions With the Master Grizzly
Here is a compendium of my latest conversations & dialogue with colleagues, friends and email subscribers.
Q: What's up with risky.tv?
A: This site was something I put up, with impassioned haste, some time back in 2016… If memory serves me. Its initial goal was just to have a one-stop-housed place for all the videos I thought would be considered unconventional and/or too “risky” for the masses to consume. The About page discussed that.
But, quite honestly, the entire site needs to be sold. I haven't touched it in years. Last I checked, the domain (risky.tv) alone is valued near $2,000 USD. If you know of anyone who wants this, have them contact me.
Q: Why did you recently pick on Pride Month while asking your readers to honor D-Day?
A: Is it any shock to you that I can be a purposeful asshole? So, you're referring to my subtitle of this post.
The focused energy around two such two fundamentally-different “things” is so extreme, that my ‘tongue in my cheek’ just couldn't resist “Screw Pride Month!”
Note: it was actually written as Pride Day—it wasn't until later that I was reminded these folks get a whole 30-days to celebrate themselves. Join the discussion here...
Q: You often write about Time and Death… how do friends tie into that?
A: It's simple, really. As I age, more and more gracefully (but still with a potty mouth), I only want to spend my Time with those who offer as much authentic engagement, curiosity and genuine efforts as I feel I do.
Eulogies have always been fascinating to me. When I hear one, whether in person or via a movie, I always think there's a part of them that embellishes the person and his/ her accomplishments and values.
Sure, we want to focus on a newly departed family member's best traits; however, it's not hard to also see where that person never really lived. Or, wasn’t really the person eulogized because, in reality, you observed they were so damn scared of dying (to paraphrase from The Shawshank Redemption). I'm always reminded of this Prince Ea video when I think of that.
Truly, when it's all said and done, though—when we trick ourselves into seeing ourselves being eulogized (as if we've passed from this planet)—we should be able to see ourselves as having lived to our potential; as having loved to our fullest and taken the shots, the opportunities, we had in front of us. Did I f*ckin matter?
As far as friend go, one litmus test is this: The 2 beers and a puppy test. Would I have an uplifting and jolly time having a beer with___ (x) person? Would they be able to say the same, in kind? Also, would I trust___(x) person to watch a brand-new puppy I just bought for my family? Would they, without question, treat it with care and respect?
Some 2-cents on a qualifier on who to spend Time with.
Q: Have you personally used or put to test any AI Tools that have saved you time?
A: I have. Recently, I used this restore photos web app to fix a few blurry photos, for free. And I used this background remover tool to remove... well… the background in a photo in less than 5 seconds. Also free.
And recently, I chatted with a PDF document in order to synthesize the bulk of its content down to a few paragraphs I needed for a particular article I'm in the midst of writing.
Q: What's your best parenting advice… and your take on parents who engage in snowplow parenting?
A: I've never heard it called that. But I'm familiar with the term Helicopter Parenting. You know, where a parent (usually it's not both) hovers over a child so blatantly, through psychological-control mostly, that the child never becomes self-sufficient to handle life's challenges and frustration on his/her own.
While it should be common sense that this level of hyper-involvement disempowers children, just remember common sense isn't always so common, these days. Candace Owens tells a few stories about that within the first 10 minutes of this video.
Me, personally? I'm the long-distance father of a 14-yo boy. We see him often, however. Including on video calls regularly. He's smart but sensitive. He's sweet but lacks what I like to call home-spun social skills. I think my priority, as his Father, is to give him “different” leadership than what he's used to while he's with his custodial Mom. My style, I imagine you can guess, is sprinkled out throughout this post / thread I put on Facebook.
Parenting is, without question, very nuanced. However, preparing them for adulthood is the priority… and… frequently that MUST, has to, involve training that gives them the ability to develop self-control, problem-solving skills, and navigate conflict on their own, while creating an identity separate from their parents.
very well written!