Good morning. 🌸🌸🌸

8 March 2026

I just spent about fifteen minutes debating with a computer program — an AI — over the species of this flower. The AI insisted it was one thing, but when I ran it through another identification app, it came back as something entirely different. We both laid out our evidence like two botanists at a picnic table. How cool is that? Welcome to the future.

In the end, I went with my own conclusion. After all, I can actually see the image and compare it to others. The AI, for reasons known only to its circuits, decided the flower had five petals when there are clearly four. Danger, Will Robinson. If you’re curious, you can find the species in the alt text.

Do you remember, as a small child, being spanked while being told to stop crying? I don’t recall that happening to me specifically, but I have this vague memory of the idea — whether it was mine or someone else’s, I’m not sure. Either way, it’s a strange thing to say to a child in the middle of disciplining them. I assume kids still get spanked. Maybe I’m out of touch.

Have you ever been out in public when a mother has to discipline her child? It gets uncomfortable, doesn’t it. But not nearly as uncomfortable as watching a child run amok — amok, amok, amok — while no one lifts a finger to rein in the little monster. You start thinking, Lady, please do something. But more often than not, the young mother already has her hands full. Motherhood is challenging, I suppose, so we all just give her a break.

Discipline — we all need it, even our pets. Charlie and I were out walking last week when we passed a fenced yard with three dogs. As we walked by, one of them climbed the chain‑link fence, ready to hop out and come “greet” us. What he didn’t know was that his owner was sitting in a parked truck nearby. The woman jumped out and yelled, “You better get back in that yard!” Caught red‑pawed. I couldn’t help but laugh.

#photo #photography #morning #flower #discipline #artificalIntelligence