Milk, Doris, Claude — And Yesterday’s Tax Payment You Forgot January 16, 2025January 15, 2025 I have the most wonderful readers. DEPT. OF THE NAVY Responding to yesterday’s post, Heidi F. writes: “Doris Miller, whom you referenced yesterday, was featured along with my grandfather (commander of all US ships in European waters during WWI) and two others on a set of four stamps of “distinguished sailors” in 2010. I always thought Miller was the most impressive of them. At the dedication, a Texas congresswoman told how he was ‘the pride of Waco’, his home town.” DEPT. OF LATE TAX PAYMENTS Brian G.: “What? No 4th Quarterly Estimated Tax Payment reminder yesterday?” → Oh, no! How could I forget? Well, if you pay on-line today, you’ll be hit with only one day’s interest (currently calculated at 7%). My bad. DEPT. OF MAKING A BETTER WORLD My friend Marc Fest sent me “this new video I made”. Okay . . . . . . but made how? Who’s that singing? He’s not bad! Turns out, he’s not a human, either. I made it with a combination of AIs: Claude to write the lyrics that I fed to Suno (for making the music) and Runway/Sora (for getting the videos). I created 20 different songs on Suno to find one I liked. But it still required a lot of editing on Final Cut Pro. And it’s still just proof of concept. The footage is somewhat too repetitive. But the idea is there — we’re all in the same boat. My dream is for it to take off with people around the world who are fed up with confrontation and ready for a more cooperative mindset. A new unifying movement. In my day-dreaming imagination I picture someone like Taylor Swift seeing the video and feeling inspired to create her own song about the idea of all of us being in the same boat. The latest version (and some merch) will always be at inthesameboat.org. I’ve got a German version, too: imselbenboot.de. My parents love it. DEPT. OF MILK AND ChatGPT Responding to last week’s post in praise of soy milk: David M.: “Don’t forget unsweetened flax milk: it has zero cholesterol and saturated fat; is low in calories (25-50 per cup); rich in omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA), which are heart-healthy and anti-inflammatory; fortified with calcium, vitamin D, and B12 (most store-bought brands); and may help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol due to its omega-3 content. Good Karma is my favorite brand.” JVC: “Just FYI, Starbucks no longer charges extra for non-dairy alternatives. Now if they would just stop carrying almond and coconut milk. (Coconut milk contains 4.5g of saturated fat and 150-200 calories per cup, according to Perplexity, and presents its own environmental challenges.)” Linda T.: “How can skim milk use fewer resources than whole milk? In my simple brain, you make skim milk by starting with whole milk and performing some kind of processing (skimming, I presume!) to separate and remove the fat. Therefore, skim milk should use MORE resources than whole milk.” → I went back to ChatGPT and asked specifically about water use: ME: Which uses more water to produce: skim milk or whole milk? CHAT: Skim milk uses more water to produce compared to whole milk. Specifically, the production requires around 518 liters of water per liter for skim milk and about 628 liters per liter for whole milk. This difference is mainly due to additional processing steps involved in making skim milk and more cleaning required to remove the fat content. Interesting, right? Anything else you want to dive into about milk or any other topic? ME: Wait. That doesn’t sound right. How can 518 liters of water be MORE than 628 liters? CHAT: My apologies for the confusion. You’re right, 518 liters is actually less than 628 liters. I appreciate you catching that mistake! So, to clear things up: whole milk does use more water to produce than skim milk. Skim milk requires about 518 liters of water per liter, while whole milk needs around 628 liters per liter. This still makes no sense. (And ChatGPT should have known that gerunds require the possessive. She should have said: “I appreciate your catching that mistake!”) ME: If skim milk is made from whole milk, you first have to use whatever water is required to make the whole milk. So even if the process of turning that into skim milk took NO water, for extra cleaning or whatever else, how could it possibly take LESS water to produce a gallon of skim milk than whole milk? CHAT: You make a valid point, and I apologize for the confusion. When comparing the overall water usage for skim milk versus whole milk production, we have to consider the entire process from farm to final product. At the Farm: The initial production of whole milk (including the water needed for the cows and growing feed) uses the same amount of water for both skim and whole milk. Processing: After the milk is collected, it is transported to the processing plant. At this stage, additional water might be used for pasteurization, homogenization, and cleaning equipment. Removing fat to make skim milk also involves some extra processing steps. The main misconception might arise from not taking into account all stages of milk production. While the additional steps to produce skim milk do add some water usage, the increase in efficiency in processing and water recycling methods might help reduce overall water usage. However, when you sum up the entire process from the farm to your fridge, the total water usage is quite similar for both skim and whole. AI improves with incredible speed, so I guess it’s likely to become ever more trustworthy (unless agents of disinformation find ways to mess with it). But as Linda — a human — shows us, it ain’t yet entirely there. Now back to the hearings . . . mid-East peace . . . the Farewell Address . . . TikTok’s tick tock . . . L.A.’s tragedy . . . there’s so much going on.