My father, Charles Junior, his brother Carl and sister Mary Francis were born in a rented parsonage in Kernersville, North Carolina, where their father, Charles Senior, served as principal of a secondary school. After Charles Senior and his wife Mary built their home on Alamance Church Road on land given them...

Humboldt County opera lovers have a wonderful opportunity to experience world-class opera right here in Arcata. The Metropolitan Opera broadcasts select live performances to more than 2,000 theaters in 66 countries, including the Minor Theatre. A Saturday afternoon matinee at the Met begins at 10 a.m. here, a...

Good Company has been performing on the North Coast for years — rollicking reels, jigs, emigration ballads, ancient Irish airs and sea chanteys, inspired by musical traditions of Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Brittany, Appalachia, Arcata and beyond. From left: Patty McHaney, Bob Stockwell, Janet Finney Krull and...

My guess is I was born into music. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the maternity ward played soothing background music. I always remember Mom singing. Dad would get up a bit ahead of Mom and immediately turn on the radio. It played all day. In fact, much later, when those automatic timers were available...

As we enter heating season on the North Coast, recent pieces in Senior News have reminded us that wood smoke is not good for you. As Dr. Jennifer Heidmann pointed out in July (“The Last Straw,” page 5), although we have some of the cleanest air in the world, scrubbed by the Pacific Ocean, air pollution is sti...

Everyone knows that Mary Poppins was magical, but less well known is how the famed Disney nanny helped eradicate polio in the U.S. with her song, “A Spoonful of Sugar.” One of the most sugary and enduring movie songs ever, “Spoonful” grew out of a father’s conversation with his young son about getting the pol...

Science fiction, Hollywood and pop culture have long speculated — sometimes with fright, sometimes with eager anticipation — on the impacts of technology on human life.

When I signed up with Open AI, my first decision was whether to add vocalization to the communication between me and the bot. Talking with a fake human voice felt weird, so I didn’t turn on that option. I asked typical questions, such as how it assesses information.

I have a confession to make: I know practically nothing about AI — artificial intelligence. The truth is that the whole thing scares the bejeebers out of me.

It’s time to restock the kitchen. Would you grab the keys to the car or hop on a horse to get to the grocery store? We take cars for granted now, but when the automobile first appeared, it was loud, smelly, intimidating — and frightening to many people. Some governments responded with “red flag laws,” requiri...

Artificial intelligence is one of the most powerful tools ever placed in human hands. Like every powerful tool, it can improve lives or cause harm. The question isn’t whether AI is ethical. The question is whether I am.

• “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” – Albert Einstein (attributed). • “AI won’t replace humans, but those who use AI will replace those who don’t.” – Garry Kasparov, 2017. • “Success in creating effective AI could be the biggest event in the history of our civilization. Or the worst.” – ...

I first dipped my toe into the AI stream a couple of years ago and now engage with this hard-to-define new presence every single day. My current fascination was preceded by dismay. I first tried to use AI to help reconstruct my family’s refugee experience during WWII, which it did with great invention. Worse,...

As part of California’s eighth Biodiversity Week, Friends of the Arcata Marsh (FOAM) will offer a series of free talking/walking tours for any age Sept. 5-10 to celebrate and protect Humboldt’s great out-of-doors. All events will start at the Arcata March Interpretive Center, 569 S. G St.

I use AI often and for many things. It helped me fix a botched cake recipe when I accidentally put in too much water. It’s helped me make sense of medical test results, create step-bystep action plans to prepare for presentations, increase my physical strength and remind me of things I need to follow up on.

I was struggling to find an internal rhyme for “online scam” when a modest popup appeared on the screen. “Improve your writing at thisisyourlife.com.”

Last year, I took a class on artificial intelligence through OLLI at Cal Poly Humboldt. Two afternoons of hands-on experience taught by a retired professor who was a former developer of AI. It was a fine and fun class.

Current debate over the importance of health care is nothing new. Although the Founding Fathers didn’t specifically enumerate health care when they wrote in the Declaration of Independence about “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” being healthy enough to enjoy those fundamental human rights is under...

When I first heard about AI, I assumed it was a new thing kids were using on social media — like LOL and ROFL — and it stood for “As If.” Like, “Hey, John, you wanna go to the dentist instead of playing golf?”

Freshwater Farms Reserve invites you to come out to the garden on Wednesdays through the beginning of November to pick your own bouquet from its colorful flower garden.