Two things

First - I was watching the local NYC Tri-State News last evening at 6:00 PM on WCBS Ch. 2, particularly the weather forecast with Lonnie Quinn. This guy, I trust as much as I can trust any weather prognosticator. His forecasts are generally dead on. What I particularly like about Lonnie is that for normal forecasts, he's in his jacket and tie, but when the "stuff" is going to hit the fan and it's going to be a rough go, the jacket comes off and his shirt sleeves are rolled up. Last night was a jacket and tie night. He's forecasting a not so great weekend, weather-wise, but not a wash out, either. There will be periods of light showers with perhaps a pop-up thunderstorm here and there. But there will also be long periods with no precipitation. Not ideal weather for the beach, but not terrible for Field Day.

Second - I came across this post on the CW e-mail reflector by Dave Ring, N1EA. It's a poem about CW that was generated by ChatGPT (AI) at the prompt of John M0STQ. Since a lot of us will be listening to a lot of Morse this weekend:

John M0STQ says:

We've probably all heard about ChatGPT, which is a combination of coded chat bot and an LLM (large language model), trained on a huge chunk of scraped internet text up to about the end of 2021.

I gave it this prompt "write me a poem about morse code" and it came up with this...

In a world of signals, hidden and grand,

A language of dots and dashes, hand in hand.

Morse code whispers, in rhythm and sound,

A symphony of messages, profound.

 

With a simple click, a dot appears,

A fleeting moment, to the listening ears.

Short and swift, a gentle tap,

Encoded words in a Morse code wrap.

 

Then comes the dash, a longer beat,

A bolder stroke, a message complete.

Steadfast and strong, it boldly declares,

Secrets encoded, in cryptic layers.

 

Through wires and waves, the code takes flight,

Across vast distances, day and night.

A bridge between souls, in distant lands,

Unseen connections, in invisible strands.

 

In wartime strife, it spoke of hope,

A lifeline woven through battles' slope.

Heroes tapping with strength and might,

Morse code echoes, in the darkest night.

 

But beyond the war, a hobby embraced,

A world of enthusiasts, passion encased.

Operators deftly keying with grace,

Conveying thoughts, at a steady pace.

 

Morse code, a language unique and pure,

A testament to human will endure.

In a world of beeps and boops, it shines,

A symphony of dots and dashes, divine.

 

So let us remember, this code of old,

A tale of ingenuity, daring, and bold.

Morse code, a treasure from days gone by,

Whispering secrets, reaching for the sky.

Not bad, eh?

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!