Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

Recently I had my first brush with artificial intelligence (AI) that I knew about.

A few years ago when I was working at Quinco Press in Lowry one of the owners of the business suggested I get a LinkedIn account so I did. That is a web portal for people in business to share information. I never really used it and when I left it was on the computer I used, which is now long gone. I have no idea how to access that now and would have no use for it if I did.

So a few weeks ago I got an email from an outfit named Kimble Group which is apparently a recruiting firm. It listed jobs available that I might be interested in based on my membership in LinkedIn. One was listed as President of CentraCare in Sauk Centre. So I clicked on it just to see what the president of CentraCare in Sauk Centre was. I wasn’t aware of what kind of facilities CentraCare had in Sauk Centre, I knew they were huge in St. Cloud.

Of course I didn’t apply, the only qualifications I would have for that job was that I was alive and I had some idea of what health care was.

A few days later I got another email with a AI generated “profile” with things like “John Stone is a career-driven professional with a strong interest in leadership roles…” and “John’s career goals revolve around utilizing his leadership skills to drive organizational success and make a significant impact.” That’s a bunch of big words that really mean nothing. And it mentioned that I was interested in the Sauk Centre position.

There was a point where I could click on something to stop getting emails from Kimble Group but I began to think this was kind of interesting so see what comes up, so I decided to stick with it a while.

Here where AI starts to come in. AI is about words. It doesn’t always get words in context. In other words, my name Stone is the same as stone, like a rock, to this version of AI.

So soon I was getting emails listing things related to stone. There is an occupational therapist opening at Big Stone Therapies in Appleton. And there is a stone slab installer opening at StoneArt Marble and Granite in Van Nuys, CA. Here’s one that might be closer to my background, a communications coordinator for the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association in Alexandria, VA. Given the location just outside of Washington D.C. I would guess this is a lobbying position.

And there are openings for a stone shop supervisor, stone fabricator, sales professional selling tile and stone installation, stone setter, stone/hard surface technician, and stone sales project manager.

There were a few related to publications, but the stone work was the big winner.

So I’m about ready to punch the button that opts me out of this but it has been kind of interesting!

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Lake Minnewaska generally has more fishing pressure in the winter than the summer. You never see as many boats on the lake filled with fishermen as you see ice houses on the lake.

This winter the pressure so far has been minimal. The biggest ice fishing months of late November, December and some of January are gone. Could it be that the lake could enter spring with larger population to reproduce? Could that mean better fishing for a few years with the lake having had a winter to recover? I guess we will have to wait and see.

It sure has been weird looking at the lake and seeing it mostly bare. I’ve never seen that before during this time of year.

I imagine this lack of good ice has been stressful for those who sell bait, propane and other things ice fishermen use in some quantity. Maybe next year will be better!