Author: Carl Setzer

A blogger blogging from just north of Seattle.

“Leaving a Legacy”, A Book Review By A Friend

Carl Setzer4 Comments
silhouette of man

I’ve thought a fair amount about the ethics surrounding wealth and the acquisition of wealth. My friend Roy’s look at this book on this subject gives me a lot to think about.

“Leaving a Legacy: An important new book by Johann Kurtz”.

When I think about the wealthy (and other community leaders) I admire, there’s a grace and decorum attached. I don’t admire, much less respect, the bellicose bullying that many with privilege resort to.

I’ve known Roy for years and always find his insights worthwhile. So, not only do I recommend this specific Substack post, but I’d also recommend subscribing.

A Thanksgiving Mediation or XKCD Making Me Cry

Carl Setzer2 Comments

I’ve been following XKCD for, well, decades. Over the years, I’ve seen many friends not get the privilege of growing old. For me, this is a powerful gift and one that I don’t ever intend to take for granted. Perhaps the most powerful Thanksgiving sentiment I’ve ever felt.

For those of you in the US, may you have a blessed and rejuvenating Thanksgiving. And for the rest of you, may the reminder of this week set you up for continued growth and progress.

Update: WordPress reminded me that this is a series and I’ve written about past iterations. Check this one out: I Love XKCD!

Is it just me or does Iggy Pop look like a White Walker?

Carl Setzer
box with brain inscription on head of anonymous woman

As I’m listening to a 70s Road Trip playlist on Spotify, up popped Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”. Me being me, I Google him to see what he’s up to nowadays. This is the first picture that came up for me:

Iggy Pop

Now, for some deeper insight into how I see the world, I couldn’t help but see how much he looks like this White Walker from Game of Thrones:

Yeah, yeah, I’m kinda weird, I know.

In case you don’t know this song:

And here’s the playlist if you’re so inclined:

Anyway, enjoy your Friday!

Don’t Mess With My Gear!

Carl Setzer

One thing a lot of folks know: I also run and manage sound systems. I started doing this in high school and have been doing sound tech work ever since. Currently, I am the main focus for sound at the event center I work for.

Yesterday I was called by them while at my other job because our Bluetooth transceiver wasn’t working. Long story short, they opted to not bring me in right away, but I needed to tackle this immediately when I got there (which I had planned for early afternoon).

Once I got there, it took me a couple minutes to figure out that someone had pulled the cables out. Argh! Now, in the grand scheme, minor problem. But I struggle with understanding any “why” for this besides simply being a jerk.

Frustrating for my poor morning users who, though they don’t depend on it, do like to use Bluetooth to play music. I do have regular users who do depend on that, though. Playing music from a modern phone via an aux port isn’t so easy anymore.

So, please, don’t mess with my gear! Ugh!

A Critique On AI Hype

Carl Setzer8 Comments
hand of a person and a bionic hand

AI is seemingly everywhere right now, and I’ve written a bit about it before. As I’ve started diving more deeply into it, I see all the hype about how AI will be disrupting work. Well, I’ve developed a somewhat contrarian viewpoint to the prevalent viewpoint of “AI taking over everything”. Here are a few random thoughts on the whole thing right now.

A lot of what AI is replacing now, and expected to in the near future, runs on the assumption that it will remain (nearly) free. However, most of the current costs are funded by investor dollars. As MIT recently reported, 95% of AI initiatives are failing to generate value. So, the only way companies are gaining value from AI is via its low cost. And the operating costs are significant. Data centers are expensive, both to build and to operate. GPUs aren’t cheap to buy. The environmental costs are steep. And, right now, those costs are being paid from investor dollars. When those dry up (investors need to make a return on that investment at some point, and that needs to be greater than the investment as well as the current operational costs. I expect the point when investors stop feeling FOMO and start worrying about making a return will be coming soon. I expect that when the costs become the responsibility of the consumer, the price will escalate abruptly and steeply. Will a junior developer really be displaced by ChatGPT or CoPilot? Or will we suddenly find junior developers much more cost-effective?

Adding to this, I’ve seen discussion about how AI infrastructure investment is potentially masking a recession. Thus, I’m concerned that we’re missing the weakening economy, things like continued tech-sector layoffs, and are not paying attention to some big economic weaknesses. If AI investment dries up, and layoffs start compounding, the dominoes start to fall, and that brings a significant recession/depression. Which will muddle this significantly.

Anyway, I think that we are in a bubble regarding AI. Like the Dot Com bubble, I think that AI will herald significant technological changes. AI is a powerful tool, and will continue to be so. However, I am confident that the techno-dystopia predicted by AI hyper-meisters will not materialize. I’m not sure we can even conceptualize what it will look like at the end of this cycle. But I am confident that those who have mastered AI will benefit greatly from the coming revolution. There are opportunities, and now is the time to make the investment in understanding them.

Today’s haiku: November 5, 2025

Carl Setzer2 Comments

mists through the cedars

the echoes of ancestors

remain vigilant

Today’s Haiku: November 4, 2025

Carl Setzer1 Comment

mighty moose minions

mitigate mouse munitions

mad malevolence

I opted for something alliterative today. And something absurdist. Just wanted to have some fun. I hope it amused you like it did me.

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

Carl Setzer4 Comments
jack skelington vinyl figure

Years ago, I got exhausted by all the Halloween tropes, especially Monster Mash. I figured, “I’m sure I could create something better”. I think I have.

This is a multi-year initiative. I’ve added to it as I’ve found good tunes, and taken off ones that no longer fit my vibe.

So, I hope you enjoy!

Phishing Calendar Invites

Carl Setzer1 Comment
phishing awareness in digital security

Well, it’s been an interesting few days in the land of spam and phishing. Yesterday I wrote about a spam email I received, along with dozens of others that’s gotten a bit silly. Today I noticed an invite in one of my company calendars, “Your order Estimate OYYE03661 has been queued”:

I’ve seen these before, but not in MY calendar.

So, my first thought was “when did my calendar get changed to “add invitations to my calendar” to “From Everyone”. Needless to say, that should NOT be the default. EVER!

So, if you need to know how to change this in Google, here you go:

Go the gear icon at the top-right of your calendar:

Then click “settings”

Scroll down to Event Settings, the “Add invitations to my calendar”

Then change to “When I respond to the invitation in email”

I’m also going to recommend unchecking the “Show events automatically created by Gmail in my calendar”

Anyway, we need to stay vigilant against fraudsters. This is one annoying game of whack-a-mole.

Fraud, Spam, Bulk Email, and Other Joys

Carl Setzer4 Comments
a man holding a letter lightbox

Less than 1/2 hour ago, I received a mess in my inbox. Someone sent an email out to an unknown quantity of email recipients with no subject and the message body stating “Who are you”. To me, this screams phishing. Well, to (currently) 11 people, it didn’t. There were silly responses (“I contain mutitudes”) to “Take me off this email”. One person did reply stating “you are all replying to a fraud email…stop replying…” Which is the most useful message on there. But, really, not that helpful. So, just mark them as spam and move along. Replying lets the scammers know that a) this email is valid and b) you are somewhat gullible and, therefore, more susceptible to phishing scams. And, of course, replying all to these sorts of things floods other people’s inboxes.

So, please, just don’t. I guess if you feel called to troll scammers, just reply to the original sender. I’ve got other things to do than manage this junk in my inbox.