We Are the Limitation

In the era of LLMs, you can't hide.

Whatever you say will be pulled out from the internet and presented to you, so you might want to be a bit wary about that.

Of course, Google still doesn't know PC exists, but hey, nobody's perfect.

Data as of June 1st, 2026.

List of Indexed Pages, as of June 1, 2026.

As you can see, Google has completely wiped out all of the "Indexed" web pages owned by Parallel Context, as if Google decided they didn't really exist. They are presently listed as "Scanned, Not Indexed", so if you can imagine the warehouse scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, it's a bit like that.

Google: "Top men are working on it."
Indiana Jones: "Who?"
Google: "Top. Men."

So when Google decided to announce changes to their search interface on May 19, 2026, I made a collective yawn. It doesn't matter how fancy the interface is, if Google itself isn't finding or indexing the data, you're not going to find it on Google.

I have been amused by the fact that Google and other AI companies might just be missing a major problem with their push to make everybody irrelevant: their own data pool. 

Copyright issues notwithstanding, if your search engine's webcrawlers aren't providing you with data --and I presume that a small blog like mine isn't the only website that has issues appearing on a normal google search-- then your AI isn't really being trained as effectively as you think.

Results using a private browsing window
on Firefox on June 1, 2026.

 And just for completeness (and, well, to rub Google's nose in it), Microsoft Bing knows I exist:

Results using a private browsing window
on Firefox on June 1, 2026.

That's damning with faint praise, as I'm really sick about Copilot this and Copilot that. Even though Microsoft threw in the towel and is beginning to back off from pushing the Copilot button so aggressively, they're not exactly giving up on Copilot either. 

And remember Google Glass? The eyeglass wearable that ended up being pulled by Google because people who wore them started getting beat up by people who resented being on video without consent? Well, fast forward to 2026, and Meta, Apple, and Amazon have made eyeglass wearables a thing now. And nobody cares anymore that they're being recorded.

Given that I can go to the grocery store and (unintentionally) be following someone up and down the aisles and hear both sides of their entire conversation for 40 minutes, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I don't think any of the people who behave like this --and there are far far more of them than I'd ever have believed-- realize that anybody could record them and then use their discussions against them because they are holding a conversation in public. 

This goes on all the time, and I'm the one who gets funny looks when I put my earbuds on when I'm at the grocery store, although that might be due to me using wired earbuds more than anything else. No, I don't hold phone conversations at the store, although I have been known to call home to ask whether Brand X or Y is fine since Z isn't in stock. No, I put on my earbuds to keep the noise at bay (I have tinnitus) and so I don't have to listen in on whatever the latest gossip that some fellow customer is insisting I hear by talking loudly into a phone a couple of feet from me.

I guess it's only a matter of time before all of these wearables such as the eyeglasses become used by Big Tech to feed LLMs. And I'd bet money that even then, Parallel Context won't show up on a simple Google search.

Meme Monday: Uplifting Memes

No, I haven't found religion, and no, I'm not going to start putting up oddly uncomfortable stuff around my house.

You know, this stuff. From Etsy, but 
probably from other places too.

Just stuff that sometimes makes you feel good about gaming or our geeky hobbies.

From Facebook's DnD Memes.

Sometimes it's nice to be reminded that people
are good. From Reddit.

I can get behind that. From Reddit.

Yeah, this too. From Reddit.

Oh well. Given that my (now) wife asked
me out first, I guess I haven't gotten that
courage up. From Boredpanda.

And seeing the late Burt Reynolds just made
me smile. From Facebook's Radio memes
and makeameme.org.

There is Always Plenty of Time

I haven't done one of these posts in a while, because I had no need to.

Listings as of May 29, 2026.

I've been leveling 3 Alliance and one Horde toon, and while it's somewhat slow going compared to the Vanilla zones in TBC Anniversary servers*, I'm perfectly happy at my pace. 

As you can see, Card will likely hit L70 (the TBC maximum level) in June, and it's also expected that at least one other toon will join her. Neve is still plodding along in the low L40s, which considering that I'm not really doing much with her isn't a big surprise either.

Once toons start reaching max level, what then?

Well, one thing is certain: I'm not planning on raiding or even doing Heroic dungeons. 

I'm fine with the regular variety, thanks.

Unless I know everybody in the group, there's no real reason for me to do the Heroic dungeons. After all, I've been there in 2021 when I needed to run Heroics to get attuned for raids, and they're hard enough without having to deal with any random group drama. There was also the problem of simply finding groups, as once people overdosed on instance running in 2021 they simply stopped doing any instances once there was no explicit requirement to do so. I've already seen a dropoff in players in Hellfire Peninsula from as little as a month ago, so I'd imagine that the number of prospective dungeon participants coming up through the leveling process has dried up.

Does that mean I'm not enjoying the TBC Anniversary servers? No, I'm having fun. And really, that's all that matters. If I'm not having fun, I'll go do something else. That doesn't mean there aren't frustrating moments while playing, such as while I'm off somewhere, killing mobs as part of a quest, and some random L70 toon flies in, grabs all of the mobs in the vicinity, and then downs them all using AoE.

"What a dick!" is my usual outburst when that happens, and then I go somewhere else (or play something else) until the toon has finally moved on. Usually that takes about 15-30 minutes, but sometimes they're out there farming for hours.**

Outside of that, I've found that I don't need flying, a fast mount, or even a mount itself (in the case of my Shaman) to enjoy the game. If I want to run an instance, I prep beforehand and make my way to the instance before I put myself out there in the pool. That alone eliminates any issues with travel prior to entering the instance, and I'm in no particular hurry in trying to get into an instance either. That means I can chill while I wait. 

I've found that hanging out right by the Summoning
Stone at Scarlet Monatery does wonders for people looking
for DPS. I've entitled this screencap "Four Female
Blood Elves and a Tauren Walk Into a Bar".

I guess the lack of flying means I'm not doing the Tempest Keep instances, because flying is required to reach those instances. Then again, I'll likely reach L70 long before I would even reach Netherstorm (where the instances are located), so it's kind of a moot point. 

***

Right now, I'm thinking of simply putting any L70 toons I will have effectively in storage and noodle around with other toons instead. 

Why? Because if everybody is right and we'll get a Wrath Anniversary server this Winter, why push hard for anything when it won't matter once Northrend opens up? If I'm not raiding, there's no reason to stress over my gear or attunements or whatnot. And if we somehow get a TBC Era server out of this, I can wait until the mass of people have moved on to Wrath and then I can come out from hibernation and noodle around Outland without any crowds or pressure to boat race my way through to the end. 

Now, I have thought about returning to Battlegrounds and Alterac Valley once my toons hit L70, and that is a possibility. I guess I'll have to consider that when the time comes. For now, however, I'm happy at my own pace.

*As opposed to when they were Vanilla Anniversary Servers. It's a noticeable difference in speed from my perspective.

**I sometimes wonder what goes on in their heads that makes them think that they're entitled to bad behavior when other people are attempting to play the game. Then again, I've seen bad behavior out of people out in public because they think they're entitled to whatever it is they're bitching about. Doesn't matter if their poor or rich, white or black, it's that some people are just assholes and have no concept of shame. 

Connections to the Past: Some Music You Don't Hear Now on the Radio from 1983 and 1984

There are studies* that suggest that music we listen to in our teens sticks with us forever. If that's the case, for me my critical years were 1983 and 1984, where I moved away from New Wave music and firmly planted myself on the Rock side of things. 

I spent the past couple of days listening to music from that time period, some of the stuff you never hear much today that got plenty of radio airplay back then and had a huge influence on me. No, I'm not going to pull out The Raisin's Fear is Never Boring again; it's in this post from some months ago.

I figured Planet P's Why Me is a good start. Although originally known as Planet P, Planet P Project is an alter ego of Tony Carey. This got extensive airplay on rock stations, and I think it actually made its way into an 80s compilation or two, but good luck trying to find it on a Classic Rock station today.

Given their outsized influence, The Yardbirds didn't actually play for that many years. But when three of the original members got back together and created the band Box of Frogs, rock stations took notice. Back Where I Started got extensive local airplay and featured guitar work from another ex-Yardbird, the late Jeff Beck, but hell if I could not find the album on cassette anywhere. 

I know that Bhagpuss will know this song, because it's Slade, but people my age in 1984 knew Slade more for being the band who originally wrote Cum On Feel The Noize that Quiet Riot covered and conquered the American Pop Charts with. So when Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply** released here in the States, the album shot up the charts. Between Run Runaway (above) and My Oh My, the songs were in heavy rotation on rock radio as well as MTV.

Russ Ballard's Voices got airplay on MTV, but what really got people into this song was when it was featured in a 1984 episode of Miami Vice. 

Before you ask "how the hell can a Jefferson Starship song be considered obscure?", well... I give you No Way Out. It was the first song that I listened to on my brand new boom box back in 1984 by pure coincidence, because I turned it on and tuned it to the local rock station and there it was. Obviously today it's very much in the shadow of other Jefferson Starship songs, but it struck a nerve with me that continues to this day.

The Tubes' She's a Beauty was a one-two punch with Planet P's Why Me, because I frequently heard them close to each other on radio playlists. To a nerdy, shy, adolescent kid just exiting his tweens, it certainly seemed like they were singing directly to me with lines like:

You can look inside another world

You get to talk to a pretty girl

She's everythin' you dream about

Well, at least I can say that I know how to talk to women now.

 

*This one, from the University of Jyväskylä, I found quite fascinating. What they call the "cascading reminiscence bump" highlights that kids often form bonds with music and songs a couple of decades younger than them, which to my mind makes sense because they're listening to music their parents liked, which happen to be that average time differential. 

**That was the American title of The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome, that was released in 1983 in the UK and Europe. It was released in 1984 in the US with a different name.

Here's my copy that I picked up in 1989
at a second hand store near the University
of Dayton that were selling old LPs for $2.

Meme Monday: Sickness Memes

You know that low grade cold I got from being at the Dayton Hamvention?

It's still with me, and it's really annoying me right now.

(No, I don't have Covid. Yes, I tested.)

So, in the dubious honor of having an early Summer cold, here's some memes...

I haven't had a cold of any sort since my little
hospital adventure in 2021. Alas, that has come
to an end. From Readers Digest of all places.

Yeah, I felt like that midweek.
From Pinterest.

Yeah, I feel this. From Memebase.

If replace "Web MD" with "Chat GPT" the
results would be the same. From Memebase.

The coughing stage took a long time to get here;
I should have been past that by now!
From The Mighty.

And if you start to feel any sort of better
to the point of playing video games...
From Chronius Care (but likely Someecards).

Now Here's a Pertinent Question

I haven't watched Wowcrendor much the past decade or so, because I'd just not engaged with Retail WoW much since Mists. However, something caught my eye today, and I thought I'd share.

He posted it yesterday, and it can be turned into a broader question about MMOs in general. 

Why do we login to these games and play? Is it inertia, friendship, curiosity, addiction, the goal-oriented nature of things, or something else?

For me, I'm not exactly sure why I login. 

Does that sound strange to you? It sure does to me.

I mean, I may chat with my friends group on the WoW Anniversary servers, but I don't actually play with them. They'd all reached max level ages ago --and some have multiple toons at max level-- while my own toons are L66-L67. And I've already decided that once ny toons start reaching L70 I'm going to probably not play them much at all and instead play other toons. Perhaps that's borderline insanity to the average Anniversary server player who's got multiple raids already under their belt, but I'm kind of happy that I've never pushed myself to that route. Hell, I probably won't even get epic riding at all on any of them*, much less flying. But getting that stuff isn't why I play. (At least I know that much.)

Maybe it is exploring the world that I'm attracted to the most. When I get on LOTRO or SWTOR, I spend more time just putzing around and looking at places than anything else. ESO is the same way. I can engage at my own pace without worrying about catching up with the Jonses or feeling like I'm missing out. I also did a ton of simply exploring places my last year of playing Retail back in 2013-2014, because the Battlegrounds only made me angry and most people I'd known had quit the game. It was pleasant; empty, but also pleasant.

I think I'll turn the question over to you, the reader: What's your reason for playing?

*One L67 toon, my Shaman, doesn't even have "basic riding", because she's got Ghost Wolf form. Sure, it's not as fast as basic riding, but it's free and it's an instant cast spell that has gotten me out of jams numerous times in the past.

Smile, You're on Candid Camera

Would you believe me if I told you I didn't know who (or what) Mr. Beast was until June of 2025?

Apparently Mr. Beast is the most followed YouTuber, and despite that I'd never run across anything related to him (or his organization) until I discovered this video by Jaiden Animations:

This was when I first discovered Jaiden (after discovering Rebecca Parham's YouTube channel first) and a couple of her videos referenced how absolutely crazy some of Mr. Beast's followers were. However, even after watching Jaiden's video I didn't have any desire to go and hunt down Mr. Beast, so I tucked that little bit of knowledge away and just went on with life.

Then two things happened. First, Dan Olson dropped this video:

If you've got the time, it's worth a watch as Dan was most definitely NOT the sort of influencer that someone of Mr. Beast's ilk would typically be interacting with. I mean, Dan does long form video essays about deep topics --gaming related or not-- and is the polar opposite of Mr. Beast's stuff. 

After watching Dan's video, I still had no desire to go visit Mr. Beast's site on the internet. I mean, Dan had pretty much reinforced my opinion that Mr. Beast was NOT for me.

Finally, I opened up my email last morning to find this from (of all places) Lowe's Home Improvement:

This arrived in my INBOX on 5/18/2026.

You're kidding me, right? 

Lowes? The hardware company that partners with the NFL and sports figures like Messi?

No, I'm still not interested in seeing Mr. Beast's stuff, and after having watched Dan's video, I think that Beast Industries is throwing jello at a wall to see what sticks. After all, I'm about 45 years too old to be Beast Industries' target audience.

***

The presence of Monsieur Beast in my email provided me a necessary intro into something that I'd been thinking about after my attendance at the Dayton Hamvention: the prevalence of YouTubers and other influencers.

Outside of Salty Walt, I noted the presence of several other YouTubers at the Hamvention. One of the first people who came by our tables on Friday I recognized immediately.

"Hey, it's the CB guy!" I exclaimed.

"Yes it is," he replied with a slightly sheepish grin.

It was Erik of Farpoint Farms, whose YouTube channel focuses a lot on CB radio with a side helping of shortwave and scanner radios, solar power, and other items he uses at his farm in the mountains of North Carolina. He was a pretty genial guy, so he was exactly like he presented himself on his channel. That morning he was just rummaging around for anything interesting to purchase, not record for the channel.* Alas, one of our club members tried hard to sell him on items rather than let him look in peace, but at least Erik took it in stride.

However, as the Hamvention progressed, I noted other YouTubers around, some livestreaming with cameras and some without, but obviously all looking at things with an eye toward content. There was one moment where I was walking in one direction of the flea market, saw a well-known YouTuber with phone on a selfie stick, recording, and I spun around in the opposite direction and "noped" my way out of there. When I was looking at antennas with one of the indoor vendors --hey, I'm a ham, what do you expect?-- another guy appeared at my elbow and began talking to the vendor, explaining he was a YouTuber, and wanted to ask him some questions. After a quick side glance to make sure he wasn't recording at just that moment, I skipped out again.

I get it, people are creating content for a living. That's the name of the game. But holy cow did there seem to be so many of them around. And given that while the Dayton Hamvention has attendees worldwide, there are only ~730,000 hams in the US. (Yes, it's on the public record; as the link shows.) There were around 36,000 Hamvention attendees, and probably 25,000-30,000 of them were actual amateur license holders.** So the size of the potential audience in a YouTube channel isn't all that great to begin with, and it certainly seems that a lot of folks are fighting over that smallish slice of the pie. 

But you know, that's okay. I can just do my thing as long as they don't intrude on it, and I'll let them do their thing. 

***

I do realize that I'm griping a bit about this on a blog, which is the older form of social media. I have enough self awareness that I can acknowledge that, but there are two significant differences: scale and goals. as my other influencer post pointed out, I'm not even close to their league in terms of visibility. And for someone who prefers to keep himself largely out of the spotlight, that's perfectly fine with me. The second is that I'm not doing this to generate clicks and/or income. I'm doing it as an outlet for my urge to write. I don't have to worry about critiques, rejection letters (if I'd even merit one out of a slush pile), and god forbid any chaos that'd arise out of any potential professional publications. 

Isn't blogging a form of self-publishing?
From Imgflip.

The YouTubers do put themselves out there in a way I never do, and consequently open themselves up to criticism I don't receive. For that, I salute them, and yet I'm glad I am not them.

(Also, I have now developed what appears to be Con Crud, that low grade cold that afflicts people when they have been to a conference of any sort. I was just telling my wife this past evening that this was the first real "cold" that I've had since my health scare in 2021. Not sure what kind of record that breaks, but for me it feels like forever. And I simply hate hate HATE a sore throat.)

*That came later. Judging by the footage, I was not around the booth at the time; probably at a forum or something. Oh, and for the record, while I might disagree with some of Erik's stances on things, he is living proof that people can disagree without being disagreeable.

**For example, I only got my license in the Fall of 2025, and I'd attended around 5 times or so before this year.