Put down that remote! There ain't nothin' to watch anyway, and you know it! But I got something' for ya! The Rough Cut for Prologue 01 of my forthcoming LIFE AT THE DAKOTA series is done. Yeah, it needs some tweaks, but you probably won't even know what they are, so you may as well watch it anyway. This is the story of Mr. Winslow Hale and his wife Catherine. In late 1880 they made the decision to be among the first residents of the DAKOTA APARTMENT building in NYC. 100 years later the Dakota would become world-famous when musician John Lennon is murdered in its entry. My series focuses on Life at the Dakota between 1884-1900 (and possibly beyond). The purpose of the prologues is to introduce characters who will appear in series episodes. If all goes well, I'll be producing the series for the rest of my life, or for the next 5 years. Whichever comes first. Btw, I am the FIRST straight caucasian MAN with dirty blond hair, who rides a bike nearly everyday, and who collects garden gnomes, and knows how to make French toast with flax seed instead of eggs, who wears Matsuda sunglasses, and knows all the lyrics to the Broadway soundtracks to CHESS and HAIR and SECRET GARDEN, who drinks carrot juice to single-handedly produce/direct/write/edit a Historical Period Drama using the latest SI Synth-Gen technology, so this is historic stuff! :)

Last week I enjoyed a wonderful conversation with @ArtofaLadyX and @Gentleman_Ways. As you may know, @ArtofaLadyX offers a graceful, thoughtful space for anyone drawn to timeless femininity, elegance, and character. Through reflections on beauty, style, manners, and old-world values, she celebrates the quiet strength of grace—how we move through the world, treat one another, and carry ourselves with composure and warmth. Her account explores practical courtesies, the art of genuine presence, classic style, and the difference between performing virtue and living it. It’s a gentle counterpoint to modern noise: a place for women (and anyone curious) who value refinement, good taste, and living beautifully in everyday moments. Listeners can hear more about her perspective, the inspiration behind The Art of a Lady, and her insights on grace and character in this conversation. You can also follow her on X at @ArtofaLadyX or explore deeper reflections on her Substack. And of course check out and subscribe to @Gentleman_Ways. He's awesome, too. But you already know that. :)

Who is Gilded Age Gwen and how did she come to exist? Well, for starters she is actually based on a girl named Gwen who I had the biggest crush on when we were both in 5th grade. I thought she was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. I never saw her again after 7th grade, but I imagine she grew up to look like this. I hope so, anyway. I have spent years creating Quickies like these. They were always a lot of work. For awhile I was hiring people on Fiverr to help create them for me for $5 per video. A few weeks ago I showed an example to @bot and asked about producing them for me. GrokBat said it would try. I provided an image of what I wanted Gwen to look like, and how she should dress. I chose her voice in Elevenlabs. I provided 50 ideas for subjects. It actually needed some tweaking since I didn't like the ones they offered. Theirs sounded too old. I wanted brighter and more energetic. GrokBot did the rest. It wasn't perfect at first. It needed a lot of tweaks! But eventually it did everything, including the captions. She now exists and she will forever. Because of GrokBot I cancelled a lot of programs including CapCut. Hiring someone on Fiverr to produce 50 videos like this would have cost me $250 and I would have been constantly correcting the 22 year old dudes in India and Pakistan who were creating them. I pay $100 a month for Grokbot and it quickly and easily understands all my corrections about Gilded Age Gwen, and everything else. Gilded Age Gwen is currently talking about fun educational, historic stuff now, but eventually she is going to be doing some videos for my Sponsor(s). They are gonna be really cool, too! Gilded Age Gwen is gonna have some friends, too. Stay tuned. If you own any kind of business you really need @bot. It's only been around for 60 days, and already it's irreplaceable.

There are a ton of people out there giving tips on how to use GrokBot. Most are badly written and irrelevant to your needs. It’s not nearly as complicated as people think. I’ve been using it since day 01. Here are a few simple pro-tips based on my experience. #1. Don’t let any chat get too long. That drains your usage because every time you ask it to do something it “Reads” everything in that entire chat - even if it has nothing to do with your latest task. #2: Create a “Personal Assistant” Bot. Tell it what you want. Have it create a saved Skill based on that. And then assign the task to a new Bot. Then go into THAT chat that stays focused on that chat. #3: Delete chats once a skill is done otherwise you’ll be tempted to keep that chat open and active. You don’t need to. #4: If you have RECURRING projects you need to make sure you never go above 75% usage. How come? Because if you run out, everything stops dead in its tracks. So absolutely NOTHING will be done anymore until you have more usage. And that sucks. It’s happened to me more than once. Good luck!

The guest room in the LIZZIE BORDEN house is coming together. I am not sure yet how much of the murder I am going to be able to show, or how much I want to show. She got stabbed in the face once by the assailant, and then got hit in the back and side of her head 18 or 19 times. I am still adding furniture and there will be some decorative items on the wall. The two windows on either side of the bookshelf faced the street. I am thinking the murderer was planning to leave when he saw Mr Borden coming home, and that's when he decided to wait and then murder him, too.

I just sold every dollar of Bitcoin - and everything else I owned in Coinbase. I was smart enough to buy in dribs and drabs over time so I never paid too much for anything but the fact is, crypto is old hat. SI is the future. These companies are run by the smartest techie people on the earth and none of them even mention crypto anymore. Any chance of paying for anything with Bitcoin, etc? It was fun while it lasted but it was time for me to forget it existed. Good luck to everyone as they HODl. I hope it works out for you. But I’d rather invest in other things.

A Wall of Sweet Sticky Death? That's the subject of my next Strange History Cafe podcast (hear it first on my Patreon) Imagine a quiet Boston lunch hour shattered by a deep rumble, a sudden boom, and the whoosh of metal rivets popping like machine-gun fire. On January 15, 1919, a giant tank in the North End burst open and unleashed 2.3 million gallons of molasses in a 15-to-40-foot brown wave that roared through the streets at 35 mph. Buildings crumpled, the elevated railway buckled, and people and horses were swept away in a thick, gloppy flood that hardened into a suffocating trap—killing 21 and injuring 150. The tank had been leaking for years (they just painted it brown to hide the seepage) and was never strong enough for the job. After months of sticky cleanup and a lingering molasses smell that haunted the neighborhood, the company was ruled negligent and stricter safety rules followed. How does a substance meant for cookies and rum turn into one of history’s strangest disasters? Listen to my next Strange History Cafe podcast to learn more.

If the CHEESECAKE FACTORY marketing people are smart they will jump on Obama's insult and put out an ad saying something like, "The Closest Thing to Eating at the White House". @Cheesecake have some fun with this! @shakeshack sure would. Don't let this go.

What happens when a medicine quiets a fussy baby a little too well? You get Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup, one of the most troubling products of the 1800s. Welcome along, fellow time travelers. The syrup was first sold in Bangor, Maine, in 1849 by Jeremiah Curtis and Benjamin Perkins. It was named for Charlotte Winslow, a nurse and Curtis's mother-in-law. It was sold for teething and colic, and it was wildly popular. The label did not say what was inside. According to the Smithsonian, each fluid ounce held about 65 milligrams of morphine, along with alcohol. Doctors warned that babies could be poisoned. An 1884 medical case report called for regulation of patent medicines. In 1911 the American Medical Association listed the syrup among its "Baby Killers." The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 forced makers to list ingredients like opiates. The syrup was eventually changed and the word "Soothing" was dropped from its name, though it stayed on shelves into the 1930s.

Monticello is run by people who hate Thomas Jefferson and the USA. The Marxists and Communists see this as their greatest treasure. If you go there you will learn almost nothing about TJ, but you will be told everything about Sally Hemmings. She is the star of the show there. She is their Mickey Mouse. They love this fake story. And they won’t ever let it go until his name and reputation are tarnished forever. Monticello has basically been turned into a museum about slavery. Something should be done to secure the site by the US Government. It should be run by the National Park Service. Monticello should be operated by people who love and respect the great genius, not by those trying to destroy him.

The Gilded Age could SMELL kinda bad sometimes. Thankfully we have Gilded Age Gwen to teach us how to liven up the air so it's more pleasant. Ain't she scrumptious?

The world has not changed for the better. If I’m gonna leave a tip, I want a menu and a waitress.

Perhaps the most topical @AIScottAdams ever. Straight out of the gate, this one jumps right out of the headlines.

I shot this video at Monticello in January, 2025. You may enjoy the walking tour in the warmth and comfort of your home as I walked on ice in the freakin’ cold. You’re welcome. 😇

Gilded Age Gwen is back! In 1880s London, grief came with a strict dress code. When a husband died, a Victorian widow wore dull black bombazine and heavy crape veils for up to two full years. Shiny fabrics and bright jewelry were forbidden, except carved black Whitby jet and lockets woven from a loved one's hair. Even letter paper had thick black borders, before she could finally step into gray or lavender for half-mourning.

Do people audition before being allowed to sing the National Anthem or can anyone just get up there like it’s karaoke night at the local pub. Cause it sure seems that way sometimes, don’tchya think? The other day a lady messed up so badly she started laughing in the middle of it. Why not just play Meat Loaf or Whitney singing it, and stop making everyone cringe?

Follow me on Patreon and YouTube to see my series on Strange Art History. Typically I focus on classic artists with incredible skills, but periodically I deviate to encompass more contemporary art and artists. Why do John Lennon's drawings look less like gallery masterpieces and more like wobbly margin doodles from a bored teenager's notebook, and how did a handful of sketchy scribbles get repackaged into a multimillion-dollar merchandise empire? I'll have my video about this subject this week. In the meanwhile, what do you think of John Lennon's "artwork"? Do you think he probably should have stuck to music?