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About Me

Hi everyone! My name is Jack, and this blog is called "JackFromWisconsin". I am a 20-something college student from the great state of Wisconsin with interests in organizations, education, science, and technology. 

Topics on this blog are going to vary from whatever is on my mind that day. Generally I'll comment on recent topics and give my opinion or experiences with such things. 

All content on this blog is copyrighted under the Creative Commons Attribution license, enabling you to copy the contents of this blog with attribution. All non-original work may be under different licenses (ex. images from Wikimedia Commons may be under a CC BY-SA license, for example). 

Links to other places

The following are links to my other places on the internet: 

Popular posts from this blog

Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Learning

Yesterday was my first day of class for my senior year of college. I had four classes, and each one of them mentioned AI within the first fifteen minutes. Today, artificial intelligence tools are not as widely accepted as other technologies, like the iPhone or laptop computer, were back in their day. It is both treated in suspect and highly politicized.  On November 30, 2022, the "shot heard around the world" was when OpenAI released the first version of ChatGPT to the public. I cannot believe it has been nearly four years. Its offering was simple - to answer any question you asked of it. You could ask "What is the meaning of life?", and Chat would respond, probably referencing Douglas Adams'  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Or, you could ask it to do your homework for you. And the AI bot would do it. OpenAI created the ultimate cheating machine. Now anyone could have essays written for them, math problems solved for them, research conducted for them,...

The Real Lessons from an Art Class

Art class -- what is the value of it anyway? Isn't that just something you take for fun? Well, you could do that. There is a lot more to art classes, in university, than meets the eye. They can help build critical thinking skills, offer a new perspective on the world, and provide a new form of expression.  I am going to mostly be talking about my experiences, which I understand are fairly unique. For my freshman through junior years of college, I went to a smaller branch campus that had approximately 200 students. Our art classes were taught by a local artist, not by a standard "art professor." I really appreciated this aspect as it made everything feel very grounded. This was his career, and something he was able to sustain himself doing. The two art classes I took were oil painting and drawing I, and each of them gave me a different slice of the art world.  So, art and critical thinking, what's the connection? Well, this is going to sound basic, but in order to buil...

Success and Starting Over

I don't know anyone who hasn't started over at some point in their life, whether they moved to a new area, or got a new job, or decided to study something different in school. Starting over is a core human experience, and one that you should know how to navigate. I have "achieved my goals", then quit and moved to a new job. I moved out of my hometown and learned how to live with roommates. In my last essay, Winning Is a Habit , I introduced the lessons from Vince Lombardi and the influence my dad had on my life. Those lessons underpin it all and give me the framework for trying new things. I want to talk about my first job. I got hired at a local fast-food chain when I was 15, and I stuck with it for nearly four and a half years. My dad worked for the same company back in the day, and when I indicated I was thinking about getting a job, he helped me apply. My duties at first were very simple - bring food out to customers and keep the dining room clean. I would eventua...