Taxonomic Hierarchy -- Kingdom: Animalia | Phylum: Arthropoda | Class: Insecta | Order: Lepidoptera | Family: Sphingidae | Sub family: Sphinginae | Genus: Ceratomia | Species: undulosa

*Waved Sphinx Moth" (Ceratomia undulosa):   After correctly identifying its Genus and species, I was able to find an exact photographic match from another online resource:   InsectIdentification.org.

Source :   Insect Identification.org

June18, 2026  Farewell to Annie

In Memory of "Annie"

Tom’s Tidbits For Today (06-01-2026)
(According to Google Search and My Razor--Sharp Memory)

For Workniks:

• Both expressions, the “baying of the wolves” and "held at bay" originate from medieval French. They trace back to the Old French words abbay or aboi (Modern French aboi), meaning "the barking of a dog"—a term used in the 14th Century when hunters’ dogs would howl after cornering a wild boar. 

• Two instances of memory recall within only minutes of each other required a deep search of the gray matter--not exactly a Déjà vu moment, but close (call it coincidental).   There is no recollection of the last time either of these compound words had passed through my mind: Dragonfly (closed compound word) and Pocket Watch (open compound word).  I’m sure you’re curious to learn the details.

  1. A rare insect to our parts in recent years, the large and beautiful dark-blue Dragonfly sometimes called a Mosquito Hawk was spotted in the back yard.   I could not immediately identify it by name.  Only the term flying helicopter surfaced, because of its wings and tail section, as recalled from my childhood.
     
     

  2. Minutes later, I resumed watching Spiderman 3 on Netflix where “Peter Parker,” a.k.a. “Spiderman” placed his sweetheart’s engagement ring into the watch pocket of his blue jeans (looked like mom jeans the way he was wearing them).  I kept thinking pocket watch, but soon realized the words I was looking for were “Watch Pocket.”
     
     

• By Golly, I saw three beautiful Monarch Butterflies  today!

For Web Surfers:

• Tired of searching and then clicking a link only to find that it leads to a Paywall?  Some “Soft Paywalls” can be bypassed by using your browser’s “Read Mode” (but don’t become overly optimistic). 

• To avoid these links altogether, The Paywall Detector extension for Chrome is an option, but its security and potential risks remain unclear at this time (07-01-2026).

Click Here or on the image at the right (above) to view the large-format PDF file.  (Note:  Horizontal Scroll Bar in Chrome appears across the bottom when the Magnification setting reaches 175% or 200% depending on Full View or Thumbnail  View  mode of the PDF file.  Shift-Scroll Up or Down will also move horizontally at these magnifications. Lastly, Ctrl-Scroll zooms In and Out of everything--not recommended.

January 6, 2026  Audio -- Reading Mode for Non-readers Using Chrome, FireFox and Edge

For many, reading is difficult for a number of reasons--visual impairment, discomfort or low vision, etc.   Others find that they lack time.  For many, reading is simply not an enjoyable leisure activity or they may find it difficult to stay on task.  For some of these people, however, there remains a curiosity about what stories books tell that others are always talking about.

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Notes:  The easiest way, in my opinion, to launch the "Reading Mode" in Google Chrome is to . . .

1. 1.  First, navigate to the web page or link containing  the reading content.

   2.  Second, open the Main Menu (3 dots) of your Chrome Browser located on the right side of the screen:  go down to "More Tools" and Select "Reading Mode" from the options list.

   3. Third, drag your mouse over the part of the page you want to read.  Click the blue Start Button (triangle) near the top left corner of the Reading Model Panel.

   4. Some PDF content may not have been formatted correctly for audio playback when accessed online.  The problem is with the PDF file's formatting word wrap and margins, not the reader mode itself.

   5. ChatGPT content that you have generated using AI, for example, should playback correctly.  That might be a good place to start for reliable source data flows the way it's supposed to.  The text is played back seamlessly using the Reading Mode in Chrome.  Open a free ChatGPT account and have at it.  Other AI options can be considered as well.

   6. Gutenberg.org is a free and vast digital library.  Their opening story sounds good to me when read online from their website using Chrome's Reading Mode.

   7. Lastly, when Chrome's Reading Mode inserts too many pauses while reading a PDF that is not fully compatible with the reading mode (see #4 above), there are a several options that may improve the quality of audio playback.

• Offline Option 1:  Download the linked PDF file below, for example--Synopses of 22 Famous Books, and drag and drop it on Chrome Browser's home page to open it.  Right click anywhere on the text and Select "Open Reading Mode" from the drop-down window.  The text in the right panel will appear to be tied together w/o line breaks that eliminates most of the annoying pauses.

• Offline Option  2:  Download the linked PDF file below and open it with "PDF Gear" (pdfgear.com free app). The contents should play seamlessly from line to line when using PDF Gear's Reader Mode (maybe with the exception of undesireable code that is embedded somewhere in the document).   Synopses of 22 Famous Books by Famous Authors (PDF file,  3,032 words, 8 pages).

• FireFox "Read aloud" Extension:  Add this extension to FireFox and Pin it to your FireFox toolbar.  Works good for online audio playback of PDF linked files.  On the other hand, offline drag and drop using FireFox is less friendly (doesn't work like Chrome--haven't figured it out yet).

• Microsoft Edge built-in "Read aloud":  is perhaps the easiest online reader of the three browsers listed.  Once a link to a web page or a Linked PDF file is opened, press the key combination  ctrl + Shift U to activate.  (My old computer was a bit sluggish at first so it took a while before it activated.)  A Control bar will appear above the text area with settings options and the familiar Play, Back, and Forward controls near the center.  Stop or Pause, which replaces Play at center, can be pressed any time to pause the reader.   Edge also permits PDF's to be dragged and dropped on Edge's home screen when using Offline.  Ctrl + Shift U is very convenient to use.  Read aloud for Edge has a good selection of easy-to-understand voices for audio playback (Mark's voice is crisp and clear).

January 5, 2026  Television -- Times Have Changed

Today's post addresses a few issues I have with today's television programming.  TV from the earlier years involved the three major networks, CBS, ABC, and NBC.  There was no VHS, Video Discs, Cable TV or Internet connection.

In the early years (1950s) in our viewing area we had limited reception that required very tall outside antennas (30 or 40 feet, for most houses, or shorter, roof mounted versions).  We received TV signals from one and then shortly thereafter, two channels.  Eventually three networks became available.  Cable TV began to compete with the over-the-air broadcast in the 1970s.  Many of the cumbersome and weathering TV attennas were one-by-one taken down.  Only a few remain today.  Now, high-tech much smaller interior and exterior OTA  antennas can be seen here and there if you look closely.

The 1980's saw the arrival of Satellite dishes--another competitor in the TV media industry.  More recently Fiber Optic Cable installation has become a reliable combined source for phone, TV, and internet connectivity in many parts of the country.

Competition among media outlets continues to change and leapfrog.  Perhaps the next big move will be "brain implants."

Considering the eight decades-worth of television viewing, there hasn't been much to complain about.   Personal taste has a lot to do with what we watch today; but in the early days--everything was considered wonderful!

TV viewing has evolved from waiting for a weekly network program to be aired or watching a live broadcast such as Bowling for Dollars  from an area bowling alley, to now having On Demand TV and thousands of input sources.

Also worth mentioning:  a highlight of the year that has become a tradition is televised coverage of the State High School Basketball Championship games where coverage by local affliates preempts the major network's scheduled programming.  That's a good thing for maintaining statewide community values and pride.

Today's post is an original (not AI edited) commentary concerning a few dislikes dealing with the nature of  advertising and self-promotional spots between scheduled programming as it pertains to the three original networks.  These commercials and promotional segments also appear on other streaming and cable channels supported by advertising.   I realize that advertising is the lifeblood of "free programming."

After raking the Big Three neworks over the coals for a half-dozen paragraphs of the commentary, I pay tribute to CBS, ABC and NBC for being a part of my entire life as well as for millions of others.  The ability to channel surf, binge watch, and stream alternate forms of media such as YouTube, etc., are realatively new experiences.

You can read my short commentary  by Clicking Here  (PDF file, 1 page, 403 words).

Tom's Tidbit for Today -- 01-01-2026

When asked:  The "collective weight" of all digital data (the bits and bytes themselves, separate from the storage device) is a matter of ongoing scientific discussion, but it is virtually zero for all practical purposes.  The estimated total mass of all data stored globally is likely on the order of a small fraction of a gram or less, far too small to be measured with current standard equipment. 

Source:  Google Search

January 1, 2026  Happy New Year! -- Creating HTML Scripts Coded by AI

It has been nearly one-year since the first post involving AI was made to this website.  Since then its many variations have appeared almost on a daily basis.  In my mind, everything is still in an experimental phase and will probably remain so for a very long time.

 Emojis First

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Comments:

Overall , Gemini and ChatGPT have donean excellent job  completing these scripts!

    English and Spanish Vocabulary

(Scripts Created with Gemini)
  

March 10, 2026  Conversation with Gemini:  English and Spanish Vocabulary Linguistics, (PDF file, 2,311 words, 13 pages).

Note:   When creating your own script such as those running above--In order to retain the emojis' color, the script generated by Gemini must be copied directly from Gemini and then into the < > Embed script area for the web page.

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