Joke from Israel: The Ministry of Health has declared it acceptable to get your medical condition diagnosed by ChatGPT. But it says you should always get a second opinion. It suggests Gemini.

My favorite three Jeapardy jokes.

(1) Answer: Chicken Terriyaki.

Question: Who is the only living kamikazi pilot?

(2) Answer: Dr. Livingston I. Presume.

Question: What is Dr. Presume’s full name?

(3) Answer: 9W

Question: What did Richard Wagner say when asked if he spelled his name  with a V?

Okay, enough of that.

I recently mentioned how I often look for a Jewish character in a book that doesn’t need a Jewish character. This time it is in Ford Madfox Ford’s World War I book, A Man Could Stand Up. A young, wealthy, educated British officer leading a batallion in combat against “the Huns” has an encounter with a British Jewish enlisted man (details not important). He finds out the man, who enlisted as Private Smith, is really Private Eisenstein, and that he changed his name because a German sounding name in Britain during a war against the Germans was a handicap. The two of them have a conversation and Smith/Eisenstein goes on its way. This took all of one and one half pages.

Not understanding why this was there, I asked Gemini, not expecting much, but Gemini gave me a very long explanation of this encounter, telling me the aristicratic British officer discovered he could talk to a Jewish private man to man, that they were intellectual equals, and that this was meant to be an example of how World War I was to completely change British society. Maybe so. I had no clue. Gemini 1, Arthur 0.

Speaking of Germini, we were at a dinner last night with 10 of our good friends. One told a story of a business trip he had made to Moscow years ago, and he couldn’t remember the name of one of the participants, but he remembered certain things about him.

I put the rather unique characteristics into Gemini and asked if they could identify him. They gave me some additional characteristics, but said his name was not known. I pressed Gemini further and asked where they got the information they had. They cited the friend sitting across the table from me.

Here we go loop de loop.