I live in South Boston and this is Saint Patrick's Day weekend.

In other words, I'll be in a war zone until Monday.

A few fun facts about the holiday...

• St. Patrick was actually born in Britain (not Ireland).
• The original Irish name leprechauns is "lobaircin," meaning "small-bodied fellow."
• The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in America in 1601.

As always, please forward IQNEWS to a friend if you're a fan!

You know that kid who annoyingly crushed every test? Well, ChatGPT creator OpenAI just unveiled its most advanced AI model yet - GPT4 - and it puts that kid to shame.

...with one exception: English tests.

According to a new whitepaper, the model scored in the 90th percentile for the LSAT, the Bar, and various SAT components. It even placed in the 99th percentile for the Biology Olympiad. But despite its prowess, on AP English Lit and AP English Language tests, it landed in the 8th and 14th percentile.

In other words, the cliché of the writing and reading comprehension being the least employable skillsets appears to be aging poorly.

Will subsequent artificial intelligence models eventually master the infinite nuances of the written word?

Maybe. Probably.

But also maybe not. As author W. Somerset Maugham put it, "There are three rules for writing the novel - unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

Without rules, AI is a sad robot!

Thanking a gift-giver is often an awkward exercise. It's rare you have something good to say beyond a generic "Thanks!..."

But hear me out.

Maybe - just maybe - you don't need to say something; you can show something.

Take a photo of yourself using the gift and include it in your thank-you text / email / letter.

Incorporate a simple line about how awesome the gift was when you were [insert activity you're doing in the photo].

Problem solved.

1. No one has ever been in an empty room.
2. Life is but a decades-long culling and refining of one's list of what matters.
3. You don't consider your clothes dirty until the second you take them off for the day.
4. Bowling balls are always depicted as black in illustrations, but they're always glittery and colorful in person.
5. There's a good chance Spiderman never learned how to drive.

Wiz Khalifa: "Never make permanent decisions on temporary feelings."

Today I learned that Ohio has a native species of cactus. (more here)

apotheosis [ uh-poth-ee-oh-sis ] - noun
the ideal example; epitome; quintessence
The legend of king arthur represents the apotheosis of chivalry.

Q: In public places in the state of Florida, what's illegal to do when wearing a swimsuit?
A: (see below next section)