Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What size dog do you like? Rick Rosner: What size dog? I like small dogs because they tend to live longer. Carole's best friend has German Shepherds, which are a larger breed. They usually weigh between 80 and 100 pounds, and you only get about 10 or 11 years with them, which is sad. They're smart, …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1208: Preferences in Sizes of Dogs
Rick Rosner: Today, I came across a concept called AI "pimping." What happens is that pornographers—whether amateur or professional—steal explicit images from across the internet and use AI to generate new faces. They create fake individuals, typically naked women, and use these fabricated identities to make money on platforms like Instagram. The article I sent …
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Hey, Rick. What's your topic? Rick Rosner: Before we get to the discussion about pornography, I sent you an article. But first, let's talk about Elon Musk, who, right now, seems to have aligned himself closely with Trump. Trump attended Musk's recent SpaceX rocket launch and appeared impressed. Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy—another …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1206: Musk, Ramaswamy, Saul, and Summers
Rick Rosner: So, I'm in the Writers Guild and the TV Academy. That means I can vote in certain Emmy categories and for the Writers' Guild Awards. I get invited to screenings of TV shows and movies, and I can bring Carol along. Someone from the production team, or even a few people, will often …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1205: ‘I’m in the Writers Guild’
Rick Rosner: I do believe in magnetic personalities, though, because I live in a town of schmoozers. Do you know what a schmoozer is? Jacobsen: Yes. Someone who basically kisses up—a kind of social smooth-talker. Rosner: It’s Yiddish. Jacobsen: I wasn’t sure if it was in the general non-Jewish lexicon. Rosner: It is. My stepdad …
Rick Rosner: You should be aiming for people like Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton. When celebrities have projects coming out, they’re open to interviews. You’re a seasoned interviewer with an impressive track record. If celebs become part of your regular beat, you could be known as the interviewer who asks them questions that highlight their …
Rick Rosner: What made American Republicans so bad compared to broader times? How did they get so bad? And that leads to related questions: How did Democrats get this way if they did? And how did things, in general, get so bad? Are today’s Democrats akin to the Republicans of the nineties or 2000s? Has …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1202: Propaganda Models in the States and Russia
Rick Rosner: What’s going on? Let’s talk about Peanut the Squirrel. Have you heard of Peanut the Squirrel? Scott Douglas Jacobsen: No. What is it? Rosner: This is the latest weird, but oddly unified, Republican push to make people angry at Democrats. Here’s the story: a guy runs an unlicensed wildlife sanctuary—it’s not a big …
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: So, it looks like it was a complete slaughter against the Democrats. Rick Rosner: As far as I know—and I haven’t checked in the last half hour—Harris isn’t even leading the popular vote. I thought it was impossible for Trump to win the popular vote. I assume that when the West Coast …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1200: The Slaughter of the Dems
Rick Rosner: So, it’s the day after, and Trump has won. You noticed during our chat before we started taping that I was nodding off because I didn’t get much sleep last night. Carole was freaking out, grabbing me, and asking, “What are we going to do? What’s going to happen?” She was also telling …
Continue reading Ask A Genius 1199: The Day After Blues for the Blues
Rick Rosner 