Awake,for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight.

And, lo, has caught the sultan’s turret in a noose of light!

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable: Christopher Howse: ‘A Pilgrim in Spain’

Cosas de España

Those unused EU funds . .

Do the Spanish illness and longevity stats really support the thesis that Eating dinner after 9pm causes increased risk of cardiovascular issues?

The Spanish state pays the Catholic Church a lot of money. One way they tried to reduce this – counter-productively – was to put a box on your income tax return agreeing to give a small percentage of your tax to the Church. I was impressed to read yesterday that the – tight-fisted? – Galicians are the 2nd lowest region in this regard. I wonder if the Catalans are the lowest and the Basques the highest.

Portugal

The new Socialist party leader is Sr Santos O Carneiro. I thought this might mean Saints the Butcher but that would be Santos O Carneceiro, as in Gallego. Carneiro is lamb, sheep, ewe or – his preference? – ram. Or Santos El Cabròn in Spain, I suppose. Which wouldn’t go down well.

Talking of surnames . . . I was told today that Jews forced to convert to Christianity chose names of places or things, such as Zamora.

The USA

A very good question, if the premise is true . . .

AI/Did you know? . . .

Wondering which AI search engine would give me the best answers, I requested names of doctors in the UK for a particular treatment. No competition. Bing said Yes there are UK doctors but only gave me the names of some in the USA. Perplexity (Co-pilot) gave me 2 UK doctors and one in Canada, plus info on them and contact details for them. So, I asked each of them which was the better search engine. Naturally, the basic answer was: It depends.

• Bing: That’s an interesting question. Bing’s AI-powered search engine and Co-pilot from Perplexity are both designed to provide users with better search results and more interactive experiences. However, they have some differences in their features, capabilities, and pricing. Bing’s AI powered search engine is a new feature that uses Open AI’s language model and works differently but similarly to chat GPT1. For every query you submit, it will scale the Internet for relevant answers. It doesn’t stop there. It also offers a new chat experience where you can ask follow up questions, get summaries, compare options, generate content, and more. You can also use problems to tell being that what you want in different ways to comment such as bullet points, tables, simple words for kids, et cetera.
• Perplexity: Co-pilot from Perplexity is an interactive AI search companion that provides more personalized and accurate answers to user queries.It offers a unique search experience by guiding users through interactive follow-up questions, pulling better responses from the web, and summarising the results. This feature sets it apart from regular chat bots, which typically provide more generic responses without the same level of interactivity. Co-pilot from Perplexity also integrates with copilot mode within Perplexity-AI which is a cutting edge AI tool designed to assist users in writing code more efficiently. So, which one is better depends on your specific needs and preferences. GPT is more versatile and provides better responses. Perplexity’sCo-pilot offers a more interactive and personalised search experience. If you’re looking for a general purpose search engine that can help you with various tasks and queries, Bing’s AI-powered search engine might be a good choice. If you are looking for a specialized search engine that can help you with coding or information discovery, Co-pilot from Perplexity might be a better option.
• An objective 3rd party view: The comparison between Bing AI and Co-pilot depends on the specific use case and user preferences. Both platforms have their own strengths and may be better suited for different types of searches or interactions.

So, pick the meat out of that . .

The Usual Links . . .

For new readers:– If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here. If you’re passing through Pontevedra on the Camino, you’ll find a guide to the city there – updated a bit in early July 2023.

For those thinking of moving to Spain:- This is an extremely comprehensive and accurate guide to the challenge, written by a Brit who lives in both the North and the South and who’s very involved in helping Camino walkers.