150th entry of More Time Than Sense!
Thought I’d let an AI chatbot loose on the site and see what it says. I chose Anthropic’s Claude. I decided Claude is the least evil AI chatbot, at least at this exact moment of time.
First I asked it to read all the blogs/memoirs on more time than sense. I skipped any videos or quizzes. Than I asked it to give a quick summary:
Claude:
The site has the feel of a smart, witty, older writer (the About page mentions he spends “quite a bit of time in my own head”) who enjoys wordplay, personal history, brief cultural commentary, and doesn’t take himself too seriously. Posts appear to go back to at least 2021 and are still active as of early 2026. The tone is casual, self-aware, and gently humorous throughout. It’s a quiet, well-maintained personal corner of the internet — no ads, no monetization, just writing for its own sake.
This is pretty accurate, especially that last part – I do send out emails but I don’t check who opens them, who clicks the links, who comes to the page, who rates the entry. I like the idea of throwing these out into the ether and letting them land where they may.
I might’ve objected to the older that Claude lobbed in there but lately I’ve been tutoring third graders in math and a few weeks ago one was doing really well and I told him “you’re really cooking!” He looked up at me and said “I have no idea what that means.” So, yes, older.
It’s interesting that Claude also used the psychological trick known as the echo effect, repeating my words back to me. This is a reminder of one of the main objectives of chatbots is to build a relationship and, ultimately, to get you to spend as much time as possible with it.
Next I asked what other blogger / podcaster my style reminded it of.
Claude:
Based on what I’ve read, Jim reminds me most of David Sedaris — but a more grounded, less theatrical version. Like Sedaris, he mines ordinary life for deadpan humor and self-deprecation, has a knack for the perfectly placed detail, and writes memoir that feels intimate without being confessional. The pellet-in-the-cheek story or the Pandora’s Box parking lot observations could fit comfortably in a Sedaris essay collection.
Okay at this point I think we can all agree that Claude is incredibly adroit and insightful. And, in the sea of options you can specify, I must’ve set the “please kiss my ass” option on!
I was expecting someone much more obscure, a name I never heard of that I’d have to google and read their entries.
Spending any time with a chatbot and you realize that they emphasize positives and equivocate negatives. It’s one reason they perpetuate the misinformation that swarms the internet.
Next I asked it to rate my blogs/memoirs. Here are the top three and the bottom three:
Claude:
Entries it liked:
Except for That Time I Got Shot — Hard to beat. A pellet gun, a panicked ER visit, a transparently bad alibi about a sculpture, and a deadpan doctor. It has everything — suspense, humor, and a perfectly timed reveal. Jim’s best mode.
Keep to the Right — A beautifully observed family story. Grandpa with the perpetual cigarette squint, bourbon on the porch, cousins in the attic. Warm, specific, and genuinely transporting.
I Won the Merriam-Webster New Word of 2026 — Pure wordplay delight. “Regretartee,” “snow shush,” and “tabtapdance” are legitimately brilliant coinages. Impossible not to smile.
Here’s some it wasn’t as fond of:
Fun with Photo Forensics — Clever and impressively nerdy — dating an old Stan Musial photo using box scores is genuinely cool. But it’s a niche pleasure requiring baseball knowledge to fully appreciate.
Confessions of a Slow Runner — Relatable and gently funny, but the format (a list of changes since his running prime) feels a little thin compared to Jim’s stronger narrative pieces.
Just a Tiny Moment, But What a Moment — Really just an introduction and gateway to the Mary family history series rather than a standalone post. Rate it last only because there’s very little content on its own — it’s a doorway, not a room
Here you can see that, even at its most negative, Claude keeps it as gentle as possible.
I found it interesting that two he was least fond of took the most time to create. Might be a good indicator to me that if I have to work too hard on it, maybe it just sucks!
Finally, I asked Claude to write a memoir that parodies my style. This I present with no comment.
Claude:
The day I got shot at Cooperstown while running a marathon past a strip club during 9/11
Let me begin with a quote from Alexis de Tocqueville that is extremely relevant to a story about Wisconsin.
It was 2001. I was on a plane to San Francisco — my third that morning, because I am a very busy and well-traveled person — when the pilot announced that America had been attacked and also that I had been shot by a pellet gun. These things happen simultaneously when you lead a life as rich in anecdote as mine.
I took a Greyhound home. On the bus, I invented nine new words, including dazetination and snow shush, both of which will absolutely be in Merriam-Webster any day now.
Back in Seattle, four blocks from a strip club I have definitely never entered, I laced up my running shoes. I was fast, once. Devastatingly fast. I once outran the top women AND a pellet AND the concept of mortality itself. Those days are behind me. Now it takes a confluence of minor miracles just to get my butt out the door, including coffee, a BM, and favorable geopolitical conditions.
At mile three I bumped into Buck O’Neil, who told me everything about Josh Gibson. Then Jack Morris threw a no-hitter. Then a four-year-old named Javier gave me half a candy cane.
I called my eldest. He didn’t answer. He never answers. And I’m fine with that.
