Eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old, were shot dead in Shreveport, Louisiana, in what police are calling a "domestic disturbance."
cnn.it/42fagKf
@Wenkster2025@ReelLifeJustin Some of us are aware of the background politics at play. I don't appreciate having to pay the price for personal drama I have no part in. We are supposed to be a community, personal issues should be put aside for the good of said community. It's too bad that not all feel the same
@Pookiezilla@ReelLifeJustin Wow Pookie that's harsh! When you put $3 Million of your own hard earned money out there for a stranger to find, I promise to treat you with much more respect.
I had the pleasure of joining the "One Clue Short" YouTube show for an engaging discussion on Beyond the Map's Edge! 🗺️
Check it out and let me know what you think! 👇
youtu.be/JhykFB1c_bw?si…
@ReelLifeJustin Playing with words is a gift you possess, I'll grant you that. You were invited to Con. You said no, then came to Vegas anyway and left a room full of BTME searchers wondering why we weren't good enough for you. Thanks for that. We got the message loud and clear
@Pookiezilla I was in Vegas for the THWU one-year celebration and had a blast! Different event, different invite. I never said I'd be at Treasure Con -- and neither did they. 😉 I'll be at Seekers Summit in March though, and I'd genuinely love to meet you there.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Somewhere right now, someone in this community is explaining to their in-laws why they need to leave dinner early to check a theory about a rock formation. Someone else is pretending to listen to Uncle Gary's political rants while mentally reviewing coordinates. And at least three of you are currently in a gas station bathroom in the middle of nowhere, wondering if this is really how you want to spend your holiday weekend.
It is. Trust me.
I'm grateful you're all as ridiculous as I am. That you've taken this thing and run with it in directions I never imagined -- building theories that require architectural diagrams, turning family hikes into "educational adventures" (your kids will thank you eventually, probably), convincing yourselves that yes, one more trip is definitely the one that cracks it.
You've kept this fair. You've kept it fun when it could’ve turned ugly. You've built something that actually resembles a community instead of a dumpster fire, which in 2025 feels roughly as likely as finding Atlantis in your backyard.
So thanks. For being the kind of people who still think adventure beats the couch. For proving that a bunch of strangers can still do something weird and wonderful together without burning it all down.
Now get back to your turkey. Or your maps. Let's be honest -- probably your maps.
@ReelLifeJustin My husband and I formed an LLC with my brother and his wife. We just bought an RV, because hotel rates in summertime Yellowstone were outrageously painful. We did 5 BOTG trips since July, and more are planned for winter recon. Hubby has lost 20 pounds since March and I've lost 30
@ReelLifeJustin As a Luddite who goes through life with as little tech as possible ( I only created this X account to follow you, I have no other social media), no AI please! Those who want a computer to solve a puzzle for them are forgetting what it means to be human. No screens, more brains!
People keep asking for permission to use AI for the treasure hunt.
Here's what I'm wrestling with: I wrote that clause in the copyright section of my book forbidding AI because I wanted to embrace what it means to be human -- the obsessive intuition that wakes you up at 3 AM convinced you finally understand what everything means. I wanted the finder to earn their certainty, not prompt it into existence.
The paradox: I wrote a puzzle for human minds, and now you're asking if you can bring an intellect that dwarfs our own.
And while I'm mulling this over, the less scrupulous have already decided for me.
Tyler's ready to unleash AVA (I'm not implying he is unscrupulous!). Others are probably six iterations deep. Maybe the playing field was never level to begin with.
So here's my answer, and it's the only honest one I can give right now:
I'm still wrestling with this.
AI can find patterns I never intended. But it can't obsess. It can't feel the weight of being wrong fifteen times and still coming back. It can't earn that moment when everything finally clicks.
If an algorithm solves it, someone else's intelligence found my treasure. Not yours.
And I wonder: when that happens, will you be standing there holding gold, wondering why it feels empty?
I don't have my answer yet. But that's the question keeping me up at night.
We built machines that feed us our own anger, because rage clicks louder than love. The algorithm's greatest trick was convincing us that understanding each other was the enemy of being right. The revolution isn't choosing a side -- it's remembering we were never meant to be sides at all.