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Generative AI has been the rage of late, stunning people with content creation. Chat GPT stunned folks when it was released and suddenly started churning out everything from recipes to essays to blog articles (its still human me writing here).

I read an article about AI generating images of people from different states. The program used to generate the images was Midjourney. I have my own Midjourney account and thought it would be interesting to take that same idea and put a spin on it have AI generate photos of preppers in all 50 states.

The results were very telling about AIs assessment of preppers. Apparently, AI thinks we are all white, bearded men who appear to live in poverty and hoard trash. Some of the results are downright entertaining. See the results for yourself below and tell me Im wrong. Alabama

Did this prepper just experience a natural disaster or does his home always look like that? Alaska

Be careful of that fire, bro. Your shack is about to catch on fire! Arizona

Aaaah, sitting down with your bug out bag and staring off into the land of no water and no food. Arkansas

Bud, watch that fire or your shack will burn down. California

Prepper or homeless? AI seems to blur the lines. Colorado

Finally, a prepper who seems to be well-situated. Connecticut

He has food! Delaware

Prepper life = shack life. Florida

Thats a lot to carry on ones back. Georgia

This guy doesnt know fire safety either. His canvas tent home is about to burn down. Hawaii

Fresh fruit and an ocean/mountain view. I might become a Hawaii prepper! Idaho

Im not quite sure whats going on here, but the truck is split in half and theres a fire on one half. Illinois

Illinois preppers represent with gas masks and hazmat suits. Well done! Indiana

This prepper is concerned about his identity so he didnt show up. Iowa

I think this Iowa prepper is now an aspiring prepper after suffering loss. Kansas

What is up with this guys odd rifle behind him!? AI flubbed this one up. Kentucky

More in-the-woods shack life happening in Kentucky. Louisiana

This guy looks ready to disappear into the bayou with wet boots. Maine

I live in Maine, and well, Ive seen this kind of home more than once. Maryland

I hope this is a rundown shed and not his actual home. Massachusetts

This bro looks like hes posing for a picture on Doomsday Preppers. Michigan

Another odd firearm depiction here. Minnesota

This must be a low-cost bug out retreat. Mississippi

More trash hoarding in Mississippi. Missouri

Not sure why he has so much crap on the walls of his tent, but he looks like a friendly guy. Montana

Apparently in Montana you just have to be a cowboy to be a prepper. Nebraska

This bro is ready. Nevada

I love this guys hair! New Hampshire

Finally, a normal looking guy. New Jersey

New Jersey preppers are at least patriotic, even if they just hoard trash in the woods. New Mexico

Nice firearms safety, AI. New York

Looks like a homeless encampment. I guess they got that part of New York right. North Carolina

All smiles form this David Koresh looking guy. Is this the beginning of his post-apocalyptic cult? North Dakota

Im not sure what I like more, the spikes coming out of his tent or the low-rider car parked next to it. Ohio

Plenty of gear here. Oklahoma

He may have made this house entirely from pallets. Oregon

Face = hidden! Pennsylvania

Wall of gear. Rhode Island

Interesting, a fisheye lens take. South Carolina

Odd looking rifle here, but its otherwise consistent with every other image bearded white guy. South Dakota

He just came back from Sturgis. Tennessee

I guess building a fire on your table is an option. Texas

At least Texas preppers will be able to keep the music alive after the apocalypse. Utah

High altitude prepper! Vermont

I think Ive actually seen this guy hiking the Green Mountains. Virginia

Is he on his way to the dump with that trash? Washington

Another secretive prepper who wont show his face. At least the view is pretty. West Virginia

Is that the entrance to a coal mine? Wisconsin

I bet this guy dresses as Santa in December. Wyoming

Wyoming preppers represented by a Dwarvish miner.

Whats your takeaway on these images? Let me know in the comments.

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Sports

Stanton: Could rejoin Yankees when first eligible

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Stanton: Could rejoin Yankees when first eligible

NEW YORK — One day after he took live batting practice, a significant step in his return from the injured list, New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton confirmed Wednesday he could return to the team’s lineup by the end of the month.

Stanton participated in batting practice on the field at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, the first time he has seen live pitching this year after he was shut down with elbow tendinitis in both arms at the beginning of spring training. He saw 10 pitches, hitting a ground ball to shortstop and working a full-count walk in his two plate appearances against right-hander Jake Cousins.

The Yankees moved Stanton from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list last week, pushing his earliest possible return date to May 27. It was a procedural move for New York. The Yankees needed a 40-man roster spot to claim Bryan De La Cruz off waivers, and Stanton was not in line to return before the end of the month.

Stanton, 35, said he expects to go on a rehab assignment. He said he did not have a target date for starting one and didn’t know how long it would last. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Stanton likely won’t need a long rehab assignment because he doesn’t play a position on defense.

“It depends on what kind of arms I get available [for live batting practice sessions],” Stanton said, “and how I feel in those at-bats.”

Stanton, who also took batting practice on the field Wednesday, has taken rounds of injections to address the pain in his elbows and reiterated that he will have to play through pain whenever he returns.

“If I’m out there, I’m good enough to play,” Stanton said, “and there’s no levels of anything else.”

Stanton’s elbow troubles go back to last season; he played through the World Series with the pain, slugging seven home runs in 14 postseason games. But he said he stopped swinging a bat entirely in January because of severe pain in the elbows and didn’t start taking swings again until March. At one point, Stanton said, season-ending surgery was possible, but that was tabled.

“I know when G’s in there, he’s ready to go,” Boone said. “He’s not going to be in there if he doesn’t feel like he can be really productive, so I know when that time comes, when he’s ready to do that, we should be in a good spot.

“And hopefully we’ve done some things, the latter part of the winter and into the spring, that will set him up to be able to physically do it and withstand it. But also understanding he’ll probably deal with some things.”

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Sports

Jays’ Scherzer: Thumb ‘felt good’ vs. live hitters

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Jays' Scherzer: Thumb 'felt good' vs. live hitters

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Max Scherzer took what the Toronto Blue Jays hope is a significant step Wednesday in his return from a right thumb injury when he threw to hitters for the first time since going on the injured list in March.

“I thought his stuff was really good,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said before Wednesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angels. “Afterward, he said he felt good, so that’s a really good step in the right direction.”

Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner who signed a one-year, $15.5 million deal with Toronto in February, threw 20 pitches. Barring a setback, Schneider said he would repeat the workout but with more pitches over the weekend.

“It felt good,” Scherzer, 40, said. “I’ve gotten all the inflammation out, so I can finally grip the ball again and not blow out my shoulder. But I’m not celebrating this until I’m back starting in a major league game.”

Scherzer has received two cortisone injections to relieve inflammation in the thumb this season. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list earlier this week and is not eligible to be activated until May 29.

He went 2-4 with a 3.95 ERA in nine starts for Texas last season, starting the year on the injured list while recovering from lower back surgery. He said Tuesday that his problematic right thumb, which also affected his 2022 and 2023 seasons, was just as big of an issue in 2024.

“This is what knocked me out in 2023, and [I had it] all of last year,” Scherzer said. “It wasn’t so much the back injury, it was this thumb injury giving me all the fits in the world. I thought I addressed it. I thought I had done all the grip-strength work, but I came into spring training, and it popped back out.”

Scherzer left his debut start with the Blue Jays against Baltimore on March 29 after three innings because of soreness in his right lat muscle. He said after the game that his thumb issue was to blame for that soreness.

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Technology

Apple says Epic Games contempt ruling could cost ‘substantial sums’

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Apple says Epic Games contempt ruling could cost 'substantial sums'

An Apple store in Walnut Creek, California, U.S., on April 30, 2025.

Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple is asking a court to pause a recent decision in its case against Epic Games and allow the iPhone maker to once again charge a commission on in-app transactions that link out for payment.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland found that Apple had violated her original court order from the Epic trial, originally decided in 2021, that forced Apple to make limited changes to its linking out policy under California law.

Judge Rogers’ new ruling is more expansive, ordering Apple to immediately stop imposing its commissions on purchases made for iPhone apps through web links inside its apps, among other changes.

Apple is now looking to get a stay on that order, as well as another one from the case that prevents it from restricting app developers from choosing the language or placement of those links, until the entire decision can be appealed. Apple says that required changes in their current form will cost the company “substantial sums.”

“This is the latest chapter in Epic’s largely unsuccessful effort to use competition law to change how Apple runs the App Store,” Apple said in the emergency motion for a stay. The motion cites a previous order in the case that found that new linking policies would cost Apple “hundreds of millions to billions” of dollars annually.

If Apple succeeds, it will allow the company to roll back changes that have already started to shift the economics of app development. Developers including Amazon and Spotify have been able to update their apps to avoid Apple’s commissions and direct customers to their own website for payment.

Prior to the ruling, Amazon’s Kindle app told users they could not purchase a book in the iPhone app. After a recent update, the app now shows an orange “Get Book” button that links to Amazon’s website.

Epic also plans to introduce new software to allow app and game developers to easily link to their websites to take payments.  

“This forces Apple to compete,” Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said shortly after last month’s decision. “This is what we wanted all along.”

Apple said in the filing that “non-party developers are already seizing upon the Order to reduce consumer choice (and damage Apple’s business) by, among other things, impeding the use of” in-app purchases.

Rogers made a criminal referral in the case, saying that Apple misled the court and that a company vice president “outright lied” about when and why Apple decided to charge 27% for external payments. The real decision, the judge said, took place in meetings involving Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Wednesday’s filing from Apple doesn’t address Rogers’ accusations that the company misled the judge, but it does argue that the ruling was punitive. Apple’s lawyers also claimed that civil contempt sanctions can only coerce compliance with an existing order, not punish non-compliance.

Apple said earlier this week in a court filing it would appeal the contempt ruling.

“We’ve complied with the court’s order and we’re going to appeal,” Cook told investors on the company’s quarterly earnings call last week.

WATCH: Apple says it strongly disagrees with Epic Games decision

Apple on Epic Games decision: We strongly disagree and will appeal

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