In this Thanksgiving-week episode of aiGED, Ginny Deerin takes listeners on a thoughtful (and humorous) tour of how AI is reshaping everything from holiday cooking to outer-space infrastructure — and how it can make writing a whole lot easier.

We start with a wonderful New York Times piece on Joan Didion’s legendary Thanksgiving dinners and the meticulous planning behind them. Then we take a sharp turn skyward to Google’s ambitious “Project Suncatcher,” an early plan to build AI data centers in space. Yes, space.

The main feature of the episode dives into how AI can help with the writing tasks most of us struggle with: thank-you notes, hard-to-write letters, family stories we’ve never written down, and even toasts and eulogies. Ginny shares practical tips, personal examples, and her own dry humor (with a pun or two).

Plus — two recommendations, including a true story about a wallet, a car dealership, and the reminder that not every unknown number is a scammer.

Show Notes

AI in the News

• Joan Didion’s Thanksgiving: Dinner for 75, Reams of Notes — New York Times article by Patrick Farrell, Nov. 18, 2025.

A look inside the newly opened Didion archive at the New York Public Library, revealing the meticulous planning behind her legendary Thanksgiving gatherings.

• Google’s Project Suncatcher — Google Research report (Nov. 4, 2025) outlining early-stage work on solar-powered satellite clusters designed to run AI computing in space.

aiGED: AI for the 65+ crowd