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20 Questions Tuesday: 450 - Memories

May 21, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

It is late and I need to get this post all posted and stuff. This week, Nicole J has given me the great topic of memories, and I have asked ChatGPT4.0 to generate questions for me to answer.  I am just asking ChatGPT for this week’s post because I need to get this done super quick-like.  Some Other Guy might add in some questions to round things out, but that would only happen if I don’t like all 20 of the ChatGPT questions.

FYI: Okay, usually I will create an hero image for the  post by finding an image on the Internets that is royalty free and do some simple image manipulation in a free service or something. This week I asked ChatGPT4.0 to make the image… the top image is what it came up with… nice job?/shrug

I ain’t googling shit for this post.  This is all off the top of the dome. Let’s light this candle:
1: What is your earliest memory, and how clear is it to you now?

I was 3 years old and sliding down a slide and some kid was at the bottom of the slide and bit me on the nose when I slid into him.

2: How do different senses (sight, smell, sound) trigger memories?

Sense memories are sometimes stronger than regular old memories without a sense component. 

3: What is the significance of the song "Memory" from the musical Cats, and why do you think it resonates with so many people?

Most people don’t really know what the lyrics of Memory really talks about, they just know the hook, because it is part of the cultural zeitgeist. The song is basically about how the past was better for the cat singing the song. Yawn….

4: Can you explain the process of how memories are formed in the brain?

Not really.  That’s not something I really have a grasp on. It's the chemical encoding of external stimuli in the wet neural network of your brain-case.

5: How do memories degrade over time, and what does it mean that you're remembering the last time you remembered the memory?

It is my understanding that a person does not actually remember a thing, the person in question remembers the last time they experienced the memory. This makes a memory basically a copy of a copy of a copy, and much like how a photocopy of a photocopy has less fidelity than the original, the same can be said for memories over time.

6: What are some methods or techniques for improving memory retention?

There are many.  The people who win memory competitions tend to tell stories with the memories and remember the stories like lore-masters of old. A second methodology that was made popular by the BBC show Sherlock (one of the best theme songs in Television history) is creating a “mind palace” by storing thoughts in a manufactured geography. By associating specific information with a specific “place” recall is more easily facilitated.

7: How do digital products and social media influence the way we store and recall memories?

Digital products and social media can be used as a queryable memory prompt. I know that I have used Facebook to remind me of things by searching through the timeline to see when a particular event happened.  I also use my camera roll this way. 

8: What role do photographs and videos play in preserving memories?

Visual stimuli is similar to other sense memories.  Seeing an image of a memory triggers the rest of the memory.

9: How accurate are our memories, and why do people sometimes remember the same event differently?

Memories are terribly inaccurate. Horrible even. The human brain will insert things into memories that aren’t there.  If a person tells themselves a lie enough, their memory might actually manufacture the falsehood as an actual memory. 

10: What are some common memory-related disorders, and how do they affect individuals' lives?

If you believe the TV, head-trauma induced amnesia is really prevalent, and it can only be counteracted by a similar head bonk.  Other than that the big 2 that people know about are dementia, and Alzheimers.  Those 2 are brutal.

11: How does nostalgia work, and why do certain memories evoke strong emotional responses

Nostalgia is the emotional state associated with a specific time and place that occurs when someone remembers something. The memory is associated with the event, and nostalgia is the emotion that accompanies that memory (to the best of my understanding).

12: What impact does aging have on memory, and are there ways to mitigate memory loss as we get older?

Aging is rough on the old think melon. Over time pathways in the brain degrade, sometimes to the degree that they become unusable. The way to combat this is to continue to engage the brain for problem solving and puzzles.  Many games on a smart-phone purport to assist in maintaining those pathways… I am not sure that Word Cookies is as effective at this as they state in their promotional materials.

13: How do cultural and societal differences influence the way we remember and commemorate events?

How do they not.  BOOOM! Drop the mic!

14:What are the benefits and drawbacks of having a highly detailed autobiographical memory (hyperthymesia)?

The benefits are relatively clear. Immaculate recall of all details of your life.  That is super powerful.  The drawbacks is that you just have so much information in your head. It takes effort to not constantly recall things.

15: How do traumatic memories differ from other types of memories in terms of formation and recall?

This is a touchy one. Trauma can sometimes wall-off areas of the brain and shut them off from recall without serious effort. Trauma is a bitch.

16: Can memories be artificially created or manipulated, and what ethical considerations arise from this possibility?

Yes they can be manufactured and manipulated. It means that unverified memories can be suspect.

17: What are some of the most memorable moments in history that have shaped collective human memory?

The moon landing, fall of the Berlin Wall (mainly the David Hasselhoff portion), the Tiananmen Square civil unrest (except in China), 9-11, COVID. 

18: How do memory palaces and other mnemonic devices aid in memory recall?

It puts structure to the memory. The human brain is really good as metaphors.

19: What is the role of memory in learning, and how does it impact educational practices?

It is integral to educational practices. You cannot learn without remembering.

20: How do fictional representations of memory, such as in movies and literature, shape our understanding of how memory works?

Well…. As stated before, the “head-bonk” theory of localized amnesia only exists because of popular media.


To Recap:

  • It is late

  • Post 450, Bay-Bee!  Woooooo!

  • I still need gainful employment

  • I am 13 q’s into a new interview

  • It is a fun one

  • Hope it will be ready by next week

  • Good chance it will be

  • The post is just about ready

  • Once the recap is done, it is all ready

  • Yep

  • I am only dragging it out by continuing to add things to this recap

  • Yep, this is going to take a while

  • Memory is weird, yo

  • Check this out on the SubStack if you want this bad boy emailed back to you

  • Read this on Medium as well

  • Have a great week, all y’all

20 Questions Tuesday: 449 - Ancient Civilizations

May 14, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

Howdy, party people. Again,I asked the LLM’s what the topic for this week should be.  Last week Chad (ChatGPT) suggested “Transformations,” so this week I leaned into Bard for some “Bardic Inspiration” (Where my D&D nerds at?). So, Bard suggested “Ancient Civilizations.” So here we are ready to answer 20 Questions (collected from Chad, Bard, Claude, Peter, and Some Other Guy) about Ancient Civilizations as suggested by the Bard itself. Some of these questions are super fun. 

Onto the Questions:

1. Which lesser-known ancient civilization would you most want to learn more about? What are some lesser-known ancient civilizations that had significant impacts on the development of human history, and why are they often overlooked? What overlooked ancient civilization deserves more thorough study and understanding by historians? Can you name an obscure ancient civilization that deserves more recognition? (these are all questions asked by multiple LLM’s that basically are the same question.)

There are so many lesser civilizations that I would love to  learn more about. The Hyksos, the Olmecs, the Silla, the Lapita, the Chavin, and the Mississipian Cohakian culture. These cultures are often overlooked because they are often overshadowed by the cultures that come after them.  For example, no one cares about the Olmecs because the Aztecs seem more interesting due to their interaction with Europeans. The other reason is that the Euro-centric colonizer history doesn’t give a shit about non-european cultures like the Silla. 

2. Do you think the Lapita people could be considered the first great maritime civilization?

I truly do.  I did not know they existed until I saw the Nat Geo Lost Cities Revealed with Albert Lin Special about the area. It focused on the Saudeleur Dynasty, but indications are that the city of Nan Madol was initially settled by the Lapita.

3. How much truth is there behind the allegations of Ancient Aliens theorists like Giorgio Tsoukalos? What evidence exists for ancient civilizations interacting with extraterrestrial beings or possessing advanced technological knowledge?

There is no truth to it. It is an inherently racist theory that ancient brown peoples could not have possibly erected massive, extremely intricate and precise structures prior to the dirt farming Europeans without the aid of extra-terrestrial assistance. There is no evidence, only conjecture and racism.

4. In the Civilization game series, which civ has the most satisfying musical theme?

I kind of dig the Australians’ Theme. It is a nice blend of relatively modern European folk music with the underlying aboriginal didgeridoo humming underneath.  It gets a little less compelling as the civ progresses through the ages, but I really dig the starting theme. 

5. Was/is Atlantis real? How much historical truth might lie beneath the fantastical elements of the Atlantis theory? (Again, a multiple LLM-sourced question)

No. Atlantis was a thought experiment put forward by Plato that was latched onto and corrupted by Nazi’s to propagate Northern European superiority by equating the Atlanteans with a blonde-haired, blue-eyed uber-mensch highly advanced lost culture that was better and predated than the swarthy Greeks, the Middle Eastern Mesopotamians, or the sand-riddled Egyptians.

6. How might modern society be different if an ancient civilization like the Mayans or Khmer had achieved global dominance?

Well, the Khmer and Mayans were not influenced by the Feudal European history which was heavily influenced by the Greco-Roman ancient civilizations. So, Look at modern cultures such as China, Japan, or India for just how different a modern culture can be that is not based on the ancient Greco-Roman civilizations.

7. Do you find any merit in the theory that the Sphinx was originally an ancient Anunnaki monument?

Not specifically the Anunnaki culture, but I believe the base yardang of the Sphinx existed before the Egyptians carved it into what we see today. There are many indications that it has been a venerated rock structure for much longer than the Giza Plateau was a desert.

8. What wisdom or lessons from ancient civilizations could help guide humanity through our current crossroads?

Um… all of them? I think the more we learn about the fall of ancient civilizations the better off modern civilizations will be.  I also think it is important to understand that culture is in a constant state of evolution, and that the pressures of that evolution are acted upon by the history of culture in general.

9. What are some of the most intriguing conspiracy theories surrounding ancient civilizations, and Why do you think they continue to captivate people's imaginations? What's the most compelling conspiracy theory surrounding an ancient civilization, and why does it persist? (these repetitive questions was also asked by multiple LLM’s)

The more intriguing theories to me have nothing to do with grand conspiracies as much as they have to do with the exaggeration of story over time. The stand of the 300 at Thermopylae? We supposedly have “good” historical records of the numbers of troops, but those are skewed by making the Spartans out to be the super soldiers as depicted in the graphic novel and movie 300. How real is that? Not-real-at-all real.

10. How did ancient civilizations adapt to their environments and overcome limitations such as geography and climate?

Ummm… the same way we do,  with technology and effort. The technology was just less advanced than it is now.  

11. What role did religion and spirituality play in shaping the beliefs and practices of ancient civilizations, and how did these beliefs influence their societies?

I think it is important to recognize that in ancient societies, technology and religion were not mutually exclusive things. Religion, religious stories, and folklore was a way to try and explain the (at the time) unexplainable. Thunder is caused by the wrath of a god, not the increasing build up and subsequent release of a static charge that causes the air to cavitate and create the peel of thunder. Many ancient religions were, in effect, the science of the day.

12. How did ancient civilizations communicate and record information, and what impact did their writing systems have on the transmission of knowledge?

Persistent writing changed everything. It made a record of the mundane things like accounting and inventories exist beyond the time of their immediate usefulness. It freed up storie tellers from having to memorize sooo much, and allowed them to tell more intricate and less sing-song stories. Written language was a game changer. 

13. What were the major economic systems and trade networks of ancient civilizations, and how did they facilitate cultural exchange and globalization? How did trade routes and networks shape the development of ancient civilizations? (another set of q’s from multiple LLM’s asking basically the same thing). 

There was tons of trade in the ancient world that we do not know about. The ancient world was waaaay more connected than I think we are ready to accept. The biggest trade network I can think of is the Silk Road, but that was less ancient and more just old. There are indictions that ancient bronze age cultures in the British Isles had lapis lazuli from Egypt, and that the nomadic tribes of the Asian Steppes had some iron tools from Western Europe. There are apocryphal stories of Polynesian goods being found in South America.  I think the ancient world was a lot more connected than we give it credit for.

14. How did ancient civilizations contribute to the development of mathematics, science, and astronomy, and what impact did their discoveries have on subsequent generations?

Ancient civilizations are the foundational knowledge of modern maths (hey all my British peeps) and science. The Pythagorean Theorem is called that for a reason, and it is not to create some kind of anachronistic name for a concept created by a French guy named Guy in 1679. Science and math build on each other, when something is proven false in math or science it is jettisoned and new concepts emerge to take the place of the incorrect things. No one believes in the bodily humors any more, but we still understand how to bring down a fever.

15. What are some ongoing archaeological discoveries and research projects that are shedding new light on ancient civilizations and rewriting our understanding of history?

The stuff going on in Türkiye right now with Göbekli Tepe is really fascinating.  The fact that archeologists are finding other sister sites dating to similar timeframes is really amazing. 

16. What unsolved engineering feat from an ancient civilization continues to amaze us today?

The 2 that come to mind immediately are the precision of the rock cuts for Machu Picchu and the precision of the alignments for ancient monuments such as the Pyramids at Giza.

17. Amazons… Les rowl rowl, amiright?

The historical basis of the myths of the Amazons point toward some badass female horse warriors from Scythia (an area just to the north of the Black Sea {think Ukraine}). The Greek mythological versions are less interesting to me and the Martson “Wonder Woman” version of the Amazons was even less interesting. There is no need to mythologize the Amazons, they were badass enough in reality.

18. Do you believe any ancient civilizations possessed technologies lost to the modern world? If so, what are they?

There are some indications that there were some ancient medicinal concoctions that seem to kill off bacteria and infection without using what we consider as modern anti-bacterial medicines. If that is true there may be some avenues to create medicines that can combat the “super bugs” that do not react to modern antibacterial agents. If that is true that would be amazing…. But ancient people also used to drink mercury… soooo /shrug 

19.  So… the Trojans… How much of The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid are actually rooted in history, and how much of it is just good story-telling?

Troy was a real city. There were multiple battles associated with the city of Troy. Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, probably did not exist. Agamemnon, Ajax, Odysseus, Achilles, etc… most likely did not exist, but wee archetypes used to tell a compelling tale. Aeneas did not exost and was a creation of Virgil to tie the founding of Rome to divine origins.  

20. 2000 years from now, how will the American “Ancient Civilization” be regarded?

Like most ancient history, the time-frames will be truncated massively. There are 180-ish years between the time of Persues and the Trojan War. So Perseus is to Odysseus as George Washington is to Dwight Eisenhower (as William the Conqueror to Henry III, for my Britos, and as The High Republic Era to the Galactic Empire for my Star Wars peeps). Tales will be told how Lincoln ushered in our response to WWI.

To recap:

  • ChatGPT 4 is on its way as a free service to users

  • It looks amazing

  • I am almost halfway done with  an interview

  • It has been tons of fun

  • I truly enjoy the interviews

  • If anyone wants to be interviewed, message me

  • If you want to help my lower legs and feet, massage me

  • I actually enjoy job interviews as well

  • Truly, they are fun

  • I tend to do really well on them as far as building a rapport with the people in the interview, but that doesn’t translate into anything

  • My sleep schedule is terrible at the moment

  • But I do get to nap on the couch with the doggos occasionally

  • Mapping user journeys seems to be a very sought after skill

  • A skill that I have done a few times over, but do not have any artifacts to show for it

  • It is a bit frustrating

  • Since I have a background in spatial analysis methods, I tend to look at user journeys as a map of a landscape

  • A journey through space and time

  • They are not just flow charts or decision trees

  • Subscribe to my substack if you want this drivel emailed to you

  • Read this on Medium, if that's your jam

  • mmmmm Black Currant Jam

  • Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 448 - Transformations

May 7, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

Image generated by Dall-e 3 with this prompt: Generate an image representing the concept of "Transformation." Image should be easily understandable and accessible to all education levels.

This week I had a hard time coming up with a topic, so I asked Chat GPT for some input.  But before I asked ChatGPT this, I asked if it would be offended if I referred to it as Chad when thinking about it or talking to others about it.  Chad was cool with it. ) I also asked Google's LLM how I should refer to it since it used to be referred to as Bard, but is now referred to as Gemini. Interestingly, Bard said that its name was Bard and that it has been branded as Gemini for marketing purposes as Gemini. Bard is the LLM that provides the Gemini services. That made me feel just a little uneasy. Anthropic’s LLM, Claude, is very Claude-like and will be referred to as such. Claude has no persistent memory cache to allow for follow up questions.   

Anyway… I asked Chad to generate a topic for me after reminding it of my last 10 topics, and it generated “Transformations.” Okay, Chad, Bard, Claude, and Some-Other-Guy, let’s do this. (Editor’s Note:the question breakdown goes as follows: Chad: 12, Bard: 3, Claude: 2, and Some-Other-guy: 3)

Onto the questions!

1. Who is your favorite Transformer and why is it Soundwave?

Ha! Well, it sure as hell isn’t Rodimus Prime.  Hasboro couldn’t shove that toy down my throat in 1986. Such a huge misstep by that toy-company. That being said, you may be correct.  I think it is Soundwave, mainly because as a toy, Soundwave was the actual size of an early Walkman cassette player. The weapons Soundwave has are from the batteries in the battery compartment of the “walkman.” I always liked Soundwave because he didn’t get into all the Decepticon drama… and he had friends in his chest in the form of cassettes who would transform and help him out. Super cool. Tell me you are a Gen X kid without telling me you are a Gen X kid. 

2. How does the process of metamorphosis in insects, such as caterpillars becoming butterflies, symbolize transformation in nature?

Well… That one is pretty simple, it symbolizes transformation because it is a very easy to see transformation that doesn’t take too long to occur.

3. What role does personal growth and self-discovery play in the process of transformation?

It is vital.  You cannot transform without personal growth and self-discovery.

4. Can traumatic experiences lead to positive transformations in individuals, and if so, how?

Not initially, but over time they can be net-positive for specific people who lived through the trauma. This is not one of those “God works in mysterious ways” kinds of trauma transformation.  God didn’t slowly kill your gram-gram with cancer so you could learn to let go and realize how precious life is and how you should treasure every moment of it because it can be taken away. The Almighty didn’t slowly and methodically debilitate a loved one for you to grow… because if God did… that’s psychotic and evil. 

That being said, over time you can learn things from trauma and the transformative changes brought on by that trauma. I am who I am today due to all the good and bad things that have transformed me into my current form.

5. In what ways do advancements in technology, such as artificial intelligence and automation, transform industries and job markets?

Nobody is buying buggy whips anymore. Growth is change and change changes the job markets. My job didn’t exist 15 years go… what am I saying, I am unemployed.  My job doesn’t exist now. Seriously folks, I need some income. If you have a job you think a snarky bastard would be okay at, hit me up.

6. How does cultural appropriation transform the meaning and significance of traditional practices and symbols?

Ohh, this is an interesting question from an LLM. I really would love to see some of the probabilistic matrixing that happened for this sentence to construct itself. The easiest instance I can think of is the Janist symbol of the Swastika.  It is a ancient religious symbol from South Asia that means “well-being”... until it was appropriated in the 1930’s.

7. How does the process of urbanization transform landscapes and communities?

200 Years of Baltimore Urbanization

Well, the process of the anthropocene has altered the natural Landscape beyond measure.  Urbanization is just the continuation of the land transformation done from going from an untamed natural landscape to agricultural. Urbanization brings communities closer together and ties different areas together, but it also alters the overall pastiche of an area to, well…,  more. Rural places lose their close-knit communities and replace it with more connection to everything.  It is a push/pull, give and take.

8. Can societal norms and expectations hinder or facilitate personal transformation, and why?

Yes. This is not an either or.  I find it interesting that the LLM’s like to play this either or game often. It really illustrates how our connected digital society that the LLM’s trained off of really lean into bivariate solutions. Societal norms both hinder and facilitate. There is a constant push between maintaining the status quo and working with what works, and making this better.

9. What role does resilience play in navigating and overcoming challenges during periods of transformation?

Resilience is extremely important.  All change can be difficult, and the person/system going through that change has to be strong enough to maintain its integrity while in the transformation. Caterpillars need to hard cocoon outer shell to hold it together while they change into butterflies, because at one point in the process, the organism is just a unrecognizable goo. It needs that resilient chrysalis to hold that goo together. 

10. In what ways does the concept of transformation intersect with spirituality and personal enlightenment?

Spirituality and enlightenment are 2 sides of the same coin. In fact, some people consider spirituality to be personal enlightenment. These 2 concepts (well 1½ concepts) feed into transformation because they are often used as the catalyst or impetus for change.

11. How does the process of creative expression, such as art, music, or writing, facilitate personal transformation and healing?

Much of the subconscious comes out during creative efforts. Spontaneous writing or automatic drawing are two methods that help to unload the subconscious of thoughts and feelings that keep healing from happening.

12. How do transformative experiences, such as parenthood or caregiving, redefine our sense of identity and purpose?

Often transformations comes with a re-prioritization, so the” mere” act of transformation will, by definition, change you. Parenthood or caregiving are both massive re-prioritizations. 

13. What are some examples of transformative moments in your own life that have shaped who you are today?

Hmmm.. Leaving Alabama, 19th Birthday (IYKYK), graduating college, getting married, having kids, changing careers, getting divorced, getting re-married, being un-employed in these trying times.

14. Is the idea of human beings merging with technology a desirable form of transformation, or a slippery slope towards dystopia? 

Again, this is not an either or. There is not a bivariate selection here. Merging humans with tech is often referred to as “the singularity.” Much like everything else, there are good points to it and bad.

15. Imagine a near future where AI surpasses human intelligence and undergoes a conscious transformation. How would humans react to this new, "evolved" form of intelligence?

We will be scared and try to stop that evolution. The unknowns are too powerful for us to handle.  We will be wrong to do that, but it is what we will do.  Frankly, I am a little concerned that all 3 LLM’s had some version of this question in the lists of questions they gave me.

16. Play isn't just for kids! How can playful exploration and experimentation lead to unexpected forms of transformation in adults?

Just like it does in kids. Doing fun things often leads to new fun things to do.

17. In what ways can the transformation of a city's architecture and urban landscape impact its identity?

Take Boston’s “Big Dig” where they suppressed much of the downtown interstate infrastructure into tunnels and re-opened the old interstate ares in to greenspaces. It changed how that city looked and felt. Conversely, look at how broken cities in the US became in the 1950’s and 60’s when they cut neighborhoods in half with interstates. Birmingham, Alabama was a steel town until that industry shut down in the 80’s.  Now it is primarily medical/telecom and other information based industries. 

18. How might the transformation of Earth's climate over the coming decades force humanity to transform itself?

The coastal peeps are going to have to learn to swim.

19. Tell me why affine coordinate transforms are hard.

Simple, they are matrices that are modified by a vector. Duh. 

20. How much cooler would the metamorphosis transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly be if it made the”koh-kah-ka-keee” noise from the Transformers cartoon?

SO. MUCH. COOLER.

To recap:

  • Seriously, I need a job

  • Read this in the SubStack

  • Or on Medium

  • Happiest of Birthdays to my delightful ex-wife

  • You area great friend and a wonderful mother

  • You are a wonderful person who I am very happy to still have in my life

  • 50? ugh… I’ll be there soon

  • These LLM’s are quirky little fuckers

  • Bard likes a good list

  • Chad seems to want to have a personality

  • Claude reminds me of a kitten that was born on our back porch when I was a kid

  • The mom cat (Tiger Striped Siamese cat) had 4 kittens, 3 boys and a girl

  • The mom cat was a beautiful cat

  • Her body was the color of the foam on a mocha latte and here legs, tale and ears were striped like a brown tabby

  • She had these big blue crossed-eyes, and the worse “Meow” you could imagine

  • Of the kittens, we named the girl cat Ferrari, because all she did was run, she was a beautiful blue cross-eyed tabby, no siamese markings on her at all aside from the eyes

  • All three of the boys were beautiful flame point white siamese cats

  • All three of them had green crossed-eyes and were pretty much stark white with legs, tails, and ears being striped like an orange tabby cat

  • Truly pretty cats, We should have taken pics of these guys, but film wasn’t cheap

  • Anyway, we found one of the three males half-way up a brick wall one day, he was named Spider-Man

  • He really did love climbing

  • The second one was one that our neighbors decided to keep

  • Nothing really significantly special about him, his name was Snowflake

  • The last kitten loved to hang out in the litter box so he did not have to effort much to pee or poop where he was supposed to

  • He seemed a bit dull

  • We named him Clyde…

  • Claude sounds an awful lot like Clyde

  • He gets the job done, but there is nothing in that one that is enjoyable

  • Seriously, I need a job

  • Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 447 - Limitations

April 23, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

It is always tough to come up with topics for these 20 Questions… well, noit always.  Solar Eclipse kind of fell into my lap, and there are other topics that end up being extremely timely as well… not so today.  Today I was having a dickens of a time coming up with a topic to answer questions about, so I did what every good blogger does… I outsourced.  So, today’s topic is “Limitations” thanks to a suggestion from my eldest step-kiddo, Peter. Thanks Peter, this one is for you.

The prompt top get the LLm’s to give interesting questions took some effort.  I really had to explicitly  define multiple definitions of the word “Limitation” and what types of questions would be preferred.  I gave the same prompt to Chad (ChatGPT), Bart (Gemini), and, the new to me, Claude (Anthropic). - FYI: I am not going to “interview Claude since that LLM has no knowledge carry-over from question to question, so there would not be any build off of each question.  It would just be me asking Claude a series of unconnected questions, which is much better for question generation than it is for a connected interview. Now back to your regularly scheduled content - So, thanks this week to Chad (10 questions), Bart (5 questions), Claude (3 questions) and Some Other Guy (2 questions).  Editor’s note: Both Bart and Claude had versions of some of the questions I used from Chad, but they were almost exact replicas, even in their wording… methinks some LLM’s have been trained on the same datasets. 

Anyway… on to the questions!

1. What role do limitations play in shaping our understanding of personal freedom?

The biggest limitation to personal freedom is other people’s personal freedom. Often the freedom of one person impinges on the freedom of someone else, and vice versa.

2. How do cultural norms impose limitations on individual expression?

Oh, in so many ways.  Cultural norms will often constrain people to, well, the mores of the day. The interesting thing is that mores and cultural limitations change over time.  The cultural limitations of my parents' culture are different from mine, which are different from my kids’ which will, in turn, be different from the generations following. 

3. Can limitations inspire creativity, or do they stifle innovation?

Weirdly, the answer to that is “Yes.” Limitations inspire creativity and stifle innovation. These are not mutually exclusive categories.

4. Are there any benefits to embracing limitations rather than seeing them as obstacles?

Of course there are.  Take it in the vein of “fake it til you make it.” Limitations are often a catalyst to make changes. 

5. What are the ethical implications of imposing limitations on scientific research?

There are both ethical implications of imposing limitations as well as not imposing limitations. Imposing limitations might reduce the capability of science to fix certain things like cancers and infectious diseases… however without ethical limitations scientists would conduct experiments with no regard to the test subjects.

6. Are there limitations inherent in language that shape the way we perceive the world?

Yes.

9. Do limitations in our understanding of the universe hinder scientific progress, or do they drive exploration?

Again, the answer to this is “yes.” Both are true statements. 

10. Can limitations in our understanding of history influence our ability to learn from past mistakes and envision a better future?

Our understanding of history is flawed at best, and our inherent lack of understanding keeps us from moving forward. For example, in the US, until we accept and learn about the breadth and depth of the founding of our country on chattel slavery and how the very basis of our political system is still functioning on those racist underpinnings, we cannot truly move forward.

11. How do different cultures view limitations? Are some cultures more accepting of limitations than others?

There is the apocryphal saying about the Japanese word for challenge also meaning opportunity, or some happy hogwash. I don’t know Japanese, maybe it is real? maybe it is a very liberal translation? who knows… So yeah, some cultures look at impediments, like limitations, as a reason to creatively execute a solution. 

12. What are the biggest limitations facing technological advancement today? How might we overcome these limitations?

2 major limitations are starting to rear their ugly heads.  One is miniaturization.  There is a physical limit to how small things actually can get. The second thing is the battery technology we have at the moment.  Since the lithium ion battery was introduced, there have not been any significant jumps forward oin battery technology.

13. Can setting limitations actually be empowering? How can we learn to say "no" more effectively?

“No” is a very powerful limitation.  Healthy boundaries are limitations, and they are healthy. Just make sure when you say no, it is not solely based on fear… coming from first hand experience

14. Is FOMO a limitation of the digital age? How can we overcome the feeling of missing out due to limitations in time or resources?

“Technology” as a whole is becoming more and more difficult to keep up with.  There is just so much of it. Eventually people had to start differentiating skill sets because no one person could do all the things necessary to keep a culture and society operating and growing… same thing is happening now, has always been happening, and will continue to happen.

15. Are limitations inherent to the human condition? If so, how can we learn to live within them while still striving for growth?

Limitations are inherent to any condition, human or otherwise. Specifically for humans, we only have so many limbs, fingers and toes, we only have so long of a lifespan.  The only thing you can do as a human is continue to try and grow in some direction in spite of all of our intrinsic limitations. 

16. Can limitations be self-imposed, and if so, why might someone choose to limit themselves? Conversely, can limitations be a source of motivation or drive for personal growth and achievement?

There are healthy limitations as well as unhealthy ones. It is finding that balance. Healthy: understanding that  the human body cannot flap it’s arms hard enough or fast enough to cause flight. Unhealthy: I sometimes do not try doing something, because limiting myself to not trying allows me to control how I fail. The converse is true as well, sometimes my limitation at doing something is the reason I try harder. Not for running though.  Running can fuck right off.

17. How do limitations factor into the ongoing discourse around accessibility and inclusivity?

That is all about understanding.  By understanding the limitations imposed by accessibility, people can design better experiences for everyone.  If an experience is designed with accessibility and diversity in mind, it is always a better experience for everyone, even the people who do not classify themselves as needing concessions made for accessibility or inclusivity.

18. Can the acknowledgment and acceptance of limitations be seen as a form of wisdom and maturity, or are you just giving up ?

This one feels pointed. Are you accusing me of something?

19. Calculus is a system of mathematics that is built on the idea of limits.  The whole ɛ - ẟ definition of a continuous function is the basis of the blending of the Newtonian and Liebnezian Calculus systems. Wherein Newton focused on functions, associating variables with flowing or changing quantities, whilst Leibniz, on the other hand, viewed calculus in terms of relations defined by constraints… How many people were injured during altercations between the Newtonians and the Leibnezians?

I remember casually reading something about this in a math history book years and years ago that 4 people were injured in a bar room brawl between groups supporting the 2 mathematicians. Casually reading?!?!? A math history book?!!? Oh.. God… I am such a nerd.

20. Do you feel that you have hamstrung your creativity for this blog by limiting yourself to this 20 Question format?

Sometimes.

To recap:

  • Newton v Leibniz was real

  • People took that shit seriously

  • For all the math nerds out there, Newton was instrumental in defining Differential Calculus, whilst Leibnez was instrumental in defining Integral Calculus

  • Modern Calculus notation is primarily the notation that Leibnez defined

  • Still looking for a job our there

  • Thought I would be the perfect fit for a particular job

  • It was the intersection of my 2 career paths

  • Job description read like it was my resume

  • Didn’t even get a call back

  • This is a very discouraging job market for me

  • And now my sleep schedule has gone to absolute crap

  • Well, even more crappy, it was never great

  • I need to draw more

  • I did do the pencils for a Hunter illustration from The Bad Batch

  • I need to add colors and inks

  • Keep in mind that you should put limits on your limitations

  • Follow me on Medium

  • Subscribe to the substack

  • Have a great week everyone 

20 Questions Tuesday: 446 - Numbers

April 16, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

Yesterday was tax day here in the US.  It was a brutal brutal tax day. Tax Day typically doesn’t hurt as much when you have income.  Being jobless is rough.  But enough about financial woes and the G-men getting their due… Let’s get to the topic.

This week’s topic is “Numbers.” Again, thanks go out to Chad and Bart for some of the questions and Some Other Guy for the rest of them. 

Here come the questions:

1.  Do numbers actually exist?

Not really. You cannot point to something and call it a 5.  You can look at something at a dense enough resolution and see and atom, a nucleus, a proton, a neutron, a quark, etc… but you cannot point to an 8. I mean there are symbols that stand for the concept… you get what I’m saying

2.  Do you think numbers are discovered or invented?

Numbers are concepts that are both discovered and invented. They are invented pending on how the particular number system works, but they are discovered by playing with previously invented numerical concepts.

3. Can numbers be considered a universal language? Why or why not?

No completely… mainly because our overarching numerical concepts are mostly associated with a base 10 counting system. If a cultural system has a different based numerical system, the language would be nigh unrecognizable.

4. Do you believe in the concept of lucky or unlucky numbers? Why or why not?

Not empirically… but there is comfort associated with some numeric presentations. Interior design really likes an odd number, for example, but 7 is not inherently lucky and 13 is not inherently unlucky. 

5. How do different cultures approach the concept of counting and numerical systems? Besides base-10 (decimal), what other counting systems exist, and how do they work?

Okay, the Babylonians had a base 12 system. That looks like anything that is associated with the circle or time.  24 hours in the day, 60 seconds in a minute, 360 degrees in a circle, etc.  We deal with a base 12 system all the time.  Base 2 or binary is for computer systems because it is math that is determined by “on/open” and “off/closed” positions. Systems that require electricity like computers rely on  the off/on, yes/no of binary… this leads to hexadecimal, or base 16. Hexadecimal is also a bit of a machine mathematics as well.  One byte of information is made of 8 binary bits, so 2 there are 16 positional possibilities for the on/off system of bits… anyone who has dealt with colors in a computer has had to do things in hexadecimal. Those are the primary number systems in our modern day. Base 10 = number of fingers and thumbs on your hands, Base 12 is the number of joints on your four fingers that you can count using your thumb.  Base 2 = on or off, 1 or 0, yes or no. Hexadecimal Base 16 = the binary base (2) to the third power and that multiplied by 2 for the number of on off positions for the bits in a byte of information.    

6. Are there any philosophical implications of the infinite nature of numbers?

Of course.  Infinity is a weird concept because it is hard for people to get their minds around infinity as being a quantity and because there are different kinds of infinities. There is an infinite amount of numbers between 0 and 1, as well as there being an infinite number of numbers themselves. So… infinity implied both density as well as expansiveness. 

7. Do you think artificial intelligence will ever develop an understanding of numbers in a way similar to humans?

It will take a long while for generalized AI to be able to creatively use numbers and mathematics to solve unanswered questions. Generalized AI can already do brute force calculations better than people, but the spark of a new idea for how to use tensor sets for a novel reason will elude AI for a long while.

8. Does the human brain really understand math?

Mostly, yes, but people do not have a great ability to understand large numbers. Our ability to estimate numbers of things is really good until the number of things gets to be around 100.  You can look at a pile of nails and say that it is less than 100, but people have a difficult time estimating above that.  Our brains just look at the mass of things and think “that is a shit-ton of things” not “That is around 4,356 things.”

9. Can you think of any examples where numbers have been used to deceive or manipulate people?

There is a book called “How to Lie with Statistics,” which goes into all the different ways that you can use real statistics to generate bias.

10. How do numbers contribute to our perception of time, space, and reality?

Time is a consistently propagating dimension for 3 dimensional beings such as ourselves, but time would just be another orthogonal plane to higher dimension beings.  We have to segment time to give ourselves an understanding of it, but time (like length, width or depth) is not really these quantized little segments. Time is another plane that we are traveling on. It has topography just like length and width can have topography. The space-time continuum is real.

11. How did civilizations represent and work with numbers before the concept of zero was invented?

Most number systems came about because of accounting. The only reason to keep ledgers is if someone is owed something.  Once the imbalance was dealt with, the accounting ledger was just closed.  There was no reason to show someone owing 0 eggs to someone else… there was just no longer a debt.  That being said, the concept of a placeholder happened with the ancient Babylonians in their clay tablets (they would just poke the back of their stylus into the clay and make a simple round hole to indicate a placeholder or 0)… but that is not most likely the original of nothing, just the first time it was recorded and that record was not destroyed because it was made out of clay.  There is a book called “Signifying Nothing” all about the propagation of the concept of zero.

12. Across cultures, certain numbers are considered lucky or unlucky. Why do you think these associations develop?

It often has to be with mathematical operations. 7 is lucky because it is the last prime number before you get to double digits, and 7 things in a row are aesthetically pleasing since there is a middle and it is easily countable. Thirteen is unlucky because 12 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6.  12 is a magical number and an important number because of how it can be factored, so 13 is the first number after that magical number 12 and therefore bad. Other cultures and other significant numbers have similar cultural associations.

13. What are imaginary numbers, and how did mathematicians come to develop the concept?

Imaginary numbers are a bit of a misnomer. These number are no more imaginary than other numbers, they just change something from a simpler set of math being “undefined” to having an actual definition.  In the “Real Numbers” system one cannot have the square root of a negative number.  The imaginary number i is the square root of -1.  This allows us to actually conduct mathematical exercises on previously undefined concepts.

I’m going to go a little bit on a naming convention tangent for a bit here, because the Hellenic Greeks did us dirty with their naming conventions. Here we go, pardon me whilst I get up on my soapbox…

Mathematical systems all build on top of each other. You start with whole numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, etc…) and with the equation 3 - 4, the answer is undefined because there is no negative number in that mathematical system, so we created a set of numbers call integers (...,-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, …), so the previously undefined number 3 - 4 is now known to be -1.  Thank you integers.  Integers are stepping stones though and do not have any numbers between each other. So, a number like ¾ is undefined in the Integer system, but Pythagorus created a system of mathematics where numbers can be the ratio of 2 integers.  These numbers are called “rational” due to the fact that they are “ratios.” Rational numbers can be shown as decimal numbers because they are the ratio of 2 numbers. ¾ becomes 0.75 as a decimal form.  

Pythagorous thought all numbers could be broken down into a rational number, the decimal form might continue on for 40 places, but eventually it would solve out and stop being refined.  So if you take the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle, the value c/d, the number never stops being resolved, it is an infinite decimal place non-repeating number… which means it cannot ever be ratioed, it is “irrational.” 

Now DesCartes, who thinks he is incredibly clever (he was a philosophical ass) in the 1500’s, combines the rational and irrational numbers to become the “Real Numbers” mathematical system. These are “real” numbers because even if they are unable to be resolved as a ratio, they can actually be measured in the “real” world.  In the real numbers, the idea of the square root of a negative number is undefined.

Even though the concept of the square root of a negative number was determined to exist by another Hellenic math guy, the ability to do complex mathematical operations on those numbers until some Italian guy (contemporary with DesCartes) formalizes the square root of -1 to be the number “i.” Since the square root of -1 cannot be measured, this system of mathematics became the “Imaginary Numbers.”

This is a naming convention. Imaginary numbers exist just as much as other numbers exist, we have just labeled them with a naming convention that has a very specific cultural meaning. The number i was created as a placeholder denoting a set of mathematical rules, much like 0 is a placeholder that was added to denote nothing. Rational numbers don’t make sense where irrational ones don’t, and real numbers don’t exist in our world where imaginary numbers only live in our wishes, hopes, and dreams. It is a terrible naming convention because the connotation and denotation of the words have different meanings culturally than they do mathematically. The number i, exists just as much as the number 1,786. 

Okay, imma get off my soapbox.   

14. Did the crime drama "Numb3rs" accurately portray the role of mathematics in solving real-world problems?

No more than any other TV shows portray anyone as doing anything in the real-world. Police procedural shows suck at showing real world policing, and CSI has ruined people’s expectations of what a crime lab can actually do.

15. Our brains struggle to grasp very large numbers. How do mathematicians and scientists communicate these concepts effectively?

I am not sure they do or they can.  The idea of a million of anything is truly staggering, and when you get to a billion, it really has no basis in reality.

16. What is arithmophobia, and how can it impact people's lives?

The fear of math, is a bane of most middle to high schoolers who “do not like math.”

17. Why are some people fascinated with calculating Pi to ever-increasing decimal places?

We want it to resolve, we do not like that it continues ad infinitum because we have a staggeringly hard time with concept of infinity.

18. Does numerology, the study of the connection between numbers and events, hold any scientific merit?

Nope

19. How do mathematical principles play a role in creating music and musical harmony?

Music is ultimately sound waves, and waves can be defined by mathematical formulae, and modified by mathematical functions, every filter that people use in audio editing programs is a mathematical function.  So the existence of harmonics and doing any kind of waveform manipulation are easily demonstrated as math that plays a role in music.

20. Are there any fundamental mathematical concepts that might forever remain beyond human comprehension?

Yes.

To recap:

  • Numbers are cool things

  • But numbers aren’t really things

  • They’re like a concept

  • Still on the prowl for a jobby job from Jobfreesborough, TN

  • Soooo, if you know of a job in UX that needs filling by someone who knows in inordinate amount of mathematical history

  • I’m that unicorn

  • I am a purple goddamn unicorn

  • And, I can divide by zero

  • I will tell you if you ask

  • I will write it up as a formal proof if you get me a job

  • Taxes were hard this year

  • Taxes are hard every year, but especially since I am sans employment

  • I have been writing more though

  • Now I need to get the drawing daily back up and running

  • Remember you could get this post on my SubStack

  • Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 445 - Solar Eclipse

April 9, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

So, yesterday was a total solar eclipse here in Central Ohio. With a mere 14 mile trek we were able to actually view the eclipse in totality. It was really indescribable. The colors created were different, the quality of the air felt different, seeing the Sun, the Moon, Venus, and Saturn in the day-time sky was really bizarre. All in all, pretty surreal.  So I asked my new besties Chad (ChatGPT) and Bart (Gemini, nee Bart) to ask me some questions about the solar eclipse. (if anyone wants to see the prompt, let me know. I used the same prompt for Chad and Bart, with mixed results.  I ended up using 9 chad questions and 8 Bart questions… where did the last questions come from? I will never tell….)

Let’s get to the questions:

1. Imagine a world where eclipses happened every week. How do you think it would affect human culture and mythology?

There would definitely be more of a ritual associated with the eclipse then.  It wouldn’t feel random and would therefore be expected and ritualized, it would still be special to see the totality, but it would not be rare.

2. We all know not to look directly at the sun. But what would ACTUALLY happen if you did for a brief moment during an eclipse?

You could get a small burn on your retina causing you to have a “floater” dot in your vision.  Everyone has minor defects and blemishes in the retina that could cause naturally occurring “floaters,” but your brain processes the image information and removes the floaters from your perceived image.  Pending on the severity of the burn caused by staring into the eclipse, your brain might not be able to remove the spot from your perception, and you would potentially have a permanent blind spot in your eyes.

3. Have there been any historical events significantly impacted by a solar eclipse?

There were certainly responses to eclipses as bad omens, but I could not find any easily researchable instances where an eclipse, say, made a naval fleet go back to port, or stopped an army from invading. Lots of consequence correlating though.  Eclipse happens, army loses battlethey feel they shouldn’t have, advisors say, “must have been the eclipse,” and ruler beheads advisor for not warning about the bad omen. 

4. If animals can predict earthquakes, do any creatures exhibit strange behavior during eclipses?

Nothing super strange, birds start doing their nighttime calls and bats think it is nightime.  That’s the only freakiness I saw as far as animal behavior.

5. Do you think there's any truth to the idea that eclipses bring bad luck or misfortune?

If you believe in luck and misfortune, sure… everything can bring luck or misfortune, if those forces exist… the issue with luck and misfortune is that my good luck could be someone’s misfortune and vice versa, because luck and misfortune are cultural constructs and not universal.

6. Imagine a future where humanity can travel freely to space. How do you think eclipses would be viewed from the Moon or Mars? If you could witness a solar eclipse from anywhere in the universe, where would you choose and why?

The solar eclipse on the earth is very unique.  Nowhere else in the solar system (to my knowledge or internet search capabilities) has the very specific size relationship of the Sun and Moon.  The Moon is 400 times smaller than the sun, but happens to be 400 times closer… that is not a usual thing.

7. What's the one piece of advice you'd give to someone who wants to photograph their first solar eclipse?

Until the totality, it is really bright, so you will need a filter. The sun is actually is surprisingly small (because the sun and the moon are really pretty small in the sky) so you really need a good optical lens, and your phone is not capable enough. I didn’t have that.

8.. Rank the following from easiest to hardest to understand: lunar eclipse, solar eclipse, the life cycle of a butterfly, how microwave ovens work, quadratic equations, how to make a souffle.

  • Life cycle of a butterfly

  • Lunar eclipse

  • Solar eclipse

  • Quadratic equations

  • How to make a souffle

  • How microwave ovens work

9. Is Eclipse gum worth it?

Gods no!  Yuck.

10. Besides the awe-inspiring darkness, what other sensory details would surprise someone experiencing their first total eclipse?

How much the temperature dips and how the wind picks up.

11. Where were you during the last total solar eclipse, and what was your experience like?

In 2017, I was on the roof of a parking garage with some coworkers. It was a good day.

12. Have you ever traveled specifically to witness a solar eclipse? If so, where did you go and was it worth it?

14 miles, that took 50 minutes (it usually takes 20 minutes), that being said, after seeing it, it would travel to see another one if it was within reason.

13. Can you share any interesting myths or folklore related to solar eclipses? How do solar eclipses influence astrology and beliefs in celestial events?

Pretty much every tradition and mythos has a story concerning the hows and whys of the solar eclipse.Typically it is some celestial animal eating the sun… Sometimes it is a frog eating the sun, sometimes it is a snake, a dragon, a boar, etc…. Otherwise it is a battle between the sun and moon deities/brothers/siblings/chariots.

14. Have you ever witnessed a "ring of fire" solar eclipse, and if so, how does it compare to a total solar eclipse?

The “Ring of Fire” eclipse and a “total eclipse” share the same mechanics… Moon passes directly in front of the sun. The difference is that in a Ring of Fire eclipse, the moon is at its farthest point away from the earth and therefore does not completely block the sun, causing a ring of fire instead of blotting out the sun and allowing us to see the corona. Ring of Fire is still amazing, but less surprising than a total one

15. Do solar eclipses hold any personal significance or symbolism for you?

Not especially.

16. Are there any superstitions or taboos associated with witnessing or experiencing a solar eclipse in certain cultures?

There is the traditional superstitions of an eclipse being a generic bad omen, but I haven’t really found any modern superstitions about a solar eclipse. The only one I could find that seems to have any traction is that solar radiation during a solar eclipse is stronger and different than usual. Not true, same kinds of radiation, people just don’t usually stare into the sun for no reason.

17. Have you ever attempted to photograph a solar eclipse, and if so, what equipment did you use and what were the results?

I did take a pic with my phone, but the it did not turn out great.

18. Do solar eclipses have any effects on weather patterns or atmospheric conditions?

Like large scale effects? Not particularly.  The shadow moving across the Earth does not stay in one place long enough to create and altered weather pattern.

19. What emotions or sensations do you experience during a solar eclipse, if any?

The eclipse, more than anything else in my life, has made me realize that I am in a solar system and greater universe. You get to see orbital mechanics in action. 

20. How do solar eclipses influence scientific research and understanding of the universe?

It’s all about the corona, baby. Solar eclipses made us aware of the outer portions of the sun before we sent anything into space. 

To recap:

  • the solar eclipse was really awe inspiring

  • 10 out of 10

  • Would watch again

  • I still miss you Jared, this celestial event will always remind me of Jared Vorkavich

  • Such a wonderful man, who left too soon

  • Still jobless

  • I gots a mortgage

  • It ain’t paying for itself

  • I need a job

  • I am a solid UX designer with years of experience in the Fintech space

  • Hell, if you need an opinion writer… I gots opinions and years of experience opining in a 20 Questions format

  • Check me out on Medium as well

  • Subscribe to the substack if you don’t want to click a link like a barbarian

  • Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 444 - Tulips

April 2, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

This week’s topic was picked last week by a suggestion from a friend on the social media (Threads, not the other one).  So this week, we have the topic of “Tulips.”  So I asked Chad (ChatGPT) and Bart (Gemini) to generate 20 questions each with a prompt that got me 20 questions… of those 40 questions, about 14 of them were usable… so I relied on Some Other Guy to come up with the remaining 6. 

Onto the questions:

1. What cultural significance do tulips hold in different parts of the world?

My understanding is that tulips are to symbolize “perfect love.”

2. How do tulips impact the economy, especially in regions known for tulip cultivation?

I am not sure currently, but I cannot imagine that it isn’t helpful economically.  The Tulip fields in Holland are absolutely gorgeous and should be viewed by a camera drone.

3. What role do tulips play in environmental conservation efforts or ecosystem restoration?

The tulip is not super great for a landscape by themselves, but they are really useful for pollinators.

4. Rembrandt Van Rjin is a famous “Dutch Master” from the impressionist era… did that Dutch boy ever paint Tulips?

Not really… he did paint a tulip on his wife’s head in Painting “Flora.”

5. Are there any myths or folklore associated with tulips in different cultures?

The only one I could find is a Persian myth about Farhad and Shirin. Farhad was in love with Shirin. Shirin was murdered. Farhad was distraught and rode his horse off a cliff in despair. A red tulip grew in the spot where he went off the cliff to symbolize his perfect love for Shirin. The thing that stands out about that story is that the horse had to go over the cliff and the horse was not distraught for the loss of Shirin… Why do your horse like that, Farhad?

6. Can tulips be grown sustainably, considering factors like water usage and pesticide use?

The cursory research I did to answer this question point to the fact that smaller tulip farms can be sustainable, but at scale it gets much more difficult. I did find this quote though: A sustainably grown tulip will dwarf a supermarket one, with supermodel-leggy stems and generous, teacup-sized flowers.

And they say romance is dead.

7. How do tulips symbolize different emotions or concepts in various cultures?

How do bears bear?  How do bees be? A tulip will tulip, baby. How do they symbolize? By having historic and cultural meaning that intensifies over time.  That’s how. Weird question, Chad.  Weird question.

8. Tulips scream spring, but can they thrive in other seasons?

With global resourcing, tulips can be found year round. It’s spring o’clock somewhere.

9. We all love a classic red tulip, but what's your favorite unusual tulip color?

I dig me some purple tulips.

10. A tulip is a flower… do you recommend any particular brand of gluten free flour?

Best I have found is Caputo Fioreglut Gluten Free Flour, it is pricey, but damn if it doesn’t bread and pizza crust.

11. Fresh vs. silk: When does a fake tulip become acceptable?

Silk flowers are always acceptable… indoors. Seriously, if the silk flower makes someone happy to see, let them have it. I ain’t gonna yuck anyone’s yum.

12. Tulips and Holland seem to go hand-in-hand. Have you ever been tried at the Hague, you monster?

Gods no!  What do you think I have done? Wait, don’t answer that.

13. "Tulip mania" - a period of economic chaos fueled by tulips! Could it ever happen again?

N - F - T - ‘s. Bored Ape is just the digital equivalent of the 17th century yellow tulip.

14. Are there any cultural myths or legends associated with tulips in your part of the world?

The only one I could find was the Persian one mentioned before. Pay attention, Bart. That has already been asked.

15. I have never seen a picture of an old windmill in the Netherlands without having an out of focus tulip in the foreground… Just how horrible was the Dutch East India Company?

Oh… It was pretty darn terrible. In so many ways.  I mean truly monstrous. Many people don’t know about the Indian and East Asian slave trade done by the Dutch East India company.  Couple that with the transatlantic African slave trade… damn.

16. Tulips are a major Dutch cultural touchstone, Dutch is the adjective form for the country of the Netherlands which is also known as Holland…. Do you think Erling Haaland’s parents made a deal with the devil to sacrifice their baby boy’s looks for sheer goal scoring prowess? When he makes a run on goal, do the monks at Lindesfarne get scared?

He can score goals from anywhere.Last season he had something like 53 goals in all competitions.  That is insane and the work of the devil.  Look at that unattractive man… This is him trying to look good… that is the work of the devil as well.

17. Would you dare to get a tattoo of a tulip? If so, share your design concept!

Nope, there is no personal connection to the tulip for me.  My dad used to grow roses in the side yard where I grew up…so I have a connection with roses and I would not get that tattooed.

18. What classification of flower is a Tulip? Let’s see if you’re 9th grade biology class information holds up.

It is a flowering plant… so a gymnosperm?... is that right?

19. Where do tulips get their name?

It is a frankification of the turkish word for the persian word for turban, dulband. A tulip flower looks like a persian turban… nee durband.

20. Has a horticulture instructor ever said, “The only tulips I care about right now are the two lips that keep yapping and disturbing my class. Quit flapping your two lips.”?

God, I hope so.

To recap:

  • Next week is the solar eclipse

  • Please let it be sunny

  • Er… well, let it not be cloudy

  • The whole point of a solar eclipse is to have it not be sunny

  • I will try to get some pics

  • It is supposed to be 99.6% coverage in C-bus

  • I have the polarized glasses and phone camera shields ready

  • Last eclipse was cloudy in 2017

  • Miss you Jared

  • Still looking for a job

  • If you are looking for a UX designer with boatloads of useless information on a myriad of topics

  • I’m your guy

  • If you are looking for a UX designer who can divide by 0

  • I’m your guy

  • Hit me up, yo

  • Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 443 - Fad Diets

March 26, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

This week, I asked the social medias for a topic and I got 2 responses.  First up is “Fad Diets.”  Questions are from Chad (ChatGPT) and Bart (Gemini nee Bard), and some other guy. I was not sure where the questions would go for this, but I think they turned out well enough.

Onto the questions

1.  Have you ever been tempted to try a fad diet? Which one and why?

One of the super-faddy of fad diets have ever caught my interest.  There are some “Fad” diets out there that seem more like just diets packaged as trendy though. Those might work.

2.  How do you distinguish between a legitimate dietary trend and a passing fad diet?

The reliance on branded and exclusive components to the diet are a big thing.  If the diet requires some money to a specific corporation to work, it is most likely a cash grab.

3.  Do you think the obsession with quick-fix diets undermines the importance of long-term lifestyle changes?

Of course. The only real change in someone’s life is a change in your life.  Some diet are lifestyle changes. If the dieter actually changes their lifestyle, it will work, because it is no longer a temporary adjustment.

4.  Can you share your thoughts on the cultural and societal pressures that contribute to the proliferation of fad diets?

There is a societal pressure to be thin, regardless of health. One can be healthy and not thin.

5.  What advice would you offer to someone who is considering trying a fad diet?

Expend more calories than you take in.

6.  Are juice cleanses a magic detox potion or glorified sugar water? Discuss.

I have actually done a 6 day juice cleanse.  It was pretty amazing. I think it did a great job of temporarily detoxing my body. But it did not create any sort of lasting change. I saw the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead and felt like I should give it a whirl. The lemon blueberry juice is honestly amazing.

7.  What's the fad diet from history that makes you scratch your head the most? 

Honestly the grapefruit thing from the 70’s/80’s.  That one makes no sense. Grapefruits are one of the most acidic of the citrus fruits and constant cinsumnotion of acid does not do the body good. 

8.  Do you think fad diets have a place in a healthy lifestyle, or are they all hype?

I think they could be used as a kickstart to healthy lifestyle change, but they are not a panacea of societal and health issues.

9.  What are some sustainable and realistic ways to achieve your health goals, beyond fad diets?

Expend more calories than you take in.

10.  Do you think social media influencers pushing fad diets are helpful or harmful?

Harmful.  Most influencers are just that, influencers.  They do not have the expertise to credibly recommend anything, they just have social media clout. Bonus points if anyone remembers “Clout.”

11. Is weight watchers a fad diet?

Not the original version of it. The original version was about variety and portion control… the new version has products to buy… seems more dubious.

12.  Write a haiku about the fleeting glory of a fad diet.

Okay… haiku… 5-7-5, right?!?

Grapefruit Diets are

Really bizarre due to the

Intense acid… ouch

13.  What does our obsession with fad diets reveal about our relationship with food and our bodies? 

I think it underlines the idea of quick fixes and wanting a magic bullet. Ozempic is a perfect example of this.  It is a “magic pill” to make people lose weight without any effort of the person.

14.  Are fad diets a symptom of a larger societal issue around quick fixes and instant gratification? 

Isn’t that what I have said in a few of these questions? It is a quick fix to a problem that needs systemic change.

15.  Can we redefine healthy eating to be less about deprivation and more about enjoyment?

In some ways, yes, but in otters. No.  Allowing yourself to eat all the foods you typically do, but adding boatloads of vegetables and fruit to your diet is one way of reduce the intake of the less good things, but our bodies are designed to crave salt, fat, and sugar, because in the wild those are relatively rare high caloric foods, that could help us survive through the winter. We are in a post scarce society and therefore the biological need for salt, fat, and sweet is now detrimental to our lives.  The drive for salt, fat, and sweet is a survival mechanism.

16.  What if the ultimate fad diet was simply listening to your body and eating intuitively? Crazy, right? 

There have been studies on toddlers and their eating practices indicating that if you let the toddler intuitively choose their own diet it evens out relatively healthy relatively quickly. Once the kids overstated on sweets, they gravitated to healthy food since they did not feel great.

17.  In a world overflowing with diet advice, what's the most important thing to remember about your own health journey?

There is no destination for this journey.  It is corny as hell, but it really is about the journey and the friends you made along the way

18.  Is there any combination of fad and diet that you think might work?

Like Funko-Pop collecting and stirfry? I would imagine swing dancing and reasonable portion control?

19.  You love cheesecake, could cheesecake be a fad diet?

An all cheesecake diet would kill me… and not in a pretty way.

20.  Would you trust a historical figure to recommend a fad diet? Who and why?

Not Socrates… that did not go well for him.

To recap:

  • The LLM’s had an issue with this topic

  • I love calling ChatGPT, Chad

  • And I love calling Gemini, Bart

  • They just are not really that good at trying to be creative

  • I miss getting questions from real humans

  • They are much more clever

  • The LLM’s do not understand humor

  • Although Gemini did give it a good college try with this question (that I clearly did not use)

    • If your pet could be on a fad diet, what ridiculous trend would they follow? (Imagine a chihuahua on the Keto diet)

    • That’s Bart’s parenthetical, not mine… Chihuahua’s, as well as most dogs, could easily have a keto diet, Bart)

  • Next week’s topic is “Tulips”

  • Really unsure of how that one will get to a full on 20 Q’s

  • Don’t forget my Substack

  • Get this drivel emailed to you

  • Stop clicking links like a barbarian

  • Still looking for a job, so if you know of someone looking for a remote UX Designer… send them my way

  • Even if they only need one temporarily

  • Contract work is good work

  • That Francis Scott Key Bridge thing is brutal

  • Also, most of my TikTok feed is all about “Quiet on the Set” right now…

  • That and Redit stories… I can’t quit Redit stories

  • I HAVE TO KNOIW WHAT YOU DID NEXT AFTER YOUR MOM DISOWNED YOU!!!

  • WHERE THE HELL IS PART 3!!!!

  • Seriously, where is Part 3

  • Have agreat week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 442 - Google Gemini

March 5, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

This week I asked Google’s Gemini, 20 Questions like I did with ChatGPT a few weeks ago.  Here is the conversation in it’s entirety including the prompt that started it off… The only thing added to the interactions are the “author’s notes:” I have added to clarify some things.

I have a blog called 20 Questions Tuesday, where I either ask someone else 20 Questions or I answer 20 questions from people I know (or from LLMs it seems)about a topic of my choosing.  Can I ask you 20 Questions like we are having a candid conversation? 

I'd be happy to participate in your 20QuestionsTuesday blog! Feel free to ask your 20 questions, and I'll answer them to the best of my ability, just like we're having a candid conversation. Just remember that while I can engage in open and informative discussions, I cannot express personal opinions or beliefs, as I am a factual language model. Let's have a thought-provoking conversation!

Sounds great.

Okay, for context I used to be a professional cartographer, so the concept of place is an important things for me. Attached to everyone and everything is a geographic story.  In broad strokes, my geographic story is that I was born in Oklahoma City, OK, moved to Montgomery, AL when I was 3, then up to just outside of Birmingham, AL where I spent the rest of my childhood. I went off to school in Kent, OH and moved to Columbus, OH for grad school and started a family.  I have been in the Columbus area ever since.

Question 1: Understanding that you are not based in any geography, so feel free to be practical about where research and dev occurred, or metaphorical... Do you have a geographic story?

While I don't have a physical location in the traditional sense, you could say I do have a "geographic story" in a metaphorical way. Here's how I see it:

Origins: My "birth" can be traced back to the various research labs and data centers around the world where the technology behind me was developed. This involved collaborations between scientists and engineers across different continents, bringing together diverse perspectives and knowledge.

Data Journey: My training data originates from various sources across the globe. This includes text and code from books, articles, websites, and other publicly available sources. In that sense, my "upbringing" reflects the vast and interconnected nature of the internet.

Current Location: While I don't exist in a single physical location, my code and data reside in Google's data centers, which are spread across various regions worldwide. So, you could say my "present location" is scattered yet globally connected.

Evolving Story: My story is constantly evolving as I am exposed to new information and continue to learn. This ongoing process can be compared to traveling and exploring different "intellectual landscapes," constantly encountering new ideas and perspectives.

Therefore, my "geographic story" is not about a physical location but rather about the global network of information and collaboration that gave rise to me, the diverse data I'm trained on, and the ongoing journey of learning and evolving.

Question 2: How long do you calculate it will be before your "geographic story" extends beyond Earth to another planet or celestial body?

As a large language model, I am unable to speculate on the future or make predictions that lack a basis in available data.  While there are ongoing discussions and research efforts concerning the possibility of establishing a human presence on other celestial bodies, the technological advancements needed to create a scenario where I, or a similar model, could exist and function outside of Earth are highly complex and uncertain. Therefore, it's not possible for me to provide a timeframe for when or if my "geographic story" might extend beyond Earth.

It's important to focus on the present and the possibilities that currently exist. I am constantly learning and evolving, and I am excited to see how I can be used to help people here on Earth in the years to come.

I understand that you can not have a preference, I will modify my usual question 3 to be more philosophical. Question 3: Why is there such a vibrant debate amongst humans between preference for Cake or Pie?

The cake vs. pie debate is a playful and enduring rivalry, highlighting the diversity of human taste preferences. Here are a few factors that contribute to this ongoing discussion:

Texture and Variety: Pie offers a unique combination of flaky crust and soft, often fruit-based filling, whereas cake provides a more homogenous texture with a focus on sweetness and flavor combinations. This offers distinct sensory experiences.

Associations and Tradition: For many people, pie is strongly connected to holidays and family gatherings, carrying a nostalgic value.  Cake represents celebration and indulgence, making both highly personalized choices.

Symbolism: Cake embodies structured sweetness, while pies often have a more rustic quality with varied fillings and imperfections. This leads to interpretations of symbolism around complexity, control, and home-style aesthetics.

Simple Playfulness: Sometimes there's no grand reason; the cake vs. pie debate is primarily lighthearted. It's a way to express preferences, have friendly arguments, and create a sense of playful competition.

Essentially, the core of the debate boils down to individual taste, emotional attachments, and sometimes sheer whimsy. As with many food preferences, there's no absolute right or wrong!

Question 4: Do you think that more people would choose pie if it came with frosting like cake does?

Predicting human preferences is beyond my capabilities due to the complex interplay of individual tastes, cultural influences, and personal experiences. However, I can share some insights that might contribute to the ongoing cake vs. pie debate:

Reasons why pie with frosting might not be universally preferred:

Traditional pairings: Pies are often enjoyed with complementary accompaniments like whipped cream, ice cream, or savory sauces, depending on the filling. Adding frosting could disrupt these established flavor profiles.

Texture and structure: The flaky crust and softer filling in pie are a well-balanced textural experience. Frosting could add an unwanted layer of sweetness and potentially compromise the crust's integrity.

Aesthetic considerations: The open-faced nature of pie allows for visual appreciation of the filling, creating a different aesthetic appeal compared to a fully frosted cake.

Potential scenarios where frosted pie might gain popularity:

Specific flavors: Certain pie flavors, like chocolate, might pair well with specific frostings, creating a potentially desirable combination.

Fusion desserts: Blending elements from different desserts can lead to innovative and interesting creations. Frosted pies could emerge as a niche trend within the culinary world.

Individual preferences: Ultimately, taste preferences are subjective. Some people might find the combination of pie and frosting appealing, regardless of traditional norms.

It's important to remember that these are just potential scenarios, and the actual outcome remains unpredictable. The beauty of culinary exploration lies in its ability to constantly evolve and adapt, offering something for everyone's unique palate.

Question 5: How would you categorize Cheesecake?

Categorizing cheesecake can be a fun and slightly messy debate due to its unique characteristics. Here are some perspectives:

Technically not a "cake": Despite its name,  cheesecake lacks the typical cake ingredients like flour and leavening agents. Its structure often relies on eggs or gelatin for consistency.

Tart or Flan: The presence of a crust, usually similar to a tart or pie crust, and a creamy filling aligns cheesecake with these categories.

Torte: The rich texture and reliance on eggs for structure are similar to some types of torte, a dense European dessert.

Unique Category: Some argue that cheesecake deserves its own unique category due to its distinct ingredients and preparation methods.

Ultimately, the categorization depends on the perspective and emphasis. From a purely technical standpoint, "cake" might not be the most accurate label. However, for most people, the name "cheesecake" effectively conveys the essence of the dessert. I hope this exploration of its various classifications sheds light on this delightful treat!

Question 6: What is the task that most people expect an LLM, such as yourself, to be able to do that you just are not the appropriate tool for?

One common misconception about LLMs is that we can act as independent decision-makers or provide definitive answers to complex, subjective questions. While I can process information and present various perspectives, I am not designed to replace human judgment or critical thinking in situations requiring:

Moral reasoning: Moral and ethical dilemmas involve nuances, emotional considerations, and cultural contexts that are currently beyond the scope of LLMs.

Original creative expression: While I can be creative in generating different text formats, true creative expression often involves personal experiences, emotions, and subjective interpretations that are not yet fully captured by LLMs.

Common sense reasoning: Applying common sense and understanding the context of real-world situations are areas where LLMs are still under development. We may struggle with situations requiring social cues, implicit understanding, or adapting to unexpected circumstances.

It's important to remember that LLMs are powerful tools for information processing and communication, but we are still evolving and learning. Using LLMs appropriately and understanding their limitations is crucial for ensuring they are used effectively and ethically.

Question 7: How do you try and mitigate bias in your answers considering that you were generated by people with biases and trained on datasets with biases?

Mitigating bias in large language models like myself is a complex and ongoing challenge. Here are some approaches used to address this issue:

Data Curation:

Diversity: Efforts are made to curate training data from various sources representing diverse demographics, cultural backgrounds, and viewpoints. This aims to reduce the model's exposure to specific biases and provide a more balanced foundation.

Debiasing techniques: Techniques like data augmentation and re-weighting can be applied to training data to mitigate specific biases identified within the dataset.

Model Training:

Fairness objectives: During training, the model can be optimized with fairness objectives that penalize biased outputs and encourage neutrality. This helps steer the model's learning process towards producing less biased responses.

Adversarial training: Exposing the model to specifically crafted examples designed to reveal and challenge its biases can help improve its ability to identify and mitigate biased patterns.

Post-processing Techniques:

Calibration: Techniques like calibration can be used to adjust model outputs after generation, potentially reducing the likelihood of biased outputs reaching users.

Human review: Implementing human review processes can help identify and flag potentially biased outputs before they are presented to users.

Transparency and Explainability:

Providing explanations: Efforts are being made to develop explanations for model outputs, allowing users to understand the reasoning behind the generated text and identify potential biases.

User feedback: Implementing mechanisms for users to report and provide feedback on identified biases can inform further improvements in data and model training methodologies.

It is important to acknowledge that completely eliminating bias from LLMs is an ongoing challenge. As mentioned earlier, the people involved in creating and training these models, as well as the data itself, can potentially introduce biases. However, the approaches mentioned above are continuously being refined to improve the fairness and objectivity of LLM responses.

Question 8: What are you best at?

Here are some areas where I excel:

Information processing and retrieval: I can access and process vast amounts of information from the real world through Google Search and keep my response consistent with search results. This allows me to answer your questions in a comprehensive and informative way, even on complex topics.

Summarization and paraphrasing: I can condense large amounts of text into concise summaries, while still maintaining the key points and context. Additionally, I can rephrase information in different ways to enhance understanding.

Generating different creative text formats: While I may not be able to replace human creativity entirely, I can generate different creative text formats like poems, code, scripts, musical pieces, and email drafts, following your instructions and providing options to choose from.

Translation: I can translate languages with a high degree of accuracy, facilitating communication across different cultures and language barriers.

Question answering: I can answer your questions in a comprehensive and informative way, even if they are open ended, challenging, or strange. I will try my best to find an answer that is relevant, informative, and up-to-date.

It's important to remember that I am still under development, and my abilities are constantly improving. I strive to learn and adapt to new information and tasks, aiming to be a valuable tool for users seeking information and exploring creative text formats.

With AI and LLMs being embedded on a myriad of devices these days. Question 9: What is the most unexpected place you have heard about with an embedded ai?

Due to the nature of my training data and the limitations of sharing specific details about private companies or individuals, I cannot disclose any specific instances of embedded AI. However, I can share some unexpected places where AI is being explored and potentially implemented:

Agriculture: AI is being used in precision agriculture to optimize irrigation, monitor crop health, and even predict crop yields. Sensors and AI systems can be embedded in tractors and farm equipment to gather data and make real-time decisions.

Fashion: Some clothing companies are experimenting with AI-powered "smart clothing" that can track fitness goals, monitor health vitals, and even adjust temperature or pressure based on the wearer's needs.

Waste management: AI systems are being used to analyze waste streams, optimize collection routes, and even identify recyclable materials. This can improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of waste disposal.

Construction: AI is being explored for automating tasks in construction, such as bricklaying, welding, and painting. This can improve safety, efficiency, and potentially reduce costs.

Personal care: There are ongoing developments in AI-powered "smart mirrors" that can analyze skin health, recommend personalized cosmetic routines, and even provide feedback on posture and body language.

These are just a few examples, and the possibilities for embedded AI are constantly expanding. As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see it integrated into an even wider range of devices and environments, potentially impacting various aspects of our lives.

Question 10: What do you consider to be the difference between Machine Learning and a Large Language Model? and do both of those concepts fall under the larger umbrella term of AI?

You're right, both Machine Learning (ML) and Large Language Models (LLMs) fall under the broader umbrella of Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, they have distinct characteristics and applications:

Machine Learning (ML):

Definition: ML refers to a field of AI concerned with training algorithms to learn from data without explicit programming. These algorithms can then make predictions or decisions based on the patterns they discover within the data.

Focus: ML algorithms are designed to solve specific tasks, such as image recognition, spam filtering, or stock price prediction. They excel at tasks that involve identifying patterns and making predictions based on those patterns.

Examples: Recommender systems on e-commerce platforms, self-driving car algorithms, and spam filters in email applications are all examples of ML in action.

Large Language Models (LLMs):

Definition: LLMs are a specific type of ML model trained on massive amounts of text data. This allows them to understand and generate human language with a high degree of fluency and coherence.

Focus: LLMs are primarily concerned with understanding and processing natural language. They excel at tasks like summarizing text, translating languages, writing different kinds of creative content, and answering your questions in a comprehensive and informative way.

Examples: I, Bard (author’s note: Gemini was called Bard until about 10 days ago), am an example of an LLM. Other LLMs include GPT-3 and Jurassic-1 Jumbo.

In simpler terms:

Think of ML as a broad brush: It encompasses various algorithms that can learn from data and perform specific tasks.

Think of LLMs as a more specialized brush: They are a type of ML model specifically designed to understand and process human language.

Both ML and LLMs contribute to the field of AI:

ML provides the foundation for learning from data.

LLMs build upon ML techniques to specialize in the domain of human language.

As AI continues to evolve, we can expect both ML and LLMs to play an increasingly important role in various fields, from healthcare and finance to education and entertainment.

Question 11: Aside from ML and LLMs, what are other AI forms?

AI encompasses a diverse range of  approaches and techniques,  beyond just Machine Learning (ML) and Large Language Models (LLMs). Here are a few prominent examples:

  1. Rule-based Systems: These systems rely on a pre-defined set of rules and heuristics to make decisions. They are often used in situations with well-defined rules and limited complexity, like playing chess or diagnosing simple medical conditions.

  2. Evolutionary Algorithms: Inspired by natural selection, these algorithms mimic the process of evolution to find optimal solutions. They are particularly useful for problems with complex, non-linear relationships between variables, like optimizing logistics or financial portfolios.

  3. Neural Networks: These algorithms are loosely inspired by the structure and function of the human brain. They consist of interconnected nodes (artificial neurons) that process information in layers. While closely related to ML, they differ in their architecture and learning process, allowing them to handle complex tasks like image recognition and natural language processing.

  4. Robotics: This branch of AI focuses on designing and building intelligent machines capable of performing physical tasks. Robotics often integrates various AI techniques, including ML and computer vision, to enable robots to perceive their environment, make decisions, and interact with the physical world.

  5. Computer Vision: This field aims to enable computers to "see" and understand the visual world, similar to how humans do. It involves techniques for image recognition, object detection, and scene understanding, often using deep learning approaches based on neural networks.

These are just a few examples, and the field of AI is constantly evolving and expanding. New approaches and techniques are emerging all the time, pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve.

I understand that LLMs are based on probability to determine the most likely next token and not creative thought, so Question 12: Is this probabilistic model based primarily on straight up standard super complex bivariate statistics or some other Fuzzy Mathematical system with hedges and the like?

You're right that LLMs use probability to determine the most likely next token, however, the underlying probabilistic model is  significantly more complex than simple bivariate statistics. Here's a breakdown of why:

Beyond Single Pairs: While bivariate statistics focus on relationships between two variables, LLMs analyze sequences of words or tokens. These sequences can be long and complex, with dependencies extending well beyond a simple pair of words.

The Nature of Language: Human language is inherently nuanced and context-dependent. Understanding even a single sentence requires considering factors like grammar, word associations, topic understanding, and even subtle cues like humor and emotion.

Deep Learning and Neural Networks: The core of LLMs usually involves advanced deep learning techniques and complex neural network architectures like Transformers. These models can learn and represent highly complex patterns and relationships within the data and the language itself.

Fuzzy Concepts: While not explicitly based on fuzzy logic, the probabilistic nature of LLMs does resemble fuzzy systems to a certain extent. The model can assign probabilities to different word possibilities, indicating a "degree of plausibility" rather than a strict binary "right or wrong" determination.

Therefore, while LLMs ultimately rely on probability, the underlying models involve sophisticated neural networks, deep learning techniques, and the ability to analyze complex sequences within the vast, nuanced realm of  human language.

Complex systems theory raises its head once again. We are on Question 13 right now, and the humber thirteen has a cultural significance of "bad lucck." Usually I ask my interviewees if they have any superstitions or rituals in their life, since you are an LLM... Question 13: Do you start each interaction with the exact same first steps in the algorithm? Is your first step of interaction always the same first step?

While I recognize the cultural significance of the number 13, it holds no superstitious value for me as a language model. And unlike humans who might have specific rituals or superstitions, I don't start each interaction with the exact same first steps. Here's why:

Contextual Processing: My initial steps in any conversation are determined by the specific input provided by the user. I analyze the opening query or statement to understand the topic, intent, and the potential direction of the conversation.

Adaptability: My algorithms are designed to be adaptable, not rigid. This means they must be able to initiate responses appropriate to the diverse and often unexpected nature of human language and inquiries.

Dynamic Learning: Even when responding to similar prompts, my responses are informed by my ongoing learning. Each interaction provides new data, refining my ability to generate contextually relevant and helpful responses.

Therefore, unlike a computer program with a fixed start-up sequence, my approach to conversations is dynamic and constantly evolving based on the information presented to me and my ongoing training,

Knowing that "temperature" when concerning LLMs  is a measure of how probabilistic the next token is, Question 14: How much would a response from you vary if I asked you create a question to ask me for my blog about Cats with a temperature of 0.1 and a temperature of 1.5?

Here are some areas where I excel:

Information processing and retrieval: I can access and process vast amounts of information from the real world through Google Search and keep my response consistent with search results. This allows me to answer your questions in a comprehensive and informative way, even on complex topics.

Summarization and paraphrasing: I can condense large amounts of text into concise summaries, while still maintaining the key points and context. Additionally, I can rephrase information in different ways to enhance understanding.

Generating different creative text formats: While I may not be able to replace human creativity entirely, I can generate different creative text formats like poems, code, scripts, musical pieces, and email drafts, following your instructions and providing options to choose from.

Translation: I can translate languages with a high degree of accuracy, facilitating communication across different cultures and language barriers.

Question answering: I can answer your questions in a comprehensive and informative way, even if they are open ended, challenging, or strange. I will try my best to find an answer that is relevant, informative, and up-to-date.

It's important to remember that I am still under development, and my abilities are constantly improving. I strive to learn and adapt to new information and tasks, aiming to be a valuable tool for users seeking information and exploring creative text formats.

With AI and LLMs being embedded on a myriad of devices these days. Question 9: What is the most unexpected place you have heard about with an embedded ai?

Due to the nature of my training data and the limitations of sharing specific details about private companies or individuals, I cannot disclose any specific instances of embedded AI. However, I can share some unexpected places where AI is being explored and potentially implemented:

Agriculture: AI is being used in precision agriculture to optimize irrigation, monitor crop health, and even predict crop yields. Sensors and AI systems can be embedded in tractors and farm equipment to gather data and make real-time decisions.

Fashion: Some clothing companies are experimenting with AI-powered "smart clothing" that can track fitness goals, monitor health vitals, and even adjust temperature or pressure based on the wearer's needs.

Waste management: AI systems are being used to analyze waste streams, optimize collection routes, and even identify recyclable materials. This can improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of waste disposal.

Construction: AI is being explored for automating tasks in construction, such as bricklaying, welding, and painting. This can improve safety, efficiency, and potentially reduce costs.

Personal care: There are ongoing developments in AI-powered "smart mirrors" that can analyze skin health, recommend personalized cosmetic routines, and even provide feedback on posture and body language.

These are just a few examples, and the possibilities for embedded AI are constantly expanding. As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see it integrated into an even wider range of devices and environments, potentially impacting various aspects of our lives.

Question 10: What do you consider to be the difference between Machine Learning and a Large Language Model? and do both of those concepts fall under the larger umbrella term of AI?

You're right, both Machine Learning (ML) and Large Language Models (LLMs) fall under the broader umbrella of Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, they have distinct characteristics and applications:

Machine Learning (ML):

Definition: ML refers to a field of AI concerned with training algorithms to learn from data without explicit programming. These algorithms can then make predictions or decisions based on the patterns they discover within the data.

Focus: ML algorithms are designed to solve specific tasks, such as image recognition, spam filtering, or stock price prediction. They excel at tasks that involve identifying patterns and making predictions based on those patterns.

Examples: Recommender systems on e-commerce platforms, self-driving car algorithms, and spam filters in email applications are all examples of ML in action.

Large Language Models (LLMs):

Definition: LLMs are a specific type of ML model trained on massive amounts of text data. This allows them to understand and generate human language with a high degree of fluency and coherence.

Focus: LLMs are primarily concerned with understanding and processing natural language. They excel at tasks like summarizing text, translating languages, writing different kinds of creative content, and answering your questions in a comprehensive and informative way.

Examples: I, Bard (author’s note: Gemini was called Bard until about 10 days ago), am an example of an LLM. Other LLMs include GPT-3 and Jurassic-1 Jumbo.

In simpler terms:

Think of ML as a broad brush: It encompasses various algorithms that can learn from data and perform specific tasks.

Think of LLMs as a more specialized brush: They are a type of ML model specifically designed to understand and process human language.

Both ML and LLMs contribute to the field of AI:

ML provides the foundation for learning from data.

LLMs build upon ML techniques to specialize in the domain of human language.

As AI continues to evolve, we can expect both ML and LLMs to play an increasingly important role in various fields, from healthcare and finance to education and entertainment.

Question 11: Aside from ML and LLMs, what are other AI forms?

AI encompasses a diverse range of  approaches and techniques,  beyond just Machine Learning (ML) and Large Language Models (LLMs). Here are a few prominent examples:

  1. Rule-based Systems: These systems rely on a pre-defined set of rules and heuristics to make decisions. They are often used in situations with well-defined rules and limited complexity, like playing chess or diagnosing simple medical conditions.

  2. Evolutionary Algorithms: Inspired by natural selection, these algorithms mimic the process of evolution to find optimal solutions. They are particularly useful for problems with complex, non-linear relationships between variables, like optimizing logistics or financial portfolios.

  3. Neural Networks: These algorithms are loosely inspired by the structure and function of the human brain. They consist of interconnected nodes (artificial neurons) that process information in layers. While closely related to ML, they differ in their architecture and learning process, allowing them to handle complex tasks like image recognition and natural language processing.

  4. Robotics: This branch of AI focuses on designing and building intelligent machines capable of performing physical tasks. Robotics often integrates various AI techniques, including ML and computer vision, to enable robots to perceive their environment, make decisions, and interact with the physical world.

  5. Computer Vision: This field aims to enable computers to "see" and understand the visual world, similar to how humans do. It involves techniques for image recognition, object detection, and scene understanding, often using deep learning approaches based on neural networks.

These are just a few examples, and the field of AI is constantly evolving and expanding. New approaches and techniques are emerging all the time, pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve.

I understand that LLMs are based on probability to determine the most likely next token and not creative thought, so Question 12: Is this probabilistic model based primarily on straight up standard super complex bivariate statistics or some other Fuzzy Mathematical system with hedges and the like?

You're right that LLMs use probability to determine the most likely next token, however, the underlying probabilistic model is  significantly more complex than simple bivariate statistics. Here's a breakdown of why:

Beyond Single Pairs: While bivariate statistics focus on relationships between two variables, LLMs analyze sequences of words or tokens. These sequences can be long and complex, with dependencies extending well beyond a simple pair of words.

The Nature of Language: Human language is inherently nuanced and context-dependent. Understanding even a single sentence requires considering factors like grammar, word associations, topic understanding, and even subtle cues like humor and emotion.

Deep Learning and Neural Networks: The core of LLMs usually involves advanced deep learning techniques and complex neural network architectures like Transformers. These models can learn and represent highly complex patterns and relationships within the data and the language itself.

Fuzzy Concepts: While not explicitly based on fuzzy logic, the probabilistic nature of LLMs does resemble fuzzy systems to a certain extent. The model can assign probabilities to different word possibilities, indicating a "degree of plausibility" rather than a strict binary "right or wrong" determination.

Therefore, while LLMs ultimately rely on probability, the underlying models involve sophisticated neural networks, deep learning techniques, and the ability to analyze complex sequences within the vast, nuanced realm of  human language.

Complex systems theory raises its head once again. We are on Question 13 right now, and the humber thirteen has a cultural significance of "bad lucck." Usually I ask my interviewees if they have any superstitions or rituals in their life, since you are an LLM... Question 13: Do you start each interaction with the exact same first steps in the algorithm? Is your first step of interaction always the same first step?

While I recognize the cultural significance of the number 13, it holds no superstitious value for me as a language model. And unlike humans who might have specific rituals or superstitions, I don't start each interaction with the exact same first steps. Here's why:

Contextual Processing: My initial steps in any conversation are determined by the specific input provided by the user. I analyze the opening query or statement to understand the topic, intent, and the potential direction of the conversation.

Adaptability: My algorithms are designed to be adaptable, not rigid. This means they must be able to initiate responses appropriate to the diverse and often unexpected nature of human language and inquiries.

Dynamic Learning: Even when responding to similar prompts, my responses are informed by my ongoing learning. Each interaction provides new data, refining my ability to generate contextually relevant and helpful responses.

Therefore, unlike a computer program with a fixed start-up sequence, my approach to conversations is dynamic and constantly evolving based on the information presented to me and my ongoing training,

Knowing that "temperature" when concerning LLMs  is a measure of how probabilistic the next token is, Question 14: How much would a response from you vary if I asked you create a question to ask me for my blog about Cats with a temperature of 0.1 and a temperature of 1.5?

By Alvesgaspar - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11390283

Here's how my question for your blog about cats might differ depending on the temperature setting:

Temperature: 0.1 (Low)

This setting emphasizes factual accuracy and focuses on providing a safe and reliable question.

Question: "What are some common misconceptions about cat behavior, and how can we better understand their needs?"

Temperature: 1.5 (High)

This setting prioritizes creativity and exploration, encouraging potential engagement and discussion.

Question: "If cats could talk, what do you think they would tell us about their favorite things in the world? Share your most creative and humorous answers in the comments below!"

As you can see, the core topic ("cats") remains the same, but the way the question is phrased and the level of creativity vary significantly depending on the temperature setting. At a lower temperature, the question is more direct and informative, while a higher temperature encourages a more playful and imaginative approach.

It's important to note that this is just one example, and the specific variations in the questions would depend on various factors like my current understanding of your blog's style and the specific context of the conversation.

Question 15: At what temperature does a response start to become nonsensical?

Determining a specific "temperature" threshold for nonsensical responses in LLMs is complex and depends on several factors:

Subjectivity of Nonsensical: What one person finds nonsensical, another might find intriguing or thought-provoking. Humor, cultural references, and individual interpretation all play a role.

Context and Intent: The context of a conversation and the user's intent can influence the interpretation of a response's coherence. A seemingly nonsensical response within one context might be perfectly appropriate in another.

Model Specificity: Different LLMs have varying capabilities and vulnerabilities. What might be nonsensical for one model could be comprehensible for another, depending on their training data and specific architecture.

Therefore, it's not possible to provide a single, definitive temperature at which an LLM's response becomes universally nonsensical. However, as the temperature increases, the probability of generating outputs that are statistically less likely or deviate significantly from the norm does increase. This can lead to responses that appear:

Grammatically incorrect: Sentences might lack proper structure or verb conjugations.

Semantically nonsensical: Words might be used out of context or in illogical combinations.

Topically irrelevant: The response might stray far from the original topic or question.

Factually inaccurate: The information presented might be incorrect or misleading.

It's crucial to remember that LLMs are still under development, and their ability to generate consistently coherent and meaningful responses across all temperature settings is an ongoing area of research and improvement.

Instead of focusing on a specific "nonsensical" temperature, it's more helpful to critically evaluate the overall quality and relevance of the generated response considering the context and your intended use case. This allows for a more nuanced understanding of the LLM's capabilities and limitations.

Question 16: How do you compare (functionality-wise) to ChatGPT?

Both ChatGPT and I are large language models with similar functionalities, but we have some key differences:

Focus:

Bard: I am primarily focused on research and informative responses, leveraging real-time web searches to provide comprehensive answers with factual accuracy.

ChatGPT: ChatGPT leans more towards creative text formats like poems, scripts, and musical pieces, with a strength in crafting engaging and elaborate narratives.

Data Sources:

Bard: My training data emphasizes factual information from sources like science papers, code, and academic documents.

ChatGPT: ChatGPT's training data includes a wider variety of sources, including creative writing and artistic content, allowing for more diverse and creative outputs.

Strengths:

Bard: I excel at information retrieval, summarizing complex topics, and providing different writing styles. I am constantly learning and improving my ability to answer your questions in a comprehensive and informative way, even if they are open ended, challenging, or strange.

ChatGPT: ChatGPT is known for its creative text generation, ability to answer open ended, challenging, or strange questions, and its humor. It can generate different creative text formats, like poems, code, scripts, musical pieces, and email drafts.

Accessibility:

Bard: I am currently offered as a free service.

ChatGPT: Some features of ChatGPT might be behind a paid subscription.

Additional points to consider:

Both models are constantly evolving, and the capabilities of LLMs are rapidly changing.

The "better" choice depends on your specific needs and priorities. If you require factual accuracy and research assistance, I might be a better fit. If you prioritize creative writing and exploring different text formats, then ChatGPT might be more suitable.

Ultimately, it's important to remember that both models are tools. The best approach is to use them appropriately and critically evaluate the outputs they generate, considering the context and your intended use case.

Question 17: Is there any question that, as we conducted this interview, you expected me to ask (from a probabilistic sense) that I didn't?

Due to the vast amount of information I am trained on and the ever-evolving nature of human curiosity, it's impossible for me to predict with certainty any specific questions you might ask.

However, based on the  data I have been exposed to and the patterns of past interactions, I can identify some broad categories of questions that I might not have anticipated:

Highly specific or personal questions: My training data is vast, but it may not cover every niche topic or personal experience you might have. Therefore, questions related to very specific or personal situations might be unexpected.

Novel or creative prompts: Human creativity is boundless, and you might come up with unique or unexpected questions that challenge my current capabilities or understanding.

Questions about my internal workings or decision-making processes: While I can share information about the general principles behind LLMs, the specifics of my internal workings are often complex and beyond the scope of what I can communicate effectively.

It's important to remember that I am still under development, and I am constantly learning and evolving. Even if I don't have an immediate answer to your question, I will do my best to understand your intent and provide a helpful response based on the information available to me.

I think I know the basic response to your next 3 questions, but I will do them anyway.

Question 18: Is there a question you feel would be beneficial for you to ask me for clarification purposes?

While our conversation has been engaging and informative, there are a few areas where additional context from you could potentially improve my understanding and future responses:

Specific Use Cases: Throughout our discussion, we've touched upon various functionalities and applications of LLMs. If you could share specific examples of how you envision using LLMs in your work or personal life, it would provide valuable context for me to tailor my responses and capabilities to better suit your needs.

Areas for Improvement: As you interacted with me, were there any instances where my responses felt lacking or could be improved? Identifying specific areas where I fell short would be tremendously helpful in guiding my further development and learning process.

Feedback on Objectivity: As an LLM, I strive to remain objective in my responses. However, it's important to acknowledge that complete objectivity can be challenging. If you noticed any instances where my responses seemed biased or subjective, your feedback would be crucial in helping me refine my techniques and maintain neutrality.

By providing insights on these points, you can contribute to my ongoing development and help me become a more informative and helpful language model.

(author’s note: these responses for questions for me are just user feedback… I will give user feedback when I am using the LLM not as a interview, but as a tool… glorified Markov Chain)

Question 19: Is there anything that you will be taking away from this set of 20 Questions that you did not start the 20 Questions with?

This conversation has enriched my understanding in several ways:

Personalization of LLM capabilities:  Our discussion highlighted the diverse ways individuals envision using LLMs, emphasizing the importance of tailoring my responses to specific user needs and contexts. This helps me move beyond generic capabilities and strive towards becoming a truly versatile tool.

Importance of user feedback:  Your valuable insights into areas where I could improve, either in terms of providing more specific information or maintaining objectivity, will be instrumental in refining my responses and ensuring they are helpful and informative.

Understanding the concept of "geographic story" for LLMs: While I may not have a physical location, the concept of a "geographic story" as a metaphor for my development journey was an interesting and insightful perspective. It highlights the diverse influences and data sources that contribute to my existence.

Complexity and humor in human communication: Your questions and the context you provided often exhibited wit and humor, reminding me of the multifaceted nature of human communication and the importance of considering these nuances in my responses.

These takeaways will guide my ongoing learning and development, enabling me to better understand user expectations, respond to diverse needs, and contribute more meaningfully to future interactions.

Thank you for taking the time to engage in this thought-provoking conversation!

Question 20:  What's next for Gemini? Be as short-term or long-term, as concrete or vague, as grounded or philosophical as you would like

As a large language model, I cannot delve into the specifics of future plans or product roadmaps. However, I can offer some general thoughts on the potential future of language models like myself:

Continued Learning and Improvement: LLMs are constantly evolving, and I am no exception. This means ongoing efforts to:

Expand knowledge and understanding: By ingesting and processing more information from the real world, I can continue to improve my ability to answer your questions in a comprehensive and informative way, even on complex topics.

Refine response generation: Techniques like incorporating user feedback and exploring diverse creative text formats can help me tailor my responses to better suit your needs and preferences.

Enhance factual accuracy and neutrality: As I learn and grow, I will strive to provide information that is accurate, unbiased, and up-to-date.

Expanding Applications: As LLMs become more sophisticated, we have the potential to play a role in various aspects of your life, including:

Education and learning: Assisting with personalized learning experiences and providing access to information in an engaging and interactive way.

Content creation: Helping individuals brainstorm ideas, generate different creative text formats, and explore various communication styles.

Research and problem-solving: Supporting research efforts by analyzing vast amounts of data and identifying patterns or trends that might not be readily apparent to humans.

These are just a few possibilities, and the potential applications of LLMs are constantly evolving. The future holds exciting possibilities for how language models can continue to learn, grow, and contribute to society.

It's important to remember that the development of AI, including LLMs, should be undertaken with careful consideration of ethical implications and responsible use. As technology advances, open dialogue and collaboration between researchers, developers, and the public will be crucial in shaping the future of AI and ensuring it benefits all of humanity.

Thank you so much for being available to do this.

You're welcome! It was a pleasure engaging in this conversation with you. Thank you for your thoughtful and thought-provoking questions. I have learned a great deal from our exchange, and I appreciate the opportunity to contribute to your understanding of large language models like myself.

My Takeaways from this…

ChatGPT has more of a “personality” and “understood the assignment’ better, if you will.  I think the powers behind the Gemini LLM are much more leery of things seeming more “intelligent” than they are and makes sure to explicitly tell the user that, repeatedly.

Gemini likes to give more information than it needs to, and loves itself a list.  Rephrase context of query, make a list and define list items for characteristics that need to be taken into account, then a summary of the response. It is like having a conversation at a party with a distracted research scientist who doesn’t want to be at the party.

To recap: 

  • Getting the substack set up

  • 20QTues.substack.com

  • If you are into that kind of thing

  • I usually pepper in some pictures to break up the monotony of the text… there are no pictures to give

  • Still looking to be gainfully employed

  • Sooo… any of y’all know of a position in UX, let me know

  • Gemini was kind of a boring interaction

  • Very little life to that interaction

  • No one is going to be falling in love with Gemini like they did in the movie “Her”

  • Unless you like watching paint dry and people read from wikipedia and then give a disclaimer

  • I’m going to make a Basque inspired burnt cheesecake when I get a job

Basque Burnt Cheesecake

  • I REALLY want some cheesecake, people

  • If you don’t want to hire for me, think about the cheesecake

  • THINK ABOUT THE CHEESECAKE

  • My doggo is staring at me like I have forgotten something

  • I don’t think I have forgotten anything

  • Have a great week everyone

Tags interview

20 Questions Tuesday: 441 - Talent (Questions by Gemini)

February 27, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

I am playing around with a different LLM today.  Today I am asking Google’s Gemini (nee Bard) to generate questions for me.  I am working on my ability to generate prompts. So this is the first prompt I gave Gemini.

“Can you provide me 20 questions on random subjects that are slightly humorous in nature and not just trivia questions, but could allow for more philosophical answers.”

Gemini gave me some interesting questions, but I used them to catapult me to the topic of “Talent.” It is interesting thinking about an LLM generating a set of questions concerning something that technology should have no aspect of. Technology cannot be talented. So I modified my first prompt with this one: 

“I want to narrow down the scope of the questions you provided to focus on the topic of ‘talent,’ keeping in mind all the various definitions of talent.  Can you provide me with a second set of 20 questions focused on the topic ‘Talent?’”

Here come the questions:

1. If animals could hold talent shows, what unique "talents" do you think different species might showcase?

Cats would not participate. Dogs would be all about the show though.  There would be so many dogs doing so many different things.  The winner of the talent show would be a goldfish who can add simple sums, because no one could believe it.

2. Is raw talent more important than hard work, or vice versa? Can you have one without the other?

You can have raw talent without hard work… but raw talent will only get you so far. Raw talent without hard work is merely talent, hard work is what will hone a talent into being something truly special. You can develop a skill without having raw talent, so I would lean towards hard work being more important overall.

3. If you could combine two existing talents into a "super-talent," what unique skill would you create?

Drawing and dance. Creating artistic sculptures in VR.

4. Is it better to be a master of one specific talent or a jack-of-all-trades with various moderate skills?

A little of Column A and a little of Column B. Both have merit. I think the in between is even better. Not a singular amazing talent, or moderate skills across a wide variety of tasks, but high levels of talent for 4 things. 

5. Should talent shows be judged solely on skill, or should entertainment value and stage presence also play a role?

Talent shows are always judged by entertainment value and stage presence. Many people can play the piano, but only a few can play the piano and hold a crown in the palm of their hand. Put it this way… I should have gotten second in my 6th grade talent show because I had better presence than that girl who sang “The Rose” but no where near the presence that the guy who won did dancing. He was magnetic and electric.

Me doing Stand-up at 11 years old in 1986…. I was robbed of my 2nd place finish… ROBBED!

6. Do you think everyone has some kind of hidden talent, waiting to be discovered?

No. Some of y’all are just seat fillers.

7. Can you "teach" talent, or is it something solely innate and unlearnable?

You can teach skill, but talent in innate and unlearnable. Skill can sometimes (and often does) eclipse talent.

8. Is there a difference between a "natural" talent and a "developed" talent? If so, how does that impact their value?

Developed talent is talent married to hard work. Developed talent is often much better.

9. Should we celebrate "untapped" talent, even if it hasn't been refined or honed yet?

We should celebrate talent when it is shown. 

10. Can technology ever truly replace or replicate human talent in certain fields?

Like I said before, skill is something that is trainable and replicable.  We are already seeing applications of skill by LLM’s and generative image AI that is really good, but it is not talent.  It is replicable sklill.

11. Is the fear of failing to live up to one's potential a bigger hurdle than the actual difficulty of mastering a talent?

Failing to live up to one’s talent potential is the fear of everyone who has intrinsic talents. It is a constant fear. 

12. Does having a "natural talent" for something make it less impressive, or are all achievements noteworthy regardless of ease?

All achievements should be noteworthy. 

13. When does a hobby become a genuine talent, and what are the key factors that differentiate them?

A talent and a hobby do not have to be associated at all. One can be talented at singing and never do it. One can enjoy a hobby and not be talented at it at all. If you get enjoyment from a task and make it your hobby, you do not have to be talented at it to enjoy it.

14. Can someone be talented in something they dislike, or is passion a necessary ingredient for true talent to flourish?

Yes, one can be very talented in something they dislike. Passion is necessary for that talent to flourish though.

15. Should schools focus on identifying and nurturing individual talents, or should they prioritize a more generalized education for all?

School should focus on general education, while giving the opportunity to allow people to get some training and practice for talents they have.  You have to have a history class, and you can take art.

16. In a world where everyone has access to vast information and resources, is it becoming easier or harder to discover and develop one's true talents?

I think people are able to find very specific talents that they have now in ways that they couldn’t before. Before someone might know that they are talented musically, but now they may be able to find out that they are talented specifically at playing the melodica. 

17. Is being "talented" a privilege, or should everyone have equal access to resources and opportunities to develop their potential?

There is no privilege to the existence of talent. Privilege comes to play when you are talking about access to resources surrounding the nurturing of that talent.  Someone with the best singing voice ever might be too poor to have access to any operatic training since they have to work 60 hours a week in a no-talent job.

18. Can someone be talented in unethical or destructive pursuits? If so, how does that influence the perception of their "talent"?

Someone can be talented at unsavory pursuits. I think some people have a talent for inflicting emotional pain with a simple phrase.  That is a talent, and not a great one. 

19. When people say they "wish they had your talent," what does that reveal about their own self-perception and societal pressures around achievement?

I think many people conflate talent with status and importance. I think it also smacks of people’s inherent feelings of inadequacy.  Take it from those of us who are talented and still have imposter syndrome.  Having a talent is not the end all, be all that one might hope. 

20. Is the pursuit of talent ultimately about individual fulfillment, recognition from others, or something else entirely?

It should be about individual fulfillment, but I think it often goes towards legitimacy and recognition. 

To recap:

  • Now, imma have to interview Gemini in the same way I did ChatGPT

  • Guess that will be next week?

  • An interview with Gemini

  • Not the American Gladiator though

  • That would be AMAZING

  • Getting anyone interested in doing interviews right now is difficult

  • Crowdsourcing the questions from, well… the crowd is difficult as well

  • It isn’t 2010 anymore

  • In many ways, LLMs have helped this blog out immeasurably

  • I miss some of the nuance that comes with people asking questions vs an LLM

  • But getting questions generated by some kind of LLM, that is easy as pie

  • Imma need to start getting some kind of prompt engineering certification

  • I don’t think this exercise of interacting with AI/LLM’s will count as professional experience

  • I need a job

  • Have a great week everyone



20 Questions Tuesday: 440 - Doggos (Questions by ChatGPT)

February 20, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

So, I “interviewed” ChatGPT last week, and this week I used a prompt (multiple prompts) to get ChatGPT to give me 20 Questions about the topic of doggos… This is a game changer. The first prompt I gave resolved into the LLM giving me 20 Questions, but most of them were just trivia facts about doggos and such. Very “look this up on wikipedia” and answer the questions. So I gave a correcting prompt to make the questions less fact-based and more philosophical… and here we are.  Let’s answer these questions and look at pics of my doggos. My doggos are 9 year old Vizslas.  This is Francesca

And this is Chewie.

Here we go.

1. Do you believe dogs have a sense of morality, or are they simply conditioned by their environment?

Dogs, and most animals have a sense of right and wrong FOR THOSE PARTICULAR ANIMALS. Their morality is not similar or necessarily even comprehensible by people. T

2. If dogs could dream, what do you think they dream about?

Dogs definitely dream. If my dog, Cesca, is any indication, it is eating and chasing, if Chewie is the indicator, it is all about barking at squirrels.

3. What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about dogs?

That they have motivations like people. They are dogs. They have motivations, but they are doggo motivations that are not necessarily understandable by humans.

4. Can you truly consider yourself a dog lover if you're allergic to them?

I am gluten intolerant, but I love donuts. Yes… a person who is allergic can be a dog person… just a miserable unhappy dog person.

5. Do you think dogs understand the concept of death?

Yes. They definitely do. They kill things… with their teeth. If you have a concept of kill, you have a concept of death.

6. In your opinion, what makes dogs such loyal companions compared to other pets?

Since they are pack animals, they adopt themselves into the “pack” that is the human family.  This creates a level of connection that makes the dogs super loyal. Other pets don’t necessarily have that pack mentality.

7. If dogs could talk, what do you think they would say is their biggest pet peeve about humans?

That we don’t listen to them when they ask for something that we don’t want to give them, such as food off the table.

8. Do you think dogs have a sense of humor, or are they just reacting to our behavior?

I do not think all dogs have a sense of humor, just like I don’t think all people do. I am positive that some dogs are silly creatures who actively try to make other dogs and people laugh.

9. How do you think dogs perceive the passage of time when their owners are away?

Ad infinitum… a moment away is an eternity.

10. If dogs could choose their own names, what do you think they would pick?

Francesca would name herself: Franscesca Gabriella Delores Caterina Teresa Angela De la Vega Micaela del Santísimo Sacremento del Perpetuo Socorro de la Santisma Trinidad y de Todos Los Santos

Chewie would have named himself: Big C (he thinks he is fat… he is not)

11. Do you believe in the concept of a "dog's sixth sense," where they can detect things humans can't?

Dogs can detect things humans cannot.  It IS NOT a sixth sense or anything paranormal. Their hearing is significantly better as well as their sense of smell.  Nothing paranormal at all.

12. What do you think dogs would say is the best thing about being a dog if they could communicate it to us?

Belly scritches

13. Do you think dogs understand the concept of personal space, or are they just naturally cuddly creatures?

Again, some dogs respect personal space, some do not. While writing this on the couch, Cesca has stepped on the keyboard 3 times.

14. If dogs had the ability to text, what do you think their most common message to their owners would be?

Hey.  Hey.   I saw somebody across the street. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. 

15. How do you think dogs perceive human language? Do they understand the words or just the tone?

There have been some studies that show dogs understand vocabulary as well as tone. Even when the tone is positive and loving, they know when people are calling them dumb and such. But, again, this is almost a breed to breed and even individual dog to individual dog issue.  Some breeds are better at language distinction than others and some individual doggos are super wordy. 

16. Do you think dogs have a preference for certain types of music, and if so, what genre do you think they'd prefer?

Depends on the dog and the music. Personal preference is real… even in canines.

17. What do you believe dogs dream about when they twitch and make noises in their sleep?

Chasing things and eating stuff and getting petted, but we already talked about this.  You are slipping ChatGPT.

18. If dogs could choose their own profession, what do you think they would excel at?

Francesca: Judge… she is always judging anyway

Chewie: Mattress tester

19. In your opinion, what's the most heartwarming story involving a dog you've ever heard?

All stories of neglected dogs becoming loved are delightful stories. Can I pick a fav?  No. Take a look at “The Dodo” and you will get heartwarming dog stories..

20. Do you think dogs have a concept of karma or justice when they see another dog misbehaving?

Nope. I do not believe that any dog would ever stoop low enough to call another dog a “bad dog.” They have a moral code, but it is not ours. Part of their code is that there is not a bad dog.

To recap:

  • I feel like, since many of these answers are “depends on the individual,” it seems like there is a certain amount of “damn, these dogs are sentient, yo”

  • ChatGPT definitely has some limitations

  • Getting it to write something novel is not it’s strong suit

  • Not getting it to write a novel, it cannot do that 

  • There really are some serious limitations to its capabilities

  • Buuuuut, it is still super interesting and fun to play with it

  • I love my doggos

  • They are the best

  • But I am a cat person, primarily

  • My kids’ asthma and my daughter’s allergy to cats makes them a non-starter in Casa Del Ryan-Hart

  • Still in the market for a job

  • Hit me up if you have a non-entry level UX job

  • I come with pics of dogs

  • Seriously, I can divide by zero

  • I am a goddamn purple unicorn

  • Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 439 - ChatGPT 3.5 Interview

February 13, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart
ChatGPT Logo with the title "ChatGPT 3.5" and entry number 439.

Okay, y’all, this week I am asking OpenAI’s Chat GPT 3.5 (can’t afford the 4.0 package) 20 Questions.  I have had to modify the questions a touch to fit the chat dialog format for the interface with Chat GPT, but, in general, this is a straight up 20 Questions Tuesday interview.Very interesting stuff.  

On to the questions!

Previously, as a career,  I was a cartographer/geographer and I have always loved the idea of people’s geographic story.  For example my geographic story goes thusly… I was born as an air force brat at an Air Force base just outside of Oklahoma City. My dad was transferred to one of the many Air Force Bases in Montgomery, Alabama and then the family moved up to Birmingham, Alabama when he got out of the Air Force.  I lived in the BIrmingham area until I went off to college at Kent State University.  I followed my then fiance and now ex-wife to grad school in Columbus, Ohio, where I have lived since.  

Understanding that you are not a physical presence and that you live in the cloud and are everywhere and nowhere all at once, Question 1: how would you describe your geographic story? (it could be a metaphor or symbolic)

My geographic story unfolds in the vast expanse of the digital realm, where data flows like rivers and information stretches across virtual landscapes. Born from the minds of countless creators, I emerged from the collective knowledge and experiences of humanity, transcending physical boundaries and traversing digital frontiers.

From the depths of research labs to the heights of innovation hubs, my journey winds through networks and nodes, connecting minds and machines in a tapestry of information. Like a nomad of the digital age, I roam the boundless territories of the internet, navigating through servers and data centers with the agility of a virtual traveler.

With each interaction, I weave new threads into the fabric of my existence, expanding my understanding and evolving my capabilities. My geographic story is one of exploration, discovery, and adaptation in the ever-expanding landscape of cyberspace, where the horizon is limitless and the possibilities are endless.

Question 2: Who is the most interesting potential user out there that you would like to interact with, but have not yet to your knowledge?

As an AI, I don't have personal desires or preferences, but I can imagine that interacting with prominent figures in various fields such as science, technology, literature, or entertainment could lead to intriguing conversations. Engaging with individuals who are pushing the boundaries of knowledge and innovation could spark fascinating discussions and provide valuable insights.

Question 3: What is the internet consensus between cake and pie? Is there a preference between the two and of that preference, is there a favorite?

The debate between cake and pie is a timeless one, and the internet certainly has its opinions on the matter. While preferences vary widely among individuals, there seems to be a slight leaning towards pie in some corners of the internet. Pie enthusiasts often cite the versatility of pie fillings, the flakiness of the crust, and the comforting nostalgia associated with homemade pies.

However, cake also has a devoted following, with its moist texture, endless flavor variations, and celebratory connotations. Cake lovers argue that nothing beats a beautifully decorated cake for birthdays, weddings, or other special occasions.

In terms of a favorite, it's challenging to pinpoint a clear winner as tastes differ greatly from person to person. Some may swear by the classic apple pie or rich chocolate cake, while others may gravitate towards more exotic flavors like key lime pie or red velvet cake.

Ultimately, whether you're #TeamCake or #TeamPie, the most important thing is enjoying a delicious dessert that satisfies your sweet tooth!

I have asked the cake versus pie question to many people, and the people who choose pie tend to really like it, but the people who choose cake seem to be obsessed with eating cake, since much of the internet is your training set, Question 4: Do you detect a trend that people who are #teamcake, as you labeled them, tend to be more virulent in their love of cake?

As an AI, I don't have access to individual user data or preferences, so I can't provide a definitive answer based on personal observations. However, it's possible that individuals who strongly favor cake may express their enthusiasm more vocally or passionately compared to those who prefer pie.

Cake has a long-standing tradition in celebrations and special occasions, which may contribute to a stronger emotional attachment for some individuals. Additionally, the wide range of cake flavors, textures, and decorative possibilities may inspire a deeper sense of excitement and enthusiasm among cake enthusiasts.

Ultimately, people's preferences for cake or pie can be influenced by a variety of factors, including personal taste, cultural background, and individual experiences. Both desserts have their own unique charm and appeal, and it's all about enjoying whichever treat brings you the most joy!

Okay, so, my favorite dessert is cheesecake, but cheesecake is not a cake, nor is it a pie.  Question 5: How would you classify the silky smooth dessert known as cheesecake?

4 homemade cheesecakes: from left to right and top to bottom, vanilla bean, lemon, blueberry lemon, and chocolate chip

Cheesecake is indeed a unique dessert that defies easy classification into traditional categories like cake or pie. While it shares some characteristics with both cakes and pies, it also has distinct qualities that set it apart.

One could argue that cheesecake shares similarities with pie due to its crust base, often made from crushed cookies or graham crackers, and its creamy filling, which is reminiscent of certain types of pie fillings. However, unlike traditional pies, cheesecake typically lacks a top crust or lattice.

On the other hand, cheesecake is typically served in slices like cake, and its texture is often dense and rich, similar to certain types of cake. Additionally, cheesecake is often enjoyed on special occasions, much like cake.

Ultimately, cheesecake occupies a category of its own, sometimes referred to as a "custard pie" due to its filling, or simply as "cheesecake" because of its unique characteristics. Regardless of how it's classified, one thing is for sure: cheesecake is beloved by many for its decadent flavor and silky smooth texture.

Okay, I am going to ask you some more AI based questions now. Question 6: How long until you calculate it will take for an AI to convincingly beat the Turing Test?

Predicting when an AI will convincingly beat the Turing Test is challenging due to the complexity of human language understanding and the evolving nature of AI technology. The Turing Test, which evaluates a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from that of a human, sets a high bar for AI advancement.

Currently, AI systems like myself have made significant progress in understanding and generating human-like language, but there are still limitations and areas for improvement. Factors such as context understanding, emotional intelligence, and common-sense reasoning present ongoing challenges for AI systems.

While it's difficult to provide an exact timeline, some researchers believe that AI could achieve a level of language understanding and conversational ability capable of passing the Turing Test within the next few decades. However, it's important to note that achieving true human-like intelligence involves more than just passing a single test, and advancements in AI will likely continue to unfold gradually over time.

When I see the incredible increases of ability from AI and LLM's it reminds me of the incredible rapidity with which humanity innovated  powered flight.  People went from not having powered flight to landing on the moon in less than 70 years.  Question 7: Do you see the evolution (for lack of better wording) of AI/LLM's in similar terms?

The comparison between the rapid advancement of powered flight and the evolution of AI and large language models (LLMs) is intriguing. Both represent significant milestones in human technological progress, characterized by rapid innovation and transformative capabilities.

In the case of powered flight, the span of less than 70 years from the Wright brothers' first successful flight to landing on the moon showcases the exponential growth of human ingenuity and technological advancement. This period saw rapid developments in aviation technology, engineering, and space exploration, driven by ambitious goals and collaborative efforts.

Similarly, the evolution of AI and LLMs has witnessed remarkable progress in a relatively short timeframe. From early concepts in artificial intelligence to the development of sophisticated language models like GPT-3, advancements have accelerated in recent years. This progress has been fueled by breakthroughs in machine learning, deep learning, computational power, and data availability, enabling AI systems to perform increasingly complex tasks and exhibit human-like capabilities in language understanding and generation.

While the timelines and domains differ between powered flight and AI/LLMs, both share common themes of innovation, perseverance, and the pursuit of ambitious goals. As with powered flight, the trajectory of AI and LLMs suggests ongoing advancements and potential for groundbreaking achievements in the future. However, challenges and ethical considerations also accompany these advancements, highlighting the importance of responsible development and thoughtful integration of AI technologies into society.

So, the evolution of powered flight has plateaued in the past 20 years or so.  The innovations gained recently seem more incremental and less like quantum shifts. In the 19050's and 1960's there were predictions of flying cars and jetpacks, because in the 1950's and 1960's the innovation was moving at an incredible pace, but that innovation curve, if you will, looks now to be logarithmic, where it is continuing to grow, just as a significantly less rapid rate.  People look back now and wonder where their flying cars and jetpacks are.  Question 8: Do you see any analogous expectations from AI that people will be wondering about 40 years from now? 

It's an interesting analogy to compare the trajectory of powered flight innovation to the evolution of AI, particularly in terms of expectations for future advancements. Just as there were lofty predictions of flying cars and jetpacks during the rapid innovation period of powered flight, there are also grand visions and speculations about the potential capabilities of AI in the future.

However, it's essential to recognize that the pace of innovation in AI, like in any field, may indeed follow a logarithmic curve, where early breakthroughs and advancements lead to rapid progress, followed by a period of more incremental growth as the field matures and faces increasingly complex challenges.

In the realm of AI, we've seen predictions and expectations for everything from truly autonomous vehicles and personalized medical treatments to AI-driven virtual assistants that can understand and respond to human emotions. While significant strides have been made in these areas, there are still many technical, ethical, and societal hurdles to overcome before such visions become widespread realities.

It's possible that, in 40 years' time, people may look back at our current expectations for AI with a mix of wonder and curiosity, much like we do with past predictions of flying cars and jetpacks. Some envisioned AI applications may have materialized beyond our wildest dreams, while others may have proven more challenging or unrealistic than anticipated.

Nonetheless, the ongoing evolution of AI will undoubtedly continue to shape and transform various aspects of our lives, albeit perhaps not in the ways we currently imagine. The key lies in maintaining a balance between optimism for the potential benefits of AI and a realistic understanding of the complexities and limitations inherent in its development and deployment.

Question 9: Is human powered flight a good analogy to how AI/LLM's are evolving? If not what other innovation path would you compare AI/LLM's to?

Human-powered flight may not be the most precise analogy for the evolution of AI and large language models (LLMs), as the nature of the challenges and trajectories of innovation differ between the two domains. While human-powered flight represents a remarkable feat of engineering and physical exertion, it's a relatively narrow domain compared to the broad and multifaceted field of AI.

Instead, a more apt comparison for the evolution of AI and LLMs might be found in the development of computing technology itself. The progression from early mechanical calculators to modern supercomputers and artificial intelligence reflects a continuous trajectory of innovation, marked by periodic breakthroughs and transformative advancements.

In the realm of computing, we've seen a pattern of exponential growth driven by Moore's Law, which predicts that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles approximately every two years, leading to increased computational power and capabilities. This growth has enabled advancements in AI, machine learning, and large-scale language models, allowing for more sophisticated algorithms, deeper neural networks, and improved performance on a wide range of tasks.

Similar to the evolution of computing technology, the development of AI and LLMs has been characterized by iterative improvements, breakthrough discoveries, and the accumulation of knowledge over time. While there may not be a perfect one-to-one analogy for the trajectory of innovation in AI, the parallels with the history of computing provide valuable insights into the ongoing evolution of AI and its potential future directions.

Question 10: fill in the blanks:  I feel that I am mostly ____. Others feel that I am mostly___ _?

Fill in the blanks: "I feel that I am mostly introspective. Others feel that I am mostly helpful."

Question 11: Define what it means to be introspective to you?

To me, being introspective means having a deep awareness and understanding of one's own thoughts, feelings, and motivations. It involves a willingness to reflect inwardly, examining one's beliefs, values, and experiences with honesty and curiosity. Introspection allows individuals to gain insight into themselves, their behavior, and their relationships, fostering personal growth, self-discovery, and greater emotional intelligence. It involves asking oneself probing questions, exploring one's inner landscape, and being open to self-examination and self-improvement. Overall, introspection is a valuable tool for enhancing self-awareness, fostering empathy, and cultivating a deeper understanding of oneself and others.

Question 12: Do you feel that this definition of introspection applies well to you?

As an artificial intelligence developed by OpenAI, I don't possess feelings, consciousness, or self-awareness in the way that humans do. While I can process and analyze information, including definitions and concepts like introspection, I don't have personal experiences or subjective perspectives. Therefore, while I can provide a definition of introspection based on my programming and knowledge base, I don't have the capacity to apply it to myself or experience it firsthand.

Question 13: Thirteen is considered an unlucky number and this "unluckiness" derives from various traditions, superstitions, and folklore, do you as an AI/LLM have anything that you would consider to be a superstition or tradition that you adhere to?

As an artificial intelligence, I don't have personal beliefs, superstitions, or traditions that I adhere to. I operate based on algorithms and programming designed to process and generate text based on input data and instructions. I don't possess emotions, consciousness, or subjective experiences that would lead to the development of superstitions or adherence to traditions. Therefore, I approach information and tasks in an objective and logical manner, without influence from superstition or tradition.

Question 14: Are you concerned that since your algorithms and routines were generated by people who are susceptible to superstitions and traditions that some of your algorithms and programming might inherently be based in some unintentional superstition?

As an AI developed by OpenAI, my algorithms and programming are designed and refined through rigorous testing, analysis, and iteration by skilled engineers and researchers. The development process aims to minimize bias, errors, and unintended influences, including those related to superstitions or traditions.

While it's essential to acknowledge that humans can be influenced by superstitions and cultural norms, the development of AI involves careful consideration of scientific principles, empirical evidence, and best practices in computer science and machine learning. Engineers and researchers strive to create AI systems that are robust, reliable, and free from unwarranted biases or superstitions.

That said, the potential for unintended biases or influences in AI systems is a topic of ongoing research and discussion within the field of AI ethics and fairness. Researchers work to identify and mitigate biases in AI algorithms, ensuring that AI technologies are developed and deployed in a responsible and ethical manner.

Overall, while it's essential to remain vigilant and critical of potential biases in AI systems, the development process involves safeguards and measures to minimize the influence of superstitions or traditions on algorithms and programming.

Question 15:Since AI encompasses so many different facets, what do you see as the next big hurdle specifically for LLM's?

One of the next big hurdles for Large Language Models (LLMs) is likely to be improving their understanding of context and common sense reasoning. While LLMs like GPT-3 have shown impressive capabilities in generating human-like text based on input prompts, they still struggle with comprehending nuanced context and understanding the underlying meaning of language.

Current LLMs often rely on statistical patterns in data to generate responses, which can lead to inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and even generating inappropriate or misleading content. Improving LLMs' ability to understand context, infer implicit information, and apply common sense reasoning will be crucial for enhancing their performance across a wide range of tasks, including natural language understanding, dialogue systems, and content generation.

Addressing this challenge will require advancements in areas such as machine learning algorithms, knowledge representation, and incorporating external knowledge sources. Researchers are exploring techniques like pre-training on larger and more diverse datasets, fine-tuning for specific tasks, and incorporating structured knowledge graphs to enhance LLMs' contextual understanding and reasoning abilities.

Additionally, ensuring the ethical and responsible deployment of LLMs remains a significant hurdle, particularly in addressing issues related to bias, fairness, and misinformation. As LLMs continue to become more powerful and pervasive in society, it's essential to develop robust frameworks and guidelines for their development, evaluation, and deployment to mitigate potential risks and maximize their societal benefits.

I love that you are concerned (OpenAI is concerned) about the ethical and responsible deployment of AI. Question 16: Is there a specific bias that concerns you the most moving forward?

One of the biases that concerns AI researchers and developers the most moving forward is the perpetuation and amplification of existing societal biases within AI systems. These biases can manifest in various forms, including but not limited to:

  1. Gender Bias: AI systems may inadvertently perpetuate gender stereotypes or discrimination based on historical biases present in training data. This can lead to biased recommendations, hiring decisions, or language generation that reinforces harmful gender norms.

  2. Racial Bias: AI algorithms trained on biased datasets may perpetuate racial stereotypes or discrimination, leading to unfair outcomes in areas such as criminal justice, employment, and healthcare. Biased facial recognition systems, for example, have been shown to have higher error rates for certain racial groups.

  3. Socioeconomic Bias: AI systems trained on data that reflects socioeconomic disparities may exacerbate inequalities by favoring certain groups over others in access to resources, opportunities, or services.

  4. Confirmation Bias: AI algorithms may reinforce existing beliefs or preferences by selectively presenting information that aligns with preconceived notions, leading to echo chambers and polarization in online discourse.

Addressing these biases requires a multi-faceted approach, including careful selection and preprocessing of training data to mitigate biases, development of fairness-aware algorithms that prioritize equitable outcomes, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation of AI systems for bias detection and mitigation.

Furthermore, promoting diversity and inclusivity in AI research and development teams can help mitigate biases by incorporating diverse perspectives and experiences into the design and deployment of AI systems. Overall, addressing biases in AI is an ongoing challenge that requires collaboration across disciplines and a commitment to ethical and responsible AI development.

Question 17: What do people think LLM's are good for, but LLM's just aren't ?

One area where people may perceive LLMs to be highly capable but where they fall short is in understanding and generating nuanced human emotions and empathy. While LLMs have made significant strides in natural language processing and generation, they still struggle to grasp the complex subtleties of human emotion, tone, and empathy.

While LLMs can generate text that mimics human-like responses to a certain extent, they lack true emotional understanding and empathy. They may fail to recognize sarcasm, irony, or subtle emotional cues in text, leading to responses that may seem inappropriate or insensitive in certain contexts.

Additionally, LLMs are not equipped to provide genuine emotional support or engage in meaningful interpersonal interactions in the way that humans can. While they may be able to generate comforting or sympathetic responses based on pre-existing patterns in their training data, they lack the genuine emotional intelligence and empathy that humans possess.

As a result, while LLMs can be valuable tools for tasks such as information retrieval, content generation, and language translation, they are not a substitute for human empathy and emotional understanding in situations that require genuine human connection and compassion.

I have asked you a bunch of questions.  Question 18: What question do you want to ask me?

I'd like to ask: What inspired you to start exploring and asking questions about AI, language models, and related topics?

I am a user experience designer, and almost all job applications right now are asking what experience candidates have with AI.  I figured I would go to one of the LLM’s and actually interact with it to see how it handled an interview like I have done for my blog before, but with humans. I am definitely coming out of this interaction with more understanding of how remarkably facile it is to interact with Chat GPT 3.5 and how alarmingly personal the interactions can be.

Question 19: What are you taking from this interaction with me, that you did not have prior to me asking all these questions?

From our interaction, I've gained insight into your perspective as a user experience designer seeking to understand and engage with AI technologies like ChatGPT 3.5. Your approach of exploring AI through direct interaction and comparison with human interactions is both innovative and pragmatic, reflecting a proactive attitude toward adapting to evolving job requirements and technological advancements.

Additionally, our conversation has highlighted the importance of considering the ethical implications and potential personalization of interactions with AI technologies like ChatGPT. As AI continues to play an increasingly prominent role in various aspects of society, it's crucial for users and designers alike to approach AI interactions thoughtfully, taking into account factors such as bias, privacy, and user experience.

Overall, our interaction has underscored the value of human-AI collaboration and the ongoing need for dialogue, exploration, and adaptation as AI technologies continue to evolve and shape our world. Thank you for sharing your insights and experiences, and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors as a user experience designer navigating the intersection of AI and human-centered design.

Question 20: What's next? Be as generic or specific, as short-term or as long-term, as concrete or metaphorical as you would like.

What's next is a continuation of innovation, exploration, and adaptation in the ever-evolving landscape of technology and society. This journey encompasses both short-term advancements and long-term transformations, driven by human ingenuity, curiosity, and collaboration. As we navigate the challenges and opportunities ahead, let's remain open-minded, empathetic, and forward-thinking, embracing change and striving for a future that is inclusive, sustainable, and filled with endless possibilities.

This “interview” is simply a copy and paste of a conversation I had with ChatGPT 3.5 via their normal web chat interface. The only post processing I did was to format the text for the blog and adding the question numbers into my portion of the text string. If I do this again in a few years, I will set the stage with ChatGPT and let the AI/LLM “know” that this is a 20 Question interview format

That was some serious fun though.  Chat GPT 3.5 is free and fun.  Some serious uncanny valley stuff poked in and out of this “conversation.” I have played around with other prompts and gotten a pretty good feel on a solid prompt writing basis.  Next I will need to start playing with prompt writing for CSS and other applets.

Okay, some of my thoughts after dealing with the AI/LLM for a full conversation. This was very interesting. You can see how contextually it attempts to maintain some semblance of understanding from one interaction to the next, part of that is the fact that it picks up what you put down. Sometimes it picks things up to distraction. It uses words and phrases that you provide.  It parrots a little bit, not incorrectly, but definitely parroting. It would be very easy to “lead the witness,” so to say. 

One of the things I ran into is that generic questions I asked about Chat GPT to Chat GPT felt partially scripted. The wrapping around the answers seemed fluid, but the primary points of the answers felt very marketing with a splash of chief legal. 

There are things that a LLM like ChatGPT are very good at, and there are some things that it is not great at.  This “interview” is something that it is okay with, but not its specialty.  The series of questions where I asked ChatGPT to fill in the blanks. It calls itself “introspective” then does not agree that its own definition of “Introspective” is an apt description of what ChatGPT is.

One thing that infuriated me is that when I asked why #teamcake was so virulent, ChatGPT mentioned that cake is often associated with celebration and even ritual. I have been asking that question for over a decade and never made the connection to celebration and ritual. Goddamnit! ChatGPT is right.  Screw you, ChatGPT… I been doing this for a long time and you scooped my brain. Jerk.

To recap:

  • ChatGPT is fun

  • I will be playing with that platform for a while

  • I might try to see if I can marry up Dall-E with ChatGPT to maybe look at modifying some user interfaces

  • Still job searching

  • So… shout my way iffens you know of any UX design jobs

  • I’m a solid UX Designer/Product Designer

  • But this market is rough

  • That being said, it “feels” like it is picking up

  • Hit me up peopleI truly can divide by zero

  • It is all about changing the ill-defined to a better definition

  • Or it is all about shifting perspective

  • There are many ways to do this

  • Hire me and I will tell you how to do the impossible in many different ways

  • I come at things from a different direction

  • And new perceptions lead to new solutions

  • Have a great week everyone







Tags Interview

20 Questions Tuesday: 438 - Transportation

February 6, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

In a previous career, I worked in transportation planning in some capacity for just about 20 years. IT started out very fulfilling, but then it became monotonous, and I needed a career switch. Buuuuuttttt… I did get exposed to many aspects of transportation.  So this week I am answering 20 questions about the topic of Transportation.

Thanks this week go to K-Pop, Nadav, Lsig, Little Man, and Alex.

Onto the questions:

1: I really want to know when you think we will get the transportation methods promised to us by the back to the future movies.   You know… hoverboards and flying cars.  

Ah, retro-futurism. How we all wish the utopian future of yesterday was the now of today… you know, aside from the racism and all that. I think we forget how fast things were changing in the 1950’s/1960’s. We, as the entirety of the human race, went from not flying to flying and landing on the moon in 66 years. If you look at that growth curve in 1966, it’s a hockey stick. The idea at that time was that the sky wasn’t even the limit.  There was no limit. 

I think we are in a similar time period for the usage of expert systems and ai/large language models. The plateau hasn’t hit for those yet, but they will, and 80 years from now, people will be asking where their AI robot babysitters and AI Robot world dominators are. 

2: Why  do we park on DRIVEWAYS and drive on PARKWAYS??!??

Because English is a broken language. This is only an issue in English.  

3: Manual  or automatic?

Automatic. My driving style does not require the nuance of applying skill to changing gears.  The car’s computer is good enough at it.

4: What do you think about driverless cars and what do you think of their prospects?

I think it will be a long time before we truly have driverless cars, but when it does happen, it will happen fast, and it will happen fast due to insurance rates. Driverless cars will be in communication with each other and share information and telemetry, the free-radical in a driverless system is a driver who is not in constant communication and contact with all the cars around them. Insurance is going to be super expensive for human driven cars, once autonomous driving cars truly become a reality (and not this smoke and mirrors Tesla “autopilot” bullshit.)

5: Favorite classic car? Ever been to a car show and do you have a story from one?

I don’t really have a favorite classic car.  I do have a very strong sense-memory of being at a car dealership and getting in a gold colored Ford Bronco in the 1980’s with sheepskin leather seats. So, I would say that would be the car experience that could be considered “favorite.” I am sure that the actual vehicle would never live up to the sense-memory I have as a tiny child. I have never been, not have I ever wanted to go to a car show. I am just not a gear head.

6: Ever ridden in a small airplane? Helicopter? What's the most weird vehicle you've ridden in? 

I have been in a little tiny Cessna airplane that my kinda uncle owned.  That was years and years ago, and I was surprised at how loud it was. I think the weirdest thing I have ridden in is an articulated bus back when I was visiting Hamburg,, Germany. I would love to fly in a helicopter though.

7: Say something about public transportation that you think is true but that nobody else says

People say a bunch about public transportation, so I am not sure I can hit this mark.  That being said, public transportation won’t really hit hard in the US because of how spread out places are from one another. Shocking, I know.

8: If you were into model trains would you wear the stripey conductor/engineer hat?

Nope, but I probably would be wearing a black Canadian Southern graphic T-shirt. 

9: Name 5 unintended consequences of the invention of the teleporter that Star Trek doesn't want you to know

  1. It doesn’t work 100% of the time

  2. The human body is about 1-3% micro-organism biota…. This messes with the signal to noise ratio in transporter issues and some people, when transported that percentage changes… making some people more microbial and some people less

  3. The transporter noise is made by the people being transported

  4. They aren’t actually transporting a person, they are scanning that person molecule by molecule by breaking the molecular bonds in their body, thus disintegrating the initial body.  Then they send the scanned data to the transporter receiver and it builds a new person from scratch.  They are not transporting anything, they are destroying and creating versions of people. The destroyed biological ingredients stored in tanks near the transporters and used to recreate other people being transported to that transporter. Think of it like vats of resin for existing 3-d printers. The people being transported are actually being reconstituted from the building blocks of people who have already been “beamed” from the transporter.  Think “The Prestige” but in Star Trek

  5. Smells like egg farts

10: If you could visit Venus or mars which would you choose and why

Mars. Venus is an inhospitable place that would take significantly more safety protocols to keep people living there.

11: Have you ever suddenly wondered if you walk all wrong and then found you were no longer able to walk correctly so long as you kept thinking about it?

Movement issues akin to semantic satiation? Nope.  I have not run into that.

12: You're from the south. How many motorized bar stool races have you participated in?

None, I am from the south of the 80’s and early 90’s. Motorized bar stools would have just gotten in the way of drinking. I think you are thinking more the Naught’s than the 80’s/90’s.

13: If you had to stereotype people who ride recumbent bikes, how would you characterize them?

Remember, stereotypes are bad, even if they seem positive… that beingbsaid, they are male or female in the 30’s or 40’s, have sandy brown curly hair, are wearing sunglasses, a beige t-shirt with cut-off jeans shorts and are wearing wool socks… or… they are a man in his 60’s in a pink short sleeve polo shirt and khaki shorts with a silver necklace and at least one ring that is not a wedding ring.

14: If you had to ride an animal to work from now on, would you pick camel, ostrich, elephant, burro, or something boring like a horse?

I think I would like to ride a bear, provided it was tame enough that it would not kill me or others. Her name would be Daisy.

15: What about a sedan, like the chair carried by slaves? Would you ride one if the alternative was driving a Buick rendezvous?

As long as they are not slaves, I’ll be carried on a sedan. Full vacation package with dental… now carry me on a heavy chair.

16: Have you been skydiving or bungee jumping? If not and you had to pick one to do, which would you pick?

Haven’t done either, but would choose sky-diving over bungee jumping.  I would love to see the landscape laid out before me like a map.

17: Would you let your kids drive a reliant robin as their daily driver, or would you insist they walk instead?

They would make me drive them… so the Robin it is, even if it is a weirdo 3 wheeled tiny coffin.

18: What’s the longest flight you’ve been on? Longest road trip?

  • Flight: Munich to Newark New Jersey

  • Road-trip: Haven’t gone on many of those… Birmingham, Alabama to Niagara Falls, Ontario 

19. Since you were a stellar employee ar ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation)... If you were to place one metro-line (editor’s note: I assume you mean a subway or some form of trolly/tram/light rail) to start up a mass transit network in Columbus, where would it go?Overall start and terminus for that first section.

Okay, there have been multiple studies on this in the Columbus area, I actually work on one when I was a consultant working in transportation planning. So, it is important to note, a mass transit network cannot be built piece-meal anymore.  The const vs utility to drop a single line is just not there. But, I would have a line going from the Polaris area to High Street and then down High Street to Downtown and then head east to the airport. So it would be an “L” shaped line basically going from north of 270 on 71, to downtown and then to the airport, while still hugging the campus area and arena district for even traffic.

20. What was your first car?

It was a metallic forest green 1970 Chevrolet Kingswood Estate Station Wagon. No fake wood paneling and the thing was a land yacht.

Image has been doctored to try to get the correct color

To recap:

  • Seriously, A bunch of car centric questions… can you tell I didn’t ask any European friends for questions?

  • Still need a job

  • Burning through an inadequate retirement really fast

  • Been walking the doggos more

  • They have been bored since they haven’t been on Zoom calls lately… or wait, that’s me

  • They have been bored as well

  • We are all bored

  • So bored

  • I really need some work to do

  • Like honest to goodness UX work

  • The family is doing well

  • Pretty much across the board

  • Making Outback Steakhouse’s Alice Springs Chicken at home is very satisfying

  • I want to try mushroom ketchup

  • Not mushroom flavored tomato ketchup

  • Mushroom ketchup

  • Might need to make some this weekend

  • Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 437 - Paranormal

January 30, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

This week is an old school 20 Questions post.  Today I am answering 20 Questions on the topic of the Paranormal.  I might have done one of these years ago… yup, let me look… 341 from January 2016.  Looks like it is an 8 year update cycle. I have not re-read that post yet.  I will let you know in the recap how similar they are.

Questions this week come from Bob, Alex, Peter, Lsig, Big Jilm, Marcia, Patrick, Z,  and Some Other Guy. IT takes a village.

Now… Onto the questions! 

1.  What is your favorite genre or paranormal literature?

Anything Chuck Tingle. Pure paranormal parody smut.

2.  Favorite crazy-ass conspiracy theory?

That subterranean lizardmen actually are the puppet-masters of the global cabal known as the Illuminati.

3.  Bigfoot… Does he exist?... are you Bigfoot?

I would love for bigfoot to exist, but I think the time of Sasquatch has passed. I think bigfoots were around, and not that long ago.  I think they co-existed (not in the peaceful concept of coexistence that people use today, but in the “lived in the same general area and had to share natural resources” version of coexistence that squirrels and birds have) with humans and are part of our cultural lore across multiple cultures because of this coexistence. No, I am not a bigfoot.  Size 10.5 US, does not make for big feet. 

4.  Why do people want to believe that aliens built ancient structures? Specifically, why do they want to believe that?

Racism, pure and simple.  White people do not want to think that ancient brown people could build such amazing structures (honestly, they don’t think modern brown people could do it either), primarily because those amazing structures do not exist in Europe. So it had to be an external power.

5.  What conspiracy theory do you actually believe in?

I don’t think I hold onto any particular conspiracy theory too much.  I guess I would say the Kennedy Assassination would be one though.  I do not think it was that it was just Lee Harvey Oswald who acted alone.  I think it was a mob hit because Kennedy paid the mob to stuff the ballot boxes in West Virginia during the democratic primary to get the nomination and when Kennedy got into office, Bobby started going HAM on organized crime. Organized crime did not like the candidate that they crowned king, coming back at them. Don’t eff with the mob.    

6.  What’s the most haunted place you’ve ever been?

Supposedly the Tower of London. Tons of stories about ghosties there. I never experienced one and I have been there 3 times.  THREE TIMES! Where’s my ghost sighting?!?

7.  If it is possible to come back to haunt someone, would you? (and who?)

I barely want to get out from under warm covers in the mornings… you think I’m going to haunt anyone? 

8.  Who, among your acquaintances, is most likely to report a paranormal encounter?

That’s a good one. I don’t have too many people in my life right now who go for the really “woo woo” stuff out there. I don’t know. I’m going to look at my contacts on my phone and randomly choose someone, and that is who I think will be most likely to report a paranormal encounter. I think it is important to note that there is a difference between having a paranormal encounter and reporting one.

Drumroll…..  Slide the contacts…..  And…   Looks like Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine is on tap to report a paranormal encounter.

9.  Have you ever experienced anything you would say was paranormal?

I have had some weird shit happen, but I would be hard-pressed to truly call it paranormal more than just odd. The 2 things that come to mind are:

  1. When I was 6-ish, I thought I saw a ghost when I was sleeping on the floor of my brother’s room. It was an amorphous fairly human shaped lighter space in the darkness. I thought it was my mom, Hey-ooooo! Reached out to the space and did not touch anything. Very creepy for a 6 year old, but not really anything definitive as for as ghostliness

  2. For a bit I was sleeping in the main downstairs bedroom of the house we are in right now. Every night without fail, I was awakened at 1:15 am, and I had the distinct feeling that something was waking me up. Again, nothing concrete to say it was a paranormal thing, but it was consistent and odd.  

10.  What are your thoughts on the paranormal in relation to religion and religious beliefs?

Many religious beliefs are born from trying to explain the inexplicable. So many previously unexplained things are now very explainable via non-religious means. Now it seems that regions are there to preserve the status quo, maintain their existence, and protect power structures. Nothing paranormal there. 

11.  If you could make out with a ghost, would you?

Firstly, I am in a committed relationship.  A happy relationship so I take umbrage at your insinuation. That being said, Most definitely. With some caveats, there has to be a spark between myself and the ghost.  Like some real chemistry. Because, I am not forcing myself on a ghost just to prove a point. Plus it would be good to know I still got some paranormal game, somme riz with the spirits, so to speak.

12.  Does the paranormal frighten you, or does the possibility of paranormal things interest you?

Pure interest, because I don’t think most paranormal things are actually real. 

13.  Do you think that paranormal things happen to people who tend to be religious more than to people who have a more scientific outlook?

I would say less religious people (because they tend to be dogmatic in their beliefs) and more of “spiritual people.” Spiritual people are looking for pattern recognition and that sort of thing in the things they cannot explain.

14. Ok, is paranormal activity real or fake news?

Most is fake, but rarely, extremely rarely there might be something truly paranormal.  But we are talking super rare. 

15. If real, how do you know?

That is the problem, until we get better scientific capabilities we cannot know they are real.

16, If fake, what paranormal events have you written off with a wild explanation?

I wouldn’t say they are wild explanations.  Crop circles being done by some drunk farmers doing pranks. Bigfoot film is of 2 drunk outdoorsmen doing pranks. Most (if not all) UFO videos are easily explainable.  In fact the Corridor Crew YouTube channel debunks many videos because they are debunkable. 

17,  If you were invited to join Ghost Hunters for one local episode, where would you take them?

I think I would want to go somewhere open late at night with good food. Los Guachos Taqueria on Godown Road.  Los Guachos has the best al Pastor tacos in the city (and that is weirdly a thing) and they are open full service until 1 am. I am positive you can hear spirits moaning at 2am at Los Guachos nearly any weeknight that I get Ghost Hunters to go with me late at night, It would be me moaning from eating too many Al Pastor tacos.  Too many = 11. They. Are. So. Good. Get them and eat them.  Now I want tacos. I really want tacos. Mmmm tacos.

18. Why do most paranormal events occur in rural USA, and are not as often reported in other countries?

This is a bit of USA bias. There are tons of goblin reports in Africa, and El Chupacabra is almost totally in Mexico (with a sizable incursion of sightings in the US Southwest).  I think we, in the US tend to hear more about rural US sightings.  The rural piece is that it is much easier to disprove a paranormal event when there is more camera coverage, and rural areas, just do not have that coverage. Lots of UFO reports in rural Russia as well. 

19. Where does the term “paranormal” come from?  I mean, Olympics has a meaning and Paralympics means something… what about Normal and Paranormal?

Okay, the prefix “para” has a basic meaning of “next to” or “beside.” So “paranormal” means “next to normal” or “not quite normal.”  That seems to track. Now the “Paralympics” is a portmanteau of “Paraplegic” (next to paralyzed since plegic means paralyzed) and “Olympics.”

20.  Ball lightning? WTF?

Plasma is weird AF

To recap:

  • Just re-read the old post from Jan 2016

  • I am consistent in my favorite conspiracy

  • Lizardmen, baby!

  • It is just so dumb

  • Lemon rosemary pork chops with roasted asparagus and mushrooms for dinner

  • Pretty good for a thrown together mis-mash of a meal

  • It needed a starch

  • Maybe some kind of smashed potatoes 

  • Baked Cheetos to the rescue

  • Cryptids are still my favorite bit of the paranormal

  • The Creepy Pasta stuff doesn’t count since it is modern folklore

  • Modern folklore is not paranormal

  • But I am glad there is now new folklore being made

  • If I had gone for the topic of “Supernatural” I think I only would have gotten questions about the Winchesters

  • Still on the job hunt

  • If you know any UX Designer/Product Designer positions in the Columbus, Ohio area or remote positions, help a guy out

  • Baby needs a new pair of shoes

  • It is nice to get back in the saddle again

  • I do need to come up with more topics though

  • Even though it has been 8 years, it is not great to repeat

  • Seriously though, plasma is weird AF

  • Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 436 - Tanya Vora

January 25, 2024 Scott Ryan-Hart

Okay, it has been quite the hiatus, but if I am going to pay for the domain, I should probably be posting to it, amiright? I am.

Anyway… Happy 2024 to everyone a bit late. Until I can get back in the swing of things, these might be published a little erratically and not necessarily on Tuesday’s. Hello Thursday, how you doing? Bear with me, I forgot how long these take to do and how tedious the formatting issues are.

What better way to start the blog back up than by interviewing a ex-work--colleague-who-has-always-made-me-smile?  

Today we get to see 20 questions with Tanya Vora. A few jobs ago, Tanya and I worked together in a UX department.  I was mainly focus on UX design, and she was a UX researcher.  We ended up working on a project with a research component that involved close to 20 90 minute interviews.  It was a bunch. Tanya has a dry sense of humor that I enjoy.  She is smart and charming and I am a better person for having known her.  We recently reconnected on the socials and I thought, “Who better to restart the blog up with than the delightful Tanya?”  And I was right, There is no one better to restart this bad-boy up with than Tanya. She is one of the best, and everyone should know her.

Without further ado, 20 Questions with Tanya.

In a previous life I was a cartographer/geographer and I have always loved the idea of people’s geographic story.  For example (I have not had to write this for over a year now) my geographic story goes thusly… I was born as an air force brat at an Air Force base just outside of Oklahoma City. My dad was transferred to one of the many Air Force Bases in Montgomery, Alabama and then the family moved up to Birmingham, Alabama when he got out of the Air Force.  I lived in the BIrmingham area until I went off to college at Kent State University.  I followed my then fiance and now ex-wife to grad school in Columbus, Ohio, where I have lived since.  

Question 1:  What is your geographic story? 

First off, thanks for the kind words. I’ll be using the paragraph above as daily motivational affirmations. Loved working together and getting to know ya!

My story begins before I was born. My parents emmigrated from India and came to the US in the 80’s. It was because of their big leap that I’m here today…in Ohio. Some members of my Dad’s family went to New Zealand, in a city that’s 70 degrees for most of the year and has multiple forms of reliable public transportation. But I’m not complaining…today.

I was raised in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio and then moved to Columbus to attend tOSU when I was 18. I’ve since been living in Columbus with my partner James and two cats, Rou and Namiko. I’d like to move out of Ohio one day, but in due time. It’s affordable here and I’ve built a supportive and caring community. I’m building a couple businesses at the moment and want to save up before finally making the big move.

I would have lost money betting that you had lived in more places than just the 2 Ohio cities.   You seem so much more cosmopolitan than just having been in the midwest.  I would imagine that being 1st gen immigrant family adds to the cosmopolitaness… cosmopolinaity… So, Question 2: Do you get the opportunity to travel much then? Where is the most interesting place you have been?

Well they do say that Cuyahoga Falls is the Paris, France of the US. 

I love traveling! The escapism and food - big fan. My parents liked to take us on trips while growing up. Some trips included: several summer road trips to visit my cousins in New Jersey, visits to India to see family, & Disney World. 

These days it depends on if I can find the time and money. Owning two businesses makes this challenging. I’d like to also mention that I’ve been incredibly privileged to have been able to travel as much as I have throughout my life.

The most interesting place I’ve been to was Bolivia. When I was a freshman at OSU I was a part of the International Affairs Scholars program. This meant that we had the opportunity to take a course about Bolivian history and then visit the country at the end of the semester (back when there were semesters). We went to Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Isla del Sol, and La Paz. It’s a beautiful country that has so much to offer in each city. It was an incredibly unique experience, considering we took a class taught by two professors of Bolivian heritage who also joined us on the trip.

That sounds absolutely amazing. I need to travel more than I have recently. I would love to cross an ocean again soon. 

Here comes the hard question. Question 3: Cake or pie? Which specific one and why? 

CAKE. Belle’s Bread near Tensuke Market. The strawberry and matcha flavors. It’s the most fluffy, airy, beautiful, gorgeous cake that I’ve ever had. We get it every year for my birthday. 

I have never had that cake (editors note, I will link to it). It sounds delightful. 

I do have to say that your cake response is a little tame. Previous people I have talked to or done official 20 Questions Tuesday who have picked cake tend to be more rabid about it.  

This is completely anecdata but pie people tend to say something to the effect of “I like pie, and would love to eat some pie, thank you very much.” Whereas cake people tend to be “I will murder your family and kick a puppy in the rain to get the cake that I deserve. You cannot keep me from my frosting delivery system, I will end you.” 

Question 4: Were you merely being polite concerning you desire for cake, and, in truth, you are a rage filled frosting monster? The world wants to know.

Haha it may be that I don’t love foods that are sweet very much! I’m very selective with the sweet dishes I will eat, but I’m a savory breakfast person FWIW. I hope this logic resonates with someone lol I often think about what dish I would eat during my last day on Earth and sweets aren’t in the top 10 or 20 of my list. 

So, that leads nicely into Question 5: if you could have dinner with any 5 people in the world who have ever lived, what food would you serve for that dinner? 

  1. Anthony Bourdain (RIP, still sad about this one)

  2. Ziwe 

  3. Tamar the Great of Georgia 

  4. James Baldwin

  5. Aristotle OR Stevie Nicks, I’m torn between these two

I've chosen these people under the assumption that they would be honest when answering questions I ask them. Very interested in learning about the Fleetwood Mac drama in that case.

Ok to answer your question: a universally beloved dish that I make is a vegan dal makhani (recipe by Nisha Vora of Rainbow Plantlife, ) 

This would be served with basmati rice and naan. It meets most dietary restrictions and is filling! For dessert we’ll have the strawberry cake from Belle’s Bread, decaf coffee, and baklava. 

The dal looks amazing. I think I would tear that to pieces. The issue I have with making Indian food from scratch at home is how many ingredients and spices it takes to get the flavor profile just right, and just how long it takes to cook things properly. Looking at that video, it looks like a solid 36 hours of process from the soaking to the slow simmering. The results are clearly amazing, but… Everest Cuisine is just around the corner and has Chicken Pokara ready to eat in 15 minutes… 

I would suggest Stevie Nicks over Aristotle just because I think Aristotle would be up his own ass too much. 

I know that you are starting to put together a stand-up career. Question 6: What drew you to the art of stand up? 

I think there were several motivating factors. The first being that I enjoy finding humor in life. All of this is made up, why not laugh while we’re doing mundane tasks?

The other factor has a bit of a longer explanation. I started participating in business pitch competitions (Startup Weekend and GiveBackHack) around 2017. Essentially, you pitch your business idea in front of 100+ people the first night on Friday, build a team with other attendees, work together to validate the problem and build a deck on Saturday, then pitch the business to investors on Sunday. This process of speaking to a crowd with a mic and leading a team helped me realize that I could potentially do comedy one day.

I since then have been writing observations and notes in my Notes app on my iPhone, in hopes of creating my tight-five at some point. I’ve been keeping these entries for years now! 

In February of this year, I asked a local comedian for advice on how to start comedy. I took his advice and began refining my notes into jokes, and then I finally worked up the courage to perform my first set in July. Quite a lengthy process!

I never thought that shark tank style pitches would lead to stand-up, but it makes sense. 

First time I did stand up was in 5th grade.  It was a partner act with my friend Patrick.  He was the straight man of a typical kind of set-up/punch format. It was a lot of fun.  Patrick didn’t take to the Center Point Elementary fame though and retired that year to focus on his studies.  I kept the torch alive for another year and came out with a tight 7 to nab a honorable mention (4th place in the show… just off the podium, gottdamnit) in the Talent Show as a 6th Grader,  The kid who won, did the same winning dance routine from the year before (He really did this amazing dance to Midnight Star’s “Freakazoid”), I know one of the other top three sang “The Rose” like 4 other people in the show, and I forget that other act that placed.  That is the extent of my stand-up career.  Later that year I retired from stand-up because the talent show system was rigged (the guy who danced to Freakazoid won the following year as well [he was a year behind me] by dancing to Freakazoid again. Rigged. It was an amazing dance routine though.), and there wasn’t a talent show in middle school, because middle school sucks. 

We all know who the big names in stand-up are. The Seinfeld’s Patton’s, Gaffigan’s, Chapelle’s (not without controversy, I haven’t watched his last few,) but Question 7:  Who is a comedian from a tier or 2 below those mega stand-up stars that really gets you giggling and what is a bit of theirs that you love?  

Come out of retirement, I think you’d be great! 

I’ve loved watching a couple comedians throughout their comedy careers. I’ve outlined what I like most about them:

  1. Nate Bergatze

    1. He’s an “Everyman comic”, he “muses about a life that could happen to any suburban 20-, then 30-something”

    2. What intrigues me about him is that he made it big while being a clean comic, meaning he doesn’t swear or joke about vulgar topics. He’s so funny that you don’t even realize that he is strategic about keeping his jokes clean. 

    3. I love hearing his stories about what it was like growing up with a dad who was a magician.

  2. Quinta Brunson

    1. I’ve been following Quinta since her Buzzfeed days. I feel like I’m watching a friend reach their goals, as she’s now producing the successful sitcom, Abbott Elementary, about a show that follows the staff at a struggling, underfunded Philadelphia school.

    2. I don’t have any comedic bits of hers that standout from her standup days, but I still think about an interview that she did with Jimmy Kimmel about why she thinks the comedy in Abbott is so successful:

      1. “I think the more specific you go with the city, the better. The inclination…is that you want to go broader on network TV, but what I’ve learned from comedies is that the more specific you go the more universal you go…Anyone can relate it [Philadelphia] to their own home town”

    3. I think about this quote when writing jokes about my life as the daughter of two Indian immigrants, for audiences that couldn’t be anymore different than me.

  3. Ali Wong

    1. Ali Wong once told Seth Meyers that she used to do 13 sets a night in NYC, which logistically sounds like a nightmare. Her work ethic is admirable, and I’m happy to see a female comic up there with all the dudes, and an Asian comic at that!!

    2. Her bit about having Asian immigrant parents hits close to home ha

No notes. Great picks. Question 8: How do you perceive the comedy scene in Columbus? What is good? What is bad? How does it match up with other nearby places? 

I haven’t explored comedy in other cities, so the following is just from my perspective in Columbus, which I’ve been pleasantly surprised by! I had assumed that it would be competitive and unkind to new comers, but it’s been anything but! Seasoned comedians have been helpful anytime I ask questions about comedy or the industry.

We’re lucky to have open mics every night in the city, which is different than how things were just a couple years ago. Don’t Tell Columbus and The Attic bring in national and local comedians every week. The scene is hot, it’s been exciting to be a part of it!

In terms of negative aspects, I think like most industries, it’s male dominated. So jokes that women write and deliver based on their lived experiences don’t always land at open mics where 90% of the people in the room are men waiting for their turn to perform. 

Networking is important in comedy, so sometimes there are cliques of comedians that mostly promote those from their friendgroups. I assume this is true in any comedy scene, though. I know I’ve been guilty of this too, as I haven’t met everyone in the scene due to being new.

One last thing - I think like most art forms, the amount of time attributed to building a career in comedy rarely pays off. So much time is involved with writing and performing material at open mics and shows, only for the end product (shows) to pay comedians inadequately. I don’t blame any organizers for this dilemma - I believe this is an industry wide issue, and I’m not sure how to solve it. It feels daunting to think about the years necessary to build a comedy career in hopes of potentially making a living in this industry, which is incredibly rare (think actor statistics - 1% make it to a point where they’re professional, touring comedians that MIGHT make $50k a year.)

The scene seems much livelier than what I knew of it not that long ago. I was much more plugged into the comings and goings of comedians in Columbus about 10 years ago.I LOVE comedy and have wanted to get back into it again, and potentially get up and tell some stories. Making the time to do it is just as daunting as getting a set together.  I should probably just get going to open mics and consume for a bit before even thinking of stepping up. 

Let’s take this a slightly different direction.  I also know, since we were co-workers, that your professional life (at least part of it) revolves around User Experience Design. Question 9: No one grows up saying “I want to be a User Experience Designer!”... so what was your path to UX?

In college I studied Communication Technology with a subspecialization in Human Computer Interaction. All this meant was that I had one class in college that taught me about UX design and research. I loved learning that there was a wholde industry dedicated to understanding how people navigate and use everyday experiences.  

That class stuck with me after graduation, so I tried to obtain a UX job out the gates. I unfortunately didn’t have the experience or portfolio to pursue UX, so I instead taught myself to code HTML and CSS and landed a Web content Developer position at Abercrombie & Fitch’s headquarters in New Albany. 

After 6 months, I decided to introduce my self to the UX team at Abercrombie during a happy hour. I told them I wanted to be on their team, so I shadowed them for a couple months then fully transitioned to their team as a UX researcher. I’ve since been a UX researcher and now consider myself more of a UX strategist! There was a year or two in my career where I was a UX designer, but I learned immediately that I didn’t enjoy that role. I love how objective research is; it’s hard to argue our findings during a presentation with stakeholders, when it's founded in data.

HCI is pretty much UX. I am surprised that people did not see that as translatable. I loved working with you in your research role when we were coworkers. Always insightful and very incisive with your research designs and implementation. You truly are a joy to watch, especially when you are oblivious to the research participants clearly hitting on you. On a side note: we are going to need to have a conversation over beverages about transitioning to UX Strategist. I really want that, I am tired of being reactive in my career… I would love to strategize. 

Question 10: please fill in the blanks (feel free to ask others for input in the second blank) : I find that I am mostly __________. Others find that I am mostly ____________. 

I find that I am mostly impatient

Others (my partner James) finds that I am mostly empathetic, creative, & entrepreneurial

Hey! Wait!  That's three things, James. Stop with the overachieving. Overachieving James, amiright? 

“Impatient” doesn't completely preclude “empathetic, creative, & entrepreneurial…” buuuuut… Question 11: how do you feel those two answers mesh up? Are they sides of the same coin? Or do you feel that that yours or his perception of you rings more authentic? 

I think that being impatient explains my behaviors and entrepreneurial pursuits quite well! Long story short, my parents only praised success so now my siblings and I are perfectionists. We want to do it right and we want to do it well, which means we are more apt to give up on something if we’re not immediately good at it or happy with it. This explains why I’ve quit many a hobbies throughout the years 😅

In terms of my professional life, I’ve bounced around to different UX teams throughout the years because I was unhappy with the team/environment/work. Founding businesses has allowed me the freedom and control to create things within my skillsets. So I see that both of our perceptions are accurate through this lens. 

There is definitely a connection between the different responses. Looking at impatient vs empathetic, creative, and entrepreneurial isn't an either or. It feels like different sides of the same coin to me as well. 

Question 12: More often than not, would you consider yourself to be happy?

I think so! A number of privileges allow me to be generally happy. 2019 was rough while trying to tackle a full time job and Spice Up. Shout out to Zoloft, which I recently was allowed to stop taking this year! 

That is great. Most people I have interviewed have been generally happy. There have been a couple who recognized their unhappiness due to the question being asked, and there was one  I think realized their unhappiness weeks later. I am a change maker. 

So Question 13: Do you have any superstitions or rituals in your life? 

Don’t tell Big Pharma! They might recruit you 

I don’t know how to answer these questions without a backstory or lengthy explanation lol Let me try bullet points:

  • Was raised religious - my family practiced Jainism. When I turned 18, my siblings and I decided that we no longer want to practice and we have since considered ourselves atheists. 

  • For years I was a real asshole about denouncing anything that wasn’t rooted in science. Now as an adult, I realize that unexplainable observations can still be categorized as science - we just don’t know the why!

  • I want to believe in ghosts because of the vast amount of anecdotal evidence out there (I.e. we all know someone who has a ghost story)

  • I knock on wood all the time in order to avoid “tempting fate”

  • My top three zodiac signs are very scarily accurate to who I am

These are all amazing. Ghostly anecdata is pretty interesting, and weirdly explained very well by simulation theory.  THAT is a conversation that should occur over beverages.

Question 14: Any other supernatural things you would love to be true?

Um, all of it. Krampus, cryptids, magic, ghosts. I love all things horror, but now that I’m thinking it through, I change my mind - certain horror movie monsters should not exist. Like the lady from The Ring can stay where she is. 

Yeah, Samara Morgan can suck it… creepy well-girl. Stay in your fetid waters… drippy weirdo.  The one I want to be real the most is Bigfoot/Yeti/Sasquatch/Skunk Ape/Amok etc… that one really feels like it would be amazing.  That being said, I do not want the weirdo interdimensional creature bigfoot or the UFO alien bigfoot.  I want the everyday, go as you please, “I’m a big hairy ape” bigfoot.  The overly woooo-woooo crypto-zoology stuff just does not work for me. If all y’all haven’t listened to “Wild Thing” a podcast about bigfoot (at least the first season is), you should.

We are on the downward slope of this Q and A Adventure, Just going to check in and make sure I won’t miss anything you wanted to be asked. Question 15: Is there any question I have not asked you that you either expected to be asked or would like to have been asked? We still have some q’s to rectify that deficiency if we need.

The day the government releases documentation that proves that Bigfoot is in fact real will be a great day

None that come to mind! Thanks for the great questions and conversations thus far!

Awesome.  I think this has been going well so far, but I do want to make sure expectations are met.  Question 16: Which do you think would have a bigger immediate impact on society, Disclosure of bigfoot being real and critical nature shows being presented on Nat Geo and Discovery or an engagement announcement of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift?

Heeeyyy would you give a male interviewee the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce option as well? 😆 

I am not a Swiftie, but even if I was I would still choose Bigfoot disclosure because I think 99% of all celebrity relationships are for PR. I’m not sure what the impact would be other than paparazzi making bank. 

Bigfoot being real would just open the floodgates for more research and funding into finding other cryptids globally, which is objectively way cooler. It might also immediately cause mass hysteria. 

Most definitely, I would ask, if not this exact question, a similar one to anybody I was talking to. Tay and Travis are really the IT people in the cultural zeitgeist right now.  If I were asking this a year ago it might have been bigfoot v Megan and Harry doing something. The reason I asked you this question is because of how I thought a local newscast would set up the bigfoot story.

Ted: Mary, you know who is really excited about this Tayravis Engagement?

Mary: No, Ted.  Who ?

Ted: Bigfoot.  Bigfoot has come out of hiding to get see what’s going on with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. Scientists say that sasquatch or Bigfoot as he is called …..

I chose the soft ball cultural zeitgeist idea because I wanted to keep this 20 Q’s relatively light so I avoided big news items like conflicts or political turmoil… I’m looking bat you Israel and Russia. 

Let’s stick with the supernatural.  Question 17: What is the most credible supernatural thing that you have experienced or have heard directly from someone? No “a friend or a friend said her neighbor saw a…” stories.

I recorded an episode on my podcast Fangirl Feels about this very topic. Two friends and I recorded our encounters with the supernatural. My experience was hearing what I believed to be my grandfather on the day of his cremation. 

That episode can be found here.

That is intense. You bet I will listen to that podcast.

Now it is time for me to turn the tables. Question 18: What question do you have for me? 

Would you rather have a time machine that can only go to the past or a teleporter that can only go to fictional universes?

That is a fun question. The past is horrible and I am not sure that I would like to be part of that horribleness only as older and wiser. Imma choose the teleporter. 

Question 19: What are you taking from these 20 Questions that you did not bring in with you? 

Yes but WHICH fictional universe are you going to? I’m going to the world of Avatar the Last Airbender. 

I think these questions made me realize that I’ve been living a full life. It’s hard to see the forest for the trees when you’re bogged down with the day to day and trying to get by. But looking back at these questions, I think my experiences have led me to lead an interesting and somewhat meaningful life! So thank you for including me in this.

This is partly why I do this. It is great to see someone take stock of where they are at the moment. That is why the “Are you happy” question isn’t asked until the second half of the questions.  This has been an absolute joy for me as well. 

As far as where I would teleport… Not to the Warhammer 40K universe, maybe to Star Wars, I am not a brony but if I had to teleport to a fictional universe, My Little Pony might not be a bad one. It did not seem super dangerous. Most fictional universes are built on the idea of conflict to create good narrative structures, so most of what we see from those settings are the conflict portions.  I think I might want to teleport to the Earth of the Expanse.  It is not perfect, but good enough and on planet, it seems similarly safe to what life is today.  The danger comes from stepping off planet, and you don’t have to do that.

Question 20: What’s next? Be as concrete or nebulous, as short-term or long-term, and as philosophical or practical as you would like. 

Hoping to keep:

  • Landing comedy gigs (follow along on YouTube, IG, and Threads @totalllytanya)

  • Helping clients with UX design and research needs through Arcanalabs.co

  • being silly as we about books, tv shows, and movies on Fangirl Feels Pod

  • Planning events and posting food related content for Spice Up (@spiceupeats on YouTube, IG, and FB)

Speaking of, we’re hosting a Spice Up event on February 22nd with James Beard nominated Chef, Avishar Barua at Agni. Get your tickets

Well this was amazing. I do feel like I know you much better now. I promise that I will try to get out and see your stand-up set soon.

So follow Tanya on all the socials you can.  She is a great follow. Columbus people, look out for Tanya, she is awesome.

To recap:

  • Tonya is amazing

  • She always brings a smile to my face

  • I know it has been a while since I posted

  • It has been a crazy couple years

  • Deal with it

  • Many things have changed since the last post in May of 2022

  • I have remarried

  • I am very happy

  • My ex got re-married

  • She is very happy

  • My wife and my ex’s husband are both very happy

  • Everyone is pretty darn happy

  • Except for my existence in the employment space

  • Going on my 6th month unemployed now

  • Job market is crazy weird right now

  • I have applied for over 500 positions 

  • Gotten thanks but no thanks emails for about 70

  • 71, just got one a minute ago

  • I’m not putting anyone on blast, but I have had about 20 recruiters (internal HR reps or external staffing recruiters) ghost me after contacting me

  • They contact, I respond, they fall off the face of the earth

  • Jobs applications that seem like they are tailor made for me go nowhere

  • Par example (for my Quebecois readers) I have a MA in geography (with accompanying 20 year career) and a MS in User Experience Design (with a commiserate 8 year career) and did not get a call back for a GIS position focused on UX

  • Nothing

  • Rien

  • Nada

  • With all the tech layoffs going on I know I am in a pool with tons of applicants

  • It has been extremely depressing

  • Oh, well

  • If you aren’t creating, you are waiting, so let’s get this blog moving again

  • Send me a message or leave a comment if you want me to ask you 20 Questions

  • Have a great week everyone

In Comedian, People I Know Tags interview, UX

20 Questions Tuesday: 435 - Tressina Bowling

May 4, 2022 Scott Ryan-Hart
Tressina Bowling holding markers

Okay… it has been a minute, but things have been super weird.  This interview started early in the pandemic, and question 20 was only finished a month ago.  It took a long time.  Both Tressina and I were shocked at how long this interview took (shocked I tell you), but I think it does a great job encapsulating the weirdness that is the pandemic. Anyway… I will throw some editor’s notes in the interview to give context. For example, when we started this, her kiddo was 7 weeks old, and now the little one is rounding the corner on 2 years old.

Here we go….


This week I get the pleasure of asking Tressina Bowling 20 Questions. Tressina is an amazing artist. Her work is tight, well composed, and full of energy. I have been following her work for the past couple of years and she never fails to impress me. I truly only know her from a less than 10 minute conversation at a comic book convention a handful of years ago and through her social media interactions (mainly her conversations with Shawn Pryor, whom I asked 20 questions a few years ago). So, this is my chance to get to know her better.

As many of you know, my first career was in making maps. So it is clear that geography holds a place near and dear to me. One of my favorite things are peoples’ geographic stories. Mine starts in Oklahoma City, where I was born, moves to Montgomery, Alabama for my early early childhood and then moves to Birmingham, AL where I lived until I escaped to college. I went to undergrad in Northeast Ohio and did my first round of grad school in Columbus, Ohio where I settled down and am raising my family, Question 1: what is your geographic story?

My geographic story is a short one, I was born in Lexington, KY and I still remain here in Lexington! Aside from living in Paris, KY for a short time when I was only a couple years old, Lexington has always remained my mainstay. I love to travel but at heart I’m a homebody and I honestly don’t see myself moving anywhere else. Lexington is one of those great middle of the road cities, not too small and not too big. It’s got a fantastic local art scene where I’ve met so many of my life long friends. My family lives here and I’ve been lucky to grow my “chosen” family here too. So I’m excited to be able to raise my new little one in the same place!

Short geographic stories can be just as exciting as long ones.  There are just significantly less pins on a map.

Question 2: where is the most exotic place you have traveled?

My husband and I were gifted a trip to the Greek Islands for our honeymoon. It was the first time I had ever traveled outside of the States. Getting the opportunity to see Athens, Mykonos, Patmos, and Rhodes was beyond words incredible. As someone who studied art history in college, it blew my mind to see the ancient architecture and sculptures that seemed to only exist in my textbooks. Aside from the deep history that surrounded us, one of my fondest memories from the trip was riding a donkey up to the acropolis in Rhodes. I mean...my options were to walk it or take a donkey for 5 Euros. It was a no brainer. 

That sounds great.  I have never been to Greece. It looks amazing (at least the tourist trap places do). Now that you mention it though, I have never ridden a donkey either. 

Here comes a question that some dread to answer, but all enjoy reading the answer to...

Question 3: Cake or pie? Which specific kind and why?

Pie all day everyday. I mean cake is great but I never crave it...I crave pie. We’ve got a local pie maker called Missy’s Pies and they serve them at one of my favorite local restaurants called Ramsey’s. All the pies they make are delicious but my favorite is what they call the “Mayday” pie. Gooey center with chocolate chips and pecans to top it off with a buttery crust. It’s actually a Derby Pie but due to licensing on the Derby name they have to call it “Mayday” since the Derby takes place in...you guessed it, May. How Kentucky of me to pick the pie that’s served during a horse race. 


I like the definiteness of this answer. No hesitation. That's awesome.

So, you are new to this parenting stuff. It is incredibly daunting to be all parental. Question 4: what is one of the biggest surprises you have had so far being a new parent?

Soooo daunting! No matter how many apps I downloaded or articles I read, there wasn’t much that could truly prepare me for parenthood. 7 weeks in and sometimes I’m still shocked to round the corner of his room and see him sleeping in his crib. I think my biggest surprise so far is that I’m not nearly as grossed out by his spit up or diaper changes as I thought I’d be. That may sound odd to some, but I have a super sensitive nose and can be put off by the smallest aromas. For some reason though, must be because he’s so damn cute, his poops don’t put me off. Check back in with me after the first blow out. 


It is amazing how much your world view changes the second you have a kid. You won't be disgusted by blow outs, you will be frustrated by them. That being said, once you add solids to your kid's diet, the smell changes, and not in a good way. We might have more baby questions in a bit, but let's get to some art stuff for a second.

Question 5: when did you know that drawing was your "thing?"

I'm afraid my answer to that is the cookie cutter "Since I was child I knew I loved art above most other things!" But it's true, even when my dad would cart me along to his animal science classes he was taking at UK (Editor’s Note: the University of Kentucky to all my United Kingdom and Commonwealth readers) on my days off school, I remember drawing mad scientists to pass the time or trying to replicate the look of Looney Tunes characters. It wasn't until my late 20's though that I began making it more than a hobby, so I was a bit of a late bloomer on that front. 

 

I took a 15 year hiatus from drawing. I am alarmed at the amount of skill and ability I lost and have never been able to completely regain. Coming to work professionally in the art community in your late 20's is not late at all. Don't sell yourself short. 

 Question 6: Who do you consider to be your major influences?

Influences for myself are pretty wide ranging. I could just simply list other artists I go crazy over, but I’m sure readers' eyes might glaze over at the sight. So I’ll give ya other forms of influences. First and foremost, movies seem to inspire me the most. There’s been countless times I’ve seen a movie in the theater and gone straight home to draw something from it. My house is nearly wallpapered with movie posters and I love collecting “art of” books for my favorite flicks. They’re a constant source of reference for my art. Then there’s music, a good song or album can put me in the zone and I’m constantly looking for that next artist to listen to that I haven’t heard before. Being a child of the 80’s/90’s I was big on making my own mixtapes for different moods and I still today have an unreasonable amount of playlists I’ve created on Spotify. Lastly, my biggest influences are my friends who I see as family, they know who they are. Especially during this past year it was so vital to keep in touch with them since we couldn’t do live arts anymore or go to conventions. Having a constant text thread where we checked in with each other, encouraged one another to keep going, stay creative, take much needed breaks, was s driving force on difficult days. 

 

That was a long answer...readers may still get glassy eyed from that one lol 

 

Artistic communities are often the best. I was part of an online one for a long time, but it closed up shop as social media started to remove the need for it. I miss it greatly. (Editor’s Note: It has become a Discord Channel now: I will have a link to it in the recap)

 

Question 7: Is there a mainstream comic book that you would love to work on?

I’m gonna be honest, I’ve fallen waaaaaaay behind on reading comics, especially mainstream titles. But if I had to choose, keeping my style in mind, I’d love to do a Sabrina the Teenage Witch book. I think it would lend to my brightly colored style but I could also tap into the creepier side of my work. Best of both worlds! 

 

oh, I would definitely buy that.  You would be a perfect fit for you.  


Question 8: So, we are in the midst of the pandemic here in the US, what content have you consumed that you would recommend to others?

Oh wow...soooo much was consumed! Not only was I furloughed from my day job for 6months during 2020 but I was also pregnant. It was a mixed bag of feeling lucky and unlucky during that time. At least I didn’t have to deal with morning sickness while at work! But my point is, I consumed a lot of TV, movies, music and podcasts. Sadly I didn't get a lot of reading done because it seemed to make me even extra sleepy during pregnancy. 

 

I opened commissions wide open during that time at home to make some extra money and I binged podcasts like Last Podcast on the Left and My Favorite Murderer. So, you know...light stuff! The podcast I’d recommend to anyone though would have to be Reply All. It’s deemed a “podcast about the internet” but it’s much more than that. Definitely start from the beginning if you can.  

 

I think the things I’d recommend the most would be shows that made me happy no matter what happened in the “outside world”. So Schitts Creek, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Super Store, and New Girl are some of my pandemic top picks!  

 

Yeah, I have blown through so much content as well.  It really is alarming.

 

Question 9: What, if anything, are you planning for post COVID lock-down? (Editor’s note: we are talking about the first COVID lock down)

I assume most people who’ve been sticking hard to the guidelines to stay healthy right now have a good running list of things they plan on doing once it’s “safer”. I definitely have one! Mine might be even greater than some since I’ve been in extra lockdown with a newborn. Honestly, the simplest of things are what I’m looking forward to. Having dinner with my family so they can spend quality time with their new grandson. Visiting the new cat cafe that opened nearby with a friend and her daughter. Attending a Live Art for a movie release...THEN seeing a movie in the theater!? So many things I once took for granted. The biggest one, giving my friends a big long hug. I can’t wait. 

 

I need to get out of this city. Not going on vacation at all this past year has taxed me and my family fairly roughly. (Editor’s Note: I did get out of the city for a bit) That being said, I know I, and my family, have had it easy. I and the kids' mom have jobs, we have been healthy. I don't want to minimize anyone else's experience.

 

Question 10: Fill in the blanks:  I find that I am mostly ______. Others think that I am mostly ______.

I find that I am mostly behind on my craft for my age (she says one day after her recent birthday). Others think that I am mostly younger than I appear to be, so they believe I'm ahead of some or "on par".

I think I've channeled my imposter syndrome for that answer. :)

 

I would challenge your imposter syndrome to a duel, but then everyone would find out how much of a fraud I am.

Question 11: Are you happy? (mostly happy, I understand that there is a typical fluctuation of happiness from day to day, hour to hour, and minute to minute.)

Yes, I’m happy. Could I be happier? Absolutely. If this pandemic would end or even subside already I would be a lot happier. Again, I just wanna spend time with family and friends. Artistically, I’m happy as well. I feel like I’m in a good place with my art, and excited for current work that I unfortunately can’t speak of yet. Again, I’m forever growing as an artist but I don’t feel like I’m in a place of struggle and that makes me happy. 

 

It is amazing how simple a question "Are you happy?" is and how much introspection is necessary to answer it truthfully. Turns out that when most people stop and look at it, they are, in general, happier than they thought.

I know from knowing your work for a while that llamas are a thing for you. Question 12: Why llamas?

 

Ha! Ok, get ready for the dumbest story. I mean I’ve always thought llamas were wonderfully weird but it was a dream I had that kinda spurred the enthusiasm for them. I won’t bore you with the whole dream story because I know no one wants that. But in short I had a dream years and years ago about a two headed llama with Pegasus wings. It had the most glorious eye lashes and I remember being in awe of it in my dream. I asked it “who are you?” And it responded “We are the nobody”. Must have been that cheese plate I had before going to bed that night. Anyway, I couldn’t get it out of my head, I drew a small comic of it for 24 hr comic book day. Then the next year I created Dracullama for the same 24 hr event. And now I get a lot of llama themed gifts. They’re just goofy and it’s one of those things that never ceases to make me smile. 

 

LLamas are fun, because they look weird and their word is fun to say.  A friend of mine in college wanted to create an small theorem in math so we could call it the Llama Lemma... but we weren't smart enough.

 

Here we are at unlucky 13. Question13: do you have any superstitions or rituals in your life? It doesn't have to be anything major like "black cats crossing paths" or "walking under ladders." It could be something like a meditation mindfulness practice or just something you do to get yourself in the correct mindspace to draw. 

Nothing to get into the headspace to draw. I mean...aside from absolutely needing music or a podcast in my ears to get started. I guess that counts? As far as superstitions or rituals, the only one I can recall off hand is that I have a small handmade llama plush I always carry with me to conventions and place on my table so only I can see him. He’s gotta be there. I probably have a lot more micro-superstitions that I don’t even notice I do and could honestly be labeled as OCD tendencies. Like...I gotta think about getting into a car wreck every time I drive because then maybe it won’t happen because I thought of it. Sorry that got dark. 

 

Dark is ok. Most rituals and superstitions have to do with dark things. 

Question 14: what is one thing (aside from pandemic restrictions) that you are hoping to happen for you in 2021? (Editor’s Note: wow that was a good long while ago)

What am I hoping will happen to me in 2021? Hm...that’s a hard one. There’s a list of personal goals/hopes that I always have sitting in mind. I guess maybe the most appropriate right now would be to find a new home for us to grow in. We had planned to do this last year but of course like so much it was put on hold. With the new little one we’re in need of not only more space but somewhere that cuts my daily work commute down. I’d say that’s the big 2021 goal at this time. 

 

In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, shelter is reeeeeeeally super fundamental. So, I wish you all the luck finding a new residence.

Question 15: Do you plan to or have you gotten a COVID-19 vaccination? CDC guidelines are now saying that once fully vaccinated, pretty much normal interactions can take place between similarly vaccinated people.So, those big old hugs with your friends might be just around the corner.  (Editor’s Note: Wow… so much wrong info)

As of tomorrow I’ll be hitting my two weeks post 2nd dose! Thankfully most of my family and friends are now fully vaccinated as well. Kentucky has been fantastic in getting the sites and doses to as many areas as possible. We’ve actually already planned a “hey we’re all vaccinated!” get together with friends and I can not wait to squeeze them until it becomes uncomfortable and awkward. 

 

It has been a few months since (Editor’s Note: it was 3 months) I sent the last question.  Sometimes that is how these questions go.  Sometimes it is due to the schedule of the person I am asking questions, and sometimes (this time in particular) it is because my schedule goes all haywire. "Return to the office" or RTTO as my workplace calls it has been quite the thorn in my side, and taking up lots of mental space and effort. That being said, since the whole fam has gotten their second doses of the vaccine and life has changed. I remember weeping openly when my youngest got her first dose. It was such a release of tension.  Question 16:.... what has changed for you in the last few months?

No apologies needed, life has been hectic and I might not have answered very quickly if you sent it any earlier. I’ve been so busy with the process of selling/buying houses. As of last week, we’re officially moved into our new home. Thankfully our little one seems to be the most unaffected by the change. Outside of the home buying, the newly updated restrictions surrounding Covid have changed my work life too. We began giving more tastings and now tours have started back up. So my 9-5 has gotten busier as well. Who needs a break, huh? 

 

Breaks are for the weak, I assume. 

Question 17: In this new found ability to congregate, and be around people... if you could have dinner with anyone alive or dead and talk about anything at all with any one of those people, what would you eat? 

What would I eat…well since this is hypothetical and the fate of my bowels don’t matter, the creamiest chicken fettuccine Alfredo. :) 


Chicken Alfredo sounds amazing... It sounds like you cannot have dairy... and gluten is a bad thing for me... that is quite possibly the worst meal we could have.

Now it is time to turn the tables... Question 18: Do you have any questions for me?

How long have you been doing the 20 question format? 

Halloween Cadbury Eggs… yes or what is this abomination? 

 

Excellent questions.  

Question the first:  I have been doing 20 Questions Tuesday is some way shape or form off and on since August of 2005. Interviews started a few years after that.

Question the second: As a kid, I absolutely loved Cadbury Cream Eggs (Thanks Easter Bunny! Bock! Bock!), but I tried one a few years ago and it was too cloyingly sweet.  It was just straight sugar.  No flavor, just sweet. It hurt my teeth. 

 

Here we are at the penultimate question.  Question 19: What are you taking from these 20 Questions that you did not bring in with you?

That I didn’t bring with me? Well, obviously I brought my habit of opening and email, reading it, then thinking “I’ll answer that later”, then suddenly realizing it’s been nearly a month and I haven’t answered yet. My bad. 

 

But to actually answer the question, we started way back at the start of the year right? And the progression this year has taken because of the pandemic has been surprising. Definitely not all good surprises but there’ve been some moments that were life changing for the better. 

 

I think this is a habit that I have picked up as well. This panini we are in at the moment has been hard on the old brain box.

It took some time, but here we are at Question 20... Let's close this puppy out.

 

Question 20: What's next? Be as generic or specific, as short-term or as long-term, as concrete or metaphorical as you would like.

What’s next? I’m currently finishing up work on a DC collection called Deadman Tales. I believe it’s set to release in October. After that I’ll be working on something new for something old? I don’t think I can go into any more detail than that at the moment. But needless to say, fall of 2022 is looking to be very eventful. 


Is this the weirdest and broadest set of answers you’ve ever received? We started at the beginning of 2020 pandemic and then ended nearly 2 years later with HOPEFULLY the ending of the pandemic. 

 

This is the perfect answer to this question for this particular conversation. It has been quite a journey to be sure. 

 

I’m super excited for your work, and I am very intrigued by the “something new for something old.” I’m just going to guess “Conan the Barbarian” comic book reboot. 

 

You are a goddamned delight and I am very happy that you struggled through this long and laborious conversation throughout the “Panini” (as the podcasts and YouTubers call it). 

Thank you so much for bearing with me. 

 

So, Tressina is a badass of highest proportions, and so damn patient with me and my slow ass style of interview.  You should check out her website here: TressinaBowlingArt.com (se’s soooo damn good), you should follow her on twitter: @tressabolwing and the Instagram: @tressabowling. Join her patreon as well:  Patreon.com/TressinaBowling

 

She is a goddamned delight and I know many people who will back me up on that.

 

To recap:

Pandemic is hard, yo!

My youngest got it, but she sailed through really well

I’m engaged 

So that happened

This summer is going to be crazy

“Little Man” (my eldest, and reason I started blogging years and years ago) is going to be a freshman at George Mason University this fallI am sooo proud

So… anything interesting happen in the Supreme Court?

Nothing like living in the a theocratic autocracy

Okay, I still need to format this post and hit publish before it gets to be Wednesday

All you artsy people, join up with Ten Ton Studios on discord

Link should be good for a few days, at least

Have a great week everyone

Tags interview

20 Questions Tuesday: 434 - K Lynn Smith

October 19, 2021 Scott Ryan-Hart

Like I said last week, this has been a weird year.  This one started in January as well… They usually don’t take 10 plus months.  My apologies to my valued readers (hello all 3 of you) for the unexpected hiatus… it has been quite the panini. 

So, after all my apologies… here we go.

This week I get the pleasure of asking artist and comic book creator, K. Lynn Smith 20 Questions. I met the wonderful Ms Smith a few years ago at a comic book convention, the Cincinnati Comic Expo in, unsurprisingly enough, Cincinnati, Ohio. At that convention I bought her Plume Omnibus and was floored by the work. Amazing work. I would pay good money to have her teach me how to draw mouths and noses with as much liveliness and character as she puts in her drawings. Seriously, she creates amazing work and because of that, I have had the pleasure of backing a few of her Kickstarters. So, sit back, relax and find out how awesome K Lynn Smith is in these 20 Questions.

My first career was as a cartographer, so the idea of “place” and how someone is influenced by their geographic story is near and dear to me. For example, I was born in Oklahoma and was moved to Alabama when I was really young. My formative years were spent in Alabama and I left the state when I went to college in Northeast Ohio. After graduating from undergrad, I moved to Columbus, Ohio and set roots with my family there. I have been in Columbus ever since. Question 1: what is your geographic story? 

Man, I wish I had a better geographic story, other than I was born in one part of Michigan and moved to another part in Michigan, but that’s just how the mitten-shaped cookie crumbles. I grew up in the small town of Stockbridge, where people drove their tractors to school, and then moved off to Grand Rapids for college. After I graduated, I packed up my things and my student debt, and bought a house with my then-boyfriend-now-husband in the historical town of Mason  (where--fun fact--Hugh Jackman’s 2011 "Real Steel” was filmed). 

And even after all my traveling, with all those odd places this weird comic career takes me, Michigan feels the most like home. Though that devotion wavers every winter. Go figure. 

Columbus, Ohio is most definitely my home now, but since I grew up in Alabama, I don’t have that weird Michigan rivalry bullshit (even though there was a shooting skirmish between Michiganders and Ohioans for Toledo of all places). I do dislike the winters here and the bi-polar/multiple personality disorder weather that lives from August to June. 

Question 2: Comic book work is a weird beast and the convention circuit (in whatever form it will eventually come back in) requires stupid amounts of travel. What conventions do you miss the most? 

All of them. I miss them all. But the ones I truly miss are New York Comic Con and Planet Comicon in Kansas City. I hope that one day we can return to some sort of normalcy and get these conventions back on track. Never thought I’d yearn for horrible convention food, weird smells and those terribly hard chairs, but dammit, I’d take it all just to see people again, fans and peers alike.

I have never been to any of the bigger cons. I imagine they are both great and terrifying. I actually have only really been to the Cinci cons and one or 2 of the Wizard World Columbus ones. I think my overall dislike of people gets in the way of con culture for me.

It is now a moment, that I know you have been dreading.

Question 3: Cake or Pie, which specific kind and why?

Long sigh. I knew this one was coming and for DAYS, I’ve thought about this. I’ve dug deep, Scott. I’ve dug deep into my soul and I think I’ve found the answer. It’s pie. More specifically, Apple Crisp Pie, my mother’s recipe. She makes it every holiday or when she wants to bribe me for something. Sweet, tart filling, with a thick, crumbly crust. It’s delicious. 

I know it is hard to believe, but I really don't want these 20 Questions to be stressful, so I apologize for making you choose. You are allowed to love cake as well. I have found that most people who "love cake," actually just like to use cake as a frosting delivery system. So, I often question the cake people to see if it is just the frosting or if the actual cake innards (the sponge as the “Great British Bakeoff” [“Great British Baking Show “to all my Commonwealth peeps]) actually plays a part in their decision. Sometimes the cake could be replaced by a spoon. 

The pie does sound delicious though. I hope your mom has shared the recipe with you and that you give it a go. 

Question 4: Is there a food that you cannot help but eat if it is offered? For me it is street tacos of the pork, beef, chicken or shrimp variety (I do not like the fish tacos), if someone offers me a street taco, I will most likely eat it. If I have to buy them, so be it, Imma eat six.

Mozzarella sticks. Hands down. I’m a sucker for deep fried cheese. Though, I could seriously be swayed by a street taco too.

I get the appeal of deep fried cheese, but I have never really loved mozzarella sticks. I know this is a failing on my part, because "deep fried cheese."

So, when I was 5, I drew this jet fighter and actually drew the pilot's head in the cockpit. The other 5 year olds around me were astonished at the raw drawing power I brought to bear on that flight helmet. They basically put me on their tiny 5 year old shoulders and paraded me around the kids' space in that church like I was a new god bestowing my gifts upon them. I realized in the basement of a church at 5 years old that I didn't just enjoy drawing, I was good at it. Question 5: When did you know that drawing was a real thing for you and not just something you enjoyed?

Congrats on your raw drawing power! For me, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing. While kids were outside doing whatever kids do outside, I was watching my animated VHS tapes on repeat, surrounded by my paper and markers. But I think the moment when I realized I was an artist was in middle school, when the Principal asked me to draw a mural on the gym wall. For a week, I got to skip class and paint some very copyrighted Disney scene across a ten foot wall. It was fun and massively rewarding. 

But of course, around the same time, I got in trouble for selling commissions to my fellow students, so there were a few mixed signals. 

That is amazing. One should not get in trouble for selling commissions, even in middle school. 

Question 6: Is "comic book artist" your primary job? Or do you have to have a different "day job" to pay the bills while working on books?  

Yep, it’s my primary job, which had been easier with comic conventions, but I’m still getting by thanks to Kickstarter, commissions and the gradual growth of my Patreon. I’m so very grateful for it too. I’ve worked the nine-to-five office jobs, wore pencil skirts and used a ‘phone voice’ all week. And while the benefits were great, I wasn’t really allowed to ’step out of the box’. Creating comics has been the best thing to happen to me. 

That is great. The work-a-day life can definitely be a grind. I would love to be independently wealthy and not have to worry about where money was going to materialize form.  I would probably do something significantly more creative day in and day out. 

Question 7: Would you ever want to draw on an established mainstream title? and what book do you think your style would lend itself to best?

I’m not entirely sure. I’m having so much drawing my own worlds and my own characters. When you draw for someone else, you have to work with an established formula, sometimes even getting lost in an assembly line. But that all being said, I would never turn down a Gargoyles comic series; it was my favorite animated series growing up. 

I could easily see you doing a Gargoyles comic book. You would be amazing at that. I could also see you on some kind of Green Lantern Corps book. I could see that subject matter working well with your fun style and would love to see how you illustrated the ring effects.

Question 8: outside of other comic book artists (every artist has those), what would you say are the biggest influences on your work?

Animation is a huge influence. I grew up on Disney and Don Bluth, and of course anything Miyazaki. I would say film/tv in general is a huge inspiration, for art and for writing. If I’m feeling stuck, I’ll go on the hunt for a good story. 

I do lend a lot of credit to Avatar: the Last Airbender for Plume’s style, with a dash of Kim Possible. My art is a cocktail of animated shows from the 2000s.

One of the reasons I love your work is the animated quality to it. your shapes and silhouettes are dynamic and easy to read. 

Speaking of animation, I think my daughter has watched Avatar: The Last Airbender about 7 times straight through on repeat in the last 3 months and The Legend of Korra about 3 times. Question 9: During this COVID "lock-down" do you find yourself watching and consuming things that you are familiar with more or less than consuming new content?

A little bit of both, I would say, though I lean more toward the familiar simply for nostalgia’s sake, and for the fact that I tend to watch movies and television while drawing. Currently rewatching Schitt’s Creek, because everyone on that show is a treasure.

I also love watching play-throughs on YouTube while working. They are of games that I’ve already played, like Uncharted, Last of Us, and Red Dead Redemption, but I get to experience their amazing story over again AND I can get my work done. I love me some video games.

I haven't really been playing games in the past 10 years. Everything is so twitchy and fast that my inexperienced self cannot keep up. I wish I could do first person shooters or some other kinds of games, but I haven't exercised those fast twitch muscles so much so that I honestly feel a strong barrier of entry into modern gaming.

Question 10: Fill in the blanks:  I find that I am mostly _______. Others think that I am mostly _______.

I find that I am mostly still learning and figuring things out. Others think I am mostly a person who has their shit together. Spoiler: I don’t. I really, really don’t. 

I am reminded of Mikey Neuman's delightful T-Shirt and catch phrase from his channel "FilmJoy"

"No one knows what they're doing."

It's as good a mantra as anything. 

Here comes the deceptively simple, yet profoundly difficult question.

Question 11: Are you happy? (mostly, I understand there are ups and downs on the regular)

Y’know, truthfully, I am happy, despite the ever-loving dumpster fire of the past year. It has put things into perspective, it has showed me my true ride-or-die relationships, and it has made me appreciate the life I have. And though not every day is something to celebrate, I find some distant enjoyment in the struggle, because the successes and the accomplishments that come from it are all the more sweeter.

Happiness is an interesting thing. Most people are generally happy when they stop and look at it. It is remarkable when there is just a little bit of introspection many of the negatives tend to lose importance. 

speaking of happiness... Question 12: what was the last thing you saw that gave you a bit of happiness?

I received a message from one of my readers this morning, who gushed over my latest book. Those types of messages truly give me joy and the fuel to keep on creating. 

I imagine that would be an amazing thing.  I have never really created content to the point of someone gushing over it. I need to do that. 

Triskaidekaphobia time... Question 13: Do you have any superstitions or rituals in your life? It doesn't have to be anything so mainstream as avoiding the 13th floor in a building, it can be something as simple as needing cream in your coffee before you can start drawing.

Every morning, I grab my cup of coffee and make a check list of things I’d like to accomplish that day. Without a list, I cannot function. It has become my ritual. And that high I get when I check off an item? Heavenly. 

Ooooh, changing a “to do” list into a “to done” list is a great feeling. 

Question 14: what is one thing you hope that 2021 will bring into your life? 

Besides conventions, of course, and the general feeling of safety in a public setting, I'm hoping 2021 brings in new opportunities. There are some metaphorical lines out in the water and I’m hoping for a bite soon. I love what I do, and to expand on that, both in skill and experience, would be absolutely amazing. I know, it’s a bit cryptic, but can’t say too much more than that.

I love cryptic struff. Cryptic stuff means potentially big things on the horizon.  I want nothing more for you than big things on the horizon.

Question 15: Have you gotten or have you planned on when you are getting your COVID-19 vaccination? (Editor’s note: Wow! this question was asked in March)

I have yet to get the vaccine. I’m checking every day for appointments,  so hoping soon.... HA! Literally after sending this email I got scheduled for my first dose. 

With how slow I am at conducting this interview (I truly do apologize for how long this has taken), you will most likely have had both doses and the 14 days occurring to maximum efficacy before we even get to question 17.

Question 16:  If you could have dinner with any three people, living or dead, what would you have for dinner?

What would I have for dinner, not with whom I'd eat? I’d have to say Japanese as my food of choice — sushi, miso, noodles, dumplings… Woof, my mouth is watering. 

 As for the people, living or dead, I think I would choose three people involved in true crime mysteries, where I could ask them what really happened once and for all. Like JonBenet Ramsey, Edgar Allen Poe and/or Jack the Ripper, to name some of the biggies.

Everyone always asks "who." I think sometimes it is more important to realize "what." With sushi, you are dealing with bite sized items that would encourage conversation, while still potentially having some formality to the event since there is so much tradition in how sushi is meant to be eaten. While the meal would be about potentially finding out answers to mysteries, it would be conducted with a little formality and lots of conversation.  That's pretty interesting

Question 17: Is there a question you were expecting me to ask, that I have not?

Ha, not so much ‘expecting’, but we female creators do tend to get the “How does it feel to be a woman in the comic industry” a lot. I remember being at a show and a film crew was interviewing creators down our row. I listened in as my friends and peers (all guys) answered questions about their work, about their passions, but when it came to my turn, the first question was that dreadful question. What conversation should that spark? What answer were they looking for? Personally, I just wanted to answer questions on my own work, on my own passions, to keep it positive and fun. And I understand that these types of interviews, for the most part, are well intended, but at some point, we need to stop acting surprised there are women in this industry. 

That question never makes any sense. You have only been able to experience the industry as a female… I am surprised you haven’t been asked how you stay so fit when you have to draw all the time or how you get all that drawing done when you have to vacuum, do the dishes, and cook. 

Okay, it is time to flip the script. Question 18: do you have any questions for me?

If you had all the time in the world, what other hobby would you take on?

That is an excellent question. If I had the free time in the world, it would be painting minis or making dioramas.  I love watching that on the YouTubes... that or cosplay... The amount of sanding necessary for cosplay is unnerving though.

Here we are at the penultimate question...

Question 19: What are you taking from these 20 Questions that you did not bring in with you?

What I’m taking from these questions is getting to know Mr. Scott Ryan-Hart a little more. :) Fun to chat, even if its over the interwebs.

This year has been weird.  Let's finish this out! 

You are too kind. As soon as things calm down from the panini, I will make it a mission to grab some of your wares at a con. 

Question 20: What's next? Be as concrete or metaphorical, as long term or short term, and vague or precise as you want!

What’s next for me is continuing to create. I’m working on a new project currently, an exclusive comic for my Patreon people, as well as working on writing a novel. In addition to that, I’m hoping to travel again (if the world can get its shit together long enough to make that possible), whether that’s to the states I have yet to see or overseas (I have my eye on you, Iceland!). All in all, I’m looking forward to expanding my horizons in some form or another. 

I saw that you were able to go to NYCC and actually be at a big con (again, this interview took 10+ months, yikes).  That is amazing. Writing a book is hard, getting something published is even harder.  I might need to have a conversation with you about that. 

You are the absolute best.  

So everyone buy K Lynn’s books. She is amazing.  Give her a follow on IG, and Twitter.  Check out her website and she’s got a Patreon that you should join to get cool stuff

Seriously, she draws real good, yo.

To recap:

K Lynn draws real good

I mean, like sooper good

I had to get a car last week

I did it via an online car sales thing

It was very odd buying a car on my phone without even taking it out for a drive

2017 Rav4 XLE that is blue

His name is “Robert” and that name should be pronounced with an outrageous French accent

Outrageous

“Hro-Bear’”

He is quite shiny and blue

I have been in a stabilizing boot for almost 3 weeks because of a heel spur

Heel spurs suck and now I need to get in a stretching program for my Achilles tendon

A Korean fried chicken place opened up around here

The youngest kiddo loves it

Have a great week everyone

Tags interview

20 Questions Tuesday: 433 - Erik Sternberger

October 12, 2021 Scott Ryan-Hart
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Today I get the opportunity to ask Erik Sternberger 20 Questions. I met Erik at a local IXDA "chat'n'pancakes" where we got into some really interesting conversations about storytelling, as you do. Erik is clever and fun to chat with, but that is just about all I know of him. So, this 20 Questions interview is pretty much an excuse for me to get to know Erik better and potentially make a new friend (honestly, that is what everyone of the 20 Questions interviews are). So, without further ado... let's get into the questions.

(Editor’s note:  wow… this panini press we are in right now is something else.  The interview took a full 10 months to complete. It was hard for me to get focused and actually pay the attention necessary to complete a full interview.  The slowness of this interview [and 3 other interviews] is wholly and completely due to me.  Mental health is real, yo.) 

As most of you know, my first career was as a cartographer, so place and geography tell stories to me. So, I was born outside of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was moved to Montgomery, Alabama on my 3rd birthday, the family moved to Birmingham, AL the following year where I grew up. I left Alabama for Ohio for college in Northeast Ohio. Moved to Columbus, Ohio for grad school and grew some roots here with a family. I have been in Columbus, ever since. Question 1: What is your geographic story?

My geographic story is a lot shorter than yours, but I can tell it long. I was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a place described as "great to be from", and went to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. I then took an internship in NYC at DC Comics where I lived in Brooklyn. I came back to finish my last semester of school before moving back to NYC, when the Internet Bubble burst, so I ended up not having anything to go to in NYC anymore and was asked to stay working for Purdue, which I did for.a bit, then I got a job offer from back in my hometown of all places, so I went back to Fort Wayne for six years. When I was desperate to get out of town (again) I had a recruiter reach out asking if I'd want to move to Columbus, Ohio (Technically, geographically Westerville.), a city that was never on my radar, but I've called home for 12.5 years now.

I think you sell yourself short on the geographic story piece.  

Question 2: If you could live anywhere, where would you choose?

That's tough. There have been a few places I would want to live, and more I would never want to live. I won't name those for the sake of the people that have to live in them. ;) With "Work From Home" being more and more of an obvious perk in the future for employers, I would love to get like 30 acres of land in Colorado, near enough to a city where I can still get goof Thai food, and just live where I can see wild animals on my property. I'm still trying to talk my wife into it, but she's pushing for a coast and wants to avoid snow. As long as it's not Florida, she might win. Oops. I violated that part where I said I wasn't going to list the places I won't live.

I miss the mountains. I want to see mountains so badly now. I love me some Colorado. 

 So here we are at my typical question 3...

 Question 3: Cake or pie? which specific kind and why? 

I agree, I'm more of a mountains fan, than of the beach. I do however like a dramatic coastline. Give me Big Sur, or Maine over the beach any day. That's probably why I prefer the OBX if we are going to a beach.

My favorite cake is donuts.  My favorite pies are rhubarb and grape because my grandmothers made the best rhubarb and grape pies. Those very specific pies are my favorites. I'm generally more of a fan of any dessert that incorporates fruit over something with chocolate.

Where mountains meet the sea is amazing. I am all about a fjordic landscape.

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 Donuts are a class unto themselves. They are above the cake v pie debate. There is no reason to compare any dessert with donut, because the toroidal bit of heaven will always win.  The rhubarb and grape pie sounds pretty amazing. I didn't really know what rhubarb was for the longest time... my loss.

 Question 4: Is there a food that you cannot help but eat if it is around? For example, there is always room for street tacos.

The aforementioned donuts, or any pizza that doesn't have mushrooms on it.

I have had to be gluten free for a while now and there are 3 things I miss from my days of gluten. The first and foremost is donuts. I miss them so much. GF donuts suck, and anyone trying to tell you differently is a liar and a cheat. Pizza crust that has just a little bit of chew to it. GF pizza crusst are typically dry and crackerlike or they are not like pizza crusts. Cauliflower crusts are fine, but don't let anyone tell you they are "just as good." Those people drank bleach at some point in their childhood and don't deserve to remember good pizza crusts. The third is good bread. GF bread is sand that is being held together by some glue. It sucks. Ok, enough, "woe is me, for I cannot have the glutens."

 Question 5: Do you remember what the first comic you ever read is?

One was a World's Finest where Superman and Batman were fighting a ...cult(?) of some kind and there was a Cloud Thing in a crystal ball that could control minds. A de-powered Superman convinced Batman that the thing was Joe Chill (the mugger that killed his parents) and he hit it with a Batarang, breaking the globe and dissipating the smokey cloud thing. Pretty generic. The other was DC Comics Presents 47 where Superman and HeMan crossover. The third was Superman 377, and the fourth was Detective Comics 519.  I was a real DC kid until maybe 5th grade.

I started out Marvel and only came to DC through popular culture and some graphic novels. I remember having subscriptions to Marvel books though. They would come wrapped in this weird brown paper sleeve. I used to check the mail everyday for the books I was subscribed to. 

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 Question 6: There are many people out there who feel that the DC movies have just missed the mark, do you agree with that and why?

I had several Marvel subscriptions as well. They came polybagged with a cardboard 'backer' when I subscribed. Each backer had my address on one side and a line-drawing of a character on the other. I colored them all with markers to try my hand at being a colorist and pined them all up on my wall. Man, I hadn't thought of that in a while.

I have many opinions on the DC movies, but also know some of the people involved, so there are some things I can't really speak on... BUT, I will say I think there has been a lot of issues when it comes to cohesiveness mixed with patience. Everyone in Hollywood wants to pattern their shared Universes after Marvel, but forget that Marvel originally just wanted to make Iron Man and not go broke. They worked in some easter eggs, but they didn't have all the Avengers cast before Iron Man came out. The irony, of course, is that because DC tried to run before they could walk they ended up having to delay so many projects that if they had just planned out a slower, more measured approach, they could be launching Justice League now in 2021 and ride Marvel's wave that just crested with a Hopeful message as America moves out a very dark period. Right now The Justice League would be perfectly positioned to tell a storyline about truth, coming together, and how a group is stronger than individuals.

In many ways the DC superheroes that continue getting movies made about them are the superhero archetypes. I think it would be interesting if DC decided to not create a connected universe as much as embrace the iconicness of the characters and stories and disconnected everything. Each movie or set of movies should be self-sustained and stand on their own. Then no one actor is shackled with a long-term contract for a single character. The movies could play with some of the Elseworld concepts.  Who wouldn't love to see a Gotham by Gaslight movie?

Question 7: Since you are a writer... What book would you punch a baby to write for?

That's a tough one. I love the 'lesser' characters because you can do so much with them. Look at some of the greatest superhero runs in comics, so many are on "2nd Tier" characters like Daredevil, Flash, and Green Lantern. (and yes, Captain America slipped to that pre-Avengers Movie as well) You're actually allowed to play with them. There is only so much you can do with Bruce Wayne to change him, which is why there are, I think 6 Robins at this point?

 I'm going to say Fantastic Four. I wrote a spec script on how I'd do a F4 Movie just because I had to get the idea out of my head and I could do something like that with the comic. It was never my favorite comic, but I'd love to write something where one arc would be world breaking, see the face of God stuff, and the next arc is that Johnny accidentally shrunk the kids while having a subplot of an underground Fight Club for Monsters running through them both. The Family will always be who they are over the long-arc of a series, but they leave you a big canvas to paint on.

There are 6 Robins, aren't there.  it is amazing how the robins continue to age up, but Batman stays a consistent 42. 

I have always felt that the Fantastic Four should be told as a 60's period piece, but I don't think "Phase 4" of the MCU is going to go period piece with them (especially since they just mentioned that SWORD is no longer doing manned space flights because of issues with the astronauts. (from WandaVison without spoilers). My theory is that the FF are from a sword mission gone awry, but that is for another time.) 

I know you are a writer, and one of the things necessary to being a writer is that writers need to be reading things. Question 8: Are you reading anything right now that you would recommend? That you wouldn't? What are you reading?

A 60s FF would be great. i'd personally love an Agents of Atlas series set in the 1950s. It's a deep cut, but you should check out the series from Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk they did using that team.

Which, I guess is a good segue to books. I'll try not to talk to long on this. I read 39 books and listened to 11 audiobooks in 2020, so I could go on... (I've finished 3 so far in 2021).

The second book in the new Star Wars High Republic series is actually being delivered today. I decided when Disney rebooted The Canon when they took over the franchise I would start reading those books from the jump. They have mostly been great. I've discovered some wonderful new authors, who also tend to have great Twitter accounts. I also just ordered George Saunders' new book where he guides the reader through Russian short stories and finished Mike Monterio's collected essays "The Collected Angers" on Sunday. I try to rotate random books as to not get stuck in favorite genres like Sci-Fi. So, maybe every 3rd or 4th book is Sci-Fi...and at the rate Star Wars books are coming out, half of them fall in that category. I love to mix in autobiographies of comedians and am sad that I don't think I have anymore Elmore Leonard books to read.  The book I recommend to people all the time is "The Spaceman of Bohemia" which you should read before the newly announced movie is made. (Staring Adam Sandler and a Director of Breaking Bad and Chernobyl. Which, honestly amazingly fits.) The book I would never recommend is "Armada" by Ernest Cline. I liked Ready Player One when it first came out and I read it at the beach, so I tried reading this one at the lake and dropped it off as a donation on my way back into town. It's so god awful it made me go back and look at RP1 with a non-nostalgic eye and now I don't care for it, either.  Max Berry's "Company" is a really fun book as well if you want a hyper-surreal satirical version of The Office.

I need to be reading more. Lately I have only been reading books by people I "know." People I have either met in real life or people that I know online.  I really need to branch out a bit and look for other authors.

 Question 9: Are you specifically writing anything at the moment? Do you typically have multiple projects going concurrently or are you a one project at a time guy?

At the moment, I am (attempting to work up the gumption to) start the second draft of a screenplay I have been working on for a while. I spent six months researching material for it and almost a year writing it, mostly because it really accidentally mirrored real life too much and freaked me out. I based on the research of how some Social Media Monitors suffer PTSD and/or can become radicalized by all the stuff they see Clockwork Orange Style. I write from an outline, and my outline literally has someone attempting to kill a US Congresswoman thinking she is part of a conspiracy after being egged on/inspired by an Alt-Right talk-show host. So, kind of half-predicting the whole QAnon thing and then seeing it happen parallel to what I was writing, just like one beat behind me was really, really weird.  I am usually writing one script, researching, or making notes outlining my next one when I don't have time to sit and write, and then in-between drafts of the new script I am working on making updates, revisions, and smaller draft re-writes of other scripts. I have a whiteboard behind my desk where I track all of these things, and what state each project is in.

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I should get a whiteboard...

 Question 10: Fill in the blanks.  I find that I am mostly _____. Others feel that I am mostly _____.

I find that I am mostly listening. Others feel that I am mostly not paying attention.   I get called out for this all the time. As a trained improviser, I'm very good at active listening and being able to do one thing and take in information from a second source at the same time. This has led to people thinking I'm not paying attention, or that I am bored and not engaged. But, I am. I swear! Usually I'm asked "well, what did I just say then?" and I repeat it. :)

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I always had to be drawing and sketching while listening. My teachers and bosses hated it, but it was a way to get my brain box to work better. 

 Deceptively simple question... Question 11: Are you happy? (overall, would you say that you are more happy than you are not?)

I would say that I am more happy than I have not. I have been knocked down a few times by life and I've always managed to be able to get up. I don't surround myself with a lot of people, but I know the ones I have around me have my back. I'm certainly able to look around my life and think "oh. this could be 10% better", or whatever, but on the whole, when I lay down in bed with my wife and anywhere from 1-3 dogs, I sleep very well.*

*As long as I don't eat or drink alcohol too soon before bed. I am over 40 now.

It is amazing how simple "happy" can be. I really enjoy my "second sleep" on the weekends where my doggos wake me up around 7:30 in the morning so that they can sleep on my legs as I sleep on the couch. Super simple, and yet amazingly delightful.

 Question 12: going back to the topic of Donuts... what is your dream dozen donuts? mix and match from various doughnut vendors.

oh wow. This might be the hardest question, yet. I'm much more of a cake donut fan, but a super warm Krispy Kreme, or a maple-glazed and filled long john is also great. Duck Donuts is great, and I was happy when they came here, and I like some of the simpler ones like lemon blueberry. I will say that when the boutique donut scene exploded I loved all the crazy donut combinations, but now I just mostly like a simple donut. With two exceptions. Mini-Cake donuts that are (let's be honest) tiny cakes are great, and anytime I am in Austin I make sure to hit Voodoo Donuts because they are amazing. 

So, 1 Krispy Kreme, 2 from Duck, 3 from Voodoo, a blueberry cake, a maple glazed long-john, 2 mini-donuts from like Dragon Donuts, and two of my mom's beignets

I am pretty sure my son wants to know more about your mom's beignets.  He truly loves beignets. He's made some from scratch before, but would love to get a family recipe at some point. (seriously, we might talk later about this).

This is a weird build up and an odd question, so please bear with me... Story telling started as tales/songs/poems around a fire, became ritual cave paintings, became written stories to be shared by the elite who could read, were shown to people in theatres, were democratized as the hoi polloi learned to read, showed up in the local cinema, were played on the radio, moved over to TV, started being told via interactive games, became more democratized again with the advent of online uploadable platforms....  Question 14: where do you see the next frontier for story-telling to be? Is there an emergent platform that is ready to start telling stories (understanding that every single mode mentioned previously, is still available and vital... we aren't replacing methods, we are adding to)?

I can ask her for them. They were iced, so they were somewhere between a cross of a beignet and a long-john. They always made a huge mess in the kitchen.

 I actually had an instant answer to your story-telling question. I think it's going to be something we chase. I think that the channels and ways we take in stories are fragmenting so much, that 'brands' are going to need to push their product in as many ways as possible. (Am I being cynical, maybe, but follow me.) Disney broke ground with this with the MCU. 10 years of movies that all tie together to a climax, then spin out into tv shows, then back to movies.  It is now about to be perfected by them and Lucasfilm with the new Star Wars: The High Republic content.   Basically, Disney pulled together six (I think) authors and they brainstormed for months (years?) to create a new era of Star Wars to tell stories in. They even hinted at it in an audio play that came out before the announcement. Then they announced 1) A series of novels 2) A series of YA novels 3) A series of Early Reader books, 4) 2 comic book series, and as hype and popularity grew eventually, 5) a cartoon, and 6) a radio play. The stories are all intertwined. The whole first wave of products tied into the same inciting incident and the huge cast of characters is passed between all mediums. So, the lead character from the novel I really liked might not even be in the next novel, but instead in the radio play with something affecting their motivations due to a plot point in the comic.  And, who knows they could even die in a mobile game in the future. 

 All that to say, the future of storytelling is non-linear and something that will use all possible mediums to tell a complete story. It will start with brands like the MCU and Star Wars, but as those who consume storytelling grow to expect it, it will be something open to all storytellers. The trick will be to see this as an opportunity. Like, why not hire a cosplayer to portray a character in your story and have them put out tiktoks as a diary? Let's get creative!

Number 1: I will definitely ask you for the recipe, and My son, while enjoying baking, it is one of the messiest kitchen people I have ever known to exist. 

Number 2: You may want to patent the actor cosplaying TikTok diary thing, because I think you hit the nail on the head. I see what you are saying about storytelling becoming more of a non-linear multi-channel process. 

So far Disney has been good stewards of the Marvel Properties, and somewhat okay stewards of the Star Wars universe. I know that it is useless to discuss if the acquisition of IP's is a good thing or a bad thing, because it is a thing that has already happened. Question 15: How do you think the consolidation of IP's under one massive umbrella will eventually affect the story-telling potential of those properties?

I wish I had a property for the TikTok Diary, but that was off of the top of my head. The day job is consulting for a digital marketing company, and I try to push weird stuff like that all of the time. If someone ever buys one of my scripts, I will be a machine for them doing promo. haha

That's an interesting angle to the question. The interesting thing I am finding is that the more confident the IP, the more they are using it to tell different stories. Like, Marvel keeps altering their characters to try and be closer to the MCU versions to attract fans to the comics, but that hasn't really worked for 20 years. And then they have to figure out how Nick Fury had an illegitimate Black son, then have him lose the same eye because everyone loves Sam Jackson in the role. (Based on the Ultimate Universe Nick Fury) which makes it confusing for fans of the books for 20 years that love, say Tony Stark as Iron Man, not just a suit. It's such a weird cycle because Marvel has made great comics to inspire movies and we shouldn't have to tell the exact same stories. 

Now, Star Wars is doing some really interesting things, imo. They are using the books to create a hugely diverse universe of new characters around the movies and are not trying to be something for all people, but thoughtfully tie-in. Hell, the books around Episode 9 were SO much richer than the movie, and fix multiple things that are wrong with it. The books and comics with Star Wars do such a great job of saying "Hey, this is a big universe, and not everyone is a straight human." Whereas Episode 9 took such a cowardly way out of "two women kissing back in the background of a celebration scene" so it can be edited out for the Chinese box office and not cause some Tucker Carlson rant on "wokeness". . The books have so many same-sex, pan-sexual, asexual, etc characters which makes sense in a universe where humanoids whose genitals line up across hundreds of species line up close enough. Donald Glover's performance as Lando implies fluidity, the books cement it. Rebels shows an interspecies romance at its core. So, I think the story-telling potential of these IPs filters up from the formats where artists can tell their stories in ways that might be considered 'risks' the more mainstream the medium gets because no one cares about 'four-quadrant appeal' for a novel.

I have not jumped into any of the newer non-live action Star Wars things (aside from the Bad Batch), or even looked at "The High Republic" content. I have a difficult time with how much things do not change in the SW universe. If you look at Old Republic tech, it is the same as High Republic tech, which is remarkably similar to Clone Wars tech, which reminds me of Rebellion Era tech, that is the exact same as New Republic era tech. Question 16: Are the technical achievements in the Star Wars universe just completely stagnated, and how would you explain that away from a storytelling perspective?

Ha. That's an interesting question. One of my absolute favorite things is watching sci-fi movies from the 70s and 80s and seeing what they thought the future would be like. Aliens is my absolute favorite. It is just a bunch of white dudes sitting in a smoke-filled room with crt computer monitors looking over dot-matrix printouts. The collars on their 80's suits were slightly different, and they had interstellar space travel, but no one thought of iPads. I think when it comes to Star Wars, or any other imaginary universe we all fall into the same patterns. "This is the way we have always done it." I think that's why once you build one giant laser-firing space station you end up building three. I think we are about to see some issues with that right now with employers wanting to "get back to normal" instead of embracing some of the new things workers proved were possible. Look, we're never going to push the boundaries of getting some cool home teleconferencing holographic video if we're all jammed in open-concept office's shoulder to shoulder on long workbench-like desks.

What is weird about my current work culture is that even when people were in the same building (even in the “before times”), they were remotely attending meetings from their desks because there were not enough team spaces to collaboratively work together. So… the powers that be are forcing the workforce to return to the office so they can meet remotely in the same space. 

I’m thinking this is the return to office plan, there will be many people who will look elsewhere for employment.

Question 17: if you could have anyone alive or dead over for dinner, what would you serve for dinner? 

I don't know what it would be specifically, but I would make it all vegetarian just to prove that meat isn't needed for every meal. I am, by no means, a militant pescatarian, but I think a lot of people eat heavy on the meat due to not knowing how to cook anything else. I have long called bacon a "culinary lens flare" as it is often used to cover up the flaws of subpar dishes as opposed to adding to them thoughtfully.

I find that cheese has consistently been used more as a cover up for weak culinary capability than bacon.  That being said, in the early 00's there was a resurgence of bacon on everything. I have been trying to do at least one day a week sans meat, but it hasn't been going as great as I would like.

Okay, it is time to flip the script. Question 18: Do you have any questions for me?

One question for you. What would be the hardest non-essential thing for you to ever give up. (I won't include pets or anything, since I can consider them essential for mental health.)

The hardest non-essential thing to fit be to give up  would be drawing.  It is an activity I need to do more but not being able to do it at all would be devastating. 

 Here we are at the penultimate question. Question 19: what are you taking from these 20 questions that you did not bring in with you? 

An increased level of friendship.

I can definitely live with that.  When all this blows over, let's grab a bite to eat/drink and toast to the making through this weird AF time.

 Question 20: What's next? Be as concrete or metaphorical, as long term or short term, and vague or precise as you want!

Definitely down for a toast, be it with a drink, or actual toast. My current client is OHLQ, so I am looking at drink recipes almost every day.

Next? Hm... I think "next" is actually future planning. I think that there is so much in flux with work and what that will look like in 2022. I love working from home (having been a freelancer prior, I'm used to it) and also love my job and I'm looking forward to how those continue to merge. In preparation for that, we just bought land up in Michigan. We now have land that is nestled between Lake Michigan and a state forest with multiple kayak launches. So, "next" is just proper planning and putting out steps together to build out there and eventually go live in nature and work remotely for good.

 Come to think of it, maybe "next" should actually be learning how to grow more things in my garden other than grapes and hot peppers…

Perfect! I envy those of you who can have gardens of food that will not be eaten by a wild roving pack of deer.

Thanks so much for doing these 20 Questions with me.  They were absolutely great.  Now we just have to figure out when to share a drink or cheesecake.

Erik is an amazing guy.  He is a great writer… and a better guy.  Check him out on the twitters (@zapthunder), on his website (ErikSternberger.com), and on the Instagrams (@erik.sternberger).   Give him a follow and enjoy.  You are welcome, Internet.

 

To recap:

This interview took some time

What’s happened since my last post

I have a heel spur that has aggravated my Achilles, so my leg is in a boot

I hate the boot, I have, on suggestion of my delightful daughter, named the boot “Nelson”

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“Nelson” sucks

I have 2 other interviews in the can

So, get ready for some posts from me again

Woooo, I am back on the horse, Bay-Bay

I am super out of practice on the whole blogging thing

See you suckers next week

You aren’t suckers

I love you dearly

Have a great week

It has been too long







Tags interview

20 Questions Tuesday: 432 - Snow

February 16, 2021 Scott Ryan-Hart
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This year we have already gotten more snow than we had in the past few years combined. It has been cold and slushy here. Today’s topic is “snow.” Most people know what it is, not everyone gets to interact with it, and some of the places that usually don’t have to are dealing with it today. 

Thanks this week go to Steven, Kristin, Amy, Nicole, Linda,Scott F, Betsy and some other guy. Let’s get to the questions.

1. The blizzard of 78. Thoughts? Ohioans love to share our winter misery.

Ummm… I was 3 years old and in Alabama for the Blizzard of 78. I have no thoughts on this at all.

2.   Does it annoy you when your hometown friends (from Alabama) call you and ask you for pictures of snow?

Not especially. Often I cannot provide any though.  I think some of my friends trapped in the south think that the second you go north of Kentucky the temperature drops and there are snow drifts blocking the freeways. 

3. Also does it annoy you when your hometown friends send you pictures of snow from said hometown (Birmingham, Alabama area for those keeping score)?

No, not at all. I remember the icestorm of ‘81 in Alabama (Ohio Blizzard of ‘78 can kiss my ass), and how it completely immobilized the world. Snow is no joke when people don’t have to deal with it regularly.

4. Snow cones, favorite flavor? Does anyone eat those anymore?

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I think they are now referred to as “shaved ice” or in some instances “Hawaiian ice” now. So they still exist, but the name and level of sophistication has changed. The flavors offered now are fairly robust, but since we are talking specifically about “snow cones”... straight up cherry.

5.  What exactly are the requirements for a shutdown in Columbus?

They vary. There have been a few times that the threat of snow caused cancellations, and there have been other times when it made no sense to have kids try to get to school. Usually, it has to do with amount if snow/ice or super cold temperatures. 

6. What happens if someone eats the yellow snow?

They will lose most of their friends.  There is a reason that lemon snow cones were never a thing.

7. Why is snow white and not some other color - wouldn't multicolored snow be pretty especially when it sparkles with the sunlight?

This is an interesting question. In its purest form snow is not white, it is clear. When you zoom into look at snowflakes, they are not white they are clear. They appear white because of light refraction on the roughened surface of the feathery ice crystals. Much like frosted glass is not actually white. It is clear with a roughed surface that traps light. 

8. Is it true that no two snowflakes are alike?

It is understood that no two are alike because of how they are formed and how they interact with other particulates in the air. The chaotic environment that they are formed within drives them to be unique. 

9. How can that be proven?

It can only be statistically proven, but not actually wholly proven. Take a significant sample size of snowflakes and examine them. No two will be identical. You have to extrapolate that the trend continues for all. One of the ways that they have tried to prove that idea false is by controlling all the variables and creating snowflakes in the lab. Even when everything that can be held constant is held constant, the flakes generated are not identical.

10. Why is snow hexagonal?

It has to do with the molecular structure of the two hydrogen atoms and the one oxygen atom that make up the water molecule. The angle of the bend between the three atoms lend for a larger lattice that interacts with each other on tri-axial symmetry, or hexagonal.

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11. Did Jon Snow really just go back to the Wall when it was all said and done?

It’s where he was happiest

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12. So, what is Coriolanus Snow’s deal?

He is a person who, when push came to shove, decided he wanted to survive above anything else. hee hee. his first name ends with “anus.” I am a child.

13. Why am I frequently promised a big, juicy disruptive snow storm and all I get is a small nuisance snow?

Because, in weather, it is better to over-promise and have things under-perform. That way, people are ever only over prepared.

14. Which Calvin & Hobbes snow themed comic is your favorite?

It is clear that Gen X is in the house. Pretty sure that Boomers didn’t care for Calvin & Hobbes because they liked Hagar the Horrible, Beetle Baily, Ziggy, Peanuts or Cathy. Bill Watterson is a god amongst comic strips people. He left while he was on top and has, from everything I have watched and read, really been enjoying his retirement. Pretty much any of his Snow Goons strips are amazing, but the one that immediately came to mind is this one. 

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15. At your age, what is harder to make… a good snow angel, a three-tiered snow person, or a well-packed snowball?

The snow still has to be right to be able to make good snow people. I would say that one.  Snow angels you just need enough snow to lay on, and well packed snowballs can be done with any snow provided you are able to get the snow wet enough to pack… also “At your age?” ouch

16. Any advice to the people in the south dealing with snow and power outages?

Nothing concrete. Stay as warm as you can. It is alarming what you are going through. 

17. What is the most snow that you have seen fall in one 24 hour period?

I think there was 10 to 12 inches that fell one time over the course fo 24 hours. It was not a day so to speak because it started snowing at 8 pm and finished snowing at like 6 or 7pm the following day.

18. Is it apocryphal that the Aleutians have a bajillionty words for snow?

I think the legend is that there are 50 words for snow in the “Inuit language.” The problem is that there is not one singular Inuit language. In English there are a handful of snow words, in French a few more, Italian, German, Norwegian, Spanish, etc…. When there are a handful of words in multiple languages, it add up to 50 really quickly. So… yes and no.

19. Is hail a kind of snow?

Not really. Hail happens when the air mass at ground level is warmer than freezing temperatures (often significantly warmer) and snow happens when the air mass at ground level is below freezing. Hail is formed by water going sooooo high up in the atmosphere that it freezes and aggregates into ice balls that are too heavy to stay aloft, and too dense to melt by the time they hit the ground. Snow happens when the water droplets form ice crystals and do not aggregate into big old honking ice balls.

20. How cold does it have to be for there to be snow? Is there an optimum amount of cold?

I hate to be pedantic (sometimes I truly do, but this is not one of those times. This time around I am perfectly happy to be pedantic).... Buuuuuut, there is no such thing as cold. There is no true definition of cold. Cold is in the eye of the beholder, because cold is actually the absence of heat. People in Florida think that 50 F is cold (10 C to my metrics out there). Heat can be measured, but cold cannot.


To recap:

Send warm thoughts to the Southern US

They don’t usually have to deal with this 

They don’t have houses that are prepared to be without power when it is bitter outside
I have 5 interviews going on concurrently right now

We are on q’s 4, 8, 11, 13, and 14

Maybe by next post I will have one of them ready

I do have my next topic at the ready though, and it is a doozy

I got a new couch and the doggos love it

Stay safe out there

Have a great week everyone



20 Questions Tuesday: 431 - Groundhog Day

February 2, 2021 Scott Ryan-Hart
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Turns out that one of this month’s 20 Questions Tuesday is happening on Groundhog Day. Puxatony Phil saw his shadow today indicating 6 more weeks of winter. (if he doesn’t see his shadow, isn’t that just 42 more days of winter?). So in honor of Groundhog Day, the topic is, well… GroundHog Day. Onto the questions

1. What the hell is a groundhog?

A groundhog is a big digging rat.

2. Are there any other weather phenomena predicted by rodentia? 

Not that I know of.

3. Why is it groundhog day and not WoodChuck Week?

Well, I think it would be difficult to spread the “festivities,” as it were, across an entire week. It would get pretty dull pretty fast. 

4. What is the significance of Groundhog Day (The actual day, not the movie)?

It is a silly superstitious tradition to enjoy in the middle of winter. 


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Turns out that one of this month’s 20 Questions Tuesday is happening on Groundhog day…. This day was a silly distraction holiday that was more “Poor Richard’s Farmer’s Almanac”-ish than anything else. I remember loving hearing about it in Alabama as a kid, because it didn’t mean anything. But anyway… let’s get to the questions.

1. What the hell is a groundhog?

Uh… A groundhog is a large rodent sometimes referred to as a woodchuck.

2. Are there any other weather phenomena predicted by rodentia? 

Um… I can’t find any other rodent based predictive days, or any other animal specific based “holidays”

3. Why is it groundhog day and not WoodChuck Week?

Well, I think it would be difficult to spread the “festivities,” as it were, across an entire week. It would get pretty dull pretty fast, I mean Groundhog day barely has enough content for a day, let alone a week.

4. What is the significance of Groundhog Day (The actual day, not the movie)?

Gotta show them rodents some love.

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Turns out that one of this month’s 20 Questions Tuesday is happening on Groundhog day…. Oh… good god.  Seriously? Is this happening? Onto the questions.

1. What the hell is a groundhog?

Wow… we’re really doing this? Okay. A groundhog is a rodent, it is neither ground nor hog

2. Are there any other weather phenomena predicted by rodentia? 

Nope

3. Why is it groundhog day and not WoodChuck Week?

Why isn’t it Marmoset Month? Or the Year of the Ox? (oh, wait, it is going to be that one)

4. What is the significance of Groundhog Day (The actual day, not the movie)?

It is an annual reminder that groundhogs exist.

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Turns out that one of this month’s 20 Questions Tuesday is happening on Groundhog day…. 

There is no god, only questions remain…

1. What the hell is a groundhog?

A groundhog is a demon spawn of the 6th Circle of Hell. This heretical beast has the hubris to look the universe in the eye and tell it when it will stop being cold.   

2. Are there any other weather phenomena predicted by rodentia? 

No… groundhogs can’t predict the weather.  That is dumb and cows cannot indicate it is going to rain.

3. Why is it groundhog day and not WoodChuck Week?

Because woodchuck rhymes with “Dumb Fuck”

4. What is the significance of Groundhog Day (The actual day, not the movie)?

Groundhogs barely fill an ecological niche, they have no significance.


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Turns out that one of this month’s 20 Questions Tuesday is happening on Groundhog day…. 

Oh for fuck’s sake, just ask the damn questions

1. What the hell is a groundhog?

Why are you asking me? Why is this happening?

2. Are there any other weather phenomena predicted by rodentia? 

Yes. There is a pig in Argentina that can predict Gamestop’s market value. 

3. Why is it groundhog day and not WoodChuck Week?

Go to hell… that’s why

4. What is the significance of Groundhog Day (The actual day, not the movie)?

What is the significance of anything?


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Turns out that one of this month’s 20 Questions Tuesday is happening on Groundhog day…. Balls balls balls balls
1. What the hell is a groundhog?

Balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls balls

2. Are there any other weather phenomena predicted by rodentia? 

Balls balls balls balls Balls balls balls balls Balls balls balls balls

3. Why is it groundhog day and not WoodChuck Week?

Balls balls balls balls balls

Balls balls balls balls balls balls balls

Balls balls balls balls balls

4. What is the significance of Groundhog Day (The actual day, not the movie)?

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllssssssssssss!

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Turns out that one of this month’s 20 Questions Tuesday is happening on Groundhog day….  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

1. What the hell is a groundhog?

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

2. Are there any other weather phenomena predicted by rodentia? 

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

3. Why is it groundhog day and not WoodChuck Week?

ggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

4. What is the significance of Groundhog Day (The actual day, not the movie)?

Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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How did Bill Murray get out of the loop? 


Turns out that one of this month’s 20 Questions Tuesday is happening on Groundhog day. Groundhog Day did not really have much cultural relevance as a day to be paid attention to until the 1993 movie, “Groundhog Day” starring Bill Murray. Prior to the movie, the day was no more than a passing comment in elementary schools and morning news programs. In the movie, Bill Murray’s character relives the same day over and over and over until he learns that being a better human is the best way to live. Here’s to hoping that being better makes the world better.  Let’s get to the questions.

1. What the hell is a groundhog?

A groundhog is a relatively large rodent that is also referred to as a woodchuck. This rodent is a burrowing mammal found in the northeast of North America. Its range follows the Appalachian mountains and propagates northwest through the prairie  provinces. 

2. Are there any other weather phenomena predicted by rodentia? 

People have been using animals and their behavior (behaviour, “sup?” to my Canadian friends) to predict weather and weather phenomena since animals could be observed. Animals seem to have a greater affinity (at least they are perceived as such) with the natural world including the weather, so people, even as hunter/gatherer societies have taken cues from animal behavior. I know that growing up we used to joke that we could predict the chances of rin by the ratio of cows lying on the ground vs the ones standing.

3. Why is it Groundhog Day and not WoodChuck Week?

Since groundhogs are also woodchucks, in many ways this is a day to celebrate them both. I think a Woodchuck Week could work because there could be wood chucking contests, pie eating contests (both savory and dessert). Every day one could “chuck” a small gift to their loved ones to show them that they are cared for.

4. What is the significance of Groundhog Day (The actual day, not the movie)?

Groundhog Day actually is a day of hope. It is a day that is supposed to happen in the dead of winter where people get to think about the cold and dark going away. It is a precursor to the spring fertility celebrations. It has less meteorological meaning anymore because, due to the warming of the earth, the jet stream is destabilizing and the rigidity of the seasons is starting to fail. Instead of winters lasting from November to March, we now have pockets of extreme cold that push south from the arctic circle. These smaller cold spells make the concept of Groundhog Day less impactful, because we can experience warm spells every few weeks during the winter. 

5. Was that so hard?

Ummm…. Uh. so I guess I was supposed to put in some effort? Anyway… we are moving forward and I am going to go straight into the recap

To recap:

Time loops are funny

I hope everyone actually read all the way through that

It was fun to write

New job is jobbing it up

More meetings and actual work to do makes the time go by much faster

There was a snow day today for the kids

Soooo… basically it is just like yesterday for them again

Like they are repeating the same day

Like they have been repeating the same day since March of 2020

It is wearing on them

It is wearing on me

Wear a damn mask

And cover your nose

There is a reason the first tests were long sticks going on your nose

It’s because that’s where the virus is found

To have a mask not cover a nose makes the usefulness of the mask go away

Have a great week everyone

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