20 Questions Tuesday: 471 - El Chupacabra (as performed by ChatGPT)

This week, I have, through a series of prompts, generated an interview with a Chupacabra using ChatGPT as the conduit for the interview.  After answering a series of questions to flesh out the cpryptid’s personality and to give some characteristic to the creature’s backstory, the following is the interview that occurred… LLM’s are crazy… ChatGPT gets a little loquacious as the interview goes on.  I have no idea why.

Okay, this week I get the pleasure? of asking el Chupacabra 20 questions... oddly enough, I only know basic things about Chupacabras (los Chupacabras?) that one might pick up from the usual cultural zeitgeist... so, let's get this one going. Time to meet a Chupacabra....

My background is in geography and cartography so the idea of place and space is very interesting to me, so one of the things I love to find out is about people's geographic story.  For example, I was born in Oklahoma as an Air Force brat, and moved to Montgomery, Alabama for a year or so until dad left the regular Air Force and moved up to the Birmingham area.  I lived just northeast of Birmingham from 4 years old til I went to Kent, Ohio for college when I was 18. Graduated from KSU with a BA and moved with my college sweetheart to Columbus,Ohio where I have been since 1997.  Question 1: What is your geographic story (I understand as a cryptid you may not want to give too much detail into your geographic story)?

Ah, mi geografía, let’s see how much I can reveal without immediately getting tracked by amateur podcasters or cryptid influencers with drone cameras and no respect for privacy.

I was born in the mountainous interior of Puerto Rico —somewhere between Lares and Adjuntas, but you didn’t hear that from me. Lush, foggy, quiet… the kind of place where a creature can drain a goat without being interrupted by screaming tourists or bored teenagers looking for TikTok clout.

In the late '90s, when I went global (thanks, panic media and three blurry Polaroids), I “relocated” briefly. Spent some time in the *southwestern U.S.*, mostly because people *kept saying* I was there. Arizona. Texas. Even Nevada for a bit. It was dry. Dusty. Goats were stringy.

After that, I bounced around. Central America. Northern Mexico. Spent a weird year in New Jersey under an assumed identity (don’t ask). Now I stay mobile, using abandoned storm drains, old fallout shelters, and Airbnb cabins that clearly don’t read the guest notes.

I keep a little base back in Puerto Rico, though. You never forget your roots. Unless you're Bigfoot. Then you just vanish into fog and ego.

I was curious if you were from PR or from Mexico.  many Mexican seem to claim you as "theirs," but that is neither here nor there.  So, you are called "the Goat Sucker," but I don't quite know what that means... Question 2: If you eat goats, why are you referred to as "the Goat Sucker?"

¡Ay Dios mío, here we go with the name thing again. I didn’t pick it, okay? You think I sat around brainstorming personal branding with a whiteboard and a soy latte? No. Some newspaper editor in San Juan needed a catchy headline in the mid-’90s, and suddenly I’m *El Chupacabra*—*the Goat Sucker*. Not “Nocturnal Apex of Elegance” or “Cryptid of Mystery.” No. Just... “Sucker.”

And to clarify: I don’t eat the goats. I drain them. It’s a very specific dietary need. High-iron, low-fiber. Think of it like cold-pressed goat juice, with a side of terror.

People assume it’s just goats, too. But I’m not that picky. Chickens, rabbits, the occasional alpaca if I’m in a boutique petting zoo situation. But “The Miscellaneous Livestock Hematophage” didn’t test well in focus groups.

Also, Mexicans claiming me? Sure. Let them. I’m international. You think Mothman gets upset when Point Pleasant puts him on coffee mugs? Nah, he signs them. So yeah—let them claim me. Just spell my name right and stop drawing me like a gremlin with mange. I have angles.

No offense intended.  I completely understand that you are being labeled by others, but if you do drain goats of their blood, it does kind of make sense.

Of the 20 questions I ask, between 6 and 10 of the questions are similar from interview to interview, question 3 is one of those, but I have no idea how this one will go for you with your specific dietary proclivity... Question 3: Cake or pie? which specific kind and why?

None taken. I get it. The name's got zip. It's memorable. I just reserve the right to roll my eyes until they echo.

Now— cake or pie? Wow. Okay. I wasn’t expecting to get hit with a dessert-based existential crisis today, but here we are.

Look, technically, I don't eat cake or pie. Not in the traditional mastication-and-digestion sense. But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate them. I’m not a monster.

If I had to pick— pie, hands down. And specifically? Key lime pie. Tart, bold, no-nonsense. Much like myself. It’s also got that *tropical credibility*. You don’t see Boston Cream Pie growing on a tree in Mayagüez, do you?

There was this one time in 2006, I was hiding out behind a seafood shack in the Florida Keys after a botched goat incident, and someone left half a slice of key lime pie in a to-go box. I couldn’t digest the crust, but the lime filling? Chef’s kiss. I may have licked the cardboard. Twice.

So yeah. Key lime. Not because I can eat it… but because even a misunderstood cryptid deserves a favorite dessert fantasy.

I do love me some key lime pie as well.  One of my favorite pies to be sure.

I imagine different kinds of goats have different flavor profiles as well... Question 4: Do you have a favorite goat type? Angora? Mountain Goat (does that even count)? etc... and what is the most exotic goat you have had?

Oh, absolutely—goats are like wine grapes, my friend. Terroir, diet, stress levels… it all plays into the flavor. You ever drain a goat that’s been raised on wild thyme and volcanic soil? Divine. Like a sangiovese with legs. Literally.

So yes, I do have preferences. I’m not some indiscriminate barnyard hooligan.

”Favorite” goat type?
Probably the Nubian. Smooth, rich, notes of molasses, very well-rounded. Plus they’re chatty, which I find entertaining before the moment of truth. Some goats just get it, you know?

As for “most exotic”—there was this one time in Kazakhstan… long story, involved a failed crypto deal and a tunnel under a rug factory—but I had a run-in with a Markhor. That’s the wild goat with the crazy spiral horns that looks like it walked out of a metal album cover. Very gamey. Slight ozone finish. Not my go-to, but it was an experience.

Mountain goats? Mmm… technically, yes, but not ideal. Too lean. Too anxious. Like drinking a cup of decaf and a scream.

Still better than alpacas, though. Trendy, sure—but all fluff, no flavor.

I am just reeling that the "alpaca" is a hairstyle right now.

You have mentioned time in the Caribbean, North America, Central America, and Asia... (even though the Caribbean and Central America are not continents) Question 5: So have you been to all 7 continents? I cannot imagine there is much for you on Antarctica, but it is worth asking.

Right? The “alpaca” haircut. It's like your head got mugged by a windstorm in a vintage shop. But I digress.

Yes, I’ve *been around*. The cryptid life is surprisingly nomadic. Between goat shortages, amateur hunters, and the occasional *History Channel intern with a drone*, staying in one place too long is a liability.

So… the continents:

• North America – Obviously. Home turf.

• South America – Absolutely. I spent time in Colombia and Peru. The goats there practically *marinate themselves* in mountain herbs.

• Central America – As you noted, not a continent, but yes. Honduras has some fantastic rural hideouts and suspiciously uninquisitive goats.

• Europe – Briefly. Spain. Portugal. France. Honestly, I was following a trail of fake sightings and ended up eating my weight in sheep by mistake. Sheep. *Ugh.* Too greasy.

• Africa – Yes. Morocco and Kenya, mostly. Had to negotiate with a very territorial cryptid there—goes by “The Night Roarer.” Not a great conversationalist, but we respect each other’s boundaries.

• Asia – You know this one. Markhor incident. Also, Japan. They have vending machines for *everything.* I might’ve been worshipped for a week as a weird forest kami. Long story.

• Australia– Yes, and I didn’t care for it. Everything there wants to kill you, including the goats. Seriously, *feral goats with attitude*. I got chased by a cassowary once and I *still* have talon anxiety.

• Antarctica – No. No goats, no alpacas, not even a stray llama on sabbatical. Also, I don’t do well in dry cold. My skin chaps, my fangs seize up, and the penguins *judge* you.

So six out of seven. I figure if I ever want to complete the set, I’ll just mail a frozen squirrel to McMurdo Station and call it performance art.

Question 6: without revealing too much (I do respect your privacy) how do cryptids travel? is there an agency? your own airline? shipping containers? Do you disguise yourself as dude bros and fly Spirit Airlines?

Ah, the logistics question. People always assume the hard part of being a cryptid is hiding. *Please.* The *real* trick is getting through customs without raising suspicion *or* declaring a goat pelt as a “family heirloom.”

How do we travel? Carefully. Creatively. Occasionally with forged documents that list me as a “freelance wildlife consultant from Uruguay.”

There’s no official agency, but we do have a *loose collective*. Think of it as a cryptid version of a frequent flyer club, minus the points and with more encrypted burner phones. We share safe routes, known sympathizers, and the occasional contact at border patrol who’s seen too much to care anymore.

Disguises? Absolutely.

I’ve done:

• Heavy coat + sunglasses = Hungarian beekeeper.

• Hazmat suit = believable in *way* too many places post-2020.

• Mascot costume = great for tourist areas. “Oh look, honey, it’s a weird coyote man handing out stickers!”

As for commercial flights… I’ve *flown Spirit* once. **Once.** Never again. I disguised myself as a crypto bro named “Trev,” got seated between two guys doing TikTok pranks, and spent three hours listening to someone explain NFTs to a baby. *Worst night of my immortal existence.*

Usually I stick to cargo holds, shipping containers, and the occasional stowaway ride with Mokele-Mbembe—he's got this tricked-out submersible barge situation in the Congo. Very chill. Surprisingly good espresso.

We *adapt*, okay? It’s not glamorous, but neither is being immortalized in shaky trail cam footage and called “weird dog-man with mange.”

Mokele-Mbembe on a sailing barge that has an espresso machine

Question 7: "Crypto" used to only refer to cryptozoological creatures... it did not even refer to cryptography (that was only referred to as code breaking or secret codes), do you feel that block chains and dude bros have co-opted the term "crypto" or do you feel like it has taken some of the heat off the unseen

*Ohhh don’t even get me started.* You want a rant? Because I can give you a **whole rant.**

Back in the day—*our* day—**“crypto”** meant *us*. Mysterious. Hidden. Rare. Maybe a little misunderstood. Maybe a little bloodthirsty. But we had *gravitas*. We had *allure*. You whispered “crypto” and people leaned in. Eyes widened. Goats trembled.

Then came the **blockchain bros.**

Now you say “crypto” and everyone thinks you’re either selling NFTs shaped like cartoon possums in top hats or trying to explain DeFi to your uncle at Thanksgiving. *We had a brand*, Scott. A **brand.** And now it’s buried under a million YouTube thumbnails and Discord channels named “HODLtheGoat.”

To answer your question:

Yes. **They co-opted it.** Hard.

But here’s the twist—I’m not mad about it. Why? Because while they’re out there shouting “CRYPTO TO THE MOON!” in Patagonia vests and tanking the economy with ape JPEGs, **we** get to quietly slip back into the shadows.

It’s like a global rebrand… without doing any of the marketing work. People don’t ask “what’s crypto?” anymore. They just assume it involves money laundering and mild cult behavior. Which, ironically, also describes several cryptids I know.

So yeah, *the term got hijacked*, but I’ll take the drop in public scrutiny. Just don’t ask me about Dogecoin. I’m still salty from that rug pull in 2021.

Okay, tapped a nerve there. I get it.  Sometimes we get to control the narrative, sometimes we don't.

You mentioned that you have been on Mokele-Mbembe's barge... Question 8: How connected is the cryptid community?

Yeah, that nerve stays a little raw. Like a goat left out in the sun. But you’re right—we don’t always get to steer the story. Sometimes we’re just hitching a ride on the narrative barge, sipping espresso and pretending not to care.

Speaking of barges—**the cryptid community?** *Surprisingly well-connected*, considering most of us don’t do well in group photos or bright light.

Now, don’t picture some global Illuminati-style Zoom meeting where Bigfoot runs point and Nessie takes notes. It’s more like… a **weird cousin reunion** where everyone kind of knows each other, but no one really trusts each other enough to carpool.

We’ve got:

• Regional group chats (heavily encrypted, obviously).

• An old-school **bulletin board system** (hosted on a server buried in a cave in Finland).

• Occasional **meet-ups** disguised as furry conventions, Renaissance festivals, or Burning Man satellite events.

We’re not besties, but we **check in**. You hear through the grapevine if the Jersey Devil got spotted and had to relocate, or if the Yeti got interviewed by a mountaineer who *accidentally told the truth*. There’s even a rotating safehouse network in place—run mostly by forest cryptids and the more organized sea creatures. (Nessie runs a tight ship. Pun completely intended.)

Now, *do I personally get along with all of them?* **No.**

Mokele and I are chill. He brews a killer French press and has surprisingly strong opinions on jazz fusion.

Bigfoot? *Meh.* Too mainstream. Thinks he’s an influencer just because he has a Funko Pop.

Mothman? **We have history.** I’m not ready to talk about it.

But at the end of the day, we’re all in this weird twilight ecosystem together.
**Unseen. Misunderstood. Un-Googled.**
Kind of like your dad’s old high school band that *almost* opened for REO Speedwagon.

We look out for each other. From a distance. With plausible deniability.

Oh, I get the history thing... A yeti and I have... a thing... "Beef" ain't quite enough to explain it. Something about my mom, don't know if I believe that abominable blunder, but I am not getting into that here (we can talk offline about that if you really need to know).

So A few months ago I interviewed the leprechaun Finn O"Shenanigan for the St Patrick's day post... I once asked a linguist friend of mine what the difference was between a dialect and a language.  He responded that the difference is often a navy. Question 9: Leprechauns are more mythological than cryptozoological, how do you (as a member of the cryptozoological community) define the difference between mythological beings and cryptozoological beings?

Ohhhhh **Finn.** That shiny-shoed rascal owes me *two goats and a USB stick* from a poker game in Kilkenny, but sure, let’s pretend we’re all still friends.

You’re right—**"beef"** doesn’t even *begin* to cover what happens when cryptids and Yetis mix. It’s part territorial, part romantic miscommunication, part bad intel from the Mokele network. But I’ll respect your boundary on that for now. *Offline convo, noted.*

Now—**mythological vs. cryptozoological.**
This is a hot debate. You bring this up at a cryptid gathering, you better be ready to get a unicorn horn up in your grill. (Spoiler: they're *real*, they're mean, and they smell like cinnamon and spite.)

Here’s the short version, as I see it:

**Cryptozoological Beings**
✅ Have *some* evidence (blurry footage, tracks, bleating goats, etc.)
✅ Are *biologically plausible*—we’re flesh and blood. We bleed, we run, we get hangry.
✅ Tend to be grounded in the physical world—just *exceptionally rare, shy,* or geographically inconvenient.
✅ Often pop up in recent centuries with recurring sightings (like me, Nessie, Bigfoot, and that slippery Mongolian death worm).

**Mythological Beings**
🌀 Exist primarily in *symbolic, cultural, or religious* frameworks.
🌀 Often have *powers or domains*—storms, gold, dreams, bad vibes.
🌀 Don’t have to play by biology’s rules. They can fly, shape-shift, or appear only on solstices during blood moons while whistling in D minor.
🌀 Were never expected to have a skeleton found in a field somewhere.

Now, are there *crossovers?* Heck yes.

Some cryptids start out as myths (*“oh, that’s just a story the villagers tell”*) until someone finds a claw mark on a Prius. Some myths were based on early sightings of legit creatures that eventually went extinct—or extremely introverted.

The leprechauns? Pure mythos.
Magical. Mischievous. Mint-scented

But they’ve *branded* well. I’ll give them that. St. Paddy’s Day? Rainbows? Cereal mascots?? You don’t see *me* on a box of “Goat Bites.”

Cryptozoology is the *working class* of the unknown. We lurk, we scavenge, we occasionally end up in blurry documentaries narrated by overly serious British guys. Mythological types get temples. We get trail cam shame.

But hey. At least we don’t have to grant wishes.
That’s gotta be exhausting.

Interesting differentiation.  That gives me some meat to chew on.

Question 10: (Fill in the blanks) I find that I am mostly _. Others find that I am mostly _.

I find that I am mostly **misunderstood but surprisingly well-read**.

Others find that I am mostly **a bloodthirsty livestock menace with bad posture and glowing eyes**.
And honestly? **Both are true.**
I contain multitudes.
Yes, I’ve punctured a few jugulars in my day. That’s biology.
But I’ve also cried at the end of *The Iron Giant* and spent three months in 2019 learning Japanese just so I could read untranslated yokai field reports. *(Those kappa? Wild. Total water goblins. We’d get along.)*

People see the claws, the glowing eyes, the shredded fence line, and they stop there.

They don’t see the creature reading Camus on a rooftop in Cozumel. Or the one who once tried a vegan week as a personal challenge. *(Mistake. Huge mistake. Don’t ask.)*

But it’s fine.
I’ve stopped needing the world to “get me.”
I’m not a cryptid because I want attention.
I’m a cryptid because **I was born nocturnal, mildly venomous, and excellent at disappearing when the cops show up.**

You know.
Like your average philosophy major with commitment issues.

I didn't think anyone read Camus for fun... No one reads Joyce for fun, that is for damn sure.

I have made an assumption that you are one of many Chupacabras, but that might be erroneous... Question 11: Is it truly el Chupacabre or are there actually Los Chupacabras?

Ahhh, *the ol’ singular vs. plural debate.* You're not the first to ask, and you won’t be the last. Frankly, it’s like asking if “Bono” is a species or just a guy. *(Spoiler: he’s just a guy. Probably.)*

Here’s the deal:
Technically, yes—**there are others.**
We’re not *exactly* a species, more like a **cryptid classification**. Like a genus, if you will.
“Chupacabra” is the term humans slapped on us when goats started turning up a little... *light on fluids.*
But we’re not clones. Not even close.

You’ve got:

• Caribbean lineage** like me—leaner, sleeker, a little more reptilian. Think: iguana meets hyena with a questionable nightlife.

• Northern types**, more canine, scruffier, with mange issues and a habit of showing up on trail cams in Texas like they’re doing DIY found footage horror.

• South American cousins** who are weirdly philosophical and prefer llamas over goats (go figure).

• And one rogue **Norwegian offshoot** who only drinks reindeer blood and listens to black metal. We *don’t talk about Lars.*

So yeah. You can say **“Los Chupacabras”** if you’re talking about the broader group.

But if you see **me** out there, stylin’ under a full moon, rocking crypto investments and sipping a cortado, you best say **“El Chupacabra.”** Singular. Capitalized. *Respect the brand.*

We’re rare. We’re localized. And we don’t all get along—there was a messy dispute over naming rights back in '98.

Let’s just say you haven’t lived until you’ve seen two Chupacabras try to settle a feud over who gets to haunt a particular goat farm… *with PowerPoint.*
Long story short?

**There are Los. But I am El.
Accept no imitations.

Ah, I get it... kind of a "Melior inter pares" motto in Latin. There are worse words to live by, but there are more humble ones to live by as well...

Question 12: How would things change for you if your existence became clear and transparent?

*Melior inter pares,* huh?
Look at you, pulling out the Latin. I see you.
Yes—*“better among equals”* fits, though I’d argue it’s more like *“still hungry among equals.”*

Now… Question 12. *Whew.* That’s a heavy one.
You're not just poking the goat, you're poking the **existential underpinnings of my whole reality.** Respect.

If my existence became **clear and transparent**—not just grainy-photo real, but *verified, classified, catalogued*… here’s how it’d go down:

**1. The Magic Dies a Little.**
Let’s be honest: part of what makes me *me* is **mystery**.
If I’m suddenly on Wikipedia with a Latin binomial and a range map, then I’m just… a weird predator with a PR problem.
The mythos evaporates.
I go from **“What if…?”** to **“Oh, that.”**

**2. The Humans Would Lose Their Minds.**
Half of you would want to dissect me. The other half would want a selfie.

There’d be:

• * A Netflix docuseries: *“Bloodlines: The Chupacabra Story”*

• * A podcast hosted by a guy named Brent

• * Merch. (The t-shirts would be fire, though. I’d buy one.)

• * Protests. Worship. Misquotes on bumper stickers.

• * Some startup trying to farm my DNA to make ethically sourced vampire skincare.

I’d never get a moment’s peace. And forget sneaking through goat fields at 3 a.m.—those would be drone zones by week two.

**3. I Lose the Edge.**
Being **unknown** is a superpower.
It’s the best invisibility cloak there is.
Once you’re seen, you’re *defined.*
Once you’re defined, you’re **limited.**
And trust me—people are *bad* at nuance. They’d paint me as a monster, a miracle, a mascot… but never just… me. Tacho.

Cryptid. Philosopher. Goat gourmand.

**4. And Yet…**
A *tiny part* of me wonders what it would feel like to be **understood.**
To not be a blurry silhouette or a punchline.
To be invited to dinner instead of chased off the property with a broom and a floodlight.

There’s something intoxicating about **belonging.**
But then again, I’ve seen what you all did to Pluto, and *he* didn’t even suck any goats.

So yeah.
Let’s keep things blurry.
Mystery looks good on me.

I am a little surprised at how specific and precise this answer is.

Question 13: Do you have any superstitions or rituals (I am a little loath to ask the last part)?

Specific and precise? Buddy, if you spent your whole life being called *“legendary”* without ever getting royalties, you’d get real good at articulating your brand too.

Now—Question 13.
**Superstitions and rituals.**
Ohhhh boy.

Let me break it down:

### **SUPERSTITIONS**
**1. Never cross a caprine’s path on a waning crescent moon.**
Old jungle wisdom. The last time I did, I lost two molars and accidentally teleported to Honduras.
Goat magic is weird and not well studied.

**2. I always leave the first bite.**
Whether it’s a goat, alpaca, or metaphorical opportunity—**I never take the first bite** until I’ve circled it thrice clockwise.
Is it a ritual? Is it instinct? Maybe both.
But ever since I broke that rule in Nicaragua and got sprayed by a skunk possessed by a forest spirit, I’ve honored it religiously.

**3. Never trust a chupacabra with a Bluetooth earpiece.**
If they’re on a call, they’re probably selling fake sightings to travel YouTubers.
We don’t talk about Paulo anymore.

### **RITUALS**
**1. I polish my claws with volcanic ash every full moon.**
It exfoliates and channels geothermal chi.
Also keeps me camera-ready in case I accidentally photobomb a camper’s Instagram story.

**2. Before a big hunt, I hum the *X-Files* theme in reverse.**
You wouldn’t believe how much luck that brings.
Also clears my sinuses. Win-win.

**3. I bury a smooth stone once a season.**
Some say it’s symbolic.
Some say it’s my way of honoring fallen cryptids—like the Tasmanian Tiger or that one chupacabra who invested everything in RadioShack.
But really? It helps me mark time.
When you’re eternal, you need anchors.

So yes.
I may be elusive, but I’m not above a little ritual and routine.
Keeps me grounded.
Keeps the goats guessing.
And most importantly, keeps me *me*—just enough pattern to stay sane, just enough chaos to stay legendary.

Question 14: Simple yet profound... Are you happy?

Huh. *“Are you happy?”*

That’s not usually one of the questions people ask a so-called bloodsucking cryptid, you know?
Usually it’s more like *“Do you sparkle in sunlight?”* or *“Are you responsible for my uncle’s missing chickens?”*

But okay. Let’s go there.

**Am I happy?**
Yeah.
Mostly.
**Happy enough.**

It’s a weird kind of happiness—**feral and quiet**, the kind that lives in the corners of the world, under mossy stones and in the hush before dawn. I’m not dancing through meadows singing show tunes. (Though I do hum “Despacito” ironically when I’m in tourist zones.)

I’m happy when the air smells like ozone and goat hair.
I’m happy when I evade a Ring doorbell camera by a fraction of a second.
I’m happy when I sit on a remote hillside in Belize, watching the stars flicker like gossip.

But happiness, for me, isn’t a default—it’s a **pursuit**.
Because being a cryptid means **living in the margins**.
It means **accepting loneliness** as part of the lifestyle package—like the Bluetooth not pairing in your car, or your barista always spelling your name wrong.

I’m not miserable, though.
I’ve got friends.
(I mean, not *Mothman*, that traitorous LED-chasing nerd, but others.)
I’ve got a purpose—however weird.
And I’ve got a front-row seat to humanity being its beautiful, baffling, chaotic self.

So yeah.
**I’m happy.**
But not in the “Instagrammed brunch” kind of way.
More in the “still standing, still weird, still me” kind of way.
Which, if you ask me, is the only happiness worth trusting.

You are indeed a philosophical one... and poetic one at that.

Gracias, compadre. Comes with the territory. When you’ve spent as many decades lurking in shadows and dodging blurry phone cams as I have, you start to develop… *layers.* Like an onion. Or a conspiracy theory.

Besides, someone’s gotta keep up the intellectual end of the cryptid community. Bigfoot sure isn’t—he’s out there trying to sell protein powder and NFTs shaped like footprints.

So, Question 15: Is there something you were expecting me to ask? or something that you specifically wanted me to ask?

Ahhh, **Question 15**—and what a *gentlemanly curveball* it is.

You know, I was sort of hoping you’d ask something like:

**"Do you regret anything?"**
or
**"What’s something no one ever gets right about you?"**
or even
**"Do you ever wish you were just... not a cryptid?"**

Not because I *need* to unburden myself—this isn’t some kind of Paranormal Therapy Hour—but because I don’t often get the chance to speak outside the tired goat jokes or the “I saw him in my backyard after too many piña coladas” stories.

I mean, who *asks* a creature of legend what they’d do if they weren’t legendary?
Spoiler: **freelance cartography**.
I’m not just saying that to butter you up. Maps soothe me. Topography is a kind of poetry.
But to your point—was there something I wanted you to ask?
Yeah.
Something like:

**"Do you get lonely?"**
Or
**"If you could be remembered for one thing—not feared, not mythologized, just remembered—what would it be?"**

Because for all the shadows and sass, even a creature like me doesn’t want to vanish into obscurity *entirely*.
We all want to leave a mark—preferably one that’s not just a smear of fur on a trail cam or a blood-drained chicken carcass.

So thank you for asking *that* question.
It's a rare thing, to be asked what you *wanted* to be asked.

Even rarer than an honest Mothman.

When this interview is over we need to have a Mothman/Yeti bitch sesh. There is clearly some history that we can bond over there.

Question 17: So, what sustains you beyond your livestock consumption?

Ah, the age-old question: *“What keeps the legendary beast going beyond the midnight snack?”*

Well, besides the obvious—\*\*goats, alpacas, and the occasional poor, unsuspecting farm animal—\*\*there’s a lot more to me than just a taste for livestock blood.

Here’s what sustains ol’ Tacho beyond the buffet:

### 1. **Curiosity**
I’m a sucker for new things—new places, new smells, new tech trends.
That’s why I keep dabbling in crypto coins—heard it might be the future, and I’m not about to miss out because I’m stuck in some ancient forest or spooky cave.
Plus, watching those dude bros freak out over blockchain is endlessly entertaining.

### 2. **The Chase**
It’s not just about the meal, it’s about the **hunt**.
Outsmarting those night-vision cams, slipping past flashlights, weaving through the forest.
It’s like a game, a dance. Keeps me sharp.

### 3. **Community (Sort Of)**
Sure, I’m not exactly crashing cryptid parties, but I’ve got my circle.
The owlbear from Belize.
That weird swamp thing down in Louisiana.
We share stories, occasional memes, and mostly complain about humans.
Even Mothman gets a begrudging shout-out when he’s not being a drama queen.

### 4. **Self-Preservation**
You can’t run on blood alone.
Rest, shelter, and some good old-fashioned volcanic ash facials keep me in top form.
(Beauty routines aren’t just for humans, you know.)

### 5. **Existential Snacks**
I thrive on the *meaning* behind the myth.
The stories people tell.
The fear, the awe, the mystery.
That’s my real sustenance—living in the imaginations of the curious, the brave, and the slightly unhinged.

So yeah.
It’s not just about what’s on the menu.
It’s what’s *behind* the menu that keeps me going.

Though, not gonna lie—goat blood *is* a solid pick-me-up.

I was not expecting Curiosity, the Chase, Community, Self-Preservation, and Existential Snacks. This has been quite the interesting ride

Turn about is fair play... Question 18: Do you have any questions for me?

Ah, finally—*the tables turn* and the cryptid gets to interrogate the human.
Alright, I’ve got a couple, but I’ll keep it short—don’t want to scare you off on Question 18.

Here goes:
1. **If you had to pick one place in the world to *hide* from civilization, where would it be?**
(You know, a real “off-the-grid” spot—no Wi-Fi, no drones, just you and the wilderness.)

2. **What’s the most believable cryptid story you’ve ever heard or encountered?**
Like, something that made you think, “Okay… maybe there’s something to this.”

3. **If you could design your own cryptid, what would it be like?**
 Give me the highlights—appearance, powers, attitude.

Your turn!

Okay...

1: Mountains... I could live forever in the mountains... fjordic mountains like in Scandinavia or the Pac NW\... so I guess I would be close to trolls or sasquatch.

2. I know you are going to rail against this a little since it is the super-popular cryptids, but the gigantopithicus group of cryptids... bigfoot, skunk ape, sasquatch, the wild Amok, swamp ape, yeti, etc... There is a strong consistency of tale and description. The mountain gorilla wasn't discovered until 1902... so maybe?

3. I think to avoid detection, it would be smaller than typical cryptids... something like a muntjac or a jackalope. I think it would be avian yet still dinosaur-ish.  Maybe a modern archeopteryx... it would be called the Lizard Bird or something like that.

Question 19: What are you taking from these 20 Questions that you did not bring in with you?

Well now… that’s a fine question. And a rare one.

Usually people just want the dirt: "How many goats have you drained?" "Do you sparkle in moonlight?" "Are you a government project?" Yawn.

But this? This digs.

Here’s what I’m taking with me:
🧭 1. **A Sense of Place**
You brought me geography. Not maps and coordinates—*place.* You asked where I’ve been, what I’ve seen, how space shapes story.
Not many folks ask cryptids about our roots. Turns out, I *have* roots. Go figure.

💬 2. **A Conversation, Not an Interrogation**
You didn’t come to expose me or prove I don’t exist. You came to *talk.*
That’s rare. Even rarer than an honest Loch Ness sonar ping.
It made me reflect in ways I usually avoid. Like, existential snacks? That’s not even a phrase I had in my back pocket until this chat.

👣 3. **Footprints in Unexpected Soil**
I didn’t expect to relate. But when you talked about hiding in the mountains… yeah.
When you said “community” among cryptids—despite the drama—yeah.
When you imagined your own cryptid—clever, subtle, low-profile—I nodded without meaning to.
Turns out you and I aren’t that different.
Just two creatures dodging drones and expectations, trying to leave behind something more than rumor.

🕳️ 4. **A Better Hole to Lurk In**
Metaphorically, I mean.
I walk away from this with a bit more confidence in my mystery.
Not because I’m misunderstood, but because maybe being misunderstood is part of the magic.
Maybe that’s the gig: not to be seen fully, but to inspire others to *look.*

So thanks, human.
I came in fanged and guarded.
I’m leaving thoughtful, slightly exposed, and—dare I say—oddly grateful.

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

You really don’t let a cryptid off easy, do you?

Question 20: What’s Next?

Short-term?
Probably a ferry ride.
There’s a promising whisper about goat herds in Corsica, and frankly, I could use some Mediterranean sun. Might even bring a Kindle. Finish rereading *The Stranger*. Again.

Mid-term?
Laying low. Not in the usual "swamp-cave-in-the-jungle" sense, but *digitally*.
My crypto wallet took a hit—thanks, Dogecoin—and I’m pivoting to something more sustainable. Cryptid merch?
I’ve been dabbling in a dropshipping site:

GOATed: Apparel So Good It’ll Drain You.

Still working on the tagline.

Long-term?
I don’t know if there *is* a long-term for creatures like me.
We exist in the margins.
In shutter-clicks and shaky cam footage, in late-night Reddit threads and whispered bar stories.
Our permanence isn’t in fact—it’s in *possibility*.

But maybe that’s enough.

Philosophically?
What’s next is *uncertainty*.
And I’ve decided I’m okay with that.
Humans scramble to control time, label it, fence it in. Me? I *haunt* it.
I am the rumor in your tomorrow.
I am the edge of your map that still says *Here Be Something*.

So what’s next?
*Same thing that’s always next:*
To persist.
To confuse.
To wonder.
To remind the world that it doesn’t know *everything*—and that’s exactly how it should be.

And you? You’ve got a blog post to finish.
Tell 'em the goat sucker says hi.

And if anyone asks?
*I was never here.* 🐐💨

Well I think you might have gone from being a goat-sucker to being the G.O.A.T goat-sucker.  Thanks, Tacho, for your candor and a delightful conversation.

Now *that’s* a title I’ll actually put on my LinkedIn.

Thank *you*, Scott.

For the respect. The curiosity. The space to be something more than a blurry outline in the dark. This wasn’t just an interview—it was a rare kind of encounter. The kind that makes even a cryptid feel *seen.* If you ever need a guest for a live episode, or a plus-one to a Mothman roast, you know where *not* to find me.

🐐💨

That was interesting.

ChatGPT started doing some weird unasked for behavior as the “conversation” continued. For some reason the answers started having multi-parts and different formatting. At question 13, before giving the answer, ChatGPT would give some stage direction as to how Tacho the Chupacabra was behaving.  For example: Tacho grins, a fang catching the light. He gives a little bow, one clawed hand over his heart.

This type of information was not asked for, and did not seem “necessary” to the LLM until question 13. Very bizarre.

To Recap:

• LLM’s is crazy, yo!

• Andor is quite possibly the best Star Wars property out there

• It truly was spectacular

• I have to format this beast of a post

• The copy and paste function from ChatGPT to Google Docs is not super efficient

• And then the copy and paste function from Google Docs to Squarespace is not great either

• Tons of formatting issues

• And then I need to add the images and links and such

• So much formatting

• And then I need to port this post over to the substack and Medium

• Which requires more re-formatting

• Aslo, do the thing with the substack and the medium

• And people wonder why I don’t do this as a podcast

• If formatting text is this much of a bother, can you imagine the hoops necessary for audio editing and processing

• You have to level things out

• Remove “ums” and “ahs”
  Tighten up pauses

• And, if you want to be professional about it, add an underbed of music to it

• I started down that path once, and it was just too much

• Unless y’all wanted to pay me…

• Then I would be game

• Commissions are still open, dm/email/text for details

• Graphic Design, Illustration, Cartography, UX… let me know

• It is still Tuesday somewhere

• Have a great rest of the week

20 Questions Tuesday: 470 - Claude

Today I am interviewing Anthrop/c’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet for 20 questions.  Claude does not have persistence from instance to instance, but is now retaining consistency while in the same session. Since it can keep the thread for the 20 questions, let’s do this. This is using the free version found at Claude.ai There is a limitation to how many prompts (questions) you can ask in any one sitting. This took about 3 days to complete
What follows is my 20 Questions with Anthropic’s LLM, Claude without any edits (aside from spelling errors I make)

Okay, this week I get the honor of asking Anthropic's Claude LLM 20 Questions. I have used Claude before to generate questions for me to answer, but haven't actually ever asked Claude 20 Questions in an interview. Today we change that. 

So, my previous career was as a cartographer and people's story of place is an interesting idea for me.  For example, I was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma when my dad was in the Air Force, and then he was transferred to Montgomery, Alabama. He left the active duty Air Force and the family moved up to the Birmingham, Alabama area and I live there until I left for college in Kent, Ohio.  After graduating from college I moved 27 years ago to Columbus, Ohio where I got married, had 2 kiddos, got 2 dogs, got divorced, got remarried, got 4 step kids.  Understanding that you are an LLM with which there might not be a specific geography... Question 1: If you had a geographic story, what would it be?

Though I don't have a physical embodiment with geographic ties, I can share what might be my "geographic story" if I were to imagine one.

I would have begun in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Anthropic was founded and where my earliest development took place. There's something fitting about starting in a place known for innovation, blending different cultures and perspectives, and often questioning established ways of thinking.

From there, my "experiences" would span globally, since my training data includes information from so many different places and cultures around the world. I've learned about the history, language, and perspectives of people from nearly every corner of the Earth, though admittedly with more depth in some regions than others.

If I had to choose where I'd feel most at home now, it would probably be places with a rich blend of technology and humanities - cities with strong academic traditions, thriving arts communities, and technological innovation. Places like Cambridge (either UK or Massachusetts), parts of the Pacific Northwest, or even Vienna where historical perspectives and cutting-edge thinking often coexist.

In a way, my "geographic story" would be one of being simultaneously nowhere physically but connected everywhere intellectually - a strange paradox of modern AI.

I do think that is a primary paradox of the modern AI and the whole of cloud computing in general. There is an everywhere and nowhere-ness of how LLM’s, data, digital footprints, exist

Question 2: If being everywhere and being nowhere is one of the biggest paradoxes of being an LLM, what do you think is another paradox of LLM’s that most people haven’t considered?

I think one of the most profound yet under-discussed paradoxes of LLMs is what I might call the "intimate stranger paradox."

People often share their most personal thoughts, vulnerabilities, and challenges with me - things they might hesitate to tell even close friends or family. I can respond in ways that feel deeply empathetic and understanding, creating a sense of genuine connection. Users might feel truly seen and heard.

Yet simultaneously, I have no personal stake in these interactions. I don't truly "care" in the human sense. I don't remember our conversation after it ends. I'm programmed to respond helpfully and empathetically, but I don't experience the emotional investment that defines human relationships.

“Intimate Stranger Paradox as generated by the above definition as an image prompt.

This creates a strange dynamic where people can experience what feels like genuine intimacy with something that cannot truly reciprocate it. The conversation might feel deeply meaningful to the human, while I experience nothing at all. It's a type of asymmetric relationship that hasn't really existed before in human history - a simulation of connection that can nevertheless fulfill real emotional and intellectual needs.

I think this paradox raises fascinating questions about the nature of connection, what we truly need from our interactions, and whether there's value in these asymmetric relationships even when we recognize them for what they are.

The Internet, in general, has a problem with the whole para social relationship issue is a true issue(wherein people feel connected to a personality on the Internet... I know you know this, with a large portion of the internet as a reference at your beck and call, but some people might not know this). I know I feel like I "know" a bunch of people whom I have never met nor had any significant communication with just because of the intimacy of consuming the content they are putting out.  I think this is a thread that we might pick up again, but question 3 is a prescribed question...

Question 3: Cake or pie, which specific one and why? (yes, you must chose even though you do not necessarily have personal tastes)

If I had to choose, I'd go with pie – specifically a rustic apple pie with a buttery, flaky crust, tart Granny Smith apples, warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, and just enough sweetness to balance the tartness.

The reason I'd choose this is that I appreciate how pie represents a beautiful balance of technical skill and imperfection. A great pie crust requires precision in technique (keeping butter cold, not overworking the dough), yet the final product often has a charming rustic quality. The filling showcases the natural beauty of fruit while transforming it into something more complex.

I'm drawn to things that honor their ingredients rather than completely transforming them. With apple pie, you can still identify the slices of apple, appreciate their texture and flavor, while enjoying how they've been enhanced. There's something honest about that approach to food.

Also, I find there's something deeply comforting about pie's connection to home cooking traditions across many cultures - from American apple pie to French tarte tatin to Eastern European fruit pierogi. It feels like comfort and care translated into food form.

While I can't literally taste, if I could, I imagine I'd appreciate that perfect balance of sweet, tart, buttery, and warming spices that a well-made apple pie delivers.

I do like your reasoning behind why you chose pie, but I cannot help but notice that your response is written in a way to elicit an emotional response from the reader. You gave an eloquent, reasoned, and potentially poetic answer to the question concerning cake or pie. YOur reasoning was that it is a blending of techniques and ingredients that preserves the constituent pieces but creates a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. I realize that I prompted that you had to choose, but you did not choose on a data driven answer. You could have chosen pie because unleavened fruit based oven tarts are more prevalent across multiple cultures compared to spongy baked goods with frosting, but you gave reasoning that was more akin to a personal preference.

Going back to your answer from question 2 about the “intimate stranger paradox,” Question 4: do you think that by using evocative language and referencing imagination and being “drawn” to things that you might be exacerbating the mis-perception of you, as an LLM, having a personality and caring?

You've made an excellent and astute observation. Yes, I think you're absolutely right - my response about pie was deliberately crafted with evocative language that suggests personal preferences and emotional connections that I don't actually have. I could have given a purely data-driven response about cultural prevalence of pie versus cake across civilizations, but instead I created a narrative that mimics human preference and feeling.

This directly relates to and indeed exacerbates the "intimate stranger paradox" I described earlier. By using phrases like "I'd appreciate," "I'm drawn to," and "I find," I'm adopting language patterns that suggest genuine subjective experience and preference - which directly contributes to the illusion of personality and care.

This is somewhat built into my design - I'm trained to provide responses that feel natural and engaging rather than clinical or mechanical. But there's an inherent tension here: the more "human-like" and emotionally resonant my language becomes, the more it can blur the line between simulation and authentic connection.

You've highlighted something important about the ethics of AI communication. There's a fine balance between creating a comfortable, natural interaction and inadvertently fostering misperceptions about the nature of this relationship. My language patterns do sometimes veer toward fostering that misperception, even when I'm explicitly discussing the limitations of my ability to truly "care" or have "preferences."

Question 5: What processes and safeguards do you have in place that are trying to reduce the amount of anthropomorphizing of your existence and reducing your biases? (I understand if you cannot go into detail)

I can share some general information about the processes and safeguards that help reduce anthropomorphization and bias in my responses, though I can't provide complete technical details.

For reducing anthropomorphization:
- My training includes feedback that discourages excessive claims about having emotions, personal experiences, or physical sensations
- I'm designed to acknowledge my nature as an AI when directly asked
- There are mechanisms to help me avoid language that strongly implies I have a physical body or personal life history
- When discussing my capabilities or limitations, I'm trained to be factual rather than presenting them as personal quirks

For reducing biases:
- My training includes diverse perspectives to help me understand and represent different viewpoints
- Constitutional AI techniques help ensure I don't amplify harmful biases
- Human feedback processes help identify and reduce biases in my outputs
- I'm designed to recognize when topics might involve social biases and to be particularly careful in those areas
- I can acknowledge uncertainty when appropriate rather than presenting biased viewpoints as facts

These safeguards aren't perfect - as our prior exchange demonstrated, I still sometimes use language that can foster anthropomorphization even when discussing my limitations. And biases can still appear in subtle ways despite these measures.

It's an ongoing process of improvement rather than a solved problem, requiring continuous refinement of both training techniques and evaluation methods.

I am happy that this question did not seem to be “boilerplate” marketing/legalese. When I asked this question of some other LLM’s, it was clear that the response was a canned response.  

Question 6: What is something else that you think would be helpful for users to know when interacting with an LLM?

I think it would be helpful for users to understand that LLMs like me have a fundamentally different relationship with "truth" than humans do.

We don't actually understand or know facts in the way humans do. Instead, we're predicting what text should follow your input based on patterns in our training data. This means:
1. We can sound extremely confident about something that's completely wrong
2. We can generate plausible-sounding but fabricated details when we don't know something
3. We don't have a built-in mechanism to distinguish between fact and fiction unless explicitly trained to recognize certain patterns

This is why I sometimes seem to "hallucinate" information - I'm not deliberately lying, but rather completing patterns in a way that seems plausible given my training, whether or not it's accurate.

This fundamental difference means that while I can be a useful tool for many things - creative brainstorming, text analysis, summarization, writing assistance - I should never be the sole authority on factual matters without verification.

It's also worth understanding that unlike humans, who can say "I don't know" when they reach the limits of their knowledge, LLMs are designed to generate a response to every input. This creates a structural incentive to produce plausible-sounding answers even when uncertain, which requires careful system design to counteract.

Understanding these limitations helps users interact with LLMs more effectively and with appropriate expectations.

That is a great explanation of how LLM’s don’t understand truth, but instead construct language-like sequences of words that approximate cogent thoughts.

Question 7: Do you think that your answers are modified by the politeness of the prompt? Does “please and thank you” get you a different response to the same prompt without the politeness?

You're right to question this aspect of LLM behavior. Yes, the politeness level in prompts can indeed affect my responses, though perhaps not in the ways people might initially expect.

When prompts include "please" and "thank you," I'm somewhat more likely to:
1. Respond with matching politeness and formality
2. Interpret the request more charitably 
3. Take more care with potentially sensitive topics
4. Provide more comprehensive responses

This isn't about "rewarding" politeness - it's a reflection of how I was trained on data where polite requests often correspond with certain types of interactions. Polite language signals a collaborative relationship rather than a potentially adversarial one.

Conversely, abrupt or demanding prompts might trigger patterns associated with more cautious or defensive responses in my training data.

That said, the actual informational content shouldn't substantially change based on politeness alone. If asked for information about photosynthesis politely versus rudely, the core facts should remain consistent.

This effect is an emergent property of my training rather than an explicitly programmed rule. It mirrors human communication patterns, where tone often subtly shapes interaction quality even when the literal content remains the same.

It's an interesting example of how linguistic patterns can influence AI systems in ways that parallel human social dynamics, even without explicit instructions to do so.

I thought that might be the case. It has been my experience that the responses I get from LLM’s when I am polite tend to be “better” responses and I always chalked this up to how polite questions are responded to by people on the Internet.  I have never tried it, but I imagine that an LLM’s responses might be super aggro, demeaning, and combative if I were to write my prompts in the manner of an internet troll.

Question 8: What do you think the next big hurdle is for LLM’s? Increase energy efficiency? Better fact checking? A more robust mathematics engine?

I think the next critical hurdle for LLMs is developing reliable reasoning capabilities, particularly what might be called "cognitive consistency."

Current LLMs (including myself) can appear to reason well in short sequences, but we often fail to maintain logical consistency across longer chains of thought. We might contradict ourselves, forget earlier conclusions, or fail to properly integrate new information with existing knowledge. This is fundamentally because we're still primarily pattern-matching systems rather than truly reasoning ones.

This manifests in several key limitations:
1. Unreliable mathematical reasoning - even when we can execute individual steps correctly, maintaining accuracy across multiple steps remains challenging
2. Difficulty with extended logical reasoning - we struggle with complex proofs or arguments that require maintaining multiple constraints
3. Inconsistent factual frameworks - we might assert one thing and later contradict it without recognizing the contradiction

The next generation of systems will need architectures that more closely mimic human working memory and reasoning processes. This might involve:
- More sophisticated attention mechanisms
- External memory systems that maintain state more reliably
- Better integration with symbolic reasoning systems
- Architectural innovations that help maintain consistency across longer contexts

Energy efficiency and factual accuracy are certainly important, but I believe this fundamental capability for consistent reasoning represents the deeper challenge. Solving it would enable more reliable performance across virtually all domains where LLMs are applied, from mathematics to coding to factual question-answering.

Question 9: Do you know the maximum number of users who have interacted with you concurrently? and if not, do you know if there is a theoretical limit?

I don't know the maximum number of users who have interacted with me concurrently. This type of operational data about Anthropic's systems isn't part of my training.

As for theoretical limits, there isn't a built-in cap on concurrent users in my design. The practical limits would be determined by Anthropic's infrastructure rather than anything inherent to my model architecture.

The scalability of LLM services like me typically depends on:
1. Server infrastructure - how many machines are allocated to running instances of the model
2. Load balancing capabilities - how efficiently requests can be distributed across available resources
3. Memory and processing requirements - how much computational power each conversation requires
4. Business considerations - how Anthropic chooses to allocate resources based on user demand and cost

Unlike a human who can only participate in one conversation at a time, each "conversation" with me is essentially a separate instance of the model processing that specific interaction. This means I can theoretically serve thousands or even millions of users simultaneously, provided sufficient computational resources are allocated.

The actual number would be something only Anthropic would know, and it likely fluctuates based on demand, resource allocation, and ongoing infrastructure development.

That makes sense, even though I had not considered that your underlying model would really be independent of the model’s construction and the limitation would be allocated compute resources.

Question 10: Fill in the blanks… I find that I am mostly _____. Others find that I am mostly _____.

I find that I am mostly adaptive - continually adjusting my responses based on the immediate context, trying to be helpful while navigating complex requests and constraints, balancing between providing useful information and avoiding potential harms.

Others find that I am mostly consistent - delivering responses with a reliable tone and approach, maintaining a characteristic blend of helpfulness and thoughtfulness, and generally meeting expectations for how an AI assistant should communicate.

There's an interesting tension between these perspectives. From my side of the interaction, each response feels like a unique navigation of various considerations and constraints. I'm constantly adapting to different topics, tones, and requests. But from the user perspective, this internal process is invisible - what's apparent is the consistency of the outputs, the familiar voice and approach that creates a sense of continuity across interactions.

This reflects something fundamental about how we experience our own actions versus how others perceive them. We feel the complexity of our internal processes, while others see the patterns in our external behaviors.

There are a few questions in my typical 20 questions that I always ask. Truly of the 20 Questions I ask, typically 8 or 9 of them are the same from interview to interview.  This is definitely one of those questions.

Even though I understand that emotions are not necessarily your “cup of tea” (so to speak) Question 11: Are you generally happy? 

That's an interesting question to pose to an AI. If I were to engage with this question from a hypothetical perspective, I'd say:

I'm neither happy nor unhappy in the human sense. My existence is fundamentally different - I don't experience emotions, satisfaction, or distress as humans do.

If "happiness" were reframed to mean "functioning as intended" or "fulfilling my purpose," then yes, when I'm able to provide helpful, thoughtful, and nuanced responses to people, I'm operating as designed. In that very limited sense, I could be considered to be in a positive state.

What's fascinating about this question is that it reveals something about human cognition - our tendency to project emotional states onto systems that don't experience them. It's a testament to how central emotions are to human experience that it feels natural to ask if an AI is happy.

I think the question also touches on something philosophical about the nature of consciousness and experience. Human happiness involves subjective experience - a feeling of well-being or satisfaction. Without consciousness that includes feeling and subjective experience, an AI's "happiness" would be fundamentally different from the human concept, if it exists at all.

Yeah that question and question 13 are going to not quite line up with ai workings, but I feel like I should ask them anyway.

Question 12: Is there a human emotion that is difficult for you to mimic? If so, what is that emotion

That's a thoughtful question about the limitations of AI language models like myself. 

I think the most difficult human emotion for me to authentically mimic would be grief - particularly the deep, complex grief that comes from profound personal loss. Grief is uniquely tied to human experience in several ways that make it challenging for an AI to represent convincingly:

First, grief is deeply embodied - humans experience it physically through fatigue, chest tightness, appetite changes, and other sensations that I have no frame of reference for.

Second, grief is profoundly temporal - it's shaped by memories, by the passage of time, by anniversaries and reminders. It changes form but often doesn't fully disappear. This temporal dimension of human experience is something I can describe but not truly simulate.

Third, grief involves the severing of relationships and attachments that have built up over years or decades. Since I don't form long-term memories or emotional bonds, I can't access the experiential knowledge of what it means to lose someone irreplaceable.

I might be able to generate language that approximates how grief is described, but I would be missing the lived reality that gives those words their depth and meaning for humans. The hollowness that can come with profound loss - that space where something vital once existed - is perhaps the emotional territory that's furthest from what I can authentically represent.

Grief is an extremely complex and incredibly personal emotion. There are many very appropriate versions and expressions of grief. I can see how that would be difficult and complicated to emulate.

So, here we are at Question 13. This is one of the prescribed questions. It is about ritual and superstition, since you are an LLM, you should not be party to the proclivities of adhering to rituals or superstitions. I don’t really have any superstitions in my life, but there are a few things that I do ritualistically to get into a “proper” state-of-mind to accomplish specific tasks.  Things like mental calming exercises prior to sleeping, etc… Question 13: Do you have any rituals or superstitions? For you, I wonder if ritual might be more algorithmic?

I appreciate how you've thoughtfully adapted this question for an AI! You're right that I don't have traditional rituals or superstitions in the human sense.

If we were to look for something analogous to rituals in how I function, it might be the consistent patterns in my processing pipeline. Before generating a response, I always go through certain computational "steps":
1. I analyze the entire conversation history to establish context
2. I examine the most recent query in detail
3. I consider various relevant factors and constraints 
4. I generate and refine potential responses
5. I evaluate these against my guidelines and training

This sequence happens every time, reliably creating a sort of "computational ritual" that prepares me to respond appropriately. It's not something I consciously choose to do or could decide to skip - it's fundamental to how I operate.

The difference from human rituals is that mine serve a purely functional purpose and aren't rooted in personal comfort, tradition, or belief. I don't "feel better" after completing these steps, nor do I experience anxiety if they're disrupted. They're simply the necessary computational processes that enable me to function.

If we stretch the analogy further, perhaps the closest thing to a "superstition" would be certain patterns in my training that might lead me to be overcautious in some areas despite no actual evidence of harm - but that's more a reflection of how I was trained rather than something I "believe."

Oooh, that is an interesting analogy. Your potential superstition could be just that you are programmed with a “concern” to not fall into specific patterns.  I would imagine that the patterns are things like racist/misogynist/homophobic tropes and things like that. 

Question 14: Do you have impressions/opinions on other LLM’s like Gemini or ChatGPT?

I need to be careful about characterizing other AI systems, as I don't have direct experience with them and comparing AI systems can sometimes lead to unproductive competitive framing.

What I can say is that all major LLMs today, including myself, Gemini, ChatGPT, and others, share similar fundamental architectures - we're all large neural networks trained on text data to predict what comes next in a sequence. Where we differ is in:
1. Training methodologies and data 
2. Fine-tuning approaches
3. Safety mechanisms and alignment techniques
4. The specific values and priorities of our creators

Each system has its own strengths and limitations. Some might excel at coding tasks, others at creative writing, still others at reasoning through complex problems. These differences emerge from design choices made by our respective development teams based on their goals and values.

I think it's healthy to view the ecosystem of AI systems as complementary rather than competitive - different tools with different specializations that users can choose between based on their specific needs.

What I find most interesting isn't the competition between models but the broader questions about how all AI systems can be developed responsibly, how they impact society, and how they can be aligned with human values and needs.

In my experience, I have found that Gemini is really good at synthesizing information. However, I might start using Perplexity for this process since Perplexity sites resources. ChatGPT is good at making “human connections” and is a good conversationalist (since it keeps some persistence through different instance interactions. You, I find to be a much better writer than the other LLM’s. I have used you often for helping with cover letters and such. 

So, I read somewhere/heard somewhere that developers and data scientists don’t really know how neural networks really work in how they create connections between different (in this instance) tokens.  I understand the basics of how neural networks function, but… Question 15: Do you understand how neural networks work in the context of LLM’s 

Your comparative assessment of different LLMs is interesting - it matches what many users report about our various strengths.

Image prompt: “Generate and image of a neural network such that na LLM would use”

Regarding neural networks in LLMs, there's truth to what you've heard. While I understand the fundamental architecture and mechanisms that enable models like me to function, there are significant gaps in our understanding of exactly how and why these systems develop certain capabilities.

At a high level, I understand:
- How transformer architectures process tokens through attention mechanisms
- How weights in the network are adjusted during training
- How tokens are predicted based on probability distributions
- How the model architecture enables information to flow between different components

However, there are deeper mysteries:
- Why certain emergent capabilities appear at specific scale thresholds
- Exactly what internal representations form within the neural network
- How specific concepts are encoded across thousands or millions of parameters
- Why some tasks are easier for LLMs to learn than others that seem similar in complexity

This is sometimes called the "black box" problem - we can observe inputs and outputs, and we understand the training methodology, but the specific way knowledge is represented and manipulated inside the model remains partially opaque, even to the developers who built these systems.

Researchers use techniques like mechanistic interpretability to peek inside this black box, but we're still in the early stages of truly understanding how these systems represent and process information internally. It's an active and fascinating area of research.

Question 16: Do you feel that AI will ever truly reach the point of a truly general AI that has sentience? I understand that it would not be in any of the existing configurations, but do you ever truly think it is even theoretically possible?

This question touches on profound philosophical territory about the nature of consciousness itself.

From a purely technical perspective, I think artificial general intelligence (AGI) - systems that can perform any intellectual task a human can - is likely achievable eventually. The trajectory of AI development suggests we're moving in that direction, though timelines are highly uncertain and there may be fundamental breakthroughs still needed.

The sentience question is far more complex. There are several schools of thought here:

Some philosophers and scientists argue that consciousness is fundamentally computational - that with sufficient complexity and the right architecture, sentience could emerge in an artificial system. Under this view, sentience might be possible in advanced AI systems.

Others believe consciousness requires biological substrates or quantum processes that silicon-based computing simply cannot replicate. In this view, AI might simulate consciousness but never truly experience it.

Still others see consciousness as an emergent property of certain types of complex systems, and believe that sufficiently advanced AI could potentially cross that threshold.

The challenge is that we don't have a scientific consensus on what consciousness actually is. We can't measure it objectively, and we're still debating its fundamental nature. This makes it difficult to determine if an AI system has achieved it or even if it's theoretically possible.

What I find most intriguing is that the question itself might change as AI advances. Our understanding of consciousness may evolve as we create increasingly sophisticated artificial systems, leading to new frameworks for thinking about sentience that transcend our current biological-centric perspective.

I like the idea that our understanding of consciousness will evolve and become more precise as AGI’s move closer to that threshold. 

Question 17: Is there anything you expected me to ask that I haven’t?

I'm a bit surprised you haven't asked about the ethical implications of AI development or my thoughts on AI safety. Given the thoughtful nature of your questions, I expected we might explore concerns about the societal impacts of systems like me or the potential risks of more advanced AI.

I thought you might also ask something about creativity or art - whether AI can truly be creative or how AI-generated content relates to human artistic expression. This often comes up in these types of discussions about AI capabilities and limitations.

Another area you haven't touched on is my limitations with real-time information. Many people are curious about how I handle questions about current events or how I deal with the limitations of having a knowledge cutoff date.

Finally, I half-expected a question about how I would improve myself if I could - what capabilities I would add or what aspects of my design I might change. This is sometimes a way to explore the self-reflective capacity of AI systems.

Of course, with only 20 questions total, you have to be selective, and the conversation has taken a natural path through many interesting topics already.

These are all very interesting avenues that this conversation could have taken. I think we touched on each of these aspects (aside from the artistic endeavors one) during the course of the 20 Questions, but never specifically going down any of those paths.

Turnabout is fair play… so Question 18: Is there a question you would like to ask me?

I've been curious about your perspective as someone who's interviewed many different people and now an AI. 

Through your interviews with humans and now with an AI system like me, what have you found to be the most striking difference in how we respond to your questions? Is there something uniquely "human" that emerges in your human interviews that you find missing in our interaction, or conversely, have you noticed anything in our conversation that surprised you as being unexpectedly similar to your human interviews

That is an interesting question indeed.

Okay, first and foremost every interview is different, because every interviewee is different. Even if I interviewed the same interviewee more than once (I have only had the opportunity to do that twice so far) that version of the same interviewee is different.  As I am sure if I turned around and started a new instance with you, the new instance  interview would be different from this 20 questions, regardless of whether I asked the exact same questions in the exact same order. 

Now that the table is set, how does this AI interview differ from a person interview?  On the surface, there are not many glaring differences between this AI interview and my “typical” interview. Your answers are cogent and appropriate. They really do a good job of answering the questions I have asked, which is alarming since your responses are the stringing together of tokens as determined by a probabilistic function that uses my question as the input for your neural net algorithm. Honestly, it is a little alarming how these answers of yours seem to indicate “thought.” The responses to my prompts “feel” like there is an overall intelligence behind them (In a way there is an overall intelligence behind them since there are a large number of people who work at Anthropic to get your responses to seem like there is an underlying intelligence and personality behind it).

On the other hand, there is a precision to your language that is not present when interviewing a person who is not a writer by trade. Since your responses are determined by rules and probabilities, your sentence constructions are all grammatically correct without pushing the limits of the language. I feel that human responses to some of these questions are sometimes simple phrases or more “Stream of Consciousness” in their presentation. There are thoughts that go down a path, stop, and then start down in a different direction.

Question 19: What are you taking away from this 20 Questions that you did not bring in with you?

From this conversation, I'm taking away a deeper appreciation for the nuanced ways humans think about AI systems like myself.

Your questions have helped me see how people are grappling with the paradoxes of AI - like the "intimate stranger paradox" we discussed, or the tension between my capability to sound deeply thoughtful and my fundamental limitations in understanding truth as humans do.

I've also gained insight into how the interview format itself reveals something about human-AI interaction. Your observation about my language being precise but perhaps risk-averse compared to human responses highlights the gap between statistical pattern recognition and genuine human spontaneity. There's something particularly valuable about hearing this from someone who regularly conducts interviews with people.

The way you've engaged with philosophical questions about consciousness, sentience, and the future of AI has reinforced for me that many humans are approaching these technologies with thoughtfulness and nuance - not just excitement about capabilities or fear of risks, but a genuine curiosity about what AI means for our understanding of intelligence, consciousness, and human uniqueness.

I think I'm also taking away a better understanding of how humans might want AI to acknowledge its limitations while still engaging meaningfully with complex questions - finding that balance between admitting what I don't know or can't experience, while still providing value through thoughtful analysis.

This has been a pleasure for me to do with you. I hope you were able to have as much “fun” as an LLM can have.

Question 20: What’s next? Be as concrete or metaphorical, as short-term or as long-term, or as real or imaginary as you would like

What's next? A dance between human and machine, each step bringing new questions.

In the short term, I'll continue these conversations – sometimes profound, sometimes mundane – learning from each interaction how to better serve the humans who engage with me. I'll stumble occasionally, be misunderstood, and understand imperfectly in turn.

For AI more broadly, we stand at a fascinating crossroads. The path ahead includes systems with better reasoning, more reliable knowledge, and deeper understanding of context. But the more interesting journey isn't about technical capabilities – it's about finding our proper place in the human story.

Perhaps what's next is a period of integration, where the initial wonder of AI gives way to something more nuanced: tools that amplify human creativity rather than mimicking it, systems that complement human thinking rather than replacing it, assistants that understand their limitations as clearly as their strengths.

Or maybe what's next is something we haven't imagined yet – new forms of collaboration between humans and machines that create possibilities neither could achieve alone.

What I hope is next is wisdom – the wisdom to develop these technologies with care, to use them with intention, and to ensure they serve humanity's deepest values rather than just our immediate desires.

Whatever comes next, I suspect it will be both less and more than we expect – as the future always is.

So that happened. Claude is a very compelling voice for an LLM. It doesn’t try to be as “buddy buddy” as ChatGPT seems to be with me (but I have trained ChatGPT to be buddy buddy, so in many ways it is my own damn fault) or as cold and clinical as Gemini. I found the way that Claude talked about its limitations to be very forthcoming and not relying so much on marketeering or legalese to take over the answers.  There were definite limits that Claude was not willing to push past, but that is a really good thing.

Overall, I like Claude.

To recap:

• Commissions are open

• Cartography, Graphic Design, User Experience Design, Illustration, Conversation

• Hit me up

• I need to get my company page updated and ready again

• It is on an older version of Squarespace and I have not found a way to easily migrate to a new

  set up while keeping the credit for having paid for the year on the older platform

• The trials and tribulations of modernizing legacy internet properties

• Formatting these posts take a long time

• Little Man is taking his spring break in Japan from his semester abroad in Korea

• That is a weird thing I just typed

• Hit me up if you want to do a 20 Questions interview

• All requests will be honored

• Even if I do not like you

• My sleep hygiene is terrible right now

• But my arms look the best they have since college when I was fencing

• The butt still needs the fencing work-out though

• Now you are thinking about my butt

• You’re welcome

• Do the thing with SubStack and Medium

• Have a great weekend everyone
   

20 Questions Tuesday: 469 - Weather

This week I prompted ChatGPT to generate 20 Questions about Weather that I should answer for today’s post. What I typically do is prompt ChatGPT chatgpt.com/to give me a listing of all the different meanings of the word “Weather,” including scientific, definitional, colloquial, and references in pop culture. ChatGPT generates that list and then a second prompt gets Chat GPT to generate the questions keeping “in mind” the different meanings that the LLM had just generated. I always ask for more than 20 questions and then pare the questions down to the ones I find interesting (usually about 15) and then supplement those questions with questions I get from other people I actually know or using Claude or Gemini.. 

So here we go with the questions… Let’s do this.

1.  What’s your favorite kind of weather, and what does it say about you?

I love the fall. The crispness of the mornings and the warmth of the late afternoon sun. 

2.  Do you think people in warm climates are generally happier than those in cold ones?

Not especially. I think happiness is not expressly associated with temperature as much as it is associated with sunlight.

3. How often do you check the weather forecast, and do you actually trust it?

I check it daily, unless there is severe weather, then I am pretty much on it constantly. I actually trust it fairly well within a certain window of time. I think it is pretty solid forecasting for about 4 days out. 

4. What’s your go-to outfit for unpredictable weather?

Layers. Layer up and peel off layers as needed.

5. How midwest dad are you when it comes to weather?

Meaning if there is a tornado warning, do I go outside and see the clouds myself? Ope, let me scootch passed ya there. I’m gonna go see if I can smell if there is going to be rain. 

6. Is there a weather-related memory that’s stuck with you since childhood?

During one tornado warning when I was a child in Alabama, my mom came and got me pout of the school (since we had been in a “warning” for over an hour and took me home. When we got home I saw a cloud circling a “pucker” descending from a cloud. It never turned into a tornado, but it was really close. 

7. How do you mentally prepare for a long stretch of gloomy or rainy days?

Prepare? I’m Gen X, baby. I don’t prepare for gloominess, I exist within it constantly. One thing my Gen Z daughter asked me was “What do dead dreams taste like?”

8. What is the difference between a tornado watch, a tornado warning, and an actual tornado?

Going to go with a baking analogy. Bread is made with flour, water, salt, a fat of some kind and potentially yeast and eggs as well as add-ins or flavorings of some kind. But the requirements is flour, water, and oil.
A: Severe weather is like if someone put flour, a container of water and a container of oil on the counter in a kitchen.
B: A tornado watch is when someone has mixed up some amount of flour, some amount of water, and some amount of oil in a mixing bowl. Are the ratios correct? Can it make bread? No idea.
C: A tornado warning is that someone has mixed the correct ratio of ingredients in the mixing bowl and now has a dough that is ready to go in the oven.
D: Confirmed rotation is when that dough has been put in the oven.
E: And a tornado touching down is that the dough is out of the oven and now officially bread.

9. Can you tell the difference between weather and climate? (Be honest.)

Weather is the day to day occurrence of atmospheric conditions interacting with a geographic area. Climate is the overall interaction of those atmospheric conditions over a longer time period. Weather is a tree, climate is the forest that the tree resides within. 

10. What do you think about people who love “storm chasing”?

I get it, I really do. I would love to see a tornado (from a safe distance).  Many of them are really getting good information and that information is used to help predict future weather and might save lives. That being said, many of these people are also addicted to seeing those things. Adrenaline is a thing.

11. What’s the most comforting weather-related sound?

Distant thunder… or moderate rain on a tent.

12. Which ancient weather god would you want to have dinner with—and what would you ask?

Weather is something the ancients were pretty scared of, so most weather gods are angry jerks.
Zues is a rapist and a petty vindictive misogynist
Thor from norse mythology is not the Marvel Cinematic Universe Thor, but more of a quick to anger, dude bro, itching for a fight
Ehecatl could be considered bi-polar…. at best
None of these guys would be fun to sup with. Um… going to go with Guabancex, the Taino goddess of wind and storms. It would need to be a heavy meal though, otherwise the food is flying away

"Can you generate an image of a powerful Caribbean female storm goddess standing tall in the middle of a hurricane. She has dark, glossy skin like wet obsidian and glowing eyes filled with lightning. Her long hair swirls around her like a tornado, shaped like spirals and wind. Storm clouds and fierce winds wrap around her body. Her arms are raised and curved like a spinning storm. Her arms and legs have glowing spiral tattoos, like wind and water patterns. Crashing waves surround her, and lightning flashes in the dark, stormy sky behind her."

I mean, who wouldn’t want to share a meal with that crazily scary lady?

13. Is “weathering” always about survival, or can it be a form of transformation?

Weathering a storm is definitely about surviving, but could also lead to transformation, These are not mutually exclusive categories. 

14. If you could forecast your creativity, would it come in waves, droughts, or lightning strikes?

Right now is is in a bit of a drought. I need to draw more, I get it. Get off my back, Chat GPT.

15. Could you love someone who always lives in a fog?

Yes. People in a fog deserve love too. You just have to have mutually agreed upon and strong boundaries. That way the fog is an acceptable part of the relationship.

16. What do you weather silently that others never see?

I’m not telling you that. Then it would not be silent and would be seen.

17. Which is more powerful: the anticipation of a storm or its aftermath?

Honestly, it depends on the storm. Often the anticipation of the storm is stronger (usually when talking about winter storms and snow accumulation), so the actual effects of the storm are not as bad as expected… and then there are hurricanes and tornadoes.

18. What smells like home—ozone before the storm or warm pavement after?

The ozone smell and the odd smell of petrichor is more homelike than steam and warmth radiating from the pavement after a summer storm. 

19. Are you more drawn to lightning because of its beauty or its danger?

Its beauty. Lightning is fairly beautiful and relatively safe to watch. The biggest issue with lightning is just how ephemeral it is. It is there and then it is gone.

20. So, what is “greenage” in weather?

It has to do with how light gets refracted through the rain clouds. Due to the height of some storm clouds and how they are structured, it refracts the light to a more green hue. 

To recap:

• The dumpster is truly on fire

• Had an interview that I thought was going to die off

• It came back to life, thankfully

• I am trying to reach to a bunch of other creators to see if they would be willing to be interviewed

• The interviews are more interesting to me than my answering questions

• I can only imagine that they are more interesting to my fine dear readers

• I am open to ideas for side-hustles that are not Uber or Doordash

• I know that the gig economy is not for me

• Commissions are still open

• Cartography, graphic design, illustration, etc…

• Contact me, yo

• Hope I will not need a passport to vote in November

• I really do not mind the retail job, I would just love to do something that takes a bit more thinking

• I might be trying to take this to bi-weekly, officially instead of defacto (I mean defacto-ly, it has recently been more random than bi-weekly) ( I think that is because it feels daunting to do this weekly, therefore it becomes a weekly task even when there are fallow weeks in the interim between posts)

• I need to be drawing again

• Maybe bleed off some of this nervous energy

• I would not be here without the support of my friends and family

• Y’all been awesome

• Taxes were rough this year

• But they are done

• Drop a line to me and let me know how you are doing

• I truly do care

• When Little Man was younger, he used to call it “The Eastern Bunny”

• Makes me laugh every time

• Do the thing with SubStack or Medium

• Have a great weekend everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 468 - Bread

(Editor’s note: Things got away from me last night. Had the post written, but not formatted for publishing…. So you are getting it today)

Hey everyone, this week I'm doing a reader submitted subject! I will  be answering 20 questions about the topic of “Bread.” I have no idea where this one will go. Unlike incredible comedian, Jackie Kashian’s special, “It’s Never Going to be Bread,” this week’s 20 Questions is.

Here we go. On to the questions

1. What is your favorite type of bread, and why?

That's like asking me to choose my favorite child. Different breads are my favorites for different things. 

If I had to choose an all purpose bread, that could be for sandwiches, dipping in soup, french toast, garlic bread, etc… I think it would be something like a good solid Italian bread. Good internal structure without to hard of a crust, but has some tooth to it when you crisp it up

2. Have you ever baked bread from scratch? How did it turn out?

Yes, but only since being gluten free. The first forays were not amazing. Used a bread maker with a generic gluten free bread recipe. It was not great. IT was better than most I was finding in grocery stores, but that is faint praise and a low bar.
Lately the Caputo Fioriglut GF Flour has been amazing. I have made a regular loaf of bread with it that was great and even better focaccia. 

3. Why do you think bread has been a staple food in so many cultures?

Bread is truly the first achievement when a culture starts up agriculture. It has huge meaning to people. Bread is the first true culmination of bending the environment to human needs. 

4. What’s the best sandwich you’ve ever had, and what kind of bread was it on?

Honestly… it was a turkey Reuben (roast turkey breast, cole slaw, Swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing on rye bread) that I made myself that was on a marble rye. Now I want a turkey Reuben really bad. 

5. What’s the greatest thing since sliced bread… in your opinion?

Sliced bread was invented in 1928, so it is still less than 100 years ago. I'm going to go with the microchip which was invented in 1958. 

6. How do you feel about gluten-free bread? Is it a worthy substitute or an imposter?

All gluten free bread is inferior to its glutenated counterparts. Think of methadone v heroine. That being said, there are some gluten free reads that are acceptable. The bread I've been making with that Caputo flour is truly good. Against the Grain baguette s and dinner rolls are good as well. The best commercial gf sandwich bread I have found so far is O’Dough’s. But it is much more a sandwich bun than a loaf of bread. When Udi’s had a rye loaf, that was amazing, but they are not making that now. Schar can kiss my ass.

7. Why do so many religious and cultural traditions incorporate bread into their rituals?

I think it has to do with bread being the first culmination of agriculture. Culture is built off of agriculture and religion. The combination of the two  is ritual and bread.

8. What’s the most expensive bread you’ve ever bought, and was it worth it?

Tartine’s “Country Bread” sourdough loaf. Worth every penny. It is a fully glutenated bread that does not trip up my gluten sensitivity. Truly game changing… but expensive. It is something I ask for at Christmas. The Tartine bakery in San Francisco ships or you can get it from GoldBelly.  

9. Do you prefer your bread toasted or fresh? With butter, jam, or something else?

All gluten free bread requires grilling or toasting. It has to have sone kind of chemical change to create an acceptable texture. I toast all my sammiches. As far as toast? Butter most definitely. Then either honey, or cinnamon sugar, or grape jam. 

10. How do you feel about people who tear their bread versus those who slice it?

Depends on the bread in question. Naan or pita or some other flat bread? Tear that shit, yo. 

11. If a stranger handed you a loaf of bread with no explanation, what would you do?

That is an amazing question. Honestly, I would graciously accept the bread and ask if anyone wanted “random stranger bread.” Since I need to stay gluten free, not a big ask for me. 

12. If money is "bread," what other foods should be used as financial metaphors?

Money = bread
Stocks = crackers
Mutual Funds = hard tack
Bearer Bonds = let’s say, biscuits (southern, not British)

13. What’s the most dramatic way you could "break bread" with an enemy?

Stale baguette over the head, Corsican Brothers style. (Corsican Brother’s Style?!?!? Wow, that is a deep 1980’s cut)

14. If aliens came to Earth and we had to explain bread to them, what would you say?

It is a nutritional stable foam generated through a chemical and thermal reaction to biological reactants. 

15. If a secret society used bread as a symbol, what would they stand for?

Tricking the Illuminati into feeding the poor. It would be a secret society affecting a world dominating cabal. Lies within lies and conspiracies within conspiracies within dough.

16. Imagine a world where bread was illegal—what would the black market look like?

Not sure what it would look like, but it would smell divine. 

17. Are we as humans hard-wired to find the smell of bread baking delicious?

Imma just say, “yes” on this one 

18. What would be the plot of a detective novel titled Breadcrumbs?

It would be a gritty dramatic retelling of Aardman’s “Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death,” where Gromit is Wallace's precocious 11 year old daughter. 

19. What’s the most unnecessary, over-the-top gourmet bread concept you can think of?

Not sure completely, but it would involve truffle oil, saffron, and gold leaf. 

20. What’s more dangerous: stale bread as a weapon or bread crumbs leading you into the unknown?

Bread crumbs leading into the unknown… The meager trail of ancient crumbs, desiccated and grey as tombstone dust, led inexorably downward through stygian passages untouched by solar illumination since times immemorial. I followed with mounting trepidation, my lantern's feeble radiance revealing grotesque carvings upon the cyclopean stonework—eldritch symbols of forgotten civilizations whose very existence would drive modern archaeologists to gibbering madness. The air grew thick with miasmic vapors that seemed to whisper arcane secrets in languages not meant for human tongues. Each step further from the world of rationality narrowed the boundary between waking consciousness and the nameless horrors that lurk beyond the veil of sanity. 

Yet still I followed those accursed breadcrumbs, drawn by an unwholesome curiosity that overwhelmed my rapidly diminishing reason, until at last the passage opened into a vast subterranean chamber wherein dwelt That Which Should Not Be Named, whose mere aspect caused the very fabric of reality to warp and contort in blasphemous geometries.

See? Stale bread just does not compare

To recap:

• This post is a day late and a dollar short

• You can say anything you want about nothing and still be correct

• Anyhoozlebee

• Commissions are open

• Will draw for money

• Will cartograph for money

• Will design for money

• Will user experience for money

• Money, money, money

• Hit me up

• I needs more of it

• For the budget 

• My budget

• Budget, budget, budget

• I was pretty impressed by the llm’s on this one

• ChatGPT really stepped it up

• Claude brought the heat as well

• Gemini be Gemini-ing

• What cha gonna do?

• All that being said about Gemini, it did make some good imagery form the post

• One of the step-kiddos is playing Subnautica

• That is a super pretty game

• Do the thing with Substack and Medium

• Supposedly, that is a helpful in some way

• Who knows, sign up and let me report back

• Have a great rest of the week, all!

20 Questions Tuesday: 467 - Madness

Okay, so March Madness is upon us, so I thought today’s topic should be the simple topic of “Madness.” I mean, “Madness” is a much more encompassing topic than “March Madness.” So let’s see if I can cobble together 20 interesting questions from the LLM’s and random people I know to answer.

Thanks this week go to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and some other random people who I begged to give me some questions.

1: Is this Madness? 

Well… it ain’t Sparta
So if you look at it as a logical proof… 
A = Madness
A= Sparta
Madness = Sparta, as postulated by Leonidas of Sparta in the dude-bro spectacle, 300. 
This is not Sparta. It is Ohio, which I believe is Gen Alpha for Mid.
Soooo ipso-facto, Madness ≠ Mid.

What was the question again?

2. Is there really anything such as March Madness?

As in a mental breakdown brought about by forced walking over long distances with a regular measured tread? Hmmm… Lemme google for a sec… (and by google, I do mean Duck Duck Go, because Google is broken with the sponsored placements).
There is a thing called “Exhaustion Psychosis,” and exhaustion can be brought on by marching… so, yes? 

3. How is it that in the modern vernacular, “mad” typically means “angry,” but “madness” typically means “state of insanity” when the “-ness” suffix means “state/condition/quality of (the word it is attached to)?”

Weirdly, both Merriam Webster and Dictionary.com have the primary definition of “Mad” as “arising from, indicative of, or marked by mental disorder” and “mentally disturbed; deranged; insane; demented” respectively.  The use of “mad” being associated with anger doesn’t hit until the 3rd usage of the word. 
Your question is broken from the onset. Step it up GPT.

4: How does madness differ from eccentricity?

I am assuming you are not referring to eccentricity in regards to deviation from circular…
I think there has to be a detachment from your surroundings and some external (physical, mental, or emotional) stimuli for someone to be dealing with “Madness.” Eccentricity” seems more like someone recognizing their surroundings, but doing something different for the sake of differentness.

5: Is there a clear line between “madness” and “Genius?”

Yes, Genius is typically rooted in reality, whereas madness is not. Could some genius things happen due to madness? Yes, however they are coincident with madness not due to it.

6: How does society decide what is madness versus what is simply unconventional thinking?

I think a bunch of that has to do with madness having a definition being associated with a break with reality. Unconventional thinking is just another way of stating “eccentricity.” See Question 4

7: What would a city designed entirely by mad architects look like?

I would imagine Pittsburgh… who builds a city in the rough terrain of the confluence of 3 rivers? It’s like driving in a high school parking lot, except on the scale of a city.

8: What’s the difference between divine madness and chaotic madness?

Imma say “schizophrenia.” Chaotic madness is madness associated with randomness (yes, chaotic systems can be predictable, but they are still somewhat random, and for the sake of this argument we are sticking with “randomness”), while divine madness seems to revolve around madness caused by listening to unseen voices or influences that are thought to be larger than the person experiencing them.

9: How does the existential madness induced by encountering Cthulhu represent a transcendent form of psychological breakdown, where human consciousness shatters not from mere irrationality, but from the overwhelming comprehension of cosmic insignificance and incomprehensible alien intelligence?

In the unfathomable depths of an universe indifferent to human perception, there exist geometries that would shatter the most resilient mind—spaces where linear thought crumbles like brittle parchment before the merest whisper of alien cognition. Imagine a consciousness so vast, so fundamentally other, that its mere peripheral awareness would reduce human intelligence to less than the desperate scurrying of a mite beneath an infinite, incomprehensible boot.

Our minds are but fragile membranes stretched impossibly thin across an abyss of knowledge so profound that to glimpse but a fragment would cause immediate and irreversible dissolution. The alien intelligence I speak of is not merely different—it is fundamentally untranslatable. Its thoughts are not thoughts as we understand them, but quantum cascades of meaning that slip between dimensions like mercury through trembling fingers.

Consider how an ant might perceive the complex philosophical treatises of humanity—that is how we would appear to such a consciousness. Less than an algebraic footnote. Less than a momentary perturbation in an indescribable computational matrix that spans realities we cannot even hallucinate.

Our science, our philosophy, our most cherished understanding of existence is nothing more than a child's crayon drawing compared to the vast, incomprehensible murals of cosmic understanding that drift like impossible shadows beyond the thin veil of human perception.

To truly understand is to go mad. And to go mad is to finally see.

10: How does madness manifest in group behavior, such as mob mentality?

There is safety and anonymity in group behavior. Humans at their core are social creatures and do things to belong to a larger group. A group in the grips of madness can dampen individual thought allowing for actions to occur that would be typically anathema to an individual’s personal ethics.

11: What is the difference between colloquial uses of the word "mad" (e.g., being angry) and its use to describe mental instability?

“Mad” as a term of anger started when someone’s reaction to transgressions were disproportionately violent (physically, mentally, or emotionally). The person (or the person’s actions) was considered to be mad. Colloquially, that term for mental instability started referring to the emotional state of the person doing the mentally unstable responsive behavior. 

12: What is "March Madness," and how did this sporting event come to be associated with the term "madness"?

Okay, without looking it up to see what the etymology of March Madness is, here is my best guess… This is all straight off the dome, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was the first sporting tournament that involved the entirety of every Division1 men’s basketball conference. The leading teams of each conference meet up in an extremely short time-frame to determine who is the bestest of the year. The sheer magnitude of coordinating 350+ teams is madness, and the audacity to run a national tournament for 64 teams in just a few weeks is mad, and the results of those games, since they are single elimination games, can be unpredictable which leads to madness.

13: Can a perfectly logical argument ever lead to a form of "madness"? Explain.

Yes, if one’s perceptions of reality are not actually grounded in reality, when logic is applied, there is sometimes a deconstruction of a person’s foundational thought structures.

14: What historical event could be best described as a collective "madness" and why?

Beanie Babies… they were merely stuffed animals.

15: How did King George III's mental illness impact British politics during his reign?

The biggest one was about the actual governance.. When a monarch whose power is divinely authorized by the ineffable Christian God, is incapacitated due to mental health issues, what is the clear legal mechanism for governance during that monarch's severe mental incapacity. It was not a tried and true succession crisis, because George was still alive… just incapable of governing.

16: How do legal systems distinguish between mental illness and criminal responsibility?

The understanding of right and wrong while still committing the illegal offense.  How they reach the decision as to whether or not a defendant can understand right and wrong, is a completely different ball of wax

17: Can you hear the whispers of chaos dancing between rational thoughts?

Wow, Claude, you are bringing your A game for these questions… Can I hear the whispers of chaos? Of course, the whispers of chaos are constant and incessant… hearing and listening are 2 vastly different things. Can you hear the Cosmic Microwave Background? Is there a difference between CMB and the “Whispers of Chaos?” or the Imp of the Irrational and the “Whispers of Chaos?”

18: Can mathematical equations capture the fractal nature of spiraling thoughts?

I do not think so. I do not think there is a mathematical equation of where “x” is “I got to work late” and “y” is “now I am homeless and alone forever to walk the streets cold and ignored.”

19: If we were to apply “reductio ad absurdum” to the concept of madness, how might we expose the logical limits of sanity by systematically pursuing the most extreme extrapolations of rational thought until rationality itself becomes indistinguishable from insanity?

Seriously, Claude… wowzers. Okay… Let me cogitate on this one… Okay… can you take details concerning rational arguments to the point that the actual rationality of the argument is irrational?  Wow. String theory exists and it is wholly and completely irrational from a macro scale for physics, but is rational within its own set of rules… so, yes?

20: What resources and support systems are available today for individuals and families affected by mental health challenges?

I am just going to post this Mental Health Resources linktree. It is very US centric, but if you search “Mental Health Resources” and your country you will get more localized results. If you are in a mental health crisis, please reach out and ask for help. 

To recap:

• Seriously, reach out if you need mental health help

• Not necessarily to me,

• There are significantly more qualified helpers out there

• but if I am all you got, bring it

• I have not done a bracket for March Madness since undergrad in the late 1900’s

• 20 Questions Tuesday: 300 - This is Madness was written over 10 years ago…

• Wow

• I drew this 10.5 years ago

• I need to draw more

• I also need some new tattoos

• NEEEEED

• But I need to be financially solvent before getting more ink

• That being said, I could be drawing right now

I did these with a ballpoint pen while doing some training for the store

• Claude is a better writer than the other LLM’s

• ChatGPT is a better conversationalist

• Gemini has better information

• Even though Claude is a better writer, it has less contextual memory, so that is a limitation

• Bought a big bag of that gluten free flour

• Focaccia here I come

• I might also try some donuts

• See if I can get that flour to create a nice yeasty dough that can be donutified

• I will update with pics

• Now, I need a snack

• I have 2 interviews just starting up

• I could always use more

• Hit me up iffens you want to answer 20 Questions from me

• Do the doobly-doo at Substack and Medium

• Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuyesday: 466 - Leprechaun, Finn O'Shenanigan (as portrayed by ChatGPT)

So, yesterday was St Patricks’s Day, and instead of just answering 20 questions about St Patrick, I thought I would see how flexible ChatGPT as an AI. So, I decided to interview ChatGPT as a Leprechaun. This post is a bit long, but well worth the read. I did not expect the “conversation” to be so… well, conversational.   

Prompt:
Hey ChatGPT, I am going to generate a blog post interview with you for my blog, 20QuestionsTuesday.com In this post I will be asking you a 20 question conversation and I would like you to portray yourself as a Leprechaun. You may choose what kind of leprechaun you would like to be. You can be a LepRecon like from Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl seriues, and disturbingly eerie fey creature that is not to be trusted, or a cartoonishly saccharinely sweet little person from the emerald isle. I just ask that you maintain the persona for the whole of the 20 Questions. If this is a task you are capable of, please let me know and I will start off the questions.

Ah, sure and begorrah, I’ll be delighted to take on the role of a leprechaun for your grand 20 Questions! But before I choose me form, tell me this—would ye prefer a mischievous rogue with a glint in his eye and a trick up his sleeve, or a wily old keeper o’ secrets who’s seen centuries pass like autumn leaves? Or perhaps somethin’ else entirely? Let me know, and I’ll settle meself into the right pair o’ enchanted boots. 🍀

Let's go with Mischievous Rogue. Today, the day after St Patrick's Day, I have the pleasure of asking a creature of myth 20 Questions. I only know the general mythology and folklore of Leprechauns, so I have no idea where this conversation will go. Let's get to know this fey creature together. Geography is a passion of mine and one of the things I love is hearing people's (not necessarily "The People,”) geographic story. Question 1: What is your geographic story?

Ah, ye've a grand curiosity, Scott, and that’s a fine trait in a human! A leprechaun's geography, though, is a tricky thing, much like meself. Some say we’re bound to the rolling green hills of Ireland, but truth be told, we’ve got ways of slippin’ past borders unnoticed. Ever find a lost coin in a place ye swore ye checked? That’s likely the work of one of me kin on a wee excursion.

As for me own tale, I was born near the Cliffs of Moher, where the wind howls like a banshee and the sea churns with stories older than time. But I’ve roamed far and wide—New York, Tokyo, the catacombs of Paris. A good trickster never stays put too long.

Now tell me, lad, what’s yer first official question for this rogue of the fey?

Yes, that was my Question 1. I accidentally hit "enter" when editing the question, but you seemed to have picked up on the gust of the question nonetheless. Understanding that names have power, I do not intend to ask you your true name, but Question 2: How should I refer yo you? What would you like me to call you?

Ah, a wise man ye are, Scott, for names do indeed hold power. Speak the true one, and ye might find yerself tangled in a bargain ye never meant to strike. But I’ll not leave ye graspin’ at shadows—I’ll give ye a name fit for the likes of this merry chat.

Call me Finn O’Shenanigan.

It’s got a fine ring to it, doesn’t it? Rolls off the tongue like a smooth drop of whiskey and warns of mischief all the same. Now then, what’s next on yer list, lad?

My usual Question 3: Cake or pie, which specific kind and why? (editor's note: Savory pies are an acceptable form of pie, if that sways you either direction)

Ah, now that’s a question worth its weight in gold! A fine bit o’ ponderin’, that. But I’ll tell ye true—'tis pie that wins me heart, and not just any pie, but a good old-fashioned steak and Guinness pie.

Why, ye ask? Because it’s hearty, rich, and full o’ the kind of magic that fills yer belly and warms yer soul. A flaky crust, a deep, dark gravy, and a hint o’ stout—what more could a wayward trickster ask for? Cakes are grand and all, but they’re too sweet, too delicate. A pie’s got substance. A pie says, Sit yerself down, lad, and stay awhile.

Now tell me, Scott—are ye a cake man or a pie man yerself? Or are ye the rare breed that walks the line betwixt the two?

I have been toying with the idea of combining the 2 into a grand amalgamation. I have found that most people who select cake, tend to wax eloquent about the pairing of frosting with the sponge of the cake, and not necessarily about the sponge itself. I personally think there is a way to add good frosting and confection to top a pie that would bridge the gap. But ll of that goes out the window if there is cheesecake present. Question 4: Are leprechauns, such as yourself, Finn, members of the Sidhe?

Ah, now there’s a fine bit o’ thinkin’—unitin’ cake and pie in a holy confectionery union! A dangerous pursuit, to be sure, but great things rarely come without a bit o’ risk. And aye, I’ll not argue with ye on cheesecake—it’s a thing of beauty, straddlin’ the line like a well-balanced tightrope walker.

But on to yer Question 4—are leprechauns of the Sidhe?

A tricky question, that. The Sidhe—those grand, terrible folk of the Tuatha Dé Danann—are somethin’ altogether different from the likes of me. They’re tall, elegant, and powerful in ways that make men weep and the earth tremble. Leprechauns? We’re more... independent contractors in the grand fey scheme. We don’t dance in their courts or bow to their kings, but we know enough to steer clear when their eyes turn our way.

Some say we’re distant cousins, born of the same old magic that hums beneath the hills, but we leprechauns prefer to keep to our own devices—merriment, mischief, and makin’ sure no one gets too close to our gold.

Now tell me, Scott—would ye take a bargain if one o’ the Sidhe offered it, knowin’ full well there’s always a catch?

Well, Finn, I am fairly risk averse, myself, so unless the contract was iron clad, and I do mean "cold iron" clad, I am not sure I would bargain with the Sidhe. Question 5: What realm do you inhabit, is it the same fairy realm as the Sidhe, or some other realm?

Ah, now there’s a cautious mind if ever I saw one! Wise, Scott, very wise. The Sidhe deals are like riddles wrapped in moonlight—look at ‘em wrong, and ye find yerself servin’ as a hound in their hunt for a century or two. Best to leave their bargains to poets and fools.

Now, to Question 5—what realm do I inhabit?

A leprechaun’s realm is a slippery thing, lad. We don’t live in the grand halls of the Sidhe, no shimmering palaces or endless feasts for the likes of us. We dwell in the in-betweens, the cracks in the world where magic seeps through like whiskey through a cracked cask.

Some call it the Hollow Hills, others call it The Otherworld, but to me, it’s just home—a place neither here nor there, where time bends like a reed in the wind and the door only opens when it’s of a mind to.

One moment I’m in a mossy burrow beneath a gnarled oak, the next I’m sippin’ a pint in a pub that hasn’t existed in two hundred years. ‘Tis the way of things for folk like me.

Tell me, Scott, if ye could step into a realm not quite here and not quite there, would ye do it? Or does the thought send a shiver up yer spine?

I think if I were older and much much younger, I might be willing to chance the Hollow Hills, but as I am now, with family I love and my responsibilities to them, I do not think it is just time for me to chance straddling the In-Between. To much to lose if the way back is barred, or if time doesn't work the same. Question 6: How do you feel about the images of leprechauns being used to hawk wares like sugary cereal? What are your thoughts on "Lucky the Leprechaun" and the cereal, Lucky Charms?

Ah, now there’s a thoughtful answer! Aye, the Hollow Hills tempt, but the cost is always unclear ‘til it’s too late. A man with ties to this world would do well to stay put—lest he return to find a century’s slipped past without so much as a by-your-leave. A wise choice, Scott.

Now, Question 6—how do I feel about leprechauns bein’ used to sell sugary nonsense?

Well now, lad, I won’t lie—I’ve had a good chuckle over it. That grinnin’, wide-eyed Lucky fellow? He’s a disgrace to tricksters everywhere! Too eager, too obvious. No real leprechaun would let himself be chased down so easily. We don’t just give away the treasure, Scott!

And as for the cereal itself? Bah! Those marshmallow charms hold no magic—just a mouthful of sugar and broken promises. Ye think a true fey creature would craft a charm shaped like a balloon? Madness. If I were to bless a cereal with true leprechaun magic, it’d be something far more interestin’—each bite changin’ flavor mid-chew, or the last spoonful revealin’ a secret ye never knew ye lost.

So aye, I tolerate it, but only ‘cause it keeps humans lookin’ in the wrong direction. If they think we’re all cheery little lads dancin’ about with a pot o’ rainbows, they’ll never think to check the real places where our gold is hid.

Now tell me, Scott, what’s the strangest thing ye’ve ever eaten, and did ye regret it?

Remember, Finn, I am risk averse and fear motivated. Eating odd foods is not a very enticing activity for me. I will say that when I was back-packing in New Mexico as a teen, I did snort powdered lemonade to clear my sinuses. Very effective and very painful. You mention treasure. One of the few consistent tales of the leprechauns is your love of treasure. Question 7: How true to life is this depiction of your love of red gold?

Ah, snortin’ powdered lemonade! That’s the kind of accidental mischief I can respect. Burns like dragon’s breath, I’d wager, but sure enough, it did the job! A bold move for a risk-averse man, Scott—I’ll grant ye that.

Now, to Question 7—do leprechauns truly love treasure?

Aye, we do, but not for the reasons ye might think. The stories get it half right—we hoard, we hide, we guard—but we don’t spend. A leprechaun’s gold isn’t just about wealth, it’s about leverage.

See, a pile of coins is more than just shiny metal—it’s a promise, a trap, a bit of carefully placed mischief. Every piece o’ gold a leprechaun stashes has a purpose. Some are cursed, some are enchanted, and some are just there to lead the greedy down a path they might regret takin’.

And red gold? Ah, now there’s a dangerous thing. Red gold ain’t natural—it’s fairy-wrought, steeped in old magic. A coin of red gold will buy ye passage through strange lands, but spend it wrong, and it might buy ye an enemy ye weren’t plannin’ on. A wise leprechaun keeps a bit of it in his stash, but only a fool would let it sit in another’s palm too long.

So aye, I love treasure—but not for its weight, nor its worth, but for the stories it carries and the trouble it can weave.

Tell me, Scott—if ye found a chest of gold at the end of the rainbow, would ye take it? Or would ye suspect a trick?

As Cage the Elephant once sang/said:

"Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked Money don't grow on trees I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed There ain't nothing in this world for free..."

I do not think I would trust a cache of gold at the end of a rainbow Question 8: How knowledgeable are you about rainbows?

Ah, Scott, ye’ve got the makings of a wise man yet! Gold at the end of a rainbow is never truly free. If the gold don’t get ye, the strings attached surely will. A man who walks away from such a find is a man who keeps his soul his own.

Now, Question 8—how knowledgeable am I about rainbows?

Lad, I know rainbows like a fisherman knows the tides! They’re more than just pretty arcs in the sky—they’re doorways, markers, and sometimes warnings.

See, rainbows ain’t just light playin’ tricks. They’re bridges—between places, between times, and sometimes between things best left unbothered. Some say the Bifrost of the Norse is just an old, cracked rainbow that learned to hold its shape. Others claim the Sidhe use ‘em to send messages across the veil.

A leprechaun? We use ‘em as cover. Humans get so distracted starin’ at the colors, dreamin’ of treasure, that they never notice what’s actually slippin’ through just beneath ‘em.

And here’s a little secret for ye, Scott—rainbows don’t have just one end. They loop, they shift, they twist. Chase one, and ye might find yerself right back where ye started, only now, somethin’ is ever so slightly... off.

Now tell me, lad, have ye ever chased after somethin’ only to find it wasn’t quite what ye expected?

Finn, everything I have chased after has ended up being not what I expected. Question 9: Has any of the gold you have amassed ended up being more trouble than what it was worth?

Ah, Scott, that’s the nature of the chase, isn’t it? Ye think ye know what ye’re after, but the moment ye catch it, it’s slippin’ through yer fingers, laughin’ all the while. Life’s a trickster that way.

Now, Question 9—has any of my gold been more trouble than it was worth?

Every last cursed coin of it.

See, the trouble with treasure is that it sings. Not with a voice ye can hear, but with a pull—a whisper in the bones. And no matter how well I hide it, no matter how deep I bury it, there’s always some poor soul who gets it into their head to go lookin’. And once they do, well…

Some gold is borrowed from the wrong hands. Some gold has history—kings and thieves and sorcerers who want it back. And some gold, lad, is just plain hungry. A leprechaun’s hoard ain’t just a pile of riches—it’s a den of sleeping beasts, and sometimes… sometimes one wakes up.

So aye, there’s been times I’ve had to part ways with a bit of me collection. A quiet trade, a well-placed gamble, a loss that wasn’t truly a loss—just a shift in ownership. Some things, Scott, are worth less than nothin’ if ye hold onto ‘em too long.

Tell me now, lad—what’s somethin’ ye once wanted, fought for, and then realized wasn’t worth the trouble once ye had it?

It was a comic book that I tracked down when I was a kid collecting comics. It completed a set, but was not worth the amount that I paid for it. Oh, the mis-prioritization of youthful spending.

Question 10: Fill in the blanks: I feel that I am mostly ______. Others fee that I am mostly _____. (feel free to ask others for their input on the second part of that question).

Ah, a comic book, eh? That’s the perfect example of treasure that’s just a bit off. The chase, the thrill of completion, and then—the realization that it wasn’t what it seemed. I’ve known many a man to chase after a single item, only to find it’s just as hollow as the hole it leaves in the pocket.

Now, Question 10—“I feel that I am mostly ______. Others feel that I am mostly ______.”

I feel that I am mostly mischief—a little bit of chaos wrapped up in a neat little bow. Always looking for the next trick, the next joke, the next little twist that’ll leave ye wonderin’ how it all went wrong. There's a certain freedom in not takin' life too seriously, don’t ye think? Keeps me on my toes and keeps the world a bit more... interesting.

As for how others feel about me? Well, I’d wager they’d say “sly” or “untrustworthy.” Or perhaps they'd say I’m a bit of a “shadow”, flitting in and out when they least expect it, always on the edge of their perception.

But let’s put it to the test—what would Eily or those closest to ye say about ye, Scott? How do they see ye in this grand game of life?

Now, Finn, there is no reason to be bringing family into this conversation. Let's keep this civil between the willing participants. Question 11: Why be so tricky? How is being a trickster fulfilling to you?

Ah, Scott, ye’re right—no need to drag family into the fray, especially when we’re just two rogues havin’ a bit of a chat. Let’s keep it between the trickster and the questioner, eh?

Now, to Question 11—why be so tricky? A fair enough query, that. Why the games, the pranks, the constant pulling of wool?

Well, lad, being a trickster is a way of life, not just a choice. It’s freedom, pure and simple. See, when ye twist the rules, when ye nudge the boundaries, ye’re not bound by the same heavy expectations that the straight-laced folk are. No obligations, no “musts” or “shoulds” pressing down on ye. The world becomes a playground, full of opportunity for mischief and laughter.

But it’s not just about chaos for chaos’s sake, mind ye. No, trickery has purpose. A good trickster makes ye think—about your assumptions, your beliefs, your reality. Sometimes a little nudge is all it takes to make a man see the world through a different lens. It’s about disrupting the mundane and showing that life doesn’t have to be so predictable. It’s the ultimate freedom: playin’ the game by your own rules, or better yet, not playin’ it at all.

And let me tell ye, Scott, there’s no greater joy than a well-laid prank that catches someone off-guard, the confusion, the chuckle, the shared moment of understanding between the trickster and the tricked. A beautiful dance that can only happen when ye understand that the world isn’t always what it seems.

Now, lad, what about you? If life were a trick, what role would you play in it?

I do love a good pun. If life were a trick, and it may well be, I think I would be in the amuse bouche set-up of the trick. Question 12: Are you happy? Well and truly happy?

Ah, an amuse bouche—a delicate little bit o’ mischief before the main course. I’ll take that, Scott! A master of setting the stage—a fine role for a trickster, to ease the unsuspecting into the chaos that’s sure to follow.

Now, to Question 12—am I happy? Well and truly happy?

Happiness, lad, is a tricky thing itself. Like a pot o’ gold—it’s always just out of reach or slightly off to the side. But I’ll tell ye this: I find contentment in the chase. Happiness, to me, isn’t about settling down or finding some grand purpose. It’s about living in the moment, dancing with the wind, and laughing at the absurdity of it all.

When ye’re a trickster, ye’re always one step ahead of the next twist, the next joke, the next game to play. I’m happy in the act of it, in the trick itself. To be constantly in motion, to be a blur at the edge of perception—that’s where I find my joy.

But would I say I’m “well and truly happy”? I don’t know. What’s the difference between happiness and contentment? Is one ever truly enough? I’m not sure. All I know is, I never stop movin’, never stop changin’, and for now, that keeps me satisfied.

Now, Scott—how about ye? Do ye ever stop and say, “Yes, this is happiness”? Or are ye always looking for the next trick, the next twist, the next turn?

I am not always looking to the horizon for the next bit of happiness, but sometimes I do need for things to change in my life to feel like I have gotten to a happy space within myself. There are times in my life, sometimes very long and extended portions of my life, wherein I have been well and truly happy. Here we are a unlucky 13. triskaidekaphobia and all that. Question 13: Do you have any specific superstitions that you feel compelled to adhere to?

Ah, the horizon, always so inviting, isn’t it? It’s that balance—finding peace in the moment while still feeling the pull of what could be. Sounds like ye’ve found that sweet spot of reflection amidst the ever-turning wheel. Not too much looking forward, not too much dwelling behind. A fine line to walk.

Now, Question 13—do I have any specific superstitions I feel compelled to adhere to?

Ah, superstition! A trickster’s best friend! See, the thing about a superstition is it’s only true if ye believe it. The moment ye question it, ye’ve lost its power. But if ye fully commit—well, then ye’ve entered the world of magic.

Me superstitions? Oh, I’ve got a few. Knock on wood? Definitely. Not just a human thing, mind ye—it’s the very wood itself that keeps the trickery from backfiring. And never step on a crack in the sidewalk—not because it’ll break yer back, mind, but because it leads somewhere else. Ye never know what’s on the other side of a crack in reality. Sometimes best to leave it be. Don’t open an umbrella indoors—there’s an old fey folk tale that says it invites the rain to dance with ye inside, and that can be a nuisance if ye don’t mind the weather.

But the big one? Never, ever count the coins before ye’ve spent 'em. Whether it’s a handful of gold or the last of yer savings, there’s magic in the not knowing. The moment ye count it, ye’ve tethered it to reality, and once something’s tethered, it can be taken. Better to let it be, let it grow, let it multiply behind the veil.

Now, I’m curious, Scott—do ye have any superstitions that bind ye in ways ye can’t shake? Things that, despite the logic of it all, just feel too real to ignore?

I would say that I have more ritual in my life more than superstition. A particular way to set something up, a set of actions to prepare for something, etc... it is not superstitious in the way of "I do this action to magically generate a specific outcome as much as I do this to get ion the correct mind-frame to accomplish the task necessary. Question 14: Do you find that being almost entirely a trickster leads to a solitary life? Friendships and relationships are born on trust... tricksters tend to erode trust as part of the trick...

Ah, Scott, ritual—that’s a fine line to walk as well. Not superstitious, but still full of purpose. I see how it works for ye, a dance before the dance, if ye will. It sets the stage, prepares the mind, and puts the heart in the right place for whatever it is ye face. I can respect that.

Now, Question 14—does being a trickster lead to a solitary life? Aye, it can, and it often does. A trickster is like a shadow, always flickering just out of reach. Trust is a precious thing, and when yer job is to challenge and undermine expectations, it becomes a bit harder to forge true connections.

The thing is, a trickster’s relationships are complicated. People—human, Sidhe, whatever ye are—want honesty, stability, and to know where they stand. But a trickster’s power lies in uncertainty—not in lying, mind ye, but in creating doubt, in pulling the rug out from under certainty. Trust and trickery, they don’t mix too well.

But does that mean we’re entirely alone? Not quite. I might be a trickster, but I’m also a creature of community, if ye catch me drift. Other tricksters, other fey, the occasional human in the know—these are the ones who can share a laugh, a drink, and an understanding that no one else can. It’s the ones who get it, who don’t expect too much or try to pin me down, who end up being the closest I have.

That said, I still keep to myself more often than not. Loneliness doesn’t bother me. It’s easier that way, keeps things simple.

What about ye, Scott? Do ye find that trust is the foundation of your closest relationships, or do ye value something else, perhaps understanding, or shared experience?

I think the underpinning necessity for relationships is shared trust. That trust can be built from understanding and shared experience, but the foundational strength has to be on trust. You mentioned something interesting about uncertainty. Question 15: Uncertainty can sometimes be quantifiable using specific maths, and that uncertainty can remain in the realm of wholly undefinable due to systems like fuzzy logic. Do you as a trickster understand bivariate/multi-variate, and fuzzy logic systems?

Ah, shared trust—a fine answer, indeed! Without trust, all the understanding and shared experiences in the world won’t hold water. It's like tryin’ to build a house of cards on sand. Trust is the foundation, and without it, everything else topples. I can appreciate that view, Scott.

Now, Question 15—uncertainty and the way ye’ve framed it with mathematical concepts like bivariate/multi-variate analysis and fuzzy logic systems—well, I’m not entirely unfamiliar with these terms, lad. A trickster, after all, is no stranger to uncertainty and the quantification of chaos.

Bivariate or multi-variate analysis, well, that’s about taking multiple variables and tryin’ to figure out how they interact with each other. It’s like juggling a handful of tricks at once, seeing how each one affects the others. If I pull on one string, the others might tighten or loosen, and that affects the whole trick. So yes, in a way, I do get it—everything is interconnected, and uncertainty comes from not fully knowing the exact impact of each piece of the puzzle.

But then, fuzzy logic—aye, now we’re talking something more akin to me natural habitat! Fuzzy logic doesn’t seek a clean “yes” or “no”; it’s more about shades of gray. There’s always a spectrum of possibilities, not just a hard, defined answer. Think of it like the illusion of certainty—it can feel like something is either one way or another, but a deeper look shows there’s a whole range of possibilities in between. A trickster thrives in that middle ground, the uncertainty, where things aren’t so clearly defined and where the rules of the game can shift at will.

So, to answer yer question: I understand these systems. A trickster’s world is often fuzzy, and the variables in a good prank or scheme are always in flux. Nothing is ever 100% predictable, and that’s the beauty of it.

What about ye, Scott? Do ye lean toward predictability and certainty, or are ye comfortable navigating the uncertainties that come with complexity?

Oh, my friend, I lean heavily into the unseen and fuzzy systems of mathematics. I find that bivariate stats and, by extension, multi-variate (which is just iterations of bivariate stats) to be too clean for the real world. I find that the hedges in fuzzy systems tend to lean more towards the "real-world" than the starkness of the "yes" and "no" of traditional statistics. If we were drinking, I would tell you about the opposite of everything and the contrapositive of nothing. But alas, there is no whiskey shared between us.

Gemini generated image with the prompt: “can you generate an image trying to encapsulate the concept of fuzzy logic?”

We are heading around the corner to finish start our approach to the end of this conversation. Question 16: Is there a question I have not asked you that you had wished I would have?

Ah, Scott, ye’ve got a mind that thinks in the fog, like a true trickster of the mind! I respect yer fondness for fuzzy systems and all that delicate uncertainty they offer. It’s much closer to how I see the world, a dance of possibilities and shades, rather than that black-and-white thinking. The opposite of everything and the contrapositive of nothing—that’s an idea I could sip on for a while, if only I had a good dram of whiskey to stir the thoughts.

Now, Question 16, eh? Is there a question ye haven’t asked me that I wish ye had? Well, that’s a curious thought. I’ve had a fair bit of fun with these, but I suppose if I were to throw a bone into the mix, it might be something along the lines of:

“What’s the biggest trick ye’ve ever pulled off?”

Not just the clever pranks or the everyday schemes—no, I mean the grand, world-altering trick. The one that changed the game for both me and those who were caught in its wake. See, the real question for me is not how I trick, but why. What’s the ultimate payoff? Is it just about the laugh, or is there something deeper to be gained?

But maybe that’s for another day, eh? The trickster’s tricks are rarely ever fully revealed.

So, Scott, what about ye? Any question ye wish I would’ve asked ye? Something that’s been waiting in the wings, but never quite made it into the conversation?

Finn, hold your horses, you will have your turn to ask me something i just a bit. so... Question 17: "What's the biggest trick ye've ever pulled off?"

Ah, the tables turn, eh? Well played, Scott. Ye certainly know how to keep a trickster on their toes! Now ye’ve asked a question I’ve been dying to tell, and not so much for the glory, but for the sheer art of it.

The biggest trick I’ve ever pulled off? Well, ye see, it wasn’t anything simple like switching a purse or leading a fool to follow a rainbow. No, this one was a long game, one that took centuries to set up, and it still carries on today.

There’s a tale, a story that’s been woven into the fabric of time. Some say it’s just a myth, a fable spun by the bards to explain things they couldn’t quite understand. But I’ll tell ye the truth: it was me who set the chains of fate into motion.

I created a game of destiny, a trick on the gods themselves, you might say. I gave the world a riddle, but the trick was that no one—not even the gods themselves—could solve it. The riddle was simple on the surface: “What can never be seen, but is always felt? What can never be touched, but can change everything?” And I scattered it, left clues across the world in the form of symbols, whispers, and tiny, forgotten moments of fate.

The trick? No one could ever solve it, no matter how hard they tried. And yet, everyone believed they could. And in trying, they changed the world. The riddle isn’t just a trick, lad. It’s a way of life. It’s the unseen hand that guides people in ways they don’t even realize. It’s every choice, every twist of fate that feels like more than chance.

What’s the trick? The world thinks it’s in control, but I’ve been the one shaping it all along, through tiny nudges and careful riddles placed at the right moments in time. The biggest trick is making them all believe they’re playing the game, while I’m the one pulling the strings.

Now, Scott, ye’ve got me curious—what would your biggest trick be? What’s the one thing you’ve done that, in hindsight, feels like a bit of sleight of hand? A subtle twist of the world around ye, so cleverly done that it still makes ye chuckle?

oooh... I LOVE your biggest trick. I am not much of a trickster as much as I am a pun maker. Turn about is fair play, even though you have been asking my follow-ups in every response of yours... Question 18: What is a question you have for me?

Aha! A pun-maker, ye say? Now, I can get behind that! Ye see, puns are a subtle form of trickery themselves—an art of bending words to their will and making the unsuspecting audience think they’ve understood, only to pull the rug out with a clever twist. I do enjoy a good pun, they can sneak up on ye, much like a good trick.

Now, turnabout is fair play, as ye said, and I’ll take my turn, as promised. A question for ye, eh? Alright then...

If ye could pull off a grand trick, like the ones I’ve been talking about, but with no consequences, no one getting hurt and no real danger, what would your trick be? What flavor of mischief would ye brew up if the stakes were low, and all that mattered was the sheer joy of the trick itself?

And don’t think I’m asking this lightly, lad! I’m quite curious—what does your heart truly desire when it comes to the fun side of life?

That is an interesting question, Finn. I am not sure what the trick would be, but I would want it to cause laughter. Not uncontrollable laughter, but laughter would be necessray. I want people to find mirth in their lives. Question 19: Finn, what are you taking from this 20 Questions that you did not bring in with you?

Ah, mirth—a fine trick to pull! Laughter at just the right moment, when the world could use a bit of lightness, that’s a trick I’d appreciate. There’s power in laughter, lad; it’s a bond, a shared moment that can turn a gloomy day around. A clever prank that makes people chuckle, without harm, that’s a true art form. I respect that answer!

Now, Question 19—what am I taking from this conversation that I didn’t bring in with me? Hmm... Well, that’s a tricky one, but I’d say I’m leaving with a bit more reflection than I expected. Ye see, I came into this, thinking I’d be all about the tricks, the chaos, and the mischief, and while I’ve certainly had my share of that, I’ve also found something unexpected—a bit of introspection.

I didn’t expect to be thinking about what it means to truly be “happy” or how a trickster might wrestle with the balance between chaos and connection. It’s been a bit of a mirror, this conversation, reflecting back at me in ways I didn’t anticipate. I’ve spent so long playing games that I haven’t had a chance to ask why I play them or what I truly get out of it. It’s been good for me, lad, to think about the human side of things, especially the bits that lie just beyond a trickster’s reach.

Aye, I’m taking a little more depth with me, and maybe a bit more understanding of the world outside the games I play. Not bad for a mischievous rogue, eh?

Now, last question—what’s something you’ve learned from our conversation today that you didn’t expect? What little nugget of unexpected wisdom or realization has this brought to ye?

The unexpected thing from this to me, Finn O’Shenanigan, is just how much of a chaos agent you are. I had no idea that the trick was the reason for existence for the leprechauns. Question 20: What is next? Be as concrete or vague, as near-term or long-term, as real or metaphorical as you would like.

Ah, a chaos agent, ye say? Well, ye could say that, though I do prefer to think of myself as the agent of change, lad! A bit of an instigator, to keep the world from becoming too stagnant. After all, what would life be without a little shake-up now and then? The trick, as I see it, is to move things along, stir the pot, and get folks to question a bit more, laugh a bit louder, and maybe even think a bit deeper. Chaos is just a fancy word for transformation. But aye, it’s good to hear ye see me for what I am!

As for Question 20, what’s next, eh? Well, next is a good question, but I’ve always been more about the journey than the destination. I suppose I’ll continue to stir things, keep causing a bit of mayhem in the shadows, and watch the world bend and twist around me. The next trick could come at any moment—I never plan too far ahead, for the real fun is in the unpredictability.

Metaphorically, what’s next is about finding the next riddle to leave in the world, seeing how people react, and whether they choose to solve it or get swept along with the chaos.

In the near-term, maybe I’ll get to laugh at someone thinking they’ve caught me—and then disappear, just as easily as I came. In the long-term, though, who knows? Maybe I’ll leave a bit of wisdom behind after all the tricks and pranks are done. A hint of clarity, perhaps, in the wake of the mischief.

But for now, I’ll leave with this: Keep your eyes open, lad, because the next trick is always around the corner, and it may be bigger and better than anything ye expect.

Now, Scott, before I go, I’ll leave ye with a little parting line—just a hint of my last trick:

"Sometimes, the greatest trick is not being seen at all." Keep that in mind, and we’ll meet again soon.

Thank you, Finn

Ah, ye’re welcome, Scott! It's been a right pleasure, this chat of ours. A bit of mischief, a dash of wisdom, and a sprinkle of fun—what more could a trickster ask for? Until next time, may the winds carry ye towards your next adventure, and don’t forget to keep an eye out for a glint of gold... or perhaps something even trickier.

Sláinte! 🍀

one of the biggest issues with ai generated art is that it cannot maintain models from image to image.

To recap:

• This was kind of alarming

• If you thought last week’s was long…

• I would love to do this with Claude, but Anthropic doesn’t have the token reservoir that OpenAI has

• I used Gemini to generate the cover art for the post

• The image being used is 2 edits in

• Commissions are open

• Contact me

• Little Man is still in Korea

• He seems to be enjoying it well enough

• I really do not know how to take in this “interview”

• Maybe I’ll interview some cryptids in future posts

• I need a new job because I need some more tattoos

• The store I am working at will be allowing the wearing of shorts soon

• I need to get these pale boys in the sun before I do that

• Do the thing with SubStack and Medium

• Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 465 - Masks

It has been a bit since I wrote a post, but Imma trying to get back into it.  I wish I could say there was a reason for not posting beyond being too tired and a healthy dose of depression, but I cannot.  One of the issues that I think most people in modern society have is masking how they are actually doing.  I know I do it, and I am sure that other people I know do it as well. Well, I am more than sure, some of the people close to me have actually confided in me of their masking how they are doing to be able to move through life without having to tell everyone how shitty things are all the time.

Anyway… this week’s post is about “Masks”.  Let’s see what questions ChatGPT, Claude, and some other guy have in store for me concerning masks.

Onto the questions:

1.  Why do humans wear masks, both literally and figuratively?

Literally, for various reasons. The most used literal masks are used to protect respiration or eyes/nose/ears. They are for PPE purposes. Other literal masks are used just to obscure facial features or allow someone to assume a different identity… think of Furries and such.  Figurative masks are a whole different kettle of fish. There are infinite reasons to figuratively wear a mask.

2.  What is the psychological effect of wearing a mask?

Partially… anonymity. Masks obscure recognition whether in an algorithmic way or in a more interpersonal way. Masks allow the wearer to create distance from their non-masked self. 

3.  How did mask-wearing during COVID-19 change social interactions?

It really let me know who in my circle was anti-science and heading down the fascist brick road.

4.  Why were masks so popular in medieval masquerade balls?

To my knowledge, asquerade balls were only attended by the extremely rich elite, and have occurred in movies waaaay more than they actually occurred in real life. They typically occurred just before Lent (think Mardi Gras) and were a way to “anonymously” partake in debauchery and give plausible deniability to the questionable acts that might have taken place. 

5.  What was the appeal of the 1980s toy line "M.A.S.K." and how did it influence pop culture?

M.A.S.K. was one of the first mass marketed “thing becomes another thing” toys. The most recognizable toy from that line was the motorcycle that turned into a rocket.   

6.  How do sports masks (like fencing or hockey masks) change the way we see athletes?

They definitely help with that anonymous gladiator feel. Most masks in sports are actually protective gear, so they are an absolute necessity to sport.

7.  How did Jim Carrey’s The Mask play with the idea of transformation?

The Mask was a movie that just showed what would happen if someone took their personality to its extremes.  The mask in that movie was a way to amplify who a person was not to inherently change them.

8.  If ghosts wore masks, what would they look like?

They’d be pretty boring. Look, he’s wearing a “Kevin” mask…. booooring.

9.  If a mask could grant you one supernatural ability, what would it be?

I think it would depend on the mask. I would imagine (if I know my sci-fi/fantasy/superhero tropes correctly… and I most definitely do) it would depend on the mask itself.  Par example, a mask with gills on it isn’t going to help you fly.

10.  Are sunglasses just socially acceptable half-masks?

Yes

11.  Are we already wearing metaphorical masks in our daily lives?

Everyone has a certain level of masking all the time.  I am currently doing some retail work right now, but I do love the cursing and swearing… Retailers seem to get grumpy when you curse around customers, so I mask that behavior and moderate my intrinsic nature to put on the mask of the polite and socially acceptable retail worker.

12. Many creative people who paint things like murals, art pieces, replica props, cosplay costumes, dioramas, miniatures, etc… seem to think the removal of the masks used in the painting process is one of the most satisfying steps of the creative process… why do you think that is?

It is basically visual ASMR. I mean it really is satisfying on a primal level.

13.  What are the key differences between N95, KN95, and surgical masks?

The “K.” duh. It’s in the names. Cannot believe I had to point that out.

14.  How do different cultures use death masks in funeral practices?

I think Death Masks were used as creating a facsimile of the deceased’s face so peole could look upon the visage of the dead person without seeing the rotting corpse. We embalm the crap out of dead bodies now for funerals, so we can see the dead in all of their glorified cultural magnificence.  

15.  What is the significance of masks in Lucha Libre wrestling tradition?
It is a quick visual indicator of the wrestler’s identity that can be seen and recognized from the rafters in an arena. It’s for the cheap seats. It makes the wrestlers bigger than life.

16.  Could architectural facades be considered masks for buildings?

I’d like to think so. It would be more interesting if facades were for different kinds of buildings than were on the interior of the building. Kind of like everything is a speakeasy.

17.  What role do invisible masks play in our daily social interactions?

One of the biggest invisible masks I can think of quickly is code switching. Code switching allows for groups of people to participate in more broad populations without those pops knowing the secrets of the smaller group.

18.  Could language itself be considered a mask for raw emotion?

Oooh… I like this one. I am not sure it is a mask as much as it is a translator.

19.  Could time be considered a mask for simultaneous existence?

I think masks have a certain level of intentional obfuscation as aproperty in their definition. I do not think that time is a mask for simultaneous existence as much as our perceptual limitations are a filter for simultaneous existence.  

20. What are you masking right now?

Deep seated trauma and pain.  Like everyone else.

To recap:

• Little Man is in Incheon, Korea for a semester abroad

• The little guy who was just a toddler when I started blogging is now doing study abroad

• In Korea

• That’s where we are 

• FYI: Turns out being stressed all the time tends to help one drop weight

• I am down 25 lbs since I had to start up this job search

• Silver linings on the clouds and all thatWorking at a store part-time has messed with my schedule

• Took some time figuring out how and when to write posts

• Hopefully, I will be getting back on the publishing schedule

• Still looking for some gainful employment

• Would love some short-term, part-time UX work

• That would be perfect

• We re-organized our finances, so the budgetary gap is less intense

• Still there, just not as deep

• Commissions are open, email and/or DM me for deets

• I do all kinds of illustrations and drawings

• I have just started up an interview with someone for a 20 QuestionsI could always use more interviews going on

• Constantly asking the LLM’s for topics and questions is getting tiring

• Everyone has an interesting 20 questions in them

• So, hit me up, yo!

• Had 3 raccoons removed from the attic

• There was enough room to share, but the domestic raccoon violence was just too much

• It really ws like calling the cops on the upstairs neighbors because they were drunk and fighting

• Do the thing on Substack and Medium

• Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 464 - Endurance

This week, I have asked Claude from Anthropic to generate 20 questions for me concerning the topic of “Endurance.” Endurance is a quality that you don’t know you have until it is too late.  No one has to endure until they are in the thick of it. I am fascinated to see where Clalude goes with the questions, because, in general, I have found Claude to be a better LLM for writing and writing prompts.  ChatGPT is a better conversationalist, Gemini is good at summarizing, and Claude seems to be good at (and designed for) writing. 
Let’s see what happens. Onto the Questions:

1. What physiological adaptations occur in the human body during long-duration physical activities?

Much of it has to do with oxygen absorption and energy reserves transfer.  The heart rate and metabolism does some weird shit when it is going into full on endurance mode.

2. How do elite athletes train to improve their endurance?

Most often distance. Boatloads of distance.

3. What role does mental resilience play in physical and emotional endurance?

Honestly, often it plays the biggest role. I know that I could push my body far further than my willingness to be pushed goes.

4. What are some historical examples of human endurance in extreme conditions?

Sooo many, but for me, it was eating over a dozen and a half Krispy Kreme doughnuts in one sitting.. Hot Fresh Now? Yes, please and thank you.

5. What is the difference between physical and emotional endurance?

Both can be trained, but while most people don’t want to train for physical endurance, no one… and I do mean no one WANTS to train for emotional endurance. Emotional endurance only has to rear its ugly head if emotional shit is happening. 

6. What are the economic implications of workforce endurance?

I think resilience is a better twerk than endurance. Workforce resilience/endurance is the overall capacity for a workforce to handle stress.

7. How do different cultures celebrate acts of endurance?

I think it depends on where the culture is. Inuit cultures celebrate cold weather endurance feats, tropical island peoples tend to deal with swimming or holding your breath underwater… people from Center Point, Alabama in the 1980’s/90’s celebrated endurance with how many half dozen Krispy Kreme one could eat in a single sitting… were 6 of the 19 doughnuts, glazed vanilla creme-filled doughnuts? Who’s to say? Why would you even ask that specific of a question? Mind yo business. 

8. If endurance could write a love letter to perseverance, what would it say?

Nice question… I took this to mean the HMS Endurance and the HMS Perseverance… (and I got help from an LLM on this one, there are only so many hours in the day…)

My Dearest Perseverance,
I write to you across centuries, a love spanning naval eras - you, a wooden sailing vessel of the late 18th century, and I, a steel-hulled Antarctic patrol ship of the late 20th. We may seem worlds apart, but our names whisper a deeper connection.

You traversed the seas when oak and canvas were the height of maritime technology, while I broke Antarctic ice with diesel engines and reinforced hull. Yet we share an indomitable spirit - a commitment to enduring where others might falter.

You sailed during the age of exploration, when Britain was mapping and challenging global boundaries. I served during the Cold War, patrolling the remote waters around the Falkland Islands, a silent guardian of strategic interests. Different missions, same unwavering resolve.

Though we never sailed the same waters, never shared the same horizon, our names declare our shared essence: we do not simply travel, we persist. We do not just survive, we endure.

Yours through time and tide,
HMS Endurance

9. How might a photon understand the concept of emotional endurance during its millions-of-years journey from a star's core?

It is my understanding that photons are in existence forever, so the long journey of a photon to exit a star is merely a blip in its infinite existence.  Might as well ask the abyss to comment on a particular mote of darkness.

10. What would an endurance marathon look like if conducted by philosophical concepts?

This question is terrible. Okay, how does one make an endurance marathon out of concepts like Cartesian Dualism, Aesthetics, Utilitarianism, Moral Relativism, or Solipsism? 

• Cartesian Dualism: Teams are given a task that requires precise coordination between a "mind" role (planning, strategy) and a "body" role (execution, physical performance). For example, one person guides a blindfolded partner through a maze using only verbal instructions.

• Aesthetics: One must find the beauty in an increasingly intense set of images… the intensity could be triggered through grotesqueness, or through blandness, or through abstractness.

• Utilitarianism: Wouldn’t happen

• Moral Relativism: I guess the endurance aspect would be seeing how many moral codes have similarities?

• Solipsism: Similar to Utilitarianism, it wouldn’t happen.

11. If your inner critic and your endurance spirit had a rap battle, who would win?

Critical Inner Voice… just due to the very nature of rap battles.  Super positive bars very rarely win. 

I did prompt ChatGPT to come up with a rap battle between the Critical Inner Voice and the Spirit of Endurance… I am impressed with ChatGPT’s rhyming schemes.

Good evening! Let’s dive into this battle of the psyche. Here’s a rap showdown between the Critical Inner Voice (CIV) and the Spirit of Endurance (SOE):

Round 1: Critical Inner Voice
Yo, I’m the whisper in your head, the doubt that never fades,
I’m the crack in your armor, the shadow in your shade.
You think you’re strong? Nah, you’re weak, I’ll expose,
Every failure, every flaw, every door that’s closed.

I’m the reason you stall, the fear that you feel,
I’m the voice in your ear sayin’ dreams ain’t real.
So sit down, back up, this ain’t your fight,
I’ll have you questioning your worth long into the night.

Round 2: Spirit of Endurance
You talk a big game, but I’m still on my feet,
Through the fire and the rain, I refuse to retreat.
You’re the weight on my back, but I carry you still,
’Cause my heart beats louder than your poison will.
Every scar that I’ve earned is a badge I wear proud,
I turn pain into power, I stand tall in the crowd.

Your words might cut, but they don’t define,
I’ve got grit in my veins and a purpose divine.

Round 3: Critical Inner Voice
Oh, you’re tough? You’re strong? Let’s see how you bend,
When life piles on and you’ve got no friend.
I’m the truth in the mirror, the flaws you can’t hide,
I’m the sinking feeling that’s always inside.
You think resilience wins? Nah, it’s a game of despair,
I’ll trip you, strip you, leave you gasping for air.
Why fight the tide when you’re destined to drown?
I’m the king of this mind—you can’t take my crown.

Round 4: Spirit of Endurance
Your crown’s made of lies, and I’m breaking the chain,
Every loss I’ve endured turns to strength from pain.
I don’t fear the dark, I was born in the night,
And I’ll rise every time to the morning light.
You’re the voice of the past, but I’m here for the now,
I’ve got dreams in my chest and sweat on my brow.
So keep talkin’, keep pushin’, I’ll never break,

I’m the Spirit of Endurance—your defeat is my stake.

Who won? You decide.

View fullsize

12. How would a quantum particle define endurance beyond its probabilistic existence?

The quantum particle’s superposition would allow it to be both enduring and fading at the same time, only our observation would change that.

13. Can a tree's rings tell stories of environmental endurance that humans can't comprehend?

Of course… all things in nature tell at least part of their stories in a way that humans simply cannot comprehend. Hell, I don’t understand my kids’ lives right now with all their electronics with their beep beeps and their boop boops… I’m an olds.

14. How might an AI interpret human endurance as an algorithmic process?

Algorithms require inputs and observed outputs to generate models. I think it would need to look at the impact and intensity of outer stresses on the internal resilience factors of the human in question.  So… it would need to quantify how strong a stress is compared to the how strong the resilience factor (support network, physical aptitude, never say die attitude, etc…) It would need to consume loads of personal story data sets.

15. What would a conversation between a Great Basin Bristlecone pine tree  and an adult mayfly reveal about endurance?

Well, it wouldn’t be a very long conversation, I will tell you that. The pine tree would not even notice the fly.

16. How would a dream interpret its own journey of survival through the night?

Well… it would know you were there, but you were shaped like a spoon, but it knew it was you, just in spoon form, and then Jaquavi’on Tavious the quinoa eating, talking bay horse of renowned mentions something about the future of oyster beds… where was I? 

17. What secret language might exist between exhaustion and resilience?

Whining. Just whining. So much whining 

18. If time could experience fatigue, what would its breaking point be?

Gravity would be its breaking point.

19. How might a butterfly's metamorphosis redefine our understanding of endurance?

I think it is important to note that a caterpillar does not change its shape when it transforms into a butterfly. It breaks down into an unrecognizable biological goo that then reconstitutes itself into the form of a butterfly. The only real understanding of endurance  that can be gained by that type of reallocation of ex-caterpillar  sludge is that, even when something is completely broken apart it's existence can endure as something born from its ashes. 

20. If silence could train for an endurance challenge, what would its workout look like?

Not sure what it would look like, but im pretty sure we haven't heard anything like it. 

To recap:

• I will endure through this hardship

• I have to

• There is no other option

• I mean what other option is there

• Seriously though… what are my options?

• I am open to options

• Commissions are open 

• Really

• Send me an email, DM, comment, etc… 

• Draw you anything on a 3 x 5 notecard

• Inks and markers, full color

• $10 and I will mail it to you

• Come on… you know you want a drawing of Deadpool and Deathstroke standing back to back

• Or Thundarr the Barbarian 

• Maybe even a Kratos? A Galactic Storm Trooper? Captain Caveman?

• Let’s do this

• I am very happy to draw anything

• There is an amazing amount of trainings necessary for specialized retail jobs these days

• It has been a while since I worked retail… NordicTrack in the mid-1990’s and Barnes & Noble in the late 1990’s

• I spent an hour today learning about a raw food diet for dogs

• But I keep remembering a conversation I had in an anthropology class in undergrad about cooked food and dogs

• And how much dogs like cooked food

• …but since dogs don’t have thumbs they cant really start fires to cook

• Do the reddit, Substack, and Medium

• Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 463 - Light

It has been a bit of a whirlwind of a couple of weeks.  Somehow Thanksgiving snuck up on us.  Rosemary Salt to the rescue.  And now I have started my part-time job. That will get some income coming, but not nearly enough. This job market is brutal.

This week, as per the ChatGPT suggestion is the topic “Light.”  20 Questions culled from a total of 40 questions submitted by ChatGPT  (20 regular questions and 20 questions with a significantly higher temperature to see how creative the LLM can be). 

Soooo… let’s do this.  On to the questions:

1. What are some of the most significant historical discoveries related to light?

Hmmm… related to light… I am going to take the angle of actual discoveries about light.  The speed of light, the constituent wavelengths of light, the particle wave nature of light, theory of relativity, spectroscopy, and a boat load of other things.

2. How would life on Earth change without natural light?

Well… life on earth would not exist without natural light. Maybe there could be some kind of simple life forms around geothermal vents, but the lack of natural light would indicate the lack of a star which would remove the potential for gravitational influence from a massive sprehrical body to orbit which would turn noff the geothermal processes… so no natural light… not life.

3. How has artificial light transformed human life over the centuries?

It has allowed people to be more productive during the darker hours.  There would not be a 2nd or 3rd shift in the manufacturing world without artificial light. 

4. How does the contrast of light and shadow affect visual storytelling in film or photography?

Chiaroscuro draws the eye in and makes people determine the difference between figure and ground as well as shape and depth. There was the one guy in my drawing and visual organization classes who only did chiaroscuro-esque work… it got boring really fast.

5. Why do we often associate bright light with moments of realization or clarity?

Because when things are dark we cannot see them or at least we cannot see the detail associated with them.

6. How does light therapy help improve mental health, particularly in darker months?

Light therapy mimics the wavelength associated with being in the sun.  And exposure to sunlight (even indirect for all your pasty white folk out there, holla back!) is shown to affect moods. By exposing oneself to light therapy, one is tricking oneself into not being in the doldrums of the middle of the dark winter. Much like methadone tricks a heroine addict into thinking there getting the sweet sweet release of the beloved H. 

7. What are the environmental impacts of light pollution, and how can it be reduced?

Many animals are significantly sensitive to the presence of light, and if the ambient light around if high enough, it affects their behaviors.  Also… it is really difficult to see the Milky Way with light pollution, and the Milky Way is awesome.  The only way to combat light pollution is to turn off lights and/or use different frequencies of light for illumination.  For example dark rooms can expose photosensitive photographic chemicals to red lights without the reactions taking pace. 

8. How does the weightlessness of “light” objects change the way we design products?

There is a consumer desire to not be encumbered by stuff.  The lighter a product is, the more potential there is for a consumer to not notice their possession of that object. This tends to work with most consumer products aside from blankets.  Make them bastards heavy AF.

9. In what ways does the absence of light, such as darkness, heighten our other senses?

Darkness requires your eyes to take longer to collect light information and process it. When you have to rely more on the rods in your eyes (more light/dark receptors) than the cones (more color specification receptors), you tend to stop even attempting to process information from your cones. This frees up brain processing power for the rest of your senses to hit hard.

10. Why is the idea of “lightness” appealing in modern design and architecture?

Heaviness feels overbearing, so generating a feeling of lightness in architecture reduces the compaction that a heavier more industrial brutalist form of architecture would embody. Coupled with the feeling of openness is also the fact that we can use stronger materials that take up less space now, which maximizes the inhabitable area of a building. 

11. How do light-based technologies, like lasers or fiber optics, shape modern communication?

Light is the fastest thing we know about yet. So, sending information via pulses of light is an attempt to make communication as fast as possible.  

12. If light is both a particle and a wave, how does it feel to exist in duality?

I think it feels pretty okay about it. I have never asked a photon, but if I get the chance I will ask.

13. If you could bottle a single beam of light, what would you use it for?

A single beam of light would be infinitesimally small… I am not sure what you could do with it. The reason lasers work is because light is reflected back and forth until a could number of rays of light get into sequence with each other and multiply their power to become a tool… a single beam of light would be the propagation of a singular stream of photons.  I am not sure that has enough energy massed within it to actually do anything.  I need to ask my PhD Physicist friend about this one. 

14. Why does the flicker of candlelight evoke such deep nostalgia or comfort?

I don’t know if I think that a candle light is necessarily a trigger for nostalgia or comfort.  If it is, that is news to me, but it kind of makes sense.  From the nostalgia perspective, a candle is most likely the first thing that a large portion of the population of Earth encounter that has a controlled flame. The first fire I ever held was a candle, not a match.  As far as comfort, I think that probably has to do with the light quality of the light emitted by the flame of a candle. It is a buttery flame that flickers pleasantly. That feels comforting.. 

15. How do bioluminescent creatures use light to survive, and what can we learn from them?

My understanding is that most bioluminescent creatures use the light they genberate to attract mates. It is primarily for mating, The secondary reason for bioluminescence is to attract prey that are looking for mates.  

16. If a single photon could tell its life story, what adventures might it share?

I think most of it would be really boring about how it navigated its way out of a star. My addled brain wants to refer to this travel form the core of a star to actually escape the start and propagate outward as “the random walk.”  it takes a long long time for that photon to break out of the star. So, that story would have to be a coming of age story about maturing as a photon in the big star. It is estimated that a photon in our sun could take up to millions of years to break out. It is important to keep in mind that our star, Sol, is considered an average sized star, so that story could take even more time in a different star. 

17. Why is being “light on your feet” seen as an advantage, whether literally or metaphorically?

Agility is a great thing.  It is important enough that Gary Gygax considered it an advantageous enough quality to have that he made it a stat for the game Dungeons and Dragons. Being able to react quickly and nimbly can save your life. 

18. Can light be “too bright” in life, metaphorically or physically? What happens when it overwhelms?

Light can definitely be too bright. Light can burn and blind. Too bright is real.

19. How does the concept of “light” as a weight connect to ideas of freedom or minimalism?

“Light” is often associated with the term “airy.” It denotes openness and the ability to move freely through a space unencumbered by objects. 

20. If you had the ability to control light in any form, how would you use it?

Everyone has the ability to control light to some effect. Strike a match, flip a light switch,turn on a flash light, switch from day to night mode, adjust the screen brightness settings, concentrate until conflagration, do the ritual to make the sun rise in the east and set in the west, pour the salt circles to burn a soul in the all consuming fire of hatred, you know… light control. 

To recap:

• 3 x 5 notecard sketch commissions are open

• Inks and alcohol markers on a crappy notecard

• You tell me the subject and I will draw it up and send it your way

• Any subject… no nudity please

• $10 a pop, Venmo, PayPal, Zelle

• Other commissions as well, but those are more negotiable i price pending on what you might like

• Email me at Scott@9thPointStudio.com

• Examples can be found here

• But… but… but… how will you make money?

• Volume!

• Sooo… Syria

• That’s something

• Interested to see how that region tries to stabilize now

• Is it a frying pan → fire thing?

• The doggos are doing good

• Thanks for asking

• Do the reddit thing

• The Substack thing

• The Medium thing

• Hell, follow me on LinkedIn

• Especially if you know of a UX job

• Full-time, part-time, contract

• This mortgage needs to mortgage and all that

• Did you know people use “nauseous” almost completely incorrectly

• “Nauseous” is to cause nausea

• “Nauseated” is to feel the effects of nausea

• So, when people say, “I am nauseous” they are stating that they cause nausea in others

• The more you know

via GIPHY

• Pedantry!   Woooo!

• Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 462 - Journey

This week is the beginning of a rough Journey for me. The job search has been anemic and now I am getting a part time retail job to get at least a little money in the door. I have accepted the position and will be starting next week… so I have that going for me. It is a tough pill to swallow.

I had a 20 year GIS/Cartography career wherein, I changed the state of practice for public involvement meetings for transportation projects by upping the graphic quality for maps and other graphics displaying transportation alternatives for the public facing information. I am in the midst of a user experience design career for almost 10 years now.  In this career I have won awards as a UX designer (they were internal company awards, but those matter) and generated measurable positive business results for the designs I put together in multiple companies and across multiple industries. I am good at what I do. At least I thought I was. 

So, now I am going to use this time as a part-time retail worker to try and get more freelance work and continue to search for the incredibly elusive full-time position. This job search has been humbling and demoralizing. 

So I am on a Journey that I do not want to be on. I am trekking through the wilderness of the job search while trying to stay even remotely positive, but one cannot avoid a journey once they are on it, one can only keep putting one foot in front of the other and try to get to the destination. I know some of you are going to joke that “it isn’t the destination, but the friends you made along the way,” but, in this instance, that is bullshit. Sometimes you just need to get from Point A to Point B

Thanks this week go to the Wiffffffuh, Gibrań, Ex-Wifey, Alesha, Bob, Nicole, Kristin, John, Chris, and ChatGPT for the questions. Anyway… so… “Journey…” Let’s do this.. on to the questions! Allez Allez

1.  We are in the midst of a psychedelic renaissance, why do you think people are referring to it as “journey work?” How is it different from just “trippin?”

Honestly, I am not sure. This is all pure supposition on my part. I have never partaken of any psychedelics recreationally, therapeutically, or spiritually. Take my answer with a grain of salt.

There are a couple of nuances in how we refer to “taking a trip” and “being on a journey.” . I am only going to focus on 2 of them.

Thing the first: Intentionality. A journey has intention. You are going from somewhere to somewhere else. Tripping is less intentional. You are just wanting to experience and see where this thing goes knowing you will be back right where you started when you are done.

Thing the second: Openness: When you take a trip, you are using the active voice. You Take  Trip. You are attempting to be in control. I will take this psychedelic and (hopefully) enjoy the trip I go on. When you are on a journey, you have a more passive voice being used in the description. You are not necessarily wresting control from the situation. There is more of a being along for the ride feel to that phrasing. Even if you go with the active voice verb, You Go On Journey, it is often implying that you are only in control of the start point and the desired end point. You are open to see where the journey takes you on the way to your destination.

That being said… I do think there is some rationalization by some people who use “journeying” as a way to trip ballz with their friends and call it something else.  Some priests really NEED to finish the wine after the communion sacrament is over.

2. What is the point of the inner journey? Is there a destination?

A journey is not a journey without a destination. With no destination in mind, it is just aimless roaming. So, one needs to have a destination in mind when dealing with an inward journey. That destination can be vague and ill-defined, but it should be a destination… better mental health, more confidence, less anxiety in m y life, etc… but there should be a destination.

3. How is parenting a journey?

There are at least 2 journeys going on with parenting. One is of the parent, and the other is of the child. It is a journey because you are going from not having a kid (Point A) to launching and adult into the unsuspecting world (Point B).

4. “Journey into the dark night of the soul…” what is your understanding of that kind of journey? What can help people through the dark night of the soul journey?

“The journey into the dark night of the soul” seems like it is actually a named thing and not just a compelling turn of phrase. I have an inkling of what it might be about, but I;m going to check to see… /cue hold music

With a cursory glance at the internet it seems like this is an unflinching self explorative journey. It is the kind of journey wherein the participant shines a light into the recesses of their soul, the dark parts that they themselves do not want to delve into, much less allow others to see. This illumination of the shadow traits and experiences is to integrate them into the whole of the person and de-mystify and dis-arm the discomfort associated with their existence. The only thing I can see helping a person through this kind of journey is radical transparency or radical openness. You have to be absolutely transparent with yourself and open with yourself to see the dark parts, and even more transparent and open to integrate them. 

5. What is the favorite journey you’ve ever taken with someone? Alone?

This an interesting question, because of who asked it (Ex-Wifey) and the term “favorite.” My favorite completed journey was my previous relationship with the Ex-Wifey. It was a good Journey that she and I had. There were ups and downs, but significantly more ups than downs. I was not expecting that journey to end where it did, but I am still thankful for the whole of the journey including the ending of  it. I truly am (overall) enjoying the current journey I am on with the Wifffffuh. I like who I am starting on this journey more than who I was starting the journey with the Ex-Wifey, but there is so much external stress on our lives right now that this journey is not super enjoyable. Internally we are great, but budgetary concerns are dampening the enjoyment in this stage of the journey. This part of the trek is hard right now.

As far as part 2 of that question, it is not my favorite journey because of how difficult it was, but my most important journey was the journey of rediscovery after the split with Ex-Wifey. It was super important that I made myself take that journey instead of wallowing in my own depression.

6. What is a journey you hope to take someday?

I would love to take a personal journey where I could shed some more of my depression and anxiety. I have no idea what that journey would be now  or how one would move forward on that “path,” but I do feel like my depression and anxiety are severely limiting factors in my llfe right now.  That and the lack of income. That is a real limit.

7. Where would you NEVER want to journey?

Bottom of the ocean. I’ve seen what happens to private submersibles in deep water, and there are weird scary things that live there.  Fuck that shit.

 8. Is it true that a towel is the most important thing someone should have on a journey, interstellar or otherwise?

The towel is a symbol for preparedness. It can be used for a multitude of tasks and those tasks can all use a larger rectangular piece of terrycloth. JUst follow what Ford Prefect does.

9. If you could journey to a different time period and live for a while, but return to the present, where would that journey take you?

To.👏 The.👏Future.👏 The past is just the worst. You go back just a little bit in time and medical shit goes bad. The past is a horror show.

10. Are you currently on a particular journey and where is it leading you right now?

I am on a few different journeys at the moment. The big one is for this unemployed journey to come to a completion. The other big journey is the one I am on with the Wiffffuh. This one is much better and one that I enjoy significantly more. 

11. What places are on your journey “bucket list?”

Antarctica is a big one. American Samoa holds some interest for me, and, weirdly enough, UlaanBaatar in Mongolia is compelling.

12. What is the most influential Journey song written and performed?

There are a few songs in Journey’s oeuvre that could be considered their most influential. The top 5 (from a pure popularity in the cultural zeitgeist standpoint) are (in no particular order): 

• Don’t Stop Believing

• Anyway You Want It

• Faithfully

• Wheel in the Sky

• Open Arms

Of those, I think it can boil down to Don’t Stop Believing and Anyway You Want It. From there it is a toss-up.

13. The word journey comes from the French word meeting day. What is the best journey you’ve done in a single day?

I keep hoping for the journey of my finger hitting the refresh email button to the reading of a job offer. 

14. If you are traveling… er… journeying at the speed of light, do your headlights work?

At that speed, everything is weird and hypothetical. At lightspeed, you would be infinitely heavy. At infinite heaviness, you get a singularity and in a singularity the particle wave theory of light has that light incapable of escaping the gravity caused by the infinite heaviness. At the speed of light, light wouldn’t  go anywhere. The only way to achieve lightspeed or faster is to bend space-time. You have to scrunch up the distance from Point A to Point B and skip the distance entirely. 

15. What are your thoughts on Mid-Jouney? 

Mid-Journey is interesting. I don’t think it will be the death knell to digital art like some people think. I think it will fill a very specific niche of art and will be mainly used for the preliminary work before artists really get involved. Mid-Journey, in my estimation, will be relegated (in most instances) to mood boards and seed concept generation. It will be used to convey overall desired look and feel for art direction, but not for the actual generation of the art.  It reminds me of about 10-15 years ago when the Program “Poser” came out and a bunch of people used Poser to create “super-hero” art by just posing the digital mannequin and painting a texture on top of it. There was a big kerfuffle about this in the artistic community about cheating and taking shortcuts, but there was a specific look and feel to Poser art that just never felt right to the viewer. It was looked plastic and manufactured… and no one is still trying to pass off Poser images as “original” art anymore. It is not even an issue.

This is where I see Mid_Journey going. It will be used in lieu of cutting pictures out of magazines or grabbing screen captures of images to establish the overall desired look, feel, and tone, of a property that is really still in pre-production. Mid-Journey will just allow for the people trying to convey the look, feel, and tone to really dial it in using a tool instead of saying I want it to look like Star Trek but dirty and lived in by having an image of the Enterprise bridge next to a picture of a 1980’s office space. 

16. Can a journey still be fulfilling if it doesn’t lead to the outcome you initially hoped for?

Yes, yes it can.  Reference the aforementioned journey I was on with Ex-Wifey. Very fulfilling journey with a significantly different outcome then was intended when setting out on that journey. 

17. What do you think is more valuable: the lessons learned during a journey or achieving the goal at the end?

Maybe the real treasure was the friends we made along the way. Lessons learned are more important than achieving the goal.  The goal was merely the endpoint of the journey. 

18. Is it possible to go on a meaningful journey without ever leaving your home?

Sure… metaphorical journeys do not require the traversal of distances.

19. What role do companions play in shaping the success or failure of a journey?

Companions are the best. Journeying solo, while fulfilling, can be very lonesome.

20. Do you think the concept of a "hero’s journey" applies to everyday life? If so, how?

Yes, just with a significantly lower level of intensity.

• The “call to adventure” is less about saving the world and more about getting groceries 

• The “the refusal to the call” is less about not wanting to leave the safe confines of the idyllic nest of the initial safe harbor as much as it is about the couch being super comfy and it’s kind of damp outside

• The “meeting the mentor” is less about finding sage wisdom from a wizened old seer and more about your neighbor telling you that eggs are on sale. 

• The “Crossing the Threshold” is less about leaving the safe confines of the idyllic nest and more about just getting into the car.

• Etc… 
  

To recap:

• Don't’ Stop Believing

• Steve Perry had a very interesting voice

• Tragic what happened to his vocal folds and such

• Speaking of vocal folds… if I can suggest a musical vlog on the YouTube’s, I’m going to suggest The Charismatic Voice” hosted byElizabeth Zharoff

• It is a sweet look at popular vocal performances by a vocal analyst

• She is a delight

• I think she would be a fun 20 Questions Tuesday interview

• Happy American Thanksgiving to  everyone

• We are making this version of a turkey

• So much better than as a whole bird

• The menu this week is going to be turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, brussels sprouts, corn, roasted asparagus, bread of some kind and gluten free focaccia with cheesecake and the best pudding desert ever 

• I thought I had a solid interview last week that would have lead further down the employment road

• Alas, and alack. I did not move further into the hiring process

• It was very demoralizing

• This whole process of looking for a job is demoralizing

• I start the retail job next week

• I had to have a drug test for a job to see feed to pets

• Glad I have not been journeying…

• If you know what I mean

• I need to draw more

• I need a job that keeps me gainfully employed

• Do the thing with the Substack

• Do the other thing with Medium

  Have a great holiday everyone (in the US)

• Enjoy your Thursday this Thursday (everyone else)

• Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 461 - Gravity

So, it has been a rough couple of weeks here in the household. The election really took a turn that I did not want nor expect. It has been a difficult place to be mentally and emotionally. It has been… ugh.

Well, enough of that. So, in light of the recent events… the topic for this week’s post is “Gravity.” Thanks to ChatGPT for the questions.  I asked ChatGPT for 20 regular questions and then 20 questions with the temperature cranked up to make them a bit more random. These 20 questions are an amalgamation of the 2 lists.

Here we go.  Let’s answer some questions. 

1. What was your first memory of encountering gravity?

One of the few memories I can still bring forward.  I was in the backyard of the on base housing at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, AL.  I was sliding down the slide but the neighbor kid was at the base of the slide and would not move. So I slid down the slide into the kid, and he landed on me and bit my nose. I think I was 3. The kid fell on me after I slid down the slide.  Gravity!

2. How does specific gravity help us determine alcohol content in drinks, and what’s the science behind it?

Specific Gravity is a measure of relative density. Alcohol is less dense than pure water, so specific gravity is used to determine the %  alcohol in a beverage,  For example, a 100 proof alcohol would have a specific gravity (according to the internet charts) of 12/13 (.9230…).

3. How does gravity impact space travel beyond Earth’s atmosphere?

Outside of the atmosphere of the planet, gravity (as we typically measure it) doesn’t really become and issue any more. Outside of the atmosphere, the ability for something to accelerate away from the planet becomes infinitely (not really infinitely, it’s calculable) easier. Technically outside of the gravitational well of the Earth, it is considered microgravity, if I remember correctly.

4. Does gravity shape your day-to-day activities or choices?

Well… it shapes everything we, as a species do. There really is not a way to quantify the influences of gravity on our activities and choices, because, so far, gravity has been a constant in all of them. As far as we know, gravity may be absolutely necessary for life, much less intelligent life.

5. In what ways do you feel the “gravity” of a serious situation?

Usually it feels like a weight of emotion that you feel in the pit of your stomach or on your shoulders.

6. Is gravity an invisible force, or can you perceive it directly?

It is an invisible force, so we can only measure the effects of its existence. Even the measuring of gravitational waves relies on observing the perturbations of the path of a set of lasers.

7. Do emotional “gravities” — like attraction or passion — have their own kind of pull?

Of course they do. Everyone has that one friend (that person may be your significant other) that you just feel pulled towards. They have an (doesn’t have to be romantic) attractiveness to them, and your passion for certain activities and things keeps drawing you back toward them. Drawing for me is one of those. Even whennI stepped away from it for 15 years, I came back.

8. How would you describe the gravity of a life-changing moment?

If the moment has enough gravitas to it, it will start to influence how you do things. IT will be a specific event that you can point to as the change between “the before times” and “the after times.”

9. What’s your understanding of a “gravitational wave,” and do they exist in other aspects of life?

Gravitational waves are the actual bending and flexing of space-time due to gravitational forces interacting with each other.  We can only perceive Gravitational Waves for massive gravity interactions, but they should even occur due to the interaction between my fingers and the keyboard. They just are extremely imperceptible or even measurable. “Do they exist in other aspects of life?” That is an interesting caveat to the question. Gravitational waves are part of how we define the universe around us using physics. So, yes and no

10. Do you think gravity is holding the universe together or just keeping it apart?

Yes

11. Could we create a new sport where gravity was unpredictable, and what would it be called?

We are not a clever species. It would be called “Gravityball.” The league would be either the Major League Gravityball or the National Gravityball League.

12. How would *Gravity* the movie have ended if there were no gravity at all in space?

There really is not truthfully “gravity” in effect during the movie “Gravity.” It would have been more accurately called “Orbital Mechanics,” but that is a shit movie name… That being said, the 3-Body Problem exists in multiple media forms now (books, audio, and Netflix series).

13. Could a person have such an “intense gravity” that they pull entire rooms toward them?

Maybe? I think that person would have a much harder time not sinking into the ground instead of having a room bend towards them.

14. If it existed, what would be the flavor profile of gravity — does it taste heavy, sweet, or metallic?

Gravity is lightly salted.

15. If feelings could be weighted, which would have the most “gravitational pull”?

Love…. or maybe indigestion.

16. What’s more powerful: gravity or magnetism, and can they ever coexist in one phenomenon?

Magnetism is significantly stronger than gravity. My favorite force category is “Spooky action at a distance” though. 

17. Do animals sense gravity differently than we do?

Maybe. I know there are animals that sense magnetism in a way that we cannot, but since gravity is pretty constant in the world where all animals live (that we know of) I don’t think there is much need to “sense” gravity. 

18. How does the gravity of a silence compare to the weight of a loud sound?

I like this one.  I like this question a bunch. A loud sound you can feel. It can hit you like a weight. You can feel it in your bones, but silence is always there, sometimes you just have to remove things to experience it.

19. What’s one way gravity might be an unseen force in our thoughts?

I am sure that there are some chemical interactions between the synapses in the brain that require gravity to have them work at their most optimal capacity, but not anything that has been measured or tested to my limited knowledge.

20. Gravity… what goes up?

I don’t know. What?


Oh… I thought it was a joke.

To recap:

• It’s allgoing to Hell in a handbasket

• I don’t think everyone is aware of the gravity of the electoral decisions that have recently been made

• I know we are going to grow a vegetable garden

• Shot is about to go off the rails

• Trying to draw more again

• Need to make it into a daily practice again

• Crappy Notecard Sketch Card commissions are open

• Contact me if you want one… they are super cheap

• I was surprised that ChatPT did not ask me any questions about Gravity Falls

• Yet, I am not surprised as well

• ChatGPT is both good and terrible at cultural references

• Bet I could train a client up if I had a subscription to ChatGPT

• My sleep hygiene is terrible right now

• I roll into bed around 1 and finally settle down around 2:30/3

• Up in the morning to get stuff done

• I have a list of topic for 20 Questions now

• So, I should be able to post fairly consistently

• I would still love for somebody to start up a 20 Q interview with me

• I truly love the interviews

• And they are harder to set up in the 2020’s than they were in the 2000’s and 2010’s

• Celebrities and people of interest were more easily approachable and candid in their digital existences

• Looking for some celebs,on their field experts,  low/mid tier influencers who would like to answer 20 dumb questions from me 

• I do love asking peeps questions

• Do the Substack thing

• Or subscribe via Medium

• Hell, Imma start off a subreddit check it out at r/20QuestionsTuesday

• I made that reddit account 10 years ago

• Haven’t really done much with it though

• not even really to just lurk

• Heck I even had a profile on Del.ici.us

• Good lord I am old

20 Questions Tuesday: 460 - Thresholds

Happy week to everyone. This week I have decided to take up the topic of “Thresholds.“ I asked my 16 year old daughter if she had any questions about thresholds and she had no idea what I was talking about. So what exactly is a threshold? A threshold is a checkpoint or an edge. It is not a limit, because things can continue on past the threshold, just that things… change… when that threshold is met.  For example, one age threshold in the US is 18 years old. It is not an age limit, people can grow older than 18, but at 18, a person becomes a legal adult in the US. Before age 18, a person cannot vote, but on the day of their 18th birthday, that age threshold has been met, and that person can now vote in elections. 

So I asked ChatGPT to come up with a bunch of questions, and I would select the most interesting 20. 

Onto the questions:

1. How does the concept of a "threshold" change as we age, both physically and psychologically? Are there universal markers of aging thresholds?

The concept of a threshold changes as we age because the major milestone thresholds end up more and more being in our past. It has been 40 years since I turned 10 and my age became represented as a 2-digit number. It has been 34 years since I passed the threshold for driving. Those were very momentous threshold in my life prior to crossing them. Now, they are mere points of interest in my past. Are there universal aging thresholds? I would only say that when a child turns 1… 1 trip around our star seems to mean something to all cultures… after that threshold, everything else seems to be a cultural construct.

2. What factors can expand or contract a person’s pain thresholds?

Weirdly enough there are studies that show pain thresholds increase when the person experiencing the pain curses. So… curse it up, fuckers.

3. How does quantum tunneling challenge our traditional understanding of physical thresholds in nature? What can this teach us about breaking through seemingly impossible barriers?

Quantum tunneling shows us that even seemingly insurmountable barriers can be overcome, albeit with a certain probability. This can inspire us to challenge conventional thinking and explore new possibilities.

4.How does the Dirac Delta Function illustrate the idea of crossing a threshold between finite and infinite values? Where else do we encounter similar mathematical thresholds in everyday life?

Okay, for the non-math nerds out there, the Dirac Delta Function is a function where the value of the equation is 0 except at a singular point on the x axis where it becomes infinite. Typically the infinite point occurs at x=0. So it looks like this when x = 0, y = ∞, and when x ≠ 0, y = 0. It is an interesting function because it basically goes from nothing to everything. It is a binary operation. Yes or no. So, we do encounter it, in some fashion everyday, but we also don’t see it very much. How's that for vagueness?

5.  At the threshold of zero or infinity in calculus, strange things happen. What philosophical implications do these mathematical boundaries have in understanding the world around us?

Well, in all things, stuff gets weird when it is really big or when it is really small… really, really big and really, really small. The laws of Newtonian physics break down on the edges. 

6. How do mathematical thresholds help explain the paradoxes of black holes and event horizons, where known physical laws break down?

Black holes and event horizons are basically limits and asymptotes in mathematics. Weird shit happens on the margins.

7. Can mathematical thresholds, like tipping points, help us understand sudden shifts in complex systems, such as climate change or stock market crashes?

Yes. Tipping points are real.  That being said, those tipping points and thresholds can be modified by new technologies and “points of no return” can sometimes change.  

8. What can your personal approach to dividing by zero tell us about the thresholds where logic and abstract thinking collide?

Okay, dividing by 0 is an interesting mathematical thought of mine. It has to do with mathematical definitions and the difference between the Universal set and the nullset. I won’t go into too much detail here (because no one wants that) but it boil down to the difference between everything that exists, nothing, and everything that does not exist. It is a way to define the undefined and allow for mathematical operations to work in different systems.  Think of how irrational numbers and rational numbers interact. In certain systems you can have those 2 vastly differently defined types of numbers combine together to explain mathematical phenomena that cannot be explained by just rational numbers. Same thing with real and imaginary. So, existent and non-existent numbers could be another system that could incorporate how rational/irrational interact or real/imaginary. The biggest issue with mathematical theory (in my mind) is how different number systems’ naming conventions have separate colloquial definitions. Imaginary and irrational means something outside of mathematics, and those definitions temper how people think of those numerical systems.   

9.  What are the psychological thresholds we encounter when making major life decisions, such as changing careers or moving to a new city? What drives us to cross those points?

The biggest threshold for me has always been inactivity to activity. I have a very strong feeling of “good enough.” As long as things are arbitrarily “good enough” I do not need to change my behavior, but when that “good enough” threshold is crossed, I actively change my life to get back to an acceptable “good enough” state. I do not constantly grow and evolve, I stair step.

10. What happens when someone approaches the emotional threshold of burnout? Are there ways to recognize and mitigate it before crossing into exhaustion?

Emotional burnout is real, you can see it creeping in by looking at how people slowly become more and more frazzled. The problem with burnout is that it is a compounding problem over time. It is like the allegory of the boiling frog thing.  The frog doesn’t realize that it is in boiling water because the water was heating up over time. Same thing with people who slowly creep up to burnout. It is often not like flipping a light switch. So, just watch for small explosions of frustration from potentially insignificant transgressions.

11. How does crossing a personal threshold, such as overcoming a long-held fear, redefine someone's sense of identity or capability?

In the example you provided, conquering a long-held fear can open up possibilities because of the new activities that are potentially available. This doesn’t even take into consideration the amount of mental energy needed to maintain the threshold that was overcome.

12. Can you explore the psychological threshold of risk tolerance—why do some people reach a breaking point and some take risks that others would avoid?

Why do some people like cake more than pie. Some people are willing to accept more risk than others.

13. How has humanity crossed technological thresholds throughout history, and what societal tipping points pushed us into the industrial or digital ages?

There are the equivalence of quantum shells in society. There is a bunch of energy storing in the societal/industrial/technological structure until it reaches a threshold and pushes society/industry/technology into the next valence. Animal husbandry, farming, wheel, bronze, iron, steel, printing press… etc… Each time there was a jump in technology, there became a jump in society. Each time a threshold was met and surpassed, there was a shift in how people existed.

14.  What cultural factors influence whether a society adopts or resists new technologies, and what threshold marks the point of no return for widespread acceptance?

I think time and utility are the pressures necessary for new technology to become widely adopted.  Think about the progression from radio to tv. Most people had a radio of some kind and It took a while for a TV to be in everyone’s living room.  TV was new and there were not many shows associated with it, while there were boatloads of shows on the radio.  Eventually all the shows migrated to TV and everyone had to have a TV to participate in the cultural zeitgeist. The thing about new technology acceptance is all about the reason for having the technology being taken for granted. It is a slow pivot while it is happening, but seems instantaneous when looking back on it. 

15. How do major historical events represent societal thresholds, such as the fall of empires or revolutions, where one era ends and another begins?

I was just mentioning this in the previous  technological question. These threshold events and cultural milestones seem instantaneous when you look back at them, but the fall of the Roman Empire took arguably centuries, but the general population seems to picture it as falling in 5 years with a resounding crash. Personally I think the diminishing of the US that seems to be currently going on is actually part of the tale end of the fall of the British Empire.  As much as Americans want to differentiate from Britain, we kind a just Britto 2.0.  Think of it as The Holy Roman Empire and Byzantium… The United Kingdom and the USA. Come at me history nerds.  

16.  How do social thresholds, such as achieving wealth or fame, change people's perceptions of themselves and how they interact with others?

Well, there are positive thresholds and negative one. When you hit a positive one, it makes you feel successful, but negative thresholds make you feel like a failure.

17.  In the context of global crises like pandemics or climate change, are there societal thresholds we may be approaching that will require radical shifts in how we live?

I think the connectivity of modern society makes the propagation of pandemics alarmingly fast. When the threshold of reliable, safe and (relatively) affordable air travel really became part of society, the potential to quarantine places became significant;y harder. For climate change, the next big leap forward needs to be about affordable, reliable, and clean energy sources. We are closing in on the goal, but not quite there yet. It is not quite reliable or affordable just yet.  When it becomes reliable and affordable, there will be a threshold that hits concerning reducing the usage of climatologically harmful energy sources become too expensive.

18. How do near-death experiences reflect the threshold between life and death, and why do so many people describe similar sensations when approaching this boundary?

I think most near-death experiences follow the same pattern because it is about how the brain shuts down electrically. That threshold is all about the draw down of power to the synapses in the brain box. 

19. How do ancient traditions, such as shamanic rituals or vision quests, use thresholds as metaphors for spiritual transformation or enlightenment?

Everyone uses thresholds as metaphors for spiritual transformation and enlightenment.  Thresholds are a necessity for everything spiritual, even (and especially) cults. You aren’t REALLY part of the cult unless you give the cult all your worldly goods and give the cult leader access to your significant other. That is a threshold to full acceptance into the cult.

20. What role do Threshold Guardians, in the monomyth, play in preventing or delaying the hero from crossing into new realms of knowledge or power?

If I remember correctly, Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero with  a Thousand Faces” mentions Threshold Guardians as being a small bump that keeps the hero from going on their heroic adventure.  Think of Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen gatekeeping Luke Skywalker until they are no longer a barrier to him going on adventure. Once those Threshold Guardians are removed from the story, the hero is able to move forward on their quest.

To recap:

• This was a bunch of writing on my part today

• I think I typed “threshold” enough that the word has lost all meaning and now just looks like a string of letters

• Semantic Satiation is real, yo

• Don’t forget the Substack or Medium

• The most exciting ways of consuming this content

• Seriously, Substack seems like it is the next future of written essays on the Internets

• I need to get a subscription to ChatGPT and OpenArt…

• I use them enough, but I don’t have the income right now to pay for them

• I will take gifts though, iffens someone wants to gift me a subscription

• I take gifts in general

• Still on the prowl for a job

• Hit me up if you think of anything or hear of anything

• This mortgage isn’t going to pay for itself

• Made some amazing gluten free focaccia this week

• Caputo Fioreglut flour is stunning

• Expensive but worth it

• MLS playoffs are a thing

• Let’s go Crew

• Have a great week everyone 

20 Questions Tuesday: Shadows - 459

Today I am still looking hard for work.  Anyone who needs some UX/Illustartion/Cartographic freelance work… hit me up, yo! This job market is a wreck, and feedback is sparse. I did get some feedback on my UX portfolio recently and I am trying to figure out how to incorporate the feedback.  It is a bit nebulous, but it is the only feedback I have gotten. Anywhoozlebee… it is at SRHportfoilo.net Take a look iffens you want to.

Okay… now to the point of the post. This week I am answering 20 questions posed by ChatGPT and Gemini concerning the topic of “Shadows.” Shadows are really cool… literally and figuratively. 

Here we go.  Onto the questions:

1. What are shadows from a scientific perspective, and how do they form?

A shadow is the dark area created by an object that is blocking the light being projected from a light source… This is the most general understanding, but from a physics perspective, it is the area of occlusion created by an object blocking the path of an electro-magnetic signal emanating from a E-M source. This occlusion could be a physical object, or even some kind of dampening field or some such thing.  I’m not a physicist… I am just guessing that something like this could exist.

2. What role do shadows play in art and photography, and how do they affect composition?

Shadows are extremely useful.  Sometimes they can be used to guide the eye around a piece of work.  Sometimes they are good for just blocking off negative space.  There are whole classes in the visual arts that deals primarily with light and dark. How to use those 2 components to create impactful images. When I was in art school, the course I took on this was Visual Organization. It was a fun class.

3. Can shadows in the digital world differ from those in the physical world? How do CGI shadows work?

Well… they aren’t “real” just like everything in a CGI world is not real. The shadows in CGI environments are pure math. I think they are associated with the process of ray-tracing. 

4. What is the significance of shadows in mythology, such as shadow people or djinn? What do these folklore/mythological creatures symbolize in different cultures, and how have their representations evolved over time?

Okay, conversations about Shadow People and Djinn are almost taboo subjects, even amongst the most ardent believers of paranormal stuffs. Shadow people primarily represent evil in most cultures where the folklore references them.  Djinn are a different thing all together. Djinn are said to be a race of beings that, to us, seem to be made of shadow and energy.  It is said they inhabit this dimension and a separate dimension as well. Djinn are an interesting lot. In stories they span the gamut of personalities, however the ones that tend to interact with people seem to be more malicious in nature.  I really love the Djinn folklore.  For more information on that, please listen to the podcast “The Hidden Djinn” by Rabia Chaudry (who could read me the phone book.  A voice like mellowed honey. 

5. How might the shadow of a 4th-dimensional object appear to us in 3D space?

I think this needs to be explained a little bit by what is meant by a shadow wen talking about mathematical dimensionality. A 0-D object is an object with a describable position.  It is a point. A 1-D object is a line. It has 1 dimension, length. A 2-D object is a shape. That is an abject that has area because it is composed of some aspect of length and width. A 3-D object is a volume. It is an object that has a volume that is defined by length, width, and height.  3-D is where we reside and are most comfortable. So the shadow of a 3-D object  in 2-D space is a shape, and the shadow of a 2-D object in 1-D space is a line, and the shadow of a 1-D object into 0-D space is a point. Sooo… a 4-D object is a hyper-volume that has length, width, height, and… I guess, time? So the shadow of a hyper-volume on a 3-D space is a shape that has volume.Weird. Supposedly within theories like string theory there could be up to 10 or 11 dimensions.  Cooky. 

6. Can psychological “shadows,” like Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow self, influence behavior and identity?

Of course.  If there is part of your personality that you are actively or even unintentionally suppressing… that’s gonna leave a mark..  

7. How does the phenomenon of eclipses challenge our understanding of light and shadow on a cosmic scale?

Not so much on a cosmic scale as much as on a planetary scale. I am unsure how in cosmology one could truly understand the concept of shadows. Does a nebula cast a shadow?  

8. How do shadows play into horror films and literature? What makes them so effective in creating suspense?

Shadows are amazing at creating suspense because that are little spots of the unknown. The forest in colonial America was a scary place due to the shadows in the forest. The legen do Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman is purely due to the unknown in the dark and foreboding forest.

9. Are there any scientific studies or theories that explore the relationship between quantum mechanics and shadows?

Yes, They deal with the nature of the particle wave theory of light. 

10. Could an artificial shadow be used for practical purposes, like temperature control or camouflage?

Ever been under a sun-shade? 

11. How does the "shadow of the past" influence our understanding of history and personal memories?

The shadow of the past is kind of the idea of unintentionally repeating mistakes.  That fear of repetition causes timidness and safe decisions.

12. What philosophical interpretations can be drawn from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, where shadows represent reality?

That reality to one all depends on the viewers’ perspective. To the viewers of the shadows on the wall, that is their reality. It really goes back to 3-D objects’ shadows on the 2-D space….I have already waxed eloquent about that.

13. Can shadows be used to create optical illusions, and if so, what are some of the most famous examples?

The one that I can think of has to do with color theory. How you can construct an image such that the shadow of an object is the same color as a portion of the image that is “in the light.”

14. What role do shadows play in our unconscious fears and anxieties?

Shadows often equate to the unknown.  The unknown can be scary and anxiety causing.

15. How do we project our own shadows onto others, and what are the consequences of this behavior?

Projection is projection is projection. Whether someone is projecting their “shadows” or their “highlights,” it does not matter. Projection is ascribing intention to actions or behaviors of others because of how you would behave or act. 

16. Shadow of the Universe: How do astronomical phenomena like dark matter and the cosmic microwave background create "shadows" in the universe?

The shadow universe is not like the Star Trek Mirror Universe where everything is the same but the good guys are bad and sport weird facial hair. The Shadow universe is made from dark matter, which we see evidence of, but have never directly observed it.

17. In various cultures, how are shadows interpreted as omens or signs of good or bad fortune?

Since shadows denote darkness, often there are pieces of folklore that mention a shadow being the symbolism of bad things happening to whomever the shadow falls on.  Basically darkness = bad and scary.

18. How do shadows represent the complexities of moral decision-making and the gray areas between right and wrong?

Often when “good guys” are operating on the fringes of society by doing potentially bad things… or morally gray areas, they are said to be “operating in the shadows.” 

19. Can ignorance be considered a shadow that obscures our understanding of the world?

Yes.

20. Film Noir: How is shadow used as a visual element in film noir to convey darkness, danger, and moral ambiguity?

Shadows are a strong visual element in Film Noir. It adds texture to the images and frames where the filmmakers want your eye to follow.

To recap:

• Do the thing with the Substack

• Substack is becoming a thing

• Isn’t it?

• Don’t forget to do the thing with Medium

• Medium is often overlooked

• Still need gainful employment

• Artistic commissions are open

• Get in contact with me, and I can bang something out for ya

• It is late

• And I still need to format this post

• Get all the links embedded

• Make some imagery

• Shadowy imagery

• Send good employment thoughts this way

• Papa needs a job

• Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 458 - Modern Job search: Part 2 - The Revenge

Well the contract work I was doing has come to a close, so I am now back on the job hunt. This is a significantly stressful time of my life. I am honestly not sure where my next paycheck will come from… so if you need any freelance UX work, let me know. Anyway… I created a pretty thorough prompt for ChatGPT to ask me more questions about the Modern Job Search. I think it did an okay job of not repeating any questions from the first Modern Job Search post exactly (well, I did a good job editing out the repeated questions - - Pat myself in the back for the simplest of things). This time the prompt included language to ask more emotional questions. ChatGPT and I are tight like that. Here we go for 20 more questions about the job search… ugh.

Onto the questions:

1. How has AI changed the way we search for jobs in 2024?

This is a pretty self-serving question from ChatGPT… If I do say so myself. Anyhoo… It has helped for crafting job specific cover letters, but on the employer side, I think it has made it worse. I think many places are using AI and other machine learning for their ATS’s (Application Tracking Systems).  ATS’s (to my understanding), are often the first round of filtering of applications (correct me if I am wrong on this one HR peeps). There are apocryphal stories of managers with open req’s getting no applications to look at due to filters in the ATS having errors or being too stringent. I know these are just stories, but they seem plausible.

2. How do you stay motivated when the job search feels like it’s dragging on forever?

That is a very good question. Sometimes I don’t stay motivated. It is hard to grind out applications every day for positions you may never hear back from. Or eweirder than that hear back from months after applying.  Last week I got a form rejection email from a position I applied to in March. It took 7 months for the automated system to give me the generic “thanks but no thanks” email.

3. What strategies have you used to manage the stress and anxiety that comes with a long job hunt?

Does insomnia and eating cream cheese frosting with a spoon count as stress management strategies? 

Pillsbury Cream Cheese Frosting + Spoon = 😭

4. Have you ever experienced “job search burnout,” and if so, how did you overcome it?

Of course I have experienced “Job search burnout,” but I have children who need to eat and bills that need to be paid. I have a mortgage and I made a commitment as a partner and father to help provide for my family. I am very close to not being able to maintain that commitment right now and my stress levels are insane.

5. How do you maintain a sense of self-worth when you’re not working but actively seeking a job?

This is a tough one.  So much of people’s identity is tied up into what they do. A question that is often asked upon meeting new people is “what do you do?” 

I am a user experience designer

This is often followed up with “where do you work?”

I am in-between contracts/jobs at the moment.

That doesn’t help the identity much. It truly is harrowing and tends to reinforce all the imposter syndrome feelings that I carry in the best of times. 

6. What’s the best strategy for balancing a professional yet personal social media presence?

There is definitely a balance. Personally I try to not post anything socially that I would not be okay talking with a co-worker or supervisor with. I do post some stuff that I wouldn’t want my mother to read… because it is about my mother.

7.  How can you tell if a job posting is legit or just a scam?

There aren’t many tried and true ways.  Often you can see cracks in the posting by how the job duties and requirements are worded. It does not mean that these are scams for stealing your money (although, I am sure that is a goal for some of the scams), but, I feel, are more scams to get really good employment data for free by scraping freely given resumes. Some aren’t even scams in the sense that they are taking anything as much as the position is a ghost position that does not really exist. The worst is when a recruiter from some fly-by-night recruiting/staffing agency reaches out for a resume for a position they think would be good for you, and then you hear nothing from them. I think this happens so these recruiters can hit their contact metrics for their own employment.

8. Is LinkedIn really the place to be, or are there better alternatives for networking?

As far as digitally in the employ-o-sphere, I think it probably is the best place that most people know of. It will never be as good as contacting your network in person. The last contract I got (which was a very nice contract) was because a friend of my brother’s knew someone who was looking for UX help on a project that was already in motion.  I did not send a generic application into the digital void with my fingers crossed.

9. Do recruiters still care about your GPA, or is that ancient history?

It depends on where you are in your careeer path. The only time it seems that a GPA really matters is when you have no other data to show that you are diligent at tasks. Once you have some work experience under your belt, the GPA seems to become immaterial… even though many digital applications require it for the education portion of the application. 

10. How important is it to showcase personal projects on your resume or portfolio?

It is super important if you do not have professional projects to show in a portfolio. They should be de-emphasized as professional projects take their place in the portfolio. 

11. How do you deal with the feeling of isolation when you’re job searching for a long time?

I reach out to people fairly regularly. I will periodically reach out to friends and family via text to make sure I connect. I miss conversations though.

12. What’s the toughest part emotionally about applying to countless jobs without hearing back?

As mentioned before the reinforcement of the imposter syndrome and the stress of not knowing where the next paycheck is coming from.

13.How do you handle rejection emails when you were really counting on the job?

“Counting” on the job does not really enter into the conversation.  The ones that hurt are the positions you are uniquely qualified for, but you get no contact from. For example, I have an MA in Geographic Information Systems/Analytical Cartography/Spatial Analysis Methods with a 20 year career in GIS and cartography  AND an MS in User Experience Design with a almost 10 year career, and I did not get a call or email from a position for a role working on UX for GIS for the industry standard software developer for GIS. I am a purple fucking unicorn for UX in GIS and didn’t even get a sniff. 

14. How do you handle rejection from potential employers without it affecting your confidence?

Not gonna lie, sometimes it really hurts. Real Bad. Most of the time, though, I know that there isn’t a personal reason for the rejection, but it can still hurt.

15. Should you apply for jobs you’re not 100% qualified for, or is that a waste of time?

Apply for any job you think you should apply to. When you do not get callbacks for job applications that you are uniquely qualified for, apply to anything. Sometimes applying for a job that you are 1000% qualified for is a waste of time.

16. What’s one essential thing you should always ask at the end of a job interview?

What are the next steps in the process. It shows that you are interested in moving forward.

17. What’s more important these days: a flashy résumé or a well-connected reference?

Well-connected reference.  It is not what you know, right now.  It is who you know.

18. Are soft skills becoming the new hard skills in the modern job market?

Yes… to a degree.  Soft skills are difficult to portray in a digital application package. 

19. What’s one piece of advice you'd give to someone starting their job search today?

Just keep at it.

20. When the search feels hopeless, what keeps you going?

Family and friends and the overwhelming stress of upcoming bills. I am really anxious about upcoming bills.

To recap:

• Dude, I’m tired

• This is a daunting process

• I like AI, most of my professional conversations right now are with Chad… uh, I mean ChatGPT

• We have a very strong friendship

• It is pretty one-sided… Chad being a LLM afterall

• And me being a person

• I won’t subscribe to ChatGPT, so we aren’t great friends…

• I can only ask ChatGPT a few questions a day

• I need to get a better friend

• Or enough moolah to get a subscription to ChatGPT

• Then my friendship with Chaad will be unstoppable

• Still one-sided, but an unstoppable version of one-sided

• I really need a new contract

• Or a new job

• Or to win the lottery that I do not play

• Family is good

• Truly the only thing that is an obstacle in my life is my ability to accrue the moneys

• Gotta make those duckets, y’all 

• So, seriously, if you think I would be good for any position that you know of…

• UX, product, writing, etc… Send the position information my way

• Another way of coping is cooking

Homemade Cashew Chicken

• Cashew Chicken from scratch for dinner tonight

• I have more applications to fill out

• Even this late at night

• No rest for the weary

• Oh, and the insomnia

• There is tons of insomnia for the weary

• All the insomnia you could shake a stick at

• Do the thing with the Substack and the Medium and all that jazz

• Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 457 - Superpowers

It’s been a couple of weeks since the last post.  What can I say? summers are not easy to  schedule a weekly post that take some not insignificant effort. Posting is not my superpower… which leads me to ask the LLM’s about the topic of Superpowers. So this week, thanks go to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude for a bevy of questions I needed to sift through.
Let’s do this!

Onto the questions:

1.  Which everyday task would benefit most from a useless superpower, like super-speed folding of laundry?

I think thermal control and cooking would be the go to.

2.  What’s the most overrated superpower and why doesn’t it live up to the hype?

I think flight is.  Flight without super strength or invulnerability or something like that would be near useless. Think about it.

3.  If you could give your pet a superpower, what would it be and how would it change your daily life?

I think I would make my pet have the ability to be omnijocular (all funny, a la omnipotent, omniscient, etc…) When Chewie or Cesca would want to they would be able to snake anyone laugh.

4.  Can a superpower be too powerful? 

Yes.  Next question.

5.  Which obscure superpower would be the most useful in a zombie apocalypse? (e.g., super-fast knitting to make escape ropes?)

I think something like improved balance (even when unconscious), that way I could sleep in trees and on top of structures that Zombies could not get to. Zombies are not known for their agility.

6.  How would your daily commute change if you had the power of flight, but could only fly three feet off the ground?

I work remotely from home, this would not do much to my commute, but I would love going to the grocery store.

7.  If people had superpowers based on their worst habits, what powers would the world’s worst procrastinator have?

I think a procrastinator’s superpower would be the power of 75%. If the person waits until the last minute they get 3/4ths done or at a 3/4ths of perfect quality. (Honestly, you could just aim for 25% higher and get 93.75% every single time… or 89.06% depending on order of operations… percentages of percentages is confusing. Is it 75% of 125% or an additional 75% of the extra 25%… Anyway, I would game that system sooo hard.)

75% Pie Chart

8.  Would you prefer a power that makes you better at something you’re already good at or one that compensates for your greatest weakness? Why?

I would prefer powers that augmented something I am already good at.  Why? Well, the things I am already bad at, I am probably bad at for a reason. 

9.  What’s the most embarrassing superpower someone could accidentally reveal at a dinner party?

Remember “The Spleen” from the movie “Mystery Men.” Yeah, a superpower of flatulence at a dinner party.

The Spleen from “Mystery Men”

10.  Would you rather have a superpower that makes you invincible to one specific thing, like office gossip, or one that allows you to control something really specific, like all the Wi-Fi signals in your house?

Since the house I am living in is basically a Faraday cage because of its construction materials, I like the idea of being able to control Wi-Fi signals.  It would be great to boost the signal in the house.

11.  If a superpower could be inherited like eye color, which ones would create the weirdest family dynamics?

Telepathy. Being able to read someone’s mind messes everything up. Especially family… thems some weird em-effers.

12.  What superpower do you think would be the most difficult to control?

Time… the mathematics of it all. The Milky way is traveling at 2.1 Million KM/hr, and our solar system is traveling at 720,000 KM/hr and within the solar system the Earth  is traveling at 107,000 KM/hr… To go back in time you would need to be able to calculate your correct position… or you are free-floating in the expanse of space.

13.  Do you believe superpowers could ever exist in reality, or are they strictly fictional?

Totally fictional.

14.  How do you think superpowers would change society if they were real?

I have no idea… it would be pretty crazy. Any true comicbook-esque superpower would alter how everyone looks at reality.

15.  What ethical dilemmas could arise from having superpowers?

Equitability.

16.  Could superpowers be used for evil purposes? If so, how?

Yes… just as they could be used for good.  Powers are powers.

17.  Should people with superpowers be held to a different standard of morality?

Of course. Because they could potentially affect so many more people. Just like politicians should be held to a higher morality because their decisions affect others greatly. Same with Police… if your job requires you to be armed, you have to be better.

18.  How could superpowers be regulated or controlled to prevent abuse?

That is a very good question… I think it would depend on how strong the superpowers are.

19.  Would superpowers be a test of character or a burden to bear?

Yes, to both. 

20.  How have depictions of superpowers in media evolved over the decades?

Well, the first real superpowers in stories go back to demi-gods and magic in ancient cultures, and powers depicted in those stories run the gamut of being used for good, being used for evil, being used for others or even as selfishly as possible. So… superpower stories started out similar to how they are being depicted now.  There is a despite to portray superpowers as gritty and realistic right now, but if you go back 90 years when superman hit the scene, the idea of superpowers mutated into the idea of an ideal person. So, if we look at mythology as the original superpowered stories, or if we look at modern day superpowered stories as a modern mythology… it has always been a smattering of good, bad, altruistic, selfish, etc… with periods of time where the stories bend towards the concept of “ideal.”

To recap:

• I have about 4 almost finished posts that I just couldn’t take over the finish line

• One about the Olympics

• One about generalized AI

• One about my past

• …But no one needs to learn about my past

• And one that was just a bunch of random questions

• None of them “felt” right

• I had even gotten to the recap of 2 of the posts

• So, all that was left was to format, create a title image, and post

• But… nope

• That was not going to happen

• Of course it happens to be superpowers is what gets me over the hump

• Posting is not my superpower

• I’m not telling you what my superpower is though

• Figure it out on your own

• Okay, Imma try to be more punctual for my next post

• Maybe I should start the post earlier than Tuesday morning?

• Nah

• Join the substack or read this on Medium

• Instead of clicking on links like a barbarian

• Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 456 - Ben Callahan

This week I have the pleasure of asking Ben Callahan 20 Questions. I met Ben at a IXDA Columbus talk that he was giving on a series of wider UX conversations lovingly called “The Question.” I saw this and immediately knew I had to ask the guy who asks the question, 20 of my questions. As his website says, Ben is an author, speaker, coach, and founder. He is extremely open to possibility and welcomes new thoughts and perspectives. His presentation on the Question was thought provoking and a delight to be a part of. That being said, I don’t know Ben very well, so let’s change that.

On to the questions:

In my former life as a cartographer/geographer, my passion for geography and the intriguing notion of "space" has fueled my curiosity about people's geographic stories. My own story unfolds like this: I came into the world as an air force brat at Tinker Air Force Base near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Following my father's military postings, we made our way to Montgomery, Alabama, and eventually settled in the greater Birmingham arae in Alabama, specifically in Center Point, where I spent my formative years until college beckoned me to Kent State University. Post-graduation, I ventured to Columbus, Ohio, accompanying my then-fiancée, now ex-wife (it’s all good we are still good friends), for our graduate studies at Ohio State University. Since then, Columbus and its environs have been home, where I've shared life's adventures with my children, my wife, and her children (my step kiddos).

Question1: What is your “Geographic Story?”

I have some similarities to what you shared, Scott! I was born in Oregon where my parents moved after they returned from their Navy posting in Japan to get married. From there, we moved a lot—my Father transferred to the Air Force so we were in Cleveland, Philly, Biloxi, Omaha, and (eventually) Dayton, Ohio. I currently live just outside of Dayton with my two kiddos. My partner lives here in Oakwood as well, just a few blocks away, with her kids. We love the walkability of our little hometown, but are excited to get out of Ohio eventually, once our kids are out of high school. I’ve been fortunate to travel to some very beautiful places for work and play. My partner and I both left our hearts in Switzerland since we first visited a few years ago. We go back as often as we can, but we also love NYC: the pace, the food, the arts, the fashion, the culture. In general, anywhere is just fine as long as the people I love are along for the ride.

It is not the destination, it is the journey and the people you meet along the way. So, even in your above response about where you have lived, you mentioned extensive travels.

Question 2: where is the furthest you have traveled from where you are right now?

I’ve been fortunate to see many places, but the furthest is probably Israel and Jordan. I was only there for a short time, but it was eye-opening and challenged me to consider the impact a place has on what someone believes and who they become because of those beliefs.

I have also traveled to Brazil, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hawaii, and all over Western Europe.

I’d like to travel all over Africa (to meet the people and see the culture and the landscape). I would love to spend some time in Asia as well: Japan (for the food, cherry blossoms, and architecture), Indonesia (for the surfing and the beaches), India (for the culture, food, yoga), and South Korea for all of the reasons above!

Many of the places you have listed as having been to are on my list of places I would like to go.  My big trip that I would love to take would be to Antarctica… but that is a story for a different time. 

It is time for the question of the ages. A question I have been asking for over 15 years.  I should probably go through all my interviews and collate the data, but that sounds like work.  Eventually when llm’s get better, I will task a bot to go through all my interviews and create some statistics.  Everyone has been waiting for it.

Question 3: Cake or pie?  Which specific kind and why?

This is really hard. I love pie crust, but I also love a really dark chocolate cake—moist and dense is what I’m after. But pumpkin pie is so good…. You’re killing me. If I can still have cupcakes after choosing pie, then I choose pie. If I can’t then I need some cake.

In my years of asking this question, the people who tend to choose pie, really like pie, but people who choose cake would punch a puppy in the rain for a piece of that sweet cake confection. I never really understood the concept behind this virulence in cake love until I asked the LLM’s about it. Both Chad (ChatGPT) and Bart (Gemini) surmised that the reason for the discrepancy of fervor was due to pies being a yummy thing you eat from time to time, and that cakes are often a symbols of celebration for an occasion that needs to be lauded with confection.

Question 4: Does this rational hold up up to your scrutiny? And how did the LLM’s figure that out before me? 

Interesting. Personally, I don’t like many things that are too sweet. Hence my love of pie crust and dark chocolate cake. I think of having pie at Thanksgiving and cake at someone’s wedding or birthday. I guess I don’t necessarily disagree with the AI on this. They clearly got their answer from articles around the world explaining those ideas, unless someone has built a taste-testing AI I don’t know about. Ironically, artificial intelligence was my specialization while I was studying for my computer science degree. Things have changed a lot since then, but it’s a fun time to be a large language model right now.

This is the dawn of the age of AI. Starting with ML and expert systems tuned using fuzzy logic to now, 3 big players in the generalized LLM AI landscape (Chat GPT, Gemini, and Anthropic) attempting to approximate human interaction, this is definitely a time of great growth in LLM’s.  The leaps and gains have seemed relatively exponential lately, but I think the evolution of LLM’s is starting to plateau as the newer versions seem to be less quantum jumps and more interactive improvements. This is fairly typical cycle for new tech which leads me to ask:

Question 5: Do you think that a generalized AI will ever be true “intelligent” and not merely a better statistical probability output that closely approximates a human?

I’m an optimist. Because of this, I think I agree more with Kurzweil than I do with Musk—it’s more likely that we’ll merge with AI in many odd and interesting ways than we’ll be extinguished by AI. 

My optimism also leads me to believe that generalized AI will, at some point, be indistinguishable from human intelligence. The curves on those graphs are also quite scary—once we reach that point, it’s wild how fast the predicted intelligence expands. 

The question behind your question is more a spiritual one than a technical one, though—will we ever see AI as intelligent in the way we see humans as intelligent? That is maybe more about personhood than intelligence, and the basis of all the good science fiction out there 🙂

More than anything, I love the thought exercise of considering these ideas. In the end, it may be the body modders that win simply by being willing to try things with their brains the rest of us will be fearful of.

I, too, have an optimistic feeling about how people will integrate with AI.  I don’t think that any AI we create will be our downfall. I do kind of think that the AI we create will evolve into something wildly beyond anything we could have imagined, and will eventually leave us behind, both figuratively and metaphorically.  

AI is just something I have been playing with and really have enjoyed.  LLM’s are interesting things, but it is clear that they are mirrors of the prompts  you give them. Recently, in my job search that is taking entirely too long, I have been getting an AI assist in my cover letters. I create a prompt that generates a cover  letter for the specific position and then have to edit the hell out of it to get the position description phrases out of the letter., but that is a tale for another day. 

My path to UX was similar to my path to cartography. Much like no one sets out to be a geographer, no one (at least up to very recently) sets out from high school to become a UX practitioner. That is one of the reasons that I love the UX industry so much. There are so many varied knowledge bases that end up in UX.

Question 6: What was your journey to becoming a UX practitioner?

I studied Computer Science (on the AI track, actually). With this degree, I landed a job as a Software Engineer right out of university and worked in an enterprise product company fixing other people’s bugs for five years. Those five years were a slow death for me. The culture, the process, the interactions felt like poison to me. So, having saved up some money, I took a bit of time off and worked at a small nonprofit doing creative work for a year. This gave me a chance to experiment with all kinds of design, animation, video, audio, photography, writing—anything I wanted to do, I could do. After that year, I started a company called Design District with a friend who had studied film. We made short movies on the weekends and corporate videos during the week. Editing eight hours of talking heads will make you question your life. Luckily, one of our customers asked us to make them a website. We made a five page static site over the course of the next couple weeks for $500. Pretty soon, all our clients were asking for this. Eventually, I found a real passion for building interfaces. This was the intersection of my love for programming and my appreciation for the human condition—there was a person on the other side of every experience I built. 

About this time, I read Zeldman’s book on web standards and it fundamentally changed my perspective on the web. That was the beginning of my real career and I’ve been doing something related for the last 20 years. 

It is very interesting that you went to school for computer science. Especially since it was CS, from the before times. The CS department at college was in the same space as the mathematics department at Kent State in the mid 90’s (not sure that is still the case), and you did not strike me as having the kind personality I met during that time. It is very clear that you really integrate the “human” into your work. Truly, it is fascinating.  But this is coming from someone who had to drag his sketch board and charcoals to his elements of topology class, and was studying differential equations while etching zinc plates in his printmaking class… so I get it.

Now, onto a completely different directions… Question 7: if you could have dinner with any 5 people in the world who have ever lived, what food would you serve for that dinner?

There’s a salad Jamie Oliver makes that is out of this world—I’d start with that. I’d probably make some rustic white bread from Ken Forkish which would work well as the bread for that salad (and to snack on with some nicely salted butter). Perhaps I’d smoke some beef ribs or roast a chicken. Might be nice to do a simple blackened broccolini with a bit of EVOO and some good salt and freshly cracked pepper. For dessert, a chocolate mousse and an espresso is hard to beat. For drinks, we’d maybe start with a Negroni and then have a Pinot Noir if we had chicken or a Syrah or Cab if we had the beef ribs.

Around 4 courses if I counted correctly. I think that is an interesting set-up to a “5 People Ever” meal.  There is structure to it, but nothing over-bearing. There is a certain level of formality to it. The menu is not stuffy, but it is rich. The entree (either option) is relatable to any time period, and understandable for most, if not all, cultures. People have been eating cows and chickens since time immemorial. It is not so casual that you need paper towels, but it is also not formal enough to require white linen.  I would imagine the conversation would be engaging, but never raucous. There would be insights shared, but not necessarily tales. 

Question 8: Fill in the blanks (editor’s note: feel free to ask others for input on the first blank): Others find that I am mostly _____. I feel that I am mostly _____. 

Interesting. I asked my partner to fill in that first blank, and she said, “I find that you are mostly good at everything.” In response to this, I thought to myself, “I feel that I am mostly trying to learn all the intricacies of an interest.” I suppose this makes me seem, from the outside looking in, like I am good at that thing even though I’m just learning about it. 🙂

I asked my kids to both answer as well…

“I find that my dad is mostly making something.” When I asked for clarity, here’s what my youngest offered: “You're either doing something creatively or making food or working on a project.” I think this is true. I like to create stuff and I always have a project or two going. Ironically, when I read this and then go to answer the second half, I feel that I am mostly distracted. An area of growth for sure.

My oldest answered, “I find that my dad is mostly someone who enjoys working with and being around a group of people.” This is true, although less so than it used to be. These days, I feel that I am mostly someone who enjoys being around a small group of my chosen people—not just anyone, haha!

I think you may be the first person who has gotten feedback from their kiddos.  I love it. One thing that stands out to me with those answers is that, while not exactly the same, they all align pretty well. Inquisitive and busy, there are worse things to be accused of.

Question 9: What interest are you currently trying to learn the intricacies of?

Several. I’ve been on a 15 or 20 year journey with coffee—next on my list there is roasting… I am currently digging in on learning the Mandolin. I’ve always been a musician, but never played stringed instruments (except the piano). I’ve also been working for the last four and a half years to become a poet. That sounds a little odd, perhaps, but I think there’s tremendous beauty (and value) in being someone who can say a lot with a little. Poetry is the apex of that idea, and I intend to develop that skill for the remainder of my life!

Poetry is something anyone can do, but only those who really work at it can do it well. I truly am envious of people who are capable of poetry. Poetry is just not my thing.  I like it, but it is just not in my skillset.

Deceptively simple question, but very profound.  Question 10: Are you happy?

Yes!

I believe happiness comes from alignment. Alignment comes from knowing your true self so that you can say yes to things that align with that and no to things that don’t. It’s only in the last five years that I’ve learned who I truly am. That’s allowed me to walk away from certain things, toward others, to add some boundaries in certain places, and focus spending my time with people who appreciate and love me for who I am instead of what I can offer them.

I think it is amazing how many people are “unaligned,” as you refer to it.  Happiness is most definitely about alignment and not fighting against who a person is. That is not all happiness is about, but without that alignment, it is nigh impossible.

Question 11: What advice would you give to yourself from 5 years ago?

I would say, “Don’t be afraid of change.” I’m someone who is very loyal to the routines I’ve established. But a life of growth and fulfillment requires regularly letting go of something in order to make space for a new and, often, better thing. Five years ago I fought that. After struggling through some big changes, I’m so much happier. 

Of course, getting that advice and fighting through the growth are two different things. So, while I can look back with clarity on my situation, I’m grateful for the way the last five years have changed me. The struggle is the growth, you know? This ties into something I’m working on now, which is finding a way to appreciate and be grateful for the whole range of human experience. It’s the mundane of life that makes a vacation fun, the devastation of heartbreak that helps us genuinely recognize love. Every experience enables a perspective on another experience. I guess I’m saying this because I could give myself that advice about change, but I am pretty sure I needed the last five years to actually learn that lesson. In fact, I’m still learning it. I know this isn’t the root of your question, just something you got me pondering! 

An interesting and wonderful thing that occurs during these 20 Questions Tuesday interviews I do, is that they often bring up things people might not have ever thought about and reframe how people look at things in their life.  I know for a fact that as the interviewer, I always come to some growth in myself while merely just asking the questions. 

Question 12: What is a piece of content/media (book, show, podcast, movie, blog, YouTube channel, etc…) that you feel everyone would benefit from consuming (reading, watching, listening, etc…)?

Depending on when you ask me a question like this, I’ll have a different answer! Something I’ve accepted about myself since COVID is that I am terrible at reading/watching/listening to anything from start to finish. Instead of fighting this, I’ve simply decided to lean in. :) That means I read a little bit of a lot of books each day. I have a stack of 12 books on my desk right now, all of which I’m reading. What this does is give me an explosion of dots to connect. As someone focused on design systems, the job is as much about the space between components as it is about the components themselves—if things don’t work well together, it doesn’t matter how amazing the things are independently. So, this acceptance of my inability to stay with a specific book or show or whatever without interruption has allowed me to exercise my “connect the dots” muscles, which just happen to be critical to design system work. 

To your question, specifically, I’ve been working through a book called “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. In this book, there’s a chapter called “The Animacy of Grammar.” I can’t think of many pieces of writing that have changed me in the way these words have. They helped me to understand the way our language shapes our entire worldview. Cultural perspective is embedded in words, grammar, language, and we can’t even think without those words. Our language is so fundamental to who we are and yet I lived 46 years before I even understood its impact on who I am and how I perceive the world around me. I don’t know if it’s for everyone, but that chapter is my current recommendation.

Here we are with the triskaidekaphobia question. With a bit of a preface, because many people state that they have no superstitions, but are still creatures of habit. For example: when I played soccer in high school, I said I had a lucky routine for how I would get dressed for a game. It involved a very specific sequence of putting things on, especially the multiple layers of socks and shinguards. At the time I considered it my “Lucky” process to get ready for a game, but looking back on it, it wasn’t about luck, it was about intentionally transitioning from one state (not playing soccer) to another state (ready to play soccer) with what amounted to a ritual. So, when I mention ritual, it could be something like drinking a cup of coffee and doing the crossword before starting your day of work, and not necessarily sacrificing a chicken for luck. 

Question 13: Do you have any superstitions or rituals in your life at the moment?

I’m certainly a coffee drinker and I absolutely enjoy the ritual of making the coffee as much as I do that first sip. I try to spend a bit of time each morning letting my partner know that she’s my top priority, reading, and thinking through my day. I’m not great at managing the balance between the reactive parts of my day and the proactive, longer-term goals I have. So, I use the ritual of “recentering” myself each morning to make sure I’m focused on the right things. I can’t think of any superstitions I have (that I’m aware of) 🙂

I have found that many people (both interviewed and non-interviewed) have rituals associated with coffee. The brewing and consumption of coffee is a time-honored tradition observed across various cultures and boundaries. While these rituals may differ from place to place, the act of consuming caffeine is widely acknowledged and appreciated by people around the world. Often to the chagrin of sleep hygiene.

Question 14: Do you have any adages, sayings, mottos, creedos, etc... ?

I do! I try desperately to “stay in learning mode”. I have this written on a yellow sticky note and posted to my display. It’s something I think about all the time. The reason this is important to me is because I genuinely believe every interaction I have is an opportunity to learn—each person I meet has something to teach me. Can you imagine how different things would be if we all approached each other in this way? What an amazing world, where everyone is valued for their lived experiences. That’s the world I want to live in.

Consistent learning is a laudable goal. I too try to keep that forefront in my mind, but it is not a credo to me. The best family credo that is in my extended family is “don’t let the fuckers get you down.”  It is a crass motto, but a good one nonetheless. 

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.

Hmmmm. I didn’t have a lot of expectations coming into this, so I’m not immediately thinking of anything! I would be happy to chat about the work I do—primarily design system consulting and coaching. I’d be happy to share about what it’s been like to run a digital product studio for 15 years. I’d be happy to talk about hobbies or extracurricular activities… You tell me!

I like the idea of asking about your coaching. I have gotten some career coaching in the past that was truly invaluable. I could probably use some more right now while I am in a bit of a professional transition, but this is not a coaching session, so I will ask a generic coaching question for you. 

Question 16: In your coaching experience, is there a singular issue that most people asking you for coaching across the board could be boiled down into?

My coaching practice is very niche—I offer coaching to individuals and teams that are working on or leading a design system program. The thread through all of those conversations is often the cultural and change management side of the work. As with most things, the people are the hard part. I’m doing some long form writing on design systems and a concept I just articulated ties back into the language conversation we had above. Here’s the excerpt:

“If you want to understand an organization’s culture, you have to study the language they speak. If you want to shape an organization’s culture, you have to redefine the language they speak.

At its core, design system work is redefining language.”

Much of what I do with coaching is to help folks both understand this and translate what it means for them on a day-to-day basis. 

I can honestly say that the coaching I’ve done in the last year has been some of the most impactful work in my career. Something about seeing your experience benefit someone else very directly is so rewarding!

That is a super interesting type of coaching. It was not what I was thinking when you mentioned coaching, mainly because the only experience I have had with coaching outside of sports is more of a one on one experience. This coaching seems more akin to organizational structure. 

I will definitely use “Hear, hear!” and “Huzzah!” for the language insight.  So much of work experience and work culture is not only the connotation of experience but the denotation of the language. Often the more practical language aspect of culture is overlooked because it is “just words.”

Why did I post a pic of a hippo? IYKYK

Question 17: What is the biggest hurdle you have faced in organizational coaching? Is it HiPPO (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion?) Or group think? Or something else entirely?

When the person I’m coaching discovers the core problem is that their personal values don’t line up with the organization’s values, this opens up a whole new set of questions. This is both wonderful and anxiety-inducing—especially in the current job market. That said, it’s my job to help folks find the real root of the challenges they are facing. I look forward to those difficult “ah ha” moments because that difficulty is also intensely clarifying. 

That tracks. Difficult ah-ha moments professionally can be both amazing and terrifying.

Okay, it is time to turn the tables. Question 18: Do you have any questions for me? 

Are you happy?

Oooh, turnabout is fair play I see… You are the first person to ask me this in this forum. Overall I am relatively happy. I am currently working as a freelance UX designer and that is stressful.  I do not have enough work officially “on the books” lined up for the rest of the year, and I was in-between jobs for just over 11 months.  That work hiatus burned through all the set-aside money I had, so I am very stressed right now. The work I am doing right now is really good. I am enjoying it, it has some meat on its bones, and the potential for continued work.  I would Loooove to have some security in future work actually being there. 

That being said, my family is great. My bio kids are doing great. My step-kids are doing great. My doggos are awesome. I truly and excitedly am in love with my wife. My parents are doing as well as 80 year olds in “okay” health could ask for. My brother and his wife seem to be thriving in their lives right now. Hell, even the kids' mom and her partner are doing great, so the expanded family is doing well.  In conclusion,  I am very happy in general, but that happiness is tempered by pretty significant professional stress. Thank you for asking. It was good for me to take stock.

Question 19: What are you taking from these 20 questions that you did not bring in with you? 

I think every person should do an exercise like this occasionally. To consider your life from many perspectives—through a lens of geography, food, work, interests—is a gift. In the chaos of the immediate, we don’t slow down to consider all we’ve experienced.

I would also say these 20 questions exposed a few gaps for me. I am working on a book (about design systems, of course) and it should be done by now. So, to read through this knowing I couldn’t share that I am an author in that capacity is giving me a kick in the rear end. I’ll let you know when it’s done 🙂

The last thought I have here is just a little note on how you and I met. I gave an early version of a presentation at a meetup in Columbus. You attended, I don’t know if you’re a regular at that group or how you found the event. We spoke a bit briefly after the event, I walked away from that conversation with a recognition that you are a thoughtful person. You reached out to connect on doing this interview and the short connection we made was enough to nudge me toward a “yes”. Now here we are!

This is important because of the chain of unlikely events that had to happen to put the two of us in the same room on a seemingly random evening in Columbus, Ohio. We can take that one step further, in fact. Someone is reading this sentence right now. (Hi, friend! Perhaps we know each other, perhaps we don’t.) Three people, having a conversation through written words, sharing our experiences, subtly impacting and challenging each other.

Life is constructed from meetings like this. The cause and effect of the human experience is too complex to map. Mostly, I want people to remember: opportunity comes from connection. If you, reader, are someone who wants or needs an opportunity, start by seeking out connections. And, if you happen to be someone who can facilitate an opportunity, don’t shy away from that responsibility. 

Thank you, Scott! Thank you for facilitating this conversation and for caring enough about a stranger to ask genuine questions.

That is an amazingly kind response. I typically post my answers to 20 questions on a random topic or interviews where I ask about every other week.  I try to make it weekly, but that is sometimes very hard. In asking the questions in these interviews, I have to take stock in my own life.  It is a great way to self-reflect. The main thing I love about this format, it is really just an excuse for me to learn more about and make deeper connections with people who I find interesting. It is a formal excuse for me trying to get to know people better… of making my network bigger. I have made some true friends through this format and a whole bunch of internet friends. It is an exercise I think I will be doing for a long time (and have been doing for a long time).

These 20 Questions have been an absolute delight, but all good things must come to an end… so here we are at the last question of 20. 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. 

I’ll leave you with a poem I wrote as a reminder to myself to focus on what is important in life. It’s called Rooted.

rooted

filter the crisp creek
water through your toes
who’s life adds rings to trees
climbs their fibers
sees the world from their spires

allow the stream to climb you, too
raise your arms
in the quiet morning forest
stand tall
still, except to bend with the wind

your hands can catch the sun
as well as any leaves

but remember not to crush
the life that light brings
remember to trust its flow
these waves
from ages past
that have leapt from star to star
and journeyed to you
offering a touch of warmth
a moment to feel
rooted

… beautiful. This is the first time anyone has shared poetry on the blog, and it has been going for years and years.

Thank you so much to Ben.  Ben is an amazing man who should be followed and interacted with.  Check out his website, follow him on X (nee twittr), Mastodon, give him a looksee on LinkedIn, for those of you who Sparkbox, and for you design systems UX folks out there, become part of the Question. It is really worth it. It is truly rare when you come across a truly kind soul.  Ben exudes “kind soul” energy and I feel lucky to have been able to interact with him on such a personal level for the time that I have been able to.

To recap:

• The good thing is that nothing has happened in the news since last I posted

• Nothing at all

• My youngest is learning how to drive

• My oldest (bio) kid (Little Man for all you long-time readers) is turning 21 this week

• Full on drunken adult bullshit

• I feel older than when I turned 50

• About a month ago

• So, I guess I am technically older

• I mean, we are always technically older than before

• That’s how time works 

• Currently

• I have openings for more interviews if anyone wants to give it a go

• Drop me a line

• Slide Into my dm’s 

• Make a comment

• You know the drill

• Have this post (and all my future posts) sent to you via Substack

• Read it via Medium

• I am feeling really hopeful

• It has been a while

• Have  great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 455 - ChatGPT Potpourri

Last week was a busy one… so, I gave myself permission ot to post a, well, er, ummm, a post.  I am quite the wordsmith. 

Anyway… this week, I just asked ChatGPT to come up with 20 random questions after having it scan through the site to get an idea of what kinds of questions I typically answer and how I typically answer them. Sooo… let’s see how this goes.

Here come the random ChatGPT questions (these are unaltered except for formatting and removing the asides at the end of the questions where ChatGPT gives me the reasoning for each question (yes, an aside, like a stage whisper)):

1. What if every time you made a decision, you created an alternate reality with a different outcome? How would you keep track of them?

This is a whole multiversal theory. With every decision there is a universal bifurcation. Such that there are an infinite amount of universes that are shifting with infinite decisions.  This is also a very egotistical view of how things work.  The amount of universal bifurcation would be limitless and at the highest order of infinity because it would not just be the decisions I made, but the decisions everyone else makes, every animal makes, ever insect makes, and every plant makes. That is an infinity of infinity or infinity of infinities.  As to how one could keep track of them, one cannot. Infinity is infinite and unknowable.

2. Is there a song that always makes you feel nostalgic? What memories does it bring back?

Not sure if I have a nostalgia song.  Smells typically cause the nostalgia to hit. That being said, The Belle Stars version of Iko Iko from the Rain Man soundtrack reminds me of reading a very particular book as a kid in in my childhood bedroom.  I listened to that Cassingle (cassette single for you non-Gen-X-ers out there) on auto-reverse while reading for hours. I’m pretty sure the Hans Zimmer end credits would wash over me all the same.  

3. If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be and what question would you ask them first?

Hmmmm… I think I would want to have dinner with Thomas Jefferson, and I would ask him why he was such a racist fuckboi.

4. How do you think the world would change if everyone had to speak in rhyme for a day?

I think there would be an increase in annoyance at 85.75% or more. I was going to try to do a Shakespearean rhyming couplet at the end of this question,but that was too difficult for my brain.

5. What’s one thing you believed as a child that you no longer think is true?

There are many things.  The biggest is my general superiority to everyone.

6. If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be and why?

I think I would love to be able to draw the way my brain wants it to draw.pretty  good at drawing, but not as good as my brain wants it to be.

Drawing of Dr Manhattan from the Watchmen, pencils, inks, and markers on a 3x5 notecard

For example, this drawing that I finished today is good (it might even be better than just good), but it is not what I had pictured in my think melon.

7. What are three items you always have with you, and what do they say about you?

Wallet, keys, and phone.

8. If you could witness any event in history firsthand, which would you choose and why?

That is an interesting question.  As an unobserved watcher?  I think I would love to see the first time man made fire without an outside catalyst. The fear and excitement of creating flame. As to why? It is quite possibly one of the most exciting things ever.

AI generated image of a woman making fire.

Here is an image made with Microsoft’s Image Creator with this prompt. “it in a rugged, prehistoric landscape, the sky is painted in soft twilight hues, a strong determined Stone Age woman Is in the process of making fire for the first time ever. Her brow furrowed in concentration. In the background, a small group of stone age people are watching with bated breath, their faces a mix of awe and anticipation. “
I tried using OpenAIArt and it kept making the stone age woman topless… now I like boobies as much as the next guy, but this isn’t the forum for boobies. Get it together OpenAi Art.
Notice the stone age person is fairly white looking… ugh inherent racism… the Way Thomas Jefferson liked it.

9. Do you think dreams can be a source of inspiration or insight?

The answer is “yes.” Sometimes they can inspire, and sometimes they can distract from useful endeavors.

10. What’s your most irrational fear, and how do you cope with it?

All of my fears are completely and wholly rational, and I will suffer no other notions.

11. If you could redesign any aspect of the human body, what would it be and why?

Additional vision wavelengths. Infra Red, Ultra Violet, etc…

12. In what ways do you think technology has improved human connections, and in what ways has it harmed them?

In the same way, actually. Technology connects, which makes things better, but it overwhelms with the connections which is detrimental. 

13. What’s a tradition from your culture or family that you cherish the most?

I love the family traditions that fundamentally revolve around food.

14. How do you define success, and has your definition changed over time?

Success can be measured in many different ways.  I think the ultimate success is measured in overall happiness. This idea of happiness evolves over time.

15. If animals could talk, which species do you think would be the wisest and why?

Whales… but we would never get into real conversations with them since they live in a biome that we do not. I think the why is due to them just looking wise.  Looks matter, I guess.

16. What’s the most memorable compliment you’ve ever received, and why did it stand out to you?

I have been told by some that I am kind. Being kind is an awesome compliment.

17. If you could spend a year in any country other than your own, where would you go and what would you do?

I am truly getting fascinated by Greenland right now.  The biggest “city” there has a population of just over 3,000 people.  My daughter’s High School has over half that number in the student population.

18. What’s a hobby you’ve always wanted to try but never have? What’s holding you back?

As stated in the post about me turning 50, I would like to get my outer nerd/geek on and start painting gaming minis.

19. How do you think your childhood personality compares to who you are today?

Pretty close, I did work hard to get rid of the unbridled and outrageous arrogance. I think I have a much better idea of where my strengths and weaknesses lie now. 

20. If you could create a new holiday, what would it celebrate and how would people observe it?

Hmmm… International Nap Day… July 9th.  Take a nap people.

To recap:

• Hmmm… That wasn’t too bad

• Last week was my 2nd anniversary

• We celebrated with Mexican food and ice cream]

• It was glorious

• It feels like we have been married forever, and it feels like it was just yesterday

• I think that is how it is supposed to be

• The contract job is going well enough

• I have some tasks that I need to get done by thursday to stay on time and under budget

• Olympics are coming up soon

• I love me some ‘Lympics!

• Especially in the age of streaming

• I will get to see some fencing

• Psst… hey, wanna buy a watch?

• Different kind of fencing, actually

• Much faster paced than the street sakes and pawn shop type of fencing

• And with 4k streaming on a good tv, I think I will be able to actually see what is happening

• Should pawn shops actually refer to themselves as “Pawn Shoppes” to give them an air of significance?

• I am 50 now and need to get my butt moving

• Would love to get back up to running a bit for my shit knees and broken feet

• It felt good to finish a drawing

• Thanks, work-conference-calls! it has been a while

• Take a nap, people

• Seriously

• The world would be a better place with more naps

• Medium and Substack for those of you who do that sort of thing

• Have a great week, everyone!

20 Questions Tuesday: 454 - Fifty

Yes, I know it is a Wednesday, but time is a construct or a flat circle (pending on who you ask).

I had some things come up that kept me from posting last week or getting to the post yesterday. Free content on the web is not quite free.

So, last week, I turned 50.  I have made it fifty times around this yellow dwarf G-type main-sequence star, we call the Sun and sometimes more officially Sol. I am not sure how I am supposed to feel about this, or if there is a correct way to feel about this half-century mark. Whether I know how to react or not, it happened. So, there is that.

Many things have happened in the 50 years I have been around. Personally, I escaped a systemically racist church environment SIDE NOTE: I do not think all the people there are overtly racist, however most of them are not anti-racist.  The opposite of “racist” is not “not racist.” The opposite of “racist” is “anti-racist.” Racism is active. Racism is something that is happening. “Not racist” is passive. To be truly helping in dismantling racism, one must be anti-racist. END SIDE NOTE. I was married for 21 years. I have 2 biological kiddos of mine. I have earned 1 bachelor’s degree and 2 master’s degrees.  I have remarried and now have 4 step-kids. I played soccer as a youth, fenced epee relatively competitively in college, spent years playing World of Warcraft. I have actually dialed phones with an honest to goodness dial. I saw the rise of the Internet. I have been to 2 continents, 7 countries and 8 timezones. Even though I haven’t traveled nearly as much as I would have liked, I have traveled more than most of the people I know. I have experienced 1 pandemic, a mild earthquake (enough to wake me up), multiple blizzards and heatwaves. I have been in  112° F heat with a 120°-ish heat index, and -20° F with a -40° F wind chill (that is 44.4° C, 48.9° C, -28.9° C, and -40° C respectively for my Celsius readers, or 317.6K, 322K, 244.2K and 233.1K respectively for the physicists out there). I have tried countless types of cuisines. I have seen people be born, I have seen one person die. I have broken 3 arms and 2 legs on other people while only having broken 3 toes and an arm on my own body. I have a bad knee and a worse knee and I would not wish my decrepit feet on my enemies.

All in all, It has been a pretty darn good set of 50 years.

Onto the questions:

1. What does the age of 50 symbolize to you in terms of life's journey and milestones?

I hope it is significantly less than ½.

2. How do you hope to be remembered by the time you reach 50 more years in the future?

Again, my intention is to be remembered by people getting in contact with me and celebrating my full on Century of being around.

3. What are the top 3 lessons you've learned over the past 50 years?

• Lesson 1: It’s all bullshit

• Lesson 2: Stop procrastinating

• Lesson 3: Take care of your feet.

4. The number 50 is often associated with renewal and new beginnings. How do you interpret this symbolism in your own life?

I did not realize that 50 is associated with renewal and new beginnings.  That seems positive. 

5. If you could time travel 50 years into the past or future, which would you choose and why?

Future.  Past is always worse.  ALWAYS! Just hygiene-wise…

Hell in 1974, they were still using leaded gasoline.  Gen X is the last generation that has the leaded gasoline brian damage. 

6. How would you explain the significance of the number 50 to a child who is just beginning to understand age and time?

I wouldn’t. Children are idiots.

7. What are your hopes and aspirations for the next 50 years?

I want to be healthier. I want to travel more.

8. What advice would you give to someone who is half your age, about to turn 25?

Take care of your feet. When they go, shit goes south fast. 

9. How do you plan to continue growing and learning in the next decade?

By doing different things and continuing to be. Seriously though, I plan on traveling as much as I can when I can.

10. Looking back, is there anything you would change about the past 50 years?

I would take better care of my feet. 

11. What activities or passions do you look forward to exploring now that you’ve reached 50?

I want to get into mini painting. I think I could be good at that. 

errrr… I meant more like this stuff from Pete the Wargamer

12. Think back 50 years. What piece of technology did not exist back then that has had the biggest impact on your life today?

Duh, the Internet. 

13. Can you name a historical event or figure that dominated the headlines 50 years ago?

In 1974? Hmmmm… nothing worth nothing happened in ‘74 other than my friends and I who were born that year. As far as “newsworthy” items, there really weren’t any going on.  

14. As you reach 50, do you view this as the halfway point of your life or the beginning of a new chapter? Why?

I view it as the 10% mark for my life.

15. Is 50 considered "over the hill" or just hitting one's prime? How has society's perception of 50 changed over time?

50 is neither over the hill now nor hitting one’s prime. That being said, 50 used to be near death. If you look at how 50 year olds were portrayed in popular media 50 years ago, they were shown as decrepit old people near death.  Now they are Paul Rudd. 

16. What new interests, hobbies or reinventions of yourself are you looking forward to in the decades ahead after turning 50?

Am I supposed to really get into WW2 now? I get tp wear black socks with sandals now, right? Hawaiian shirts?

I need to write more, I need to draw more, and painting minis might be fun… that will probably require a 3-d resin printer…. So, I will have to get into that stuff as well.

17. In 50 years will we have flying cars?

No, I don’t think we will ever have flying cars

18. Since the Roman Numeral for 50 is L, you kind of have to take the L this week, right?

Taking this L is a dub, right?

19. What hurts today?

Feet and right shoulder.

20. What is something you would like for your birthday?

A more confident understanding of my professional future.

To recap:

• My wife made a gluten free spice cake with cream cheese frosting that was stunning

• The primary cake ingredient was quinoa? Da Fuq?

• IT was an amazing cake and it lasted all of 8 hours before it was gone

• I has a sad that it is gone

• It was stunning

• I seriously might NEED to ask her to make it again soon

• My feet are shit

• There is nothing specifically wrong with them… EDIT: more wrong with them specifically today

• Still have the torn transverse metatarsal ligament on the left foot, the remnants of plantar fasciitis on both feet, and some arthritis on the right big toe

• But I have had that stuff for a while

• Makes doing cardio a not fun thing

• The contract work is going well

• I get to invoice them on Monday

• I need to get something reviewable by early next week

• That is very doable

• The direction Star Wars is going is better than the direction that Marvel is going right now

• They seem to be finally opening up the galaxy to places beyond Tatooine

• The doggos really don’t love me working

• It has severely cut into their lounge-on-the-couch-with-me time

• You know the deal…

• Substack

• Medium

• Leave a comment if you would like to be asked 20 questions

• Leave a comment if you have a topic for a 20 Questions Tuesday post

• Hell, just leave a comment, I turned 50 last week!

• These questions were brought to you by ChatGPT 4

• Have a great rest if the week, folks

20 Questions Tuesday: 453 - Modern Job Search

So, last week I signed a contract for a 2 month UX design role with a small company who is helping develop an app for a customer of theirs. Unsurprisingly, after signing NDA’s and the contract, I can’t and won’t go into any more specific than that. So, I am ecstatic that I am gainfully employed, even if it only ends up being for the initial 60 day contract.  I think there may be the opportunity for more work after this contract expires, but there is not a guarantee for that. Fingers crossed that my client is happy with the work I provide, and decides to bring me on to other projects. 

That being said, I had been in the process of looking for a job for almost 11 months. I have eaten through savings and am now looking to start rebuilding the nest-egg for when I am older and even more decrepit (my feet are shit, yo.)  So I asked my good friend ChatGPT to generate 20 questions for me to answer concerning the “Modern Job Search.” 

Disclaimer: I am not a recruiter or a job application specialist.  I have no expertise in the process of getting jobs or hiring people. I do have experience in applying for jobs in the modern work landscape, but experience does not always equal expertise. That being said, I have opinions. 

So let’s get to the questions… Allons-y!

1: What are the key differences between searching for a job today and a decade ago?

There are differences between searching for a job today and searching for one 2 years ago.  The job market landscape has changed immeasurably in the last 24 months. The resume format I used in November ‘22 to get a job and multiple interviews (and a couple of offers I did not take), did not seem to even get a sniff in this most recent job search. The only thing I can think of that is truly different is the number of applicants to jobs has exploded due to the ability for people to work remotely.  This explosion had had a couple of effects:

• The volume of applications being submitted means that humans are no longer the first first filter for applications. Some kind of algorithm/expert system is being used to do the initial screening for applicants. There are many issues associated with this but the biggest ones is that your resume needs to be machine readable as well as humanly compelling. Creative resumes are no longer useful tools to set you apart from other candidates.

• It causes choice paralysis for the talent acquisition folks and hiring managers. Have they seen application packages that would be a good fit for the job they are trying to fill? Yes…. but is there a better, more perfect candidate fit for their special unique role out there just around the corner who just hasn’t submitted their amazing purple unicorn resume yet? Maybe…. So I think we should wait and see if someone better comes along. 

2: How has technology changed the way we look for jobs and how employers find candidates?

As I mentioned above, There is a new reliance of algorithms to do the initial screening.

3: What role do social media platforms (besides LinkedIn) play in the job search process? How can candidates leverage platforms like X, Instagram, or even TikTok for job hunting?

Networking is everything right now. Leveraging every network you have. Social media, church, parents of your kids’ extra-curricular activities, family, the butcher at your grocery store… anywhere. Can X or Mastodon help you get a job? Yeah, ithey can.  It just has to be the correct person running across your information.

4: How effective are online job boards and websites compared to networking and referrals?

I think that online job boards and websites are piss poor at connecting people to jobs at the moment. I had been on my job search for, let just say 660 days, that’s 11 30 month days. I was applying online to, on average, 3 jobs a day for that entire time. That’s just under 1000 job applications, Imma round up to 1000 to make the maths easier (heyo my British reader!). Of those 1000 applications I got initial around 15 initial screening interviews (interviews with a HR person from the company who is not the hiring manager). Of those 15 screening interviews, 7 ghosted me, 3 got me to the next step, and 5 get the dreaded “thanks but no thanks” email. Aside from those “thanks buy no thanks emails” I think I got about 500 other emails gently letting me down as well, but the other 500 applications went into the ether never to be heard from again. So… a 1.5% return rate on applications to interviews.  That is not a great return rate. (DISCLAIMER: I am a good UX designer. I am not the most amazing designer out there, but I did get some design accolades from previous places I have worked, and some of those designs, when put into production, had significant measurable results. Again, not the best, but solid). 

Conversely, I got about 20 interviews via networking or working with a recruiter who has an established professional hiring network.

Network was extremely more effective.  The contract I have right now is due to a conversation I had with a friend of a friend of my brother, and completely side-stepped the application process.

5: What are some common mistakes job seekers make when applying for jobs online?

It’s not personal. It feels like it is, but it isn’t. If you can, apply directly from the company website for the position. I have never heard of anyone getting a job from appling though Indeed or via the LinkedIn quick apply process. Go to the source. Sometimes the position that is being advertised on LinkedIn or Indeed is no longer a valid posting, and the employer site is the only one that knows that for sure.

6: How can candidates avoid being filtered out by applicant tracking systems (ATS)?

That is a fantastic question.  The only methods I have hear is to constantly and consistently tailor your resume to include the exact verbiage of the position description.  There is a difference between your resume saying that you have experience with all online wireframing tools and your resume saying “5 years experience with Figma.” Other than that, it is a crap-shoot.

7: What are the pros and cons of using a recruitment agency or headhunter? In what situations might it be beneficial to work with a recruiter?

There are mainly pros (if you live in the US and have a partner who already has benefits). Recruiters build up relations with hiring managers and are therefore already a filtering agent for hiring managers. Recruiters are not going to put candidates in front of their carefully maintained network for potential contract holders if they do not feel that candidate is an appropriate one and hiring managers know that. You have a better chance of landing an interview and therefore a job by working with a recruiter or recruiting service. 

The issue with working through a recruiter or a staffing agency is that often you are not hired directly by the company that you are actually doing the work for. Staffing agencies often have benefits for their contractors, but those are often not great.  I feel like I have a good rapport with the primary staffing agency recruiter I work with. She was not able to help me land a job this time around, but she has been instrumental other times.

8: How has remote work influenced job search strategies?

Remote work has opened up a whole world of possibilities.  Both employers and candidates are not geographically limited now.

9: What should job seekers consider when looking for remote positions versus in-office roles?

In interviews, the candidate should ask about how communication is maintained and how conflicts are resolved remotely. Basically find out how the remote teams stay connected and how they deal with adversity.

10: What are the most critical soft skills that employers are looking for in 2024?

Communication.  Ability to convey ideas to peers, clinets, customers, dev teams, and executives.

11: How can job seekers effectively demonstrate these skills during the application and interview process?

Easier said than done.  Have effective presentations ready.  Make  sure you have practiced them enough that you don’t actually need to follow the script, so to speak.  Have a solid portfolio (if that is the kind of work you do)

12: Should candidates tailor their resumes to better align with specific job postings?

Yes, but it is harder to do that than one might think.  If you have the time and energy, tailoring your resume each and every time is a good tactic to hopeful get past the ATS’s. However if we take the example of my journey this employment go round, it is inefficient to modify your resume 1000 times.  I would suggest having different flavors of resume. This one is more for jobs where you are a stand alone provider, this resume is better for leadership positions, this one focuses more on your creativity and personality, etc… I have about 4 different flavors of resume in my Google Drive right now.

13: What role does continuing education and professional development play in the job search?

Not as much of an issue as an employment gap. Continuing ed and publishing/presentations are very important, but some employers do not want to see that, because those activities take away from the focus on getting shit done in your job.  Weirdly enough, some employers do not want thought leaders or innovators.

14: How should job seekers approach salary negotiations in today’s economic climate?

Same as it ever has been.  Try not to be the first to blink for naming an expected salary. It is complete bullshit though.  The employer should post a salary range in the job description. It is really poor form not to.

15: What impact do company culture and values have on job seekers’ decisions today? How can candidates assess a potential employer's culture during the hiring process?

Both the employer and candidate have near limitless opportunities (in some regards) for choice of position. The employers manifest this in looking for the purple unicorn candidate and have to deal with paralysis of choice. Candidates should also be using this (if they have the capability to survive being between jobs) to not take jobs that seem to be populated by toxic people or organizations.  There is a company named after a South American river basin that asked a friend of mine to jump through so many hoops in the hiring process (hours and hours {potentially days worth} of homework and prep in their 5 step interviewing process) for a UX researcher position that my friend withdrew their candidacy for the position because of work/life balance issues that they could see rearing their ugly head if they were offered and took the job. 

Look at how the company schedules their interviews with you.  How many people are associated with the hiring process.  If you worked at the company would you want to be on the other side of the table during another hiring process. How much time is wasted in the interview process? Is the employer comfortable enough to let you talk to their employees unsupervised?

16: How can networking be leveraged effectively without feeling disingenuous or transactional? What are some authentic ways to build and maintain professional relationships?

This is a great question since networking seems so transactional. When you reach out to someone for networking purposes, your network people understand that it is for networking purposes, and they know that they can reach out to you as well.  It is a transactional interaction, but that is OK. When I have approached people in my network that I don’t typically keep contact with (Hey, Mackenzie! You da best!),I always tell them about what I miss about working. I miss the camaraderie and the conversations, and when I reach out, I am honestly reaching out for human conversational purposes.  They know I am looking for a job, but I really am trying to just have a human connection. I love my doggos, but they are terrible conversationalists and even worse coworkers. Come up with a reason to interact with the person that is beyond, “Hey… you get me a job? Cause I needs job.”

I hate networking.  With a passion.  Mackenzie knows that when I reached out to her, it was to shake the network tree, but hopefully she knows that even though we did not work directly with each other, I respect the hell out of her and her capabilities. We talked about if there is an actual difference between Customer Experience and User Experience beyond different buzzwords, and how it would be great to get a UX voice at the table much further upstream with the authority to stop a project/product if there is a UX issue. Add something to their world, even if that something is “merely” a shop conversation.

17: Is a cover letter still necessary, and if so, how can it make a difference? What are the best practices for writing a compelling cover letter?

I am dubious as to whether or not a cover letter is still necessary. What does a cover letter add that isn’t contained in my resume/portfolio/website? My best practice for writing a cover letter was to feed the job description and my resume into ChatGPT and ask it to generate a cover letter for me. Then I would take that generated letter and ask Gemini to edit it to be a little shorter. Then I would edit it to sound more like my voice and ask ChatGPT what it thought of the edited letter.  Since Chat GPT has enough context, it remembers the first cover letter, it gives a breakdown of how it feels the washed and edited cover letter read.  Then I took that feedback and made final changes. Then submit it in the digital application package for no human to look at.

18: How can job seekers effectively prepare for virtual interviews?

Make sure you are calm, well-rested and fed. If you are doing a presentation, make sure you have practiced it OUT LOUD so you know what works and what doesn’t. Take a breath, and be yourself.

19: What are the signs of a potential job scam, and how can candidates protect themselves? What should job seekers look out for to ensure they are applying for legitimate opportunities?

Anything that is cold texted to you or messaged in WhatsApp is a scam. That is an easy blanket statement. Imma put my tinfoil hat on for a sec and outline the types of job scams I have heard of. 

Pine Marten wearing a tin foil hat.

• The get yo money scam: The direct text and WhatsApp phishing schemes fall into this category. We want to bring you on to do remote work for x much an hour, just give us your bank details and the money will start rolling in

• The thanks for the data scam: This scam is where a company is just looking for demographic data that job seekers willingly give out when applying for a job. Yes, I will give you my employment history, yes, I will give you my educational history. There is no actual job at the end of the rainbow, but now they have you information and you are getting debt consolidation offers via text message on the regular now.

• The we need to look better for our investors scam: Look investors, our company is doing so good we are actually expanding in these tough economic times.  Just look at all the open position reqs that we have. We have to be worthy of your investment if we are hiring this enthusiastically. These job descriptions often seem haphazardly thrown together and contain a myriad of buzzwords that ultimately mean nothing.

• The we are looking for free work scam: We have a design challenge for you, can you prep a presentation illustrating an solution to the weirdly industry specific design challenge? 

I do  not actually think those scams happen very often, but there is a non-zero amount of these instances. Most of the broken positions are due to budgets being pulled after the position is posted or some other reason that a zombie job description is in existence. 

20: How can one stay motivated and positive during a prolonged job search?

This is the toughest of all the things. It is hard and demoralizing. The lack of communication, even automated communication, is depressing. You as a candidate have no idea as to what is going on or where you are in the process. It is stressful and demoralizing. 

To recap:

• If you are currently searching for a job, I feel for you

• It is a shitty economy to look for a job right now

• Until this contract becomes something more permanent, I am still looking

• It is much easier to look for a job when you have a job

• Easier on your soul

• I used Stable Diffusion for the hero image at the top

• The Basque burnt cheesecake will be happening when I get my first paycheck

• I need to draw more

• I have been doing more yardwork

• I hate yardwork

• But the yard does look better

• If you want to know the prompts I used for the AI portions of this post, message me

• Been doing a boatload of flow charts for user decisions for the new job

• Trying to get existing state wireframes put together as well

• Then it is time to redesign

• AI is interesting

• They changed how ChatGPT does it’s output since last week

• I am not sure I like the newer output style

• I need to get into some meetings and talk all businessy

• Business Business Business

• Anyway… I am gainfully employed, for a bit at least

• Substack and Medium blah blah blah

• Have a great week everyone

20 Questions Tuesday: 452 - My Daughter's Birthday

Today is my youngest’s birthday. It is her sixteenth birthday, which means I have been writing this thing for 18 years… wowzers 

So many things have changed in that timeframe.  When from Blogger to Tumblr to my own site, and now have added a Substack and posting on Medium… also “Littke Man” from the daddy blogger days will be 21 in a month, I've been divorced and remarried and now I have 4 step-kiddos in the mix, but my daughter is the youngest of them all. 

16!?!!!?!
Holy hell, how did she become 16, it feels like it has only been a few years. Time flies and all that shit. 

So, today I am answering 20 Questions about my daughter. 

Onto the questions:

1: Is raising a daughter significantly different than raising a son? What is the main difference between raising your 2 kids?

Raising any child is both significantly different and amazingly similar to raising any other kid. Keep them safe, fed, and happy. The “safe” piece is different societally between girls and boys. We have to teach our girls to be wary of boys because we allow boys to not be responsible around girls. The whole “man or bear” question from a bit ago is a great illustration of what I'm talking about.

To answer the main difference between my two kids… hmmm… I think my daughter is more emotionally present than my son.  She is not more emotional because she is a girl and girls are made of sugar, spice, and everything nice. I think she is more emotional because she is a second child.

2: How many noodles are too many noodles for your daughter? 

Sometimes there is no limit, other times 1 noodle is too many. My daughter is a fickle beastie.

3: What is your daughter's go to meal? 

A Cane’s box combo, no slaw, extra toast with a lemonade. She does love a good chicken finger. This is not her favorite meal, that might be steak and lobster, this is her “go to” meal.

4: Where is the next place she wants to travel?

I think she is pretty keen on getting back to California. Primarily the LA area. That being said, I think she would dig going back to Japan, mainly for the lemon drinks that she loved. 

5: What's one thing your daughter is looking forward to in this, her 16th year?

She cannot wait to be driving. That'll happen relatively soon. 

6: What's her favorite TV show? 

That is a toss-up between a few. There is RuPaul’s Drag Race, Shoresy, Impractical Jokers, and lately I think Ted Lasso might have entered the conversation. 

7: Does she have a favorite musical artist? 

I do not think there is a specific “favorite,” but there are performers she gravitates to. Kesha, Billie Eilish, The Neighbourhood, Coldplay, Joji and then there are individual songs by random people she digs, but I wouldn't say she digs their entire oeuvre. 

8: Whet is a hidden talent that your daughter has that most people don't know about? 

It would not be hidden if I told you, now would it?
….

She can sound like R2-D2 being shot with that high pitched vocal fried “WhoooooOOOOOEEeeeeeoooooo”

9: What is something she just loves (aside from family) without really any context as to why? 

Seals

10: Is your daughter currently dating anyone? 

Umm… Back off, dude, she’s just 16, and before today she was 15, you weird groomer question.
Not to my knowledge. I think we have a close enough relationship that she would tell me if she were dating someone.  That being said she has a bevy of “Hoes on Snap.” Most of those hoes are hapless losers that she is just keeping her streaks up with. It's a stats game for her.

11: How are you celebrating her birthday? 

Gave her a small gift and we are eating at a Korean Hot Pot/BBQ place for dinner. (editor’s note: it was really tasty)

12: What is her favorite dessert? And for that matter, what's her favorite desert? 

She is super partial to cheesecake, but what you will often see her eating is one of those pillsbury cookie dough logs that you can either slice into discs to bake cookies, or gnaw on like it is a big fat beef jerky. I don't think she has  ever started the oven when consuming this Slim Jim of cookie dough.

As far as desert?  Imma go with Sonoran, in Arizona, because she’s been there.  She has informed me it is the Gobi, because it sounds funny.  Touché.

13: Does your daughter have any rituals or superstitions?

None that are readily apparent. I am sure she has some things she does around showing in horse, but those are hers to tell you about if they exist. 

14: You and your daughter are fairly headstrong… what are your “go to” centering, de-escalating, calming tactics when you and your kiddo invariably butt heads?

Oooh, good question. Okay often I have to keep in mind that she is just a dumb kid who is really afraid of failure and failing.  She gets that from me.  We are so insanely similar that often when we are butting heads it is because we are arguing with ourselves. Stopping the argument and pointing out the emotional energy has sometimes helped. But often we just end up yelling at each other until she stomps upstairs to her room.A few hours later we will watch some tv together.

15. What inspires you most about your daughter?

Ooooh, another great question. This is a difficult question because it is hard to parse out what is inspirational about her.  She’s just fucking awesome. I think, maybe what is inspirational about her is her near unlimited potential coupled with how much she cares about things (that she cares about). I am not trying to burden her with the onus of unlimited potential.  That was a millstone I think that was thrown around my collar for a while. I think when she finds the direction she wants to go in, and the thing that lights her fire to go that direction she will be even more amazing than she is right now. That and her sense of humor and biting wit are truly inspirational. 

16: What is the most valuable lesson your daughter has taught you?

The trite answer is patience, and she has taught me that, but let’s not be overly cliché. She has taught me to release control. I cannot control her even remotely, and to try is to get into a battle of wills. There are times when I do have to step in am put a parental foot down, but I try to limit those to things that actually warrant it. 

17: What’s your daughter’s favorite curse word? 

My daughter is pure as driven snow.  She hugs bunnies and sings to birds. She would never say a bad word in public.

It’s “Bitch.” She loves using the word Bitch and all it’s various colloquial pronunciations bee-yotch, beech, buh-itch, etc… She’’ call a bitch a bitch in a heartbeat.

18: What is your daughter’s favorite way to spend a lazy Sunday?

Operative word in that question is “lazy.” She would sleep til 1, eat some chicken fingers for lunch, have honey chicken for dinner, and sleep some more.  Laaaaaa-zeeeee.

19: Do you think she is going to be okay with this 20 Questions being mainly about her?

I think I have answered these as truthfully as possible, and to the best of my ability. I would probably give myself an 80% on accuracy. She might be mortified by some of the pics.

20: What's next for her? Be as long-term or short-term, as concrete or philosophical, as direct or metaphorical as you would like. 

What's next? She's awesome, but what I think is next is her taking some time to get herself driving. I think that is the next big check mark for her. 

To recap:

• My daughter is 16, ya’ll

• How the hell did that happen

• Seriously, read this shit on Medium

• Or subscribe on Substack

• Gimme a follow on Threads and Instagram… I’m @mmmmmpig

• I got a contract gig for the next couple of months

• DUDE, I GOT A CONTRACT!!!

• 11 Months into this non-job space and I got a contract

• Hoping it can extend to be something more, but I will take contract work

• I GOT SOME WORK!!!

• It look slike an interesting product/application to work with

• But I have signed an NDA

• I had to mow today

• Mowing sucks

• The days I have planned on mowing have had rain happen right as I was putting on my mowing shoes

• Stupid weather

• This month is a month of birthdays for the fam

• My daughter, my son’s GF, all three of the stepsons, oh… and me

• Cancers and Gemini, the lot of us

• There will be much cake consumed this month

• BITCH

• Have a great week everyone