Creating your own, personalize GPT’s
AI Foundations is a YouTube channel that has a great collection of how-to’s on AI technologies. This one shows how to use ChatGPT to create your own, customized GPT’s.
Perfect code vs perfect products
For one-shot things like games – focus on the experience above all else.
Update 2024/01: More proof that technical limits have little impact for making great games. Slay the Spire’s graphical glitches were there because the author only had two $70 monitors that were so bad he literally didn’t see the issues.
Dave Brubeck Take 5
I love Dave Brubeck’s Time Out album – every song on there is fantastic. The album is a tribute to strange time signatures like 9/8 time in Blue Rondo a la Turk, 6/4 time in Everbody’s Jumpin and Pick Up Sticks, and 5/4 time in Take Five.
Here he plays Take Five live with his band. What amazing guys.
Authenticity is rare
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate.
John 18:33-38
The Merriam-Webster’s team of lexicographers choose the 2023 word of the year via a simple process. They look at how many hits and searches words receive, and among the words in the pool, they pick the one that represents the zeitgeist for that year. Last year, it was “gaslighting”.
And perhaps, it’s no surprise then, that the word of the year for 2023 is “Authentic“.
Is it any wonder people are struggling and searching for something ‘authentic’ in a world where there are no absolutes, no truths that aren’t considered just someone’s opinion? Well, except pesky science that keeps proving the world is based on absolute, objective, and verifiable facts. I guess that’s why we see groups across the entire left to right political spectrum denying science: from environment to biology.
We are increasingly casting off the notion of objective, scientific truths for little more than opinions couched in the whole ‘speaking my truth’ phenomenon. Instead, social truth comes solely from the conviction of your opinion. It’s ironic that this means we’re becoming slaves to charismatic people instead of facts. Charismatic and sometimes well-meaning people, however, have lead us to some of the most horrific periods of the 20th century.
Faith is inescapable. Even an atheist puts their faith in countless things all day. For some it’s news sources, political parties, social media stars, to simple things like trusting electricity works by flipping switches and their car will protect them in a crash. And yes, spiritual faith. Yet, it’s a bit terrifying to see us throwing out honest debate, science, verification of facts, and seeking truth with intellectual curiosity for opinions based on emotion, violence, and charismatic leaders instead.
If you think proving objective truth is limited to just science, there is a way to test other facts. You drive down the road having faith in the engineers that made it that the car will be safe. You can also have faith in the teachings of Christ, and you can test them the same way: by experiment.
I recommend that if you want to try out real truth in your life – you can easily give it a try.
Prenuvo: The age of full body scan
As my doctor told me, we do not have medical tricorders like they do on Star Trek. Devices that could quickly and safely scan your whole body and give you a diagnosis. The closest things we have today are MRI or CT scans, but those kinds of scans are not usually done unless there is a problem suspected and require a doctor to read and interpret. They’re not generally available to the public without a doctor’s orders because they have been very expensive, require trained doctors to read the results, and carry their own risks such as radiation for CT’s and chemical toxicity if chemical contrast is used.
But maybe things are changing.
Prenuvo is starting to offer MRI scans to the general public that can detect more then 500 conditions such as congenital defects that might go unnoticed and early stages of cancer. Despite being fairly new, it’s already started saving lives – especially for people in stage 1 cancer when there may be absolutely no symptoms.
This is particularly important for me because I had not one, but two independent stage 1 cancers. The worse part, just like Julianne Santarosa in the article, I had no symptoms. My first cancer was found via a routine exam; and during the investigation for the first cancer I got a MRI scan that revealed the second. I had surgery very quickly for both and it appears we successfully caught it before it spread. I’m now in a 5 year monitoring period, but the early detection definitely and massively improved my odds of survival.
Right now Prenuvo is open in a few major cities, but has expansion plans to many other cities. Personally, I plan on making use of them if I make it through my 5 year monitoring phase for my current cancer recovery.
They offer different plans which includes a torso scan for $1799 and a full body scan for $2499. For the price of a holiday trip, I think it’s an absolutely worthwhile diagnostic tool.
Y combiner is also pushing for more CT scan startups such Neko.
Links:
No, seriously – don’t go there
Just for fun, I was looking at exotic places to travel. In looking at UNESCO heritage sites, the ancient and fascinating city of Timbuktu came up. But in looking at travel advisories to Mali, uhhhh – yeah.
The US State Department Travel has a great website with travel advisories for every country around the world. They have a rating system from 1-4. Right now, Mali (where Timbuktu is located) is a 4 due to crime, terrorism, and kidnapping. But I mean, how bad can it really be? I bet they’re over-exaggerating. Let’s read the description
Terrorist and armed groups continue plotting kidnappings and attacks in Mali. They may attack with little or no warning, targeting locations frequented by foreigners. The U.S. government is unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens throughout much of Mali as U.S. government employee travel outside Bamako is restricted due to security concerns.
Well, that’s not encouraging. But I’ve traveled abroad a lot and get along with just about everyone by being cool, respectful, and staying low-key. How bad could it be right? Let’s continue reading the advisory…
If you decide to travel to Mali:
- Draft a will and designate appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/or power of attorney.
- Discuss a plan with loved ones regarding care/custody of children, pets, property, belongings, non-liquid assets (collections, artwork, etc.), funeral wishes, etc.
- Share important documents, login information, and points of contact with loved ones so that they can manage your affairs if you are unable to return as planned to the United States.
- Establish your own personal security plan in coordination with your employer or host organization, or consider consulting with a professional security organization.
- Develop a communication plan with family and/or your employer or host organization so that they can monitor your safety and location as you travel through high-risk areas. This plan should specify whom you would contact first and how they should share the information.
- Identify key sources of possible assistance for you and your family in case of emergency, such as the local U.S. embassy or consulate, FBI, the State Department, your employer (if traveling on business), and local friends/family in the high-risk area.
- Be sure to appoint one family member to serve as the point of contact with hostage-takers, media, U.S. and host country government agencies, and Members of Congress if you are taken hostage or detained.
- Establish a proof of life protocol with your loved ones so that, if you are taken hostage, your loved ones will know specific questions and answers to ask the hostage-takers to be sure you are alive and to rule out a hoax.
- Leave DNA samples with your medical provider in case it is necessary for your family to access them.
Uhhhhh – yeah. Not traveling to Mali anytime soon.
Creating really cool camp stove fire
Hoshizora Camping demonstrates a cool way of making your camp stove super cool. He first angles the holes in the secondary combustion layer and then adds a fire ring to an ordinary, boring camp stove. With some tweaking, the flame coming out of your stove will be tornadoed into a cool braid-like effect. I like how he shows how he experiments with different configurations to get the best effects.
I think this would be a great way to add a luxury touch to your camp stove and give you something cool to watch at the end of a long day of hiking or climbing.
Swedish Torch
A handy way of creating a cooking surface with just a single log.
Now all you need is a chainsaw in the woods to cut the log with nice flat ends. 😀