Categories
Aviation Travel

Ode to a Queen

A few days ago, Boeing rolled out the last production model of its 747 line of wide body aircraft. Wikipedia noted:

The first flight took place on February 9, 1969, and the 747 was certified in December of that year. It entered service with Pan Am on January 22, 1970. … The final 747 was delivered in January 2023 after a 54-year production run, with 1,574 aircraft built.

I have many fond memories of this great airplane – from seeing it for the very first time flying in to land at San Francisco International Airport (which must have been in 1970) to my first flight which – best of my recollection – was on TWA flying from San Francisco to New York. My last 747 flight was on a Lufthansa 747-8 flying out of Bangalore to Frankfurt in 2016. 

I had a few flights in a seat on the 747’s upper deck – a special treat! The upper deck was also where the cockpit was located – it always seemed to be so high up off the runway that landing a 747 seemed to require some special skill and depth perception! On the other hand, the airplane’s landing gear really smoothed out landings as it had this swing mechanism where the rear wheels on the main landing great touched down first and then pivoted to smoothly bring down the front wheels. The early models of the 747 had a circular staircase to the upper deck where there was a lounge instead of seating. This upper deck cockpit design also facilitated adding a nose door which pivoting upward in the freighter version of the 747. In fact, the last 747 delivered was a freighter to Atlas Air.

Speaking of Atlas Air and that last 747, after delivery it flew from Seattle to Cincinnati as it was put into service. The pilots on the first flight of that last 747 has some fun on their flight – trading a lovely tribute to the “Queen of the Skies” on their radar track.

NASA used a special version of the 747 as the transporter for the space shuttle. In 2012, NASA flew a final flight of its 747 carrying the shuttle Endeavor to its new home in a museum in Los Angeles. Along the way, the NASA 747 toured the San Francisco Bay Area and I was fortunate to be able to make a few images of that flight:

While the last 747 has been delivered by Boeing, it will continue to be flown for many years ahead. Most airlines have removed 747s from their fleets but a few (including Lufthansa) continue flying them. I’d enjoy taking another trip on one of these beautiful aircraft. In the meantime, I’ve got lots of good memories about trips and sightings of the 747.

Update: February 03, 2023 – a few additional thoughts on the 747.

  • For many years, two 747’s have provided air transport for the US presidents – and the current 747’s are soon (?) to be replaced by two new models that have been undergoing customization for some time.
  • Wired added an article about the negatives of the 747 – saying it should have been retired “many years ago”. The article also adds more interesting details about the history of the 747. Fuel economy is the biggest detractor: “A Boeing 747-400, which was manufactured between 1989 and 2009, costs around $26,635 an hour to run. A Boeing 787-8, which is still produced today, costs $14,465 an hour to operate—45 percent cheaper.”

Update: February 04, 2023 – The New Yorker also has an new article about the 747 titled “The World the 747 Didn’t Predict“.

Because the 747 could now seat more travellers on a single flight, airlines were able to sell more tickets at lower prices. Suddenly, travel, particularly intercontinental travel, was accessible to people who had rarely, if ever, been in the air. The 747, in a sense, taught the world to fly.

Categories
Amazon.com

What’s love got to do with it?

Like many of you I’m sure, for many, many years my go-to purchasing behavior has started with doing a search on Amazon to look for whatever it is I might be needing to buy. Rather than wasting time trying to shop locally or doing online searches for items, it was just easier and simpler to do that quick Amazon search for an item.

With Prime, Amazon had biased my behavior in favor of doing a quick purchase from them rather than looking elsewhere. I had confidence that I was getting a fair price and that the item would be in my hands within a day or two. Maybe it’s too strong a word for something as mundane as shopping, but I did love the experience of buying from Amazon – because it was so simple an easy.

But that’s changed – slowly over time – and I’m not the only one who’s noticed it. A couple of recent stories (among others) highlight this:

  • New York Magazine: The junkification of Amazon – “Late last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon’s customer satisfaction had fallen sharply in a range of recent surveys, which cited COVID-related delivery interruptions but also poor search results and “low-quality” items. More products are junk. The interface itself is full of junk. The various systems on which customers depend (reviews, search results, recommendations) feel like junk.”
  • Barry Ritholtz: How Amazon became ordinary – “Generally speaking, I have been a satisfied Amazon consumer – at least up until the pandemic. That was where cracks in the Amazon armor began to show.”

This unfortunate evolution in how Amazon feels to me, a long-time satisfied customer, makes me sad and disappointed. Clearly, I’m not alone. I wish the senior management team at Amazon would sit up and pay better attention to the impacts their “optimization efforts” have been having on the satisfaction of long-time customers. They must understand that an erosion of satisfaction leads directly to switching behavior.

More recently, Amazon announced the elimination of another benefit (Amazon Smile) which, in the overall scheme of things, wasn’t a big deal – but which did make me feel better about my spending at Amazon. Amazon Smile benefited a local non-profit by donating 0.5% of my spending on Amazon at no additional cost to me. This really feels like a “penny wise, pound foolish” move – one that doesn’t lift up my opinion of the company. Another brand diminishing move.

Meanwhile, this morning an Amazon blog post trumpeted how it’s ranked as a widely admired company in a recent Fortune survey: “Amazon ranks No. 2 for the seventh year in a row.”

There is so much to admire about Amazon and everything it provides. Yet it feels to me like it’s slipping and leaving me disappointed. I’d like to get back to feeling delighted with the Amazon shopping experience instead.

Let’s hope the company’s management realizes I’m not alone.

Categories
AI ChatGPT

The Ghost in the Box

I happened to hear a discussion on a YouTube video yesterday about Niklas Luhmann’s mention of how his “zettlekasten” seemed to act like a “ghost in the box”. I did a quick Google search for that phrase but didn’t find anything particularly helpful.

Earlier I had watched Nick Milo’s video about how he’s been using OpenAI’s ChatGPT for research and other things. He talks about a near future where he expects to have it nearby whenever he’s working on his computer.

So I decided to ask Chat GPT to help me understand more about the “ghost in a box” by writing a 1,000 word article about it. Here’s what I got back from ChatGPT:

The Ghost in the Box

The concept of “ghost in the machine” was popularized by philosopher Gilbert Ryle in his 1949 book “The Concept of Mind.” The phrase refers to the idea that human consciousness and mental states cannot be reduced to mere physical processes in the brain.

German sociologist and systems theorist Niklas Luhmann took this concept a step further in his theory of social systems. He proposed that society itself can be seen as a “ghost in the box,” a complex system that is made up of smaller, interconnected parts that cannot be fully understood or controlled by any single individual or group.

According to Luhmann, society is made up of various “function systems,” such as the legal system, the economic system, and the political system. These systems operate independently of one another, but are also interconnected and dependent on each other. Each system has its own “code,” or set of rules and norms that govern its operation.

Luhmann argues that society as a whole can be seen as a “communication system,” which is constantly producing and processing information. This information is then used by the various function systems to make decisions and take action. However, the complexity and sheer volume of this information make it impossible for any one individual or group to fully understand or control the system.

This idea of society as a “ghost in the box” has important implications for how we understand and interact with the world around us. For example, it suggests that we can never fully understand the causes of social phenomena or predict their outcomes. It also implies that we should be cautious about attempts to manipulate or control the system, as these efforts are likely to have unintended consequences.

Furthermore, Luhmann’s theory also highlights the importance of communication and understanding the code of the different function system in order to function in the society. He also emphasizes on the importance of social differentiation, as it allows different function system to operate independently while still being interconnected.

In conclusion, Luhmann’s concept of society as a “ghost in the box” offers a unique perspective on the complexity and unpredictability of social systems. It reminds us that we can never fully understand or control the world around us, and that our actions and decisions are likely to have unintended consequences. Thus, it is important to be aware of the limitations of our understanding, and to approach the world with humility and caution.

Note: This was generated using ChatGPT Jan 9 Version.

Categories
Living Tracy Loftesness

Back to a Better Future

Half Moon Bay – 2006

Last year, in my first blog post titled “Life is a Contact Sheet“, I said:

Happy New Year! Let’s work towards better outcomes in 2022 than we had in 2021! Like most I’m looking forward to leaving 2021 behind and excited about what the future could bring! Now onward to my first post of this new year!

While I was excited for what 2022 might bring, I now look back on this past year with much sadness – as the hopes of me and many others just didn’t happen and way too much sadness and gloom came into our world instead.

Late last month, our daughter Tracy passed away – the victim of a very aggressive cancer that was identified only weeks before and which failed to yield to treatment. Tracy was the true adventurer in our family – and her spirit lives on to inspire us towards a better future. We have really appreciated all of the kind words and shared memories from so many who knew Tracy.

New Year’s Eve each year is our Dad’s birthday – bringing back so many memories of our times with him. 2022 was his 101st birthday. He also loved Tracy very much.

Of course there we some bright spots in 2022 too – although it’s difficult at times to remember those and to keep them in perspective. The challenge – and ultimately our reward, of course – is to remember that life is full of these ups and downs.

So here’s hoping for a better future in 2023 – we’ll hug our loved ones tighter, try to do a better job being good friends, and savor those good moments and memories when they come along. Onward!

In November 2010, Tracy and I took a cooking class at Village Pub in Woodside – learning how to cook a Thanksgiving feast. We had such a good time that day – a great memory.

Categories
Books Future Quotations

Thinking about the future…

Virtually everyone thinks in first person when they imagine their recent past, present, or near future. Likewise, almost everyone switches to third person when they think about their far past or far future, usually defined in the scientific literature as ten years in either direction from today. This shift in mental perspective is why you can often look back at emotionally charged moments in your life, after enough time has passed, and see things from a more detached, clearer point of view. Your brain is literally processing them from a more insightful vantage point. Likewise, this is why taking a mental time trip ten years to the future can help you feel “unstuck” emotionally. You momentarily get a break from your normal mode of thinking and feeling and get to float above it all, like a satellite looking down from space.

Jane McGinigal – Imaginable

Categories
AI ChatGPT Haiku

Haiku with ChatGPT

Like over a million others, I’ve been enjoying playing with the new ChatGPT tool from OpenAI.com. Among many other things, ChatGPT can help generate haiku – here are some examples from a recent session of mine:

Write a haiku about film photography

In moments captured
Light on film, forever frozen
Art of the past lives

Write a haiku about a quiet morning in a boat on a lake

Quiet morning calm
Ripples gently lap the shore
Birds in harmony

Write a haiku about snow falling on cedars

Snowflakes fall like tears
Upon the cedars’ green boughs
Winter’s silent grace

Write a haiku about stillness in Kyoto

In the still of night
Kyoto’s ancient temples bask
In the moon’s soft glow

Write a haiku about watching the first rain of the year

First rain of the year
Falling gently from the sky
Refreshing the earth

Write a haiku about geese flying overhead

Geese fly in formation
Honking as they pass overhead
Autumn’s wild symphony

Write a haiku about farming with a John Deere tractor

Green John Deere tractor
Plowing fields under bright blue sky
Farming’s steadfast work

Write a haiku about writing haiku

Ink flows from my pen
Expressing thoughts in simple verse
Haiku, my meditation

Try it ChatGPT yourself with a free account at OpenAI.com. Image created using DiffusionBee with the phrase: “a painting of an poet in a red beret writing haiku on a paper tablet”

Categories
AI

An AI Thanksgiving

I asked my new friend GPT-3 to help with tell a memorable Thanksgiving story – and complemented it with a painting of a family Thanksgiving dinner generated by DALL-E.

Here was the request I made to my AI friend:

write a long story about a memorable family thanksgiving with an odd uncle on a snowy stormy day and his wife my aunt sally

Here’s the story:

Uncle Bob’s Thanksgiving

It was Thanksgiving day and the snow was falling gently outside. The family was gathered around the table, enjoying a delicious Thanksgiving feast. Uncle Bob was there, as always, with his wife Aunt Sally. But there was something different about Uncle Bob this year. He seemed odd, almost like he was in a trance. His eyes were glassy and he barely said a word.

Aunt Sally was chatty as always, but even she seemed a bit off. The family tried to make conversation with Uncle Bob, but it was like talking to a wall. Finally, after an awkward silence, Uncle Bob spoke.

“I had a dream last night,” he said, “a dream about a turkey.”

Everyone stared at Uncle Bob, not knowing what to say.

“In my dream, the turkey was alive and it was talking to me. It said, ‘Uncle Bob, you have to save me. The farmer is going to kill me and turn me into Thanksgiving dinner.'”

Uncle Bob paused and looked around the table. Everyone was still staring at him, not knowing what to say.

“So, I went to the farmer’s house and I begged him to spare the turkey’s life. He laughed at me and said, ‘No one is going to eat a talking turkey. I’m going to kill it and sell it to the grocery store.'”

Uncle Bob paused again and looked around the table. No one said a word.

“So, I went to the grocery store and I begged the manager to spare the turkey’s life. He laughed at me and said, ‘No one is going to eat a talking turkey. We’re going to kill it and sell it to the customers.'”

Uncle Bob paused again and looked around the table. Everyone was still staring at him, not knowing what to say.

“So, I went to the customers’ houses and I begged them to spare the turkey’s life. But they all just laughed at me and said, ‘No one is going to eat a talking turkey. We’re going to kill it and eat it for Thanksgiving dinner.'”

Uncle Bob paused one last time and looked around the table. Everyone was still staring at him, not knowing what to say.

“And that’s when I woke up,” Uncle Bob said.

There was a long silence around the table. Finally, Aunt Sally spoke up.

“That was a very strange dream, Bob,” she said. “Are you sure you’re feeling all right?”

Uncle Bob just stared at her and didn’t say a word.

The family finished their Thanksgiving feast in silence. Uncle Bob never said another word and Aunt Sally just seemed to be in a daze. It was a very strange and memorable Thanksgiving for everyone.

I hope you and your family have a lovely Thanksgiving – and share lots of good stories too!

Categories
AI Writing

Using AI to Help Write

I’ve been observing the evolution of AI-based tools from a distance. I’m not very experienced with using these tools myself, but I thought I’d share some of my excursions into this fascinating domain of AI-assisted or generative AI tools.

One of the text-based AI tools is GPT-3 from OpenAI. Late last year, OpenAI opened up a playground where one can experiment with using GPT-3 to assist with text – helping create text, edit text, summarize text, and more. One of the illustration AI tools is called DALL-E and it’s also provided by OpenAI. I’ve been experimenting and learning with both of these tools.

Here’s an example of using GPT-3 to help write. This morning I happened to see a tweet where the author was talking about an article he’d pulled together about how writers should focus more on niches – it’s titled 7 Simple Ways to Niche Down. It’s a good article worth reading. As I was reading it, I began wondering how GPT-3 might help with writing an article on this subject – so I asked it:

write an article about how to niche down your writing

Here’s what I got back from GPT-3 just using the default settings:

If you’re a writer, chances are you wear many hats. You’re a wordsmith, a storyteller, and a communicator. But in order to be a successful writer, you need to be able to niche down your writing.

Niche writing is a specific type of writing that appeals to a specific audience. It’s about writing for a particular market or genre, and it requires you to know your audience inside and out.

The first step to niching down your writing is to identify your target audience. Who are you writing for? What are their needs and wants? What do they like to read?

Once you know your audience, you can start to focus your writing. What topics will appeal to them? What type of writing will they respond to?

If you’re not sure where to start, consider writing guest posts for blogs or magazines that your target audience reads. This is a great way to get your name and your work in front of them.

Another option is to create a blog or website of your own and focus on writing articles, tips, or tutorials that will help your target audience. This will not only help you attract readers, but it will also show them that you’re an expert in your field.

Finally, don’t forget to promote your work! Make sure your target audience knows about your writing by sharing it on social media, submitting it to directories or list-serves, or even just telling people about it in person.

Niche writing can be a great way to build a successful writing career. By targeting a specific audience, you can become known as an expert in your field and attract a loyal following of readers. So if you’re ready to niche down your writing, start by identifying your target audience and then focus your writing to appeal to them.

Not bad. I had a subject and was looking for help putting together an article on the subject. I did minimal work but left with the bones I might consider fleshing out if I actually wanted to write an article on that subject. I also asked GPT-3 to help me clean up the opening paragraph above – which it rewrote for me.

To add to this post, I wanted an illustration that captured a writing theme so I asked DALL-E to generate one for me – asking it to generate:

an Edward hopper painting showing a writer at work in front of an old typewriter

That’s the image you see above.

The power of this kind of AI-based technology is mind-blowing to a layman like me. And its capabilities seem to be accelerating rapidly. I’ve got so much more to learn – and I’ve having fun just beginning to wade in. If you’re doing any experimentation similar to this, let me know what you’re learning!

Categories
iPhone 13 Pro Max Optimism Photography Photography - Fujifilm X70

On Optimism, the News and Technology

I’m enjoying listening to an interview with Kevin Kelly on edisode 110 of the 3 Books podcast wiht Neil Pasricha. Kevin’s optimism is a delight – and a great reminder of how to sustain positivity.

I really enjoyed Kevin’s discussion about news – that bad news (like almost everything we read/watch daily) travels fast while good news travels slowly. He says if we had headlines every ten years, instead of every day or every hour, those headlines would be more optimistic. Such a good point.

2022 for me has been a year of very consciously turning my news consumption way down – especially video news which I’ve essentially eliminated. I still do follow a lot of RSS feeds and read too much news from those print/online sources – but getting rid of the talking heads on TV news has been very rewarding this year!

I also very much enjoyed the recent Cool Tools episode that Kevin did recently with my photography guru Christopher Michel. Chris is a wonderful teacher of photography and his abilities with portraiture continue to amaze me.

On Cool Tools Chris recommends one camera (beyond the Leica’s he typically uses) – the Ricoh GR3. The GR3 is a camera I’ve resisted buying – preferring my iPhone’s camera for the kind of casual street photography that I enjoy. But the GR3 gets very high marks from Chris, Eric Kim and others.

Eric says that the

“RICOH GR III/IIIx is probably at least 1000x better for photography than even the newest iPhone Pro.”

Maybe he’s right. He continues:

“The iPhone Pro camera is not for ‘pros’– it is actually for grandmothers who want to make better landscape photos, millenials/zillenials who want to shoot better selfies of themselves and their ‘lifestyle’, or for people who just want the most long-lasting battery on a phone (which happens to also shoot photos).”

But for now and the kind of photography I’m doing, I’m more than satisfied with the computational photography power of my iPhone Pro.

There was one camera that I owned previously that was in the same genre as the GR3 – the Fujifilm X70. I owned the X70 for a couple of years and really enjoyed using it. Chris Michel talks about how his tools (especially his cameras) must inspire him – and the X70 did that for me. Unfortunately, I sold my X70 a few years ago and then Fuji stopped making that model – so they’re hard to find in decent condition. That X70 of mine is one camera I really wish I’d held on to!

Both of these episodes (with Kevin and Chris) are great to listen/watch. Two masters at work!

Categories
iPhone 13 Pro Max Photography San Francisco/California Street Photography

Back to The City

For many years, I met my good friend and photo buddy Doug Kaye almost every week on Fridays in San Francisco. We’d meet at the Ferry Building and head out walking from there – exploring the streets of San Francisco in a most leisurely way. Taking our time when we saw something that captured our interest, a scene that seemed particularly interesting.

As our tastes evolved, we became increasingly drawn to finding places with the best light, the most interesting light. Chasing the best, most interesting light and then slowing down to capture slices of time – as people would pass through while we watched and waited.

After a couple of hours walking the streets, we’d find one of our favorite places for lunch, kick back a bit and take a breather, perhaps do a quick review of the images we’d captured, and enjoy each other’s company over a shared table.

Then Covid hit… and everything changed. Those walks on the streets of San Francisco just stopped. Our photography interests changed during Covid – they had to change! The circumstances forced our hands – we had to abandon our love of street photography. We no longer had our favorites streets to walk. The people were gone. You know the feeling…

Last week we reinvigorated some of those old memories – meeting up in San Francisco again after over two years of being absent. We traveled light – no heavy camera gear – and we did do a lot of street walking. We stayed along The Embarcadero, shared lunch outdoors at Waterbar and went to see the new exhibition that’s just opened at Pier 24. We had a great time – it brought back memories of those years we’d walked the streets.

Doug summed our time up nicely:

Yeah, it was a great day. Good weather, good food, good friends. Hard to beat.

Here are a few images from our time in San Francisco – all taken with my iPhone 13 Pro Max.