Today's Google Doodle reminds me of Ryan.

It reminds me of McAfee Knob.

Ryan, have you hiked the whole trail? I'm expecting that you haven't done it in one trip, but have you completed one segment at a time?

Ryan has hiked it start to finish as a thru hiker at least twice. I believe in 2003 and 2015. Check out his other site Walking4fun it has many of his hikes that he has turned into virtual hikes. It is a great way to record your steps/hikes/walks and seeing so much of the world most would not otherwise see. Ryan is an awesome person who creates many ways to improve the lives of so many beyond AQ!!!

condo

You... you... you think I might be a section hiker....? *wiping tear from eye* You wound me, sir. I need to go back and read condo's post now. *deep breaths* *deep breaths*

-- Ryan

Twice was more than enough. Actually, once was more than enough, but I didn't have W4F the first time around and therefore didn't take the necessary photos to add it as a route and everybody kept wanting me to add the AT. So the first time was for "fun", but the second time was just for "work".

A third time... there's no good reason to do it a third time. Too many other trails to hike!

-- Ryan

Sorry. I underestimated how much time and determination you have.

You are impressive in your hiking abilities.

Well, there was no good reason to hike it the first two times either.

So, when should we expect the third through hike?

time + determination = grit

Ryan's First Law

According to my records, today is the birthday of our Fearless Leader, Green Torguga. HUZZAH!!
And by the way, the AQ page lists you as "20". . . so Atlasquest is older than you. Who started AQ, Wassa?

DoubleSaj

Here is a celebratory image courtesy of 123RF AI. Not sure why it only has 13 candles, I did ask for 20!

https://www.atlasquest.com/images/gallery/16/61/166189lg.jpg

Happy Birthday
🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂
here's 7 more candles.......

condo

lol! OMG, that image is disturbing on so many levels!

It's appears that I've been ritualistically flayed and displayed on a horror-inspired birthday cake!


Don't lose sleep over it. Neither of those numbers are especially accurate anyhow. ;o)

-- Ryan

Happy Belated Birthday to you! Celebrate all week long!

I was a little scared to follow that link given the part you decided to quote. Could it be even more disturbing?!!

But that picture was pretty cute. =)

-- Ryan

Good, glad you liked it. I thought you deserved a little love, 'cause I do have to admit, though I'm sure it was sent with the best of intentions, that first pic was a little disturbing!

^{Finally, after all these years, I found a good use for WassaText!}

Plus, that turtle looked like it had a Locust Valley lockjaw - I've met Ryan, he does not talk like Thurston Howell the third!

Im not sure.. he looks a little menacing with his smile and underlit candles. and those claws!

SO I had to give it a try too. does AI think animals cant spell? cute

oh and I think we are birthday twins!

A.I. has the example of a cow from a certain company.

Turtle blowing out twenty candles on a birthday cake.

Apparently, Meta A.I. cannot count. Other than that, it did pretty well.

AI is infamous for not actually being able to spell or count. It just tries to "predict" what should come next, but it doesn't actually do any math or spelling or fact checking, etc.

That's why if you ever use AI for anything more than fun and games, you really need to double check everything that comes out of it. You cannot believe anything from AI unless you fact check it first.

It's also one of the reasons that AI is infamous for not being able to put the correct number of fingers on a person. It can't count. It's more like it squints at the photo and just keeps adding fingers until the hand looks more-or-less the correct size. =)

That is cute, though. It appears that the letters on the background are completely random as far as I can tell. At least the words on the cake actually looks like they might be real words. =)

-- Ryan

There must be more to it than that. As an experiment, I asked Meta AI to draw a human hand 25 times in a row. I got 25 different hands - sometimes holding something, sometimes not - at various angles, and every single time it got it right, 5 fingers.


Well, one thing came out of it, from now on, on those occasions, I am going to wish people "Happy Yeath", and not explain it. Just let them wonder...

Also, it spelled it "Happpy".
Which, in this particular case, would be VERY dangerous for Ryan. I can totally picture him, when someone asks for a slice of cake with extra frosting, saying "Go ahead, take a P on my cake!"

Could be disastrous...

So true! We asked ChatGPT to recommend some scenic and historic places we could visit along a route we were driving in Switzerland. It included some fictional locations. 🤦‍♀️

Why AI Generators Can't Get Hands Right

AI has and will continue to improve, so maybe the problem is less common now. Maybe it depends on the AI or the prompt that is used. A single hand is probably easier to generate than a more complex image with hands in the background.

But I tried typing "draw me a hand" using Dall-E and it gave me this monstrosity, so I think it's safe to say that AI still has trouble with hands. Hands are to AI what letters are to carvers... Hard! =)

-- Ryan

Ha ha, I think you could also say, 'Hands are to AI, what hands are to carvers... ' .

This thread reminds of a drawing I saw once (I believe it's by Terry Gilliam), I bet there are some here who could relate - I sure can.

Yes, I have also noticed the problem with hands. AI also seems to stumble when making images emote correctly, often with amusing results! My attempt to image a happy laughing turtle resulted in this:

https://www.atlasquest.com/images/gallery/16/62/166234lg.jpg

With any artistic tools there is a learning curve. Perhaps my prompts are too simple. AI image generation is fascinating with really great potential.

Oh lordy, lordy! That needs to be nuked from space!

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Ryan on his latest trail adventure. I won't tell you where we were as he is keeping the exact trail a secret for now, but I can you there will be some awesome pictures on W4F.

He's just saying that because he knows that he's in one of the photos, and he's looking quite handsome. ;o)

-- Ryan