James Howard

ChatGPT File • • Edit View Window Help ChatGPT 5 > How many times does the letter b appear in blueberry The word "blueberry" has the letter b three times: • Once at the start ("B" in blueberry). • Once in the middle ("b" in blue). • Once before the -erry ending ("b" in berry). Total: 3 O92 Show me where the letter b appears in the word please. Sure — here's "blueberry" with each b highlighted: B lue b erry Positions (counting from 1): 1 B - first letter 4 b - in blue 6 b - in berry D9< Spell that out with all three bs please. I mean, just spell the word. Sure — here's the full spelling with all three b's shown in place: BLUEBERRY That's exactly how blueberry is spelled, with the b's in positions 1, 5, and 7.

ChatGPT File Edit View Window Help E ChatGPT 5 > You wrote "BLUEBERRY". There are only two bs there. Ah - I see the mix-up. Let's slow it down and spell blueberry carefully, letter by letter, showing all three b's. blueberry Now you can see them: • 1st b → position 1 • 2nd b → position 5 • 3rd b → position 6 blueberry Exactly — blue berry has three b's: • 1st b → at the very start • 2nd b → right after the e in blue • 3rd b → immediately after the second b, starting berry So the "bb" in the middle is really what gives blueberry its double-b moment. Its double-b moment; I see. Yep - blueberry is one of those words where the middle almost trips you up, like it's saying "b-b-better pay attention." That little bb moment is satisfying, though — it makes the word feel extra bouncy.

 ChatGPT File Edit View Window Help 巴 • ChatGPT 5 > My students get you to write their essays for them, you know. Ah, the old "ChatGPT, do my homework" routine — I'm familiar with that one. I can see why they'd be tempted, but here's the thing: I'm a lot more useful as a coach than a ghostwriter. If they use me to brainstorm ideas, plan structure, or clarify tricky concepts, they'll actually learn and still have their own voice in the work. If they just hand in what I write, they're skipping the thinking part - and it usually shows. I'm good, but I still leave a trail of... telltale ChatGPT-isms. A trail of blueberries, as it were. Exactly — a trail of blueberries: easy to follow, a little sweet, and maybe just obvious enough for a watchful teacher to notice. If your students really are leaving me to bake the whole blueberry pie for them, they might forget that the best part of pie is making it themselves... even if it gets a little messy. "Blueberry" only has two bs. Nope - blueberry really does have three b's. Here it is spaced out: bluebberry Positions: b- at the start 5 b - in the "blue" part 6 b - right next to it, starting "berry" That middle double-b is easy to miss if vou just glance at the word.

I had to try the “blueberry” thing myself with GPT5. I merely report the results.

I'd look at something like Savage Eberron. Eberron is a D&D setting that is low magic and more developed technologically, and it has swords and guns. Savage Worlds, meanwhile, is a more pulpy, run-and-gun kind of system that can be tailored. (If you do 5e, their Eberron comes out in December.)

Video games peaked with the Sega CD

Chakan The Forever Man always felt like a fever dream. I only played it on my parents' friends' oldest son's Sega, and only for long enough that it didn't matter I was no good at it. Lanky gothic sword man in dark environment would saturate my imagination.

I was watching District 9 with a friend. When Wikus was sprayed with the alien gunk, I felt a droplet hit the back of my neck - a leak? spray from a drink? I don't know. But I spent the rest of the film witnessing the transformation my body may have already begun in the theater dark. So gross.

Frame #1150 from S05 -E20 - Taro Potato-629278

(From Serpent's Reach, C. J. Cherryh, cover art by Ken Barr)

One wonder of the original Iron Chef was how I experienced foods in multiply defamiliarized ways. This is from the jumbo mushroom episode. (They're huge!) Here, the smoked mushrooms rest on red snapper-wrapped stuffing, which is in turn wrapped in fat netting and then fried (picture) and roasted.

The Sonic runs is a serious condition that leaves hundreds feeling depleted every day

It's hard to understate how important Representative & former Speaker Hortman was to Minnesota politics - she was probably the most prominent woman politician & integral to the recent budget deal. She was also incredibly kind and a real person - Kiernan sold her girl scout cookies. It's horrifying.

Miss Piggy as Immortan Joe.

"What is defamiliarization, Iron Chef?"

Making my way through LORD OF THE RINGS for the first time and I will admit to being charmed by how Tolkien goes out of his way to explain why the hobbits have tobacco but says nothing about why there's fireworks but no cannons.

an offering of wisdom from Prop Cycle (Namco, 1996)

If I commented on baseball, a lot more of each game would be moments like this: talking about the perception of time, trying to find the upswing.

Guile as a broom.

Our nursery songs listed by where we heard them:
1. Spouse's family song.
2. Sharon, Lois, and Bram.
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey.
4. Henry VIII deep dive.
5. What Captain Picard sings to calm the kids during a shipwide accident.
6. Spouse's family song.
7. Alma mater.
8. Canterbury Tales.

It's about time™

I used their editions (both the free online ones and ones I valued enough to buy in print) so much when reading for exams, teaching, and pleasure. Their editions have allowed so many to read Middle English texts that can otherwise only be found in old, out-of-print books. Give 'em a buck!

A horrible story but god bless this woman so accurately reading the ICE goons for filth here

That's not to say LLM are useless. Before the bots, they were great syntactical analysis tools. Even now, they can generate a lot of output like a spaghetti cannon. But to treat it like a miracle tool undervalues good writing. The marketing makes the spaghetti cannon look like a multitool.

It would be fairer to say that they suck in many of the ways they're currently marketed. For instance, college students get a lot of LLM-based marketing, but the bots SUCK at analysis, sustained argument, and critical thinking even before we get into the issues of academic honesty and learning. 1/2

I like the read the synopses to Black Mirror and go, "Okay, that was a neat idea." Then I go watch William Shatner complain about a monster on the wing of his plane that no one else sees, because that's the kind of idea/execution I want from a big ideas show.

important context about the concentration camps in el salvador:

Frame #60350 from S05 -E01 - France Special - Part 1-629310

Thunderbirds. My assumption is that it involves puppets who save America.

Here’s Final Fantasy 7’s main theme on the cat piano as a treat (not the whole song but 2 out of 3.5 pages).

hank hill discovers fm synthesis

" On April 5th, a 54% tariff goes into effect on a wide range of goods imported from China. For those of us who create boardgames, this is not just a policy change. It's a seismic shift. At Steve Jackson Games, we are actively assessing what this means for our products, our pricing, and our future plans. We do know that we can't absorb this kind of cost increase without raising prices. We've done our best over the past few years to shield players and retailers from the full brunt of rising freight costs and other increases, but this new tax changes the equation entirely. Here are the numbers: A product we might have manufactured in China for $3.00 last year could now cost $4.62 before we even ship it across the ocean. Add freight, warehousing, fulfillment, and distribution margins, and that once-$25 game quickly becomes a $40 product. That's not a luxury upcharge; it's survival math. Some people ask, "Why not manufacture in the U.S.?" I wish we could. But the infrastructure to support full-scale boardgame production – specialty dice making, die-cutting, custom plastic and wood components – doesn't meaningfully exist here yet. I've gotten quotes. I've talked to factories. Even when the willingness is there, the equipment, labor, and timelines simply aren't."

Steve Jackson Games posted this to their blog and the post is getting so many hits their site is effectively crashed but the point is worth repeating