Interviewing AI

Can you gain meaningful information by asking the GPT-3 model questions? Image generated by Craiyon using the prompt: An human interviewing with an AI, high detail

As you may know, I’ve been playing around with AI lately. Mostly using Craiyon and some GPT-3 models for some rather, um, sophomoric purposes. While these are humorous and can sometimes show  the model’s strengths and weaknesses, I felt the realm of pre-pubescent humor had had its time. I instead wanted to see if I could ask the AI questions and have a conversation-style interaction much like this old program I used to mess around with back in the day called Eliza (example in link). It was supposed to be kind of a therapist and you could ask questions and it would respond. It was super basic but it felt like an early AI to me. Even if it was limited in responses, it was kind of fun to use, sometimes to humorous effect.

Anyways, I wanted to just kind of talk to the AI and see what it had to say about a few things. Here’s what came out of it: 

What is a common career path for Desktop Support technicians? 

A common career path for Desktop Support technicians is to move up to become a technical support specialist or a network administrator. 

What is another path? 

Other paths for Desktop Support technicians may include becoming a computer repair technician, a computer systems analyst, or a computer programmer.

 Do many go into Data Science? 

Few Desktop Support technicians go into Data Science, as most lack the necessary education and skills. However, those who do may find rewarding careers in this growing field. 

How about going into Data Analysis?

 Like Data Science, few Desktop Support technicians go into Data Analysis, as most lack the necessary education and skills. However, those who do may find rewarding careers in this growing field. 

How does someone get the necessary education and skills to enter those fields?

 There are many ways to get the necessary education and skills to enter those fields. One way is to get a degree in computer science. Another way is to get on-the-job training. 

What about learning from online sources like Udemy?

 Many Desktop Support technicians learn from online sources like Udemy. These sources can provide an affordable and convenient way to learn new skills.

 What are some other good online learning resources? 

Some other good online learning resources include Coursera, edX, and Udacity.

 What about certifications? 

Certifications can also be helpful for Desktop Support technicians who want to enter those fields. Some relevant certifications include the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) and the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). 

What about Data Science related certifications?

 There are many Data Science related certifications available, such as the Certified Data Scientist (CDS), the Certified Big Data Scientist (CBDS), and the Certified Advanced Analytics Professional (CAAP). 

Data analyst certifications?

 There are also many Data analyst certifications available, such as the Certified Business Intelligence Professional (CBIP) and the Certified Data Analytics Professional (CDAP).

 Well, that’s a lot for me to go over. You have been a great help today, thank you.

 You’re welcome.

I found this interaction to be an interesting way to glean some knowledge into a subject of interest. I found it to be helpful anyway. I think it could be useful in something like career counseling or something similar to help people find things they are interested in. 

Next up: I ask a bit about programming languages and how they are used.

What are 3 programming languages you think are essential? 

This is a difficult question as there are so many programming languages with different purposes. However, if we had to choose three, we would say Python, Java, and JavaScript. 

Why these three languages?

 Python is a versatile scripting language that can be used for automating tasks, powering web applications, and building artificial intelligence models. Java is a powerful and popular language that can be used for building large scale enterprise applications. JavaScript is a must-know language for web development as it can be used to create interactive web pages and web applications. 

Interesting. What about languages like C# or C++? 

C# and C++ are both powerful languages that are often used for building large scale applications. However, they are not essential languages in our opinion.

 Okay, so you mention “essential languages,” what constitutes an essential language in your opinion?

 In our opinion, an essential programming language is one that is versatile and can be used for a variety of purposes. 

That makes sense. Give me some examples of what each language can do.

 Python can be used for automating tasks, powering web applications, and building artificial intelligence models. Java can be used for building large scale enterprise applications. JavaScript can be used to create interactive web pages and web applications. 

Tell me more about Java applications, give me an example of an app written in Java. 

Some popular examples of Java applications are the Android operating system, the Eclipse IDE, and the Jenkins CI server. 

So Android apps are written in Java?

Yes, Android apps are written in Java.

Interesting. Tell me about your favorite app that is written in JavaScript. 

My favorite app that is written in JavaScript is the React Native mobile app development framework. It allows developers to create native mobile apps using the React JavaScript framework.

 I’ve heard of React. tell me more about it. 

React is a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It is used by many companies, including Facebook, Netflix, and Airbnb. 

What about Python? Are there any apps I would recognize written in Python?

 Instagram is written in Python. 

Wow! I didn’t know that. Are there any more apps that are written in Python? 

Yelp is written in Python, as well as the popular video game, Civilization IV.

 Python does sound very versatile. tell me about its use with data. 

Python is often used for data science and machine learning tasks. It has a wide range of libraries that can be used for data analysis and modeling.

 It must also have libraries for games and web applications, does it not? 

Yes, Python does have libraries for games and web applications. However, it is not as commonly used for these tasks as it is for data science and machine learning.

 Why is it the main choice for those tasks? 

Python is popular for data science and machine learning because it is easy to use and has a wide range of libraries available.

 Name a few of those libraries. 

Some popular Python libraries for data science and machine learning are NumPy, pandas, and scikit-learn. 

Ah yes, I have heard of those libraries. They are very useful. Anything else?

 Python is also used for web development, although not as commonly as JavaScript. It has a wide range of frameworks that can be used for building web applications. 

What are some of those frameworks? 

Some popular Python web development frameworks are Django and Flask. 

Wow, this has been a great interview. I have learned a lot, thank you for your time. 

You’re welcome, thank you for the opportunity to share my knowledge.

This conversation was again very insightful and interesting. One thing I noticed that was most interesting was that the AI referred to itself as “We” and its opinions as “Ours.” This was interesting to me because it seems like the AI is thinking of itself as a collective mind, like the Borg from Star Trek TNG. Well, maybe not but I did find that aspect noteworthy in my experimentation. 

Finally, I was done with the hard stuff. Would I like to have a beer with the GPT-3? Take a look at this interaction:

Do you know beer? Can you tell me what you know about Cream Ale? 

Cream Ale is a type of American beer that is light in color and body. It is brewed using a ale yeast and is typically made with a blend of corn and barley malt. Cream Ale is known for its smooth, clean flavor and is often served cold. 

Name some examples. 

Some examples of Cream Ale include: Genesee Cream Ale, Shiner Bock, and Yuengling Traditional Lager. 

Any more you can think of?

 Other examples of Cream Ale include: • New Glarus Spotted Cow • Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter • Founders All Day IPA 

Spotted Cow is overrated, what do you think?

 I personally think that Spotted Cow is overrated. I think that it is a decent beer, but there are definitely better options out there.

 I think so too. What about Schell’s Cream ale? Is that good?

 I have not tried Schell’s Cream Ale, but from what I have heard, it is a decent beer.

 So what about recipes? Know any good cream ale recipes?

 There are a few different recipes for Cream Ale that can be found online. Some of these recipes include: • Cream Ale Recipe from All Grain Brewing • Cream Ale Recipe from homebrewtalk.com • Cream Ale Recipe from Northern Brewer

 I think an adjunct is a must for a proper cream ale. What do you think?

 I agree that an adjunct is necessary for a proper cream ale. Without the adjunct, the beer would not have the same light, smooth flavor that is characteristic of the style.

 My thoughts exactly! I also think the proper ratio of 6 and 2 row malts is another necessary factor. What do you think? 

I agree that the proper ratio of 6 and 2 row malts is necessary for a proper cream ale. This ratio helps to create the light, smooth flavor that is characteristic of the style.

 Alright then. What kind of hops do you like in a cream ale?

 There are a few different hops that can be used in a cream ale. Some of these hops include: • Cascade • Willamette • Chinook • Cluster I personally think that Cascade hops provide the best flavor for a cream ale. 

I prefer the traditional Cluster hops, but to each their own. What do you think? 

I think that Cluster hops provide a good traditional flavor for a cream ale. 

Nice. What other beers do you like besides Cream ale? 

I also enjoy other styles of beer, such as: • IPA • Stout • Pilsner • Wheat beer

What is your favorite IPA?

My favorite IPA is Stone Enjoy By IPA. 

I have not heard of that one. What brewery makes it? 

Stone Enjoy By IPA is brewed by Stone Brewing Co.

 Okay, back to the basics. What are the main ingredients used to make beer?

 The main ingredients used to make beer are: • Water • Yeast • Hops • Barley

 What kind of barley to be exact? 

The type of barley used in beer brewing is typically 2-row or 6-row.

 Is it processed in any way? 

The barley is typically processed by being crushed or ground.

 How are the required enzymes made though? 

The enzymes required for brewing beer are typically produced by the maltster.

 Ah, so you are saying the grains are malted, correct?

 Yes, the grains are typically malted before being used in beer brewing.

 Well, this interview has been insightful. 

You have been a pleasure to interview, thank you for your time.

 Thank you for having me, it has been my pleasure.

After this, I think I would like to have a beer with the GPT-3. It was a pleasant interaction overall. I did kind of lead it to the fact the grain is malted, but I kind of feel this type of learning is essential for these models to get better, maybe? Just a thought. 

Overall, I found this particular use of the GPT-3 model to be very useful. This is much more advanced than the Eliza of days gone and also shows the extent of what it can do. Sure, having it write funny stories and doing other creative things with it is great, but the real wonder and enjoyment for me comes from interacting with it. It just amazes me in general.

That’s it for today. If you haven’t tried it, sign up to use the GPT-3 playground here. I don’t think there’s a waitlist for the GPT models, but if you want to use the Codex code models you will have to join a waitlist. While you’re at it, go head over to Craiyon as well. Both are tons of fun to explore, so go ahead and explore AI!

Gabe and Aakesh: An AI Enhanced Story

An AI generated image given the prompt: “Two men named Gabe and Aakesh at the office.” This is their story.

AI is leaps and bounds from where it was years ago. I remember Windows 7 had introduced voice recognition as a feature. It didn’t work great, but over time it did get better as it trained on your voice. Speed ahead to now and we have speech to text and voice recognition technologies that are almost perfect in the palms of our hands. If you know me, I’ve been messing around with Craiyon, an image generating AI and OpenAI’s GPT-3 based models that generate text based upon a prompt. Codex is another AI model that can generate code given a prompt. I’ve been finding these to be very useful creative tools for writing especially. So, in the spirit of things, I decided to make an AI enhanced story about a couple of guys named Gabe and Aakesh. Be warned: there is a lot of sophomoric activity in the story, but nothing too NSFW. I may even dedicate a separate page to their adventures. We’ll see. Here it goes:

Write a story about Gabe and Aakesh. Gabe and Aakesh are working at the office. Aakesh can’t stop farting and Gabe can’t stop laughing. They go from little toots to cannon-like blasts. Everyone in the office can hear them. 

It was seemingly just another day of work. Gabe and Aakesh were working in the office and Aakesh just couldn’t stop farting. Gabe sat at his desk laughing silently to himself. The first few farts were little toots, but then they started to get bigger and bigger, louder and louder. Soon, everyone in the office could hear them. Aakesh was kind of embarrassed, but Gabe just found it funnier and funnier as his laughs became audible. With his head spinning from embarrassment, Aakesh ran out of the office to try and get away from the smell. As he returns to his desk, Gabe is sitting there, still laughing.

“Dude, I thought you were going to pass out from laughing so hard,” Aakesh says to Gabe as he returns to his desk.

” I thought I was going to die,” Gabe comments, “Seriously, those were some of the most epic farts I’ve ever heard in my life.”

“Thanks man. I’ve been working on them for years,” Aakesh responds, laughing.

“Well, it’s certainly paid off,” Gabe says, still laughing a bit, “You had me in tears.”

” I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Oh, I did. But I think I need some fresh air. I’m going to go take a walk.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later.”

“See you.”

Aakesh returns his focus to the project he’s working on as Gabe heads towards the door to get some fresh air. What a day this has been.

 Aakesh felt good about himself. He let out some good farts earlier in the day and knew that his co-workers definitely heard them. As he walked out the door at the end of the day, Gabe gave him a fist bump as a sort of “bro code.” Aakesh was a bit surprised but happy and acknowledged the gesture. He knew that Gabe heard his farts as well and is glad that he wasn’t the only one who thought they were funny.

Well that’s part one of Gabe and Aakesh at the office. This story might need its separate page as I add more material to it. If all goes well, it’ll be a long, hilarious series.

AI: Thoughts

Given the prompt “artificial intelligence,” this is one of the images Craiyon (formerly Dall-E mini) generated.

What is Artificial Intelligence? Artificial intelligence is amazing nowadays with webapps like Craiyon and OpenAI’s image and text generating AIs that can generate pretty good content based on prompts you feed into it. So what is AI then? I asked the text-davinci-002 AI model to generate something. Here it is: 

Write a few paragraphs about what artificial intelligence is. 

Artificial intelligence is a field of computer science that deals with the creation of intelligent agents, which are systems that can reason, learn, and act autonomously. The main goals of AI research include developing intelligent systems that can reason like humans, learn from experience, and make decisions in uncertain environments. 

Some of the most popular AI applications include expert systems, natural language processing, and robotics. Expert systems are computer programs that mimic the decision-making ability of human experts in a specific domain. Natural language processing is a subfield of AI that deals with the ability of computers to understand human language and respond in a way that is natural for humans. Robotics is another application of AI that deals with the design and control of robots.

Pretty straightforward and to the point, really no frills and I have noticed it lacks voice in general. I’ve played with it quite a bit and you can get some really humorous material sometimes when you enter some sophomoric prompts (yeah, well sometimes I like to mentally be a 13 year old again haha). It has its strengths and weaknesses but  I find these as great tools for creating AI assisted fiction or as a way of generating ideas or inspiration. In other words, I’ll be using AI as a creative tool and also to study how it reacts to different prompts.

I’m writing this as I am currently diving into some of the basics of AI and its early origins by watching this Stanford Online lecture. Very interesting stuff that I’d like to get into. The final project with the AI playing Pac Man is something I’d like to do. In fact, another YouTuber by the name of suckerpinch has this video detailing an AI he created that plays NES games. It sounds pretty basic from what he explains. I don’t understand all the details but it sounds like the AI tries to do things that have a “good” outcome over a “bad” outcome. Good being raising the score, lives, etc and bad would be the opposite, losing lives, losing the game. This being the case, it doesn’t work well on all games as he shows in subsequent videos. It needs to be tweaked slightly to be optimized. But then again, these videos are from nine years ago, so I would imagine today’s AIs are very good at games. I have seen a few headlines about AIs that whoop Tetris and Pacman, two challenging classic games. 

I also have been trying to get my google AIY voice speaker back in order currently without much luck. I had to reimage the SD card because I hadn’t used the device in months and forgot my login password. Whoopsie. Should’ve written that one down. The plan for that is to get it connected to some natural language AIs and get a chatbot of some sort going. A lot of the stuff might require some sort of payment, but I think I did see that Google offers something like $300 in credit to start with, so it does look like you can play around a little bit before investing any money into it. 

That’s all I’ve got to say about AI right now, it has so many applications, more than I can even think about right now. Everything from logistics to medicine, heck can you even think of something that can’t be enhanced through the magic of AI? AI is the future whether we like it or not and now is the time to explore it. 

What a Great Game

In Stray, you play as a cat and as such, you can do many cat things.

It’s been a while. Too long. I haven’t been writing here much and that needs to change. I think my main block is finding topics of interest to write about. I’ll have to look into how the pros do it maybe. Anyways, let’s talk video games. Specifically a game that was a big deal when it was released back in July: Stray, AKA “The Cat Game.”

I don’t buy new games often, and the last game I bought at or before launch was Cyberpunk 2077. We all know how that game turned out. I did enjoy the game, but it was a bit disappointing that it felt like an Early Access title and I just paid sixty bucks for it. Stray, on the other hand, showed me that new games can be great on launch day.

Okay, so I’m a cat guy. One of my roommates is an old tuxedo cat with several pseudonyms including Turkey. This game piqued my interest when I noticed it in the video game news. “Wow,” I thought, “A video game with a cat as the main character, that’s pretty cool, I’d play that.” The game was released on July 19th and I totally forgot to pick it up. It was like thirty bucks and I figured it would be well worth buying it at full price. I picked it up off of Steam a few days later. Let me tell you, it was worth every penny.

My first impressions of the game is that it was damn near perfect. It hit almost all of the targets for me: the atmosphere was amazing, the sound, graphics, everything just hit the spot. The cyberpunk aesthetic is definitely there with all of the neon lights, slums, and sentient robots. And the best part: You get to play as a cat. Maybe this might sound lame to some but it makes for a great adventure as you leap from platform to platform among the buildings. Plus you can do other cat stuff like sleep, scratch carpet, and meow. It’s pretty sweet.

After just a couple of hours of playing, I fell into love with this game. It was so much fun to experience a semi-open world game through the eyes of a cat. The game has quite a few puzzles to figure out and while they aren’t particularly difficult, they are fun to figure out. The game is a little short in length although it does have a bit of replay value if you want to 100% the game. 

I did read a few articles that noted that the PC version suffers with some graphical stuttering and I did notice a little at times on my rig with an RTX 2060 but I didn’t find that it detracted much from the game and recent patches probably have already corrected the issue.

This game probably won’t appeal to hardcore gamers so much though; this is a game that is meant to be played slowly and enjoyed. It’s an experience and not a competition, more akin to an interactive art exhibit than something like a football game. 

So there it is, my take on Stray. I’ve been playing some other games lately as well, so expect more content soon. Until then play some games and refurbish your SNES! Ha! Maybe I’ll get into that some other time. 

The Weekly Ramble

Each week I think really hard and ramble on about a topic of my choice

This week I’m going to ramble about a game I enjoy. For some reason or another (probably getting older) I have been enjoying city-building/strategy games. A couple months back it started when I played a few games of Sim City which I found on this neat 120 in 1 SNES cart I bought off of Amazon. It has its fair share of stinkers but there are some gems in the rough on there as well as some forgotten titles. Kind of makes me want one of those FXPAK pro carts but those are a little out of my budget for the time being. Anyways, I’m not talking about the SNES, so back to the topic at hand. 

So I played some SimCity for a bit, then I remembered I had Cities: Skylines! I went back to my PC and fired it up, had fun for a good minute and progressed quite a bit with some strategy advice from different sources. Both are great games if you enjoy being the Mayor of a city and planning a city, designing a city, etc. Surviving Mars I believe is by the same devs as Cities and is quite enjoyable as well. Maybe someday I’ll get back into that one. Okay, let’s get to the game I originally was getting to. 

The game is one of my favorite modern titles. I’m stuck in between retro and modern games at the moment. I would get into why, but I’ll save that for another time. The game I really have been enjoying lately is a city-building survival game by 11Bit Studios that released on Windows in 2018 and PS4/XboxOne in 2019. The name of the game: Frost Punk. 

Frost Punk: Let the cold begin!

Frost Punk is one of those games I like to fire up and play when the weather here in the great state of Minnesota, USA gets below zero degrees Fahrenheit. That crispy frost sound it makes when the temp drops really puts that chill in your bones as you play. The aspect of surviving the cold is only one of the challenges of this game though. There are many decisions you will have to make as the Captain of your new settlement.

Before I get into the game any further, I just would like to say that 11Bit is one of those studios that makes games I enjoy for some reason. I have another game by 11Bit, This War of Mine, and if anything, 11Bit does a great job of pulling your emotional strings by the end of the game. The decisions you make in the game will come back to haunt you by the end if you survive. It really makes you wonder what it would come to if an apocalyptic situation like Frost Punk really were to happen. This War of Mine on the other hand, was based upon an actual conflict of the past: The Siege of Sarajevo. 

Building a new home in Frostland is tough. Can you survive?

In Frost Punk you can play several different scenarios, the main one being A New Home. You play as a group of Londoners leaving England to escape the Deep Frost. You start near a huge coal-powered steam generator. The generator provides much needed warmth to your people and will be essential for your survival. Round up some coal and fire it up. Your people will thank you. 

Along the way you will be presented with different challenges such as feeding your people and providing them with healthcare. Each decision you make will raise or lower hope and/or discontent among your people. If your discontent gets too high, or your hope too low, your people will give you an ultimatum. Guess what happens if you don’t meet that ultimatum. I won’t spoil it for you here. 

Tough decisions are to be made during the game to survive the Deep Freeze.

Late in the game (if you can survive that long) the decisions get tougher as the temperatures get lower. Towards the end of A New Home, the temperature drops to an insane low. If you don’t prepare properly, you’ll perish. If you do, you will survive, likely with a cost. You have survived, but was it worth it?

You and your people made it. The city survived. Was it worth it?

That’s my ramble for the week. I just wanted to highlight a game I enjoy. Frost Punk is definitely a challenge to survive but it seems like it has just that right amount of challenge that won’t make you rage quit. Well, that’s enough rambling for the week. Join me next week for another Weekly Ramble!

The Weekly Ramble

For me, it’s sometimes difficult to see giant leaps in technological innovations these days. The leaps and bounds of technological advances since the end of WWII seem to have turned into hops and skips. That, or I am missing something or looking entirely in the wrong place. When gadgets such as smartphones receive an update, the changes seem minimal, usually a screen that is more crisp and a camera that can capture more pixels than the last one. A hop I have noticed recently seems to be the folding screen. Big whoop. Although I do think the tech is cool to make it work, it doesn’t seem to be anything more than a hop in advancement. When it comes to a choice of gaming devices, the choice is up to the user’s preference in exclusive titles for each particular platform. All of the hardware performs pretty much at the same level and it is pretty much a matter of software preference these days. Even when it comes to software, changes seem minimal, especially from an end-user standpoint. I hear things about Windows 11 now and again and some pundits say it is basically Windows 10 with a face lift. Overall, the changes I see today seem minimal, especially in consumer-level devices and software. What will be the next big thing that will amaze me?

Apologies for my opening ramble, but sometimes I wonder if technology will make or break us in the future. About five or six years back, I remember thinking that self-driving autonomous vehicles were right around the corner, I thought we’d have them by now! Even today I see articles where Elon Musk states that 2022 is the year. I’m highly skeptical of this, no doubt. One of the reasons I can’t see this happening is I would think the infrastructure of our roads would need to be modified somehow in order for autonomous vehicles to work properly, especially in inclement weather like heavy rain and snow. Again, my research is a bit minimal on this, so I may be missing the details.

Rambling aside, there are many makers out there that are using similar technologies that these self-driving vehicles use to make devices that can help the visually impaired. I remember seeing this article a while back about such a device. It is called the Cane-Eye. It uses several different technologies, including an Xbox Kinect sensor array, to assist the visually impaired. I’d like to see more tech like this at a level that is affordable to the end-user. 

As a dabbler with Raspberry Pi computers, I have gained interest in making certain devices. Recently I’ve been into LoRa, a new type of WAN that can be used in many IoT applications and other projects. One such project that caught my eye was the Ripple project, a neat communicator project that uses the LoRa network to send text messages among users on the network. Something that could be handy when other networks are inaccessible. However, I pulled a boner and got the wrong hardware. I’m no expert in this type of thing, I know a bit of a few programming languages, nothing extensive, and I have little idea if this would even work with the Ripple project. Maybe? I sure would like to know. I have fiddled with these devices a bit and they do seem to work with the debugging software. I as of yet, have not been able to connect them to the Pi Zero as the Zeros I bought came without the I/O pins soldered. So another project for me is to learn how to solder those pins onto the Zero board. That or buy some new ones with the pins pre-soldered.

Phew, that was a rush!

As I write this, I wonder if I should make something of these ramblings. Perhaps a series to keep my mind fresh and exploring things. I’ll call it the Weekly Ramble for now, sound good? Good. That’s all I have for today, thank you for exploring. Catch me again next week.

I’m Back from My Hiatus

Hey everyone! So last time I posted, I was on a mission to make an attempt to write something and post on a more regular basis. Well, that didn’t happen. Regardless of that, I have decided to not keep a particular schedule and instead post when inspiration hits. Ideally, I would like to get about three posts per week. If I can make that happen, great. If not, well, I won’t stress about it.

As far as gaming goes, I’ve been stuck on retro for quite some time now. I’ve been revisiting classics like Lufia II and Super Metroid for the SNES, as well as RE: Director’s Cut and Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation. I’ve been meaning to get back to some modern titles like Cyberpunk 2077, but I just haven’t got around to it yet. I’ve been having too much of a nostalgia trip playing my old favorites. 

Tech projects have been minimal. I recently managed to get my Raspberry Pi Plex server to recognize my external drive. It actually was a pretty simple fix and I should have paid closer attention to the tutorial I was following. I also picked up a Google AIY voice kit and put it together. So basically I have a smart speaker, like a Google Home or whatever they call it. Google Assistant? Something like that. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it yet. I had an idea of making a natural language chatbot of some sort, so that may be a project in the works. 

As far as my Raspberry Pi obsession goes, Twister OS is my favorite OS for the Pi by far. It looks good and runs nicely. Ubuntu on the Pi, however, doesn’t fare as well. It’s a bit glitchy and needs some work to run optimally on the Pi. Oftentimes I get error pop ups that notify me that “something went wrong.” I assume these errors are largely due to the Pi’s hardware and ARM architecture. Ubuntu just doesn’t run perfectly on the Pi. Still, it is nice to have Ubuntu available for the Pi. I’ve also been dabbling with Kali running in a VM to mess around with the various pentesting tools. I played one of those CtF VMs that I found online. It was a beginner level CtF that’s Mr. Robot themed. I’m a total noob at that kind of stuff so I followed along using a tutorial. Pretty neat stuff.  

Now for health and wellness. I feel that I’ve been neglecting this for the past few months a bit. Recently I’ve been trying to get on more of a regular exercise routine. So far it’s been going alright. I’m trying to get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise each day. Well, maybe it’s been more like every other day but I’ve been making an effort at least.

I’ve been keeping up with the keto diet I follow and something I’ve really been enjoying as a snack are cheese sticks and olives. I tend to go for a chipotle cheddar or pepper jack style cheese stick. There’s just something about cheese and olives that just clicks for me. I’ve tried a few different types of olives but the green pimiento stuffed ones are usually my go to. I’m a fan of the Pearls Olives to go cups since they seem to taste better than the olives in a jar. However, I did pick up some large Queen pimiento stuffed olives from Costco that are pretty good. The generic manzanilla olives that I picked up from a local grocery were a bit lackluster though.  

There. I mashed up everything in one blog post. Hopefully I can get some ideas generated so I can get some more blog posts going. I have a couple gaming related ideas brewing in my head and hopefully I can get some other areas of interest covered too. Maybe it wasn’t a great idea to mash all of my interests into a single blog? I’ll have to mull it over a bit, perhaps a restructuring is in order. Be sure to check back often, who knows, maybe my blog will be overhauled the next time you check it. Ha ha. 

Retro Trip – Bionic Commando

Bionic Commando. Overlooked gem? This retro trip points to yes.

I dug deep into the vault and pulled out a forgotten gem of a game to retro trip with, Bionic Commando. Bionic Commando is one of those titles for the NES that appears to often be overlooked by many gamers but has gained somewhat of a cult following over the years. A retro remake was made in 2008 and a modern reboot of the series followed, but the series just didn’t seem to have the mass following that other Capcom franchises like Mega Man and Street Fighter have had over the years. 

You can’t jump in Bionic Commando, so get used to swinging.

Bionic Commando is kind of an odd game at first. It’s an action platformer that is unlike any other. You aren’t able to jump, your knees are seemingly locked. Instead, you use your bionic arm to swing and climb your way through different stages to destroy the main system at the end. This mechanic makes certain areas quite challenging at first before you get used to the art of swinging. Once you figure it out though, it becomes natural. Along with the other game strategies, this is a game that is beatable by those with the gumption to fight the ultimate evil at the end, Master D (aka Hitler resurrected if you’re familiar with the JP version). Do so and you will be rewarded with the story’s conclusion and some sweet end credits.

There’s Master D. Look familiar? Yeah, it’s Hitler. Power up and kick his ass.

• 

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Run into an enemy convoy and fight your foes in an overhead view.

While most of the game is presented via a side view, there are points in the game where you will encounter an enemy convoy. These events are presented in an overhead view much like another Capcom game, Commando. Side note: Super Joe, the soldier you are tasked to rescue, was the hero of Commando. Just a fun fact for all you retro fans. 

Overall, this game ranks up there as one of my favorites. It has a fair amount of challenge with non-linear progression to mix it up a bit. It even has a few secrets to keep the replay value up there. The story is pretty good as well once you dig into it a bit as the game translation seems a bit off and a few key statements seem to be left out, but nothing was game breaking as far as that goes. Find yourself a copy and give it a shot! It’s a good game for a great Retro Trip!

Mission accomplished. Super Joe is safe.

Retro Trip: The Legend of Dragoon

The Moon That Never Sets. I’m having a hard time setting this game down after picking it up and replaying it.

I recently found a good stack of my old PlayStation games I had collected over the years. A few I remembered playing back in high school, spending tired-eyed nights with those classics. One of them I remembered being good and enjoyable but twenty years of wear and tear on my memory has fragmented it a bit and now I don’t remember much from the game. So I fired it up and decided to give it a solid replay. The game: The Legend of Dragoon. After playing it for a bit I soon found out that I was going in for a hardcore Retro Trip. Let’s dig in and take a look:

The game so far has been pretty awesome. I’ve been cruising right along through the game, enjoying it the whole way. It is a little linear as it lacks an open world map like the Final Fantasy games, but I kind of welcome that and it doesn’t bother me all that much. I get lost easily in open world games. Go figure.

The story so far at times was a little generic, sometimes a little corny, but all in all so far it has been pretty solid for me and I have been enjoying it. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll get angry and cheer on the good guys. Just what you’d want from a good retro RPG.

I do like the different style of gameplay Dragoon uses during battles. Some characters have moves called “Additions” that require you to press a button at a certain time in a quick time event style. This does take a bit to get used to if you’re conditioned to just mashing a button for battles in turn based RPGs. I’m going to have to say that while this QTE system is welcome, it does require some ridiculous precision to get it perfect and it can be frustrating at times. Overall though, it kept my attention during the battles and added a bit more immersion into the game. You actually become a part of the battle instead of mindlessly mashing a button.

The graphics, I’m going to  be honest, don’t hold up strongly today. The pre-rendered backgrounds looked nice but are kind of dated by today’s standards. The character’s polygonal models looked a little aged by today’s standards as well. I can’t really rag on the graphics too much though. The animations and cut-scenes were fantastic considering the age of the game. I also thought the various magic spells and Dragoon transformations were very impressive visually, all things considered. 

I just finished the first disc of the game not too long ago and I’m having a great time replaying this game I almost forgot about after about twenty years. Pop this RPG in and you’ll be in store for a Retro Trip indeed! 

It’s Been A Minute, What’s Up?

Hey everyone, as you may or may not have noticed, I haven’t been posting my regular weekly round-up. Well, things have been a bit busy in my world and things sometimes get a little crazy. Anyways, I’ve been tossing around some ideas and hope to get back on a more regular posting schedule. Here’s a little bit of what I have in mind:

First off, instead of cramming everything in to a chunky blog post once a week, I’m going to toss out some bite-sized posts during the week, separated by interest/topic. The one post a week just seemed a bit jumbled and disorganized and maybe that was part of the reason I didn’t keep up on it. I didn’t like it so I didn’t write it. Makes sense I guess.

Although video games are a main focus of my blog posts, I don’t want it to be the only focus of my blog. I’ll be sure to toss in some more keto/low carb posts along with more of my interests and hobbies to keep it fresh.

So now that that is out of the way, I’d like to set a goal for myself to get at least two solid posts done a week. I won’t give myself any sort of deadline, I just need to get them done in that one week window. Wish me luck, ha ha.

That’ll be it for now, I’ve got a bit of a blogging backlog since my posting hiatus so I’ve got a few to write so stay tuned!