OpenAI, a focus

TL;DR -- 30 Nov 2022? Where were you? Did you know of the OpenAI release? For us, we were pursuing themes related to content rather than configuration. LLM was involved with configuration changes albeit accompanined with content perturbations that required a different type of attention (true sense ;>) to come about creatively. 

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It was this month in 2022 that GenAI/LLM was released in a consumer-facing manner. However, there had been a release as well in 2018 that kicked off the interest which several others between these two. The graphics shows a report from Chrome/Gemini with regard to a query; there are two entries on the left. 

What is provided on the right is a snap of our posts of those two times. 

Taking this further, the following is a Chrome/Gemini report on the history of OpenAI releases from 2018 until now. We can think of this as a timeline. 

Given the timeline, one can compare our work with that of the AI/LLM world. We were not paying attention for several reasons which we will explain.

Turns out, given the dynamics of today, that a discussion of these two threads will contribute to an understanding of the dynamics of human life and of the technology influences of such.

We have a theme: content vs configuration. Our focus has been the former which we will describe; the advent of LLM was a configuration change with unusual impacts on content. Much to discuss. 

Remarks: Modified: 11/07/2026

11/07/2026 -- Our first post on the LLM theme? 1 Feb 2023. 

People to know

TL;DR -- Today's subject comes out of a recent issue of The Economist. It about the descendant of New England families that went west into Kentucky, out of Virginia. One of them had gone south out of Massachusetts. Wendell Berry was 

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The subject of this post came from a rambling bit of stuff. I saw an issue of The Economist recently and started to read due to the cover page. Yearly, I get the "Double Issue" at the end of the year which has the normal articles plus timely articles of length. The British way of seeing things is always nice to encounter. Too, the writers are referred to in the 3rd person. Some columns are regular topics: the U.S. (Lexington & Concord); European stuff (Charlemagne); ... 

The weekly covers the world, in more depth than with others which reminds us of our privileges. This issue looked at childbirth deaths, using information from Nigeria. Of course, technology is covered; we'll pay more attention to topics, especially MSET+ (or last post touched upon that - 12 Oct 2026). 

They have a memorial article every week. This one was very instructive. Wendell Berry lived in Kentucky on the land where he was born. Though, being a writer and professor, he traveled the world. But, he came back home. There is a lot that we can discuss about his life and work. 

For now, some particulars: 

• Wendell_Berry - Wikipedia's take on things. 
• His father -  John Marshall Berry (1900-1991) 
• His mother - Virginia Erdman Perry (1907-1997)

Those last two links are to WikiTree where Gardner Research does our research. The family of both parents were early to Kentucky. We will look further at those pedigrees. Both families were out of Virginia which is New England south, to us. His father's line has families out of Massachusetts and Connecticut.  

As we go through the seven years of the 250th, we will be looking at families who have ties back to the era plus we will emphasize the 400th which goes on for a few more years up in New England north. Hence, "People to know" is an endless set that will unfold over the next few years. 

Interestingly, we picked childless couples earlier. An example was Ann and Joseph (of the house - she that married Simon - after he signed a prenup - Joseph had been killed in an early war with the natives). The reason is that those with children, many times, are recognized and represented via modern means, such as WikiTree. Those without are missing. We will go back and collect these posts in order have a continual theme to address. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/13/2026

10/13/2026 -- 

12 Oct 2026

TL;DR -- Quiet day. Why? Little hubbub. Columbus' arrival. Other days, like National Farmer's Day. We could pay attention to those. But, from a technology sense, we need a day for the history of mathematics. 

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Today is the one set aside for yearly commemoration of Columbus' arrival. 

Salem, MA 1892

Other celebrations on this day? 

• National Farmer's Day -- necessary look at those who produce that which we eat. 
• National Gumbo Day -- southern disk of much notoriety. 
• Canadian Thanksgiving -- definitely more early than ours do to the earlier onset of winter weather.

There are more. For these, we will look more closely at them soon. 

 From a technology sense, perhaps we could suggest a History of Mathematics Day (post on LinkedIn). We used a post from the TGS blog for this writeup which started by noting Einstein's one experiment in a discussion of an experience by Guass. In other words, the STEM focus ought to start with mathematics which we noted in 2024 (namely, MSET+).  

Remarks: Modified: 10/12/2026

10/12/2026 -- 

 

Trains and planes

TL;DR -- Trains first, and then planes. These move from place to place, carry people and goods, or just amaze us like the fighters. Children play with toys representing these. The train is from our first century and helped build the country. The plane is later and serves similar roles but speeds up the process. 

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Last post, we reiterated on coach travel (Butterfield, for example). Now, let's take the engines of trains, first, as they're on the ground doing real work. The 250th has been an occasion to bring out some big iron. This type of locomotive was designed to pull up to a mile of loaded railcars over the mountains, in the western part of the U.S. 

Big Boy is Union Pacific 4014 which was built in 1941. This photo is from 2026 when a rebuilt engine started to travel the country while we all celebrate the 250th of ink on paper (declaring independence). It was several years before the conflict was over with the Mother Country. 

In the photo, the 4014 was leaving Denver, CO. Its size is apparent from the photo. 

"rebuilt" was from the state of last use after which the engine sat in a Museum. Once it was decided to revive the engine, it was taken to New York and dismantled. There are several things to look at with respect to that, including tooling, handling things of matter of this size, 

Big Boy, Leaves Denver, CO

Now planes are added to the topic of the post. We have mentioned some aviation themes in our posts and will do more. This is where technology excels. But, the Big Boy is heavier than the Boeing 747 which is to be expected. One slogs along the ground for miles and miles. The other jumps into the sky and moves across the Earth to another site that is configured for its arrival and eventual departure. 

Big Boy moves about on rail. That was a topic as it was not until after the Civil War that the rail industry boomed. And, at a later time, there was one track of rail from the east to the west coast. We have had many posts on the technology and history of railroad 

To end this introductory post, as kids play with toys of rails and trains: both are featured in children stories which includes multi-media. 

But, let's look at mountains. We have covered rivers for a while. These carry water out of the higher elevations. Some of those elevations were troublesome to early travelers. 

The Wasatch Range
viewed from Jordan Campus of
Salt Lake Community College, March 2006

That brings up another topic, namely Trails. We will look at another (Mormon trail) as we add to the list of note, Oregon, California, Sante Fe. 

Nowdays, one can still take a train from Denver to the west coast. But, the plane schedules are literally 1000s a day domestically. 

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Postnote: Ships on water? That's how we got here. Movement by foot? Earlier inhabitants migrated without our conveniences. 

Remarks: Modified: 10/11/2026

10/11/2026 -- Review and edit. 

Butterfield, again

TL;DR -- The 250th even was, mostly, ink on paper. The turmoil was mostly after that day (though, we have the earlier times to remember, too). Later in the history of the country, technology brought ideas. Like, going from St. Louis to San Francisco (through the south, of course) and back. This post briefly looks at the segment that ran through the Choctaw Nation. This is our first of many coming posts on the eastern side of that long trek.  

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One thing that we expect is that as time goes on from the 250th start, we will be seeing stories related to the history of the U.S. and its people and events that start to have a more personal touch. 

We have mentioned in several posts about the regular coach run from St. Louis, MO to San Francisco, CA. Today, we just saw a post on FB (Diamond Station) about the first run of the coach, westward. It left St. Louis on 16 Sept 1858. As we have mentioned, it went down to TX and across to El Paso and then across lower NM and AZ into CA. Sometimes, it ventured into Mexico. A major stop was LA at the bottom of Bunker Hill West. Then, the coach went on up to San Francisco. After a quick breather, they turned around to go back, carrying people, mail, and small freight. 

This map is of a recent post about the route through the Choctaw Nation. The route went from Ft. Smith, AR to the "Red River" in TX via "Boggy Depot".That segment was 192 miles of the total distance of 2,800 miles of arduous travel. Most of our posts have been of the western side and mostly from El Paso onward. It will be a great change to look at the eastern portion. 

Butterfield route,
from AR to TX

We will be looking more closely at this segment with respect to the logistics of the times. This post sponsored by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma provides a lots of important information. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/30/2026

09/30/2026 -- Butterfield was of an old New England heritage; the line by him and his associates joined up with a regular route out of Houston that went through El Paso and west which was, again, of new England (kin). Butterfield's company had a station in LA in the area where the Mirror Company established itself; the eventual Times-Mirror Company published the LA Times. Details? Similar to what we know of the Pony Express, there was regular change of horses/mules (and wagons - as needed). The people traveling had little comfort. In fact, Mark Twain went out by a similar route over the northern landscape that was set up after the Civil War started (and stopped the Butterfield route - 1861), but took a ship back to the east coast. Whereas, by the time that R W Emerson went out, the railroad's line to the west coast had been established. Just considering the realities of the travel ought to be fully described to compare those days against our own. 

Philly

TL;DR -- Adaptability is a quality of life. With the 250th here, we have many ways to turn for material to consider.  Today, we let the announcement of the closing of a Museum give us pause as we consider the many roles of Philadephia. The public access might be stopped, but the Academy involved is now associated with Drexel University and will continue with its research. 

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Our focus was Essex County of MA in the beginning. Then, surrounding counties were added. And, the State of MA. And, then New England and its genealogical and historical perspectives. Then, the northeast was the area. A sidetrack of "All Things Gardner" came to be due to queries from researchers. Then, the approaching 250th got the whole of the US in perspective driven by the years after COVID where we focused on the interior plus the left coast way out there. 

This past summe, we saw this theme, time and again: visitors come in; want to bounce out from NY to LA. By car. In a few hours. The social media is full of videos with this theme. Having driven all over the country from there are lots of tales that can be told. 

That's the interesting thing now. Communications has come a long way. Some still talk "literature" in terms of research in the academic style. Books, in a row. Libraries. Hopefull, that will not quit. 

But, the new index is on the buckets'o'bits with a little more. The training has lots of the "literature" plus flim-flam from 20 years of collecting tidbits on the internet, say with social media. Screen scraping became a way of life (though not condoned nor seeming allowed). 

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Then the 250th came. Philadephia was the focus of activity then. We have had a few posts mentioning the town but will have more. 

Today, we mention an academy that was founded in 1812, in Philadelphia, with a museum that opened in 1828: Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences.  In 2011, the Academy became associated with Drexel University. 

The Academy and its collection will still exist, though the Museum is closing to the public on 30 Sep 2026. 

As we have mentioned, the 250th event kicked off seven plus years of special interest. Philadelphia will feature in this blog until 2040 (and after). That was when the U.S. Capital was moved over to Washington D.C. 

From the end of the conflict in 1783 to 1790, Philly will  have governed. Too, we can go back now and look at the pre-Revolution time from the perspective of Penn's town.   

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Back to the 250th, the President in 1812 was James Monroe from a southern state. In 1828, we saw the focus switch back north. The President was John Quincy Adams (cousin of Grizzly Adams). 

Remarks: Modified: 09/26/2026

09/26/2026 -- 

22 Sep 1692

TL;DR -- Streets of Salem published a post about this day and the hangings in Salem, MA of witches. We have had several posts on the subject. Two of those victims are in the pedigree chart of a TGS, Inc. Founder. 

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We have had several posts on witches: Gallows Hill (2019); Essex Recollections (2013); Pressing Day (2018); Imagine a meeting (2012); Meeting, again (2013); ...

Donna Seger wrote recently on the hangings of the 22nd in her blog, Streets of Salem. She pointed to several poems written about this day. 

At the top of Donna's post is a list of names, minus one which she adds later in her text. On that list are two names that are in the lineage. One was Mary Parker who was a widow with sons and property left her by her husband. 

Evidently, that property was motive. After the boys matured, they got their land back in court. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/25/2026

09/25/2026 --