Oregon, by land

 TL;DR -- Getting to Oregon, however done, was arduous. Today, we look at the land routes and note that the ordeals are subject of studies and have been for over a century. 

--

Oregon is in the west, nestled above California. They respect their history ought there so preservation of material is a common theme. Recently, the Oregon-California Trails Association had their meeting. 

There were several ways to get to the west coast and Oregon from New England. We covered the water route in several posts and articles: The Gardiner that was (2018). Gardiner's barque left Boston in July of 1849 and got to San Francisco in January of 1850. It had passengers and sold its freight at the harbor. There was a subsequent voyage to New Zealand. In October of 1850, the barque (Bostonian) wrecked along the Oregon Coast. 

Family members went out another route which was descent to Panama, getting across to the Pacific, and taking another ship north. The return trip was as arduous. We'll look at that further at some point. 

We have written a lot about the land route. As, for a while, the trail went through Gardner, KS (3 Trails, 2019) where it split with the Santa Fe Trail. Over time, as people got familiar with the Kansas City area, they ventured north on the Missouri River to where they could cut out KS and go through NE. This saved a few days. 

Young bucks in high fever were in a hurry to get to the gold field. 

On the journey through Nebraska, the traffic went by Scotts Bluff (Facebook). For now, we put in a photo of the new and the old way which is apropos. People still ride the trail; one of the east-west Interstate Highways runs through the area. So, a brief nod to technology. 

Eagle Rock and a solar car, 2022

Now, let's go further west and look at another split. In Wyoming, the US Government sponsored work to shorten the trip to California. Lander Road was the cutoff that was made. This bypass saved 60 miles for those going to California via the southern route through Idaho. 

Lots of trails crossed the countrry. We appreciate that folks keep up attention on these routes and work to preserve the historical aspects. We expect that the coming 250th of the country will see a surge of interest. At the same time, we need to keep technology on the beneficial side of things, especially with regard to its potential for aiding historical work. 

Remarks: Modified: 07/25/2024

07/25/2024 --    

OpEd, again, plus Salem

TL;DR -- We have two changes to explain and process. One deals with the Thomases.The other is about technology. But, we also will catch up with Salem and its 400th preparations. Then, OpEd as an interim device to keep coherence? We'll look at that. 

--

Recently, we looked at the status. Two changes were noted: 1) a new question arose - were there two Thomas Gardners?; 2) technology has become more interesting due to GenAI and will be a continuing focus for us into the future. 

Also, we looked at 2024 in which Chelsea has its 400th, then 2025 where Qunicy is the celebrant, and then 2026 with respect to Roger Conant moving the crew over to Salem. The first two towns are not in Essex County but in the Boston area and consists of lots of families. As mentoned, we will look at all towns with those in the County of Cape Ann getting special attention. 

Salem? We have written a lot about that coming event. For example, we had a post in Pageant of Salem (6 Jun 2018) which had family members playing their ancestors during the time of the 300th. The play was performed in several areas. Dr. Frank was one of the participants. We mentioned that the celebration was not long after the outbreak of Spanish Flu which dampened things a little. 

Sound familiar? We're not not past Covid with many issues (such as vacine, potential for yearly outbreaks, and more) still being discussed. 

We will pull together the posts about the Salem commerations and mark them as the first step of a restructuring. Mark with what? For starters, we will put those posts in the "OpEd" category (30 Dec 2023). We were reviewing the year. One thing that we marvelled about was the gall of releasing GenAI which was premature in so many ways. Right now, there seems to be potential raging. But, there will be a downturn from this hype, including reactions on the ca-pital-sino that is over 40K. 

You know, there is an adage that when one is getting tips on stock from those that are in the daily life, then a downturn is on the horizon. Okay, we had a major downturn in 2008 (thereabouts) which we saw up close. Since then, there have been several drops, but frankly we have going on 20 years of the "bull" side of things. 

A headline today touted at a GenAI era stock trading program is making lots of money. And, it's on the web/cloud for people to use. Remember crypto (of recent vintage - the bank failure)? This is similar. We also saw a pop last year of the stock of a company that was not worth the evaluation that accompanied the rise in its stock. The pop was due to gaming. We can go into detail, but it's the gist of matter that applies here. 

We will touch upon all aspects of computing and its value to our lives including specifics of advanced systems which is where we spent out life's energy. Along with that, we'll emphasize the mathematics that is involved. One good area to focus on would be machine learning. 

-----

Again, OpEd? What's that about? See Current Status (9 Feb 2024). Well, one might talk about fact and fancy. Or in betweeen? Okay, the binary logic is not how real life works. The computer's limits many times come from ignoring that basic truism of life. 

So, measurements, tolerances, evaluations, and such? Yes, all are appropriate. If we assume the two Thomases (pre-1635 and post-1635), we can look at either or both or not at all in our work. If you go back, we said long ago that we didn't know much. See What we know? (22 Nov 2012). 

Too, we found the marriage notice in 2014. So, we have been following the right path. Now, we need to go back through the whole of it and separate out the "fanciful" (even Dr. Frank's stuff prior to 1635) and collect them into a historical view. 

Salem's first fort (1629)

Then, the rest will be what carries to the next decision point. 

Oh yes, terms? We have conjectures and hypotheses that we will document. Too, what is a proof? That's an important issue related to technology as well as to humans and their lives. So, tackling the topics fits well within our mission. 

---

A focus on Salem (Learn about Salem's History - 400th Salem).  We'll get into this more as we go along, but these are links related to our research. 

• Massey's Cove (16 May 2019) 
• Enduring Gloucester (30 May 2021)
• Where was Thomas? (27 Jan 2012) 
• ...

This is "OpEd" just to include it in the list of earlier posts so that we can collect all of the posts which need some revision. That revision might be a foreward, explaining the situation. 

Remarks: Modified: 07/16/2024

07/16/2024 --    

Maturity, mathematics

TL;DR -- GenAI is a hot topic. Has been for more than a year. But, what is there? Some think it's great; others see worries forming. Many don't care. Yet, it represents something important. 

--

For over a year, we have argued that people ought to not exult too much about Gen AI. Here is a summary of the points that were being made.

• Providers - those who let loose immature software without due regard to consequences. This war started right before 2023 in Nov of 2022.
• Users - almost immediately, the launch of a package with "free" access set the world aflame. There were millions (10s of millions, eventually 100s of millions) who signed up. You know, I didn't become aware until 1 Feb 2023. That's two months later. What was the draw? 
• Insight issues - as early as a week after the release, one brain at The Atlantic noted that this stuff was for fun and games; it could not do serious work. That theme played out the whole year of 2023 and even until now. Along with these two camps we saw the scientific minds trying to understand its ways and uses; too, engineers pondered use in a mature sense. 
• Myself - I got involved since people were talking about how badly these things did simple math. I took it further and compared ChatGPT with Mathematica. Yeap. It's not even close. But, Wolfram saw the potential for the thing as an interface; he tied ChatGPT with the langauge of his system and showed that LLM (the other side of this coin) was a terrific frontend to major systems. That has now been done in many situations. Wolfram took it further and increased his work on adding knowledge of physics to his system. My counsel was that these buckets of bits with their novelty were really examples of applied mathematics in action but lead to abuse quickly since the underlying mathematics is complicated. Too, it's easily misused (please keep reading).   

Let's stop there as we want to get to the gist of this post and can expand upon this list as the discussions continue. 

A few days ago, a paper was submitted to arXiv by researchers at several institutions. arXiv is supported by Cornell University and allows quick publication of research results. This graphic was built from the contents of, and is included as a figure in, the article: Beyond Euclid: An Illustrated Guide to Modern Machine Learning with Geometric, Topological, and Algebraic Structures. 

As I have been reviewing the situation plus exercising a few of the GenAI variety of system, I recall my experience with KBE (knowledge based engineering) about which I will be writing further. Also, I wrote articles on the subject: 1st -- AI, not solely machine learning (11 Dec 2023). This seems late, but I wanted to be thorough. I just started the fifth of the series which has no expected ending. 

In several forums, I have argued that we need to lift out the mathematics to public view and scrutiny. Okay, some might see this math as magical. Some will not. In fact, we can explain as needed, just like Einstein said that he could explain his relativity theory to his grandmother (or ought to be able to). This article is an attempt at that and a very good one. 

Let's see that this type of thing becomes an area of research and study. 

Wait, on the other hand, I also argued that we are dealing with buckets of bits that are good at pulling our leg. We can explain the phenomena behind the effects that we see. There is no creature involved that is emerging to take over. GenAI is no closer to a "Singularity" causing issues than anything else that we have seen.  

Heck, we humans can do that ourselves (evidence abounds). 

Next up, I am going to write more on KBE and its history as well as the evolution of CAD/CAE and other computationally assisted systems with computing over the past few decades. 

----

Hint: I may as well get it off of my chest. My focus is truth engineering. There are reasons for that. One is that people are involved with the judgments that involve truth. We cannot compute truth. Nor, can we know it outright, in general. Truth is a private experience. Now, then, computing and truth? Let me just mention a few concepts that we will look at further: homogeneity (this is a strong assumption being taken without a basis many times; and ignored that I can see, many times - lots to discuss); equivariance (yes, fiddling, fudging, force fit - I will use the 777 and its success in attaining "fit" as well as meeting form and function - that is, it was the first attempt at complete (not met) digital design; and the metrics accomplishment, it was real - in this paper, the mention of the concept can be found in references and in one area where Lie algebra plays a role); geometry, topology, algebra (there are more subjects to bring to proper attention, such as category theory, dynamics (various sorts), and more). Essentially, as Poincare noted, mathematics is a huge subject. What's been associated so far with this approach of computing is a small subset, yet it got attention due to the unexpected ability to bring results that got our attention. So, computing got more powerful? We are so far from truth that we have to step back and get more scholarly. 

Remarks: Modified: 07/19/2024

07/16/2024 --

Why is 2024 quiet?

TL;DR -- 2023 saw Gloucester, MA celebrate its founding in terms of arrival of a crew from England. 2024 continues that activity, somewhat. 

--

We have had several posts on Gloucester, MA who did their 400th last year. The Cape Ann crew arrived in 1623, overwintered, and others showed up in 1624. 

So, the modern Gloucester continues their celebration into the 2nd year. What happened to the TGS, Inc. involvement? We support their lookback. Dr. Frank and Ann have ancestors who were with the original crew. Two that come to mind are Conant and Woodbury. There are other families. 

What of Thomas Gardner? In 2018, there was an article that we commented at: The Settlement of Cape Ann: What is the Real Story?

300th celebration of the
Cape Ann arrival

Recently, we commented again. Here is the content of our comment: 

A year ago, we were chasing information related to the appearance of GenAI. That kept us busy. In the meantime, a researcher found the birth records of all of Thomas Gardner’s children in Sherborn, Dorset, UK.

See https://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/2023/04/in-summary.html (Apr of 2023).

We added a few more words this year as we absorbed news of a changing world.

See https://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/2024/02/current-status.html (Feb of 2024).

The technology work continues. It’s time to get back to Thomas Gardner and Margaret Frier. On WikiTree, the profile of Thomas was split into two. Daughter, Seeth, was born here. So, did they arrive around 1636? That’s the 1st Thomas. The 2nd one is for the unknown Thomas Gardner who was here according to scattered pieces of information that we have seen.

I argue that there was time for Thomas to come over and go back between births of two of the children. There are various ways to continue the research. It’s time to get this on the plate, I would think.

https://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/2023/12/thomas-gardner-puzzle.html

https://thomasgardnersociety.org/html/Research.html

....  end of comment .....

So, we have research to do. And, we are reconstructing our sites and blogs to fit the story. 

With respect to Thomas and Margaret, we will be looking for evidence that he came over here alone, at least twice, before he came over with Margaret and the children except Seeth who was born here. 

In the meantime, watch WikiTree for commentary and research results as well as our legacy site. 

Now, Chelsea, MA has its 400th this year. We will look at that shortly since the date is set for September 21. There have been activities so far this year that we can catch up on. 

Also, there are other towns to celebrate over several years: Quincy (2025); Salem (2026). 

400ths for Massachusetts 

Remarks: Modified: 07/14/2024

07/14/2024 -- Aside: the Salem History for the 400th does not mention Gardner. The 300th had a focus on the old planters who were not of the group associated with the Beverly land grant. The 200th would have been after the Revolution and 1812 Conflict and probably muted. The 100th? Worth looking into. And so, for the 500th, will we have something to add? As in, look to fill in some of the missing pieces. 

Gardner Beacon, Issues

TL;DR -- Before we publish GB XIV, 1 and 2, we take a look at the fourteen years of Gardner Beacon issues. Some of the PDF files have been republished with links. That effort will continue until they are all updated. 

--

Yes, we are in our fourteenth year with our first issue being in May of 2011. One thing to notice is that the blog has "Gazette" in the name. We were leaning toward that but changed to "Beacon" for several reasons, one of these does point back to Winthrop's sermon in which he used the "City on the hill" phrase. 

We have an Index from the beginning. For every issue (using GB I, 1), we had the blog post (above link) and a PDF (with a link to a print version) at our Heritage site. For the first four issues, we had a Sources file which gave some sense of the provenance of the material. Two years ago, we started to redo the PDF to include links to the material being discussed.   

At the same time, we created a mobile-friendly version of the issue using WordPress which was an improvement on the HTML/CSS experiment that we did earlier. This happened when Google announced that they would not link in their search results to sites that were noncompliant. This was the 2015 timeframe. 

Since then, we went with a more adaptable method using HTML/CSS/Javascript as we see with the portal (TGSoc.org) which was quite interesting in terms of doing custom sites. The trend has started toward the look-alike type that has become so prevalent. There is a lot to discuss about using these, but let's put that off, for a while. As the topic will be important in the near future as the world shakes out the influence of technological changes that came about with no seeming forethought. 

Now, before going on to  GB XIV, 1, this table shows the list of issues where we are tracking the conversion of the issue to the PDF with links. The exercise allows us to review the past fourteen years in terms of content through time. 

-----

Curation will be more important in the future than it ever was. The following effort allows us to go to all of the issues and link to material that can be considered source. 

         Track updates to GB issues, Published  

• 2011 Vol. I No. 1; Vol. I, No. 2; Vol. I, No. 3; Vol. I, No. 4; Vol. I, No. 5
• 2012 Vol. II, No. 1; Vol. II, No. 2; Vol. II, No. 3; Vol. II, No. 4; Vol. II, No. 5; Vol. II, No. 6
• 2013 Vol. III, No. 1; Vol. III, No. 2; Vol. III, No. 3; Vol. III, No. 4
• 2014 Vol. IV, No. 1; Vol. IV, No. 2; Vol. IV, No. 3; Vol. IV, No. 4
  
• 2015 Vol. V, No. 1; Vol. V, No. 2
  
• 2016 Vol. VI, No. 1; Vol. VI, No. 2
  
• 2017 Vol. VII, No. 1; Vol. VII, No. 2
  
• 2018 Vol. VIII, No. 1; Vol. VIII, No. 2
• 2019 Vol. IX, No. 1; Vol. IX, No. 2; Vol. IX, No. 3 
• 2020 Vol. X, No. 1; Vol. X, No. 2 
• 2021 Vol. XI, No. 1; Vol. XI, No. 2
• 2022 Vol. XII, No. 1; Vol. XII, No. 2; Vol. XII, No. 3
  
• 2023 Vol. XIII, No. 1; Vol. XIII, No. 2;
  

Since 2022, we have published with WordPress

Vol. XII, No. 1; Vol. XII, No. 2; Vol. XII, No. 3
Vol. XIII. No. 1; Vol. XIII, No. 2; 

--------------

After we complete this exercise, we will go back and determine where we need to publish a correct due to the change in status of the information. That is, what impact does finding the records of births of the children in Sherborne, Dorset, UK have on the issues? We expect that we'll include a link to an error-correcting blog post that will be availabe with lists of contents and indeces. 

Remarks: Modified: 07/13/2024

07/13/2024 -- One issue relates to starting the new blog in WP. In the focus on content, a couple of configuration steps were not completed. One of these dealt with comments. That was no problem for two years. GenAI's general emergence in 2024, as 2023 was a period of getting familiar with the phenomenon, allowed easier programming, such as hacking out comments. The comments accumulated by the 1000s, slowly down response. That stream has stopped; all existing comments were deleted. Hence, response is now as expected. Comments can be sent to: jmswtlk@tgsoc. org. 

Next two years

TL;DR -- The next two years have major historic connections. One is of the old country. The later is the start of the new one. 

---

Two things, with more later. On Quora, I was reading a comment by a Berkeley grad (see first bullet) and thought so use this post from 2015. 

• Vicissitude and life's puzzles (June 2015) -- I had gone to a talk by Douglas Richardson. This post had a  link to his site. Today, it didn't work. Okay, that's going to be a common thing on the web along with the intentional (many times) introduction of mis(dis)information. So, I go looking for information on DR. Turns out that Wikipedia has a page (Note: Wikipedia, being human curated, is going to serve a savior role for some time). So, in our post, I changed the link for DR to his page on Wikipedia. Too, I was reminded that he was a Berkeley graduate. 

With respect to this, the Magna Charta involvement by Henry III will be celebrated next year. More on that later. 

• The 250th of the U.S. (list of posts) -- We have had several posts.    
  

D.A.R. has been involved for almost a decade in the planning. One action was to have a committee that helped get difficult applications documented. That work got us to realize that there is something needing study on a continual basis: America's Lost Generation. We have seen a lot of this type of thing. Fortunately, we have found the committee's help to be of great value to Ann's work. 

Remarks: Modified: 07/11/2024

07/11/2024 --

Recap of sorts

TL;DR -- Recap of, at least, 20 years. Actually, it's more. GenAI rests on a foundation that goes back to the 1950s, and before. 

---

Getting involved for several reasons in things that  have been there but were not active. So, what happened? Things come and go. Focus goes from one thing to another. Wait long enough, and the cycle brings things back. 

Not talking me, as I multitask, anyway, and, for the most part, pay attention to status as well as state of affairs, and being. 

AIn't is a hot topic. Okay, again? Now, I want to talk about tAIn't which is the state of affairs with regard to GenAI's influence on the world for over 18 months now. Too, an old colleague has a new thing going which I'm paying attention to and supporting. 

So, a recap as a point in time event. 

• Summary of writings -- This was first written a few years ago, in order to have something to push up to academia[.]edu which publishes on-line material as well as supports discussion. It starts from when I retired and covers blogs, which are referenced in the following. It also includes information about the work with TGS, Inc. (the sponsor of this blog). This summary will be updated regularly. 
• AI, more than ML -- This effort started in 2023 when I found out about ChatGPT about two months after the rest of the world. Would you believe that I was comfortable working my "truth engineering" aspects and not paying attention? Would you also consider that after I stopped to see what the hype was about, I thought: they crapped on the world and people are eating it up? Well, I made a comment on Linkedin and got in contact with my old boss at Sperry. He was head of development and quite knowledgeable about the topic as well as having major experiences in computation since its beginning. After some interchange to catch up, we put out a few articles and have more on the way. For me, "truth engineering" is the focus which needs to be explained in more details. That is in the works.  

• 

  Einstein Experiment

  7'oops7 -- The link goes the second post that was published in 2007. This was the second blog that I started and covered issues related to complex systems. Early on, the focus was the Boeing 787. Later, the focus spread out to finance and other areas where we see failures and consequencees of these on a regular basis. Speaking of which, we're on the verge of similar disturbances which will cover lots of parts of life formerly not bothered, so much. I referenced the partner blog in the last bullet. So, after I found out about Gen AI, I took the time to reevaluate all that I knew, diving deep into the mathematics. So, people, we're see a chimera whose consequences may be more dire than we might want. But, who can foretell the future? Science cannot. At best, it proposes some results that can be analyzed in the sense of determining pass or fail for an experiment. On the other hand, we can show where things go awry and intend to demonstrate this. It'll take some time. 

So, those three bullets go a logn way. The "Summary ... " points to a lot. Now, we'll be going forward. This post will be kept updated as we go along. I am studying my notes that are not digitized. Or, it maay have been in digital format at one time but we don't have a copy. 

There is a lot of work that show results but which does not have the documentation that goes with an acadeemic study. So, since I know specifics to discuss, I'll write up general aspects that apply to the current situation. 

Or, old age will slow me down. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/30/2024

06/30/2024 --

Eighty-eighth

TL;DR -- LA, again, with a supposed view from 1888 which shows the development at the time given alongs side with a later view with a building built in 1893 which is still standing. Bunker Hill comes into vierw, of course. 

--

So, LA a town of tales? It might seem that way since it's the hub of creative efforts out of Hollywood. Wasn't there a movie with "LALA Land" in the title if memory is correct? 

We have written of Bunker Hill west a bit. The original motive was due to the progression of change that came with the Revolution, start of the U.S., the westward movement (by land and by sea) and then the fast pace of change seen everywhere. One of these changes was the eruption on the landscape of high-rise building. LA has a few which block sunsets for quite a few folks. The mountains always blocked sunrise on the east. 

Not long after the west opened, with St. Louis as an organizing center, traffic flowed from early trappers to fur traders and then land seekers with remnants of these changes all across the country. Tales abound that need to be told. Leaping to the coast is easily thrown in as both LA and its cousin up north, SF, were major ports. From there, people moved inland. See Napa Valley pioneer. Ann's lineage has developers in both California and Florida. 

But, there was another motive which deals with memory. John worked and lived in DTLA in the early '60s when the City Hall's height was a limit. Too, DTLA was bustling without being a canyon (out west, these are usually associated with some waterway) city. The mountains were majestic and visible. For a while, they seem to disappear with the appearance of smog. But, this year, we have seen lots of winter views from the DTLA area. John's main work are as the Times-Mirror building, but he was in lots of downtown buildings where he picked up or delivered "ad" copy for coming editions. John lived at the base of Bunker Hill, or on Bunker Hill, or to the west (northwest) of DTLA on the shore of the Westlake near MacArthur park. UCLA had an extension in DTLA with regular classes.

And, DTLA is getting attention due to the internet's abilities to allow photos to be shown and localities to be discussed. Like one area not far from DTLA and higher. One sees the old LA in the streets and dwellings with huge monoliths blocking the view. One of our posts showed the City Hall surrounded by land being developed and a corner not far away which we named as "High rise corner" in honor of the effort. That post also has a snap from Google maps showing the relative shadows of these prominences. That is, how long is the shadow? Fortunately, the density is such that a blue view is not obstructed for long. 

We'll show three photos that go along with this theme. These photos come from archives at the Library or at the Water and Power Associates. 

Now, another purpose for the interest is that we need to get these photos out and described before GenAI's artificial view of the world is replaced. Case in point? There's a photo of supposed 1901 LA that shows this sparse setup. But, we know from drawings of the time of Butterfield that there were buildings in the area that we show below. Too, efforts at the tunnels such as the on on 3rd street were going on for a long time. 

Okay, to the photos. Let's first look at the Bradbury building which was built in 1893. In the '60s, it was one of the many business buildings in DTLA. 

Bradbury building, DTLA

Let's take a look at the area in 1880s. The view is looking toward Bunker Hill northwest along 3rd Street. 

3rd Street, DTLA, 1880s
looking toward Broadway

From this view, it's apparent that DTLA had many buildings prior to 1901 (on that photo, we need to look at its provenance and try to pinpoint how it was created - that will be a common theme in the future). Jumping forward, here is that same view in the modern era. 

3rd and Broadway, DTLA

The old Bradbury building still looks good. 

Along this line, we saw two photos that were troublesome since we haven't paid close attention. The Mission at San Gabriel (1771) from which area on can see the high rises of DTLA was burned by arson. It's been repaired. But, what was lost? Same goes for the Library which is not far from the area shown in these photos. It was burned twice with 1,000s of books and articles lost. BTW, here's a view of that building from Wikipedia. 

Central Library (1926)

Notice the neighbood. One of the first high-rises went up in the Libary's space due to some maneuverings. One might say, a little knowledge can go a long way (up). Whatever. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/30/2024

06/30/2024 -- The district was Westlake. In the title, changed "eigth" to "eighth" which will be there anyway, in the file name. Comes from multitasking in a non-linear fashion. Try not to get too "linear" without perturbing things. Not that I can't (tensors are a known phenomenon - know their limitations, as well). 

README and more

TL;DR -- README! Such a minor thing. It's age old. We don't seem to know where it started. But, it relates to the world of code. It's nice that GitHub, old ways being new with the internet and worldwideweb. In any case, now AI has put its wannabe head into code from various positions. We have payed sporadic attention and thought that it deserves a more regular focus. 

--

We have mentioned GitHub (Wikipedia overview) several times since around the 2020 timeframe. Our latest post was motivated by an email feed from the GitHub team that related to an article on those who maintain code. That role was always seen as less important than the "cowboy" roles of the developer. 

Stopping a minute. GittHub is an on-line example of what can be termed code management. This type of facility/utility evolved over the years until it's a fairly robust addition to good business practices. Some have used CMS for this type of work. However, we have had lots of posts about Content Mangement and will continue. AI modes will require extra efforts at curating. So, stay tuned.  

Now, back to the "cowboy" (apologies to the real type). Guess what? Lots of developers put stuff out and strutted off the stage like the stud. Oh, btw, this is an old guy writing who has seen this stuff for decades. And, after strutting off, the stud left the errant traces of his work for other to clean up after. Much like the mother after her kids. 

Mixed metaphors, I know. But continuing. I'm working with a project that will try to incorporate AI modes (we'll be more specific later) into a new system which is supposed to revolutionize the economy, as a whole. Large piece of pie to bite from. Anyway, I will still blog though I'll be going to other blogs and linking from those back to here. 

Another bit of interest? GitHub and OpenAI have been working for awhile on a Copilot which is supposed to aid in developmenr or general code management. This joint work started in 2021 which was a year before the general release of ChatGPT. BTW, if you are wondering what this is about, see a brief history of GPT. The author writes about research on AI (mainly machine learning). 

Again, back to the subject. Today's mail pointed to this discussion: How are AI coding tools changing the way developers work? This is from the maintainers group referenced above. In reading the text of the discussion, there were some things that stood out. One was this: AI might not write a book, but it can write a good paragraph. 

Before proceeding, though, a couple of words. Yes, one can drive a small nail with a sledge hammer. But, it's a mismatch of need and what's being used to fulfill the need. Too, AI (GenAI, in particular) is hugely chewing up resources. For what? They need large data centers that requires an unwarranted amount of energy. Too, they need water for cooling. And, more. They're noisy. They make the landscape other than desirable. Go look at those that surround the lovely Virginia countryside of Dulles (IAD). 

So, reading the article was interesting. I went to look at their site and saw that this group started to publish in April of 2023. That would have been when the reality of ChatGPT and its kin was sinking in which was a mere five months after the release. As a reminder, OpenAI went viral and got millions of people to sign up for the free ttrial. Too, lots of folks bought in, including companies. 

All of that will eventually be analyzed. I started last year in another context: Knowledge Systems Center, Sperry Univac. As mentioned in the last post, I have been off helping to support a project as it gets off the ground. So, there are pending tasks that will be picked up again. 

Now, the effort at GitHub is called The ReadME Project. Coders have used a README forever, it seems. Software usually had this text file that included some documentation, or information about using the software, and more. So, does Wikipeda say anything about the README? Yes. 

Now back to the GitHub project. Here is a little bit of the notices sent since they started. AI itself has only come into focus the past few of these. 

• 06/26/2024 - AI is here. How is it changing the way developers work?
• 05/23/2024 - Maintainer Month: The joy of open source
• 04/17/2024 - Getting started in a career in platform engineering
• 03/12/2024 - Intelligent uses for AI in coding
• 02/13/2024 - Best practices for open source maintainers
• 01/09/2024 - Creating technical content
• ...
• 08/01/2023 - Getting started with edge computing | The ReadME Project Q&A
• 07/13/2023 - How to make your first open source contribution
• 07/10/2023 - How to handle programming paradigm shifts | The ReadME Project Q&A
• ...
• 06/13/2023 - Non-code contributors: The unsung heroes of open source
• 05/25/2023 - Elevating contributors into maintainership | The ReadME Project Q&A
• 05/09/2023 - Is it still "open source" if you don't accept contributions?

For an old timer, seeing all of this progress is a pleasure. There are several caveats which come from doing this for years including stints in the plush offices dealing with management and its science (if there is such). Evidence of this is becoming apparent to me. People, the key resource, are being driven to distraction and worse being slaves of automation. Oh, I would write more and will. Not just now. 

This year, I saw USDOD mention that people and their intuition ought to be the focus, not the computational twin that is a wannabe, many times over. All of this may seem new. It's not and has been going on for a long while. What's new? We can't hide the realities so much under proprietary cloaks when the evidence are huge monoliths traipsing along our skyline and blocking our rightful views ;>). 

Remarks: Modified: 06/27/2024

06/27/2024 --

New technology

TL;DR -- GenAI seems to have gone into the background of ubquitous stuff. Well not. Methods for future sanity preservation are still there on the table for identification and resolution. The game has changed, though, as what can one believe now? Concern for the state of affairs ought to be in the attention of all, top to bottom and back up. That is one of our focal points. 

--

John has been involved in a project for a couple of months about which he will write later. So, as with any type of involvement, it takes time and energy. Hence, the post count went down here. But, we're still paying attention. 

The past year has caused many to reflect on technology. GenAI's emergence and chaotic nature are subjects that will be needing attention. But, there's a lot more. Just the computer, in general, needs to be better understood with respect to its history and its impact on our lives and on the world in general. 

Some of late took the task of arguing that people are less smart than computers. That debate is old. Expec that we'll be weighing in on the discussion. For now, though, we'll collect links to material of interest. 

The discussion will look at history which is in our scope. Computers can be dated to about the 1950s though one could go back further. There is a definite bit of periods that can be seen. Take the 21st century, post Y2K, things on the internet (TCP/IP) got interesting. We have some post on that having started in 2007 on other subjects and getting the TGS blog going in 2010. 

Over the past 24 years, we can mark where technology influeenced computing. The 2008 release of the Apple Phone is a major step. Since then, we have seen several changes of a major scale come into play. One of these deals with the "clouds" of the realm, though GSA (the U.S. Government's purchasing department) said okay to the cloud for [.gov] systems way back in 2005.  

So, here are disparate posts that associate. There will be more. 

• 
  This is from the Communications of the ACM, however it's based upon a report by the DOD of the US: Human Intuition and Algorithmic Efficiency Must Be Balanced to Enhance Data Mesh Resilience. I love the image, somewhat. The human as the key is a great decision. Too, the bright spot (say, our Sun and its wonders) represents many things. But, the mesh is without limit in its meaning. All of the GenAI and about everything that is computationally framed is now using linear methods of mathematics. Let's look at that (below). So, there is no AI in the buckets of bits. We have used "AIn't" are are serious in that. This article references the U.S.Army, but we will go into the original government studies. BTW, be aware that the Air Force has a One Model project now that seems to be conttra to this theme by the DOD. Well, not exactly, as it deals with the coming emphasis (actually old) on simulation. 
  
• Herbert Simon was there at Dartmouth in the '50s meeting. The link is to his retrospective and has a few pages that one can preview. So, AIn't can be related to his work and that of many others. They, of course, have the right to use AI; I am merely calling them on carpet for washing over the details that are important. These things can be explained better. It's time for mature folks to step up and do the work. 
• Along that line, I was reminded of Simon when reviewing this blog of Brian Keng: Book Impressions - 2019. He mentioned his reactions to Simon's book. I went to look for an on-line copy (prior bullet). Now, Brian's blog is Bounded Rationality. Brian is a professor who teaches the techniques of machine learning. Also, he plays around with and writes about this field. Too, he explains the mathematics as it comes up. Example: Tensors, Tensors, Tensors. You will see this topic in lots of the technical discussions. Some of this interest came up with AlphaGo which got a lot of press for Google. After all, that was major; we have to admit that we took a pause to see what the clamor was all about after all it dealt with games and not real life. (Note: as we go on, yes, that theme is there. John is going to use a patent write up and his experiences on a project to discuss knowledge based engineering and how it could have helped GenAI in a mature mode. But, those types of mismatches are generational. Learning how to manage this is on our (the whole of the planet) table. Anyway, Nvidia is the hot topic now. Lots of the machine learning progress came from their GPU which was built for gaming and graphics being converted over to handle large linear systems. Tensors, of course, are a generalization of this. And, by meeting the constraints of the assumptions (problems there, okay?), one gets good bookkeeping in computation (meaning, less programming and testing) plus the control mechanisms that are associated as the system does the work of remembering and tracing through all of the computations so that one almost can forget of vertigo and other types of lack of decision choice that is amenable to resolution on the fly. So, Brian's work is wonderful in operationa and as an example. 
• Want to see an older attempt which still resonates? How about Continuum Mechanics and Fracture Mechanics. Bob McGinty is a retired PhD who worked as a PE. In the CM blog,he goes into the basic mathematics which involves the level attained for an engineering bachelors. I said older, but Bob's pages applied the advances of the time as he notes: 
• Two relatively new web technologies are used on these pages. The first is Scalable Vector Graphics, or SVG. Pages on this site will display SVG files in compatible browsers, and PNG files in incompatible ones. The advantage of SVG over PNG is that SVG graphics can be scaled to any size without the onset of pixelization. SVG files used here were created using Inkscape, an excellent graphics program available free on the internet here. 
• The second new technology used here is MathJax, a Javascript based display engine for mathematical equations programmed in the LaTeX language. MathJax eliminates the need to display equations as GIF or PNG graphics files (or even SVG for that matter). 

Of late, we have noticed stale pointers. Some of these come quickly due to the use of temporary links in various web sites. After all, nothing hangs around forever. Others of the missing pages are due to sites disappearing. We have paid attention and will made attempts at presenting material so as to lessen the event of the infamous 404. Of course, 404 (and related) handling will be part of the work, to boot. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/26/2024

06/26/2024 --

National Rose Month

 TL;DR -- We are trying to have a monthly theme related to remembrance. June has Roses on its list. 

-- 

Last year, we started a list of topics for a regular awareness by month; in November, we honored American Native American heritage month. Every month has a list of topics to remember. In the US, May has Mother's Day. Then, June has Bride's month and Father's Day. 

But, June is also the Month for Roses. They're blooming in many parts of the U.S. which has quite a variety of zones for plants. Let's look at these as defined by the USDA (/Department of Agriculture). 

Hardiness zones 

Many botanical gardens in the US have sections where roses are grown and shown. Too, there are societies devoted to study and appreciation of the plant. For those wanting to grow roses themselves, one option is to put in bare rooted plants. 

• American Rose Society 
• 3,000 Rose Garden, Hershey PA  
•  American Horticulture Society
•  Shippers of bare root plants
• Jackson & Perkins 
• High Country Roses
  
•  Roses (Wikipedia)  

----

Finally, back to genealogy and history, we leave with the painting of the rose choice in the garden. 

Wars of the Roses

Earlier, we wrote of the the Wars of the Roses as an example of motivations (Origina - motivations) for leaving England. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/07/2024

06/07/2024 --

NEHGS Events

TL;DR -- We like the NEHGS which has been there since the 1830s and had many illustrious members, such John Quincy Adams. So, NE is in its name. But, it has been extending its reach. Okay, we like that. Let's compare notes. 

-- 

This post looks at several events so as to tie together what might be disparate research but really is cohesive, or will be in the longer run. We have noticed ads about the types of events events offered by the NEHGS from time to time. Some have raised thought of joining. Have not yet. But, we have attended several meetings of various groups of the  Hereditary Society Community which meet in the spring in D.C. 

Now, the recent three events scheduled by the NEHGS shown here are very much appealing. For one thing, we have had lots of posts mentioning both Northern and Southern California. Both of us have lived in the State and have family in the area. The history of both of these areas shows lots of New England influence. There is more on that later in the post. 

The NEHGS meetings in CA will be in Oakland (June 8th) and Los Angeles (June 9th) this weekend. The LA event will be held in San Marino. That specific reference is necessary due to the sprawl of LA. 

NEHGS in CA 

NEHGS has been slowly expanding its reach out of New England over the past decade or so. This is reflected in their databases. For instance, it was nice to see information brought forth on Virginia and the Northwest (which is really the mid-west). Now, with CA on the radar, we can expect to see more focus on the large interior that was covered in the frontier century. 

The reality is more than the flyover country that became popular, recently, brought by the technology of aircraft. In the areas between the coasts, we deal with real people. But, just as that theme comes up, we see that the NEHGS has found one of the libraries in the interior. 

Independence, MO

In August of this year, they'll be in MO where the trails came through the trails came through. The library has been a great assest to the region where, btw, Harry S. Truman's Presidential Library can be found as well as other historical notions that ought to be remembered. 

Like, across the Missouri River in KS is where we find that John Brown caused some turmoil. Kansas was a Massachusetts which can be seen in Lawrence. John had supporters in New England. Thomas W. Higginson wrote of his visit to the area before the Civil War. 

-----

Let's get back to LA and defer more discussion to a later time about CA and SF. A recent post continued our look at Bunker Hill West (US History, details) we brought up the theme of details of someone's existence that is not related to the paper chase of genealogy. We will continue on that theme as it relates to our interest in technology and how it's being abused of late. 

But, technology is great, as well. Let's just use good old curated publishing as an example. Lots of the research to date has been looking at things known personally. Like, John lived in the Bunker Hill area for a while as a young worker. Given the work of the TGS, Inc. which has a focus on Essex County, for one thing, we have followed families as they went west. Too, the influence of New England is of interest and seems to have no end. 

Along that line, we can use Wikipedia's work to stop, look and listen (that's an old adage with regard to train tracks in the west - out where signs may be minimal). 

• Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) - this page has been seriously updated with new information since 2020 which is partly due to COVID. People were home and wanted to do something. In this case, the History section has increased significantly. We will go through this more thoroughly, but it does provide names of thsoe who were there at the time. We see missing names. Say, Butterfield who ran a stage-line from St. Louis, MO through upper TX and along the southern border (through Tucson, AZ) to LA. His stages stopped near the building that housed the LA Times for whom John worked while going to UCLA. (see post Mirror Building). Part of Butterfield's work met up in El Paso with a southern line started by someone from the Giddings family of Ipswich, MA. Like we noted, the stories are endless. 
• El Pueblo de Los Angeles - several buildings exist from the New Spain era. La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles is an example. We had a post about the area with LA City Hall in view in one of the photos (see post Old LA and the U.S.. One can also see the City Hall (which was remarkable for its time and was the limit for buildings - the high-rise phenomenon came about when that was repealed) is also visible from Olvera Street
  
• Bunker Hill (we added the "west") as it's named for the Boston landmark and cultural icon of the U.S.) - fortunately, photos exist that were taken at various times throughout the history. Now, the southern part of the Hill is high-rise laden. The Hill itself was scarfed several times but seriously so in the 1970s to make way for the skyline makers. Yet, there were elegant and quite remarkable buildings in the area. At least, the Angels Flight rail was saved through a dismantle, store during reconstruction, and then put back into place. 
  
• St. Vibiana - this was an early Cathedral whose building from the 1870s still stands. There had been some earthquake damage, but mostly it's there as an events center. There is a newer building up on the Hill (appropriately along Temple Avenue): Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels that has remarkable architectural features and serves the role of the former building. 

This post looked at NEHGS's work and then pulled the focus to LA specifics. We'll do the same for San Francisco, later. When we do that, the original look will be at the Presidio which is of New Spain. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/04/2024

06/04/2024 --

Napa Valley pioneer

TL;DR -- Ships brought people to CA. So, ship people settling in CA would be expected. We look at one Salem family, descendant of Thomas Gardner, who pioneered in Napa Valley's Oak Knoll district. 

--

Can we write too much of California? It was the environs of New Spain but had New England influence not too long after Jefferson's deal. We have looked at Los Angeles a bit due to the Butterfield Stage Line that started in St. Louis and went to San Francisco via Los Angeles, and prior to that Tucson and El Paso. San Francisco was of interest due to the Gold Rush plus the Presidio which was established in the era of New Spain. Then, we have looked at the early arrivers who were mountain men and trappers.  

Today, we will use an article from Melissa Berry due to its theme: Photo Album of California Pioneers (part 1). Of coursel, these pioneers were going to an already established place, namely New Spain. But, it is good that the photo albums of CA are being used. Melissa names the families which include some from Salem and Nantucket. Bowditch and Gardner are on the list. 

The article shows the following photo of the Napa Valley vineyards which were in the Oak Knoll District. The website for the Vintners of the district gives some history of the involvement of Capt. Joseph W. Osborne. 

Joseph W. Osborne's vineyards

Be sure to visit the photo album at the site of The Society of California Pioneers.

Remarks: Modified: 05/31/2024

05/31/2024 --

US History, details

TL;DR -- The first photo show several things that are of interest. We only mention a few. Like, the beginning of Sunset Blvd that goes out from near Union Station to the beach. Too, curators continue to provide photos of areas of LA during differnt periods. LA can conserve. It does (has) not, lots of times. 

---

We will keep to a detailed view of history. Mainly, we look for forgotten stuff. So, let's get back to a couple of examples. One deals with real life and real estate. The other is real but pretains to bits which we now deal with in mountains upon mountains. 

Okay, we have written of Bunker Hill West. Our latest post, Old LA and the US, looked at an area near Union Station. In one photo, City Hall was visible. It's from the late 1920s and is a reference point. Another looks at a Church that started in the 1700s and was rebuilt in 1861: La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles. It is still there. So, LA can conserve. 

This photo was taken in the 1950s as the freeway was worked. You can see the Union Station and the Church. Another landmark? Sunset Boulevard starts there. In this photo, near the Church. 

1950s, highway work
near Union Station, LA in CA

If we went along that freeway for abit, we would get to Bunker Hill West. Let's look at a photo of the area where we can see buildings that were there in the 1950s, the same time of the highway work. 

This is along 2nd Street looking
eastward. Notice the top 
of City Hall. 

This is the way that DTLA looked a few years ago. Toward the right, one can see the City Hall tower. 2nd and Hope would be a couple of blocks north of where the group of buildings are to the left,  US101 runs just north of that area almost parallel with the streets, such as 2nd. 

View along 
Olive street

This Google Earth link goes to the view of OneWilshire which is the visible to the left of Olive as it is on Grand. 

The Google Earth is shown as lots of good information is now available through this medium that represents progress from the efforts of people along all sorts of domains of talent. We cannot go back, but we can find descriptions about the great buildings of Bunker Hill West. An example is Angelo Hotel (sketch) which was on Grand near Temple St. Many are working on this. 

Hopefully, curators will keep those silly, make-believe products of GenAI at bay and reduce the negative influences that are awaiting to happen. 

---

The above represents lots of remarkable work. We cannot name them all. But, an important one was covered in the latest IEEE Spectrum. There is a good story of the beginning of TCP/IP. If that isn't familiar, then the article will add in some detail. Too, we ought to know these events that left their markings. 

Just like we will remember the mischief let loose by Open AI in late 2022. Lots to discuss there. 

The 2022 IEEE Medal of Honor recipient envisioned the
               network of networks that became the Internet.

Remarks: Modified: 05/30/2024

05/30/2024 --

Maintainers

TL;DR -- GitHub has May as Maintainers Month where Open Source folks get together and compare notes as well as party. We say, maintainers are of all sorts, including those working what might be called legacy stuff. 

-- 

Maintainers? Who are they? What have they to do with TGS, Inc. and Gardner theme? 

Well, we are taking a technology focus. The NEHGS this month is touting how AI will change Genealogy. We say, wait a minute, folks. This stuff would work better if people knew what was going on under the covers. Right now, we have an uncertain situation due to choices by those pushing out this stuff. 

Take GenAI, please. The EU (yes, our European cousins) as telling OpenAI that their ChatGPT-4 is not suitable for real stuff. Myself? I looked at the latest verison and failed it with two questions. I wrote of it somewhere (will try to find this). Actually, folks, The Atlantic had it right in 2022 when the first release came about: toy not tool. 

Okay, the theme? We have had many post on technology. Some mentioned GitHub. So, that site is an example of handling code. What is involved with that? Well, code is developed. We can go into this but pass over it for now. When code is ready for use, it's executable plus there are copies of it in library form. That's the bailiwick of the likes of GitHub. One might say code management.

And, GitHub has May as Maintainer Month. In their version, the focus is on Open Source. That has become the norm where people keep a system/program going by offering their services, for free. Many of these people have jobs doing the same thing. John spent his career in code in a large variety of situations. "code maintenance" is important; its history is that the newbies get the task. 

But, as systems mature, more and more talent/experience is needed in order to keep it running and up to date. On the other hand, development of new stuff may be exciting. For a while, as no major system ever gets easier as it comes into being. Now, maintainign something that you did may be more fun. But, it's not easier, necessarily. 

So, we're nodding to code maintainers of all sorts. It'll be a necessary job now and into the future. Right now, "legacy" types are in serious needs of maintenance. 

Wait, GenAI as removing the need for people? Think again. Those doing that sort of thing, managers wanting something for nothing, will pay the price. Too, their customers will be impacted. It's too bad that there is a lack of maturity. But, we have to agree on how these things ought to be run. 

You know, GenAI is trained on code that has not been curated. Hence, errors are incorporated from the beginning. Let''s talk a realistic approach. Done right, it would go along the line of code "snippets" that John started doing long ago. As well, done right, we could track the history of major software and problems involved with such. That is, GenAI is a tool with insights that are artificial. It does not have insight which is the key deal. 

Remarks: Modified: 05/29/2024

05/29/2024 --

Memorial Day, 2024

TL;DR -- Following our Memorial Day theme, we look at two organizations: an American one that formed after the Civil War; a British organization that served in the Burma campaign. 

--

In our last post on the Memorial Day theme, we listed some posts from the Mays of our existence starting in 2011. In 2019, we started to have a Memorial Day post. This time we look at news about Nantucket Island and the Gardners. 

Melissa Berry published an article this week on GAR Civil War Vets. The Grand Army of the Republic group was formed in 1866 and lasted until 1956, according to the article, after the last member died at 109. Melissa provided the below photo which was of the GAR Thomas Gardner Post 207. 

Nantucket Island, 1909

For more information on the Gardners of Nantucket, see this Guide to the Gardner Family Papers, 1717-1960. 

----

Switching to another century and continent, we have been corresponding with Diana Davidson about technology and Gardner history; her family descends from the Gardners of Nantucket and lives in England, near Dorset. The family descends from Edmund Gardner who was of the Whaling family. We will write on this family a little more, but for now let's shift our attention to WWII.  

Diana wrote, recently (edited): 

My Grandfather was Charles Frederick Gardner. He volunteered to fight in WW2 but claimed that he was thought to be “too old to fight”. 

As a Member of the Leander rowing club and a Cambridge blue, he was passionate about rowing and had always kept himself very fit. He was also as a Member of his local branch of the Territorial Army when he lived in the U.K. 

He volunteered to join the Chinditz and led a group of Africans who had been drafted in to fight the Japanese in the sweltering heat of the jungles of Burma. 

 

I did not know of this group but was somewhat familiar with our joint efforts with the British in the Burma campaign. The following is more information on the British organization under which C.F. Gardner served. 

Chindits Text Banner Special Force Burma 1942-44

---

Each year, we will mention that Memorial Day has become a general time of reflection on the dead with visits to graves and the placement of flowers. Too, it's the unofficial start of summer as most of the schools have started their break. 

Remarks: Modified: 05/26/2024

05/26/2024 --