Tag Archives: A.I.

Mushroom-Swiss Meatloaf Dinner

Posted on by Standard 1

I was hungry for meatloaf. I typically just wing it. Sometimes it’s the classic ketchup/mustard/BBQ (or A1) glaze. Sometimes there’s cheese. Sometimes it’s breadcrumbs. Sometimes it’s chunks of bread soaked in milk. Sometimes there’s shredded veggies like carrots or zucchini. Sometimes there’s hardboiled eggs inside & it’s wrapped in bacon. One time I made it in a crock pot just because someone said you shouldn’t, and meatloaf on the smoker is absolutely a win.

This was a win with the wife & kids, so I;’ll definitely be making it again!

I guess I like leftover meatloaf sandwiches enough to post about it on Threads not just once, but twice.

Mushroom, Onion, & Swiss/Gruyรจre Meatloaf
Mushroom, Onion, & Swiss/Gruyรจre Meatloaf, CHeesy Mashed Potatoes with mushroom & onion gravy & glazed carrots.

Tonight I had the idea to throw a bunch of stuff together, then tie it in to gravy & mashed potatoes. I could have sauteed onions & mushrooms, but this was quick easy weeknight dinner chaos. After the fact, I asked AI language models to help me write the recipe from the ingredients & prompts that I fed it, and this is what I got:

๐Ÿด

Gemini:

That’s fantastic! Thanks for the extra detailsโ€”this sounds like a truly unique and delicious meatloaf. I’m especially impressed by the use of bread on the bottom to absorb grease and the beef bouillon in the mashed potatoes. Those are great pro tips!

Based on your ingredients and methods, here is a formatted recipe. Since you eyeballed a lot of the measurements, I’ve provided my best guess for the quantities. Feel free to adjust as you like for your blog post, since you’re the true master of this creation!

My “Crazy Good” Mushroom & Swiss Meatloaf Dinner

This recipe takes classic meatloaf and elevates it with a secret ingredientโ€”a creamy mushroom sauce that’s mixed into the meat and used as a savory glaze. Served with cheesy mashed potatoes and a mushroom-loaded gravy, this is the ultimate comfort food meal.

Ingredients

For the Meatloaf:

  • 2 lbs. ground beef
  • 1 lb. lean ground beef
  • ยฝ cup panko bread crumbs
  • ยฝ cup regular bread crumbs
  • 1 cup crushed French fried onions
  • 1โ„3 can (10.5 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
  • ยฝ can (4 oz.)) mushrooms, stems & pieces, finely diced
  • ยผ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre cheese blend
  • 3 to 4 glugs of A1 steak sauce
  • 1 tbsp. Mrs. Dash Table Blend seasoning
  • 1 tsp. ground mustard
  • 1 tsp. black pepper
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. seasoned salt
  • 3 slices of white bread (for placing under the loaf)

For the Mushroom Glaze:

  • The remainder of the can of condensed cream of mushroom soup
  • 3 to 4 glugs of A1 steak sauce
  • ยฝ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre cheese blend
  • The remainder of the can of mushrooms, stems & pieces
  • ยฝ cup whole French fried onions

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 375ยฐF (190ยฐC).
  2. On a sheet pan, arrange the three slices of white bread in a row. These will absorb the grease from the meatloaf.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, lean ground beef, panko and regular bread crumbs, crushed French fried onions, cream of mushroom soup, diced mushrooms, shredded cheese, and A1 steak sauce.
  4. Add the Mrs. Dash, ground mustard, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and seasoned salt. Using your hands, mix all ingredients thoroughly until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
  5. Form the meat mixture into a loaf shape and place it on top of the three slices of white bread on the sheet pan.
  6. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160ยฐF (71ยฐC) with a meat thermometer.
  7. While the meatloaf is baking, prepare the glaze by mixing the remaining cream of mushroom soup, A1 steak sauce, cheese, and mushrooms in a small bowl.
  8. After 1 hour and 15 minutes, remove the meatloaf from the oven. Spread the prepared glaze evenly over the top, then sprinkle the whole French fried onions on top.
  9. Return the meatloaf to the oven for another 15 minutes, or until the glaze is bubbly and the onions are golden brown. Let rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

Suggested Sides

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

Prepare a box of instant mashed potatoes according to the package directions. For a savory twist, use a beef bouillon cube in place of salt. Add buttermilk along with the milk, and season with black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Stir in shredded cheese until it melts.

Mushroom Gravy

Prepare a packet of brown gravy mix. Once finished, stir in a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can of mushrooms, and a handful of crushed French fried onions.

Sweet Paprika Carrots

Cook canned carrots with a bit of butter, a pinch of brown sugar, and a dash of paprika until heated through.

Your dinner sounds incredible! Would you like me to draft a more detailed blog post introduction or a full recipe card for you, or do you have enough to get started?

๐Ÿด

ChatGPT:

That sounds like a seriously comfort-food feast โ€” meatloaf, cheesy potatoes, mushroom-onion gravy, and sweet carrots. Perfect blog material. I can help you format this into a clean recipe write-up, with estimated amounts for the “eyeballed” parts so itโ€™s easy to follow but still keeps your personal style.

Hereโ€™s a draft you could paste into WordPress and tweak to taste:

Crazy Good Meatloaf Dinner ๐Ÿฝ๏ธ

This is one of those meals where everything came together just right โ€” a loaded, flavorful meatloaf with a cheesy mushroom glaze, creamy mashed potatoes, savory gravy, and sweet carrots on the side.

Meatloaf

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs ground beef
  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • ยพ cup panko bread crumbs
  • ยฝ cup regular bread crumbs
  • ยฝ cup crushed French fried onions (plus more for topping)
  • 1 can (10.5 oz) cream of mushroom soup (divided)
  • 1 small can mushrooms, stems & pieces or sliced (divided, finely dice half)
  • 1 cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre cheese (divided)
  • 2โ€“3 Tbsp A1 steak sauce (plus more for glaze)
  • 1 tsp Mrs. Dash Table Blend
  • ยฝ tsp ground mustard
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp season salt
  • 3 slices white bread (to go under the loaf, absorbs grease)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375ยฐF. Line a sheet pan with foil and place the 3 slices of white bread in the center.
  2. In a large bowl, combine:
    • Ground beefs
    • โ…“ of the mushroom soup
    • ยฝ the can of mushrooms (finely diced)
    • A couple glugs of A1
    • About ยฝ cup shredded cheese
    • Bread crumbs, crushed fried onions, and all seasonings
      Mix gently until just combined.
  3. Form mixture into a loaf on top of the bread slices.
  4. Bake uncovered for 1 hour 15 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, make the glaze: Mix remaining mushroom soup, the rest of the mushrooms, a splash more A1, and ยฝ cup shredded cheese.
  6. Spread glaze over meatloaf, top with more French fried onions, and return to oven for 15 minutes.
  7. Check with a thermometer โ€” internal temp should be 160ยฐF.

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

  • 1 box instant mashed potatoes
  • 1 beef bouillon cube (use in the water instead of salt)
  • ยฝ cup shredded cheese
  • 2โ€“3 Tbsp buttermilk (in addition to milk called for)
  • Black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder (to taste)

Instructions

  1. Prepare potatoes according to box, replacing salt with beef bouillon.
  2. Stir in cheese, buttermilk, and seasonings.

Mushroom-Onion Gravy

Ingredients

  • 1 packet brown gravy mix (prepared according to directions)
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 can mushrooms
  • ยผ cup crushed French fried onions

Instructions

  1. Prepare gravy mix.
  2. Stir in mushroom soup, mushrooms, and fried onions. Simmer until thick and rich.

Brown Sugar Carrots

Ingredients

  • 1 can sliced carrots (drained)
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • ยฝ tsp paprika

Instructions

  1. Warm carrots in a pan with butter.
  2. Add brown sugar and paprika, stir until glazed.

๐Ÿ”ฅ Plate it up: thick slices of meatloaf with mushroom glaze, a scoop of cheesy mashed potatoes covered in gravy, and sweet carrots on the side.

Do you want me to make the recipe section blog-ready with your voice (like you did with your pretzel blob post โ€” casual, funny, irreverent), or do you prefer the cleaner, โ€œrecipe cardโ€ format for this one?

๐Ÿด

Perplexity:

Perfect โ€” what a feast! Letโ€™s capture your meatloaf dinner in a polished, blog-ready recipe format. Iโ€™ll give you a structured version of your meatloaf (with estimated measurements based on typical ratios), plus your mashed potatoes, gravy, and carrots as sides. You can edit the amounts if you think theyโ€™re too light or heavy compared to what you actually eyeballed.

๐Ÿฝ๏ธ Mushroom-Swiss Meatloaf Dinner

This hearty meatloaf dinner is rich with beef, mushrooms, Swiss and Gruyรจre, and topped with a savory mushroom glaze and crispy onions. A full comfort food plate with cheesy mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, and buttery carrots.

Meatloaf

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs ground beef (80/20 works well)
  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • ยพ cup panko breadcrumbs
  • ยผ cup regular breadcrumbs
  • ยฝ cup crushed French fried onions
  • โ…“ can (about 10 oz can) cream of mushroom soup (approx. โ…“ cup)
  • ยฝ can mushroom stems & pieces (approx. ยฝ cup, chopped finely)
  • ยฝ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre cheese blend
  • 2โ€“3 tablespoons A1 steak sauce (a few glugs)
  • 1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Table Blend (or more to taste)
  • 1 teaspoon ground mustard
  • ยฝ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
  • 3 slices white bread (to set loaf on while baking; absorbs grease)

Mushroom Glaze

  • Remaining cream of mushroom soup (~โ…” cup)
  • Remaining ยฝ can mushrooms (~ยฝ cup, sliced)
  • ยผโ€“ยฝ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre cheese
  • 1โ€“2 tablespoons A1 sauce
  • Handful of French fried onions (for topping)

Instructions

  1. Preheat ovenย to 375ยฐF. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the 3 slices of bread in the center (to act as a base for the meatloaf).
  2. Mix the meatloaf: In a large bowl, combine ground beefs, breadcrumbs, crushed onions, mushroom soup (โ…“ can), mushrooms (ยฝ can, diced), shredded cheese (ยฝ cup), A1, and seasonings. Mix until just combined โ€” donโ€™t overwork.
  3. Form the loafย on top of the bread slices.
  4. Bakeย for 1 hour 15 minutes, until nearly cooked through. Internal temp should be around 150ยฐF.
  5. Make the glaze: Stir together mushroom soup (remaining โ…” can), mushrooms (remaining ยฝ can), cheese, and A1. Spread evenly over meatloaf, then top with French fried onions.
  6. Return to ovenย for 15 minutes more, until internal temp reaches 160ยฐF and glaze is bubbling.
  7. Rest 10 minutesย before slicing.

Cheesy Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

  • 1 box instant mashed potatoes (prepared according to package)
  • 1 beef bouillon cube (used in place of salt in boiling water)
  • ยฝ cup shredded cheese (cheddar, Swiss, or blend)
  • ยฝ cup milk + splash of buttermilk
  • ยฝ teaspoon black pepper
  • ยฝ teaspoon onion powder
  • ยฝ teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

  1. Prepare boxed mashed potatoes, dissolving beef bouillon in water before adding potato flakes.
  2. Stir in cheese, milk, and buttermilk.
  3. Season with pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder to taste.

Mushroom-Onion Brown Gravy

Ingredients

  • 1 packet brown gravy mix (prepared according to package)
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 can mushroom stems & pieces, drained
  • ยฝ cup French fried onions, crumbled

Instructions

  1. Cook gravy mix as directed.
  2. Stir in mushroom soup, mushrooms, and fried onions. Simmer until hot and thickened.

Candied Butter Carrots

Ingredients

  • 1 can carrots, drained
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • ยฝ teaspoon paprika

Instructions

  1. Heat carrots in a skillet with butter.
  2. Stir in brown sugar and paprika.
  3. Cook until glazed and heated through.

โœ… Serving suggestion: Plate a hearty slice of meatloaf with a scoop of mashed potatoes topped with mushroom gravy, and a helping of sweet carrots on the side. Donโ€™t forget extra crispy onions on top for crunch!

Would you like me to keep the recipe in a conversational, cozy “blogger” style (like a story around the dinner), or a sleek cookbook style (straight to the recipe)?

๐Ÿด

Copilot:

Absolutely, Ericโ€”this meatloaf sounds like a punk rock symphony in casserole form. Letโ€™s immortalize it with a blog-ready recipe that captures the chaos, comfort, and culinary swagger. Iโ€™ll format it with clear sections, estimated measurements, and your signature storytelling flair.

๐Ÿง  Ericโ€™s โ€œDad Shit Deluxeโ€ Meatloaf Dinner

A meatloaf so good it deserves its own zine spread.

๐Ÿ– Meatloaf Ingredients

  • 2 lbs ground beef
  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • ยฝ cup panko breadcrumbs
  • ยฝ cup regular breadcrumbs
  • ยฝ cup crushed french fried onions
  • โ…“ can (about 4โ€“5 tbsp) cream of mushroom soup
  • ยฝ can mushroom stems & pieces, finely diced
  • 1โ€“2 glugs A1 steak sauce (about 2 tbsp)
  • ยฝ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre cheese
  • 3 slices white bread (for under the loaf)

๐Ÿง‚ Seasonings (eyeballed, but hereโ€™s a guess)

  • 1 tsp Mrs. Dash Table Blend
  • ยฝ tsp ground mustard
  • ยฝ tsp black pepper
  • ยฝ tsp onion powder
  • ยฝ tsp garlic powder
  • ยฝ tsp seasoned salt

๐Ÿงช Glaze Ingredients

  • Remaining cream of mushroom soup (~โ…” can)
  • Remaining mushrooms (~ยฝ can), roughly chopped
  • 1โ€“2 more glugs A1 steak sauce
  • ยผ cup shredded Swiss & Gruyรจre
  • Handful of whole french fried onions (for topping)

๐Ÿ”ฅ Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375ยฐF.
  2. Form the loaf: Mix all meatloaf ingredients (except the white bread) in a large bowl. Shape into a loaf and place it directly on top of the 3 slices of white bread on a sheet pan. The bread will soak up grease and prevent burning.
  3. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  4. Make the glaze: Combine remaining mushroom soup, mushrooms, A1, and cheese.
  5. Top and finish: Spread glaze over the meatloaf, sprinkle with whole french fried onions, and return to oven for another 15 minutes.
  6. Check internal temp: Use a meat thermometer to ensure it hits 160ยฐF.

๐Ÿฅ” Sides That Slap

๐Ÿง€ Beefed-Up Instant Mashed Potatoes

  • 1 box instant mashed potatoes
  • 1 beef bouillon cube (in water instead of salt)
  • ยฝ cup shredded cheese
  • ยผ cup buttermilk
  • ยฝ tsp each: black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder

Mix per box instructions, swapping salt for bouillon cube. Add cheese, buttermilk, and seasonings. Stir until creamy and punk-approved.

๐Ÿ„ Mushroom Gravy Hack

  • 1 packet brown gravy mix
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 can mushrooms
  • ยผ cup crumbled french fried onions

Prepare gravy mix as directed. Stir in soup, mushrooms, and onions. Simmer until thick and glorious.

๐Ÿฅ• Sweet & Smoky Carrots

  • 1 can sliced carrots
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • ยผ tsp paprika

Heat carrots with butter, sugar, and paprika until glossy and tender. Serve with attitude.

Want to add a zine-style intro or a playlist pairing for the blog post? Iโ€™m ready to riff.

๐Ÿ„๐Ÿง€๐Ÿ„๐Ÿฅ”๐Ÿฅ•

Somewhere in there, there’s a tight recipe. Again, I didn’t measure anything, I just dumped. I tried to use common ingredients. Maybe I’ll make it different next time. This was really good though, so I may stick to it.

Not sure why they are all eager to write blogs for me. I mean. It’s helpful and all, but nah. This is my creative outlet. Or, one of them anyway. You should buy a maze book or some T-shirts. My Tee Public stuff is on sale right now.

Do you use any AI language models for anything? Do you ever ask them for assistance combining recipes or for cooking? I wonder if one of them would be better at combining all these than the others? I can’t decide which model did the best job.

On to the meatloaf… What tips & tricks do you have? I always to the bread one. Hit me up in the comments or on social media.

Playlist | Proto-Punk ๐Ÿงท

Posted on by Standard 7

Inspired by the comments on a reddit post, I wanted to dig into some pre-“punk” proto-punk. I set Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, & Copilot to the task as I’m fascinated by their ability to parse & compile information if prompted accurately. (I’m also fascinated my their penchant to provide completely incorrect or even made-up information. Some time I will have to blog about my experiment in having them search restaurant menus in an area to see if they serve shellfish. Copilot recommended some seafood places, so clearly it wants to kill me.)

I added my own stuff that some of them disagreed with, but it is my list after all. ๐Ÿคฃ Going back to little Richard and including Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” were points of contention, as I would expect from a conversation with people.

Music snobs aficionados, audiophiles, and punk rock gatekeepers will argue all day every day about the origin of punk… but for me, to be clear, it’s the moment that the Ramones’ self-titled album dropped. So, with that in mind I gave the language models this prompt:

There is and always will be constant debate, but if we agree for the premise of this exercise that the Ramones self-titled debut album was the first punk albumโ€ฆ What are 25 songs that should belong on a proto-punk or punk precursor playlist?

I would assume bands that get mentioned as the progenitors would most likely include The Kinks, the Sonics, Link Wray, The Stooges, the MC5, the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls, & more I’m sure to be missing. Maybe even the band Death who hailed from Detroit MI?

All songs on the list should have been released before April 23, 1976โ€ฆ and be listed in order if release date by single or album, whichever dropped first.

This has been corrected for my typically egregious spelling/typing/lack-of-proofreading errors. After tossing the rules to the wind, keeping to the spirit of punk rock, we arrived here:

  • “Little Demon” โ€“ Screaminโ€™ Jay Hawkins (1956)
  • “Tutti Frutti” โ€“ Little Richard (1955)
  • “Whole Lotta Shakinโ€™ Goinโ€™ On” โ€“ Jerry Lee Lewis (1957)
  • “Rumble” โ€“ Link Wray (1958)
  • “La Bamba” โ€“ Ritchie Valens (1958)
  • “Love Me” โ€“ The Phantom (1958)
  • “Louie Louie” โ€“ The Kingsmen (1963)
  • “Surfinโ€™ Bird” โ€“ The Trashmen (1963)
  • “Baby Let Me Take You Home” โ€“ The Animals (1964)
  • “House of the Rising Sun” โ€“ The Animals (1964)
  • “Iโ€™m Crying” โ€“ The Animals (1964)
  • “You Really Got Me” โ€“ The Kinks (1964)
  • “Gloria” โ€“ Them (1964)
  • “I Canโ€™t Explain” โ€“ The Who (1964)
  • “Dirty Water” โ€“ The Standells (1966)
  • “My Generation” โ€“ The Who (1965)
  • “Strychnine” โ€“ The Sonics (1965)
  • “Iโ€™m a Man” โ€“ The Yardbirds (1965)
  • “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” โ€“ The Animals (1965)
  • “96 Tears” โ€“ ? & The Mysterians (1966)
  • “Wild Thing” โ€“ The Troggs (1966)
  • “Complication” โ€“ The Monks (1966)
  • “Psychotic Reaction” โ€“ Count Five (1966)
  • “Pushinโ€™ Too Hard” โ€“ The Seeds (1966)
  • “7 and 7 Is” โ€“ Love (1966)
  • “Iโ€™m Not Like Everybody Else” โ€“ The Kinks (1966)
  • “Youโ€™re Gonna Miss Me” โ€“ The 13th Floor Elevators (1966)
  • “Talk Talk” โ€“ The Music Machine (1966)
  • “Iโ€™m Waiting for the Man” โ€“ The Velvet Underground (1967)
  • “Doctor Please” โ€“ Blue Cheer (1968)
  • “Sister Ray” โ€“ The Velvet Underground (1968)
  • “Fire” โ€“ The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (1968)
  • “Jigsaw Puzzle” โ€“ The Rolling Stones (1968)
  • “Kick Out the Jams” โ€“ MC5 (1969)
  • “I Wanna Be Your Dog” โ€“ The Stooges (1969)
  • “Little Doll” โ€“ The Stooges (1969)
  • “TV Eye” โ€“ The Stooges (1970)
  • “Paranoid” โ€“ Black Sabbath (1970)
  • “Get It On” โ€“ T. Rex (1971)
  • “Schoolโ€™s Out” โ€“ Alice Cooper (1972)
  • “Suffragette City” โ€“ David Bowie (1972)
  • “Raw Power” โ€“ Iggy & The Stooges (1973)
  • “Search and Destroy” โ€“ The Stooges (1973)
  • “Personality Crisis” โ€“ New York Dolls (1973)
  • “Jet Boy” โ€“ New York Dolls (1973)
  • “Urban Guerrilla” โ€“ Hawkwind (1973)
  • “Violence” โ€“ Mott the Hoople (1973)
  • “Cum On Feel the Noize” โ€“ Slade (1973)
  • “Editions of You” โ€“ Roxy Music (1973)
  • “Ooh La La” โ€“ Faces (1973)
  • “Subway Train” โ€“ New York Dolls (1974)
  • “Hey Joe” โ€“ Patti Smith Group (1975)
  • “Piss Factory” โ€“ Patti Smith (1975)
  • “Roxette” โ€“ Dr. Feelgood (1976)
  • “The Next Big Thing” โ€“ The Dictators (1975)
  • “Chez Maximes” โ€“ The Hollywood Brats (1976)
  • “After Eight” โ€“ Neu! (1975)
  • “Ghost Rider” โ€“ Suicide (1977)
  • “Little Johnny Jewel” โ€“ Television (1975)
  • “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” โ€“ Pere Ubu (1975)
  • “Burn My Eye” โ€“ Radio Birdman (1976)
  • “Politicians in My Eyes” โ€“ Death (1976)
  • “Cherry Bomb” โ€“ The Runaways (1976)
  • “Roadrunner” โ€“ The Modern Lovers (1976)
  • “She Cracked” โ€“ The Modern Lovers (1976)
  • “Shake Some Action” โ€“ Flaminโ€™ Groovies (1976)
  • “Blank Generation” โ€“ Richard Hell & the Voidoids (1977)
  • “Anarchy in the U.K.” โ€“ The Sex Pistols (1976)
  • “Sonic Reducer” โ€“ Dead Boys (1977)
  • “Neat Neat Neat” โ€“ The Damned (1977)
  • “Chinese Rocks” โ€“ Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers (1977)
  • “Psycho Killer” โ€“ Talking Heads (1977)

I used Tune My Music to import it to Spotify from a text file, then copy to Amazon Music from there. I tried to go to Amazon first, but it messed up quite a bit of the songs. I did have to add “7 and 7 Is” by Love manually as it shows as “Seven and Seven Is” on Spotify. It weirdly plopped a Bob Marley song in that spot. Amazon was full of weird covers and the wrong songs when trying to import from text.

So, what do you think of the list? What’s missing? What needs added? Are my parameters skewed? Do you not accept anything past the date of what parameters were set? What obscure band that 14 people heard at the time is missing from this list? Don’t come at me with the Sex Pistols over the Ramones. Should we whittle it back to 25? Only have 1 song per artist? Come at me with healthy discourse.

I wish I had a pedal-mobile.

Posted on by Standard Reply

I don’t have a pedal-mobile like the savagely sardonic Pat Finnerty, but I do have some weird mostly cheap pedals. You’ve seen my guitars, you may have heard some of my musical output, but I need to set up a spot to rock again after letting chaos accumulate in my jam space.

A bunch of guitar pedals on the dirty concrete floor.
Pedals-Schmeadals

I posited the following to social media, and AI:

How would you hook up the following components to maximize use/effectiveness of the given equipment for a guitar rig?

The Amps:

  • Gorilla TC-35 (Combo)
  • Fender Blues Jr. (Combo)
  • Positive Grid Spark (Combo)
  • Lil’ Smokey (Combo)
  • Orange Micro Terror (Head)
  • Laney 2×12 (Cab)
  • Yamaha MSR 100 (PA)

The Pedals:

  • D’Addario/Planet Waves PW-CT-04 Tuner
  • Ernie Ball 6185 Wah
  • Quinnamp Dirt & Ernie (Distortion/Boost)
  • The Spamp+ (Amp / Preamp)
  • Ammoon Pock Loop (Looper)
  • LiveWire Solutions ABY1 ABY Box
  • Joyo BAATSIN (Overdrive/Distortion)
  • Crazy Tube Circuits Unobtanium (Overdrive)
  • Mooer E7 Synth
  • DigiTech Trio Band Creator + FS3X Footswitch

Is there a good order to the pedals? Typically I have the Trio going out to the Yamaha PA, and the ABY going into the Micro Terror/Laney and the Blues Jr. Ignoring the Spark & (sadly) the TC-35. I’m not sure which way to order the pedals, though.

Also, do I split the signal early & put different effects to each amp? I have done that with the wah and it sounds neat.

I get that it’s all subjective, but I love to over-think things… so help me do that.

I did ask Perplexity, ChatGPT, & Gemini for advice, and they seem to provide pretty standard stuff that you may see in guitar forums.

From Perplexity:

๐ŸŽธ

To set up your guitar rig effectively, the goal is to optimize signal flow for tonal clarity while integrating the ABY box and DigiTech Trio Band Creator with your PA system. Here’s a structured approach:

Pedal Order Recommendations

  1. Tuner (D’Addario PW-CT-04):
    Place first to ensure a clean signal for accurate tuning136.
  2. Wah (Ernie Ball 6185):
    Follows the tuner, as wah pedals interact best with an unaltered guitar signal135.
  3. Distortion/Boost (Quinnamp Dirt & Ernie):
    Early gain staging preserves dynamic response. Stack with subsequent drives145.
  4. Overdrives (Joyo BAATSIN, Crazy Tube Circuits Unobtanium):
    Order these based on preference (e.g., lower-gain first into higher-gain)146.
  5. Preamp (The Spamp+):
    Acts as a tone-shaping buffer. Place after drives to avoid coloring their response34.
  6. Synth (Mooer E7):
    Position after drives for consistent tracking. Synths can behave unpredictably with distorted signals45.
  7. DigiTech Trio Band Creator:
    Place here to analyze your processed guitar signal. Route its output to the Yamaha PA for bass/drum separation24.
  8. Looper (Ammoon Pock Loop):
    Last in the chain to capture the entire signal, including the Trioโ€™s guitar input. This ensures loops include all effects34.
  9. ABY Box (LiveWire ABY1):
    Split the final signal to your Orange Micro Terror/Laney 2×12 and Fender Blues Jr.2.
    • Enable ground lift/isolation if using both amps simultaneously to avoid hum2.

Amplifier Configuration

  • Orange Micro Terror: Connect to the Laney 2×12 cab (ensure impedance matching).
  • Fender Blues Jr.: Use as a standalone combo.
  • Yamaha PA: Dedicated to the Trioโ€™s band mix for a full stereo/backing track experience24.

Key Considerations

  • Experiment with Drive Order: Test the Joyo BAATSIN and Unobtanium in different sequences (e.g., BAATSIN as a mid-boost into the Unobtaniumโ€™s higher gain)14.
  • Synth Placement: If tracking issues arise, try moving the Mooer E7 earlier (post-wah)5.
  • ABY Ground Noise: Use the LiveWire ABY1โ€™s ground-lift feature if humming occurs2.

This setup balances conventional signal-chain logic with your specific gear, ensuring the Trioโ€™s band tracks and dual-amp rig work cohesively. Always test and tweak to suit your playing style!

Citations:

  1. https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/w23bgj/my_first_pedals_in_what_order_do_i_put_them/
  2. https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/18q86t2/aby_with_pedal_boards_and_2_amps/
  3. https://spartanmusic.co.uk/blogs/smblog/12314153-the-essentials-of-setting-up-ordering-your-guitar-pedals
  4. https://www.strymon.net/setting-up-your-effect-signal-chain/
  5. https://www.earthquakerdevices.com/blog-posts/aarons-bass-hole-get-in-line-pedal-order-101
  6. https://articles.boss.info/is-there-a-perfect-pedal-order/
  7. https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/what-is-the-best-pedal-order/
  8. https://catalinbread.com/pages/pedal-order-101
  9. https://www.laney.co.uk/blog/an-easy-guide-to-ampless-guitar-rigs-explained/
  10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmSEigSiXXY
  11. https://articles.boss.info/the-ultimate-guide-to-guitar-effects-pedal-order-and-signal-chain/
  12. https://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?t=22000
  13. https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/news/141962/
  14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH9FO1EMIPQ
  15. https://www.radialeng.com/blog/understanding-aby-switchers
  16. https://thejhsshow.com/articles/understanding-pedal-order
  17. https://www.reddit.com/r/GuitarAmps/comments/lqs3c2/trading_orange_micro_terror_and_cab_for_a_blues/
  18. https://www.musiciansfriend.com/effects-pedals
  19. https://www.reddit.com/r/GuitarAmps/comments/11gnatf/how_do_people_setup_multiple_amps/
  20. https://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?t=20110

Answer from Perplexity: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-would-you-hook-up-the-foll-tU6VWW5dR1eQrF1her2o1g?utm_source=copy_output

๐ŸŽธ

Perplexity would not generate a schematic, but ChatGPT & Gemini did… or they tried. They look cool upon first glance, then get real weird when you zoom in… and they don’t even follow the advice of the chain setup. Clearly there is a disparity between the text generation & the image generation. Some of the pedal representations are really cool though, especially with GhatGPT. I can’t help but wonder where it is stolen from. Guitar mag/website rig rundowns?

Gemini generated pedal schematic.

I dunno when Fender started using orange tolex & separate heads… but the pedals look fancy.

ChatGPT generated pedal schematic.

It clearly used the Dirt & Ernie art for the Unobtanium, but it stole that gorgeous Micro Terror from somewhere… and WTF is a Crazy Tauloc? Sounds like an extra on Star Trek.

Granted, I am generally a plug-in, crank the gain, and keep the volume low kind of player. I don’t so effects much. I would like to monkey around with that I have.

Here is where I solicit your advice in the comments and on social media. ๐Ÿค˜

Biscuit Dough Pretzel …Blobs?

Posted on by Standard 5

The algorithm wanted me to try the canned biscuit dough pretzel bites. It kept coming up. I kept clicking. I posted about it on social media asking questions. I looked at recipes online. They all had different methods! Are these people even trying their own recipes? They’re wildly different.

As far as my pretzel tastes: I like Auntie Anne’s the best, SuperPretzel is the gold standard, and Philly Pretzel Factory is passable.

A table laying out the different methods of prepping pretzel bites with egg wash, butter, boiling in baking soda, or just a baking soda bath.
Crazy Biscuit Dough Pretzel Blob Table

I decided to try some different methods, & bounce it off of AI to get a cooking time/temp. I put the following into Gemini, ChatGPT, & Perplexity:

Hello.  I have seen many recipes for pretzel bites made from pre-made canned biscuit dough online.  There are so many variations, I was wondering if you could recommend one singular method as to time and temperature.  I would like to bake them in the oven.  My oven has traditional, convection, and air fry settings.  Can you suggest a time, temperature, and setting?

Also, I am having trouble deciding if boiling in baking soda water, or just coating in baking soda water is the way to go.  Also, what is the best ratio of water to baking soda?

And, I hear egg wash and just a melted butter wash are good ways to coat them before baking.  Would you use the whole egg, or just the whites or yolks?  Can you do both?

I am tempted to bake pretzels in 4 quadrants, one quarter each of them in the following combos;

  • Boiled in baking soda water / Egg wash.
  • Boiled in baking soda water / Melted butter.
  • Coated in baking soda water / Egg wash
  • Coated in baking soda water / Melted butter

Do you think that would solve most of my questions?  Can you put together the baking time & temp, and baking soda solution measurements and boiling or coating times?

Here’s what they said:

Here's a breakdown of how to make delicious pretzel bites from biscuit dough: 1. Baking Soda Solution: Water: 8 cups Baking Soda: 1/2 cup 2. Boiling vs. Coating: Boiling: Bring the baking soda solution to a rolling boil in a large pot. Carefully drop in a few pretzel bites at a time for 30 seconds. Use a slotted spoon to remove them and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Coating: In a shallow dish, combine the baking soda and water. Dip each pretzel bite into the solution to coat completely. Let excess drip off before placing them on the prepared baking sheet. 3. Egg Wash vs. Butter Wash: Egg Wash: Whisk together 1 large egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush generously over the pretzel bites. Butter Wash: Melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Brush evenly over the pretzel bites. 4. Baking: Oven Setting: Convection Bake is generally recommended for even cooking. Temperature: 400ยฐF (200ยฐC) Time: 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. 5. Your 4-Quadrant Experiment: Your idea of baking four batches with different combinations is a fantastic way to compare and find your favorite! Here's a summary: Quadrant 1: Boiled in baking soda water + Egg wash Quadrant 2: Boiled in baking soda water + Melted butter Quadrant 3: Coated in baking soda water + Egg wash Quadrant 4: Coated in baking soda water + Melted butter Tips & Considerations: Biscuit Dough: Use your favorite brand or make your own! Shape: You can shape the biscuit dough into balls, twists, or any other desired shape. Salt: Sprinkle with coarse salt immediately after brushing with the egg or butter wash. Cooling: Let the pretzel bites cool on a wire rack before serving. Enjoy your homemade pretzel bites! I hope this comprehensive guide helps you create the perfect batch. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Gemini’s Answer
Youโ€™ve got a great experiment in mind! Letโ€™s break this down and get you set up for pretzel bite perfection. Here's a streamlined approach to your method and testing: Baking Instructions Preheat oven: Convection setting: 400ยฐF (best for even browning and crispiness). Traditional oven: 425ยฐF (slightly higher temp compensates for lack of air circulation). Baking time: 8โ€“12 minutes. Start checking at 8 minutes. Pretzel bites should be golden brown and puffed. Baking Soda Water Solution Ratio: 4 cups water to 1/4 cup baking soda. This concentration gives the pretzel flavor and helps create a chewy, golden crust. Method: Boiling: Bring the solution to a boil. Boil the dough pieces for 20โ€“30 seconds per batch, flipping halfway. Drain on a wire rack before coating. Coating: Dip the dough pieces in the baking soda solution for about 15โ€“20 seconds, then place them directly on the baking sheet. Washes Egg wash: Use one whole egg, whisked with 1 teaspoon of water for a shiny and slightly firmer crust. (Egg whites alone will give more shine but less flavor; yolks alone will create a deeper color but softer finish.) Melted butter: Brush after baking for a rich, soft finish. Optionally, sprinkle with coarse salt immediately after brushing. Your Experiment: Quadrant Plan Hereโ€™s how to organize the quadrants: Pretreatment Wash Notes Boiled Egg wash Classic shiny pretzel crust. Boiled Butter Rich, soft crust with chew. Coated Egg wash Less chewy but still glossy. Coated Butter Softest, richest option. Steps for Your Test Divide the biscuit dough into even pieces (about 1 inch each). Prepare the baking soda solution. Treat the dough using your boiling and coating methods. Place the treated dough pieces on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Apply your chosen washes to the corresponding groups. Bake on convection at 400ยฐF for 8โ€“12 minutes. Post-Bake Notes Once baked, taste-test the results. The differences in texture, shine, and flavor between the methods should help you decide your favorite! Let me know how the experiment goesโ€”Iโ€™d love to hear about your results!
GhatGPT’s Answer
Answer I'll help you navigate the best method for making biscuit pretzel bites based on the search results. Recommended Baking Method Temperature: 425ยฐF Setting: Traditional oven setting Baking Time: 8-15 minutes (until deep golden brown) Baking Soda Solution The most consistent recommendation is to fully boil the biscuit pieces in a baking soda bath, not just coat them. The recommended ratio is: 4 cups water 1/4 to 1/2 cup baking soda Boiling Process Bring water to a boil Dissolve baking soda completely Boil biscuit pieces for 15-20 seconds Use a slotted spoon to remove pieces Coating Options For the best results, I recommend using an egg wash. Here's why: Egg wash provides a more golden, glossy finish You can use the whole beaten egg Alternatively, you can use melted butter Experimental Approach Your idea of baking four quadrants with different methods is excellent. This will help you determine the best technique. Here's a structured approach: Quadrant Baking Soda Treatment Coating Expected Result 1 Boiled Egg wash Likely best traditional pretzel texture 2 Boiled Melted butter Softer, more buttery finish 3 Coated Egg wash Less authentic pretzel texture 4 Coated Melted butter Least pretzel-like Pro Tips Cut each biscuit into 4-9 pieces Sprinkle with coarse salt immediately after coating Serve immediately for best taste and texture
Perplexity’s Answer

I’ll try to link to the full answers here too, as I did keep all 3 conversations going for a bit with different queries.

They looked OK for the most part. I had two cans of pre-made biscuit dough, both were Pillsbury Grands Southern Homestyle. One was Butter Tastin’, one was Buttermilk. Butter Tastin’ was tray 1, Buttermilk was tray 2. I tried all the things. Baked at 425ยฐ for 8 minutes. The boiled ones puffed up a bit, I only let them go for 15 seconds using Alexa as my timer, as I read that boiling too long in the baking soda can give you a metallic taste. The baking soda bath was in warm water… I only left them in for as long as it took me to boil the other ones. I did forget to put salt on until halfway through cooking. I used the coarse salt grinder.

A photo of 64 pretzel bites made form pre-made biscuit dough across two trays (& parchment paper) & a few cooking methods.
Pre-Made Biscuit Dough Pretzel Blobs by AiXeLsyD13

I broke each quadrant down & gave it a letter, & a really short summary…

8 pretzel bites on a plate, labeled A through H.
Absolute ๐Ÿฅจ Shenanigans
  • A | Butter Tastin’ / Boiled in Baking Soda / Egg Wash – Most pretzel-like texture. Needed baked a bit more.
  • B | Butter Tastin’ / Boiled in Baking Soda / Butter Wash – Seemed like crunchy biscuits.
  • C | Butter Tastin’ / Baking Soda Bath / Egg Wash – Tasted burnt-ish.
  • D | Butter Tastin’ / Baking Soda Bath / Butter Wash – Straight up biscuit.
  • E | Buttermilk / Boiled in Baking Soda / Egg Wash – The outside was very pretzely.
  • F | Buttermilk / Boiled in Baking Soda / Butter Wash – Close to a pretzel. -ish.
  • G | Buttermilk / Baking Soda Bath / Egg Wash – Good… but crunchy. Maybe baked less time?
  • H | Buttermilk / Baking Soda Bath / Butter Wash – Very biscuit-like.

So, that was a thing. Definitely going boiled, & egg wash next time. May seek out some coarse salt or pretzel salt. I may try it at 400ยฐ on the convection setting for 8 minutes, or a little longer on the regular setting at 425ยฐ. Also, may try cooking on a baking rack & cooling on a cooling rack. I may go got more traditional biscuit dough too, instead of what I had. At the end of the day, these all tasted great dipped in some Herlocher’s. I just wish I had some beer left, but I used my last can of Straub Amber making BBQ pulled pork sandwiches (and rocking out) today. Also, gotta try some with cheese in the middle, right?

Also, I know they’re not perfect yet, but these AI chat bots can REALLY help consolidate / create recipes pulled from so many online sources. It seems like you can search for 5 recipes, & get 7 different cooking times & temperatures at the very least. Then, like my stuff, if there’s no “Jump to Recipe” button, you gotta use Cooked.Wiki, JustTheRecipe.com, or Just The Recipe. As of now, the AI bots are not riddled with advertising and paid ad placement/rankings. They all have their strengths & weaknesses.

Here’s where you hit me up in the comments and/or on social media with your tried-and-true pretzel & pretzel bite methods. I’m not really all that super interested in making dough, so that’s why the canned dough piqued my interest. And, have you used AI prompts for cooking or anything else interesting lately?

I used Gemini to help prep Christmas Dinner.

Posted on by Standard Reply

I like to compare recipes and jot down a timeline for holiday meals. Hopefully you have seen my Thanksgiving recipes/method if that floats your gravy boat. I will be making my Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes (should I call them au gratin?), but mainly just want the cooking times & temps in an outline, & I’ll wing the recipe. I also want to make the classic Campbell’s/French’s green been casserole, but with fresh beans (& maybe added bacon pieces).

If you’re interested, here’s the conversation with our eventual AI overlords:

And, here’s the timeline it helped be create:

Do you also create notes or a timeline? Share it up if you have any tips or tricks on my meal prep, too!


Merry Christmas!

Is AI music toothpaste out of the tube?

Posted on by Standard Reply

So, I guess I had no idea that AI music was as advanced as it is. I assumed the stuff I saw on social medial was from paid or sophisticated programs. I have been monkeying casually with text prompts at ChatGPT or Meta AI, and image generators at DALL-E 2, Craiyon, & in the PicsArt app for a while. Luma AI even animates photos in the creepiest way possible. I have recently started messing with Google’s Gemini, too.

While the first two AI song generators that popped up when I googled did not require me to download an app or pay any money, I was able to have them bang out a song in less than a minute. The second one even let me insert lyrics, so I used ChatGPT & Gemini to write lyrics. Of course I chose punk rock, and the subject matter was just me poorly describing the blog. This stuff is wild.

The prompt was: “World (and Lunar) Domination” a punk rock song about drawing mazes and writing goofy letters.

For some reason, I can’t seem to embed these ones. ๐Ÿคท

AI Music Factory automatically spits out 2 songs from the same prompts.

All of the songs are generic pop punk, street punk, and a weird attempt at some uncanny valley-ish horns. They are formulaic pop punk, of which I could certainly be accused of doing when I was actively playing in bands. The weird part is that is not all that dissimilar from my actual creative output. The lyrics have some interesting ideas & hooks too, if I’m being honest. Does that mean I am a terrible and generic songwriter? Perhaps my lack of commercial success in that area speaks to that. ๐Ÿ˜†

Self-depreciating humor aside, I feel like I have been involved in the creation of some fun, silly, & kick-ass music, and I was never really doing it for financial gain or recognition. It was an itch that I needed to scratch. I needed to make art via punk rock.

The above songs are derivative of a thousand different punk bands, but the one vocalist sounds oddly like Bad Religion. All of it is stealing from something though. Is it scouring the whole internet? Is it using Spotify, YouTube, Pandora, Apple Music, or Amazon Music? Is it creeping on hard drives in home studios or at record companies?

I feel like this is really close to having the ability to be passed off as a real band. It even reminds me of Crotchduster,

Is it theft, or inspiration? I would not have picked up a guitar and tried to write punk rock songs if I had not heard the Ramones & the Misfits doing what they did. Led Zeppelin’s entire catalog is arguably not entirely derivative of everything that passed through Jimmy Page’s earholes. (I mean, George Lucas did the same thing with Star Wars – it was just Flash Gordon, The Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, & Dune.)

It can be argued that the music is soulless. I get that. I need music to move me in some way, in order to feel that connection. There are already lots of human generated songs out there that don’t really hit me that way. It’s terrible when a song evokes no emotion. I feel that way about Nickelback, even though it’s unironically cool to like them now. Ha ha.

In keeping with the theme of this post, I also used a bunch of AI image generators with various prompts about my blog, and got some weird weird wild stuff. None of them seem to accurately display text whatsoever at all… but the compositions, colors, & design choices are interesting. Is is stolen work though?

It was said that Robin Williams was notorious for stealing bits, but I have read/heard that he was always “on,” and just pulling in ideas and churning out jokes at a constant speed… he may not have realized that his thoughts weren’t entirely his own. But then again, were they? Everything we think, say, & do is a response to our own audio & visual input. (And, all the other senses.)

If AI is putting something out, and the way it “senses” is browsing the internet, what’s wrong with that? Is it stealing because it is not alive? Is it just a tool like a paintbrush or a calculator? Is AI song generation different than loops or sampling or guitar pedals that drastically change a tone?

Images generated by various AI image generators, with prompts pretty much just describing my blog.

๐Ÿค˜๐Ÿˆโ€โฌ›๐ŸŽธ

Because every single one of my thoughts also has an incomprehensibly tangential aside, I just did this as the idea came to me while blogging:

๐•ฟ๐–๐–Š ๐–‰๐–Š๐–†๐–™๐– ๐–’๐–Š๐–™๐–†๐–‘ ๐–๐–Ž๐–™๐–™๐–Š๐–“ ๐–˜๐–”๐–“๐–Œ – I had ChatGPT write those lyrics a long time ago to be silly. It deleted the chat from the history as it found the content to perhaps be “inappropriate.” Luckily I grabbed a screenshot. I just used my last freebie at AI Music Factory to make this, and unlike with the other songs, I actually downloaded the mp3’s because I find it wildly amusing. AI plays guitar better than Kerry King.

A gothic metal style painting of an adorable black kitten dining with a fork and a knife, created by Meta AI as an album cover for a song generated by an AI song generator.
“FEED THE KITTEN” album art by Meta AI
Claws like razors, eyes like night My little beast, always ready to fight Hungry and restless, a bundle of fury I open the can, to feed the furry Feeding my kitten, hear her growl Tiny teeth and a vicious scowl Feeding my kitten, blood and meat Ripping and tearing, nothing sweet Pouncing and hissing, she's always keen Greedily slurping, the viscous cream Bones and gristle, she loves the gore My little predator, always wants more Feeding my kitten, hear her growl Tiny teeth and a vicious scowl Feeding my kitten, hear her growl Tiny teeth and a vicious scowl Feeding my kitten, blood and meat Ripping and tearing, nothing sweet Pouncing and hissing, she's always keen Greedily slurping, the viscous cream Bones and gristle, she loves the gore My little predator, always wants more Feeding my kitten, hear her growl Tiny teeth and a vicious scowl Feeding my kitten, blood and meat Ripping and tearing, nothing sweet My little monster, a killing machine Feeding frenzy, a fearsome scene No mercy, no pity, no retreat My kitten's hunger, can never be beat!
“Feed The Kitten” by ChatGPT

So, did I just write a song? No. But… I had the idea for one. It, much like my own artistic output, was a silly idea. (I was always sad that Gasoline Dion never completed songs that we were working on, including but not limited to “667, Across the Street From the Beast” and the ever poetic line “Let me put my meat hook in your beef curtains.”)

I just let my 10yo daughter hear the metal kitten song. She laughed and said it sounds like everything else I listen to (she’s a Taylor Swift fan). When I told her it was AI generated in under a damn minute & that ChatGPT wrote the lyrics, her eyes got wide and was all “That’s not good…”

She immediately understood the implications. Anyone could make a hit album. We could all be Milli Vanilli. Even better, you could probably create a video avatar of an artist or band. I haven’t delved into AI generated video past the tiny Luma AI clips.

Would using AI as a muse, or to flesh out partial lyric ideas be “wrong?” Are we in an era like the early days of sampling where soon someone will figure out how to give artists royalties for music or artwork being fed into AI? I know there are already cases out there. I also know you can’t copyright AI images. Not sure about music, though? I know Mรถtley Crรผe was accused of using AI to write songs.

Will commercials, social media, radio, TV, & movies forgo traditional composers and just make their own jingles, scores, & soundtracks?

It was fun to play with, but do I like it enough that I will pay for it? I doubt it. I can’t think of a practical use for myself other than making a fictional band or something… and who would want AI generated crap content right now? If I paid to put it on streaming services (if you can even copyright it), how would that generate income or even be sustainable? Live shows would be (for now) out of the question. I don’t think it would “feel good” to put that out, like it does to release actual music you created. Maybe kids will dig AI music in the future… or our eventual robot overlords might.

Because I can’t stop, Luma AI animations of AI generated images:

OK, I went back & messed with Udio again. I found where you could pop in the kitten lyrics from Chat GPT. I do not like the output nearly as much, but it’s still pretty wild:

So, what are your thoughts on AI generated stories, art, music, & video? Are we in the wild west? Do you use any of it? If you do use it, what sites/apps, and to what end? Please, hit up the comments!

Oh yeah, those sites automatically generated videos I could download too.

I got to test a new camera bird feeder.

Posted on by Standard 14

You may have seen my previous birdwatching post. I guess I have developed an affinity for my bird videos. I have a whole YouTube playlist of ’em. I have participated in the Netvue Birdfy Community Facebook group (& a private group for soliciting feedback), and posted stuff on my Instagram, TikTok, & other social media platforms.

I have really enjoyed seeing the wildlife in my backyard through my Birdfy Feeder & my Birdfy camera (& the accessories). The folks at Birdfy reached out to ask if I would like to test a new product, so of course I said yes! I have been using it, sharing my camera feeds with the company, & providing feedback for a while now with the company, & uploading photos/videos to a private Google photos album. It was exciting to see them respond & change features/settings as the testing went on. They really improved tracking, AI recognition, & picture/video quality rather quickly.

It has ben hard to keep quiet about it & not share the video or photos!

As a company, they’re constantly reaching out to solicit suggestions on product ideas, design, features, and more. They have recently updated their app to enable editing of AI tags as per customer suggestions.

I’m relieved to be able to share the fact that I have been helping to test the new camera, & to finally share the photos/video.

๐Ÿฆ

๐Ÿฆโ€โฌ›

Here my son helped me film the unboxing/setup, if you want to see a really poorly edited video. I have set up over 7 Birdfy cameras at this point through the app, and all of them have been really simple.

The product I got to try out is the new Birdfy Feeder 2 Pro, and full disclosure: If you use my affiliate link to purchase any Birdfy products, I earn a small comission: https://www.birdfy.com/?ref=AiXeLsyD13

The one that was sent to me has two cameras, the Birdfy 2, & the Birdfy 2 Pro, and it’s a Duo feeder with the Pro camera mounted in the middle, and the 2 mounted on the side. It also came with a solar panel. I mounted it on a pole that I had purchased from Amazon.

The Birdfy 2 Duo Feeder with the Birdfy 2 Pro & Birdfy 2 cameras.
The Birdfy 2 Duo Feeder with the Birdfy 2 Pro & Birdfy 2 cameras.

I like the looks of it, and the color when compared to the original feeder. It just seems a bit more elegant or classic of a design. The bamboo feeder is really nice looking, too. I also like that the lid of this newer model opens up & back, so you can see better into the hopper as you’re filling it… and that the cameras are wholly independent of the housing for ease of access. I have removed the two plates per Birdfy’s request, as the bords seem to have more room to perch without them in the way.

The cameras take a while to charge at first, but the solar panel typically keeps it close to 100%. Occasionally, I do have to bring a camera in for a recharge across all the products. (I don’t have a nest or a hummingbird feeder yet, but maybe someday.)

The app is easy to navigate from the setup of the cameras, to checking out the various videos and photos captured. It has a daily highlights feature, and a monthly recap. The FB community is great for ideas and seeing others’ setups and the birds (& other animals) #CaughtOnBirdfy, and Birdfy support is incredibly responsive.

The video & photos are what shines here, though. The Pro 2 has two cameras, one that moves & tracks the birds. Videos can be downloaded, shared with the community or “collected” in the app, and you can see both cameras at once from the live view. I had to quiet the notifications, because I literally get them all day. The AI bird recognition is pretty good, and getting better, especially now that functionality for correcting the tags has been implemented.

American Goldfinch, Northern Carinal, & Blue Jay - captured form the Birdfy 2 cameras.
House Finch, White-Breasted Nuthatch, & Tufted Titmouse - captured form the Birdfy 2 cameras.
Squirrels - captured form the Birdfy 2 cameras.
Screenshots of the Birdfy app.
Photos from the Birdfy Duo Feeder with the Birdfy 2 Pro & Birdfy 2 cameras.

๐Ÿฅœ

If you have any questions about the feeders, my setups, or anything related to this… don’t hesitate to ask in the comments or reach out on social media. I enjoy vegetable gardening, keeping a nice backyard, and living in harmony with nature even here in the suburbs. These feeders add to the enjoyment. I don’t have to be outside all day to catch a glimpse of nature at work. I try to plant flowers for the pollinators, I’m working on a birdbath and may eventually make a little pond. I have bee/butterfly baths & bug houses.

Bird people seem to be mixed on the squirrels & chipmunks though. I love to watch them, too. Ha ha. I have a squirrel feeder out with a camera trained on it, but may use a Birdfy camera to build into a squirrel feeder eventually. Maybe a barstool style feeder? I’ll have to fortify the wires, as sometimes they can apparently chew them and be quite destructive.

๐Ÿฟ๏ธ

I am in the suburbs just south of Pittsburgh, PA, and I use a varying mix of fruit & nut mix, dried mealworms, a songbird seed mix, sunflower seeds, & sometimes some hot pepper seed mix or cayenne pepper or chili powder. The latter tends to keep the squirrels at the squirrel feeder, but the dust can smudge the camera lenses sometimes. I also tent to put out peanuts and corn for the squirrels (although that pulls in raccoons & deer, too).

You can poke through my whole playlist, or see some videos from just the Birdfy 2 cameras here:

Streaming related bands automatically?

Posted on by Standard Reply

This stated as a Twitter post/thread, and is ending up here.

Am I weird for thinking this?

Streaming services like Spotify and Amazon Music need a feature that adds in related bands. I can tell Alexa to play Rancid, but I also wouldn’t mind Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards being in there, or Transplants, or Tim’s solo stuff.ย  Or even Rancid covers.

Streaming needs to get smarter already.ย  The Spotify “super grouper” feature picks the absolute worst songs from each selected artist.

Of course, I could just make a playlist.ย  But, with a band like Blink-182 in the news, I wanted to dig into Angels & Airwaves, Boxcar Racer, & +44.ย  I don’t know which songs to add to a playlist.

Also, if I want to listen to ALL, I could want to listen to the Descendents too.ย  What about Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver, Izzy Stradlin and the Ju Ju Hounds, Loaded, Neurotic Boy Outsiders, Slash, Slash’s Snakepit, Miles Kennedy & The Conspirators, all of it.

Snuff, Duncan Redmonds, Dogpiss, Guns ‘n’ Wankers would be another example.ย  As would Misfits, Danzig, Samhain, Son of Sam, etc.

Saying one phrase or typing one into a searchboith to be able to bring them all up.

Is thatย bandtoband.comย still a thing?ย  That could be a reference for connected bands.

Teenage Bottlerocket & the Lillingtons.ย  Screeching Weasel & The Riverdales.ย  Ann Beretta, Foundation, Rob Huddleston, & Sixer.ย  Metallica & Megadeth.ย  Green Day, Foxboro Hot Tubs, The Network, & 300 other bands.

Even unrelated bands.ย  Can I just say “Alexa play songs by Flogging Molly and The Dropkick Murphys” and not confuse the shit out of it?

I have an Ozzy/Black Sabbath playlist on Spotify with a ton of great stuff, including a plethora of killer covers.ย  It took time to curate.ย  I have similar ones for Metallica, Misfits, Guns N’ Roses, & Rancid. I need to transition them all to Amazon Music… we have the family account there since we’re using the firestick. I like Spotify’s suggestions better… but I can listen to Amazon sans commercials. I refuse to subscribe to another service, sorry Spotify. Oddly, most of those transfer services have a paywall once you surpass an unreasonably low amount of songs. I don’t even my remember my Pandora logins.

I would think AI could have probably pretty quickly picked up what I was putting down & fleshed it out.

I wouldn’t expect it to go this deep, but it could link Flogging Molly to Fastway.

With Hip Hop too… say all the solo projects of the members of N.W.A.?ย  All that in one would be awesome.

Does something like this exist and I’m just not aware of it? I miss WinAmp.

I need to rip all kinds of older, local, & obscure stuff and put it on my own damn streaming server. I understand Google Music would let you do that before it collapsed? There is really a lot of stuff out there that you can’t stream, and some of my favorites don’t have their entire catalogs available to stream.

Help me out, audiofiles, music nerds, and techno geeks!

Spotify Pie & Iceburgify for AiXeLsyD13
AiXeLsyD13 Spotify Listening Habits

Google Photos is awesome/creepy with these videos it made & sent to me automaticallyโ€ฆ

Posted on by Standard 9

Fascinating.

So, Google Photos made two of these video clip compilations all by itself, then it let me know in the photos app. One was for Molly, and one was for Ian.

HOW DOES IT KNOW?

Are these algorithms? Facial Recognition? Time, date, & location stamps? ย Did it use the videos from my phone, or the online backups?

This is so awesome, cute, and creepy.

These videos give me all the feels.

For those who noticed I didn’t blog very often for a while, all this was happening. It’s incredible to look back on it all.

I wish I could tweak some of the clips just a tiny bit to include some better little funny moments, but whatever made this did a pretty damn good job.

As amazing as this is, and how cool it is that it reminds me of the make-a-grown-man-cry Dear-Sophie Google Chrome commercial, it’s a bit weird. ย Are we in the future? ย How does it do what it does?

I may find a simple answer after a Google search. ย Does Google let you learn all about Google? ย Does anyone use Google+?

Google Photos

Your Friendly Binary Overlord

Seriously though, they do grow up so fast. ย Thank you for the reminder, Google Photos.

Dynamite Dud

Posted on by Standard 1

Original DuPont gunpowder wagon at Hagley Muse...

Free cart with purchase over $25?

Well, if you were afraid that anyone was going to break the stereotype of large corporations soullessly replying to emails with automated responses, or the stereotype about librarians not having a sense of humor… you may rest easy tonight, my friends.

Some of you (thankfully) found the Farming with Dynamite booklet as humorous as I did.ย  Some of you even enjoyed my webform submission to DuPont.ย  Apparently DuPont did not find my email the slightest bit amusing.ย  I didn’t get so much as the digital equivalent of a chuckle from the historical library where they referred me.ย  Neither of them seemed disturbed but it, either.

From: DuPont Inquiry Management Center <find.info@usa.dupont.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 28, 2011
Subject: DuPont Reply: Hagley Museum & Library
To: “world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com” <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>

In response to your inquiry: Hello,

I recently found your “Farming With Dynamite: A Few Hints to Farmers” handbook online, and found the concept quite interesting. ย I hate shovels, and most power tools. ย I’d like to plant some tomatoes and maybe a squash vine in the back yard next year… and think that this dynamite could come in handy!

For reference: http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/www/dupont/FarmingWithDynamite/Mimage01.html

Page 11 of your booklet said to write for the “Handbook of Explosives for Farmers, Planters, & Ranchers”. ย I believe the book predates the used of zip codes, and wasn’t sure if snail mail would get to you at the provided “address”. ย So, I decided to search online. ย Plus. ย I’m lazy. ย I didn’t want to buy stamps, and get a cramp while writing a letter with a pen. ย See where this dynamite thing may come in handy when planting a garden?

Do you have a hand book of explosives for the casual gardener? ย I can try scale down the big stuff if need be. ย I’m sure my neighbors would appreciate some restraint.

What are your thoughts on using explosives to get rid of garden pests like rabbits, groundhogs, deer, and even (here in the city) rats?

At 56ยข average for stump removal in my area, I’m confident I can save time and money planting vegetables next year! ย Maybe I can do some carrots and bell peppers too?

I see that “Farming With Dynamite” was printed in 1910, have ย explosive farming techniques progressed much since then? ย I would like some literature on the latest blasting technology.

Does the “Red Cross” dynamite mentioned in your book have anything to do with the Relief/Aid organization, or is it just an unfortunate similarity? ย I hear 99ยข of each dollar donated goes to line the pockets of their CEO. ย Ridiculous.

I look forward to your thoughts and advice, I appreciate that you have offered this information at no cost. ย It shows that you are a company that cares about the common man!

Thanks for writing. The Hagley Museum & Library is home to all historical information related to the DuPont Company. For assistance, please contact the musuem directly:

Hagley Museum & Library
Eleutherian Mills – Hagley Foundation
Post Office Box 3630
Greenville, DE 19807
Phone: (302)658-2400
Website: http://www.hagley.lib.de.us/
Contact Info: http://www.hagley.lib.de.us/contact.html

We hope this will be of some assistance.

Regards,
DuPont Inquiry Management Center
Wilmington, Delaware USA
http://www.dupont.com/
800-441-7515
302-774-1000

So, I sent this on top of the forwarded response form Dupont.

From: Waldo Lunar <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 31, 2011
Subject: Fwd: DuPont Reply: Hagley Museum & Library
To: info@hagley.org

Hello Esteemed Keepers of Information,

I recently wrote to DuPont inquiring about a booklet on Farming with Dynamite, and they have directed me to you.ย  Can you help out with the request below, my friends?

Excelsior!
-Waldo Lunar

———- Forwarded message ———-

I got this from the library:

From: Linda Gross <lgross@hagley.org>
Date: Mon, Oct 31, 2011
Subject: FW: DuPont Reply: Hagley Museum & Library
To: “world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com” <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>

Mr. Lunar-
You will find that our library contains historical information about dynamite in our collection.ย  We have no information on current farming techniques.ย  You are welcome to search through our holdings in our online catalog at www.hagley.org/library.ย  If you are interested in the history of the black powder production at DuPont, you might find our online exhibit of DuPont Company on the Brandywine to be a good source.ย  http://www.hagley.org/library/exhibits/brandywine/
Linda P. Gross
Imprints Reference Librarian
Hagley Museum and Library
P.O. Box 3630
Wilmington, DEย  19807
—–
Begin forwarded message:

DuPont either employs the most sophisticated A.I. email responders I have ever seen, or no one there or at the Hagley seems to have a sense of humor or a sense of cautioning someone looking to do some backyard gardening with dynamite.

Working powder mills on Brandywine Creek, abou...

These blow up occasionally?

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