Journeys 3.1

Recently, I integrated this WordPress website with Google’s AI and started looking for problems it could solve. Today, I used the AI to generate descriptive image alt text for screen readers for visually impaired users. It works well, as this example shows. (In yesterday’s micropost, I actually misidentified the produce, AI got it right!) Once I’m sufficiently comfortable with the system, I’ll set the AI loose on all 9,000+ photos in this site’s image library.

“Finally, grape tomatoes at the Asian supermarket!” I thought. A closer inspection, however, revealed they were actually kumquats. Tomatoes aren’t really a staple in much of Asian cuisine. On the walk home, I couldn’t think of a single Japanese dish featuring them. Back home, I looked it up and confirmed that tomatoes only started to catch on in Japan in the 20th century.

The first class this morning was interpreting. Two interpreters with decades of experience joined the classroom to answer questions from the adult learners and demonstrate wireless audio equipment used for simultaneous interpreting. The next classes were more familiar to me: writing, then a reading group.

Almost sculptural, giant plastic shrouds enclose the power transmission towers across the river from where we live. Decades of rust are being blasted off, followed by fresh coats of paint. On the bottom left sits the inlet for the 1908 hydroelectric plant, still taking advantage of the natural drop of St. Anthony Falls.

Dwight was a little spooked this morning by a random clicking sound. It seemed to stop whenever he moved, leaving him with the distinct feeling that some hidden creature was watching him. AI revealed it was actually the “click of death” caused by a failing capacitor inside this formerly smart ceiling fan control. A replacement ordered online was delivered this evening, and I’ll swap it out in the morning.

Cycled a circular loop to Hopkins with a friend visiting from the UK, made possible by sections of the trail reopened after Green Line LRT construction. We stopped for lunch at Bryant Lake Bowl, a long-time Uptown fixture that’s part bowling alley, part theater, and part excellent restaurant. The bibimbap was superb comfort food, perfectly fitting a day that threatened rain but stayed dry for our bike ride.

Continued planning a possible multi-day hike across Greater Tokyo, a metropolis of 37 million. My route follows the Tamagawa Aqueduct, which dates back to 1654 in the feudal era. Spanning roughly 30 miles, I plan to start in the countryside at the Tama River. Though the city has been leveled by fire several times, including twice in the 20th century, I hope that by following the water, I’ll catch glimpses of the past that survived the flames.