The U.S. Open
Eli 25.1 is here until early tomorrow, so I'm scrambling a bit because we'll be gone most of the day. Here are a few bits about the U.S. Open, though.
I've never been to a Grand Slam before (Eli's been to various ones five times now), so it was a brand new experience for me. I didn't realize that Grand Slams are like a sports theme park. There are rides (courts), some huge ones and some small ones, and you just ride the vibes between various matches, never staying at one for longer than a set because so much else is happening.
It's fun--unbelievable fun, really--and seeing world class athletes up close is incredible. On the outer courts, we were watching matches at distance of less than fifty feet.
Some of the physicality of tennis comes through on TV, but man, it really comes through in person. High-level tennis is incredibly physical, and it's easier to under how quickly players can fatigue. Particularly on high heat or humidity days, because it was a swamp on Tuesday, even though it was overcast most of the day.
The other thing that stood out most keenly was the serve. Players go multiple games cranking in a high percentage of their serves, looking utterly comfortable, but when a particularly important game comes around, their motions start to--ever so slightly--fall apart. All those first serves that were going in easily suddenly go two feet long or hit the net. For some reason, it was particularly pronounced when you're watching in person.
These events are almost festivals. There's so much to do besides watch matches. Lots of vendors, lots of food (at the U.S. Open, it's comically expensive), lots of fan stuff. It's a blast.
Oh, and I learned that having a reserved seat for one of the big courts in the early rounds is totally unnecessary. There are so many courts with open seating that you can have a great time with a day pass, just wandering between the outer courts and going to the best match currently happening. Cheaper and every bit as much fun. For the U.S. Open, at least.
Names, In Three Steps
I went to the U.S. Open with Eli 25.1 yesterday.
I'll have more about the event tomorrow, but today, I want to talk about names and how I mangle them. It's a very specific process.
First, I'll hear a new name. In this case, it was a female tennis player: Harriet Dart. We briefly watched part of her first round match and jumped on the hype train after her hitting partner showed up next to me (with a tennis bag and racquet) and said, quite politely, "Come on, Harriet."
Phase one: Harriet Dart.
Phase two begins when I say the name wrong for the first time. "I really like that one player--what was her name--Hailey Dash?"
Eli started laughing. "You're doing it," he says. "Harriet Dart. But you'll call her Hailey Dash forever."
"You forgot the third phase," I say. "That's when I mix up the wrong first name with ANOTHER wrong name. I'll call her Halley once, then go, 'Wait, that's not right. Her name is Hailey.' That cements the wrong name in my head forever and convinces me it's absolutely correct."
And that's how Harriet Dart becomes Hailey Dash. Forever.
A Fond Farewell
Peter Cullen, the beloved voice of Eeyore, passed away last week.
He may be gone, but this line will never be topped:
I found an anchor over there
Now it's on my derriere.
Pop Goes the Weasels
I was at PT on Tuesday and a pop music loop was playing.
These were extremely popular songs from the last few years. I recognized most of them, even though I don't listen to pop music.
What I noticed for the first time, though, because they were back to back to back, was how incredibly algorithm-driven they were. They all used the same elements with only slight variations. They all sounded incredibly artificial.
They didn't even sound like songs as much as an amalgamation of desirable characteristics as determined by analyzing other successful pop songs.
Lots of pop songs are like that, really. Not driven by the artist, but by the producer or the record label, with teams of writers providing lyrics. It's always been that way, but with the rise of sophisticated computer-driven production features, it's even more so now.
Everything gets fixed. Nothing is real.
That's when it hit me: this is where AI is going big.
Top pop songs already sound so artificial that using AI to create the entire song isn't going to sound much different from what's already topping the charts.
I'll put a stake in the ground here: within the next 24 months, fully AI-generated pop songs are going to be heavily represented in the charts. No artist to manage, barely discernible difference in quality, exponentially lower production cost--it's a record label's dream situation.
I, for one, doubt I'll be able to tell the difference unless the songs are identified as AI-created. I doubt many other people will, either.
Here's the other possibility, and I bet this is already happening: record labels feeding all their most successful pop material (and that of the other labels) into a custom LLM that then creates songs. If they don't want to say it's AI, they then hire someone to sing the song. Technically, that's not AI. Or is it? Who knows?
Praise Be
ESPN is removing the bottom line ticker from their college football broadcasts across all channels.
It's not an exaggeration to say I've bitched about the ticker from the day they added it (bitching often in this very space), and then went supernova when they started using it to promote upcoming entertainment programs.
I've been complaining about this for almost half my life.
And now it's gone. The hills are indeed alive with the sound of music.
Project 56
After Eli 25.0s time trial on Saturday, in an attempt to break my 1979 family record (57.0) in the quarter mile, Project 56 has a new name.
It's now Project 50.
There was no question, after a single month of speed training, that he would break my record. He told me the day before that he expected to run below 55 seconds.
We had a long conversation before I told him this at the end.
"By the way, I've hand-timed your race," I said.
"Hand-timed? Before I've even run?" he asked, laughing.
"Exactly," I said. "I already saw the outcome."
"What'd I run?" he asked.
"57.1," I said, and he burst out laughing.
I told C the night before that he was going to run 53.9. I know what happens when he's competing. He turns on a gear almost no one else has.
As it turned out, he didn't run 53.9.
He ran 53.5.
I saw two videos, both recorded poorly by his friends, and both only covering very small snippets of the race. I could tell, though, that this form still isn't very good. He's just burning through on raw speed, which means has has a huge amount of room for improvement.
I told him he might have run the fastest quarter mile time of any college hockey goalie in history, and he laughed and said it was certainly a possibility.
His real plan, now that he's talked to the friend on the track team who helped him train, is to come back from Columbia (and a year at an Ivy League school I can't specify yet, where he'll be working with one of the very best people in the world in his field) and join the track team.
His friend said he believes that with a year of proper training, he could break 50 seconds. This is important because it would mean he'd quality for a "full blue" in a second Oxford sport, which is extremely rare. He already has one for hockey, so pulling off the hockey-track double would be both incredibly unlikely. He doesn't think it's ever been done before.
I'm not betting against him.
Just No
I did a full edit of the book (230 pages) in two days before I left for Austin.
I recommend this to no one, ever.
Tuesday will return to a regular schedule, and I'll have Project 56 details as well.
Friday Links!
It's a big week for the Guardian on Friday Links because they've had a plethora of interesting articles this week.
A Change of Plans
I'm headed to Austin to see Mom 96.5 on short notice, so I don't know if there will be a post tomorrow or Monday. I'll finish Friday Links, though, and have it set to post at the usual time.
By the time I get back, Project 56 will be completed because Eli 25.0 is running on Saturday. I'll let you know what happened.
Also, if you want to watch a Koshien live stream for the semifinals (tonight) or final (Saturday, I think), here's a link: Sports Bull. Excellent picture quality, and replays are available afterwards for a limited amount of time.
A Matter of Detail
I'm at the point with the book (now with a title: We Trust the Future) where I'm spending multiple days considering the merits of "adventurer" versus "pioneer."
Originally, adventurer is used often in the text.
It's kind of a narrow word, though, and it brings to mind excitement and daring. It implies that adventure is the whole point, rather than purpose. Plus, at four syllables, it rolls off the tongue like a speed bump.
Pioneer, though, implies purpose. Marking trail. Forging ahead when others aren't strong enough to go with you. And at three syllables, it's smooth. It flows.
So I'm making the change. It's easy to search for adventurer and replace all instances with pioneer. Lots of edge cases are possible, though, so to do this, I have to read through the entire manuscript and ensure nothing feels out of place.
By the way, DQ Story Advisor John Harwood was the one who suggested that "trust" needed to be in the title, since it's part of a trilogy. Eventually, in theory, all three books will use that word.
I guess it's the trust trilogy now. Or the trilogy of trust.
