ysabetwordsmith | Please don't get your campsite setup ideas from AI

From:

I love it. However, I know ppl who would be dumb enough to think that's a good way to warm up their tent. Maybe in some far future, after the robots take over, they'll trade memes about how dumb humans were.

From:

seleneheart

Wow. That's just ...

From:

fbhjr

I've had trouble with rain putting out my fire. I hadn't thought of this...

From:

ysabetwordsmith

There is a way to deal with that: you build your fire under an overhang and keep the fire small enough that it doesn't cause a problem. The size is actually about right in that picture. The overhang trick works with a lean-to or a natural rock formation such as a cleft, undercut, or cave. You can even build your fire its own little lean-to separate from yours. With a wide stone formation set it to one side of you; with a deep one, set it at the mouth.

Here are a couple of videos about building shelters to protect fires from rain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQH8cCEt6C8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvuqHtJDmVE

And here's a discussion of stone options:

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/39018/

Or you can just start your fire in the rain, but that kinda sucks for cooking:

https://www.montanaknifecompany.com/blogs/news/start-fire-with-wet-wood

From:

dialecticdreamer

About five years ago, I was having a conversation with a fellow passenger while waiting, and he admitted to being homeless. In our part of California, that's nowhere near as dangerous as being homeless in Utah, Chicago, et cetera.

He also built a fireplace in his tent. Not a fire basin, but an actual fireplace, and cut a chimney space in the roof which he sealed with aluminum tape and duct tape on both inner and outer sides. The fireplace itself was built of fire brick on the base, then sides were built of cement bricks.

I repeat. INSIDE a tent.

I wish I'd seen a picture of it.

Edited (typo) Date: 2025-01-05 07:16 pm (UTC)

From:

ysabetwordsmith

I am impressed. :D

Hmm, I could see that working with a rocket stove or coffee can stove. I've cooked with a coffee can, although it's easier with a tuna can burner than with twigs. Thinking brick instead of metal, something like this could work.

From:

dialecticdreamer

I asked for clarification. The fireplace bed itself was large enough to fit a full-sized rectangular barbecue grill into, resting on red clay bricks.

The tent was one of the ones that is nearly a cube, not a four man dome tent.

From:

ysabetwordsmith

>> I asked for clarification. The fireplace bed itself was large enough to fit a full-sized rectangular barbecue grill into, resting on red clay bricks.<<

Daaaamn.

>> The tent was one of the ones that is nearly a cube, not a four man dome tent.<<

We had a 2-room cabin tent once. It was really nice. There was a zip curtain in the middle, so we had a sleeping area and a living area.

From:

dialecticdreamer

I was very surprised by how present and together he seemed, so I've always wondered why he resisted more traditional housing. Pondering that has given me some good ideas as a writer.

From:

ysabetwordsmith

>> I was very surprised by how present and together he seemed, so I've always wondered why he resisted more traditional housing. <<

Some people are homeless because they have serious problems; America likes to dump its mentally ill or disabled people on the streets nowadays, when they aren't simply stored in prisons. Others are there because they got kicked out for being queer or whatever, or because they fled a dangerous situation at home. These are often chronically homeless. Some are homeless because they recently lost theirs, and sometimes they can scrabble their way back up to working poor, if they're lucky, with an apartment or a trailer or something again.

So looking at unhoused people, you have among others:
* people who would love a roof but nothing is available
* people who are patching together staying with people they know or in shelters as best they can
* people who would rather sleep under a bridge than put up with the abuse from "My roof, my rules" relatives or soul-destroying torment from shelter staff.

>> Pondering that has given me some good ideas as a writer.<<

I've written about a variety of homeless people, temporary or permanent. Cas ran away from foster care because of how they treated him and his daughter, but fortunately it wasn't long before Boss Blaster scooped him up. I think Turq's whole cohort who escaped spent time on the street, although some of them later gained housing of some sort. Same for most of the girls who escaped Merry Acres or other trafficking. There's the sedoretu in Rain City -- I'm sure they could build a working fireplace inside a tent.

Feel free to ask for this in any relevant prompt call. January 7 will be "short forms" so not the best match, but the Creative Jam mid-month will be on "Work" which is a great fit. Think like how Kayla Not Afraid gets by with odd-jobbing around Cut Bank, or Blainn in Mercedes.

From: (Anonymous)

There's also those with really bad cases of claustrophobia. When you can't actually breathe when walled in, a tent might be a solution.

From:

ysabetwordsmith

Which seems to be most of Turq's cohort.

From: (Anonymous)

*nods*

From:

see_also_friend

There are also people who are not legally allowed to earn money (even if only on a technicality). For this category look at kids and folks who don't have legal papers to work (and these papers can take months to years to go through). Possibly also disabled folks who do not have enough benefits for a home and also do not have an able-bodied friend/relative that will allow them a place to live.

From:

scrubjayspeaks

Oh, the joy of slowly scrolling down the page and spittaking when I finally get to the visual punchline. *cackles*

From:

ysabetwordsmith

I am certain there are park rangers all over America who are printing this out and pinning it to the bulletin board in their visitor center under "Not Like This."

From:

thewayne

Nah, ya see, tha's just demonstrating how incredibly fire-resistant that tent is!

The carpals on her left hand are awfully long, and her right hand looks terrible! At least what you can see. And the lacing of her boots are just asking for a serious injury.

The stick leaning against her right hand is just a chef's kiss of AI 'can't do this right'.

Edited Date: 2025-01-05 08:30 pm (UTC)

From:

pronker

Thanks for pointing this out! AI features to look for are, I take it, hands? *is curious*

From:

ysabetwordsmith

Hands and eyes most of all. Nose and mouth sometimes. Number of limbs always, and where they bend or attach to the body. The AI is just mimicking shapes and patterns. It doesn't know what an arm is or that the standard human equipment is exactly two of them. But I'm fascinated that it somehow absorbed the human brain's tendency to see eyes everywhere!

From:

see_also_friend

I suspect it learned that from the human programmers/parents. Humans are fascinated by eyes (because of brainwiring), so I suspect the parent-programmers taught the AI by focusing on stuff that registers as eyes to human vision.

From:

thewayne

Hands are frequently an AI generation giveaway. They also have a problem with the number of fingers and hands holding things. Sometimes you'll see multiple or missing thumbs!

From:

pronker

Ahah, digit troubles, I see ... :)

From:

fred_mouse

Also shadows, light sources and reflections, because they rarely match. This one it isn't very obvious, and feels more like good amateur photoshop in that way (the light on the white shirt doesn't match the fire, for example)

From:

ysabetwordsmith

Water, clouds, and other things that depend on fractals, chaos math, fluid dynamics, etc. You wouldn't think a computer could be bad at math, but yep. It's a classic surface-in problem, that happens when you don't understand the layers of infrastructure that make things the way they are. Actually it's common to most novice artists. It's hard to draw hands when you don't know distal anatomy.

From:

see_also_friend

Maybe it's a less-popular thought, but for all the discussion of AI inbreeding, I am not sure that it is a fatal flaw with AI.

It might just as easily be a developmental phase. The AIs could eventually learn to grow past it, either as a natural development (like development of vision or coordination) or as a result of more effective lessons (like art lessons).

From:

pronker

Mmmm, good catch.

From:

see_also_friend

I suspect the AI was trained on photos of models, not actual hikers. The boots were probably learned from an 'untidily fashionable' photoshoot.

From:

ysabetwordsmith

Look at what's for sale. Fashion is exactly what you get unless you shop at a specialty store. Most of what's on the shelves is utter crud. You can't even find a decent winter coat anymore.

From:

see_also_friend

There's a reason I keep putting pockets in my clothes.
:)

I had a wonderful winter coat I bought in highschool (warm, comfy, fairly durable). I wish I could by another less-shabby one, but I couldn't find the same model again.
:(

Anyway, that's another potential limitation of current AI, that they can't distinguish specific context as well as a human.

From:

potentiality_26

Oh dear. Oh no...

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