Asking ChatGPT to blog like me

AI not on my blogging mission

I decided to try the ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence Chatbot that apparently specialises in dialogue, as we are told. As a presumably blogging veteran of 19 years, you read so much about AI and how the developments, advances, and mechanics of it might eventually replace us and our sometimes-unappreciated creativity.

I had one question to ask the ChatGPT to answer and immediately it produced a blog that I have published below.

Somehow, I feel in this area of creative expression, much as ChatGPT was quick to run to the press, I doubt it gave heed to the most essential component of my request which is to write in my style with reference to my blog.

Maybe, just maybe, for now, I will not be replaced by an AI facility pretending to gather and express my thoughts in my somewhat unique way. God forfend, American spelling, I am quite truly offended.

I may at another time conduct a review of how and why I might or may not have written this blog this way.

The link to ChatGPT, registration with Captcha and Multifactor Authentication (MFA) will be requested.

Request to ChatGPT

Write a blog in the style of Akin Akintayo who blogs at https://akinblog.nl

ChatGPT output

[Edited only for formatting]

Hello everyone!

Today, I wanted to talk about the importance of self-reflection. As we go about our daily lives, it's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and forget to take a step back and reflect on ourselves and our actions.

But self-reflection is crucial for personal growth and development. By regularly taking the time to introspect, we can gain a better understanding of ourselves, our motivations, and our goals. We can also identify areas where we need to improve and make changes to become the best versions of ourselves.

One way to practice self-reflection is to set aside some time each day, perhaps in the evening before bed, to reflect on the events of the day. Ask yourself questions like:

·        What did I do well today?

·        What could I have done better?

·        What did I learn today?

Another way to practice self-reflection is to keep a journal. Writing down our thoughts and experiences can help us process them and gain insights that we might not have otherwise.

In addition to personal growth, self-reflection can also improve our relationships with others. By understanding ourselves better, we can communicate more effectively and empathize with others. We can also identify and address any negative patterns of behavior that might be damaging to our relationships.

So make sure to set aside some time for self-reflection. It might not always be easy, but it's an essential part of being a happy and fulfilled person.

Until next time, take care!

Akin Akintayo

Opinion: Asking for the opportunity to prove ourselves

This is good acting

I watch very little television if I watch any at all, the things that fascinate me are murder mysteries, educational documentaries, detective series, trains and travel.

However, from the moment I saw the trailer for How to Get Away with Murder starring Viola Davis, I was hooked, by both the title and the drama. When I eventually got into the series, I was quite enamoured by the strength of the character of Professor Annalise Keating as portrayed by Viola Davis, I recorded the whole series.

In the weekend, Viola Davis, unbeknownst to me became the first African-American lady to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series and her acceptance speech so seriously deviated from the norm by paying a glowing tribute those who had opened the way before her in the quest for the recognition and adoration of their peers in entertainment.

A speech well made

This is the full text of her acceptance speech as transcribed by the New York Times, but one cannot help but excerpt a cogent part of the speech. “The only thing that separates women of colour from anyone else is opportunity.”

Whilst, I will not be too forward in suggesting I have suffered the loss of opportunity, I can fully understand the sentiment that informed her speech where for whatever indecipherable reasons I have missed out on opportunities not offered to me when for all intents and purposes I am well qualified for the job I interviewed for.

Then again, I cannot put it down to overt racism, yet when having been interviewed and well considered an executive at the BBC in 1991 decides he’ll rather not give me the job because I was not extending myself enough or in his words, I was short-selling myself, you wonder.

Open for opportunity

More recently, it was an interview with a major bank where apparently I did not pass the muster for Miss Congeniality for the job. These experiences begin to introduce doubt and literally beat you down that you have to find strength from within to rise beyond that situation.

Blog - Thought Picnic: As Runner-Up Miss Congeniality, I Didn't Quite Make It

Yet, I could paraphrase Viola Davis and say that for many, “The only thing that separates minorities in any society from everyone else is opportunity.” Being given the opportunity to prove that they are both able and capable because some assumption, presumption or dare I say, prejudice has led to people at the gate not letting others into their fold for all sorts of reasons.

She goes on to say that, “You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” By extension, you cannot win accolades, praise, recognition or promotion for opportunities not granted to those who generally by default are not amongst the first to be considered for such placements.

Entitlement debasing opportunity

Then again, I see other areas where people who generally get given these opportunities abuse and squander them foisting their sense of entitlement into the situation.

In the light of this, I find myself antithetical to the smart and apparently beautiful Charlotte Proudman and I note the significance of her surname when on being complimented for her looks in connecting with an eminent male lawyer on the LinkedIn professional network took umbrage at age-old chivalry to deem it sexist. [The Student]

There is an element of political correctness in this reading that bothers somewhat old-fashioned people like myself who will have the tendency to compliment, offer a seat to ladies, take off my hat when speaking to a lady or step forward to open a door for a lady – that is the cultured and expected decorum expected of gentlemen and it in no way belittles the professional attributes of the lady.

Try some emotional intelligence too

In a way, I felt quite sorry for Alexander Carter-Silk who being a generation ahead of the lady was slightly conscious of the possibility that a compliment might be taken wrongly and yet chose to make it in good faith. The Internet shaming of the man shows how discretion is no more a matter of valour for another generation. [LegalCheek]

For all the commentary for and against that episode, I will very well understand and quite sadly appreciate that Miss Proudman with all her academic intelligence and feistiness might have blown certain opportunities that would naturally be open to her in the pride that always presages the self-fulfilling prophecy of a fall. The requisite amount of emotional intelligence always helps in communicating umbrage or agreement.

Then again, Miss Proudman because of her extrovert self-esteem and intelligence displayed a sense of entitlement and effrontery that can be both emasculating and aggressively off-putting, she will go far.

Yet, I commend all those who grasp any opportunity they are given to become and excel and for that also I commend Viola Davis.

I suggest Spatial-Consideration Intelligence

The rules I break

I believe I have broken a few rules as I remember the words of one of Anita Baker’s songs – She is probably my best musician artiste, “Rules were meant to be broken,” she first says, then you goes on the say, “So many hearts break the same way too, aw baby, I said that you ain't no exception to the rule, yes sir.”

The rules I have broken are mainly the unwritten ones, the ones I have read or can still remember as instruction even if irritating to the point of awakening that streak of rebelliousness in me, I have rarely dared to infringe.

Now, I do not intend to speak about broken hearts, but the taking the exception to the rule or rules does concern me. I love order, I like to see order around, order especially when I leave my home for whatever activity I have purposed to do or just happened to find myself in.

In the way

Starting with stepping out of my front door and not having to ask someone who has inadvertently felt my doorstep is the place to take a standing nap. Then I get on the street and some friends all decide to walk abreast, which is fine but in their chatting excitement become oblivious of others that you either have to alert them or step dangerously onto the street.

That simple element of awareness which should be a rule written on the fleshy tablets of the heart and branded fierily on the jellies of the cranial grey matter, yet so carelessly ignored. People who knowing it is a doorway and take up the space constricting access.

I’ve seen too many instances of the absence of intelligent engagement of the spaces we occupy too, like finding myself in queues when I was in India and having the person behind me pressing against my person for no particular reason that thankfully my towering height helped when I bellowed down at the person, “Hold your space.”

Know your space

I can remember when I touched the man in front of me in a pub and apologised that I could not put my feet in a bag, after he stepped on my toes. A very strange situation where my size 12 feet (European size 46) knows full well not to egress in the pied-à-terre (literally, space for the feet) of others and then to find someone with much shorter feet unaware of where their feet should be.

Space is probably a European concept more than it is for any other place, but I am probably in error when I realise that queues were not the kind of order to find in the Netherlands, it drove me to distraction and brought out the most English of annoyances in me.

You could not get off a train comfortably because everyone wanted to get on, yet, we need to get off for others to get off. That is where my cane sometimes made a violent acquaintance with the shins of others and behold the way opened before me without obstruction.

Consideration and deportment

Public transport does provide a test case for those who are literally spatially ignorant, people who take up more seats than they should or create impediments to others getting access to other seats especially by putting their bags on the seats, worse still is those who put their feet on the seats despite the fact that there are notices clearly saying they should not.

People who bring their caterwauling music unto public spaces who in their enjoyment create the greatest irritation to others, a total lack of consideration, I say. Then, being a cane user, you can imagine when I get on the London Underground and find that able-bodied people have made a beeline for the priority seats and completely ignore the aged, the infirm, the pregnant or the mobility assisted. Those seats are not for them, that is why the signs are put there.

Other views of space

Space is a matter of dimensions and different dimensions of occupancy, manner, appearance and attitude which demands awareness and consideration. The consideration that if everyone else did what I was doing, what would the world be like.

Literally no public seat is safe from the halitosis-ridden oral excrements of chewing gum that you never venture the underneath of a wooden armrest or under the seat, forget the number of pavements with gum and cigarette butts. The former should be banned as they have so done in Singapore.

It manner of dressing is the being assault in public with the sight of cack-ridden undergarments that should be covered up in this rotten fashion trend of sagging trousers. Beyond that, it is those forget to dress for the body they have and end up dressing for what they want their bodies to be – uncouth and unsightly, you almost think you should wear a sick bag like a colostomy bag at the things that things that invade the sanctity of the senses.

Public decorum

Forget those who do not take a seat to make a call or sent a text message on their mobile phones, so unaware that what they think is walking in a straight line is anything but, some have met great mishap as a result when they divorce themselves from the personal responsibility of knowing that each person being aware of the other and acting accordingly is part of the order we all crave in society and community.

Use the bins, press the button if you are first at the pedestrian crossing lights, stand out of the way, give way to others less able to manoeuvre, be courteous, polite and considerate, the list goes on about how I love things to be and what really piques me.

Defining this intelligence

As I thought about this, I was about to give this sense of awareness and consideration on the matter of space, Spatial Quotient as an additional form of measuring intelligence along with Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Emotional Intelligence (EQ) only to find that Spatial Intelligence is quite a broad field of study amongst other types of intelligence, in what is known as the theory of multiple intelligences, so I back to square one.

Having looked at the nine intelligences listed and the descriptions that follow, for musical–rhythmic, visual–spatial, verbal–linguistic, logical–mathematical, bodily–kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential. I am not convinced this one or a combination of some of these properly address the element of spatial awareness and intuitiveness that I have raised in this blog.

Giving well, taking little

And back to the lyrics I introduced at the beginning of this blog, there is an element of the absence of this intelligence that is expressed in, “So many times we don't give, we take…” whereas, society works on various levels of giving and taking to different degrees that are usually never equal.

I am tempted to suggest, Spatial-consideration intelligence, however, it probably requires more academic rigour from behavioural experts to properly define this or extend the meanings of the previously defined categories.

Space matters, the giving of it, the giving up of it, the taking of it and taking it with clear consideration of others too.

Nigeria: Our Own Comical Ali - Ogbonna Onovo

Our Comical Ali

It is with amusement if not embarrassment that I read that Nigeria now has its own “Comical Ali” [1]. Now, Comical Ali was the minister in Saddam Hussein’s government who made wild statements about the Iraqis winning just as George W. Bush’s shock-and-awe crusade was rolling down the streets of Baghdad.

The Nigerian cast in this position happens to be the new Nigerian police chief, the Inspector General of Police Mr. Ogbonna Onovo.

Grieving through respects

Just over a week ago saw the passing of a legendary human rights activist and legal luminary, Gani Fawehinmi; despite his faults, his work in challenging government excess and the untrammelled egregious abuse of power.

It behoves many in Nigeria to be seen to pay respects to such an one, in fact, it would have been a conveyor belt of personalities literally leaving the surviving relatives no time to reflect, grieve or think as they have to entertain and engage in pointless photo opportunities in the quest to presumably do the right thing.

One of such visitors who visited to pay respects and condole the family was the put upon, harassed and vilified but courageous ex-chairman of the ant-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu.

In full public glare

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has been engaged in a number of law suits with the establishment but is a research fellow at a university in the United Kingdom. There is no doubt that the establishment in Nigeria would like to lay their hands on him, rough him up and shut him up because he is privy to information that makes those in power extremely uncomfortable.

In full public glare with the press carrying the stories and many photographs to prove it, Mallam Ribadu paid his respects to the family of Gani Fawehinmi in the company of his lawyer after which he left Nigeria to return to his activities abroad.

The comical clowning that stems from this is that when asked the Inspector General of Police (IGP) categorically denied [2] that Mallam Ribadu was ever in Nigeria and that he would not believe he was in Nigeria until he saw evidence to that fact.

An embarrassment indeed

This brings a number of issues to the fore, in some ways Mallam Ribadu is a thorn in the flesh of the establishment, they would stop at nothing to inconvenience him ever so slightly till they are sanctioned by judicial process.

Mallam Ribadu is too recognisable a figure to have slipped in and out of Nigeria without being noticed through any and all of the border entry points of Nigeria; for the publicity that accompanied his visit, he did not sneak in, he boldly went about his business without let or hindrance.

For such an important figure to have visited Nigeria to attend a very high profile event and the IGP be completely oblivious of that fact leaves much to be desired.

The rashness of the IGP leaves one suspect of his capabilities; the intelligence infrastructure in Nigeria must be in need of a radical overhaul; the man should allow himself to be briefed of developments in the country; he should ensure he has all the facts before he answers politically charged questions than attempt an absurd face-saving denial which is in many ways dishonest.

The whole matter is laughable, embarrassing and indicative of rank incompetence with a lack of attention to the meticulous research of facts and events, one would expect the police chief to be better briefed and reasoned in his responses – but then, rather than be annoyed, the better excuse for this debacle is to see the rise of Nigeria’s own Comical Ali.

Sources

[1] The Best Of 'Comical Ali' | Home | Sky News

[2] Ribadu’s visit: Balarabe Musa, Keyamo, CD boss rap IGP | Nigerian Tribune

We've lost intelligence

The Satire of Expletives

Over a year ago, I was well and truly entertained watching a film TEAM America: World Police. The language in the film was ripe with expletives and hardly the kind of talk one would find in decent company, but it did not take away from the entertainment value.

Besides, it was one of those meetings with ex-colleagues, which had become a routine of spending the best part of 4 weeks trying to get everyone together to watch something of interest.

The theme songs were beyond the pale covering every serious issue of the day, like Everyone Has AIDS, which would make puritans rail abuse at the slightest opportunity.

Destroying to save

The team comprised mercenary type gung-ho personnel who with the help of technology and artistic flair would enter any situation and resolve the problem leaving behind a calling card of utter destruction like the destruction of the Eiffel Tower in the process of eliminating terrorists.

The mainframe system that handled all their data and control systems was called I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E., it had every data-mining capability hooking into news wires, satellite links and any communication system in the globe.

As the plot thickened, the team's headquarters concealed in Mount Rushmore was attached and almost completely destroyed and the travail that went up on that destruction was phrased in the line - "We've lost I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E! I repeat, we have no I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E"

Inappropriate there, disdainful here

So, when I read that a completely distasteful song appeared on the Internet called Hadji Girl sung to a tune within Team America by a US Marine in Iraq - not only was intelligence lost, the 23 year old boy probably never had any.

As usual, the stiffest condemnation of that insensitive and uncompassionate song comes from the Marines codified in the word "inappropriate".

Inappropriate is probably the highest level of condemnation that can be mustered by the Bush regime against friends like Pat Robertson when he called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez.

Also the comments of the former Education Secretary William Bennett when he surmised about aborting black babies was not appropriate.

The appropriateness of the inappropriate responses to inappropriate outrages is questionable at times when they should appropriately appropriate the situation for the decency and candour; this is a misappropriation of privilege and opportunity.

The Iraqi Joke

The joke - as the marine indicated about his song - that Iraq has become which is a narrative of the blood and guts of a young girl written up by no great a buffoon; a representative of the insensitivity that flows down from the higher echelons of the Bush military machine is no surprise.

Pitifully, the people would won the war to win the peace create greater obstacles to peace than the insurgents can muster, by their inability to consider the consequences of their actions.

If anyone could just tell us where intelligence can be found; because it is not in the heads of the belligerents, we might just begin to make some progress in all the wars we are fighting.

Meanwhile as we sing an inappropriate sung lacking every sense of intelligence to the refrain of Tina Turner's "Burn Baby Burn", we might just find ourselves so sorry for lacking the intelligence to prevent the inappropriate.

The Communism of Capitalism - American Paranoia

Loving American and leaving her

Flight BA 223 is the byword for the intelligence that now typifies the paralysing fear of another jet-fuelled attack on American soil by terrorists.

Cancelled, delayed and grounded for security reasons because the passenger list possibly contains the name of a toddler terrorist ready to blow up the flight with Farley's crusts dipped in milk formula.

Well, that farce accompanied the cancellation of six flights between Paris and Los Angeles over Christmas.

With all the fanfare that greeted the establishment of the mammoth department called Homeland Security, one would think the Americans have returned to their Native Indian roots.

Chief Long Tom [read as euphemism for Tom Ridge] sweeping the air waves with America's rights of sovereignty to refuse permission for flights to land if not accompanied by air marshals has also advocated screening procedures more intrusive than typical of endoscopies.

Well, one can think of over 20 places of interest in the whole wide world to visit that does not feature America. If they want to be unilateral and insular, why bother going there?

I have no sympathy for the inconvenienced so much that they express such stoicism for improved security measures at the expense of dignity, respect, courtesy and freedom.

I am having none of that.

In fact, commend Brazil for advocating retaliatory measures of screening Americans with the same ferocity. Do not forget that full-blooded Americans perpetrated the Oklahoma bombing.

That foreign terrorists abound does not mean homegrown terrorists cannot create the same havoc as September 11 and they do not have to go through airport security.

It is all a Red Herring, it is unlikely that the terrorists would attack using the same Modus Operandi, low level techniques that could easily fox the greatest intelligence collaborations do not require the sophistication of weaponry if the perpetrator is ready to give up life and livelihood.

The Petty Tyrants again

Well, nine units in five departments have yet to coordinate their watch lists of shady characters so that the child's name was confused with that of a terrorist. So, cancel six flights to press home the disarray.

Once again, what it highlights is departmental rivalries constituting little empires working against the interests of the state they represent in the quest to assume more influence.

What the simple sharing of information would save in a coordinated list approach is lost to the work of those ubiquitous petty tyrants who have no purpose than to propagate the cult of bureaucracies and red tape that infuriates right thinking people.

Hence, Senator Chuck Grassley's comments:

“Information sharing among federal agencies remains inefficient and without clear direction or leadership. Different computer systems in five departments with nine agencies and twelve watch lists have trouble exchanging information. State and local law enforcement only have about half of the information in watch lists.”

Grassley Comments on GAO Watch Lists Report

GAO Watch Lists

The threat of terrorism seems to be as effective as the act itself. The acts prove they are still about, but the threats are a life-giving force that perpetrates fear and insecurity.

Well, that is what terror is all about, inspiring fear; where fear reigns; courage, love, boldness and sound minds are slaves. [Second Book of Timothy chapter 1 verse 7 – The Bible].

One believes that reciprocity on the part of the nations of all nationals affected would expose the absurdity of the American Paranoiac age that characterizes the second Bush era reminiscence of the McCarthy witch-hunt of the 1950s.

McCarthyism and the Cold War

Joseph McCarthy

McCarthyism

The war on terrorism on American soil however typifies a witchhunt with the primary purpose of harassing and weakening the entire political opposition on the premise of protecting the citizenry. The rights forfeited in the Patriot Act are case in point.

If everyone introduced stringent security measures of screening, air marshals, no-fly zones and fully documented passenger details available to all levels of law enforcement, the might of democratic Capitalism would have succumbed to the strictures that typified Communism.

History has a way of repeating itself.