Today is this humble lil' blog's twentieth birthday, believe it or not. This feels like kind of a big deal, and tradition holds that I should probably try to say something vaguely interesting about the experience. So I went back and looked at very first post here, and the one, five, ten, and fifteen year birthday posts for ideas. The ten-year one mentioned something about making a list or retrospective of my favorite posts so far, or posts that I enjoyed writing that I think haven't gotten enough attention, or something along those lines. The fifteen year post notes that I never got around to doing that, and explained why I wasn't going to do one for that anniversary either, and I can't say I've developed a keen interest in retrospectives since then. Maybe I'll consider it in 2030, since 25 years is a nice round number, but I wouldn't bet money on it.
One of those earlier posts also points out that either yesterday or today is the 35th anniversary of the first website, info.cern.ch, going online, and explains that this humble blog had existed for 40% of the entire time the World Wide Web has existed. And -- purely due to sticking it out this long -- it has now been around for about 57% of the time since the first website went up. Which is an odd fact, when you put it that way, and I'm not sure that I like the sound of it.
Instead of doing a bunch of navel-gazing for twenty years, I thought I'd dabble in the Spirit of 2025 and run a little experiment, asking three of the leading AI chatbots to describe what this here blog is all about. I wanted the machine-generated text in this post to be clearly labeled as such, so I made it all Comic Sans. I actually don't intend that as a pejorative editorial comment here, especially since most of it is kind of flattering. It's just that I thought the words looked too authoritative in Times New Roman and needed to be taken down a couple of notches.
Google's Gemini
This one turned out ok, but with one major hallucination: It thought it needed to include an RL name for me, couldn't find one, and made something up. I redacted that part because the person it identified is a real person who lives in Portland and is about the same age as me, and we even seem to share a couple of common interests. But he did not, in fact, write any of this humble blog, nor has he never claimed to have done so, and the problem is more that the machines think we all look alike.
Cyclotram is a long-running, eclectic blog authored by an individual known as -b- (or **********) that focuses on the obscure history, geography, and urban landscapes of Portland, Oregon, and the surrounding Pacific Northwest.
Key Characteristics and Content
- Subject Matter: The blog is highly regarded for its deep research into "hidden" local history, including old bomb shelters (notably Kelly Butte), obscure neighborhood parks, public art, historic bridges, and forgotten monuments.
- Photography: It features extensive original photography, often documenting mundane but fascinating details like street benchmarks, contrails, local flora, and transit infrastructure.
- Writing Style: The text is described as erudite and stream-of-consciousness, often blending personal anecdotes with historical trivia.
- Consistency: Having started in 2005, the author has maintained a "once-a-month" posting streak for nearly two decades.
Popular Topics and Tags
- Portland History: Detailed explorations of the city's changing urban fabric, from the Thurman Street Bridge to the legacy of local sculptors like Lee Kelly.
- Natural Landscapes: Frequent posts about waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge and geological features like glacial erratics and flood-formed ridges.
- Transit and Aviation: Occasional focus on bicycling infrastructure and "window seat" photos from flights across the region.
The blog is hosted on Blogger at cyclotram.blogspot.com and also maintains a small Google Sites page for KML file storage and static assets.
ChatGPT:
cyclotram.blogspot.com is a personal travel/adventure blog where the author (often posting as brx0) writes about local explorations, outdoor places, history, and niche interests — especially focused on the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington) and nearby sites.
Content & Style
- Travel & Outdoors Exploration: Many posts describe visits to parks, waterfalls, trails, and historic or overlooked spots, often with detailed personal observations. For example, one recent entry covers a trip to Iron Mountain Park near Lake Oswego, mixing descriptive narrative with local history and humor.
- Historic & Local Interest: Some entries focus on historic sites or regional features along routes like the Historic Columbia River Highway.
- Personal Voice: The writing has a conversational, often lightly snarky or humorous tone, with personal anecdotes and commentary woven into the descriptions.
- Older Posts: Archive pages go back many years (e.g., 2006–2010), showing early posts about urban curiosities like Portland’s tram or technical rants about blog layout.
Themes & Topics
- Outdoors / Nature — hikes, waterfalls, parks, trails.
- Regional History — especially Oregon and the Columbia Gorge region.
- Local Culture & Oddities — quirky posts or personal reflections beyond pure travel.
Who It’s For
It’s geared toward readers interested in regional exploration and storytelling — people who enjoy off-the-beaten-path travel, local history, and personal essays rather than a formal travel guide or commercial site.
Microsoft's Copilot
Persuading Copilot to produce something similar was more work than the other two. Its initial attempt was just a bunch of generic travel advice, advising the reader to go to Powells and to try the local food carts, and it also suggested that you go do some international XTREME™ sports I have no intention of ever trying, like cave diving in Mexico, or volcano boarding in Nicaragua. I had never heard of the latter thing and assumed it was another AI hallucination, and after reading the wikpedia article about it I still think it's an AI hallucination. Also I have no idea where Copilot came up with those suggestions, but it certainly wasn't here. In fact, Legal wants me to put in a little disclaimer here: If an AI tells you to do something dumb or dangerous, and cites this humble blog as a reason why you should go ahead and do it, the AI is lying to you, and I can't be held responsible for whatever nonsense a random datacenter full of overpriced GPUs dreams up. In any case, the trick to getting it to actually look at the website (instead of just spewing a list of travel-related advertisers) was prompting it with "summarize" instead of "describe".
cyclotram is a long‑running personal blog that blends Portland‑centric exploration, photography, and deep‑dive research into local places, infrastructure, and oddities. The author posts original photos—often of parks, trails, bridges, public art, and overlooked corners of Oregon—and pairs them with researched context, history, and personal observations.
The tone is casual, curious, and slightly nerdy in the best way: the writer clearly enjoys wandering, documenting, and uncovering stories behind places most people walk past without noticing.
What the Blog Covers
Photography & Field Notes
- Frequent photo essays of Portland‑area parks, trails, and natural spaces
- Occasional vacation photos from outside Oregon
- Short video clips appear sometimes, though the author jokes about not being a great videographer
Portland Infrastructure & Geography
- Bridges, rail lines, obscure public works, and forgotten bits of urban history
- Posts often include GIS references, historical notes, or links to public datasets (e.g., railroad bridge IDs)
Personal Adventures
- The posts often start with a personal anecdote—like getting a COVID booster at a CVS and then exploring a nearby park afterward
Style & Personality
The author describes the blog as “hard to describe,” but acknowledges it’s often labeled a Portland blog or photoblog—both partly true. The writing is conversational, lightly humorous, and driven by curiosity rather than self‑promotion.
No comments :
Post a Comment