{"id":13867,"date":"2024-07-08T15:40:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T20:40:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/?p=13867"},"modified":"2024-07-08T15:40:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T20:40:58","slug":"fire-ant-flickers-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/2024\/07\/08\/fire-ant-flickers-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire Ant Flickers: Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first Random Thursday post<\/a> was uploaded to the Gazette a bit more than 18 years ago. Since then, more than 140 posts have been tagged with that category. Methinks it’s time for a change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I came up with the idea for Random Thursday, I was emulating the late Blackie Sherrod — the world’s greatest sportswriter — whose regular Scattershooting<\/em> columns in Dallas newspapers were comprised of snippets of observations about a wide variety of topics, and not always related to sports. I deemed that format to be perfect for my short attention span, and possibly helpful for the handful of people who followed the Gazette but who didn’t pine for a dozen posts a day (and, yes, there were days when that wasn’t out of the ordinary).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was nothing magical about Thursday, but Taco Tuesday and Foto Friday were already taken, and Wedes<\/s> Wens<\/s> Wednesday was too hard to spell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I eventually lost the discipline to write a multi-topic post every Thursday (and occasionally had the motivation to write one on another day of the week — hence, Random Thursday: The Friday Edition<\/em>, etc.) and now I think the entire concept has lost its raison d’\u00eatre<\/em>, if you’ll pardon my French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, this decision comes with its own set of problems, beginning with…what should I call the new category? I did what any self-respecting-but-creatively-challenged blogger will do — I asked ChatGPT for some suggestions. Here’s the prompt I used:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My blog is entitled The Fire Ant Gazette, and one of the category titles I’m considering for posts containing random, unrelated topics is “Ant Bites.” Does that sound too twee to you, and can you suggest a way to make it less so?<\/em><\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And here’s the response:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Ant Bites” is a clever and fitting title given your blog’s name, but if you’re concerned it might sound too twee, here are a few alternatives that retain the connection to ants while adding a bit more edge or sophistication:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/ol><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    I was underwhelmed by all but one of the AI-generated suggestions, but the Flickers<\/em> idea wasn’t bad, and I promised ChatGPT that I’d give it credit if I ended up using it. It professed to be happy, and really, I have no reason to doubt it, even if it’s just a collection of electrons. After all, at some level, aren’t we all (along with some protons and neutrons thrown in for seasoning)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In summary, I’m bidding adieu to the Random Thursday nomenclature, but keeping the concept of randomness alive, because it fits the mangled way my mind works (or tries to work). At the same time, if you, dear reader, have a better idea for a category name, I’ll be delighted to consider it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    *Extra points if you can identify the source of the reference in this post’s subtitle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Eighteen years ago, the first “Random Thursday” post was published on The Fire Ant Gazette, evolving to over 140 posts under that category. Inspired by Blackie Sherrod\u2019s “Scattershooting” columns, this multifaceted format suited the my short attention span and engaged readers without overwhelming them. However, the concept has lost its appeal, prompting a need for rebranding. I sought ChatGPT’s advice for a new category name, considering suggestions like “Ant Bites” and others. The favorite, “Fire Ant Flickers,” might be adopted, subject to reader feedback. This post reflects on the evolution and potential refresh of my blogging approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[148],"class_list":["post-13867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-navel-gazing","tag-chatgpt","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/feet.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13867"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13879,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13867\/revisions\/13879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsiegmund.com\/fireant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}