Michael Castellon

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Merry Christmas, from way out here https://www.instagram.com/p/DO4GdyOEvAE/ My #Maine squeeze 🦞🇺🇸 Happy birthday to the most amazing woman in my life. Your love, laughter, and kindness make every day brighter. Here’s to celebrating you and all the joy you bring to everyone around you. https://www.instagram.com/p/DE0AEGvPk0b/ After hundreds of hours in the Texas sky, I can say this: the quiet charm of small-town airports never fades. ✈️ #flying #aopa #eaa #aviation https://www.instagram.com/p/DC-lpVgtZg9/ https://www.instagram.com/p/DBXe_dsvXQ6/ https://www.instagram.com/p/DAOPYsOPboq/

  • Jim Tweto, beloved Alaskan aviator, has died

    Jim Tweto, the revered figure from “Flying Wild Alaska,” has passed away following a plane crash, according to his daughter Ariel Tweto.

    Jim’s adventurous spirit, passion for flying, and warm personality made him a favorite among fans worldwide. As the former president of Era Alaska, he ensured remote communities had access to vital supplies and transportation. Through the show, Jim inspired countless individuals to pursue their dreams and appreciate both aviation and Alaska’s rugged beauty.

    Today, we mourn the loss of a true aviation legend, and a caring individual. His legacy lives on through his contributions to aviation. May he rest in peace, and may his memory soar high in the Alaskan skies.

  • Applying Technical Communication in Marketing

    Technical communication, traditionally associated with conveying complex information in a clear and concise manner, has found an unexpected but valuable application in marketing circles.

    In an increasingly tech-driven world, businesses are recognizing the importance of effectively communicating the features, benefits, and value propositions of their products and services.

    By leveraging the principles of technical communication, marketers can enhance their messaging, engage audiences, and establish credibility. 

    Simplifying Complex Information: Technical communication excels in breaking down complex concepts into understandable pieces, a skill highly relevant to marketing. In the technology-driven landscape, products and services often incorporate intricate features and advanced functionalities. By employing technical communication strategies, marketers can simplify complex information, making it accessible and relatable to the target audience. Clear and concise explanations, visual aids, and user-focused documentation help customers grasp the value and benefits of the product, enhancing their purchasing decisions and reducing confusion or apprehension.

    Creating User-Centric Content: Technical communication emphasizes understanding the user’s perspective, needs, and goals. Similarly, effective marketing requires businesses to understand their target audience and deliver content that resonates with them. Applying technical communication principles to marketing involves creating user-centric content that addresses customer pain points, offers practical solutions, and highlights product features that meet specific needs. By aligning marketing messages with user requirements, marketers can establish credibility, build trust, and foster long-term relationships with customers.

    Incorporating Visual Communication: Visual communication plays a vital role in technical communication, enhancing comprehension and engagement. Similarly, marketing thrives on visually appealing content that captures attention and communicates messages effectively. By incorporating infographics, diagrams, images, and videos into marketing campaigns, technical communication principles can be applied to create compelling visual content that simplifies complex ideas, presents data in an easily digestible format, and leaves a lasting impact on audiences. Visual elements aid in storytelling, showcasing product features, and engaging customers, making marketing messages more memorable and persuasive.

    Providing Documentation and Support: Technical communication often involves providing documentation and support materials to assist users in understanding and effectively utilizing products. In marketing, similar support materials can enhance the customer experience and build loyalty. By offering user guides, tutorials, FAQs, and troubleshooting resources, businesses demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction. Clear instructions and comprehensive documentation help customers make the most of their purchase, fostering positive brand experiences. Moreover, accessible support channels, such as live chat or knowledge bases, allow customers to seek assistance easily, improving overall customer satisfaction and reducing post-purchase frustrations.

    Technical communication techniques, with their emphasis on clarity, user-centeredness, visual communication, and documentation, can significantly benefit marketing efforts. By simplifying complex information, creating user-centric content, incorporating visual elements, and providing documentation and support, marketers can effectively communicate product value, enhance customer engagement, and establish trust. 

    The application of technical communication principles in marketing bridges the gap between technology and consumer needs, enabling businesses to connect with their target audience more effectively and drive successful marketing campaigns.

  • Alto, New Mexico

    Alto, New Mexico

  • Detecting ChatGPT and AI-Generated Text in School Papers

    The race is on to develop tools and techniques that can detect AI-generated copy. Educators and institutions of higher ed are especially vulnerable to the throes of machine-generated content. Now, a group of researchers at Stanford may be one step closer to a useful solution.

    The use of large language models (LLMs) is skyrocketing, and with good reason; it’s really good …

    Recently, a team of researchers at Stanford proposed a new method called DetectGPT, which aims to be among the first tools to combat generated text in higher education. The method is based around the idea that text generated by LLMs typically hover around specific regions of the negative curvature regions of the model’s log probability function. Through this insight, the team developed a new barometer for judging if text is machine-generated which doesn’t rely on training an AI or collecting large datasets to compare the text against. We can only guess this means human written text occupies positive curvature regions, but the source is not clear on this.

    This method, called “zero-shot”, allows DetectGPT to detect machine written text without any knowledge of the AI that was used to generate it. It operates in stark contrast to other methods which require training ‘classifiers’ and datasets of real and generated passages.

    The team tested DetectGPT on a dataset of fake news articles (presumably anything that came out of CNET over the last year) and it outperformed other zero-shot methods for detecting machine-generated text. Specifically, they found that DetectGPT improved the detection of fake news articles generated by 20B parameter GPT-NeoX from 0.81 AUROC for the strongest zero-shot baseline to 0.95 AUROC for DetectGPT. Honestly, this is all French to me, but it purports a substantial improvement in detection performance and suggests that DetectGPT may be a promising way to scrutinize machine-generated text moving forward.

  • Beware the ‘Storification’ of the Internet

    The Atlantic:

    There is a growing trend in American culture of what the literary theorist Peter Brooks calls “storification.” Since the turn of the millennium, he argues in his new book, Seduced by Story: The Use and Abuse of Narrative, we’ve relied too heavily on storytelling conventions to understand the world around us, which has resulted in a “narrative takeover of reality” that affects nearly every form of communication—including the way doctors interact with patients, how financial reports are written, and the branding that corporations use to present themselves to consumers. Meanwhile, other modes of expression, interpretation, and comprehension, such as analysis and argument, have fallen to the wayside.

    The danger of this arises when the public fails to understand that many of these stories are constructed through deliberate choices and omissions. Enron, for instance, duped people because it was “built uniquely on stories—fictions, in fact … that generated stories of impending great wealth,” Brooks writes. Other recent scams, like those pulled off by Purdue Pharma, NXIVM, and Anna Delvey, succeeded because people fell for tales the perpetrators spun. In other words, we could all benefit from a lesson in close reading and a dose of skepticism.

  • Sweet Berry Farm

    Photo from Sweet Berry Farms in Marble Falls, Texas by Michael Castellon

  • How Ranked Choice Voting Works

  • Blaze Foley sings Clay Pigeons