## hpr3879 :: HPR at Hillend

 
Introduction
Hosts:

MrX
Dave
Morriss

We recorded this on Saturday May 20th 2023. We met in
person again, and as before first visited the pub called The
Steading where we had lunch. Then we adjourned to Dave’s Citroen
car (Studio C) in the car park, and recorded a chat.
The region where we met is close to a village called
Hillend, which led to the show title.
Topics discussed

ChatGPT:

MrX did two shows in May using ChatGPT. He has used it more than
Dave has.
MrX has an iPhone and can use ChatGPT from it. He uses it as a
source of information when out and about. For instance, to find out
about the history of Musselburgh
Harbour.
MrX has also used ChatGPT to write experimental Python scripts.
There is a TED
talk by Greg Brockman, the inventor of ChatGPT.
Discussion of the Call
Annie app
ELIZA the program
that was written in the 1960s and simulated conversation well enough to
convince people.



Audacity/Tenacity audio editors:

Web sites: Audacity
and Tenacity.
Audacity
Wikipedia page
MrX and Dave have both used Audacity for several years.
Audacity was forked after it was taken over by Muse Group, and Tenacity was developed.
However, it doesn’t seem that there have been any releases on Tenacity
to date.
The most recent versions of Audacity have contained changes - in
particular the way the audio project is stored has changed. Instead of a
directory filled with various files there is now a single project file
with the extension .aup3 which is a SQLite database. This
was changed in March 2021 for Version 3.0.

Previously Audacity stored the project as a file called
<project>.aup and a directory called
<project>_data/ containing sub-directories and
files.

MrX reports changes in the way multiple tracks are handled. Dave
finds that the horizontal scrollbar has disappeared (which seems to be a
bug).



Dr John Campbell:

YouTube
channel
During the COVID-19 epidemic the channel contained a lot of
information about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, vaccines, disease, treatments,
etc, which seemed to be helpful and well researched.
At one point there was a lot of talk about Ivermectin as a drug that
could help with the disease, but although this received no support from
scientific research, it seemed to be receiving more and more exposure on
the channel.
From then on the quality of the content on the channel seemed to
deteriorate, and it no longer seems trustworthy.
Other sources have been critical, including Debunk
the Funk with Dr Wilson



The Doctor Who Exhibition:

Dave met with Andrew Conway and Andrew’s friend, and all went to the
exhibition held at the National Museum of Scotland.
The exhibition contained a lot of Doctor Who memorabilia, including
some original props.
MrX and the group that went to the exhibition have all watched
Doctor Who over the years. All have lost interest at some point but then
resumed, particularly after the show was restarted in 2005 with
Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper.
Discussion about the BBC
Radiophonic Workshop where the Doctor Who sound effects were made as
well as the signature tune. Also the Mellotron, a keyboard
that played tape loops.



Mechanical musical instruments:

The Swedish band Wintergatan
use mechanical instruments in their music and Martin Molin, a
band member is responsible for some of them. He did a series on YouTube
about mechanical instruments: Music
Machine Mondays at the Museum
Speelklok in Utrecht which is great to watch if you are
interested.
Dave also mentioned musical instrument museums in Berlin
and Brussels.
MrX mentioned a museum in Dalbeattie, a town
in Dumfries and
Galloway in the Scottish Borders. In the museum there had been a
chance to play a barrel organ.



YouTube channels:

Dave:

(Mentioned earlier) Debunk
the Funk with Dr Wilson - the host, Dan Wilson, has a Ph.D. in
molecular biology that covers bad science while making good science
accessible. The channel focuses mainly on pseudoscience surrounding the
anti-vaccine movement and COVID misinformation.
Little
Chinese Everywhere - Yan is a Human Geographer who studied in
Switzerland. The first season was “The Longest Way Back Home
(Switzerland to China)” where she travelled over land to China. She
is now producing videos for season 2 about China itself. She plans to
visit every province in mainland China and make videos.

Dave mentioned the episode about Yanjin City in
Yunnan. It is mentioned in Wikipedia as the “World’s
Narrowest City”, either side of the narrow Heng River valley, a
tributary of the Yangtze.


MrX:

Ron Mattino - a
channel dedicated to electronics, programming and engineering.

Mentioned episode about the pins on a smartphone battery: Why do MOBILE
BATTERIES have THREE terminals? A simple Explanation.




Links

Artificial Intelligence:

ChatGPT
TED
talk by Greg Brockman
Call Annie
application
ELIZA early
chatbot



Audio editing:

Audacity web
site
Audacity
Wikipedia page
Tenacity web site



Science misinformation:

Dr John
Campbell’s YouTube channel



Doctor Who:

BBC
Radiophonic Workshop



Mechanical musical instruments:

Music
Machine Mondays
Museum
Speelklok
Berlin
music museum
Brussels
music museum
Dalbeattie
museum



YouTube:

Debunk
the Funk with Dr Wilson
Little
Chinese Everywhere
Ron Mattino



