Fly fishing and AI

[caddisflyer]

I remember the first neighbor who got an air conditioner. Us kids all gathered in front of it with our sweaty faces to cool off. Also our TV was black and white. We played outside year round. I loved to explore, especially the creeks and swaps. The love of creeks and swamps has stayed with me. I love technology and science but I still know the value of direct experience and hands on work. So maybe some of us have one foot in the values of past and one in the present and future which is probably good.

 

[Bamboozle]

...Our first tv was like the one in the picture or very similar. It reminded me of an oscilloscope screen. That brings back memories of Philly TV stations going off the air sometime at night and coming back on around 6 AM starting in some cases, I think, with an agricultural report....

When we were kids, my kid brother & I would routinely wake up and be playing with our Matchbox cars waiting for TV to "come on." The "agricultural" report you mention may be the one I remember on WCAU-10 called the "Bill Bennett Show."

The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

photo

www.broadcastpioneers.com

I don't remember much about it except that it opened with a bunch of farm animals running out to a feeder followed by livestock & commodity prices.

Being little kids, my brother & I found it particularly amusing when one of the animals would take a dump on the air.

In regards to TV firsts, one of our neighbors was a local cop who repaired TV's as a side job. His son who was a few years older than me was my friend and we watched TV on some of the repaired color sets his dad had in the basement shop.

The very first color TV program I ever saw was an episode of Jonny Quest. I don't remember anything about the show but I was mesmerized by seeing my first cartoon in color...

...that might explain why I STILL watch cartoons on TV most Saturday mornings...

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Being little kids, my brother & I found it particularly amusing when one of the animals would take a dump on the air.

No need to qualify by saying "being little kids". That's just objectively funny. 🤣

Also, I'm glad I'm not the only one on her who still likes watching cartoons. 👍

 

[Bamboozle]

In regards to AI and anything...

It hasn't given me much angst except in regards to cheating, creating another opportunity to exploit a lack of true human creativity, general laziness and how it will effect the music industry (which I dabble in), that is already a joke because of other technology.

However I can see AI as being beneficial to fly fishing in things like designing rod tapers. For example, I own more than a few custom rods in bamboo & fiberglass. I spent a lot of time discussing what kind of action I was after with the makers. For the most part things turned out well however often times additional "figuring things out" is required.

With AI it should be possible to plug in the data related to the action I wanted, maybe even factoring in the specs of the fly line I planned to use taking "trial & error" out of the equation and eliminate "dialing in" a rod by trying or purchasing 5 different $75 fly lines...

Even though I never read "shootouts" because I honestly don't give a rat's a$$, I'd LOVE if if AI took over that task taking the bias & subjectivity out of the whole process...

I'd be all for that!!

I'm sure there are many other applications in the manufacturing arena that will benefit as well like tippet & fishing line, hooks, waders, etc.

As far as AI being a tool to write the next great fishing book or to tell me where to go fishing, what to use and whether light color fly lines spook more fish than a dark color...

...color me NOT interested.

 

[Bamboozle]

No need to qualify by saying "being little kids". That's just objectively funny. 🤣

Also, I'm glad I'm not the only one on her who still likes watching cartoons. 👍

This is nuts but my brother and I still talk about one particular donkey dump and how fast the camera cut away...

Speaking of cartoons, I was in the Poconos back in 2018 fishing alone in late March camping by myself in a rental cabin. It was freezing cold, the creeks were high and a ton of roads were closed the spring because of earlier flooding in the region so a couple of places I wanted to fish were inaccessible...

So, I spent more than a few hours back at the cabin watching the DVD's I brought; Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound & the Flintstones.

I still remember that trip fondly even though the fishing sucked...

 

[salmo]

Drying clothes on a line was fun in the winter time. The clothes would be "freeze dried."

I remember visiting a family who had a clothes drier and thinking that they must be truly rich people.

I remember when my Mom put the sheets out in the winter. Our clothes line was out a window. Coming back in she had to karate chop the frozen sheets so they would fit back into the kitchen. We lived in a city. Grey snow was interesting. My grandparents burned coal for heat.

 

[wbranch]

Wow! I never knew TV's started out so small! LOL....

If your family had a TV back in the early 50's, you were pretty well off.

The evolution of the television set

Along the way to becoming the ubiquitous device we know today, the TV has been through a lot of changes

www.cbsnews.com

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We had a 12" Dumont B&W TV. I remember it being on a wooden stand and the TV was contained in a nice wood cabinet. I lived in NJ and we only had six channels. 2, 4. 5, 7, 9, 11, & 13. I can remember three shows, Ray Forrest was for kids & it was on Saturday. Of course Howdy Doody & Clarabell. One show that was very exciting was Flash Gordon (or was it Buck Rogers?). He had the hokiest space ship, a ray gun, and weird looking people (Mud Men) used to materialize out of cave walls.

When we moved from Newark to Clifton, NJ my parents bought a little Cape Cod in a huge post war development. Down in one corner of the basement was a huge coal bin. One wall had a window and the coal truck used to pull into the driveway and my Dad would open the window and the truck driver put a slide through the window and a couple tons of hard coal would slide down and fill the coal bin. It was central heat! There was a metal grate about 30" square right in the middle of the house. That is how we heated our home. Great memories.

 

[salmo]

Hey, I’m a North Jersey guy by way of Jersey City to Bergen County. Same TV channels. Do you remember Palisades Park. My brother and I won a contest and got a guided tour of the park with the cast. I woke up every morning to see the Manhattan skyline.

 

[salmo]

With the cast of Howdy Doody.

 

[wbranch]

Hey, I’m a North Jersey guy by way of Jersey City to Bergen County. Same TV channels. Do you remember Palisades Park. My brother and I won a contest and got a guided tour of the park with the cast. I woke up every morning to see the Manhattan skyline.

I don't really know why, probably I was more interested in fishing, but I never went to Palisades Park. I lived in Clifton and Garret Mountain was only about a 2 mile walk (today if I tried it I'd be calling 911 to rescue me) There were two public lakes up there and two reservoirs we used to sneak into fish.