TAGQ (That's A Good Question)
TAGQ (That's A Good Question)
Electric Kettles and Hybrid Race Cars
Ben and Scott talk about flaming electric kettles before bringing on Adam to discuss using artificial intelligence to study the effect of climate on ancient tree cores, as well as the results of his fantasy F1 race team.
From podium.page:
You'll never believe the time I nearly torched my college dorm with a rogue electric kettle—not my finest hour, but hey, it's how I met some of my closest friends. And that's just a taste of the chuckles and tales we're serving up on "That's a Good Question." The camaraderie spills over as we discuss the peculiarities of life, from Scott's hefty 16-ounce tea consumption method to our collective paddleboarding follies. These candid confessions pave the way to understanding how our everyday lives, with all of their quirks and misadventures, are the perfect breeding ground for those unexpected yet valued connections.
Hold onto your hats because we're taking a wild ride through the world of dendrochronology, where AI is revolutionizing the way we interpret the silent stories told by tree rings. With our guest leading the charge, we explore the fascinating intersection of nature and technology, and the sheer amazement of how a once-labor-intensive process is now a walk in the park for advanced algorithms. Our conversation takes a witty detour to confront the reality that our daily digital interactions might just be boot camp for an AI-led future. Rounding off with heartfelt thanks for the moments shared, we send you on your way, hoping each laugh and insight from our exchange brightens your day as much as it does ours.
0:00:15 - Scott
it talks. You can hear that recording in progress, right yep recording in progress and what are we recording?
0:00:29 - Ben
we're recording. That's a good question. Welcome back to the podcast everyone.
0:00:35 - Scott
I like how you avoided using the joke of just saying that's a good question.
0:00:44 - Ben
Yes, my it's really uh, uh, uh. And what are we recording? That's a good question, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, I get you now. I get you now. We're on the same page.
0:00:57 - Scott
I get humor yeah, there was a. There was another podcast actually at our distributor.
0:01:06 - Ben
Oh, and even at the distributor that had the same name, because when I looked up that's a good question on apple podcasts I think there were probably eight popped up oh we're.
0:01:21 - Scott
Uh, yeah, we're sitting not the first to think of that joke we're, we're sitting.
0:01:26 - Ben
Not the first to think of that joke. We're sitting there.
0:01:28 - Scott
Yep, we could just go with the initials.
0:01:35 - Ben
Yeah, that's a T-A-G-Q. Tag Q, tag Q. Yeah, we're your hosts, ben and scott. Howdy, ben, that's scott. What are you drinking?
0:01:56 - Scott
um, I am drinking trader joe's organic green tea heated up with water, or the water's heated up, and then the water's.
0:02:08 - Ben
The water's heated up, and then you put the tea bag in yes and if you, if you're unfamiliar with um scott johnston on a personal level, it should be known that he's someone that drinks his tea out of a 16 ounce glass as opposed to a mug, which I could be wrong. Maybe that's normal, but as far as I know, sticking water in the microwave in a 16 ounce glass and then, oh no, I eating it. It's more of an iced tea sort of thing as opposed to.
0:02:45 - Scott
I heated it in one of those New Zealand or Australian electric kettles.
0:02:52 - Ben
The zippers Things that hang on the wall.
0:02:56 - Scott
No, no, no, just the one that sits on a stand.
0:03:01 - Ben
The electric kettle yeah, that's on the counter. That also exists in America.
0:03:08 - Scott
Yeah, we have one.
0:03:10 - Ben
Yeah, we do. I don't think it's unique to Australia and New Zealand. I actually have one in this house too. I think a lot of people.
0:03:22 - Scott
No, but I never ran into them commonly used, even until traveling in new zealand yeah, yeah at whatever airbnbs or wherever we stayed I didn't really run into them until I got college.
0:03:38 - Ben
Yeah, uh, it was well. I actually my first experience with one was me almost burning down the dorm building Because I got up extra early to go on some big outdoor trip. And so I went into the common space and went into the kitchen and there was a tea kettle on the counter and I was going to make some oatmeal but I needed to heat up some water and I just did. The tea kettle was just sitting there on the counter, so I just picked it up and put it on the stove.
0:04:11 - Scott
You loved your kettle.
0:04:13 - Ben
And then I just turned the coil on and then I turned around and was, you know, putting my oatmeal in the bowl, getting it all ready for the boiling water, and then I started smelling just this horrible acrid smell. And I turned around and it was just a thick blue smoke was just billowing and I took the kettle off and in in, just like a really comical amount of time, like it took about one and a half seconds after I pulled the kettle off that was melting and then it just burst into flames.
0:04:53 - Scott
The kettle did, or the burner the stove?
0:04:55 - Ben
The burner, and so I just took the kettle and poured water all over the stove.
0:05:03 - Scott
Was that the?
0:05:03 - Ben
right thing to do. Yeah, all over the building and I was just frantically trying to extinguish the situation, literally and figuratively, um, and I think like good five to ten minutes passed before any single person came downstairs and there were like 40 people in the building and only one person came to see like what the hell is going on, even though the fire alarm was going off. And, yeah, and me and that person have been really close friends ever since.
0:05:47 - Scott
It's really fun. You can trust them to come see what's up if you trigger a fire alarm.
0:05:53 - Ben
Yep, but I think college dorms and college housing. I feel like those electric kettles make a pretty frequent appearance for some reason.
0:06:03 - Scott
Yeah, we didn't have gas in our dorm room. We didn't have we did have electric stove in the common area. Yeah, where was your field trip to? It was an outdoor trip.
0:06:21 - Ben
I think I was going paddle boarding or something on the Oregon coast. Did you still go? Yeah, I did. I was in a rush and I was a little bit late, but because Josh, the person I had just met that morning, that came down to see what the commotion was, I said I really got to go. Would you be able to make a sign to say oven out of order? And if the ra comes by, could you just tell him what happened?
0:06:53 - Scott
um, wow, yeah so that's all you remember of the day. You don't remember anything about the paddleboarding oh, I do, I do.
0:07:03 - Ben
It was kind of boring. I'm the kind of person where it takes me a while to kind of.
I mean, it was my first like week or two in college, so it's it's hard for me to just fall right into jubilant relationship with people when I first get going you know, so it's like I was in a van full of like eight other people, a bunch of eager freshmen and a couple of like the trip leaders, okay and I remember one of the trip leaders the trip leaders were in shotgun and one was driving and I remember being in one of the seats and I could overhear their conversation and he was talking about how he feels, like I feel like with so many people and at this school I just like I can't connect with them, like I, they're just people that I can't talk to.
It just doesn't, it just doesn't work. And I was like a freshman that was, like you know, one two weeks into the experience. I think classes had barely even started and I just remember thinking like well, maybe you just need to like give them more of a chance man, just like more of a chance man like you, just like because I'm one of those people and it's like when you first meet me yeah, takes a while, I'm just, you know, but get like talk one-on-one, well, we'll get somewhere.
0:08:41 - Scott
Yeah I mean I'm not.
0:08:45 - Ben
Yeah, I'm not sly or smooth or slick or whatever it is.
0:08:51 - Scott
Yeah, awkward is the word awkward I just, I just self self-censored a a good joke. Why would?
0:09:04 - Ben
you do that.
0:09:06 - Scott
Why would you do that? Because you're my son.
0:09:11 - Ben
But this is a podcast, we're supposed to make jokes.
0:09:15 - Scott
Yeah, it was going to be like. Yeah, it took me three or four years to like you. Oh, God.
0:09:22 - Ben
What about see that's perfect, perfect, just boom yeah. What about see that's perfect, perfect, just boom yeah.
0:09:30 - Adam
When I first held you by the arms.
0:09:32 - Ben
I was like gonna take some work here, yep, yep, uh. But yeah, I'm drinking tea out of a mug like real whatever's a real mug, an artisan mug. Actually, this is a pretty high-end mug, yep it's pretty special I get. I get to drink from a lot of pieces of art because I live with artists, right.
0:10:05 - Scott
Right, so real sort of Puget sound yeah.
0:10:11 - Ben
Yeah, exactly yeah. So instead of having to wait until I, you know, make $80,000 a year to afford beautiful and functional kitchenware, yeah, I get to do it now, okay, well, before I have my financial seat under me well, we we have a uh special guest today hmm, tell me more.
0:10:38 - Scott
Your brother, your youngest brother and my youngest son, adam, is here watching. F1 in the next room.
0:10:52 - Ben
We have a guest here today that is watching television and is not with us and is not well with us. You'll probably explain, but his it's, it's do or do or die for his fantasy racing team yeah okay, yeah, yeah, you know, before we started recording today you said he's out watching the last f1 race. Did I miss? Hear that? Or is that what you said is Are they done? Is F1? For the season?
The last one was today, yeah, or yesterday, today in Dubai, or something like that, the sport will continue to exist after this afternoon or after this morning in Dubai, or whatever there will still be billionaires pouring their money into it for another season yeah, okay, that's good to know, that's good the cars are high.
0:11:51 - Scott
The cars are hybrid. Did you know that maybe they'll be electric all of them? Yeah?
0:11:57 - Ben
wow, is that a requirement or is it? Are they just faster?
0:12:01 - Scott
yeah, it's required, is it? It's kind of like america's cup, where, like, the governing board like picks what the vehicle is and you know, sets it up in a place where they're you know yeah, monaco or, or abu dhabi or Las Vegas, right.
0:12:24 - Ben
F1 is kind of like the rich way to NASCAR.
0:12:34 - Scott
We'll see what he wants to talk about, because his team might have come in second for the season or not.
0:12:37 - Ben
Oh, okay, we'll find out, so maybe he'll be okay so he's he's in the wall just behind you. Huh, we will be hearing screams. A good time to talk about our sponsors today. Oh yeah, who's sponsoring us today? Ikea, the one, one of the world's mid-sized purveyors of uh 16 ounce drinking glasses. Oh yeah, with the little waves in them all the way around, you know, slightly tapered.
0:13:27 - Adam
Yeah, sometimes they're just straight rings all around.
0:13:32 - Ben
It's just a really nice substantial glass Okay, brought to you by Ikea.
0:13:39 - Scott
We'll see if that's the actual tea Actual commercial Iced to you by IKEA. We'll see if that's the actual commercial.
0:13:43 - Ben
Iced tea or hot tea? Okay, no, judge, let me pause recording. Okay, kia for sponsoring. Thank you, ikea for sponsoring this episode.
0:13:58 - Scott
All right, this episode all right, you have a sponsor well, they haven't sent us any money but they haven't.
0:14:19 - Ben
but you know they uh Well, they haven't sent us any money, but you know we use Ikea things. They help us in our daily lives. Sponsor our daily living.
0:14:28 - Scott
Thank you, so can you introduce our guest again?
0:14:32 - Ben
Oh yeah, we have with us Adam. Adam Johnston Say hi.
0:14:39 - Scott
That's me.
0:14:40 - Ben
Hello, yes, adam isa, a member of the johnston family and he is currently doing research in san francisco, francisco, looking at the tree rings of ancient trees, teaching AI how to teaching AI, how to you know be AI yeah, that's the thing about ai is that it uh needs to be taught how to do anything what can it do?
0:15:28 - Scott
what are you training?
0:15:28 - Ben
they're only smart because humans are smart.
0:15:31 - Adam
I'm training it to outline cells and identify tree ring boundaries and then using that we can extrapolate this data to come up with climate signals depending on what its growth limitation factor was. So if it's in an area where it's like water is its limiting factor, then tree ring variability and cell size can give us signals for past precipitation. So like a big ring would be a good year that was, that was a wet year and then really tight rings would be what periods of drought?
0:16:11 - Ben
yeah, yeah, okay, okay. So from that you're able to go back and look at the past, yeah, and see what the climate has been like in the past.
0:16:23 - Adam
Yeah, Stacking trees over and over that have matching rings and you just keep going back and back and back and just keep cross-stating them, yeah, and then line it up with the actual weather record and see if you can determine a signal. Not every tree gives a climate signal, but some of them give a really good climate signal, so is there is there a year that is easy to spot depends where you are.
It's mainly variability. So you, you'll see like, oh, every tree, say we say we cored 10 trees in an area, we can see every single tree, for instance, 20 years in has a really dense five rings and then it spreads back out on either side. So if we, depending on the species of trees, you need enough, like blue Oaks, you only need like five versus like junipers, you need like 30 or something. So if you can find 30 junipers that all share the same variability, then you can be confident they're all showing the same signal in that area, if that make sense.
0:17:40 - Ben
Mm-hmm, yeah AI.
0:17:45 - Scott
Pardon.
0:17:46 - Ben
AI. What are you teaching AI to do?
0:17:51 - Adam
I'm teaching it to. We run it. We have it. Look at these extremely high resolution photos that we take of these tree cores. We drill into a tree and we extract a very skinny core, probably the size, the width of a mechanical pencil a small mechanical pencil and we sand it down to an extremely high grit, where it's polished and it's literally scratch free. So you can look at it under a microscope and there's not a scratch, scratch free huh you scratch it so much that it's scratch free yeah, pretty much.
yeah, sandpaper, yeah. So then it looks at it and then the AI job is to outline, depends on the species, but for gymnosperms, let's say, its job is to outline every cell and identify what type of cell it is. So there's early wood, late wood, and then there's like first, early wood cells, and then also identify the ring boundaries and then also identify the ring boundaries.
Okay, so you're just looking at a bunch of images and saying this is like what this is. Yeah, so we're training it, like we can do this by hand, like that's how we're training is. We're doing it and giving it to the ai and the ai is learning from that. But if we were to do an entire core by like human, it would take like a year or something to do all that versus ai. We could run ai for like a week and we'll do all of that. For what would take us a year?
0:19:37 - Ben
yeah right right, yeah, yeah, is that how well? I mean, that's what a, that's, that's how ai is programmed in the first place, pretty much in any context you already know ground you. It's a human on a computer saying this and categorizing various things yeah and then you compile a large enough data set where you say okay, computer, I've taught you enough, now right fly.
0:20:09 - Scott
Yeah, you know all those things that prove you're not a human, like click all the boxes with the crosswalk, click all the boxes with a bicycle yeah, so the computer's trying to prove to me whether or not I'm human oh, that's, you're helping to train an ai why?
0:20:33 - Ben
but like, if I'm training an ai and they're trying to make sure that I'm not ai, then then we're gonna get to a point where it's like well now, I just helped ai answer this question about what bicycles look like yes we're all just, oh, we're all just buying into the takeover. Oh my gosh oh, pretty much.
They're preventing robot infiltration by you training a robot to infiltrate why can't I just click the box and it just like swirls around for a second and then there's a check mark where it's like okay, yep, sometimes, that's all you have to do, but some places, like renewing your truck license in Wisconsin, I had to do it about four or five times.
0:21:32 - Scott
Yeah, okay, prove I was not a human doing this. Yeah, what, not a human? Yeah, a human doing this. Yeah, what not a human? Oh, uh, what else? What else is new with you, adam? What happened?
0:21:52 - Adam
I don't know. Doing research, getting paid to do it, that's cool um research. What else I don't. I don't know.
0:22:04 - Ben
I've been here all week did a lot of cooking, yeah, you've been, you've been, you know where, all week I'm here, san carlos san carlos, that's 131 sunnydale avenue oh, you're giving it all away yeah, yeah, mac demarco did it on one of his albums. He told everyone yeah, come on over, I'll make you a cup of coffee. Yeah, all right, well, you can bleep it out.
0:22:29 - Scott
Just bleep it out all right, let's do that right you're the editor do whatever you need to, yeah, bleep it and what
0:22:38 - Adam
happened with the f1 race um, it was a pretty good race, but I was training for very specific teams because I'm in a fantasy league and I was just like I was cheering for my team is only like was only a couple tens of points behind and there's nobody else in contention to win but me and my friend, and I needed Mercedes to do bad. Mercedes did okay. We both had good weekends, but I needed to have a better weekend than him to win. This is the last race of the season, so you're not first, you're last. So I don't get a trophy, he gets a trophy, but I finished that.
0:23:28 - Ben
Do you really believe that? Do you really believe that if you're, if you're not first, you're last? In this context yes only one person gets well because there's only one other person you're fighting. Yeah, yeah, okay got it.
0:23:41 - Adam
Well, there's 16 other people. You don't get anything unless you win you have to right second and third there's no prize for second and third right and then maybe some bragging rights, but the only person I care about bragging to is the guy who just got first place, so I see it's, it's.
0:24:00 - Ben
It's kind of embarrassing how much I've thought about that statement if you're not first, you're last. Ever since I first saw the movie ricky bobby, I was like man the movie's actually talented nights, but yeah oh yeah, yeah, that's the subtitle uh, you thought that uh should have just like man. Is he right? Is that true, is it? I I devoted way too much thought space to to that question. It's not a question. It's not a question.
0:24:34 - Scott
Yes, it's a statement, if you're not first, you're second or third or fourth or fifth or well that that's what his dad says, or who cares?
0:24:42 - Ben
He's like well, that's not. He's like dad, you told me. You told me, if you're not first, you're last, and then his dad's like what I said, that what that's not true, there's second there's third, there's fourth. It's just that's what I always said, isn't it? I was you know you always said that to us. Yeah, you know, you know kids, if you're not first, you're last.
0:25:12 - Scott
Yeah, that's why you know like, but there must be something like you got to be a winner. What did I always used to say about you? Had to be a winner.
0:25:22 - Adam
You never, said that to me?
0:25:23 - Ben
I don't think you ever said anything about ever winning anything?
0:25:28 - Adam
no kind of worked out. We all turned into pretty good athletes so what did I say?
0:25:35 - Ben
nothing uh, you said no, you can actually do anything, right but you can't quit the day can actually do anything you want.
0:25:42 - Adam
But, you can't quit the day of the show.
0:25:43 - Ben
You can do anything you want, but you can only do anything if you actually want to do it. That was I remember you saying that.
0:25:52 - Adam
I mean, I never heard that explicitly, but that's how I felt. I was like you can do anything, but you better actually want to do it. Yeah, otherwise, otherwise you won't. Well, otherwise that's just like, that's just a waste of time for you like, but I'm like, oh, I want to play, I want to go. Like, imagine if I was, like, wanted to race as a kid really bad and you were the type of person I was like okay, let's just do it.
You bought me a ten thousand dollar go-kart and I do one race. I'm like I don't really want to do this yeah, it's like I want to race, but in reality it's like I just wanted to drive a go-kart one time yeah, there's.
0:26:33 - Ben
There's a fine line between uh supporting your child and uh uh pouring money into an abyss.
0:26:44 - Scott
It's true, that's true, yeah yeah, I I dragged my foot on a few things, or maybe just in general because I hate shopping. Or maybe just in general Because I hate shopping. Adam's been. We had a little drama with the torch.
0:27:11 - Adam
The kitchen torch.
0:27:13 - Scott
Well, it leaks now. Yeah, plus we ran out. We had to search all the whole peninsula to find some butane.
0:27:19 - Ben
That's how Adam makes his cranberry. That's how Adam makes his weekly cranberry relay. He gets weekly, I mean, maybe, if I'm here, the torch and he caramelizes that sugar on top of it. Top of that panic, I don't know what's the difference between cranberry and panna cotta. Is it really just that you've normalized sugar on top, or is there?
0:27:41 - Adam
more things.
0:27:41 - Ben
So I don't even know but we've had this kitchen torch. What's wrong with it? It's leaking.
0:27:47 - Adam
It really is pretty much. Panna cotta is italian, isn't it?
0:27:53 - Scott
the leak made it harder to build up pressure.
0:27:55 - Adam
Yeah, that's what the word wasn't even that, because then it got to the point when it was starting to work yesterday, fine, and it had plenty of pressure, but it was like it was leaking and then also like the ignition system wasn't working, so like I had to take a lighter and, like, put it to the actual base of where the flame comes out.
0:28:16 - Ben
Ok, and then for like a little bit.
0:28:18 - Adam
It's like the pressure wasn't New kitchen torch.
0:28:27 - Scott
Write it down.
0:28:27 - Adam
Yeah.
0:28:28 - Scott
Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, because we're not children anymore.
0:28:33 - Ben
The money will not go into an abyss. We can. We can get new things.
0:28:38 - Adam
Yeah, you sound like mom's sisters. Where they're like giving mom shit for the broken pour over thing. They're just like why do you use it?
0:28:51 - Ben
You make more money than any of us. Why are you why?
0:28:57 - Adam
Like Laura, you can buy new things. You can buy a new cup, and then they bought her a new thing and then guess what, honestly that pour over that. They bought her kind of sucks compared to the one that was true.
The one that was broken was I would have never replaced that no, it was fine and it worked good, but the one they have the way it's built is like you need a special coffee filter, which is really hard to find first place, is like you need a special coffee filter which is really hard to find in the first place. And when you use a regular coffee filter, half the time the coffee filter just rips and then you just, and then you have to use the broken one, exactly Because it's like the broken one. Well, actually we don't have the broken one anymore Because they made mom throw it away, but we have that weird metal one that one's fun for traveling, but and it will never go slow, that's nice it's really
yeah well, you know, I do more than two cups of coffee with a pour over. Then it gets really slow. Yeah, yeah right. There's gotta slow, yeah right.
0:30:01 - Ben
I wouldn't know. I haven't been drinking coffee for the last few weeks. I'm off caffeine because my sleeping sucks. I get a solid five or six hours and then I just can't do it anymore. I don't know. I need to do a sleep study. Have either of you ever done a sleep study?
0:30:21 - Scott
no, no, no peter.
0:30:25 - Ben
Peter has and we could have peter on the podcast. We'll get. That seems like the worst uh, falling asleep. There must be I know well, I fall asleep.
0:30:36 - Scott
Okay, it's just gonna wake up in the middle of the night yeah, but if you're in a hospital with attached all these measuring machines, they should just do it with a home monitor. That'd be better.
0:30:49 - Ben
If I'm tired enough, I think it would be fine. I'll fall asleep eventually.
0:30:53 - Adam
Yeah, just don't sleep for like 72 hours and then show up, you just immediately pay your what's you're's gonna call it your deposit at the beginning, the 40 charge and then you just fall asleep and you're like, yeah, copay. And then you're like, just carry me to the room and you just fall asleep in the waiting room.
0:31:15 - Scott
So so one feature put a big old piece of paper that says I am ben johnston, yeah.
0:31:20 - Adam
So then it's like they don't need to call your name, they just walk up to you and fireman's. So one feature Put a big old piece of paper that says I am Ben Johnston, yeah, so then it's like they don't need to call your name. They just walk up to you and fireman's carried you into the back Like all right, hook them up.
0:31:40 - Scott
So one feature of this podcast is we limit it to the hour we planned on recording it, which usually means we start a little late, so we have like a one minute warning
0:31:48 - Ben
right there. One minute warning here. This is where we have to mention the sponsors.
0:31:53 - Scott
What's the name of the?
0:31:53 - Ben
podcast Because.
0:31:56 - Scott
That's a good question.
0:31:57 - Ben
That's a good question. That's a good question.
0:32:05 - Scott
And.
0:32:05 - Ben
Yeah, our first guest. That's a good question. That's a good question, that's a good question and uh, yeah, um, our first guess did you.
0:32:08 - Adam
I have one more question adam, did you have money on the f1 race? No, it's just for pride and a trophy good okay, okay, I can go to sleep easily tonight. No money, it was just like damn, the entire season crumbled down to this last race and I didn't get first. I like led the entire season and then zach has made a miraculous comeback. I fucked up one race because I didn't have reception, so I, like my team wasn't complete, got 10 seconds. Awesome points there, okay thanks for joining us everyone.
0:32:43 - Ben
I love my family bye.
Transcribed by https://podium.page
