AI Hallucination Converting an Obituary to ASCII

On Sept 7, 2025 I asked Gemini to use this newspaper obituary and "convert to ascii please".

Gemini did a great job for a while and then starts hallucinating when talking about the number of grandchildren. It then makes up a complete story about him being in Richardson. The bold part contains many errors, like it says he was born in Waxahachie, when the article clearly states he was born in York Alabama. The bold part seems to be a summary of his life in a parallel dimension. 

Very interesting. Be careful trusting AIs when they convert pictures to text.

The text from the image has been converted to ASCII as follows:

DR. E. B. FINCHER

Rites Set for

Beloved Pastor

BY TEX KEIMSEY

Services were set for 2 p.m. Wednesday in memory of Dr. E. B. Fincher, 84, retired pastor of the Trinity Presbyterian Church here, will be conducted at the First Baptist Church where he served so long.

He served as a home missionary of Trinity Presbyterian Church of which he was a charter member.

Interment will be in Llano Cemetery.

Dr. Fincher's body lies in state at Blackshear-Fincher Funeral Home. The casket will not be opened as the reverend

had made a request that any memorials be in the form of contributions to foreign missions, orphanages, or to the Heart Fund, the Cancer Fund or the Polio Fund.

Dr. Fincher, who served as pastor of Southern Presbyterian Church from 1923 to 1948, died Thursday at 2:35 p.m. in the Llano Memorial Hospital following a long illness.

He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Catherine Arvin Fincher; two daughters, Mrs. Robert C. Oliver of Salsbaw, Okla., and Mrs. Lawrence C. Nell of Llano, Tex., and two sons, Hugh A. Fincher of Glendale, Md., and Dr. B. Fincher Jr. of Montclair, N.J., also, a son-in-law, Dr. B.A. King, a son-in-law, J. Daniel of Holland, Tex., and Mrs. Floyd Fincher of Llano; and a step-son, John F. Poteet of Richardson, Tex., and a step-daughter, Mrs. Fred H. Wilson of Dallas, Tex.

[This is where Gemini starts to really hallucinate]

He also leaves 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.

Elijah Barksdale Fincher, Sr. was born April 4, 1869, in Waxahachie, Tex., the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Fincher. He was a pioneer minister and educator of this area. He attended the University of Texas, Southwestern University, Austin College and also taught at the Fort Worth High School for a time. He also served as superintendent of schools in Waxahachie and later as a home missionary in West Texas. In 1923, he began his ministry as pastor of the Southern Presbyterian Church in Richardson, Tex., which was a result of a home mission effort he and his wife began in 1921. He was a pioneer minister of the area, having a number of pastorates in the Richardson and Dallas area, including the old First Presbyterian Church of Richardson which was organized in 1891. In 1948, Dr. Fincher retired from active ministry, but continued to serve as pastor emeritus of the Richardson Presbyterian Church. He was a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, and a friend to all. He was known for his love of the Lord and his dedication to the ministry. He will be greatly missed by his family and many friends. "I am ready to depart and be with Christ, which is far better."

Indians.

Mrs. Fincher moved to McKinney after her husband's death in 1908 and a year later, the health of his father and mother was failing. He was appointed as superintendent of schools in McKinney and remained there for a year.

In 1923, to again become a pastor of the new Richardson Presbyterian Church.

He was a delegate on the Pres-byterian Church from 1923 to 1948 and a charter member of the old Potter County courthouse for a number of years.

The old frame structure is a now-northside school, a new one occupied by the FWCA.

Dr. Fincher's edifice at Wolfflin and Lipscomb was dedicated in 1948. This was a result of the home mission effort he and his wife began in 1921.

The church building was a home mission project started by the pres-tery in 1921. The first pastorate of Dr. Fincher, named in honor of his son, was a small mission work.

Dr. Fincher retired in 1946.

Dr. and Mrs. Fincher were married in 1908 at Washington.

The saintly and devoted life for more than half a century, his unceasing labors for his brethren, the sick and the needy, his visits to the jail and city hall, police stations, fire stations, and the hospital for the sick and the dying.

He disciplined himself as to a most exacting schedule of vali-dation, walking, and study, and thus gained the miniscule of gospel truth which he so zealously.

Dr. Fincher philosophized that "God made us to be what we are, and we are to be living God's creatures."

He said he had a death he had carried out his declaration, "When I die I will not be a dead man. I am a retired old warrior, but I am still in the ranks."

He said, "I am not retiring as a pastor, but not as an old warrior who will fight for the Lord as I have. I will continue my work in Amarillo and continue my work in the ministry until the Lord comes again."

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[This is the correct digitization by Claude.ai]:

Here's the text from the newspaper clipping:

DR. E. B. FINCHER

Rites Set for Beloved Pastor

By TEX KEIRSEY Amarillo Globe-News Staff Writer

Services honoring the memory of Dr. E. B. Fincher, 83, pastor emeritus of Southern Presbyterian Church here, will be conducted Saturday at 10 a.m. in the church he served so long.

Dr. Lawrence J. Stell, minister of Calvary Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, N.C., will officiate. Interment will be in Llano Cemetery.

Dr. Fincher's body lies in state at Blackburn-Shaw Funeral Home. The casket will not be opened at the service.

The family has requested that any memorials be in the form of contributions to religious organizations, or to the Heart Fund, or Cancer Fund or the Polio Fund.

Dr. Fincher, who served as pastor of Southern Presbyterian Church from 1923 to 1948, died Thursday at 2:33 p.m. in St. Anthony's Hospital following a long illness.

He is survived by his wife, Mrs.

Catherine Arvin Fincher; two daughters, Mrs. Robert L. Currie of Salisaw, Okla., and Florence I. Stell of Charlotte, N.C. and two sons, Hugh A. Fincher of Arlington, Va., and E. B. Fincher Jr. of Montclair, N. J.

Also surviving are two sisters, Mrs. J. L. Daniel of Holland, Tex., and Mrs. Hoyte Rothrock of Weatherford, Tex.; three brothers, Dr. Frank Fincher of Houston, Robert Fincher of College Station and Ernest Fincher of Lincoln, Ark., and seven grandchildren.

A native of York, Ala., Dr. Fincher was born April 4, 1869. His parents moved to Texas when he was six months old, settling first at Fort Worth, later at Ackton in Hood County, then at Avalon in Ellis County.

He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Austin College in Sherman. It was in his junior year of pre-law studies that he decided to become a minister. So he taught school for a year to pay for his college debt, then (See DR. FINCHER—Page 2)

[Right column continues:]

Indians. Dr. Fincher moved to McKinney after being advised to change climates for his health. There he remained 12 years. Following another stint as superintendent of home missions, he returned to Amarillo in 1923, to again become pastor of his denomination's church here.

The congregation of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. met in district courtroom in the old Potter County courthouse for 23 months, the members building a one-story frame structure at the Northwest corner of 11th and Jackson, the site now occupied by the YWCA.

The present edifice at Wolflin and Lipscomb was completed and Lipscomb in December, 1930, two years after Dr. Fincher's retirement.

The congregation, which dedicated the following April in a service conducted by the Rev. Clarence E. Dodge, was named in honor of Dr. Fincher.

Since his retirement in 1948, Dr. and Mrs. Fincher have made their home at 2011 Washington. The kindly and dedicated minister was best known for his consistent work in visiting the city's jails, hospitals, convalescent homes, city hall, police station, fire stations and hospitals for the aged.

He disciplined himself to a rigid seven-day schedule of visitation, walking wherever he went throughout the city, and thus gained the moniker, "Gospel in Shoe Leather."

Dr. Fincher philosophized that "the best way to love God is by loving God's creatures."

At the time of his death he had carried out his declaration made upon his retirement in 1946, that: "If am retiring, but not as a minister. I intend to stay right here in Amarillo and continue my work as a minister until I die or until the Lord comes again."

Scripts For Converting Various Video Formats To Mp4 Using ffmpeg

 My scripts for converting various video formats to mp4 using ffmpeg, which is amazing!

Used my macbook with the M4 Pro chip in zsh and it flew through all these.

<pre>

#Converts all *.mov files to mp4

for file in *.mov; do

    ffmpeg -i "$file" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -movflags +faststart "${file%.mov}.mp4"

done

for file in *.MOV; do

    ffmpeg -i "$file" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -movflags +faststart "${file%.MOV}.mp4"

done

for file in *.avi; do

     ls -la "$file"

    ffmpeg -i "$file" -c:v libx264  -preset veryslow -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -movflags +faststart "${file%.avi}.mp4"

done

for file in *.m4v; do

   ffprobe -v error -show_streams -select_streams v:0  "$file" | grep codec_name

done

for file in *.mpg; do

     ls -la "$file"

    ffmpeg -i "$file" -c:v libx264  -preset veryslow -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -movflags +faststart "${file%.mpg}.mp4"

done

#this reduces the size of an mp4

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -crf 28 -preset veryslow -c:a copy output.mp4

for file in *.mp4; do

   ffmpeg -i "$file" -c:v libx264 -crf 28 -preset veryslow -c:a copy "$file"-new.mp4

done

for file in *.m4v; do

    ls -la "$file"

    ffmpeg -i "$file" -c:v libx264  -preset veryslow -crf 23 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -movflags +faststart "${file%.m4v}.mp4"

done

# this re-encodes the mp4, but makes it smaller

for file in *.mp4; do

   ffmpeg -i "$file" -c:v libx264 -crf 28 -preset veryslow -c:a copy "$file"-new.mp4

done

#With certain processes I would define a variable and use it in scripts

#The ffmpeg command below shrinks the size of the file without substantially altering quality

export video="1997-02-12-Baby.m4v"

export video='1990-06-29-Mike.mp4'

ffmpeg -i "$video" -c:v libx264 -crf 28 -preset veryslow -c:a copy "$video"-new.mp4

</pre>

Spotlight not finding apps

 On my mac running Monterey 12.7.6, Spotlight forgot all about the "printers and scanner" app and others.

Fixed it by issuing the following command:

sudo mdutil -ai on mdutil -Ea

Tips on Downsizing or How to Throw Stuff Away

 I went to a seminar on how to get rid of all your extra stuff, kinda like Maria Kondo.

Here's the tips I learned:

1. Whenever you buy something, throw something else away.

2. Distribute legacy items now. Don't wait until later to give your kids your grandparents heirlooms and jewelry.

3. But, don't give family heirlooms to people who don't want them.

4. Donate, Donate, Donate - just get rid of all that stuff in your house.

5. Go thru your pantry and throw away expired food. Food started having expiration dates in 1984, so if an item has not expiration date, throw it away.

6. NOK - stands for Next of Kin. Have a folder with all the information for the people you leave behind with all the info they need - names of lawyers, accountants, brokers. And be sure to tell multiple people where that folder is. And where your will is.

7. You can donate art supplies to places like the Austin Creative Reuse organization.

8. Label all your keys.

9. List of friends to invite to your funeral.

10. Nobody wants your stuff - like this trophy from Toastmasters from 1983. Just take a picture of it, tell your family about it, and donate it so it can be disassembled and reused now.

CostPlusDrugs.com is a winner

 I just picked up a tube of Mometasone Furoate from CVS. Cost me $44.21. I came home and checked on CostPlusDrugs.com. It's on $14.15 for the same amount and strength. Next time I'll wait and check CostPlusDrugs.com and GoodRx.com before having my doctor phone it in to CVS.

Best Wordle Words Mathematically

Best Wordle Words Mathematically

TLDR: Best Wordle Words

AROSE

UNTIL

DUCHY

BLIMP

GAWKY

How to select the best words to guess in Wordle?

Here's my strategy:

1.  Find the frequency of letters in words for five letter words:

AESORILTNUDCYMPHBGKFWVQJXQ

2. Now going left to right find words that contain the most frequently used letters.

AESOR ILTNU DCYMPHBGKFWVQJXQ

How to find what words contain AESOR?

We can use the tool "grep" on unix with something like this which finds all five letters words with AESOR.

[Trigger warning: actual unix tools code😱:]

grep "^[a-z]\{5\}$" /usr/share/dict/words | grep a | grep e | grep s | grep o | grep r

One word pops out: “AROSE”.

2. Now look at the letters that are next:

ILTNU DCYMPHBGKFWVQJXQ

Fortunately one word fits the bill, "UNTIL"

3. Looking at the next letters, we don't have a word that contains "DCYMP", so we get as many as we can and then get the next most frequently used letters:

DCYMPHBGKFWVQJXQ

Which produces "DUCHY".

Then the next word is "GAWKY".

Enjoy.

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PS: A bonus graphic showing probability of letter distribution within a word.

So when you get a "w", it's usually in the first two letters, and a "y" is near the end.

How to Programmatically Add Tags to Files in OS X on a Mac Using C# Without Libraries

While working on photos, I wanted to programmatically add tags to photos. The tags would be read from a file. I formally used Finder to do this, but it can be tedious for a large universe of tags and there's no record of the association. Here's my solution which is really awkward and brittle. Surely there is a better way. Please add your comments on that way. Until then, I'll use this code.

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace ImageDescriptions
{
    public class Utilities
    {
        public static string? executeShellCommand(string scriptFile, string arguments)
        {
            var processInfo = new ProcessStartInfo()
            {
                FileName = scriptFile,
                Arguments = arguments,
                UseShellExecute = false,
                RedirectStandardOutput = true,
                CreateNoWindow = true
            };
            string? result = string.Empty;
            Process process = Process.Start(processInfo);   // Start that process.
            while (!process.StandardOutput.EndOfStream)
            {
                result = process.StandardOutput.ReadLine();
                System.Console.WriteLine("result: " + result);
            }
            process.WaitForExit();
            return result;
        }
        /// 

        /// Sets tags on a file in OS X.
        /// This is really awkward and brittle.
        /// 
        /// Comma separated list, e.g., "red,black,green"
        /// file to which we add tags
        public static void SetTags(string? tagCsv, string filename)
        {
            System.Console.WriteLine($"SetTags: '{tagCsv}', '{filename}'");
            var tagXmlString = string.Empty;
            if (tagCsv == null || String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(tagCsv)) { return; }
            var tags = tagCsv.Split(',');
            foreach (var tag in tags)
            {
                tagXmlString += "" + tag.Trim() + "";
            }
            var scriptFile = "/usr/bin/xattr";
            var arguments = " -w"
               + " com.apple.metadata:_kMDItemUserTags"
               + @" """
               + @" "
               + tagXmlString
               + @" """
               + " " + filename;
            System.Console.WriteLine($"executeShellCommand: {scriptFile}, {arguments}");

            Utilities.executeShellCommand(scriptFile, arguments);
        }
    }
}

Here's a program that reads a data file and then calls "SetTags()":

using ImageDescriptions;

public class ImageDescription
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        if(args.Length < 1)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("usage: ImageDescription ");
            Environment.Exit(1);
        }
        string filename = args[0];
        FileStream file = File.OpenRead(filename);

        var lines = File.ReadLines(filename);
        foreach (var line in lines)
        {
            Description description = new Description(line);
            Console.WriteLine(line);
            Console.WriteLine(description);
            Utilities.SetTags(description.tags, description.name);
        }
    }
}

A line from the data file looks like this:

2013-01-23-0702-IMG_8252.jpg "Dessert pie with fruit -tags:dessert,fruit,healthy,pie"