👻 #072 - 20 Questions To Ask Children About Ghosts

Tis the season! Also algorithmic publishing (again), slowing down social media (again), and a quick break.

Ten years ago I wrote the below post. In the intervening years it got lost in the numerous https://revdancatt.com redesigns. To celebrate the 10th anniversary and Halloween, here it is brought back to life.

Sometimes I find myself in a situation where I need to talk to a child, ugh, I know.

For some people talking to kids comes naturally, I am not one of those people. My usual gambit is to ask them what they’re interested in and taking it from there. But sometimes that just doesn’t work, they’re not interested in anything, or they’re not interested in sharing it, or they’re too intimidated by my beard to say anything.

When that happens I fall back on my ghost questions. The handy thing about these questions is that even if they don’t believe in ghosts, or answer in the negative to a bunch of these you can just keep going.

Best of all, whenever I’ve asked these questions the answers have always been charming.

1. Do you believe in ghosts?

2. If there’s thunder and loads of rain, does a ghost get wet?

3. Can it get hit by lightening?

4. If the wind is strong, does it blow away?

5. Can a ghost breath underwater?

6. Are there human ghosts underwater?

7. Do monkeys have ghosts?

8. Do birds have ghosts?

9. Do bird ghosts get wet in rain or blow away in strong wind?

10. Do cows have ghosts?

11. Could you have a cow ghost underwater?

12. Do fish have ghosts?

13. Why don’t we see fish ghosts on dry land?

14. Can ghosts go on holiday?

15. If a fish died in a fish bowl, and then the fish bowl is moved, does the fish ghost haunt the area where the fish bowl was even if there isn’t any water?

16. Can you spray paint a ghost?

17. If you spray a ghosts with stinky perfume will it smell?

18. What happens if two ghosts try to run through each other?

19. If you blow dry a ghost does it go fluffy?

20. Do you believe in ghosts?

---

# GHOST FEEDBACK

Over the years, even after the original post vanished from my website I’ve had people telling me they often break out the ghost questions, sometimes even as ice-breakers with not-kids.

The thing I like about these is even when someone doesn’t believe in ghost, and blast through the first half with a stubborn “no”, they often end up getting drawn into the logic of how the material of a ghost works, you know, theoretically.

Try it, let me know how you get on. Perhaps I’ll get around to putting these archived (on my hard-drive) posts back online.

Last year’s ghost card

---

# SLOW SOCIAL MEDIA

A quick newsletter this time, as I’m taking even more of a break from social media.

Up to this point, and with the recent changes to posting to Instagram once a month, my whole output into the social media space is seven times a month.

Four YouTube “Weeknotes” videos, two newsletters (roughly), one post to Instagram and zero twitter/etc per month = Seven. Pretty sure I used to post to social media severn time plus a day, on the other hand shoving things out into the world around twice a week still seems like a lot, all things considered.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been moving my website and domains off US companies and onto EU ones. 25 years ago I set my dedicated server up on Media Temple, who were lovely, but they sold to GoDaddy, who are as awful as they sound.

There’s a couple of reasons for the move, but one of them was that when I set the server up it was an expensive thing to do, like a proper monthly expense that I’ve winced at, at various times in my life. But now better, cheaper and faster options exist and it was just pure inertia that kept me on it.

Two days ago I broke my DNS records, and worse, my email, and for a good while I thought “what if I just don’t fix it? No more email, is that bad?”

😁

Then it fixed itself.

I will say this though; I am feeling a lot better using social media less, all those reports about less social media = happiness, seem true. But I’m also pretty sure posting often, daily even, and constantly showing new work is the best way to stay relevant and create (or be open to) opportunities.

You have to find the balance between happiness and irrelevance you’re comfortable with.

---

# ALGORITHMIC BOOKS, BUSY

James (https://lostpixels.io) has created an “Algorithmic Sketchbook” for his project BUSY; “I decided to make a book to deconstruct and re-contextualize the inner workings of the algorithms that compose the artwork. In typical fashion though, I used my drawing robots to meticulously create each book, in a way that resembles an artists sketchbook.”

James has made a lovely delightful thing, and I’m also super intrigued by the 3d printed tools he’d created to help the whole multiple notebook drawing process.

Screencap from one of James’ videos

I’ve written about how excited I am about the whole process of code to books, magazine, zines and self publishing. Back in #059…

…and even further back in #037…

I have a feeling that

Mark Webster

(go sub to his substack too) has some interesting thoughts about code and publishing too.

My hunch is, and maybe this is just me looking for things that support my own beliefs, is that in the same way many screen based (for want of a better way of saying it) creative code artists took to using pen plotters and drawing machine, they are also getting tired of social media, and looking at zines, postcard, books and the like to keep in contact with other artists, and bringing algorithms into the process.

Cause indeed, if you’re going to pen plot a book, why not make each one different like James.

If you’re working on, or experimenting with an algorithmic physical publication, of any sort, please do let me know, ‘cause I’d love to do a round-up of them at some point.

---

---

# THE END

I’m on a sort of break at the moment. For the first time in about three years I’m not going to be publishing a weekly video on YouTube, which feels odd.

I’ve already resisted the temptation to make a “Studio Tour” video and a video about James’ book, and just enjoy having a week of not recording or editing video, although I’m itching to start the pen plotting tutorial videos again.

After recording and partially editing the whole first module of pen plotting tutorials I decided I was going about it all wrong. I’d spend the last two years learning how I like to make videos, and what I had in-front of me in Final Cut Pro wasn’t the vibe I wanted at all. I’d also set up the way things should be done “properly” and hadn’t realised that was one of the reasons I wasn’t enjoying the process.

It’s painful to throw away a whole bunch of footage, but now I’m feeling a lot better about how I’m going to do things, so let’s see how it all turns out.

In two weeks.

🤔

Next newsletter will be the 30th of October 🎃 so may involve more ghosts.

Love you all,
Dan
❤️

---