IvanOjeda - Twenty-eight Blog

So, first of all. NO, I don't want to play a game.

My favorite memory from this internship. Well, I don't know about a favorite memory. But I really enjoyed working with my team. I know that PJ is always saying that she wants to kill me and stuff like that but that's ok. Things aren't meant to be perfect >.> It was nice to just spend time with PJ talking while walking back to freddy... at least. I also enjoyed my time while running the experiments since I was outside in a nice weather sometimes. I could also spend sometime talking to Amy which was really nice too. My expectations from this internship were to do something different instead of math and chemistry but I never thought I would meet people from so much different majors. This is something that was really great since you get to know how people from all those majors think.

Lov y'all chekiamos

HamadiMcIntosh - 30 Jul 2009 - 13:33

Very sly not to put dates on your blog.

IvanOjeda - Twenty-seventh Blog

I don't know what happened to my last blog but for some reason it is not finished. Oh well

We've been changing things in our paper since some of the people are making some corrections to it. Amy also changed some things in the poster and now it looks great. Not that it didn't look great before but it did look great.

I'll talk about my experience in the internship later.

AmyGreen - 29 Jul 2009 - 16:41

quiero ir a puerto rico!

AmyGreen - 29 Jul 2009 - 16:18

Ivan, Do you want to play a game?!?!?

AmyGreen - 29 Jul 2009 - 16:18

What was your favorite memory from this internship?

AmyGreen - 29 Jul 2009 - 16:16

Thanks Ivan!

IvanOjeda - Twenty-sixth Blog

Here I am again. Back at VRAC. I don't spend much time in the VRAC anymore. I'm back because we've finished doing the experiment to our participants. We'll start working with the statistical analysis of the data and with the

UgonnaOhiri - 26 Jul 2009 - 10:11

I am anticipating the end of this sentence.

AmyGreen - 22 Jul 2009 - 16:31

Ivan you didn't finish your sentence...I want to read more!

IvanOjeda - Twenty-fifth Blog

Today we ran our first participants in the experiment. The GPS is not working so Jay is tracing the path that people are taking in the map all by himself. There's also a lot of curious people around asking what the robot does and stuff. Some people that walk by and see the items ask if they're our items and if we lost them so we have to explain that the whole thing is an experiment. Oh BTW I'm drinking a campfire mocha right now.

IvanOjeda - 22 Jul 2009 - 09:34

LOL it's a drink from caribou coffee

ZayiraJordan - 20 Jul 2009 - 09:52

campfire? where were u?

IvanOjeda - Twenty-fourth Blog

Alright!!! back to blogging at midnight.

So the weekend was nice. We got to see Finding Nemo at last w00t . Also we went paintballing on sunday and it was nice. The weather wasn't good when we arrived but the sun started to raise the temperature as we played. It was cool to play it. Oh we also decided the shirt design. I'm glad people were able to vote for this even though the design I liked didn't win.

That's 'bout it. I have some more thoughts to share but I'll leave them for tomorrow.

IvanOjeda - Twenty-third Blog

Today we went to watch the MS defense about an "Interactive Kiosk Demonstrating ISU’s Commitment to Green". I was interested in this talk because some of you might already know I'm worried about this issues. I thought I could get some ideas to tell the people to recycle and such but the speaker didn't focused on this topic. He focused more in the design of the kiosk. I thought that the design was pretty good and that the comments and the discussion about it were pretty important too. But I think that this could be done for any type of kiosk and not only for one's dedicated to Green.

So after that we just went back to the lab and went off towards the front doors of the black building to run MIA. We wanted to test the GPS to see if we could record information. I ran MIA on a L patter path and got good recording information that can be used to make look at the robot from the map. But we also tried to see if the GPS location was actually being updated by the service and unfortunately it was not. After that we went back to the lab and did some stuff for the recordings of the experiment.

IvanOjeda - Twenty-Second Blog

So I'm gonna blog about yesterday and today because I forgot to do it... Erm... so yesterday was a day full of nothing since we tried to run MIA in a closed field but after going through a lot of stuff and getting connected successfully the battery ran out and we decided to go back to the lab charge her and try later. After 1 hour it started to rain so we still couldn't run it outside -.- So I asked this question to my own self: why should robots have rights if nature doesn't give them rights?

Anyway, we finally finished "working" yesterday and went to bowling. We had to take the red bus west but the stop in front of Beyer hall had no red buses coming and we figured that out really late. So we went a one block farther to the stop where the red bus comes but it turned out we had to wait 45 min. So someone randomly saw the blue bus and suggested we went back to friederiksen's and get cars. Then I started to run like everyone else so I could catch the bus. We finally got back to friederiksen's and drove to the gaming place on amy's and andrew's cars. I think I ran too hard and my legs we're hurting all night long so I couldn't run while playing bowling.

So today my legs recovered and we came back to the lab to try and run MIA outside again. We ran her successfully this time, but she went off towards the stairs and the arm got hit by the stairs. PJ finally found an item after 15 min but the arm started twitching and we headed back to the lab. After that we tried to see if the GPS was working so we ran MIA in a different place and surprisingly the lag was much better than in the closed area we've selected to run the experiment. The GPS was not working anyway so we just headed back to the lab and here we are... Oh yeah....and I wanted to go to caribou cafe today but it closes at 4 and it 4:15 already

IvanOjeda - 09 Jul 2009 - 16:47

I just did Bella

BellaManoim - 09 Jul 2009 - 15:24

please look at the email Pam sent and sign up for our study

BellaManoim - 09 Jul 2009 - 14:49

poor MIA..and her technical difficulties

RichardLebron - 09 Jul 2009 - 13:52

long blog but funny, MIA should have rights because this is the second time that MIA have a accident.

LinhPham - 09 Jul 2009 - 13:12

JAJAJA

LinhPham - 09 Jul 2009 - 13:12

So this blog took 20 seconds to write?

ZayiraJordan - 09 Jul 2009 - 10:20

Iván, I'm sorry about the confusion with the red bus....

IvanOjeda - Twenty-First Blog

I'm BACK!!!!

Alright so, we've been working all this days in the tele-robotics lab and that's why we don't spend much time at VRAC anymore. I guess y'all know that already. So why did I not blog last week? mmmm I don't know. Just taking a break from the blogs. Anyway I'll try to say everything that happened last week here. So on monday we had a "how to make a poster" presentation and I think it was really useful. I've done poster presentations before but I've never really thought of how the poster looks like after I make it. I just want to fit the most important stuff I have in it. On Tuesday we had Josh's presentation of "the world is flat" and I think it was a really good presentation, thumbs up for josh. On wednesday I had nothing to do but sit on the tele-robotics lab doing stuff. Jay got the C# code for MIA working and I've been looking at it all this time. I actually can understand what part of the code does what but I still have a long way to go before I can write something that actually works for the robot. I'm also new at C# and it's kind of hard to understand everything that is going on. C# also needs a lot of "using" before you actually start writing functions and classes in it. So I was also looking at the code for the camera settings and I think the code that is being used to control the camera does not have pan/tilt capabilities so I decided to try and look for a code that works with this function and add it into the interface that's already made into the C# code. I still haven't had any luck finding a code that has pan/tilt control and I don't know how to write the code either so I've been pretty much stuck there. I also saw how the interface for the robot is created in C# and I created a new panel to control the pan/tilt capabilities of the robot but I still don't know how to send values from the panel into the camera service of the robot. So yeah... On thursday I also tried to work with this but not much luck either. We also had a luncheon lecture this day about artificial evolution and I thought it was really interesting. The videos were pretty funny but after laughing so hard I thought it was really interesting how computers could evolve this way. I was thinking that there are functions that define the first generations of behavior then the following functions would be really monstrous. I mean, I've seen how dynamical systems work and it's not even funny how an exponential growth makes a function look like. So after that I returned to the tele-robotic lab and work a little bit more (or should I say look at the code a little bit more) and we discussed how the interface for the touch screen should be yet again. I've also been trying to help PJ with the steering widget since it needs some mathematical functions so the computer can recognize that the fingers are in the correct place. I remembered using this at my complex analysis course to find the area of the an annulus(a ring) in the complex plane. I actually had to drop that course because it was too hard for me. It was even worse because I had not taken real analysis yet so everything was just double the complexity (mathematically and in difficulty LOL, bad joke). Ok so I also saw my professor for this course here at Iowa last week. He was invited to give a talk to the students of the math REU program. The guys from these REU told me that he was staying in memorial union which I found amusing and just wanted to say it here. Umm ...so after all that the 4th of July was here and we tried to go see the fireworks from the top of memorial union but we starter to walk from friederiksen exactly at 10pm so by the time we got there the fireworks were over.

Wall of text I know... I just wanted to get everything from last week. I guess that's it....'till my next blog.

HamadiMcIntosh - 08 Jul 2009 - 14:08

Torque script is the same way.

PamShill - 07 Jul 2009 - 07:21

You will want to email your Grad Student mentors to mention that you are stuck on the pan/tilt code. They might be able to help you.

IvanOjeda - Twentieth Blog

I just skipped another blog Muahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahaahahhahaahhaahhahahaahahahahaahahahahahhhahhahaahahahaahahah

BellaManoim - 01 Jul 2009 - 13:56

stop skipping blogs!

AmyGreen - 01 Jul 2009 - 13:53

you are slacking on your blogs my friend...

PJ Campbell - 30 Jun 2009 - 13:33

stop editing my blog you big meanie!!!!!!!!!!

IvanOjeda - 28 Jun 2009 - 23:36

I don't think you would sacrifice your chicken diet just to compare sandwiches. lol

UgonnaOhiri - 28 Jun 2009 - 09:30

Hey Ivan? Guess what? So when I was walking the streets of Seattle early this morning, I saw a Jimmy John's and thought of both you and Richard. Maybe if I eat there we can compare sandwiches when we get back...lol

IvanOjeda - Nineteenth Blog

So today was a good day for my group. We made a lot of progress with the multi-touch interface and we also got to move MIA at last. It was fun to pick up napkins and hand them over to people with the robot. I could also make the Lego Mindstorm to work with my Bluetooth. I was just playing with the robot since I could make it move around with microsoft robotics studio using a joystick simulator. Funny how the software for mindstorms doesn't work with my bluetooth but microsoft robotics does -.- All right that's about it for today. Cya later

IvanOjeda - 26 Jun 2009 - 14:43

Is in the black building or something like that.

BellaManoim - 25 Jun 2009 - 13:31

awesome, id like to see this robot soon! is it in another building?

IvanOjeda - Eighteenth Blog

Zup people. I didn't blog yesterday so I'm writing something to fill the empty space. I tried to make Lego Mindstorms run with my laptop but couldn't do the connection via bluetooth. That's about it. See ya later.

UgonnaOhiri - 24 Jun 2009 - 13:21

lego mindstorms is amazing...but it all started first day in engineering class........

BellaManoim - 24 Jun 2009 - 13:18

lego mindstorms is fun, did you get bluetooth to work?

IvanOjeda - Seventeenth Blog

We finally saw the robot but we didn't see it moving -.- Ohh well, we'll have to try tomorrow again to see if it's moving. We also practiced the presentation for tomorrow. Not much is going on.

BellaManoim - 23 Jun 2009 - 09:51

I hope you're able to make more than just the arm move

IvanOjeda - Sixteenth Blog

So, today I finally played soccer for the first time in my life. I can talk more about a soccer ball than ball for other sports since the soccer ball has the form of a Truncated Icosahedron... linkz? here you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truncated_icosahedron

This graph has the same properties as the Fullerene... linkz again? ok:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminsterfullerene#Buckminsterfullerene

The fullerene is what you might call a soccer ball of carbon atoms. This is the kind of application I'm looking into and the reason I'm majoring math and chemistry. I also tried to look up if there is any connection to the basketball (ball) but I found nothing.

I don't have much more to say. I figured I'd try to spread the word about my interests while I blogged since I had nothing else to write. Alright cya later

IvanOjeda - 22 Jun 2009 - 23:53

Yes hamadi, this is exactly what the fullerene is. Or at least the 60 carbon fullerene. It is one of the things that interest me the most in chemistry.

HamadiMcIntosh - 22 Jun 2009 - 13:27

At San Jose State I'm working with Carbon grains that kinda look like a soccer ball. You'd probably like it. It's all math and chemistry.

IvanOjeda - Fifteenth Blog

Ok so here I am again at midnight doing my blog. I started to work a little bit more on microsoft robotics and I have found really interesting things that can be used for the project. Also could get the multi-touch simulator to work on my laptop at last. Also we went to play basketball today and it was fun. I haven't played basketball for a lot of time. I guess my last time was when I was on eleventh grade. I got tired without finishing the game we were playing which means I'm in a bad physical condition. Anyways I enjoyed to watch the other game so it was worth it to be there. The day was a bit too hot so I would have preferred to go swimming.

Alright, I think that's it.

IvanOjeda - Fourteenth Blog

So today was a pretty good day with nothing to do but sit down and do research. I worked on a tutorial of Visual Programming Language and it's really easy and different way of programming. I also need to learn some Java so I can understand the Sparsh application for multi touch things. So maybe I'll look for a tutorial for Java and work through it. I also managed to use the robotics simulator in Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio. ... The robot hasn't arrived yet though

That's it for today. Cya

BellaManoim - 18 Jun 2009 - 14:24

I like java, let me know if you have questions, I might be able to answer them

TaylorBergquist - 18 Jun 2009 - 10:49

You'll like Java, it's like an easier version of C++

BellaManoim - 18 Jun 2009 - 08:53

that robot better come soon!

IvanOjeda - Thirteenth Blog

So after a lot of things we actually managed to survive Tuesday. Working all Monday on the Open GL Proyect was not fun yesterday. Today we had a meeting with our research team and we also had GMAP. I was a bit disappointed with GMAP because in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) presentations there were no actual presentations regarding the mathematics field (statistics don't count as math). Anyway, my group had to leave the conference right after having lunch to go to the meeting. It was raining outside I didn't have an umbrella with me and, what's worse, I didn't had my laptop with me and the Open GL Proyect was in it so I had to go back to Friederiksen. After picking up my laptop and my umbrella I went back to the black building or so called place, it was not raining anymore, and I get there only to find that the meeting was already over -.- Oh well. So that's about it. After the presentation we went to the Spice restaurant and the tea that mike recommended was really good. So that's it for the day. I hope something exiting happens tomorrow (like a fire alarm going off wink wink).

IvanOjeda - 17 Jun 2009 - 23:53

I know stat has more applications... but I just can't deal with so much different symbols. I prefer to do applied math without having to look at tables and data. It's just matter of preference.

And Bella, thanks for telling me this. I just checked our calendar and it says we have a University Holiday so I may be going.

MichaelOren - 17 Jun 2009 - 14:00

Matisyahu is a good band (in reply to Bella's comment).

Stats might not be real math, but stats is more useful in applied research. As a land grant university, we primarily focus on applied research and don't do nearly as much with 'pure research' which is the only thing you'll see with mathematics these days (not much modern math research has any real world application

BellaManoim - 17 Jun 2009 - 09:06

5:45 PM – Matisyahu 7:30 PM – Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks

80/35 Music Festival

Des Moines, IA Friday, July 3, 2009 at 3:00pm

IvanOjeda - Twelfth Blog

Zup Ugonna >.>

Comments Banned in this blog because it's a substitute for yesterday's.

BLOG ALERT

So... this is the end of the week. I don't have much to say. Hope to get the Open GL proyect done for tuesday.

See you guys.

UgonnaOhiri - 16 Jun 2009 - 20:16

Blog alert! I think you are long overdue for a blog sir...

AmyGreen - 16 Jun 2009 - 16:38

stop changing what I comment, IVAN!!!

IvanOjeda - Tenth Blog

MIDNIGHT BLOG!

Ok so I was just thinking that the numbering system I'm using for my blog was going to be a bit hard later when I have to do my 22th blog since I don't know how to spell it. I had to look up Wikipedia to check if "tenth" was spelled right and I found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinal_number

Yep, there exists a definition of ordinal numbers in set theory which looks really interesting (to me). This numbers also have application in some different fields like topology. Anyway I may have to look up how to spell the numbers from now on in my blog, but that'll remind me of reading some of this information

We did some open GL lightning and a bouncing ball today. We also learned some stuff from R in the statistics class. I've been using R for my statistic class but it's always good to refresh how to use the program. My group is doing the newton's cradle with open GL graphics as the proyect. I'm not too much into graphics programming but I hope I can get motivated as this 2 days pass by.

Alright I think that's all.

AmyGreen - 16 Jun 2009 - 16:36

you need to blog

AmyGreen - 12 Jun 2009 - 14:57

psssssssssssssssssssssssssst....

UgonnaOhiri - 12 Jun 2009 - 09:39

STOP SINGING IN THE NIGHT!!! lol

PJ Campbell - 11 Jun 2009 - 22:21

So FUNNY!!! You checked wikiPedia? That sounds like something I would do. Its easier to type a word into google than to get a dictionary these days...

IvanOjeda - 11 Jun 2009 - 22:01

I think you're right Zayira. Also, you should write smileys without spaces... smileys are just great, just click on my name

ZayiraJordan - 11 Jun 2009 - 15:19

actually itd be twentysecond - nd instead of nth. : )

BellaManoim - 11 Jun 2009 - 13:05

IvanOjeda - Ninth Blog

Today I don't have much to say. Open GL was cool since we learned how to work with 3D objects. The luncheon lecture was really cool. I really liked the dynamics of the lecture while we were still at the lab. So... I have a quote I want to show.

The popularity of sudoku is evidence that people can do mathematics (without knowing it) and enjoy it too.

BellaManoim - 10 Jun 2009 - 16:34

this is true about sudoku : )

MinaChoi - 10 Jun 2009 - 15:59

hi ivan!

IvanOjeda - Eigth Blog

Yesterday I did not blog D:

IvanOjeda - Seventh Blog

Alright, so here I am again, writing my blog at midnight. So this week was all about C++ and HCI courses. But we also have work for the research project and it seems like the next week we're going to get busy, especially when we don't know how to work with this programs that we're using for the research. I think that learning with this programs is going to be the most tedious task during the summer since after that we just want to do research and find out new things and this is one thing that I can do with more motivation since I know that on any minute of your research you can have just an amazing discovery.

I'm really happy that the project is completed now. The game plays only in a 2 by 2 matrix but I am planning to learn some about dynamic arrays so the user can input the dimensions of the game he wants to play. Also, we may get the program to work with some graphics and make a display of the game. All of this is just extra work so the project works like an actual game.

Well, I'll write something down maybe on monday night >.>

IvanOjeda - 08 Jun 2009 - 21:46

Ohhh it looks beautiful. I'd like to try that

BellaManoim - 08 Jun 2009 - 20:27

that's the egg holder I told you about. http://www.flickr.com/photos/geo3pea/469855766/in/photostream/

IvanOjeda - Sixth Blog

So, I forgot to write my blog for what people may call yesterday at this hour and here I am writing some stuff before going to bed. So today the lesson was about pointers and passing stuff by reference and I think it was a really good session (Thumbs up for Eric). I think when everyone gets into a discussion of how things work out is when I can really get the hang of things. Most of the time I don't bring notebooks to my classes because I can never get much of what a professor is telling me. I'm really not good at paying attention, so I almost always end up studying by myself with my books , but with this kind of discussion I can really understand what's going on.

So after that we met with our graduate students and it was really helpful to have them tell us about the proyect and what we should start doing.

Anyway I'll ask a favor to everyone, and that is to remind me of doing the blog because I think in a couple days I'll forget it exists. Well see ya

BellaManoim - 05 Jun 2009 - 16:38

I looked up the macaw, very pretty

JoshuaSituka - 05 Jun 2009 - 16:23

DO YOUR BLOG! Also, i definitely understand about the discussion thing. I have a hard time understanding in a big class too unless I already know what the professor is talking about. Sometimes reading ahead about that topic helps so you can use the "lecture" as more of a reference, because you are going to have to read and teach yourself anyways, might as well do it before lecture.

ZayiraJordan - 05 Jun 2009 - 09:22

Let Eric know about your compliments. I agree he's teaching a "dark subject" very clearly.

IvanOjeda - Fifth Blog

Yesterday we had a night game and I learned how to play guitar hero. I got used to the bass but maybe the guitar is harder so maybe next time I'll try the guitar out and see if I can do some songs on medium. We also learned today about arrays and did a homework about characters in arrays. I think it was fairly easy but I still don't understand some of the syntax used sometimes. I still don't remember how to use classes so I don't understand the syntax of what is going on. I don't have much more to say so that's about it. Adios

AmyGreen - 04 Jun 2009 - 15:24

buen trabajo con su programa hoy. todas las preguntas son en espanol.

BellaManoim - 04 Jun 2009 - 15:13

hola!

IvanOjeda - 04 Jun 2009 - 11:06

Heyyy en español nadie nos entiende. I'm doing good so far

ZayiraJordan - 04 Jun 2009 - 10:26

No puedo creer que nunca hubieras jugado Guitar Hero!!! I'm sure you'll do great in programming.

IvanOjeda - Fourth Blog

Yesterday we had a crash course on C++ and it was pretty nice. We also did an activity to check the differences on websites to buy. I think it was educative since we could see differences on the usability of websites. We also started working on our proyect for the week. So I have been playing the game against myself on my spanish class for a lot of time to figure out how to win the game. I found there is a way to manipulate the game so the probabilities are in your favor. So since we had to do a program I though maybe we could made it for this and I could bring my laptop to my spanish class so I can keep researching on the game with more technology on my side

All right that's about it.

IvanOjeda - Usability Blog

This blog is about finding stuff where we could apply the concept usability. So here is my tablet PC which is touch screen. Now, I don't use the touch screen that much(maybe I don't use it at all) which means it's a useless application for me but it doesn't mean the tablet has bad usability because usability is defined for people who want to use it this. The screen turns around and you can close the laptop with the screen on the outside which gives it a better usability since it can be used as a normal notebook (not a laptop).

As a second example I took a picture of the microwaves we have at Friederiksen's Court and here it is:

This microwave doesn't have a plate for rotation which makes it less usable because you might want to give 30 seconds to whatever you're cooking, stop it, turn it around and then give it another 30 seconds.

UgonnaOhiri - 02 Jun 2009 - 13:38

Yes I was warming my chicken last night...and for some reason it refused to move...lol

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IvanOjeda - Third Blog

Today we've been working on c++ and I had problems with visual studio. I prefer to use dev C++, maybe I'll stick to it while I'm working with the project. I also went to clyde sport center to get breakfast and the place was empty for the first time so it was better. I think we have little time to write a blog everyday. Since I'm a slow typer I thought maybe it's better if I just do the blog when everything on the schedule is over for the day.

I don't have much more to say so, that's about it.

IvanOjeda - 01 Jun 2009 - 13:13

The place where we just had lunch. I don't know if that's the correct name though.

HamadiMcIntosh - 01 Jun 2009 - 13:11

Where's Clyde Sport Center?

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IvanOjeda - Second Blog

So today was really nice since we had a cool workshop in the morning about teamwork. I think I knew some of the stuff they showed us by intuition, but still I could understand clearly what working in a group is and how it should be done so it is successful. Also we got to actually try some really cool stuff on the lab which was really cool. I don't know what else I should write... I think it's hard for Richard and me to go around with people speaking in English. We might know the language but we don't use it fluently and that's where my main concern resides. I hope everyone can understand that. I think everyone's been nice with us so I feel everything is cool.

Also I got to know PJ and Amy a litte bit more which is really nice

BellaManoim - 29 May 2009 - 23:17

We're here to help each other, and your english is really good. Besides, it's good to practice communicating with different people. Not everybody you work with will be from the same country, at least in NJ/NY, you have a huge melting pot of accents and people that need to work together.

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IvanOjeda - First Blog

Today we took the programming tests which I found really easy at the beginning but when it started talking about pointers and stuff like that, I started to think it was though. We also talked about the papers we where assigned to read which was really cool because I love to use facebook and I got to analyze my behavior on the website and how it affects the people around me. Not much for the first day. I'll write some more tomorrow.

-- IvanOjeda - 29 May 2009

JoshuaSituka - 01 Jun 2009 - 13:08

hey ivan, $500?!!! and yeah that pointer stuff can be a little confusing. I've been taught it 4-5 times but still dont 100% understand it, when pointers start pointing to random stuff.

MichaelOren - 29 May 2009 - 13:38

Please add this comment code to all of your blog entries so people can respond (or ask questions) about your posts.