Frequently Asked Questions

In this section I pretend I am getting a landslide of questions that show up in my mailbox over and over, and, so, the most practical solution is to post them all here, in the form of a somewhat hostile, yet self-serving, interview.

So… What is The Random Factor? Is it just a catchy phrase?

Although you might think it is just a catchy name for a website, the expression The Random Factor conceals meaning that is far more consequential:

The Random Factor is that unknown, but ever present element that lurks unseen and unaccounted for and whose effects cannot be predicted, but will indeed be felt, for better or worse, sometimes when least expected.

The Random Factor can sometimes be your savior, but it can also be your doom. Call it luck, if you are a non-believer, or call it fate, if you think the path is set.

Optimists will, at best, disregard The Random Factor altogether and, at worst, think it’s in their favor. Pessimists, on the other hand… well… let’s just say… are never disappointed.

Is your website powered by Artificial Intelligence?

More like… natural stupidity. I am not even using Grammarly.

Squarespace, the website builder I use, does offer an AI functionality where you type a summary sentence and the software produces an entire paragraph or paragraphs. I do not know how good or bad this AI technology is, I do not care to try it.

I think this whole AI thing is a sad state of affairs, and it only contributes further to the “Dead Internet Theory,” which, increasingly, is starting to sound to me like less of a theory and more like fact.

There are countless websites, out there, that present you with endless text that, somehow, feels blank. Yes, you are reading the text, and the words seem correct and connected, but the message somehow eludes you, kind of like a high school flashback for me.

Since you are an interpreter and translator, one would expect your website to be bilingual; how come it isn’t? This is very suspicious…

You’re kidding! right? This is a one-man operation! I barely have enough time to write anything at all.

Why do you bother writing things nobody will ever read?

Well… honestly, I hope somebody does, but it really isn’t that important. My reasons for maintaining this website have been changing from day one; I just have been too lazy to update them, in this section, every single time they change. It all boils down to just two things now:

First of all: I am an interpreter and translator, and writing stuff helps me hone my skills in many ways. I can write an article today, for example, and think it is all fine, but then I’ll come back to read it, after some time, and realize there’s a myriad mistakes I did not spot before. More succinctly put, this exercise truly helps you gradually understand how much you really suck!

My second objective is, believe it or not, to help maintain a human presence on the Internet, which is rapidly being taken over by bots and artificial intelligence that seek to confuse us and pit us against one another for the obscure purposes of those pulling the strings.

I really miss the Internet of old that was once teeming with human content you just knew had been painstakingly posted by individuals seeking to share their knowledge and wisdom with the rest of the world for the sake of exchanging information and ideas, rather than just for clicks and views and likes and re-tweets and SEO and the harvesting of our personal data. Amazing sites like this one https://www.linkwitzlab.com and this one https://ethanwiner.com , filled with human experience and information, were, and still are, a great source of admiration and inspiration for me.

I do not claim to have any priceless wisdom to share, and my life experience so far is flawed and insignificant, but it is real.

Why not just use social media like Facebook or Instagram?

Sure, I could use social media, but, then, social media would own everything I posted, wouldn’t they? I’ve read the stories; one, in particular, comes to mind: a translator with a big following on her social media account (100,000+ subscribers/followers) found herself locked out of her own content without any clear explanation as to why. “Violation of community guidelines” is all she was told. She was never even given an explanation on how it was that she had violated the community guidelines; her account was simply closed, and she didn’t even get a chance to talk to anybody or even appeal the decision in any way. It was all done very quickly and unilaterally.

Remember: “There is no cloud, only somebody else’s computer.” Protect your data, keep it local!

Why not just keep a personal diary, then, and rid us of your nonsense?

Yes, I did think of that. The idea is quite appealing to an introvert, of course, but… where is the pressure to do better? If you know nobody will ever read your sad, pathetic stories, then you have no reason to do it well, do you?—or to even try! Whereas, if you are unsure of whether anyone is actually reading your stuff, then, at least, you have to make some effort to keep things tidy. Consider this a thought experiment, if you’d like, kind of like Schrodinger's Cat: the cat is either alive or dead, depending on whether someone is watching… Silly, I know, but I prefer to think that someone is reading my content. Whether that is actually the case is really irrelevant.