Interview of a JetPunker #36 - Neodymium

On a hot day of early August 2024...

Neo. You will be interviewed. Let's publish it on the 1st of April. So everyone will belive it will be part of the running gag. But it won't.

What the hell? Yes. Why? What? Wait, what? What number interview is this? What must I do? Thank you very much for this opportunity!

No idea since I don't know how many I'll publish before this date but we don't care. And for now nothing (just don't reveal it). Let's talk about it again in a few months...

One week ago...

Neo! It's getting late! So let’s start this interview! First, could you present yourself on JetPunk quickly for our readers who don’t know you?

I'm Neodymium (or Neo) and I'm from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Unlike many JetPunkers, I don't remember how I came across the site (but it was probably the COTW quiz, or 50 states quiz), but after a couple months, I created my account in November 2022. By that account I'd say I'm a newer JetPunker (but perhaps not still new). Apart from English, I'm active in the Telugu and Spanish sections (being the three languages I know). I'm also active in blogging and I've made ... a few charts as well.

A few, yes. That's the word.

Why Neodymium? Are you a chemistry fan? Or maybe the cousin of NiobiumVoid and Vanadiuum?

When I was making my account, I first made it helloisgone. I decided to change it immediately afterwards though. I decided to make it a chemical element (for no particular reason) and tried Niobium (as I liked how it sounded in this song). However, I think it was taken, so I choose another element starting with N, and that's how I got my name. (Side Note: I once bought neodymium magnets! They were a bit strong and some broke themselves).

I didn't even know that such things existed...

Many users know you as one of the main representatives of the Telugu community. Could you tell more about it, and about the reasons that pushed you to take part in its projects?

The Telugu community on JP began after I discovered the Telugu COTW quiz and contacted the creator, and it's since grown from there! We've managed to make Telugu a JetPunk language and have made hundreds of quizzes, as well as many blogs and charts. I think I felt most compelled to take part in it as it's my mother tongue. Further, geography is underrepresented in Telugu, and Telugu is underrepresented on the internet. For more info about Telugu JP, I recommend this blog and the following Ugadi blogs.

Look, TNT, how I consider the Telugu section in this blog series.

Several times, we have had the occasion to see you talking about a “war” between the Telugu and the Greek sections this year. Could you tell us more about that?

Of course! Millions must mobilize. We must transform all domestic quiz production to Telugu. Outproduction is imperative. Please report to your nearest Telugu JetPunker as soon as possible.

Jokes aside, it's just a friendly competition between the two sections that first become declared sometime in February. It's a competition for Telugu and Greek to compete on which makes the most quizzes, blogs, and charts. Both sections' statuses are similar: Both are unfeatured languages with a language community of some kind, (as of last year) they had a similar number of total quizzes, and are the two largest sections in the "Other" blog section. As such, especially with Greek's meteoric rise, the friendly competition was only natural! Based off of intelligence brief of the war, I think Telugu will win in charts, while blogs will be the most contentious. As for quizzes, lest unforseen circumstances extenuate the Greek output, based on the current headstart gained, Greek could win there. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out!

#IStandWithTelugu

Beside Telugu, as a quizmaker, you have also been active on the Spanish section. Why this one in particular? How is your experience on this section?

What are the quizzes you are the proudest of?

If I'm proud of any quizzes in particular, barring translations, I'd say US States Quiz by Non-Repeating Letters (my most nommed),  U.S. State Capitals - Sudden Death  (my most successful). Other than those two, I'm proud of Actually Badly Drawn Flags in that a Polish youtuber played it! But quizzing isn't the strongest suit.

Recently, as a blogger, you have been focusing on the Telugu section. Is there any chance that you will publish new blogs in English or even Spanish soon?

I hope to! This has made me realize that other than my Illinois Flag blog (being spontaneous), I haven't made any English or Spanish blogs since November 6, 2024! I've had some English and Spanish blogs in the works now for some time (there's dozens of shells of blogs in my blog editor).

Haha! I can definitely understand. I have quite a lot waiting for months or even years myself as well.

Do you have big projects of quizzes or blogs in preparation?

I do! Since my earliest days, I've had a project to make/translate the largest cities in Indian States, and I've also started/stalled on a quiz series of all towns in 3/4th level subdivisions. I think my quizzes are in less so than others, but despite that, I always have a lot of unsubmitted works.

As for blogs, I have many blogs I wish to make! I've been thinking of making a sequel to my first blog, as well as the etymology of butterfly in various languages, Sri Satyanarayana Katha in Spanish, and a blog on ranking Telugu actors scientifically with Surajrocks99 (keep in mind these have all been going start-and-stop so it might take some time!).

Haha! Many things to come, that's great!

What is the most important event in your own life of JetPunker?

When I contacted TheNatureThread and helped start Telugu JetPunk. I'd say getting involved in various communities and meeting other JetPunkers has been the most important.

If you had to summarize your JetPunk adventure in one word, what would it be?

Repid. It feel like just yesterday I was making my first quiz and now answering an interview! I never expected everything to happen so fast. (I'd count 2.5 years as rapid enough in this case!).

Would you change something to your JetPunk adventure, if it was possible?

I'm not too sure. I've obviously made some (many?) missteps along the way though. I'd probably be better with my quizzes (there's two dozen private ones most have the fortune of not seeing!). But I think the way it's turned out has been pretty well!

If you had to choose just three JetPunker for their quizzes, who would they be?

While I'm not as seasoned with quizzes and quizmakers as some others, I think I'll choose Dimby, Elboy, and Dekkie.

Dimby: Must I answer? He was the catalyst for adding a whole new game mode! And he set records with his latest quiz creating spree. I've opened many a Dimby-quiz and wondered how in the world it was made.

Elboy: I've found Elboy's quizzes pretty creative, namely the Pixil Art, Lie to Win, and the Whack-a-mole quizzes.

Dekkie: The level of research on those quizzes must be insane. Surely tomes unopened for years were granted their first reader just so a quiz centuries old could be made.

I do want to say this isn't an exhaustive list, and I'm sure more will come to my mind but these were the first three.

A very strong selection here! And what about bloggers?

First off the bat, Brainstorm. I haven't heard the name mentioned much which is a shame considering the blogs he's made have been some of the most well researched I've seen.

Second, we'll go with the award winning toowise. I've found his series interesting, especially the Wait, Hold Up, and the ones centered on etyology.

Third... let's go Hibasi. I've enjoyed the travel blogs, and have found them to be pretty usefull.

Once again, just the first three to come to mind. Actually, one of the first to come to mind was baptistegorce, but I fear they're too unknown to be mentioned.

Yeah, that's right, people do'nt want to read an entire paragraph about someone they don't know, you did well.

What are your other passions in life, excepting JetPunk?

“JetPunk actuality question”: Recently, many Multiple Choice City Quizzes have been featured for a daily FP event starting in June. You have yourself published a few quizzes of this kind. Could you tell us your general thoughts about this new series and more specifically about the cities you decided to publish quizzes about?

I think this new series is pretty interesting, all the more that these quizzes are both very specific and small.

First, Gangtok. I chose this as there weren't really any Indian city quizzes at the time. I think it worked out alright, and it's my second best of my four.

Second is my favorite. Agadez. I choose it because of the Tree of Tenere (spoiler alert) and there weren't many African MCCQs yet either. I think the reason I like this one is because, despite the lack of info, it was a historic city that I managed to pull some good questions out of.

Next, Isiro. To be honest, this was a nearly random city in the DRC that I chose because it was mentioed on the Wikipedia page about the Mangbetu language. I think it suffers the distinction of my worst MCCQ as theres barely any info. And I think that's kind of insane. This is a city of nearly 200,000 people, and yet by virtue of being in the middle of nowhere DRC, I don't think anyone, myself included, heard of it before. That's about the size of Providence or Mobile. 

Lastly, Vostok Station, which I did due to the lack of Antarctic MCCQs. The main problem with this one was information and interestingness, which some other stations might have faired better in.

You took part in the Blog Project 2023 and are one of the most active members of the Discord blog server. Would you say that its goals have been reached? What do you think about this community?

I think it has been reached, but I think it's important that the goals do not stop there. We need to make sure that the levels are upkept. As one might see, since then, other blog sections have done worse than in 2023. Backsliding as such is a waste of the former efforts of the projects, in my view.

Worse but the objectives were accomplished in 2024 as well for all sections. Let's hope it will be the case in 2025 as well and that we will find a way to revive all our dear blog sections together.

What do you hope for JetPunk development in the next months?

add chart likes and scheduling blogs

I hope that JP development has been good so far, and I hope that changes applied will be kept up across sections of the site chart reordering columns when. But I think the status quo is good right now, and theres nothing too in particular I wish for other than what I've said. (oh, and dark mode turning on at night!).

Do you have a message to pass to the whole JetPunk community (or at least to the few users reading these blogs…)?

make a chart

What a great message! Thank you Neo, that's the end of th...

Plot twist: it was not my last question this time! After months of studies, the world has to know: what do you think about Paul Deschanel and his fall from a train when he was the French President, in 1920?

After many decades of studying the incident, French geopolitics, 1900s zeitgeist, 1920s geopoltiical factors, the socioeconomic state of the world, the word for camel in Arabic, 18th century train timelines, writing three essays on the subject, answering 212 questions from you about it, falling out of a Eurostar in the area to experience it, learning French, learning  train driving, and interviewing the man himself, I can say, with whole hearted certainty, that without a doubt, without a shred of trepidation, an ounce of uncertainty, and without any detractors, malefactors, or tractors, I can certainly state and most likely proove, that most convincingly,  Paul Deschanel's fall from a train when he was the French President must've hurt.

Many thanks for your expertise, cher Néodyme.

More seriously, many thanks for your dedication in this project and sorry for the rush. I hope it was still a giood experience.