The Search for "LearBarons Explained" - AI edition

Ted

Ted

Twin Engine Ted
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It's been nearly 16 years since I first wrote the "LearBarons Explained" video, and those who were around back then remember it. The archives here tell stories reminiscing and wishing we could find it. I posted a thread asking for help to find it about 9.5 ago now (wow I did not realize it was that long ago):

Ted

Thread 'Help me find "LearBarons Explained" Video'

We have a lot of computer geniuses on here. I'm not one of them. But back during the first term of our previous president, I created a video.

Some background. We had a member on here who, well, let's just say truth was not his forte. One night in FlashChat he was lying about the plane he wasn't about to buy, a P-Baron. And in FlashChat, he stated that it had performance that was effectively equivalent to a LearJet.

Thus the LearBaron was born.

In those days, the website xtranormal was still present on the internet. You've seen its videos before. Like this one:


And...
  • Like

While only more time has passed since then, what has changed is that now we have AI gobbling up every byte of information out there. Xtranormal shut down before AI and the Wayback machine does not have it. However, doing some searches in AI mode seem to indicate that somewhere, there's more than what I believe exists purely on this forum. For example, Google in AI mode provides this:

1790131830085.png1790131836751.png

What's interesting is that Google Gemini doesn't have anything useful. ChatGPT seems to be aware of its existence.

This has been bugging me for no good reason lately. And the more I think about it, the more I think I truly do not have any conceivable record of what the script would have been. That was in a time where I was mostly using my work laptop for about everything, so it was probably on that. I believe I wrote it in a Word document, and then uploaded/transcribed that to the original Xtranormal, so I don't have it in any email archives or even any of my old computers. There's no way I can write that again.

So, for those of you who have and use AI more than I do (which doesn't take much), and want to see this come back, can we use The Matrix to our advantage and find it, or the script?
 
dtuuri said:
Best I can do: https://share.google/aimode/VCQR3IHqWkkbm2a7g
Click to expand...

It definitely did not get the script right, and missed out some of the context behind its original genesis. So, maybe it really did just scrub various POA threads to get context. It is correct that, after the original video, it became the fictitious airplane that we referred to whenever someone had unrealistic expectations.

One idea (not necessarily for you, but for others who are better AI users): a number of Xtranormal videos got exported and posted to YouTube, but it wasn't done under any sort of formal or organized method. I wonder if there's an AI that has YouTube searched and categorized enough that it could perhaps do some sort of better search.

Probably one of the more core examples of this was the "Look Cool in a Beech Duke" video, which was originally "Dukes Explained" (and where I got the idea for the title).

When I've asked Google AI or Gemini to search YouTube for me it hasn't produced very good results, which is rather surprising given that is an easily searchable platform and it's produced some reasonable results for some other, significantly more obscure (although perhaps more relevant) searches.
 
Ted said:
It's been nearly 16 years since I first wrote the "LearBarons Explained" video, and those who were around back then remember it. The archives here tell stories reminiscing and wishing we could find it. I posted a thread asking for help to find it about 9.5 ago now (wow I did not realize it was that long ago):

Ted

Thread 'Help me find "LearBarons Explained" Video'

We have a lot of computer geniuses on here. I'm not one of them. But back during the first term of our previous president, I created a video.

Some background. We had a member on here who, well, let's just say truth was not his forte. One night in FlashChat he was lying about the plane he wasn't about to buy, a P-Baron. And in FlashChat, he stated that it had performance that was effectively equivalent to a LearJet.

Thus the LearBaron was born.

In those days, the website xtranormal was still present on the internet. You've seen its videos before. Like this one:


And...
  • Like

While only more time has passed since then, what has changed is that now we have AI gobbling up every byte of information out there. Xtranormal shut down before AI and the Wayback machine does not have it. However, doing some searches in AI mode seem to indicate that somewhere, there's more than what I believe exists purely on this forum. For example, Google in AI mode provides this:

View attachment 155236View attachment 155237

What's interesting is that Google Gemini doesn't have anything useful. ChatGPT seems to be aware of its existence.

This has been bugging me for no good reason lately. And the more I think about it, the more I think I truly do not have any conceivable record of what the script would have been. That was in a time where I was mostly using my work laptop for about everything, so it was probably on that. I believe I wrote it in a Word document, and then uploaded/transcribed that to the original Xtranormal, so I don't have it in any email archives or even any of my old computers. There's no way I can write that again.

So, for those of you who have and use AI more than I do (which doesn't take much), and want to see this come back, can we use The Matrix to our advantage and find it, or the script?
Click to expand...
This is timely. Just yesterday I was thinking how good I would look in a Duke.

:biggrin:
 
Here’s what I picked up from Claude on a free account. I have access to pro and will run it through there later.

I dug into both threads and did a broad search (Wayback Machine, the YouTube "Xtranormal Classics"/backup playlists, Internet Archive collections, direct title searches) — I can't find a working link to "LearBarons Explained."


Here's what's actually going on, based on the thread itself: the video was made by forum member Ted (username "TedFletcher" or similar — the thread author) using xtranormal.com at www.xtranormal.com/watch/7953387/learbarons-explained/. When Xtranormal shut down in 2013, the content wasn't preserved by the new owners (Nawmal), and while a YouTube channel exists that auto-imported some Xtranormal videos, forum members who searched it specifically came up empty — titles didn't transfer 1:1 (e.g., "Dukes Explained" became "Look Cool in a Beech Duke"), making it nearly unsearchable by original name.


That's why there's a second thread ("AI edition") years later — the original hunt in 2017 already dead-ended, and people are still looking.


I won't fabricate a link or substitute a different xtranormal video — you were clear that's not acceptable, and it wouldn't be honest anyway. What I'd actually suggest as next real leads, since I don't have live access to run title-variant searches against that YouTube backup channel myself:


  • Search that "Xtranormal Classics" backup channel/playlist for near-miss title variants (not just "LearBarons Explained" — try "LearBaron," "Learjet Baron," "P-Baron," etc.)
  • Ask Ted (the original creator) directly in the newer thread if he still has the original script or any local export/download of the video file from before Xtranormal died
  • Check the Internet Archive's Xtranormal-related uploads/collections by searching creator usernames rather than video titles

If you want, I can search specifically for Ted's forum username or any personal site/backup he may have mentioned, that might get further than title-guessing.
 
My last name has gotten all kinds of misspellings or mispronunciations, but "Fletcher" was never one of them! :rofl:
 
Will this be upgraded to an eLearBaron?

300 knots while burning 0 gph!
 
Ted said:
Well we'd ALL look cool in a Duke. But you would look even cooler in a LearBaron, all while going 300 KTS on 10 GPH! ;)
Click to expand...
Shouldn't it actually be spelled: "LearBaronanza"?

Surely the mythical perfect personal aircraft can be flown by a PPL without any additional certs or endorsements, right? Perfect for that 50-hour pilot who is ready to fly to London - solo!
 
I don't have any interest in the script, but I'd love to see a picture of one.

And re it being impossible, they just need one of those engines that runs on water that used to be in the back of Popular Science 50 years ago and now are somewhere on youtube or insta.
 
StraightnLevel said:
Shouldn't it actually be spelled: "LearBaronanza"?

Surely the mythical perfect personal aircraft can be flown by a PPL without any additional certs or endorsements, right? Perfect for that 50-hour pilot who is ready to fly to London - solo!
Click to expand...

The individual who caused the name to be coined wasn't attempting to create a mythical aircraft. Rather, he was (lying about) buying a P-Baron and claimed it had the performance of a Lear. He was a compulsive liar all around in general, although he was flying a Bonanza (which he claimed was his - it was not). And that's the TL;DR of what the script was about.
 
Ted said:
The individual who caused the name to be coined wasn't attempting to create a mythical aircraft. Rather, he was (lying about) buying a P-Baron and claimed it had the performance of a Lear. He was a compulsive liar all around in general, although he was flying a Bonanza (which he claimed was his - it was not). And that's the TL;DR of what the script was about.
Click to expand...
Ahh...OK. That was before my time here.

I was assuming it was the general new pilot desire for a $50k, 300-kt, 6 passenger plane with a 1,250 range burning 10gph.
 


It's beautiful! It may turn to the left a bit if you fire up both engines, but it's beautiful.
 
if both engines are fired up, it will certainly rotate about the vertical axis.
 
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