Ryan Kopf's Blog

I think good user experience is essential when building things, whether it be software or anime conventions. User experience (UX) is a term that has become increasingly important in recent years. It refers to the way in which a user interacts with a product or service, and encompasses everything from the design of the user interface to the way in which the product is marketed.

It's the 25th anniversary of my favorite anime and I just wanted to take a moment to geek out about Trigun with you. It's such a beautiful story, and there's a new version that just came out. *Warning Spoilers* Trigun follows the legendary "Vash the Stampede" - a wanted fugitive for allegedly blowing up a city.

I founded AnimeCon.org quite by accident. We were going to go to a small little anime convention and pass out flyers for this one-time event we were planning. But that convention was canceled and we decided to host our own mini con in its place.

I am disappointed in the State of Iowa, my home state, for what they are doing to the trans community. Once upon a time the State of Iowa was considered top in the nation for its education system. Students from Iowa were the best and the brightest in the country.

The rise of artificial intelligence has been crazy over the last couple of months, now punctuated with the release of something called ChatGPT. The use of AI in everything from copywriting to preventing spam to building new businesses.

Hey fellow nerds. Have you ever wanted to learn a new language - like the Japanese you see in anime. I've invented an interesting new way to learn a language. It's called Sponge and it's a browser extension that helps you learn a language by replacing words as you browse with words from the new language.

I just wanted to take a moment to write about anime - since it's such a big part of my life. And I almost never get time to watch new anime or appreciate my favorites, but still - I think there are anime out there that can change your life.

As the President of AnimeCon.org, I have had the privilege of working alongside countless women who have made a significant impact on the anime and convention industry. As we celebrate Women's History Month, I am reminded of the remarkable women who have inspired me throughout my life.

I am starting to make more and more little side projects that just don't make sense in my favorite framework, which as you should know is Ruby on Rails. My Github profile doesn't even show you just how much work I do in Ruby on Rails because I mostly work on private repositories.

When I tried installing the mysql2 on Windows I had a terrible time. I was getting warnings and errors that other people didn't seem to get. current directory: C:/Ruby31-x64/lib/ruby/gems/3.1.0/gems/mysql2-0.