Round 12 of this great challenge has come to a close. All that’s left is to report the results of the voting that took place over the past two weeks.
But first, a writing-themed creation by the AI Art Generator MidJourney.
Anyway, on with the voting results.
That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below. <><><><o><><><><><o><><><> Note: if you are not reading […]
Readers used to the Jokes of the Week posting might notice this isn’t like the usual posting. If […]
For whatever reason, I tasked myself with writing opinion pieces about AIs, despite the hundreds of sources already covering AI-related stories. Sources better qualified than me.
The first part of this series (HERE) covered some of the background stuff. Stuff like Copyright, Database Generation, Machine Learning, and how A.I. Art Generators work.
This post is Part 2 and covers some of the issues related to their use. This post is roughly 2,600 words or about 9 minutes of reading.
Right — here we go.
In brief, these posts serve to introduce new readers — and reintroduce regular readers — to photos from the early days of this blog and, occasionally, to photos from days before this blog came into existence.
Today’s stroll on memory lane is a quick one . . .
The original post for the bird photos is HERE, and the photos are from THIS Gallery. The original post for the ship photos is HERE, and the photos are from THIS Gallery.
These photos are from our Thanksgiving 2011 visit and close out the review of galleries from our two visits to Galveston Bay.
I’ll begin with the smaller gallery (only 11 photos) of the ships crisscrossing the bay.
As can be seen, the ships often looked as if they would produce an interesting opportunity to photograph a collision . . . but it was not so, at least not while I was there.
For whatever reason, I tasked myself with writing an opinion piece(s) about AIs, despite the hundreds of sources already covering AI-related stories. Sources better qualified than me.
. . . but sources that are not me, so here goes nothing. Oh, I’ve recently been reminded of the virtue of conciseness, but, you know, I’m still me, and there are many aspects to this discussion.
Therefore, I’m doing multiple posts so I don’t tire my readers. This post, then, is Part 1, covering the background stuff in about 1,900 words, or roughly 7 minutes of reading.
Right — here we go.
I planned to write a lengthy email giving Topaz Labs some feedback on their Topaz Photo AI app, but then I figured it would be too difficult to cover everything in an email.
So, here we are.
Fair Warning: this post might only interest Topaz and possibly a few people who own or are considering getting one of Topaz’s AI apps or their entire suite.
*** Unless interested in photo post-processing apps, best give this post a pass. ***
NOTE: This is in no way to be considered a criticism of any of these apps. They are my go-to apps for most of my post-processing, and I have nothing but praise for the company and the products. All I’m doing is pointing at something they might want to fix.
Right, here we go!
In brief, these posts serve to introduce new readers — and reintroduce regular readers — to photos from the early days of this blog and, occasionally, to photos from days before this blog came into existence.
Today’s stroll on memory lane is a quick one . . .
The original post for these photos is HERE. In this post, I’m sharing the video and photos from THIS Gallery. The photos are the same San Leon photos I’ve recently shared, except they’re converted to monochrome.
The gallery opens with a video which is a slideshow of the pictures in the gallery . . . why is that, you ask?
Because the post linked above consisted of just one photo and that video, which was uploaded to the WordPress Media Library. As I began running out of room in the Media Library, I replaced the video in the post with the YouTube link of the same video.
I know, it sounds confusing . . . basically, the video in the SmugMug Gallery is now redundant. Except the video is set to music, whereas the slideshow linked at the end of the post has no music.
Again, super-confusing . . . look, here’s the video.
If you’ve watched the video, you’re basically done . . . unless you want to see a few photos from that video.
Eraldo “Tony” C. Antonini January 1964 — January 2020
This is a look back at photos from the last five months of 2022.
“Why five months? Why not six months?”
Well, Bob — if that is indeed your name — I’, not going through this again. If you want an answer, read the intro to the previous post.
Anyway, we continue with a brief — but hopefully worthwhile — look at a sampling of the 2022 photos I snapped using the Nikon D7500 camera.
“So, like, are these the best photos of the year?”
This is a look back at photos from the first seven months of 2022.
“Why seven months? Why not six months?”
Well, Bob — if that is indeed your name — I have 56 photos and wanted to split them into two posts, and it just happened that the first 28 photos cover the months of January through July of 2022.
“But you could have just processed a few more on this first half, no?”
. . . everyone’s a critic . . . Yes, I could have, but I didn’t set out with a particular number in mind. Fifty-six is what I had in the end, and fifty-six is what I’m working with.
“So, like, are these the best photos of the year?”
This is the Twelfth round of the Title Writing Prompt Challenge. For them unfamiliar with the challenge, a quick summary: three writers offer the fruit of their labor and inspiration based on a given title.
The Round 12 Title — Something Wicked… — was chosen by Perry. I’ll choose the title for the next round.
Assuming everyone has read the three stories titled Something Wicked…, this is where you get to vote for your favorite. If you’ve not read the stories, links are provided below.
As a reminder, the writing challenge has no restrictions, and the stories span various genres. Most of the stories fall in the G and PG rating range, with a few pushing into the soft R-rating. Those ratings are guidelines, but they are subjective. If you find a story disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, stop reading and move on to the next one. The same goes if you are not interested in finishing a story. It may seem like obvious advice, but these days many people go out of their way to experience outrage (and then complain about it).
This is the Twelfth round of the Title Writing Prompt Challenge. For them unfamiliar with the challenge, a quick summary: three writers offer the fruit of their labor and inspiration based on a given title.
The Round 12 Title — Something Wicked… — was chosen by Perry. I’ll choose the title for the next round.
The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the G and PG rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Those ratings are guidelines but they are subjective. If you find a story disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, stop reading and move on to the next one. The same goes if you are not interested in finishing a story. It may seem like obvious advice, but these days many people go out of their way to experience outrage (and then complain about it).
This, then, is Gary’s submission.
Here’s the blurb for Gary’s story:
An old soldier turned teacher loses his twin brother. In an effort to rid his guilt and find a new way, he packs his ruck and takes a long journey back to a time when they were happy. It becomes a Shakespearean saga of pain and redemption where real winners have to earn their prize.
This is the Twelfth round of the Title Writing Prompt Challenge. For them unfamiliar with the challenge, a quick summary: three writers offer the fruit of their labor and inspiration based on a given title.
The Round 12 Title — Something Wicked… — was chosen by Perry. I’ll choose the title for the next round.
The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the G and PG rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Those ratings are guidelines but they are subjective. If you find a story disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, stop reading and move on to the next one. The same goes if you are not interested in finishing a story. It may seem like obvious advice, but these days many people go out of their way to experience outrage (and then complain about it).
This, then, is Perry’s submission.
Here’s the blurb for this story:
Nim is a Pacific Island girl in the 1940s. She finds a leaflet on the shoreline. One symbol resembles a Giant Bird . . . a bird that she believes stole her father; a bird she believes will return her father, if she delivers the perfect prayer. There’s only one man that can decipher the writing: an old Priest exiled to a neighboring island. This is the tale of her odyssey.
This is the Twelfth round of the Title Writing Prompt Challenge. For them unfamiliar with the challenge, a quick summary: three writers offer the fruit of their labor and inspiration based on a given title.
The Round 12 Title — Something Wicked… — was chosen by Perry. I’ll choose the title for the next round.
The writing challenge has no restrictions and the stories span a wide gamut of genres. The majority of the stories fall in the G and PG rating range with a few perhaps pushing into the soft R-rating. Those ratings are guidelines but they are subjective. If you find a story disturbing because of the topics, language, and/or plot points, stop reading and move on to the next one. The same goes if you are not interested in finishing a story. It may seem like obvious advice, but these days many people go out of their way to experience outrage (and then complain about it).
For them invested in the novel I had started, sorry for the delay. Blame the AIs, but I will pick it up again soon(ish).
Here’s the blurb for this story:
Adam is the world’s first sentient AI. Boom or bust for mankind?
Disperser Tracks 