Category Archive: Opinions and Stuff

My thoughts on a variety of things.

About AIs — Part 2: What’s the problem?

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.

  1. So, what’s the problem?
    1. Example using artists and styles in the public domain
    2. Examples of art and styles not in the public domain
    3. Examples of artists being affected by AI Art Generators
  2. Summary (general)
  3. Summary (Personal)
  4. Conclusion (A.I. Art Generators)
  5. Reference Material:
    1. Videos:
    2. Articles (some may be behind paywalls):
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Perhaps I should have tried . . .

Just a quick post . . . I just saw the notice for the winner of Flickr’s contest. Specifically, the Nature category winner.

https://blog.flickr.net/2022/09/29/world-photography-day-meet-your-contest-winners/

I’m like . . . “What?! A hummingbird Photo?”

I mean, I have hundreds of hummingbird photos. Heck, this past Sunday’s SmugMug Appreciation post had three photos of hummingbirds that I think are just as good.

Here they are:

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Roof venting PSA

If you own or are planning to buy a home, and that home has a roof, you might want to read this. Or, at the very least, go to the end of the post for the summary, observations, and cautions.

So, I need a new roof.

Sad, that. The roof is only 17 years old. Most manufacturers warrant their asphalt shingles to 30 years, but realistically, most roofs will only make it to 25 years, so I’m a bit shy of that (40%).

Twenty-five years if you are lucky, if the roof was installed correctly, if you don’t live through extreme weather, and if your roof has proper and balanced ventilation. Even then, you need the original paperwork and receipts, neither of which we have (there were two owners before us). But, even if I had all the receipts and the installers did a bang-up job, you’d only get a pro-rated amount for the material replacement and not the labor (although some include labor).

. . . let’s step back . . . proper and balanced ventilation.

Hmm . . .

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