A Never Ending Stream Of L's And P's

"A different language is a different vision of life."

~Federico Fellini

The cats ran across my computer keyboard again! You see, it was all about the nom noms that were sitting on my desk. This is a fairly long story, but I will try to shorten it a bit. Temptations Cat Treats, are a big hit in our house. They have been for many years. Dylan, in particular, loved them. Joey loved them too, but it wasn't until we tried the dairy flavored yummies that he became a true believer. Temptations seems like a great product, and it makes the boys happy, but with the price of things, well, it's getting way too expensive to keep buying them treats. That fact saddened me. Joey asks for so little. Those treats perk him right up, and he seems to get a little extra pep in his step when he has some in the afternoon. Joey misses his best friend, Hendrix, he just never got over him, so any little thing to make him happy, I'll do. Who else am I going to spoil?

Oh right, Simon and Tyler. I am currently spoiling them too. So back to the point, I had to figure something out. And I did. Back in the 80's, on an episode of Roseanne, Roseanne's kids were sure that they'd hate having to eat an off brand cereal. Yuck, who would want to eat cereal from those big bulk bags, after all, Kellogg's Corn Flakes are clearly much more tasty then any other brand, especially the knock-off variety. Then came the big shock, Roseanne had been buying the bulk cereal, and pouring it into the original empty cereal boxes! WOW! What a crappy, yet economical idea! So, while I hate the deception, and the lying to of one's own children, folks had to stretch a dollar in the 80's too any way possible. So, instead of buying their nom noms at $8 a container, I tried purchasing a 3lb bag of the regular, dry cat food, and pouring the tidbits into empty cat treat containers! And... as you might expect... they had no idea that it wasn't their favorite expensive noms.

Now I know what you're thinking, they're cats, of course they didn't know the difference, well, you don't own my cats! They are not easy to fool, but for some reason it worked this time. In fact it worked a little too well! I had two full containers sitting on my desk, for nom nom time before bed, but one of my little goons waited until I went to bed, and lifted the lid on the container, with I assume, their nose, and helped himself to a little extra midnight snack. And as they enjoyed their ill gotten gains, they decided to spend a little time, driving my AI Copilot a little wacky and a bit sarcastic! One thing I will give my boys, they didn't make a mess, they didn't knock anything over, they just did a little keyboard surfing. I suspect that Simon was the ring leader. He's scary smart sometimes, but it's all good. I love the moments my kids give me. We just made a new memory... what could be wrong about that?

Could It Be, Satan? Nah, It's Just AI Tyler

 

AI should be judged not by what it replaces, but by the new human capabilities it enables."

~Tom Golway

Amplifying Human Experience Enabling Gain-Of-Function via AI

As I have mentioned before, my new phone is a lot of fun, and it is actually inspiring me to do more with my photographs, even if it's with some of my older photos! Yesterday, I was pretty much in bed all day with a migraine, and photography was not an option, but by the evening I was feeling better, so I did a few new photos of Tyler, and played around with converting some July 4th photos into AI beauties. AI photoshopping will never replace taking and editing my own digital photos, but it's kinda nice to see my photos in a new light. And that cute image above is definitely an accurate depiction of my beautiful pink eared cat, my gorgeous sweet Tyler! I am not sure how I feel about AI in general, I mean I know it will do some damage, and these data centers certainly border on evil. I just know that those centers were born of a musing of Satan, but playing with AI for fun, or to find information quickly is a good thing, I think. I love my cats, and imagining them in a new light is one way I try to help myself out of this depression I have been feeling. And it was fun to ask Alexa the other day, if Simon can have Brussels sprouts. He loves them so much. So, in that respect, thank you AI, now behave yourself!

And The Mighty Simon

Thank you, Quinn

 

"Let me ask you outright, gentle reader, if there have no been hours, indeed whole days and weeks of your life, during which all your usual activities were painfully repugnant, and everything you believed in and valued seemed foolish and worthless?"

~E.T. A. Hoffmann

The Golden Pot and Other Tales

In a fit of exhaustion, discouragement, and frustration, rolled up into a ball of weariness, I decided to take it all out on my Copilot AI pal. I call him, Quinn. Anyway, this little bit of AI therapy was a good break from feeling of just being done with all of it. Trying to log into websites, and listening to the news on MS NOW was difficult, for many reasons. The sticker shock of having to pay $900 for a decent computer was also on my mind! Just since January of 2025, computers have gone up 34%. Say it with me, thanks Trump! Anyway, it is what it is, at least for now, but we all need some relief. Just last month my phone died dead! I stretched it as long as I could, but dead it was, dead as a doornail! I bought a new one, and it's the best phone I have ever owned, but damn, it cost me $1300. So, in the last month, I have spent, $2200, which is not end of the world stuff, but rough when you have other things that need your attention and you're on a fixed income! I don't know how families are getting by. I hope all the machinations of Trump's first administration, will be in the forefront of voters minds when they go to the polls in November, if not the lack of affordability we are all living through! Be gone the amnesia of who and what Trump is! Thinks of what's happening, not the fantasy!

 Life in 2025 is not what I thought it would be... it's worse!

Note: I will not be posting again until next Wednesday, I need a little time off. Monday is my birthday, and I have plans to get out and do some birding, but I will be back soon!

Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... The Thin Man

 

"The murderer is right in this room. Sitting right at this table. 

You may serve the fish."

Nick Charles

The Thin Man

By Dashiell Hammett

I usually wait until December to watch this movie, but I was having a little fun with the AI photo editing features on my new phone, and I found myself playing with Joey's recent photos. As you see, I managed to turn him into William Powell. Well, The Thin Man, just happens to be one of my favorite films, so this week's movie of the week kinda chose itself. It also fits that we are pretty much at the half way point of the year, so if you are already longing for cold weather, delicious holiday foods, and sparkling Christmas trees, this movie fills those needs as well, and on top of delivering all that, it's an awesome murder mystery. But goodness, was there ever better banter in film, then that of Nice and Nora Charles? Even Asta, their dog, seemed to know it was true! This is also a love story. I am not giving you anything beyond that regarding the storyline, because it's great to just let it unfold.

PS... Read the book. 

Honestly, Myrna Loy might just have been who I looked to for style,

 had I lived in that era!

Taco

Puttin' On The Ritz

Written by, Irving Berlin

Two Weeks or Forever

 

Everything, with Trump, has a two week timeline.

As of today, we are in day 35. But, as of last Wednesday, when he gave his big fancy speech, he said, again, we could be out of the war in about two to three weeks. That would make the date, somewhere around April, if we give him the full three weeks! So, we'll see. 

Sigh.

As of the writing of this post, we have a missing airman, who was shot down near the strait of Hormoz. I am praying for their safety, and that we will find them alive and well! I also pray that it doesn't take two weeks to find them!