You may be wondering about this image.
Me too.
You see, I have discovered the wonderment of imagery produced with artificial intelligence or “promptography” as my step-daughter Jeanne calls it. It all started out for me when I asked this AI entity to produce a black and white image with a “20s or 30s” feel, of a woman showing off her new nylons, with a car thrown in to class it up a bit. Among the results, most of them almost equally odd, this popped up. You must remember that these two ladies (ahem) don’t exist, nor did they ever. (Gracias a Dios.) I don’t know what the hell the car is either, although it does look vintage and has some spiffy white side walls.
But the real teaser is the passenger. I think a lot could be written about her (or him) even though she really is an uninvited guest. I just requested a model, not two, but after all is said and done, for me she makes the picture. Notice too that I said “picture”, not photo. This was definitely not taken with a camera, nor would it even occur to me to try.
So is this where we’re going with all this AI stuff? I kinda hope not. I have to admit however, that I have found playing with it very entertaining and have actually come up with some very impressive and downright gorgeous images. Apparently my agent even sniffs the change in the air and is actually accepting almost everything I produce using AI (I haven’t shown him the above yet). I’ll do a blog post on them soon and will put up a link to it here so you can get the real low down.
If you really feel you must share this masterpiece with someone, I have published it as a note card HERE. Good luck.
New Old Photo of the Week
I’m now working on Australia and beyond, looking for old gems in the archives of yesteryear. Let’s see what I find
(Yellow Waters Billabong - © 2020 David Ryan)
The 2-Sentence Novel
© David Ryan 2023
Sold Short
José’s career on the stock exchange didn’t last long.
In retrospect, he realized he should have read the dress code.
Last Communion (87th Installment)
©2008 David Ryan
Chapter 27 Cont’d)
When we awoke the next morning, I could sense some apprehension in Rachel’s demeanor. This was going to be a test for her, I didn’t doubt it. I confess to having felt some too; I didn’t relish putting her in harm’s way even if I was absolutely convinced and sure she was more than capable of coming out smelling like a rose. My instinct was to protect her and keep her away from the bad stuff in life and this would seem to be doing just the opposite. I didn’t tell her so, but I had decided that if she came through this with feelings of remorse or trepidation it was going to be her one and only blood spilling mission.
After a robust and exciting hour under the sheets, we sauntered into the shower together. By the time we were out and dried off we were very hungry. Adam’s warm air drying technique was fast, efficient and somewhat arousing to someone who hadn’t recently exhausted their potential for arousal. Rachel quite enjoyed it. She let her long hair hang down over her shoulders, the way I loved it. For the past couple of weeks she had kept it up because of all her athletic routines and it was pleasing to see her that way again. We put on our robes and sat down at my breakfast nook. Adam had placed a real time image of the Earth on the wall from which extended our little table and benches. It was very much like a counter in a soda shop with a window but much more clean and comfortable. There were no legs to the table so it was easy to play footsy once we sat down. Also on the table against the wall was one of those old Rockola music selectors that used to adorn a diner’s booths. I had filled it with most of my favorite music and Rachel had begun to do the same. The quality of the surround sound was impeccable of course. This morning we started with an early Mozart symphony. I originally remembered it as his 16th but Adam corrected me - it was the 15th. For the wall and table color I had chosen a light pastel blue. The whole effect was if we were in a restaurant in orbit around the earth, and I suppose in a way we were.
“Ready, Adam?” I asked.
“Always, Sir! Your beverages are served.” With this announcement the wall next to the music selector opened up without a noise and out slid two glasses of water, our supplement drinks, and a pot of the latest 2nd flush Darjeeling we had picked up last time home. I was still like a kid when this little show happened even though I’d seen it so many times. You never grow tired of some things and this little miracle was one of them. I continually felt I was the luckiest man to have ever lived and no one could convince me otherwise. Adam, of course, could reduce it all down to an infinite chain of cause and effect, and he was right I’m sure. But it still didn’t stop me from being completely happy and grateful for my good fortune. I could tell Rachel was just as appreciative as me.
“I love you, Adam!” she told him. With this, the entire room turned pink for a few seconds as he treated us to his version of a blush. She giggled and we clinked our water glasses and downed the liquid at one chug.
We chose our breakfasts and after a few minutes they appeared in the same way as had the drinks. I had instructed Adam some time before to always wait at least three or four minutes before serving a meal, just in case we changed our minds. Otherwise, it would likely show up almost immediately. This also provided us with the illusion that it was being cooked in a galley somewhere else in Adam’s immensity. Both of us had kitchens in our suites of course because both of us liked to cook. We even invited each other over for dinner on a regular basis. When either of us produced one of our favorite dishes that turned out to be the best we’d ever done we made sure to share a bit with Adam so he could mimic it in the future. To my tastes his ability to do so was absolutely perfect.
“Rachel, I think we’re going to spend a few days doing our homework to get ready for our next step. I’ve got a broad outline of a plan in my head and I want to work out the details with Adam and Tara’s help before we jump into it. I’m going to show you all I can about our targets and it’s not going to be pleasant. I expect, though, that you are going to be ready by the time it’s over to do some real damage to some very bad people. There is so much to be done that it’s almost impossible to choose a place to start but nonetheless I think we have one. We’re going to take a vacation trip to Mexico. There’s a few people there that we want to put out of business. We’re going to do it in such a way that anyone wishing to step into the void we create with the thought of replacing them is going to have to think long and hard about it. By the time we’re finished, the major drug cartels will be in chaotic disintegration and with a little luck the Mexican government should be able to clean up the mess, no matter how corrupt it is. And we may do something about that too. I think we’ll be able to persuade someone that it will be good and easy politics to preside over a good cleaning up, especially since we will have done the heavy lifting. After you see what we’re going to show you, I wouldn’t blame you if you want to back out. I don’t blame you either if you feel a little anxious about it but I, however, am looking forward to it!
“You would,” she told me. “I don’t think I’m going to feel that way, Daniel, I mean intimidated. I know you’ll take care of me.”
“Sure I will, but I think you’ll soon see that you’re going to take care of yourself. That’s the point of this little exercise anyway. Adam has told me that your auto responses are right on and he thinks you’ll automatically react the appropriate way in whatever situation we find ourselves. I’ll be right there in case I need to stop you from going overboard. Anyway, we’ve scheduled a couple of days of reality training that should put an edge on you.”
“Oh, yeah? I’m looking forward to it!!” she said.
“Right. I hope so. How about a swim?”
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