LATE, BUT STILL CREATIVE ARTS WEEKEND
LATE, BUT STILL CREATIVE ARTS WEEKEND
As usual here and now is your opportunity to post your creative efforts, be it photos, paintings, or what you will that is something that you did. As well, your comments are welcome and votes up are appreciated.
RED BOX RULES: AN IMPORTANT REMINDER
From time-to-time, I should remind all members of NT, etc., that when posting photos, artwork, etc., it's important, when posting, that you own, and/or legally represent the licensing, copyright, etc., of what you post, and TO PROTECT YOUR WORK, TO INCLUDE YOUR COPYRIGHT SYMBOL/INFORMATION; and/or, WHEN POSTING COPYRIGHTED PROPERTY BELONGING TO PARTIES OTHER THAN YOURSELF, TO …
• BE SURE YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO POST, TRANSMIT, etc, SUCH PROPERTY, and,
• IF/WHEN SUCH PERMISSION HAS BEEN GRANTED, TO PROPERLY AND CLEARLY ATTRIBUTE THE COPYRIGHTS TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNER(S).
VERY IMPORTANT … IN THE FUTURE, I WILL REMEMBER TO POST THIS CAVEAT REGULARLY.
Thanks, A. MAC
Article is LOCKED by moderator [Buzz of the Orient]
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Just some of my photos to fill in a little space...
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Nice shots, Buzz.
Nice. Where was the bottom photo taken?
Kaifeng, Henan County. It's a view of Millenium Park, the biggest and most important park in the city, I have many photos of what's in the park.
What about those steep, jagged mountains? I don't know what that mountain type is called, but they always look creepy to me, especially with fog or haze.
Where are those mountains located, Buzz?
They're called Karst mountains. I took a cruise down the Li River in Guangxi Province, China, that went through them. Here are some of my photos from it.
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Check out what Karst means here:
LINK -> Karst
That's strange. I live in a karst region, but here the word refers to underground features like cave systems and sinkholes, caused by the erosion of carbonate bedrock by the acidity of rainwater over time. There are no above-ground karst features around here that I know of. Certainly no spiky mountains like that.
I guess you kind of have to apply the adage "Different strokes for different folks" to the situation. LOL
Thanks-- interesting information!
I certainly knew nothing whatsoever about it until I came to China. The image on that National Geographic article looks like a bunch of smoke stacks.
AI fun. This is a toy I got from an antique store. It’s now broken but when it worked it would shake and say weird things.
One of the edits in my app lets you add some random girl to a photo as a pretend girlfriend.
LOL. I had fun with using it as well as you probably have seen. Who is the woman in the last photo?
It's what the AI app did to his avatar.
That’s the thing - she is nobody. Just a randomized creation based on countless data points lifted from the internet. The eyes are big and creepy because the prompt was to turn my avatar into a human. She’s not what I expected.
Okay, thanks.
I should have realized that the pose is the same, but the hand isn't there.
It's amazing what AI can do to images, and how fast it can do it, too. That stuff probably would have taken quite a while with a traditional editor, but I'll bet the AI just popped them out in no time.
Pretty neat.
Takes about 30 seconds each. I can’t imagine where it will be five years down the road.
I just watched a section of a news broadcast that speaks about the vast amount of water that is used by the processing equipment when AI generates anything. It's unbelievable how much generating is being done these days, and methods to save the water are being explored.
It uses huge amounts of electricity, too.
And I suppose that creates the heat that the water is needed to cool.
I imagine so.
I certainly hope it doesn't get to the point where we mere humans will start saying things like:
Open the pod bay doors Hal!
It uses huge amounts of electricity, too.
A relatively "new" area of interest for traders (Wall St.) is what will be needed to provide the vast amounts of electrical energy to run the new technologies.
Two relatively new areas of technology require Yuge amounts of energy:
1. AI, and
2. Mining Bitcoin.
Some people feel that the amounts of energy required can't be met by traditional sources, and that probably for the most part the only thing that is powerful enough is nuclear energy.
But that technology has been improving and now people are working on developping SMRs ("small modular reactors). Cheaper and faster to build and probably much safer than "old fashioned" nuclear reactors.
It's getting scarier. Sci-Fi movies are very predictive of what's to come, and what's to come is really scary.
I've seen that on the news, and fusion as well.
I see the bird in the bottom photo, but what are the other photos?
The first one is the Breakwall at WI Point at the Superior harbor entrance. The second on is the Duluth Lift Bridge and the Duluth harbor entrance.
I wonder why they needed a breakwall since there's not much water to hold back. I doubt that the Great Lakes could form a tsunami.
We were just talking about the Gales of November... lol
Touché
Cool pics. What's the white stuff flying across the sky in the first one? Spray from the breakwall? Looks kind of like a meteor storm, but that can't be right.
Just snow.
It looks like it's streaking horizontally. Neat effect.
Mechanic (© G. Gam)
That's quite a combo.
All the photos in that assemblage were taken at my mechanic's shop, thus the title "Mechanic". He is from Thailand and a practicing Buddhist with Buddhist symbology and statues in various spots in the shop. Sometimes when I take my car there for servicing or repairs he has Buddhist chants playing in the background. A few years ago he invited me to a festival at his local Thai Buddhist temple. We have the whole world in L.A.
It's great that you have the whole world in L.A. I know you've got great pancakes at the Farmer's Market. Being married to a Buddhist, I've got a bit of Buddhist World in my home.
It's totally great. Not far from where I live there is a Sri Lankan market, next to a Chinese restaurant, across the street from an Israeli restaurant, two blocks down from a Lebanese restaurant. A few blocks in the other direction is a Russian market near a Brazilian restaurant and a Sushi Bar. Not too far away is an Irish pub. We also have a Filipino market and other Asian markets close by. There is another area in town that has Ethiopian restaurants next to Jewish delis, and another area is filled with Korean restaurants with an occasional Ecudorean or Peruvian restaurant. We have plenty of Italian, Mexican and Japanese restaurants, of course. My list is far from exhaustive. There is a large Mexican and Central American community and there are areas in nearby towns that have very large Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian communities. It is like that all over Southern California and and we all love it. Oh yeah, we also have an IHOP and an In-N-Out burger a few minutes away. I live in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains and the nearest commercial area is just two miles from my house.
WOW!!! No wonder the conservatives are so uncomfortable with L.A.
For some reason unknown to me, there doesn't seem to be a single Canadian market or restaurant anywhere in Southern California. I wonder why that is? You would think Canadian cuisine would be very popular. We do have Canadian bacon, though.
Canada doesn't have a specific cousine different from the USA. It does have a few specific items but not enough to be considered at all important - butter tarts, beaver tails and the French Canadians have poutine (French fries covered with cheese curds and gravy). Canadian bacon is just a name Americans have put to back bacon.
Beaver tails would probably go over big.
Canada is famous for its Maple Syrup! (But that's not exclusive to Canada-- of course the U.S. produces Maple Sytup as well)
Actually I googled it. IIRC most of the U.S.-- even most Northern states-- don't produce much if any. About half of the total U.S. production comes from the state of Vermont.
Beavertails are pastries (internet photos).
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As you've noted, maple syrup is not exclusively Canadian.
Nice, G. At first glance I thought those were rolls of film in the upper right.
Thanks, Dig. They are wheels the mechanic had stacked up.
LOL. How many times have I forgotten to make it a reply when I've replied to the last comment on an article?
Thanks, Perrie. Influenced by the great Robert Rauschenberg.
Some recent photos...
White oak and sky.
Redbud.
Burning bush.
Tufted Titmouse with legs sticking out because of the leap from the feeder. Kind of strange looking. You don't see that everyday.
Chickadee.
Bluebird taking a bath.
And Gracie, getting bigger. She was spayed in October.
Great photos, Dig.
Thanks.
Love the cat peeking from the flowers!
I guess cats love digging through silk flowers. Bella and Buddy couldn't resist them either.
That's a wonderful photo-- you could submit it to a photo contest!
You're right.
Nice pictures and pretty kitty
Thanks.
Really good photo collection, Dig. I laughed when I saw the first photo of Gracie with what looked like she was wearing some kind of hat, but it was a bunch of leaves on the ground behind her.
Lol, yup. Leaves that are getting chopped into tiny bits this year, instead of being raked up and hauled off to the woods. I recently got some mulching blades for my mower, and so far they've worked great. The leaves practically disappear into the grass, which is so much easier than raking, and probably good for the soil, too. I just have to keep up with them as they fall and accumulate, so there's multiple mowings involved, but my days of raking leaves might be behind me. Good riddance.
Arvo..my Water Lilly is doing well this year..most pads its ever had and a flower is getting ready to come out on the left hand side..
I don't put goldfish in there any more as the Kookaburras get them..and I don't want to put chook wire over the top..
How big is that bowl? Please post a photo of that on a future Creative Arts Weekend article when the flowers blossom.
Arvo Buzz..it's approximately 1 metre across and half a metre deep..
In Hinduism (& some other religions?) Waterlilies have a spiritual significance. (I think its because what's starts in the mud ends up being a thing of beauty)
So I googled it:
I never realized that the water lily had such significance.
I was going to say "There are more things in Heaven and Earth Horatio" . . . but I'll think I just leave it as "Open the pod bay doors Hal . . . "
Both may be a bit off-topic... but IMO that's in a fairly harmless way.
On this article, I'm the one who makes those decisions.
Good size, and for the benefit of the Yanks that means it's a little more than 3 feet wide and a little more than a foot and a half deep. Now, everybody join me with "LET'S GrO LILIES!!!"
I have known a few Chinese-American women. And IIRC most were named after flowers. (Rose and Lily seemed to be the most common).
My nephew (originally from LA) married a Chinese-American woman (name: Lily). They decided to move to Santa Monica. They liked one of the houses they first looked at, but she said "No". Why? The Feng Shui was off. Also the house number-- she wanted a house with an auspicious street #!
From our Dept. of Heaven and Earth:
More things in heaven and earth . . .
While that may sound a bit weird, I should point out that she was quite brilliant-- and was a highly respected accountant in a large accounting firm.
Did anyone say that Chinese women weren't intelligent?
Chinese woman not intelligent?
Nope!!!
Only around 6 hours left until this article's closing time.
And that's it for another Creative Arts Weekend. Special thanks to all who posted anything at all to make this a really well-attended article.