Lately I’ve been spending way too much time flipping through Meta’s primary offerings to kill time. A friend and I send each other links to reels and posts on a wide variety of topics from political to plain funny. This morning he sent me a clip from the 70s sitcom “All In the Family”. You know the show whose claim to fame was the first toilet flush broadcast nationally (or anywhere) on the old tube (quite literally).
For the younger ones, TVs was not a series of OLED points of light but instead a cathode ray tube. Electrons were fired from ray guns – red, green, and blue for colour TVs that were distributed across a phosphor coated screen. The cathode ray tube was the primary reason old TVs were so deep and weighed a ton. For more info visit How Television Works | HowStuffWorks.
Anyway, back to Archie, Edith, and the family. Here is the clip my friend this morning with Archie and Meathead debating why cave women had short legs and fat butts…
As I watched, it donned on me that this show, a cultural juggernaut in its time would never have aired in 2023. Ironic because the entire point was to expose the social issues of the day. The same issues that still plague society today. You could argue that many of the movement exist or thrived because of “All In the Family”, its spin-off show “The Jeffersons” and other shows that followed a similar path.
All In the Family was one of the watershed moments in Western pop culture. It brought many of the issue of race, sex and inequality into the public consciousness. The show was a bold statement in its time that represented two steps forward in our social evolution. It is as relevant today as it was in the 1970s. Unfortunately, the pendulum it helped push in the right direction, has swung so far beyond its maxima, never mind equilibrium that it would have been cancelled long before it made it to Netflix.
Every week, Fandango over at This, That and the Other posts a provocative question. This week’s question is…
“How do you feel about bloggers using AI-generated text to write their posts? How do you feel about bloggers using AI-generated artwork to illustrate their posts? Do your feelings differ between AI-generated blog posts and AI-generated images in bloggers’ posts?”
I suspect there are some huge benefits to AI if approached properly. As with everything there is the potential for bad. The ethical dilemma is enormous and I don’t think any of us can truly fathom how much our lives are controlled or influenced by AI and the enormous number of data points Meta, Google Apple and Microsoft collect and feed into these artificial brains. This does not even begin to touch on unfriendly regimes such China. The information they are collecting on each and every one of us will be used to undermine our politicians, corporations, even individuals and ultimately our freedom.
Fandango has asked us to comment on AI at a more personal level – in the blogosphere. There is no simple answer to his questions. I think it depends on the intended use and purpose for employing AI. There is no doubt a greater number of blogs are integrating AI technologies and the results can enhance the user experience. I am not opposed to such use however I do believe that the work needs to be credited properly.
For example, my Four Line Fiction post this week uses an image generated by DALL∙E, the AI brain behind Microsoft Bing’s Image Creator. The concept for the image was “a bird dressed in a tuxedo dining on a carcass”. The picture on the wall of the image below was one of four Microsoft’s AI brain spit out. The final image including the wall and staircase was created using Microsoft Designer, another AI-driven app you can use to edit/refine the final product. It can be accessed by clicking the Customize link next to the AI-generated image at Bing. Once the design was finished I credited the image as shown below.
Concept: Greg Glazebrook / GMGCreative | Image: DALL∙E / Microsoft
I think my approach to crediting the image strikes a balance and makes the reader/viewer aware that the image was artificially generated. It is fair for the artist/blogger to take credit for the concept, but not the actual image/artwork.
Here are some images Nate, my seven-year-old son conceptualized for fun this morning. Does this make him an artist? All images were produced by DALL∙E / Microsoft.
“a tree wearing a tuxedo”
“a cat wearing a train costume”
“a dog wearing a cat costume”
“a lion with long sharp nails cutting through prison bars”
I am a lot less interested in AI writing generators for blog posts. At least in the realm of creative writing. I can see the uses in business, advertising or technical writing but having something written in the creative sphere feels like cheating.
That said, I have been toying with the idea of a sister site to Greg’s Blog. It is currently in development using the working title “Randomly Generated Twaddle”. Admittedly the idea has stalled because I’m not sure if there would be much interest and my own time constraints. The RGT concept would use AI-generated content to respond to the myriad of daily and weekly writing prompts many of us post and respond to around the blogosphere. The blog concept was meant to be an AI experiment as opposed to a purely creative endeavour. The key being the reader would always be aware that the content was AI generated as that was kind of the point. If you think this might be a worthwhile endeavour let me know and maybe I will consider resurrecting it.
Well, aside from one post about a week ago I have been conspicuously absent. I wrote about it in that last post but still haven’t made it back to the blog. It really is just summer and family that has kept me away. When the weather turns nice and Nate is home from school it is more difficult to spend time in front of a computer.
Unlike some bloggers, I just can’t wrap my head around blogging from my phone. Sure pictures and the like are fairly easy to post but finding the train of thought to write on a small keyboard eludes me. Maybe it’s my age showing but that just sounds like an excuse. Many of the bloggers I follow who are older than me have no problems with their phones. So I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I mean I still carry cash, in a wallet, I think Twitter’s rebrand to X is ridiculous (oh wait so does pretty much everyone else), and I believe Facebook (Meta for the youngins) and Google are only interested in collecting my data to further line their pockets with my small amounts of gold. I still worry about privacy although I’m probably not very good at protecting mine. As for China, I make a conscious effort to not buy shit from the commie bastards (yep, they are the new Soviet Union) and TikTok even if they set up some independent American subsidiary is a massive no-go zone. They won’t fool me like they have fooled today’s youth.
Jesus, it sounds like I’m only one step away from pulling my pants up to my armpits, wearing Tilly hats and griping about everything, especially dem kids, and calling bylaw enforcement because I’m lonely.
On that same note, I appear to be living in my musical past. These last few weeks have been the 70s and 80s music nonstop. On that note, I have two tracks for you from Joy Division and their reincarnation as New Order following the suicide of Ian Curtis.
The week in review…
Actually it’s the last three weeks in review. Thanks to everyone who has participated.
T-Shirt Wisdom | The most recent installment of this bi-weekly feature.
Next week…
Five Word Weekly and the return of Four Line Fiction plus another installment of T-Shirt Wisdom are on tap. Don’t forget your entry for July’s Creative Writing Monthly is due by July 31st. Yikes that almost sounded like homework!
Hi everyone, I have been away and I know you have all missed Greg’s Blog (come on, at least you can pretend you did!) Summer can be a busy time and the last week with my daughter’s fast-pitch championships, a couple of intense days of fermenting, canning and preserving strawberries, raspberries, asparagus and cucumbers, and a camping trip with family have kept me busy and away from my screens. Not to mention the hours that seem to vanish when having to entertain a seven-year-old. Love him dearly but I am ready for September and the start of school again.
Unfortunately, Sunday Digest and Four Line Fiction were not published this week. I do apologize if you follow and participate in Four Line, I thought I’d had a couple more of those ready to publish but apparently, I did not. As for all your efforts for the weekly challenges that did publish, I will get to all of them and ensure they get the normal shout-out in the next Sunday Digest.
In the meantime here is some funny lottery humour I came across and thought I’d share. The first part with the husband winning was the original version I’d seen but fair is fair, so I felt it super important to make a version where the wife had won…
As I sit down to write Sunday Digest late on this Sunday night it occurs to me that it has been a busy week. The blog itself started the week okay but as the activities and time required with my son ramped up my work here fell off. School is out and that means my days are filled with bike rides, Lion Safari’s and stopping at every park I see.
On Friday we took Nate to African Lion Safari, an animal rescue and reserve where you get to ride through the animal enclosures in your car. The lions and tigers are usually sedate. Mostly because they have been so well fed they cannot move. The Orangutans are Nates favorite. Especially the one who decided to jump up on our car and pee down the windshield. I know little boys and the things that excite them!
He also loves the waterpark they have for the kids to play in. It is a great spot on a hot day and he spent almost three hours in the water. Running on the play structures and riding the slide. He is a little Casanova too. The kid will talk to just about anyone but gravitates to the prettiest moms and starts up full conversations with them. Even at the mall or in a restaurant before we finish he has the clerks or waitresses gathered around while he holds court!
Also this weekend I have been busy canning strawberry jam and relishes. I also set a a crick with 4 lbs. of cucumbers. Hopefully in about a week I will have fermented dill pickles. In the meantime, I made a couple of jars of refrigerator pickles to hold us over. It was Nate who noticed the happy face in the jar of pickles.
I dug deep into my Madchester sounds record collection this week to find this classic. James were a Manchester band who are best known on this side of the pond for the title track of their 1993 album “Laid”. The track initially found success on U.S. college radio before peaking at No. 3 on U.S. Alternative Radio.
The week in review…
Choices A tales of choices written by Paula at Light Motifs II.
Milestones | Just some stuff about my blog stats and some new records in 2023.
T-Shirt Wisdom | The most recent installment of this bi-weekly feature.
Next week…
Five Word Weekly has already dropped about 3 hours ago and Four Line Fiction is on tap for Tuesday. Don’t forget to get your entry in for July’s Creative Writing Monthly, July 31st is almost here. Have a great week everyone,
As many of my followers know despite having opened an account at Worpress way back in 2012 I’m fairly new here. I didn’t really start posting regularly until late 2020 and only kicked it into high gear last year. As such my stats are not exactly the type advertisers back the Brinks truck up for. Not that advertisers were ever the measure of success. I’ve stated it before, this site is meant to be a fun creative outlet for me
Still, I happened to look at my stats today and halfway through 2023, I am about to blow past my previous high for views. Last year the blog had 6156 views and as of this moment, 2023 has had 6155 views. Perhaps if you were one of the first to check out this post you might be part of Greg’s Blog history. The tying or record-setting visitor. Stop laughing all you giants of the industry. I know those are sad numbers but they are my numbers and in two more views 2023 will be the most viewed year on record. Beep Beep.
Greg Glazebrook @ GMGCreative
Thanks to everyone who stopped by, one-timers and regulars alike. I appreciate you taking a moment. Keep coming back and please tell everyone to come take a peek!
This week marked the 156 anniversary of Canadian Confederation. The British North American Act took effect on July 1st, 1867 and Canada passed from being a British colony to a member country of the British Commonwealth.
I for one refuse to forget that past. There has been a huge push against colonialism in recent years. The British now looked upon in an unpleasant light. Once again the statue of Queen Victoria in Kitchener’s Victoria Park was vandalized, doused in red paint in an act that has played out four times in the last two years. What I find most intriguing is that these former colonies, the places where we now try to erase people like Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister and deny our history, are the very places where people want to immigrate. As much as we want to abhor the blue-eyed devils we flock the places they built.
All I can say to Canadians, members of the British Commonwealth and those countries who were founded on British and European ideals, do not be ashamed of your history, embrace it. Many of the places our people have built are a beacon of peace and civility for the rest of the world.
As Google and Meta get set to turn off links to Canadian news sites I ponder an interesting question. The Canadian government passed legislation that would force content giants like Google, Microsoft and Meta to pay for content they display or link to on their platforms. Up until this point they have presented content from independent sources free of charge. In the process, making billions of dollars in advertising revenue that those providers will never see. The Canadian government has become the first to protect homegrown content providers by forcing these giant tech companies to properly compensate creators.
We could argue whether that is fair or even feasible but that is not the crux of my question. You see, for years these entities have claimed they are not responsible for the content they present and as such can’t or shouldn’t be held liable for it. They don’t believe they have an obligation to monitor or regulate the content to which they provide access. They claim it is too large a financial burden to expect them to build the apparatus to police content. Interesting that moment they have to pay for the content they present all of the apparatus to block it, the apparatus they claimed was too expensive to build, suddenly isn’t that costly and even more alarming already exists. All they need to do to ensure they don’t have to pay for content is flip the switch to have it blocked.
As we celebrate this Canada Day I have been listening to Canada’s greatest songwriter who passed away earlier this year. It was once said that the offices of SOCAN have one storage room (this was before computers) for all the songs written by Canadian artists and a second room for all the works of Gordon Lightfoot. I have previously featured The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Here are some other faves, Canadian Railroad Trilogy, Sundown and Carefree Highway.
The week in review…
Who Knew Proof from Fandango at This, That and the Other that Seniors love heavy metal too.
Five Word Weekly and Four Line Fiction and another installment of T-Shirt Wisdom. Don’t forget to get your entry in for July’s Creative Writing Monthly, July 31st is almost here. Have a great week everyone,
Clicks and likes were not my main objective when I created Greg’s Blog. In its current incarnation, it was meant to be a creative outlet. I didn’t expect awards or accolades; quite frankly, I’m no Hemingway, Dickens or Shakespeare. Hell, I’m not sure I’d have qualified to write the Sears Catalogue back in the day. That said there is always a tiny rush when someone likes what you’ve published and I love reading the posts everyone publishes in response to my prompts and challenges.
So why the rant? Well, I find myself standing on the brink and contemplating throwing myself into the abyss when I browse other WordPress blogs. Yes, I have a group of people I follow and their content is excellent. It is when I explore beyond those I follow and find content that is unreadable. Then I look and see hundreds of likes or volumes of comments attached to these posts and I have to wonder – How shite is my site?
I think I have a decent handle on the English language. It is my mother tongue, and I always excelled spelling and had a good grasp of structure and punctuation throughout my school years. Even in my working life, managers and colleagues ask me to proofread their work. I have an uncanny ability to remove noise and focus on the key points of a paper or presentation without making the message threatening or unprofessional.
So what is the problem then?
many of the sights in question seem too bee completely devoid ov structure format or punctuation as they ramble on un-relent-ingly incoherent id be kind calling the writing a raw ruff stream of consciousness brain storming pile of dung sometimes i think that if i were to read a single rambling paragraph or sentence as it was written id asphyxiate myself long before reaching the last word because commas periods question marks and quotations are not only optional they dont exist except for the ellipses… they litter everything… in fairness… i may be guilty of that last one two (three? four?)… but at least I’m cognizant of it…
So, How Shite Is My Site? When I compare my WordPress stats to some other sites I think the answer is clear.
This week has turned out to be a mixed bag. The solstice has come and gone ushering in summer in the northern hemisphere. Now the days begin getting shorter as we hurtle back toward the cold of winter. That said, I will enjoy the warmth for as long as it lasts.
Just as I was getting over a painful couple of months with plantar fascitis in my left foot, I was scheduled to attend training wearing heavy safety boots. My current job doesn’t require that I wear them regularly. However, to re-certify the training must be completed in full uniform. Now after one-half day, the foot is back at square one. It didn’t help that the next two days were spent standing on a baseball diamond.
Greg Glazebrook @ GMGPhotography
That was the good part of the week. The standing didn’t help my foot, but watching my little guy play in his season-ending T-Ball tournament was fantastic. He played well even through normal kid focus issues and a love for the dirt on the infield. Making an out at third and hitting the ball hard. Honestly, all the kids look so damn cute out there.
The beginning of summer had me listening to one of my favourite summer driving songs. The Kings are a great Canadian band hailing from Oakville, Ontario. Literally one town over from where I grew up. They have some great music in their catalogue but only one commercially successful hit, charting in both Canada and the U.S.A. That hit consisted of the first two tracks which are normally played together. “This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ to Glide” was taken from the band’s 1980 debut album “The Kings Are Here.” Take a listen and tell me you can’t feel the wind whipping through your hair as you drive much too fast along that lake road or up the coast.
The week in review…
Locked Diary Revisiting a memory of Paris lifted from the pages of a diary written by Rockstar Girl at Is It Real or Fantasy.
The Calling Did Dana find salvation? Just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean wasn’t there. A delightful alien (almost) abduction story by Paula at Light Motifs II.
New World Order Be wary of the man in a fedora preaching a better future.
Out of It Fandango manages to craft a short poem even though he was out of everything.
Grandad, where are the wires? Sometimes the old ways captured a labour of love that is lost in today’s technological world. Be sure to check out Diana’s take on the prompt on the Writer Ravenclaw blog.
4 Line Fiction Nicole Smith at Momoetry captures that feeling when you can’t find the words to own up to something terrible you’ve done.
T-Shirt Wisdom Wednesday | Another bi-weekly installment of this humorous graphic design segment.
Next week…
Five Word Weekly and Four Line Fiction and the official launch of the Creative Writing Month challenge although the preview for the first month came out at the beginning of June. Have a great week everyone,
1. If you could reinvent yourself, how would you like to be?
…and I’d give myself wings. Why not, I think it would be cool to soar above the earth under my own power. Looking down on everyone the size of ants below.
2. Would you like to be a pet in your household?
Considering how often I end up in the doghouse I am not sure I could do it full-time…
…on the other hand, the fluff ball who currently lives with us is treated like a king!
3. How many house moves have you had as an adult?
i) Lived with my girlfriend on Cedarglen Gate in Mississauga. ii) Broke up with my girlfriend and moved back in with my parents on Dorothea Court in Mississauga. iii) Got back together with my girlfriend got married and moved in with my inlaws. Actually, they moved in with us on Perivale Road in Mississauga. iv) Moved into our brand new home on Trudeau Drive in Milton. No inlaws! v) Separated and moved into a townhouse on Costigan Road in Milton. vi) Landlord evicted us illegally during COVID but my current wife and I purchased our own home in Waterloo, Ontario before the eviction took effect. We are still here.
Note: The first four were when I was still in school and were not included in the list of adult homes.
4. What was your favourite home?
My favourite house was the property in Milton but my favourite home is the one I reside in now. It is filled with love and family although I wish my two older kids from my first marriage came around more often. I miss and love them both.
Greg's Blog 