Better ALMOST late??

Total Random Update-Ness

We’ve had alot going on the last few days, and it’s kept minds off of blogging for the most part. Nothing bad, and nothing earth shattering, just alot of mid-level “stuff”. Doing individual posts on it all would be pointless, BUT… We will hot on the couple of most noteworthy things here in one simple post.

For what it’s worth, we’ll get back on schedule with the blog this upcoming week. 🙂

BIG News; We Got Fancy New Wheels! 🎉

Yes, that’s right. Not the way you think though, LOL. I’m talking about for our pellet smoker:

Image from YouTube review video by another user

That’s a Rec-Tec, now RecTeq, 680. It’s an amazing smoker with LARGE capacity:

Image from Oh-soyummy.com

Spaced a little better, you can actually get 7 or 8 racks of ribs on it. Oh, and that front tray is optional. Ours has it though. 🙂 The model has been retired and they’re now on the 700 model, which is virtually identical except for an updated temperature control that we bought and installed.

It’s the secret to our amazing BBQ pics. Nothing but good things to say about it, EXCEPT that the the caster wheels (bottom right region of first pic) are such utter cheap crap that Walmart would be embarrassed to carry them. We’ve broken the caster bearings twice just rolling the thing in and out of the garage.

We hunted all over trying to find replacement ones. It turned out part of the problem was they’re metric; all but unheard of in caster wheels in the U.S.

Made in China. 🤬

Well, once we sized up the threads on the wheel mounts properly, we were able to find some on Amazon. WAY better quality for less than half the price of RecTeq’s replacement parts.

Also made in China BTW, but some Chinese parts are better than others. The wheels are twice as wide, and the bearing collar is beefier as well. No more picking up the grill by one end and dragging it out of the garage to cook.

The hilarious part is that it’s yet another thing that turned out to be the (almost) same orange as “Ginger” since we bought her:

If the lighting was proper on that exterior picture of the grill (first pic), the lid would be a very similar color to Ginger as well. She’s turning everything orange!!! 😯😯😯

Grill rolls now and it looks stylish doing it though, LOL.

Malaise:

With the Georgia house situation presumably coming to a close, the falling out with the selfish relatives, and other changes, it’s left us both feeling a bit adrift and questioning alot of things in our lives. Being eyebrow deep in introspection and retrospection makes it difficult to put together a quality blog post, so we’ve sandbagged there. This too shall pass however.

A.I.: Useless or End of the World?

Maybe both??

While we haven’t been up to blogging the last few days beyond making old posts public, we have been experimenting more with the A.I. art generation. The results have gotten better, but are still far from ideal.

IF we could get the A.I. to accept a prompt like “Take the last image made and make her shirt red”, and work step by step like that… I’m reasonably confident we could get to what we’re shooting for with our efforts.

Annoyingly, the more we try to fine tune a picture, the further off the rails the train gets. Bing actually seems A LITTLE better than Stable Diffusion in that regard. Once you get a few changes into a picture, Stable Diffusion just starts running in circles, and literally ignores the exact same command given above, and others.

Part of the problem encountered thus far seems to be that the A.I.s have a limited access pool. Stable Diffusion in particular had NO idea who Mojo Jojo or the Power Puff Girls were, which ruined a chance to prank Kevin, LOL. It’s obvious they raid the hell out of DeviantArt.com and a few other art sites… a few wikis, but they don’t even seem capable of basic search engine use. Neither A.I. has a clue what a Chiss alien from Star Wars looks like.

Maybe the devs DID pay attention to what happened when Ultron got unlimited access to the internet, LOL.

The potential is still solidly there for A.I. to evolve into something extremely dangerous. There’s also the issue of it stealing the designs of legitimate artists to create it’s composite artwork… Perhaps it’ll take a bit longer than anticipated to lead to SkyNet’s future though

At any rate, we’ll have some more A.I. experiment results posted soon.

Update and a “Just Wow”

I’m still behind on blogging and will do my best to get my next chapter on Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and a Friday Food post out later today. As it is, I’ve been working for days on a job application that’s so detailed and convoluted you’d think I was applying for top clearance at DARPA. As of 15 minutes ago, that’s finally as done as it’s going to get. We shall see what comes of it.

Invisibility???

Anybody remember that OLD video that showed a U.S. soldier sneaking across an area, completely invisible except for a “Predator” style distortion as he moved? He reappeared out of nowhere as he climbed into a tank.

Most people wrote that off as some sort of hoax, but I gave it a little more credit as the original footage was shot by Al-Qaeda. They had absolutely ZERO to gain by making the US Army look superhuman. I forgot about it for the longest time, until I came across THIS tonight / this morning:

That’s right, this company is trying to get a kickstarter together to sell this stuff to the public! 😯😯😯

As it turns out, the military in the US, the UK and China at least (possibly Russia as well) have been there for years despite the initial denials we got following the release of that original video ages ago:

I’m embarrassed I missed this story for so long. 😯

While the coolness factor is off the charts, I can’t help but wonder what the actual civilian uses of such a product would be… that aren’t criminal.

It certainly would allow hunters to up their game… and allow for completely naked sunbathing without getting leered at, LOL. Beyond that though?

Jedi Leia: Part 4 – If It’s a Fast Ship…

Back on the Death Star, Vader and Tarkin stood in a dimly lit room. A holo-image of the Emperor hovered above a circular console in the center of the room, a brief occasional glitch occasionally blurring his image momentarily.

“Lord Vader, you disappoint me. I believed we were perhaps past the period of your being useful only as a blunt instrument. Yet despite the capture of the girl and her ship, you remain woefully unable to even extract a simple location from her, and managed to let the stolen plans slip though your fingers…”

“Both are only a matter of time, my master”, Vader replied, doing his best to conceal his rage for the man in front of him.

“I certainly hope so… for your sake, my apprentice”, the Emperor replied in a tone that held both contempt and an almost wicked glee at his power over Vader. “If you fail me again, I shall be forced to take sterner measures than simply placing you under Grand Moff Tarkin… Much sterner.”

“I will not fail you, my master”, Vader replied.

“See to it you do not”, Palpatine snapped. He turned his attention to Tarkin. “Send another squadron of ships to Tatooine. I want every effort made, maximum resources and maximum force”.

“As you command, my Emperor”, Tarken replied, bowing at the waist.

Side Note: the revived Star Wars comics by Marvel (which are somehow canon) detail quite a bit of tension between Vader and Palpatine, including Palpy actually telling Vader he was only useful as a blunt instrument. Vader hated Palpatine, but always got out-maneuvered by him and was kept in check by realizing he didn’t have the power to confront his master directly. Keep in mind that Palpatine did all he could right from the get go to keep Vader in pain an in check. Vader is “Father” in one of the Germanic tongues and was probably meant to carry over to some Star Wars language that Anakin understood; reminding him that Vader had killed his own wife and child (neither of them knew that Padme was carrying twins).

Minutes later Vader walked purposefully down the hall of the Death Star’s central detention block, led by two black clad security troopers. They stopped half way down the hexagonal shaped hallway. Both security troopers pivoted to the left and stood on either side of a prison cell door. One guard keyed in the security code and the door opened with a hiss.

Vader stepped through the door and was greeted with a scene of a battered Leia, backed up seated against a wall, trying to escape an Imperial interrogations officer. Leia’s gown was torn in places, and she clutched it to her chest.

The interrogation officer had a swollen eye and was doubled over in pain. He immediately did his best to get to an attention position as Vader entered.

Vader looked back and forth between the two. In an instant, he felt a flash of rage rise within him for no apparent reason. With inhuman speed, Vader raised his fist and backhanded the officer across the tiny prison cell.

“Put this filth in a cell of his own”, Vader snapped at the guards escorting him. “I shall deal with him later”. The two guards nodded and then swiftly carried out their orders, dragging the semi-conscious officer from the room. Vader turned his attention back to the princess. There, for just a moment, with her guard down and feeling vulnerable, Vader felt a vague sense of connection and familiarity. He paused for a moment, discarding the thought before continuing. “Now, you highness… we will discuss the location of the hidden rebel base”, he said menacingly. As he spoke, a spherical torture and interrogation droid floated into the room and headed towards Leia.

Back in Mos Eisley…

Kenobi piloted the landspeeder in from the outskirts of the city. Maintenance and other droids went about their work, as beings of numerous species walked the streets. All were closely monitored by hovering Imperial surveillance mini-droids zipping around like flies. Swoop bikes and assorted beings riding beasts also moved along the street at varying speeds.

As the speeder approached the center of town, they were waved to a stop by a squad of Stormtroopers manning a checkpoint.

Kyle sighed. “I guess it was only a matter of time before our luck ran out”, he said as his hand slid towards his blaster.

“Patience…”, Kenobi said, waving him off. Kyle shook his head slightly and moved his hand back away from his blaster.

The lead Stormtrooper waved them to a full stop and then spoke. “How long have you had these droids?”, he demanded.

“Seems like forever”, Kyle replied in a smug tone.

“They’re for sale, if you want them”, Kenobi added quickly, eliciting a start from Threepio.

“Let me see your identification”, the Trooper demanded.

“You don’t need to see his identification”, Kenobi said calmly with a slight wave of his hand.

“We don’t need to see his identification”, the Trooper told his squad in an absent tone.

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for”, Kenobi said.

“These aren’t the driods we’re looking for”, The Trooper echoed.

“He can go about his business.”, Kenobi said.

“You can go about your business”, The Trooper replied.

“Move along”, Kenobi said.

“Move along, move along.”, the Trooper ordered, waving them on and motioning for the next vehicle to approach the checkpoint.

Kenobi and Kyle traveled in silence until far out of range of the checkpoint and then Kyle broke the silence.

“What the hell happened back there?”, he half-demanded. “I thought we were going to have to shoot our way out of there for sure”.

“The Force can be a powerful influence on the weak-minded”, Kenobi answered.

“You’re telling me that was some sort of Jedi mind game?”, Kyle asked in disbelief.

“A… trick of sorts”, Kenobi replied with a wry smile. “We’ll head to the cantina down the street to the right, he added. All the best space pilots can be found there”.

“Whatever you say…”, Kyle added, trying to process what he’d just seen.

The speeder pulled to a stop in front of a nondescript building with a pink neon sign of a busty female Twi’lek outline glowing near the doorway. Above the door was a modest sign that read “Chalmun’s Spaceport Cantina” in Aurebesh (galactic common) in The pair unleaded the droids from the back of the speeder and then proceeded inside. Kyle looked backwards to check on the droids for a moment, only to find Kenobi had already vanished into the crowd.

“Just great…”, he muttered. He started to head further into the cantina, the droids right behind him, when the bartender suddenly barked at him.

“We don’t serve their kind in here”, the bartender snapped.

“wha…”, Kyle managed to fumble out before the bartender interjected.

“Your droids, he snapped. We don’t want them here. They’ll have to wait outside.”

Kyle put his hands out in front of him. “Sure, sure… No need to blow a hyperdrive. I’ll send them outside.”

The bartender scowled, then offered a brief nod before returning to wiping down glasses.

Kyle turned to Artoo and Threepio. “We don’t need any more trouble at this point. Head outside, wait there… and watch your six” he ordered.

“Our six what, sir?”, Threepio asked confused. Artoo responded with a sarcastic beep.

Kyle shook his head and sighed. “Just stay alert and avoid any Imperials”, he said in an exasperated tone.

“Yes, sir”, Threepio replied sheepishly. As they began heading back toward the entrance, Artoo beeped something at Threepio. “Just you never mind”, Threepio snapped.

Kyle watched the exchange, shook his head and then headed to the bar. “Gimme a Lothal Spicebrew”, he said to the bartender, tossing a couple of credits onto the bar.

The bartender made the drink and then placed it in front of Kyle. Kyle took a sip and glanced down the bar, noticing Kenobi talking to a human in a flight suit. The human walked away, motioning for Kenobi to talk to the large Wookie standing at the bar behind him. Kyle raised an eyebrow at the exchange, and then was tapped hard on the shoulder from behind. He turned to be confronted by a burly looking Aqualish thug and a older human with a badly disfigured face.

The alien growled something in his native language. Kyle didn’t understand it, but he recognized and disliked the tone.

“He said you must be a real effete piece of dung to drink something like that”, the scarred human interjected.

“Well, now we know he’s as stupid as you are ugly”, Kyle replied, taking another sip of his drink.

The human snarled and got up in Kyle’s face. “You just watch your mouth. We’re wanted men. I have the death sentence on twelve systems!”

“So you’re saying I should collect the bounty or your worthless hides then?”, Kyle asked using his most snarky tone. The bartender looked uneasily between them and stepped back.

The Aqualish roared angrily, and drew his blaster, only to have Kyle’s vibroblade slash across his wrist, then open him up like a gutted fish across his midsection. The human thug let out a cry of rage of his own as his partner fell dead to the floor. He tried to draw his own blaster. Kyle sprung up off his stool, grabbed the thug by the wrist and neck, and slammed his head into the bar 5 or 6 times before letting him collapse to the floor.

Kyle shook his head. “Idiots”, he grumbled.

The human groaned and stumbled for the fallen Aqualish’s dropped blaster.

“No blasters, no blasters!”, the bartender yelled.

Kyle quick drew his own blaster and shot the thug as he raised the weapon. The thug’s shot went high and wide, impacting the ceiling and leaving a char mark. Kyle quickly searched the bodies and retrieved their chain code IDs.

Kenobi walked up beside him. “I can’t take you anywhere, can I?”, he quipped.

“They didn’t leave me alot of choice”, Kyle replied. “They wanted a fight and one way or another, they were going to get it.”

“Be that as it may, you were the one reminding me how we needed to more discretely and urgently”, Kenobi said. “Let’s head towards the back. Chewbacca here is first mate on a ship that just might suit us”, he added, motioning to the Wookie behind him.

The pair followed the Wookie back to a booth near the rear of the cantina.

A tall Correlian human in a black vest and pants and white shirt sat at the booth, casually stretched out with his back to the wall. “Han Solo; Captain of the Millennium Falcon, he said, introducing himself. Chewy here tells me you’re looking for passage to the Alderaan system”.

“Yes indeed, if it’s a fast ship”, Kenobi replied.

“Fast ship? Han scoffed. You’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon?”

Kenobi shrugged slightly and shook his head. “Should I have?”

“It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs”, Han replied. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. “I’ve outrun Imperial starships. Not the local bulk cruisers, mind you. I’m talking about the big Correlian ships. She’s fast enough for you, old man.”

“Wait a second, Kyle interjected. A parsec is a measure of distance, not time.”

Han rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and the Kessel Run through the Akkadese Maelstrom is 20 parsecs for a normal ship to navigate safely. The Falcon is fast and tough enough that I was able to plot a route that shaved almost 8 parsecs off the usual course”.

Kenobi nodded slowly

“What’s the cargo, old man?”, Han asked.

“Just passengers, Kenobi replied. Myself, him and two droids… and no questions asked”.

Han grinned. “What is it, some kind of local trouble?”

Kenobi’s tone turned more serious. “Let’s just say we’d like to avoid any Imperial entanglements”.

Han sat back upright. “Well, that’s the real trick isn’t it, and it’s going to cost you something extra… 10,000. All in advance”.

“10,000… are you snorting that spice you’re hauling? We could almost buy our own ship for that”, Kyle said, incredulous.

“And who’s going to fly it, you?”, Han mocked. “You can’t be much of a spacer if you don’t even know what the Maelstrom is like”.

Kenobi replied, trying to keep things from getting heated. “We can pay you 17. Two thousand now and another 15 when we reach Alderaan.”

Han’s head tilted slightly as a slightly incredulous grin washed over his face. “…17 huh? Alright, you got yourself a ship. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready. Docking Bay 94.”

Kenobi nodded. “94.”

Solo glanced towards the bar. “Looks like somebody’s taking an interest in your handiwork.”

Kenobi and Kyle glanced backwards and saw a patrol of Stormtroopers at the bar, questioning the bartender. He nodded to them and pointed in the direction of the booth everyone was seated at.

To Be Continued…

For M’chel and Kevin; Grogu’s Work Advice

Some job related humor.

This next one I think is actually a Force Choke, but…

And lastly, a little advice from Yoda:

Jedi Leia Update:

Just a quick “memo”… I haven’t forgotten about continuing the story. Things have once again gotten hectic on the home front. The new chapter will be out within the next 24 hours. If the Force is with us, it’ll be before the night is over. Quality over speed though. 😉

I’ve decided on a story path also, so that will no longer delay the story. It should track close enough to the original to feel like Star Wars without feeling like half of it is just a repeat or rehash.

A.I. Round 2… The Dark Side

Quite a few to show this time… It started with trying to get Bing to recreate my Star Wars: The Old Republic character Adoxia:

For those NOT up on ancient Star Wars lore (SWTOR is now apparently canon), Adoxia is a “Red” or “Pureblood” Sith. The original dark jedi, after being exiled, stumbled across the Sith civilization. The Sith had a natural affinity for the dark side, but not the power or technology of the dark jedi. They came under the thrall of the dark jedi and interbred with them. Thus began the FIRST Sith Empire.

Adoxia started out as a Sith, defected to the Republic eventually and after being snubbed there, became a grey force user. Yes, decades ago I started the first grey group in SWTOR and MAY have even created the whole idea. I hate what it’s turned into anymore also. More of Adoxia’s story can be found here.

Anyhoo, after MANY fights with Bing, I got these:

This one I really like because it did a good job on her dualsaber, which is her preferred weapon.

And then I found this one online. A little like I pictured Adoxia while “on the hunt”

The Chiss Ascendancy:

Later, I attempted to recreate my other character, a Chiss (like Grand Admiral Thrawn) trained as a Sith but operating as Ambassador from the Chiss Ascendancy (Imperial allies)

She plays politics to the max and manages to keep ahead of her own people, the Sith and the Republic while playing them against each other.

Here’s what the Bing A.I. gave me for our Sith Marauder / Jedi Sentinel:

She has one red and one blue saber to symbolize her playing both sides of the force depending upon her whim, as she lacks Adoxia’s emotional development.

Balance, Daniel-San, BALANCE!

Daily writing prompt

What’s something most people don’t understand?

View all responses

Simple; people definitely have almost no comprehension of the philosophical concept of BALANCE

The Yin-Yang symbolizes balance. Even when one energy is at it’s strongest in the circle, it still requires a dot of the opposite to keep it in balance.

Balance is more than being able to remain on one’s feet. There are philosophical, emotional and spiritual levels to the concept as well.

This whole imbalance issue REALLY frustrates me also. Humanity is systematically being divided up into “us vs them” camps on every single issue we can imagine. There’s no longer any semblance of polite disagreement or attempts at understanding the other side’s concerns. No efforts at compromise.

God forbid we see those we disagree with as fellow humans and we try to think “win-win” regarding conflicts. No, the great god of narcissism demands they be crushed utterly and mercilessly instead!

Just remember; everything from the concept of karma to Matthew 25:40-45 says people are going to pay a HEAVY price for that attitude. Payback can be weaseled out of only temporarily, and interest does accrue.

Yes, I’m on a bit of a rant today.

Getting Back In Balance:

Where to even begin here?

Politics: Both parties and candidates are your enemies. Pubs are in the pocket of old money and Dems are in the pocket of new money. Both want to ultimately keep all of us down. The only real difference is Dems want the government to regulate us to death and the Pubs want to let giant corporations run us over directly. Demand better from ALL of them; their people AND yours.

The reality is that all those personal “rights” and social responsibilities being fought over have to be BALANCED (there’s that word again) by each other:

Individuals have rights, but if you want to be a part of society, you also have to consider the collective good of the society you interact with. Both are equally important.

Social Issues: This one is REAL simple… You cannot gain or retain rights at the expense of somebody else’s same rights. Again, there has to be a balance based on mutual respect and courtesy instead of a mentality of beating down or keeping down “them” (whoever ‘they’ happen to be in any given issue).

I suppose I should be careful here… If any of you actually READ J.K. Rowling’s original tweets, similar thoughts are what got her persecuted mercilessly until she turned into the monster she was accused of being.

I could go on here with other examples. Many of them would fall into the social issues category.

All cops aren’t killers and all poor people are not criminals.

All gun owners are not mass murderers, but sensible restrictions are needed due to the irresponsible owners and criminals.

Just because somebody’s spiritual or religious beliefs are different, that does NOT automatically make them an enemy or evil.

All men are not incels, and all women are not sluts or bitches. There’s so much hate and lack of basic human courtesy on this issue by both sides that I could rant forever.

Oh, one last one though:

Logic vs Feelings: This is another debate controlled by the extremes. Either cold-hearted “logic” (usually based on false assumptions) is the only way to go, OR we must all bow and worship at the altar of feelings. Both ideas are idiotic. Plain enough?

Pure logic is so often simply rationalizing doing something shitty to another person, again justified via false assumptions, jumped to conclusions, and stereotypes. It robs one of their humanity and deeper connection to others.

Feelings and intuition are devoid of rational thought and perhaps even more subject to the whims of every paranoid whim that crosses the mind, free of any common sense effort to fact check or think through the fear, loathing or even irrational attraction.

Learning to balance intuition with intellect is probably one of the hardest things the average person can learn to do. That whole “trust but verify” mindset is absolutely vital to one’s physical and emotional wellbeing though.

Bottom Line:

I could continue my diatribe here, but one meme can often make the point of 100 books, to paraphrase what I recently told somebody.

Maybe A.I. Ain’t so Dang Smart After All…

So, in keeping with my recent post, I started experimenting with A.I. image generation for blogging. Let’s just say the results were… Less that satisfactory.

First, I tried to create a version of my “Witchfire” character from my superheroine peril stories named after her. I already had a pretty close costume design for her in this Baldur’s Gate 3 mod:

I uploaded that image to the A.I. also, so it had a model to work from.

The bottom was just a little too skimpy though, especially when viewed from behind. Her butt cheeks are playing peek-a-boo. I didn’t want her fighting crime in a string bikini, but I don’t want her in full body armor either.

Bing is politically correct though, and gave me THIS:

And this:

Apparently, the only images Bing has to draw upon for superheroines are Scarlet Witch, Phoenix and Captain Marvel. The art is nice, but not really in the ballpark and too limited in design.

All the above was AFTER I just asked it to go to my site (URL given) and recreate Witchfire from there. THIS is what I got at first:

Then Came Liberty Gold:

Liberty Gold was my Captain America tribute character in both City of Heroes and DC Universe Online (horrible game BTW). One of my favorite character creations too. No adult stories for her, I just wanted a clean, realistic picture of her. I fed the A.I. her picture:

And it gave me THIS:

In what world do those two characters look even remotely alike? Even Mr Magoo wouldn’t make a mistake THAT bad.

More attempts with more detailed demands got me THIS:

Deja Vu; the feeling I’ve seen this character somewhere before… Except she stole Captain America’s shield. 😈 Or at least a half sized toy version of it. 🤦

So next I told the blasted A.I. to make her costume properly white and gold and give her back her mask. I got THIS:

AND This:

I have to admit. those last two are the only ones to give me vague hope. While not really a match for Libby’s City of Heroes costume, they’re sort of close and a fresh take. The top one looks a little too Wonder Woman influenced on the chest, and I’m not sure about the whole shoulder armor look on the lower one.

I get that the original wasn’t the best picture to work from BUT I’m really disappointed that it couldn’t even get the shield close to correct. I spent hours in the games costume editor creating Liberty’s look, and half of that was just on the shield. Everything in her look had to be unique, but still hint that she was a tribute character.

Maybe if I hand draw things for the A.I, it can do better… 🫤

For the record, I’m VERY protective of Witchfire and Liberty Gold (even moreso) and nobody may use them under any circumstances without my express permission. That armored knight picture though… Feel free to misappropriate it.

Tuesday Trash: Facepalm

Why you ask?

Sometimes, it seems like the above screenshot says it all.

She honestly thinks she invented something that people have been doing since humans first started walking the planet.