June 10, 2024a thought for today, You can't look at the stars while you are walking if you have a stone in your shoe. Chinese Proverb

The first upload for yesterday was “stop”. For something other than a straight shot of a stop sigh I decided to use this reflection of the stop sign in the shop window. 

The second upload yesterday was “I read this....”. I don’t keep many bound books anymore. My daily reading is through wifi technology. But I do have several bibles, a few gardening book and some recipe book in my “library” (small book shelf). I decided to use this bulletin from today’s church service. 

The last upload for yesterday was “I wasn’t expecting this”. This equipment in the local elementary school front lawn. I can’t figure if there was some tree service or some other type of maintenance. Being Sunday there was no work going on at the time of this capture. 

Life today. The bulletin is done and the newsletter calendar is done. I have accomplished those two for now. Then I moved on to looking for a couple of the photos I need today. While I was out in the back searching on possible photo shots I checked Sue’s blackberry bush. There were about a dozen berries ripe for picking. 

According to the temperature display on my framo it is 59 degrees. This is almost mid June. I’m not really looking for temps above 90 but something slightly above or around 75 would be nice. It is also overcast but not rainy. 

The first upload for today is “photographers choice”. The natures art in this form of the tree branches caught my eye. The soothing colors of the green leaves and the soft brown hues of the tree bark and its texture add an interest to the image. 

I got calls made to confirm some dates and recorded on the my calendar. Then I had the honor of getting a couple of important birthday messages out this afternoon. So it has been a nice and  productive day. 

The rest of the week looks like it is going to be laid back and easy going. I’ll be able to work on the newsletter at a leisurely pace. Hope I haven’t jinxed myself. ☺

The second upload challenge title is “bees or bugs”. I was leaving the house when I noticed this little guy on the side of the house. I needed to drop my purse, find my Samsung camera and make the capture before I frightened him/her or it was just time to fly away. 

The word today is foundation. Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues. Confucius.  The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. Diogenes.  Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility. Saint Augustine.  Good order is the foundation of all things. Edmund Burke.  Obedience to lawful authority is the foundation of manly character. Robert E. Lee.  The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid. Thomas a Kempis.  The foundation of empire is art and science. Remove them or degrade them, and the empire is no more. Empire follows art and not vice versa as Englishmen suppose. William Blake.  Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance. Saint Augustine.  If we would build on a sure foundation in friendship, we must love friends for their sake rather than for our own. Charlotte Bronte.  If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. Henry David Thoreau. The foundations of a person are not in matter but in spirit. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Deep are the foundations of sincerity. Even stone walls have their foundation below the frost. Henry David Thoreau.  I think it will be found that experience, the true source and foundation of all knowledge, invariably confirms its truth. Thomas Malthus.  

Another shot for today is “macro”. This is one of the view flowers I have blooming right now. I got this one when I found Sue’s blackberry’s ripening. 

Article: Here is a little more another view on the AI subject. I still can’t determine if I feel it is a bad thing or good. When it mentioned Google in the same sentence I wanted to find out more. The title was interesting “AI search answers are the fast food of your information diet – convenient and tasty, but no substitute for good nutrition”. Google is experimenting with “a new core feature that Google has been rolling out” called Overview. It went on to explain that it “is yet another addition to the increasing number of add-ons and tools being integrated into search engines like Google”. The story explains that the difference with the AI Overviews “is that they are not simply extracted from relevant sources but generated behind the scenes by Google’s generative AI technology”. What Google wants to do is give you a “personalized, on-demand answer”.  An explanation for that is people use search engines for “answers and not lists of documents”. From the answer they get through their search want to be about to “discover, learn and question what they find”. The AI techniques “vacuum up information from the internet and other available sources and spit out an answer based on how they are trained to associate words”. One of the cons for this technique is that it leaves out the “user’s judgement ..... and opportunity to learn”. The good thing is when you need a specific answer like the price of a grocery product AI is a “good way to cut through a lot of documents and extract those specific answers”. Something that was funny in the article is “looking for suggestions about how to keep the cheese from sliding off your pizza?” you may be told “you that you should add some glue to the sauce”. To get past the AI issues there are alternatives one is you can select “web” from a Google menu to go to the “old” form of search. This way you have the “ability to examine multiple sites and evidence to support or refute something”. AI is a quick and convenient choice. The article states that going through the traditional Google search is like having a menu at a sit-down restaurant and putting in an order for what you want and will take a little time to prepare it. You can still use Google the “old” way without the AI feature.

This is one of the days I have a fourth image upload. This one is called “I stood here....” At the top of my porch steps. 

I think I may make spaghetti for dinner. 

Joy

                                                                                                                                              a gift of light (and the sound of the wind) from my daughter