Sunday, March 17, 2024

Leg swelling

After the 12 hour flight from Rome…

Ariana: What do you this about this lump in my leg? 

Yuka: Let’s have a look... No redness, no swelling. Is it painful? 

Ariana: None.

Yuka: Well, better get it checked out. There’s a vascular specialist not far from here. I can take you.

Ariana: That serious?

Yuka: Better safe than sorry.

_________

Voice-over

A long flight with prolonged immobility can trigger thrombophlebitis, either superficial or more serious (deep vein Thrombosis). Yuka is onto it.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Destressing at School

Dean Erik meets Vice Dean Siri…

Erik: Student Affairs reports more students seeking counselling.

Siri: We’re deep in the semester. How about a de-stress event?

Erik: Like?

Siri: Yoga and meditation sessions. Art workshops. A music concert. Teach animal massage.

Erik: Animal what?

Siri: I have a friend who specializes in animal massage. Dogs. Cats. Rabbits. Helps the animals and the handlers feel more relaxed too.

Erik: Great. And we could draw them in with free donuts. Kremes I have a contact in there.

__________

Voice-over

Not so many came for the yoga, more to hold the animals, and the line for the donuts stretched way out down the corridor.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Jade Vine Blooming

In a hothouse…

Vivian: Look! It’s still here. The jade vine. Remember the last time?

Suzanne: It feels like ages ago. Five years ago. It was in bloom then.

Vivian: The color. Intense turquoise. Still looks like something out of a fairy tale. You expected fairies.

Suzanne: And you squashed the romance in that by saying…

Vivian: …that they’re pollinated by bats.

_________

Voice-over

Strongylodon macrobotrys (native of the Philippine rainforests) is an endangered species because of deforestation and habitat loss. Its beauty protects it to some extent by being cultivated as an exotic plant in botanical gardens and tropical greenhouses. Not easy though.

Friday, March 1, 2024

White Rabbits at Stoke-on-Trent


WHITE RABBIT WHITE RABBIT WHITE RABBIT

Three rabbits drinking tea out of Wedgwood cups. I asked an AI generator to draw teacups with a “Dolphins” motif of shells and instead it drew dolphins and tried to spell the word on the cup leaving the shells scattered around on the ground. Was AI joking with me? Is it sentient? A work in progress but I’m reminded of how some scoffed at Google and Wikipedia 20 years ago.




Monday, February 26, 2024

Bugs in AI image generators

Results can be bizarre…

Jason: Ask for a picture of someone drinking coffee and there are three cups on the table.
Joseph: And someone looking at a mobile phone gripped by a disembodied hand in midair.

Jason: And text. It usually turns out as nonsense. Why does it mess up text?
Joseph: Text generation isn’t built into the image generator. People scoffed at Google, then Wikipedia. Now they’re everyday tools. 
It’s being worked on. Prepare to be surprised.

________

Voice-over

Microsoft can erase unwanted elements from an image, Stable Diffusion already claims their Version 3 will print the text properly in an image. Toddlers learn by falling.

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Time taken over a tech problem

Next day…

Oh no! What next!
Jason: You didn’t pick up last night. Thought you’d fallen in the bathroom and broken a leg. Nearly called an ambulance.

Sybil: I thought of texting you. I was busy. Downloading an app and recalibrating the headphones took longer than I expected.

Jason: Yeah. At this stage of life, I often can’t be bothered with some tech problem that I can solve but I’ll never need to do it again. 

Sybil: Waste of what little time I have left.

Jason: Rather play with the cat?

Sybil: And what’s wrong with that?

________

Voice-over

Understandably frustrating wrestling with tech. Wait until the next day. Search online. Ask someone, lay or professional if you have better things to do with your time. Or even troubleshoot it and use it as a learning opportunity. 

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Destination Divulging Disorder (DDD)

Wondering where a secretive colleague is…

Where in the world...
Antonio: Have you heard from the English lately?

Fred: Nope, not a peep. He goes off the radar for weeks at a time. It's like trying to catch smoke; you never know where he's gone.

Antonio: Like the Cheshire Cat. One moment he's here, the next he's vanished.

Fred: Or the Scarlet Pimpernell.

Antonio: They seek him here, they seek him there.

Fred: He has a meeting March 20th. He could work remotely until then.

Antonio: My guess is he’s doing spell research at Hogwarts.

Fred: He never lets on where he’s been when he gets back.

____________

Voice-over

Reasons for an individual’s DDD may be connected with a wish for privacy, to keep a boundary between their life and others, a fear of judgement by others, security concerns, among others.


Monday, February 12, 2024

Winter Weight Gain

Stubborn winter weight loss…

Samantha: How’s the weather treating you?

Victoria: So up and so down. One day hot, one day cold. And I can’t control my comfort foods.

Samantha: Binging?

Victoria: Not binging but I’m putting on weight.

Samantha: You've got nothing to worry about. You always look fabulous!"

Victoria: Seriously. Six kilos up in six months.

Samantha: Mmm. Hard to stay active when it's freezing outside. And in cold weather, our bodies crave more calories, even if we're not using them all.

Victoria: I’ve tried indoor exercises.

Samantha: It’s got to be sustained. And vigorous. Have you tried dance?

___________

Voice-over

Dance, aerobics, tai chi, they all help. It’s harder than when we were younger.

Sunday, February 4, 2024

Progress of a cold

Cough, cough…

Umeko: How long have you had it?

Hachiko: A week.

Umeko: Not Covid?

Hachiko: Nope. I tested.

Umeko: Began with a sore throat?

Hachiko: Then a runny nose which progressed down into the lungs. Now this cough.

Lulu! Attack!
_________

Voice-over

Pickled plums, honey, radish, ginger, lemon, okayu together with Kakkonto for the beginning of a cold. If that doesn’t work, then you need Pabron, Lulu, Bufferin, Eve, Stona or any of the many pharmaceutical symptom-specific options. Stay hydrated.

Thursday, February 1, 2024

Didactic White Rabbit Redux

Back teaching future media to a mix of Generation Zees and US Marines at an American university… the elderly didactic rabbit is enjoying it, albeit daily surprised that he can still stand up at all. The To Do list ballooned so he has severely edited the list back to essentials. Eat, Sleep, Take a train. There’s gotta be a beach at the end of the tunnel.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Stay or Leave?

A catastrophic earthquake is predicted for Japan’s Pacific coast...

Izumi: Did you see Professor Kakuda explaining the data coming from the Nankai Trough.

Kenji: I saw that. He says predictions are for 2035 plus or minus five years either way.

Izumi: So the danger starts to increase from 2030.

Kenji: Might be a good time to think of an alternative place to live.

Izumi: If you can get away. I mean, a Magnitude 9 will take out a lot of infrastructure like roads, airports. Not to mention buildings. And the economy? Will the Japanese yen collapse?

Kenji: It’s a gamble, it’s fate, it’s destiny. You move: you avoid a short-term catastrophe. You stay: you avoid a longer-term disruption to your career, housing, community.

_________

Voice-over

"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." 

Jean de la Fontaine.

Friday, January 26, 2024

To retire, or not to retire...

Sound of bees…

Charles: Your garden looks even more vibrant than I ever remember. What’s that song the bees are singing?

Richard: Ha! Yes, too slow for the flight of the bumblebee, that’s for sure. Soothing, it is. But, did I hear you’ve taken a JOB?

Charles: Yes. I must confess, after a few years of retirement, I found myself longing for the intellectual stimulation of teaching. So, I took up a part-time lecturing position.

Richard: Teaching again, Charles? After all those years of counting down the days until retirement?

Charles: I know, I know. But there's something about passing on knowledge and engaging with eager minds that I missed. It's not a full-time gig, just enough to keep me intellectually active.

Richard: You did say once that you missed being able to say you were associated with an institution.

Charles: Ah yes. The affiliation. I must admit that also drew me in.

________

Voice-over

Some seek peace in retirement, others are drawn back to the stimulating buzz of the hive.

Monday, January 22, 2024

Shadows cast by media scholars

Selecting a scholar for a presentation…

Mei: What’s the homework for the media class?

Ariana: Prof told us to select one media scholar and present a key concept and quotation on a single PowerPoint slide.

Mei: Who do we have to choose from?

Ariana: Postman, Baudrillard, Chomsky, Debord, McLuhan and others.

Mei: Ones who are pretty critical of media then?

Ariana: Critical? That’s what scholars do, criticize, isn’t it?

__________

Voice-over

Concepts like news are packaged like entertainment, distinguishing between real and unreal is difficult, media company owners influence content, mass media is about spectacle, and the message being influenced by the medium. Notions with a darker side.

Monday, January 15, 2024

Bow fender

At the boat club…

Haddock: You’ve been busy.

Tommy: It’s a pudding.

Haddock: In my day it was called a bow fender.

Tommy: AKA bow pudding.

Haddock: It’s a lot of knots. Could this proliferation have its origins in something like if you can’t tie good knots then tie plenty of them?

Tommy: Grr.

Haddock: Or when you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on?

Tommy: Or I push you in the water.

__________

Voice-over

Some describe the bow fender as a beard. Knotting puddings could be seen to be an art, but perhaps an endangered one?

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

On not making new year resolutions

The second day…

Veronica: So how did you spend new year’s day?

Virgil: Started off good. Drone caught a brilliant sunrise over the estuary.

Veronica: And the rest of the day in a hammock looking out over the water?

Virgil: Not as laid back as that. Son got Covid so there was a bit of delivering of antivirals.

Veronica: Oh no, tough start to the year. Is he okay?

Virgil: Some fever, I hear. I don’t go in the apartment though.

Veronica: Make any resolutions?

Virgil: I got guidance from an article titled, Twenty-second New Year resolutions.

Veronica: Example?

Virgil: Don’t make any.

_______

Voice-over

Not making any new year resolutions has advantages:

Reduced Pressure and Stress: Avoid anxiety and failure.

Flexibility: Rigid goals can be a burden.

Focus on the Present: Enjoy the journey.

Ongoing Self-reflection: More continuous evaluation.

Encourages Realistic Goal Setting: New Year resolutions can be unrealistic and not so achievable.