My pap-pa used to have a book where he recorded about everything. The first snow of the year, the day the garden was planted, how much rain in any given month — it was all hand written in a book. Those pesky neighbors do it too. The last day they saw a hummingbird on their feeders and every other notable thing you might think of.
The delivery is different, but the basic principle is the same.
On whatifitdid.com, I do the same thing. The first snow of the year, when the crops were planted and harvested, and the day of the year when the pool was opened and closed… among a bajillion other non-earth shattering events over the years. When younger, I didn’t even think, much less care, about those sorts of things. Now, I do think and care — and that means I’m officially old as dirt.
I started thinking about it for 2 reasons… (1) Yesterday’s post about closing dates on the barndo, and (2) items that were given to me after Buster’s passing.
The missing baby book.
One of the things returned — that I forgot I even had — was Ben’s baby book. While I will never forget the day he was born, it was fun to jump in the way-back machine and read about the baby shower, the people that visited and sent gifts, and more. Seeing the photos again? WOW!
If I didn’t feel old knowing I had turned into my pap-pa by recording insignificant stuff, I sure do after taking the trip down baby Ben lane.
For the record… when I was pregnant, there was still a K-Mart in Scottsburg where I would buy Snickers candy bars by the 6 pack. By the time I got home, 1/2 of those would already be gone. I gained over 100 pounds and Ben was only about 12 pounds of that (11p 4.5oz). Both of us were fat fat back then. 🙂
Now you know: In 2002, a cave diver committed suicide by stabbing himself during a cave diving trip near Split, Croatia. Due to the nature of his death, it was initially investigated as a homicide, but it was later revealed that he had done it while lost in the underwater cave to avoid the pain of drowning.
Edgar Allan Poe is credited with saying, “believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.” It appeared in his short story “The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether,” which was published in November 1845. A whole lot has happened since 1845… especially in technology. Of course, technology is responsible for the way we see a whole bunch of stuff, as well as manipulating that stuff too.
AI can convince you to believe what you see even if it’s fake.
(Below are a series of AI animations created from real images – click at the bottom of each to view.)
This is the Internet, where many believe everything they see, hear or read. You saw what you saw above and it’s not bad for a photo with text that said, “make the girl a mermaid.” It’s confusing enough when bad actors share photos from one location and time and say it’s from a different time and location altogether — even our mainstream media has been caught doing that — but it’s worse when you can’t tell what’s AI created and what’s real!
Sometimes, you get clues that what you’re seeing is fake – like floating wine glasses.
Other times, you simply can’t tell that what you’re seeing isn’t real and you’ll likely believe it to be accurate.
Believe none of what you hear. And believe even less of what you see… especially if it’s on the Internet.
Now you know: Military working dogs usually outrank their handlers in order to ensure proper respect.
For the past several years, I’ve booked all the speakers and entertainment for one big event held at Disney World in Orlando. It concludes today but the majority of my work was finished last week. I swore I’d NEVER EVER do it again. It’s tedious and stressful. Not only because I’m spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of someone else’s money, but also because I want the event to be a huge success — no mistakes allowed.
I didn’t even reward myself with the trip to Disney this year, but Ben & Coco did. 🙂
They had a great time and I’m thrilled I could make it happen. If you haven’t been to Disney for awhile, you may not know that you better have $10K for the trip. I don’t see how families do it since it’s so crazy expensive.
Back to the never say never…
The guy I’ve worked with through the years for this event is retiring. Me too!! But then I got a call from a gentleman with an offer to do the big event next year that I’m not sure I can refuse. The money… the family experience… ARG!
I’ve got a couple weeks to think it over — and even negotiate for a better offer when the first one is already good. I may be eating those “never again” words because how can I say “no” to this?
I can say no because I don’t like what the speaking industry has become.
There’s a recent scandal that’s shed some light into industry challenges that involved ImpactEleven, a speaker training firm. ImpactEleven would charge speakers a $2500 onboarding fee plus around $1500/month to be a member. Their upsell was for a $35K+ sizzle reel (demo video) which is paramount to get companies to book you. ImactEleven would provide the location and hire actors that would give fake testimonials and standing ovations. The end result was a high quality video that LOOKED LIKE the speaker had performed in front of a large audience that loved him/her, when maybe they had yet to perform at Sunday School.
But then, because of financial irregularities within ImpactEleven, the actors didn’t get paid so they sued the fake speakers telling them they had to pay up or remove the video from public use. Even worse? It was exposed that bureaus and management companies were being paid kick-backs (double dipping to the umpteenth degree) to refer newbie speakers to them. If you don’t disclose a commercial relationship with a referral, that is unethical, right?
So now what?
Companies are left not knowing legitimate speakers from the fakes — and good speakers are competing for dates against slick imposters that are not only giving all speakers a bad rap, but are also bombing their performances onstage for companies that paid for a professional in good faith… oftentimes based on a video that is nothing but fabrication.
Throughout the years, I’ve experienced first hand a whole lot of actions that would cause me sleepless nights if I did them. I could tell you stories that would make your head spin. It started getting worse during COVID, and with AI now, it’s a battle to be honest and have a chance in the marketplace. I’m too old and too tired to fight it.
When asked by a reporter about the unethical practices of some bureaus, my older brother told the truth. He didn’t point fingers and only revealed a couple instances of questionable actions, but he didn’t lie. Here’s a link to the article.
Now you know: Five U.S. Presidents (Thomas Jefferson, John Q. Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and Lyndon Johnson) didn’t take their Presidential Oath on a Bible.
I stopped loving Halloween when I was probably around 10 years-old. While some people spend literally hundreds of dollars to decorate with monster-sized skeletons and orange lights, I’m over here trying to appease Perry’s love of the holiday with this — and only this:
Actually, I’m not a fan of any fall holiday.
I’m not big into Thanksgiving either. Oh, I like that families gather to share a meal, but it means someone has to cook it all, right? It’s hard for me to get behind a holiday that means I work. While some love to cook (my buddies Alisa and Julie come to mind here), I hate it. Cleaning up the mess is worse than cooking. Matter of fact, I just realized the ONLY thing I like about Thanksgiving is having leftovers. 🙂
Back in the day, my Nanny would bake pies and start her Thanksgiving meal prep a couple days before she put out the spread for all to enjoy. Me? I send Perry to the smoker with a ham, open a couple containers of Bob Evans mashed potatoes, and devil some eggs the morning of. Mom is typically the one who prepares a dessert for our large family (usually 4 and sometimes 5 of us).
Decorating for Christmas begins on Thanksgiving.
My fall holiday tradition is putting up Christmas trees on Thanksgiving Day. It’s like the cut-off date — the day I get to move forward to my favorite holiday… Christmas!
Tell me something great about Halloween or Thanksgiving that will change my mindset!
Now you know: Tom Cruise divorced each of his three wives (Mimi Rogers, Nicole Kidman, and Katie Holmes) when they turned 33 years old, and each of his ex-wives is 11 years younger than the last.
If there was an award for taking photos, I’d get a prize. (Notice I didn’t say GOOD photos.) I’ve always valued capturing memories, and don’t understand when others don’t feel the same.
One year for Christmas… more than 20 years ago… I made photo books for Buster’s kids. The books contained all sorts of candid shots and many of their dad. For his funeral and visitation, there was a photo board to the side of the casket. To be honest, I didn’t even look at it — but when I spoke with his oldest daughter, she let me know that most of the photos on that board came from that book. (The others were from their Mom from when they were kids.)
Those books were a gift that is still giving 20 years later.
While videos are great too, they take more time to access — even with cloud storage. Photos can be printed and held in one’s hand, and that’s a plus too, right? Like this photo of Ben & Coco at their first stop on their trip to Disney World… it’s far from perfect, but tells a story.
Who would love a photo book with images you’ve captured?
There’s plenty of time to get books made for loved ones before the holiday season. It’s the gift that may be appreciated decades later. Just leave out photos like the one below. 😉
Now you know: There are 10,000 mysterious man made caves in Mustang, Nepal . Archaeologists found 2,000–3,000-year-old partially mummified human bodies and Buddhist art. Likely used as burial chambers around 1000 BC and later as homes in the 14th century, but who built them and why remains a mystery.
