Ok, I'm back after a hiatus. I lost my log-in information, then bumbled around with trying to make a new account with an old email. It's still me.
Looks like this is the orginal account, not the new one I attempted to create.
Roy Scarbrough
I'm finding the meta AI image generating thing useful on Facebook, where I post short writings: essay, flashes.
I can't draw, so it is useful. A facebook post without an image gets seen by few people.
I wanted to talk about the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar and how Shakespeare shows us how easy it is for a demagogue to whip up a frenzy from a crowd and incite them to riot against a republic and undermine efforts for a peaceful transfer of power. In this case, there was the violence of Caesar's assassination, but following that there was some prospect of peacefully restoring the the republic.
Shakespeare shows us the Mark Antony was able to manipulate the crowd with cleverly deceitful rhetoric.
I asked Meta AI to make me a picture of "A deceitful Mark Antony and rioting after Caesar's funeral.
This is what it gave me.
Roy Scarbrough By the way, on another positive note, I'm finding some history comforting in a weird way. The Roman republic fell to tyrants, but I know enough to know how it feel, and somehow humanity soldered on through the dark ages to experience the renaissance.
E. Writer
I learned about Roman History a looong time ago but my interest was rekindled when the show Rome aired on HBO. I learned more from the fictional show than I learned in school. Even though the dialogue was fictionalized, much of the events were not. Mark Anthony, for all his deceit eventually got his comeuppance. That was a storied end to his life. I used Facebook AI to make Christmas images when I was wishing everyone a happy holidays. It looked realistic for sure. It's not bad. But for other projects where I might use AI generation, I use Nightcafe
https://creator.nightcafe.studio/
Roy Scarbrough Rome seems more real to me than the middle ages. It seems they feel within moments of an early industrial revolution. Rome, the city, was the worlds first multicultural metropolis. Maybe its good the industrial revolutions started later. Imagine where we would be now if the planet had been burningup for the past 2,000 years.
E. Writer
Just think, the aqueducts they built 2000 years ago are still running below the city. That's a huge technological achievement, especially since it is the first known aqueduct to exist. Rome is easier to visualize because we see the ruins as evidence still standing today.
I was working on flash fiction/essay, about influenced by recollection aboard a night train in spain in the 1970s. So, I asked Meta AI to make me a picture of a night train in spain in the 1970s. I could not be more pleased.
Roy Scarbrough
In all fairness, I did not tell her it was an actual memory.
Roy Scarbrough I found my journal. There were eight of us in the compartment. Four of us seated and facing the other four seated. The Spanish girl wast traveling with a bearded young man from one of the spanish universities. He spoke little English. The girl wore tight blue jeans all marked up with peace signs and the word "Love". I was traveling with a girl my age from LA, that I met along away. That relationship was platonic and friendly, so a bit disappointing on my part. We got separated in a crowd in Geneva. So there were no good-byes. I headed for the campground, which had been my plan all along. I carried camping gear with me.
E. Writer
Thats amazing that you still have that journal. I only have one thing that I have that is from a long time ago. It's a Christmas ornament that is 44 years old. Me and my sister bought it from Woolworth when I was 6 years old. My mother kept it and when my mother passed, my sister got my mothers family Bible thats probably 60+ years old or older. And I got the ornament back. Both items hold special memories for both of us.
Roy Scarbrough A christmas ornament is from back then is a precious thing to have.
E. Writer I just wish I had the other half. We were asked to bring an ornament to church, for the tree. So me and my sister got two ornaments from Woolworths. I was 6 and she was 8. Both had a verse from The Night Before Christmas on it. We gave verse 1 to the church and kept verse 2 for our own tree. So yeah, that ornament is very precious to me. From a very special event as children.
Something positive. We had a rare snow storm here in Oregon. It made the little redwood grove in my back yard pretty. I planted these years ago, and I always get a good vibe from them. Filmed while my dog rolled in the show.
https://jmp.sh/luAVcnij
E. Writer
Not sure why your links isn't coming through, but this one https://jumpshare.com/v/MSrbOnoeRkOWXywK2OIg
Nice music! Is that your dog? So cute
Okay, made it through.
Good to be here, but I'm a little conflicted about spending any more time on social media sites. I have untreated ADHD, so I'm prone to distractions that delay my literary and academic goals. I have to figure out ways to not waste time. I just have to let the winged monkeys fly by.
We had this weird February heavy snow storm here. Rare for Oregon. Kind of snow bound. I just want to look at it from the window.
E. Writer I'm with you there! I think the last thing that people need is more time on social media. We all need to have more time away from our phones and computers where we can be more productive. So I will pop in and out occasionally. But my goal is to divest from other social media applications that are toxic like Facebook, Instagram, X, and Bluesky, threads, tik tok, where people focus on negativity and conflict instead of positivity. Those platforms are designed to keep peoiple addicted. But the goal of Neighbahood is to have a space where a person can, if they choose, to go on social media, have a positive space to do that in, instead of only those toxic environments. I noticed that people don't really know how to interact on social media if there are no arguments LOL
E. Writer Ah okay, I thought you might have had the old address. I'd forgotten that you made it to the updated platform and url.