I gotcha, Sam said to himself when he peered around the thick concrete column. He aimed his digital camera toward the couple sitting on the bench. This is going to earn me a pretty penny, he thought, smiling as the shutter snapped.
Early the next morning, Sam went to the editor’s office of the tabloid he sells a lot of his photos to. Sam pulled pulled out his camera and handed it to the editor. “You wanted proof that the young trophy wife of that senator is having an affair? Well here it is!”
The editor looked at the image on Sam’s digital camera and said, “What’s this? A photo of some brunette with a ponytail sitting with some guy on a bench beneath a roadway underpass? They could be any two people. Where’s the close-up so I can see their faces? This is worthless.”
“They saw me after I took this shot,” Sam said defensively, “and ran off. But I swear it’s her.”
“Sorry, Sam, I can’t use it. You want cash, bring me something I can use,” the editor said. “Now get the hell outta my office.”
Written for Cyranny’s One Minute Fiction Challenge. Photo credit: Cyranny.
For this week’s Thursday Inspiration prompt, Jim Adams has instructed us to respond to this challenge by either by using the prompt word peace, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘Summer Rain’, or by going with another song by Johnny Rivers, or anything else that you think fits. I decided to go with the song “Summer Breeze” from Seals & Crofts.
In the summer of 1969, Jim Seals and Dash Crofts released their first album as a duo. “Summer Breeze” was their first hit single, appearing on their fourth album in the fall of 1972. Their next single, “Hummingbird,” also evoked nature and was a solid hit. They later scored with “Diamond Girl” and “Get Closer.”
Seals & Crofts were devoted to the Baha’i faith, and believed that by writing about life itself, many meanings would emerge for the listener. Seals said that “Summer Breeze” was “a very simple song about a man coming home from work and hearing the dog barking and things like that.”
The refrain “Blowing through the jasmine in my mind” was something Seals & Crofts used to bring about feelings of contentment, harmony, and peace in this song, which is a feel-good classic about enjoying some simple pleasures in life with the ones you love. Seals explained, “We operate on a different level, we try to create images, impressions and trains of thought in the minds of our listeners.”
To me, the lyrics and the melody bring about a peaceful, easy feeling (which was a song from The Eagles that I almost used for this prompt).
See the curtains hangin' in the window In the evenin' on a Friday night A little light a-shinin' through the window Lets me know everything's alright
Summer breeze, makes me feel fine Blowing through the jasmine in my mind Summer breeze, makes me feel fine Blowing through the jasmine in my mind
See the paper layin' on the sidewalk A little music from the house next door So I walked on up to the doorstep Through the screen and across the floor
Summer breeze, makes me feel fine Blowing through the jasmine in my mind Summer breeze, makes me feel fine Blowing through the jasmine in my mind
Sweet days of summer, the jasmine's in bloom July is dressed up and playing her tune And I come home from a hard day's work And you're waiting there, not a care in the world
See the smile a-waitin' in the kitchen Food cookin' and the plates for two Feel the arms that reach out to hold me In the evening when the day is through
Summer breeze, makes me feel fine Blowing through the jasmine in my mind Summer breeze, makes me feel fine Blowing through the jasmine in my mind
What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?
I have chosen to not have any tattoos (or piercings) on my body, so to answer today’s questions, I don’t want a tattoo. Thus, where I would put it is moot.
As to my decision to not have a tattoo, I have no regrets. Or maybe I should say I have no regerts.
Usually the comments that show up in my spam folder are obviously spam. But recently it’s not that obvious at all. Take these two spam comments examples I received yesterday.
Here’s one.
It’s from Zoe Atherton and the source is outlookindia.com. The comment is in response to this post. It seems to be quite legitimate and responsive given the post she commented on. But I clicked on the link to the site that it came from and this is where it took me:
So did a human write a legitimate comment that Akismet mistakenly swept into my spam folder? Or is Zoe Atherton an AI chatbot who scanned my post, picked up key words, and created that comment in response?
Here’s another.
It’s from Dante Trimble and the source is the marketerscorner.com. The comment is in response to this post. Like Zoe’s comment, Dante’s seems to be quite legitimate and responsive given the post he commented on. But I clicked on the link to the site that it came from and this is where it took me:
So is Dante real? Did a human write this comment or was it generated by an AI chatbot? I decided to actually reply to Dante’s comment.
What do you think?
Are Zoe and Dante real people who read my posts and made legitimate comments?
Are Zoe and Danta chatbots using AI technology to generate legitimate sounding comments that are actually spam?
Will Dante respond to my reply?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments, please.
It’s March 23, 2023. Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).
Today’s word is “fundamental.”
Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.
Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.
And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.
This, That, and the Other 