WDP — Three Books

Daily writing prompt
List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?

I’d say that the three books — each actually a series of books — that have had an impact on me are:

J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy

Why? These books totally transported me to a fantasy world from very long ago and far way.

James Clavell’s “Shogun” and “Tai Pan”

Why? These two books totally transported me to a land from long ago and far away.

Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation Trilogy

Why: This series of books (and others in the “Foundation” series) totally transported me to worlds far into the future and very far away.

One-To-Three Photo Processing Challenge — June, 2024

For this monthly prompt from Kate at XingfuMama, the idea is to pick a photo we want to play with and process it using three different methods.

Just FYI, all processed photos in this post were made using apps available for the iPhone at Apple’s App Store. Also, all images, including the original, were resized (shrunk) to make them quicker to load (and to take up less space in my WordPress media folder).

This photo was taken this past Memorial Day just after my wife and I set up an inflatable bounce house for our grandchildren to use during a backyard family barbecue. The grandkids loved it.

What I liked about this photo is the bright, colorful nature of it and I thought I’d play with it using different image processing apps.

Original Photo

Processed using the Prisma app.

Processed using the Waterbrush app.

Processed using the BeCasso app.

Which image do you like best?

Judy’s Numbers Game — #24

Judy Dykstra-Brown has come up with a weekly prompt that she calls “The Numbers Game.” This week’s number is 145. To play along, we need to go to our media/photo file and type that number into the search bar. Then post a selection of the photos we find under that number and include a link to our post back to Judy’s Numbers Game post of the week.

Here’s my collection of photos based upon “145.” All of the photos below have appeared in my blog posts. Some are photos posted by other bloggers as photo prompts. Some are screenshots or photos that I took. A few may have been generated by AI art apps, but most are photos I grabbed from free photo sources like Pixabay, Pexels, Pinterest, Unsplash, or Google photos.

Click on any photo to enlarge.

Share Your World — 06/03/2024

Share Your World

Di, at Pensitivity101, is our host for Share Your World each week. Here are her questions for this week.

1. Have you ever wanted to be famous?

Sure. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a movie star and/or a professional baseball player. When I had an opportunity to be a radio disk jockey one summer, I had hoped it might lead to one day becoming a well-known DJ. I tried my hand at writing a novel, imagining myself as a best-selling author. Or maybe I could be a journalist with my own byline. Of course, these days with all of the social media sites and 24×7 “news” coverage, I take comfort in being a private citizen.

2.  Have you met any celebrities?

Back in 1985, I was in Los Angeles on business and after my meeting ended, I went to the parking garage to get my car and to head to the airport for my flight back to Boston. There was a man standing in front of me waiting for his car and he looked very familiar. I must have been staring at him and was about to ask him if he was OJ Simpson, who, at the time, was well known for being a college and professional football star and for running through airports in Hertz rental car commercials. But before I could get the words out, he looked at me, smiled, and said, “Yes, I’m OJ. Do you want my autograph?”

“Sure,” I said. I opened up my briefcase, pulled out a notebook and handed it to him. He asked me my name and then he wrote a personalized note to me and signed it.

Wow, what a great guy OJ Simpson is, I thought. Then his Bentley pulled up and he stepped inside and was about to take off. “Wait, OJ!” I shouted. He lowered the window and looked at me. It was a few weeks before the Super Bowl game between the New England Patriots and the Chicago Bears and I asked him who he thought would win. He said, “Bet on the Patriots,” and then raised his window and pulled away.

I did bet on the Patriots. The Bears won big! Thanks a lot, OJ. Thanks for nothing.

Nine years later this incredibly nice man stabbed his wife to death.

3. Has anyone ever asked you for your autograph?

All the time. When I write a check to someone they often ask for my autograph. When I make a large purchase, like a house or a car, I am required to put my autograph on it. Legal documents, like my living will or revocable trust on my home or my medical DNR have to have my autograph. So it’s a relatively frequent request.

4.  Is there a celebrity you wish to have met/meet?

Not really. I’m beyond the stage in life where spending time with a celebrity is important to me. I’d rather be with my grandkids.

JYProvocative Question #34 — Automomous Vehicles

Our host for the weekly provocative question challenge is Jewish Young Professional, aka JYP. She pointed out that this past Friday was National Autonomous Vehicles Day and asked us:

What are your thoughts on autonomous vehicles?

Let me first say that when it comes to driving, I’m a bit of a control freak. When I’m in the car, I have to be driving. If I’m a passenger in a car, I get very nervous. I feel like I’m putting my life in someone else’s hands, and I don’t like it. It takes all of my self control to not be continually criticizing the way the driver is driving.

So to leave the driving to an autonomous vehicle equipped with cameras and technology but no human driver is not something I have any interest in doing. All it would take is a close call where another driver does something stupid and I’m sure I would jump behind the wheel and take control of the vehicle.

I’m old, and at some point in the foreseeable future, the Department of Motor Vehicles might refuse to renew my driver’s license due to my age. My wife doesn’t like to drive, so she may not serve as a good backup plan. So when the point comes when I can no longer legally drive, I may have to take taxis or engage Uber or Lyft to get me where I need to go.

In the meantime, as long as I have a choice between having a human driver and an autonomous vehicle with no human driver, I will always choose the former. If it ever gets to the point where there is no choice, well, with any luck, I’ll be dead by then.