Author: Carl Setzer

A blogger blogging from just north of Seattle.

AI Generated Island Vibes

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I have a fondness for YouTube music videos and often play them in the background while I’m working. Lately, I’ve been feeling island vibes, so that’s what I’ve been choosing. Today, this one rolled into my algorythim and, well, AI is struggling.

The music is fine, pretty much spot on for my mood. But the video, though…oh my! We have cliffs that move into each other, and then fade away, boats just appearing in bays, a speed boat zipping across the sky, and my favorite: two party boats, one of which is speeding backwards with another boat, right off the stern, moving at the same speed but sideways. Ah, physics!

So, AI is pretty amazing and has a lot to offer, but it’s not quite ready to take over the world.

Some thoughts on cycling

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I found this gem here on Pinterest.

Some of you may know that for a good chunk of my life, I was a rather militant cyclist. I lived downtown Seattle (properly, on Capitol Hill and First Hill) for the better part of a decade without owning a car. I really loved living life this way…mostly. After a few painful altercations with cars, though, I stepped away from this path. But bikes hold a dear place in my heart. So this cartoon resonates with me. I still ride, just not as much. And I’m a bit more humble of an environmentalist.

I hold some cycling aspirations. RAGBRAI, for instance, sounds like a blast! Part of me has long wanted to ride the STP (Seattle to Portland), but it seems, shall we say, antithetical to introverts. Of course, the same can be said for RAGBRAI.

This sentiment delights me (some people suppress their inner child; I got mine a bicycle). Are there any comics/graphics that speak loudly to you?

PS: here’s the link to the artist’s page. He doesn’t seem to have updated it since 2017, but there’s plenty of fun cycle-centric comics here.

Some Monday morning wisdom for you

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low section of man against sky
Big thoughts ep. 16: Resilience

I’ve been meditating on things like growth, effectiveness, and what makes a good life. Elena’s post offers some great insights into resilience, which I’ve come to believe is a central component to all of those things. One key thing, for me, is staying focused when I come against obstacles. Part of me expects “the right path” to be frictionless. If there are challenges, well, I must have chosen wrong. And, though I know that’s wrong. Really, it’s a rather foolish and damaging mindset. I’m good about keeping that at bay, but, man it raises up ugly sometimes.

So, I appreciate the reminder of what resilience is and it’s importance to a well-lived life. And I recommend going and reading her post.

Today’s Haiku

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haiku text: clouds dancing, moving to the north, healing spring rains.

This is a photo I took a few weeks ago on my Google Pixel, and the post below (Instagram) inspired me to write something today:

(third photo on the carousel)

It’s funny to me how I feel compelled to justify my work, my writing, photography, poetry. Really, I’m supposed to monetize EVERYTHING! If it’s not generating income, or promoting my business, then I shouldn’t do it. However, I know, in my heart, that I need to create stuff.

I feel compelled to post daily, but I’m hamstrung by the needs above, as well as the larger issues of imposter syndrome and all that.

So, I took the photo above and added the haiku in Canva. I do enjoy that, but I think I need to explore other tools besides Canva. Heck, maybe I need to start doing these in Photoshop again. Get those skills back up.