Hey aye

 Have you got your head around AI yet? It does seem to be everywhere. Can we be sure what we see or read or hear is real or computer generated.

I started listening to an audio book but it was immediately obvious that it was not a real person reading it, though the voice may have been synthesised from a real voice. What gave it away was the phrasing. I persisted for a few minutes to see if it would improve but it didn't and was very irritating and unnatural.

If you haven't seen Count Arthur Strong - Doctor Two, please look for it and the part where he delivers his lines in Doctor Who - "it's outside my..." and you will get an understanding of the AI phrasing of the story.

But who knows where AI will get to? Does AI know?

Shingled out

 There is a lot of chicken pox going around the local schoolchildren at the moment, on top of which I had a second shingles jab.

My goodness the next day I had a bad reaction and felt quite poorly and for a couple of days after. I can only imagine that if I had got shingles proper, I would have got it very badly so despite all the bad press about vaccines I am grateful that I should now be protected.

All this time on from the COVID lockdowns etc and the world does seem to have gone downhill very rapidly in so many ways. If it is part of a masterplan, it needs to be scrapped but it is probably too late.

Triple and more, glazing

 I thought that I would try a different technique with acrylic paints. Firstly I painted the scene that I wanted then set about overpainting with thinned down paint layers on top. 

It's the first time that I have tried this method. I am unsure if it makes a real and improved difference, perhaps I am being too impatient before putting the next layer on. 

I think that I will paint another scene and do half glazed and leave the other half. I suspect that it would be more effective with oil paints.

Spud I like

 Different parts of the world make the most of local staple produce whether it is rice, maize etc. But for the UK it has to be the potato. Not originally a native plant but now well established as a must have.

It would be hard to pick a favourite way of cooking as they all have their place alongside the rest of the food on the plate. Chips, roast, jacket, and boiled potatoes, crisps, gnocchi and have you tried potato based pizza - well worth a go. The gluten free flour I use has potato flour/starch in it too.

Favourite potato meal would have to be (gluten free) fish and chips. Unfortunately the gf fish batter has gram flour in it which I can't tolerate.

But a good roast potato is a real treat, though you do need the right variety and fat to cook them in.

Lilac whine

 Doing some gardening, I had previously dug out a lilac tree that was getting too large for the spot it was in.

What I didn't realise was how many shoots and suckers that a lilac sends out. It is quite an invasive plant. Lilac is lovely but the flowers don't last long enough for it to warrant a space due to its eventual size.

Hold on to your hats

 Another day, another hysterical warning for strong winds. Have the media become deranged because storms are now given a name. Or is it that naming a storm shows that the media is infantile?

The media advise to keep dogs on a lead in the forthcoming tornadoes. What? And see them lift off the ground to be strangled? My goodness. 

Another day another atrocity in the news about hatred and violence towards women and children. Although derived from different sources it seems no surprise that the words vile and evil are anagrams of each other. 

You are under a vest

I have never had thermal clothing before, preferring to layer up. But recently I got a thermal vest and what a difference it makes.

If you have any money left over, I would advise you to invest in a vest/leggings/socks/gloves etc whatever takes your fancy. It really has made a noticeable difference to me. If you have heart problems it is important to keep warm in this colder weather.