Category: Cool Stuff On The Internet

Things that interest me, inspired me, made me laugh, or taught me something.

I’m fascinated by this AI music video

Carl Setzer1 Comment
stylized ai typography on pink background

I often listen to these AI-generated tracks. I find them soothing. Many of the videos, though, are wild in their AI mistakes/hallucinations. I’ve seen boats and airplanes zooming backwards, people walking through walls, each other, all kinds of things. At least once, a person launched upwards into the air, up into the sky. Now, this one below is interesting as the subject remains pretty still (he is supposed to be a whirling dervish, though), but this cloud of sand billows out from his stationary feet. Besides that, I find the colors rich and vibrant, the details nice, but the billowing sand is…odd.

Anyway, I hope your Wednesday was fantastic and that your June is off to a good start.

A Bit Of Wisdom

Carl Setzer2 Comments
close up photography of owl

I identify with this far more than I should admit. Anyway, this dude’s beard is pretty epic, too. Anyway….

It is interesting, as I look back, how important being “cool” was. Way back. And how that’s pretty much completely faded. Maturity, I suppose. Or just exhaustion. I have the bandwidth for that bull$!*t.

Ah, the Oatmeal!

Carl Setzer

I’ve long been a fan of the Oatmeal. Sometimes crass, sometimes disturbing, sometimes thought-provoking, and always funny.

This one speaks to me and my overactive mind. Perhaps a bit too well. I guess it’s good to be seen. I guess.

Tonight’s Haiku

Carl Setzer3 Comments

the bumblebee lives
underneath the same sunlight
as the hummingbird

Some Podcast Fun For Your Listening Pleasure!

Carl Setzer
greyscale photography of condenser microphone

I’ve long been a fan of Wil Wheaton. So it was pretty delightful to get the email (that’s how I consume most of my blog posts right now) letting me/us know that he was on the Katee Sackhoff podcast. Which got a “wait, what!?! Katee Sackhoff has a podcast? Man, it really bugs me that I missed that. However, I don’t really follow her, so I guess I can excuse myself. I have fixed that, though, by subscribing.

Now, I’ve been aware of Katee for years. I remember back in 2003 the launch of the new Battlestar Galactica, and the furor/uproar/noise about Starbuck being a woman! In my circle of geeky friends, I seemed to be one of the few unbothered at all by that. Mostly, I like to see what the creators create. I really liked this Starbuck! I thought she was an amazing, dynamic, complex, and interesting character. (*Sidenote: in hindsight, the character that should’ve caused the most consternation was Commander Adama, who was NOT even close to the Lorne Greene character.) And I love the character Bo Katan from Clone Wars and The Mandalorian.

I thought she did an amazing job as host. Guiding the discussion just enough to keep things moving (Wil did a nice job as a guest, too) without tripping over her guest. They clearly value each other, treat each other with grace and respect. It was just so delightful.

Wil was on to promote his new podcast “It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton“. Now, I need to confess that I haven’t listened to any episodes yet. Que a whiny “there’s so much content…” bit. I had every intention of changing that state. However, I feel the need to move the timeline up on that. Yeah, the reason I pushed this podcast to “I need to listen to this…today…” was simply having two people who I value together. Those sorts of alignments need to be celebrated.

I’ll post when I’ve given Mr. Wheaton’s project a listen. Hey, let me know: have you listened yet? What do you think?

Some Random Observations

Carl Setzer1 Comment
road landscape person grass

Well, it’s the last day of April. So now we move past April showers into May flowers, right?

Anyway, Pinterest dished up some fun images today that I wanted to share.

As many of you know, I love cycling. This little collection of drawings delighted me deeply.

And I’ve felt the delight of this one:

This was from an ad, but really felt cool. When I was living the hardcore “bike life”, u-locks were a bit of a pain to manage. I either had mine tucked in a backpack or mounted to my downtube. Neither were optimal. Then I came across one of these:

I would’ve LOVED this back in the day!

Seeing this makes me miss those days and make me want to up my biking game.

Now for a wee shift. I found this motivational statement that deeply resonates with me.

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a fantastic last day of April and launch into a May that meets all your needs and drives you forward.

AI Generated Island Vibes

Carl Setzer

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 algorithm 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.

It’s National Library Workers Day

Carl Setzer
National Library Workers Day

A blog I follow, “The Poetry Department”, posted this note about National Library Workers Day. I deeply value libraries as well as those who keep them running. So, I urge you to honor a library worker in your life.

Ways of Making Tea

Carl Setzer

I love tea, and I have a particular fondness for English (or Irish, or Welsh) breakfast teas. Once (ages ago) I was lectured by a British chap about the proper way to make tea (and how I was NOT doing so). Therefore, this xkcd was perfect.

I’ve been a fan of this comic for ages. I’m sure I shared from them before, but thought I’d highlight a few of my favorites. And, if you haven’t, encourage you to follow them.

Here are my two favorite comics (and this is a solid tie):

and this one…

So, I hope you enjoyed and consider giving them a follow.