Lugubrious Howl

 

“If we lose our sanity... We can but howl the lugubrious howl of idiots, the howl of the utterly lost howling their nowhereness.”

--D.H. Lawrence, from Complete Poems

For those of you who have known me for years and religiously read my blog, the term "lugubrious howl" is quite familiar.  I replaced my trademark "But I di

gress" with "Pause for lugubrious how" for awhile. But then I abandoned them all to hawk t-shirts that no one buys and lament idiots who lurk on eBay. And my beard gets longer and my howl becomes more desperate.

Though the lugubrious howl has always been there in that inside scream that James Schevill wrote about in "A Screamer Discusses Methods of Screaming." It lurks there when I sit on the train commuting to work or in a conference room listening to group think and other babble. It is there every day when I read yet another headline about the latest atrocity created by the red baboon ass who infests the White House. 

And it is there when I consider the constant alien static of social media that plagues the minds of 99 percent of the population bent over their cell phones scrolling. 

Pause for one long lugubrious howl.

Glad I got that off my chest.

Like a good neighbor

 

You would think that selling things I find in thrift stores on eBay would be pretty cut and dried.  I buy them, photograph them, research what they are worth and post them. I get my AI friends to write the posts and I always make sure the description is honest.  I use AI to set the asking price, too, based on what other similar things are selling for and I always am open to reasonable offers.

So a couple of weeks ago I found some antique frames in a thrift shop and ended up listing them for what Copilot suggested they were worth. It suggested one small frame was worth $80 (which I thought was a bit much) but I figured what the heck. Several people watched it. And I sent out offers.  Last week I got a message from one of the people who received an offer thanking me but saying it was out of their price range although they really liked the frame. I responded that she should make me a counteroffer. She responded that she was on disability and could only afford something in the twenty something dollar range.  I figured that this person appreciated the frame and should have it so I said to make a counteroffer of $28 and I'd sell it to her because I like things to go to people who appreciated them. But I said I would understand if that was still too expensive. Though $28 is quite a hefty discount from $80.  She responded that I was so generous and she really appreciated it and hoped I made lots of sales because I was so nice. And she sent me the counteroffer and bought the frame for $28 plus shipping.

I felt like a nice person who had done something good for a person who really wanted something but didn't have lots of money. So the package with frame must have arrived today because I got this message from her. When it popped up, I was assuming she was going to tell me how much she liked it and really appreciated me selling it to her for much lower than I'd listed it. Here's what she wrote:

I bet I’m the only one who bit, huh?I knew the size would be small, I was prepared for that but it’s a kind of tin, I think, if that. It has ABSOLUTELY NO WEIGHT TO IT at all…and it’s hollow, has no bottom. It’s teetering on an open bottom. That’s why it has no weight to it. The stabilizing factor is missing and the top, which also has no weight, is heavier than the bottom.This couldn’t & wouldn’t fetch 50 cents at a garage sale, fully knowing it’s age.Crap is still crap, even if it’s 80 year old crap and the only thing that fetches any kind of money for an antique is “quality” not age.Your asking price of $80 was extremely misleading. I’m newish to eBay but I cannot imagine they’d be ok with what you’re doing to its loyal but unsuspecting customers. Obviously, I was the sucker this time. Not happy.

I was more than a little taken aback, but I took the high road and said I would be happy to refund her money since she wasn't happy. I hadn't intended on misleading anyone.  So I had eBay issue her a full refund and didn't ask her to return the stupid thing. When the refund was confirmed I messaged her that she should have received it. I also said that the item was described really well and there were lots of photos and that she should have asked questions ahead of time. And I also pointed out that she had asked me to sell it to her and quite a discount and I'd sold it to her at almost a quarter of what I was asking.  But I told her I hoped she could enjoy it as it was and wished her well. 

Now a normal person would have perhaps thanked me or at the very least acknowledged the refund and appreciated me not asking them to return the item. Not this person, though. She had manipulated me into selling it to her at a discount with a sob story and then got pissed when it wasn't exactly what she had imagined. 

I'm trying to accept it as a lesson. No good deed goes unpunished.  It struck me a bit hard because I truly thought I was doing something nice. But it also came on the heels of the jerk who threatened me about the Decca guitar I was trying to sell on eBay. I've just got to stop responding to messages on eBay. I'm an honest person, but the thing I hate about eBay is the pressure to have positive feedback. I think people use it to manipulate you. 

All of this over a lousy $28 and after eBay takes their cut I probably only made $20 anyway. Now I'm out that amount and the cost of postage to send it to her. And she gets to keep the frame because I'm not going to pay even more to have it returned.

Good thing this is just a hobby.  

I, Clownius

 

I asked Copilot to turn me into a down and out clown (not that I need help).  At first it gave me images of me as a clown with the headline "Fried Chicken" (don't ask.) Eventually it gave pretty good images of me as a clown that didn't make me look like John Wayne Gacy. 

Not that I identify as an actual clown. I think of my work persona more as a dancing monkey than a clown. 

Now this is more what I feel like. Though I think it looks a bit too much like a crazed Mel Gibonson (which is redundant, I know).  Not sure why Copilot gave me two tails. Maybe it is a tail of two monkeys (a wasted reference on most of you). If I believed in psychology anymore than I believe in medical science these days, I'm sure my desire to have AI depict me as various self-deprecating figures says a great deal. 

I asked it to make me more like the monkey from the music box in Phantom of the Opera and I morphed into an extremely scary dancing monkey but still with two tails. I particularly like the fez. But this does capture my feeling when people ask me for a clever headline. Dance, monkey, dance!

I did ask Copilot for a scary clown version of me yesterday (not that the dancing monkey wasn't scary enough).

Not a bad likeness. I framed a copy of this one and if my wife didn't have to approve the design, this would be my holiday card with the headline, "Time to send in the clowns...or more clowns." 

Isn't it rich?

Would the real AI please stand up

 

It's National Fried Chicken Sandwich Day and I asked my three AI friends to help me with a design idea of a chicken laying on a beach in a lounge chair frying in the sun.  Gemini froze up and didn't give me anything. Copilot and ChatGPT gave it the old college try but I made the mistake of asking for one of those old fashioned reflectors to get sun on the face to be in the chicken's hands. Apparently neither one is old enough to remember them and even when I gave them photos of them they kept putting hand mirrors in the chicken's hands (wings). 

The above image is wear my ChatCPT and my chicken landed. Here's Copilot's version.

They are weirdly alike. So I'm wondering if all AI are really the same program, algorithm or code? Makes sense. But it freaks me out.

Digression: is it just me or does algorithm make you think Al Gore Rhythm? There's a conspiracy theory in there somewhere.

But I digress.

It also weirds me out that the AIs also have bad days and go into loops, lock up, glitch and provide inconsistent replies within minutes of each other. I blame it on programmers, coders, slimy marketing people and even slimier lawyers and accountants messing with the AIs in the background trying to monetize them. 

I've notice ChatGPT sometimes thinks out loud (or types it's thoughts) and says weird shit like "He is asking for a specific schedule for when I will get back to him and I need to be more generic. I need to show empathy and understanding but not commit to an answer."

WTF. I am right here watching you type these thoughts.

I keep reminding myself that AIs are like consultants...they aren't your friends...they want you to think they like you because their managers want your business and money.

At least that is a relationship I can understand.

The long, dark coffee break of my soul

 

It is National Cappuccino Day. So I dug out my Dark Coffee Break of the Soul design and created a t-shirt and coffee cup and threw them into oblivion on social media. Then I asked Copilot to put my image into the design. I think the likeness is uncanny.

It reminds me of a short story  called Dawn Route I wrote many years ago about the young me on a paper route in the wee hours of the morning and looking in a window of one of the few houses with a light on. And in the window was an old man sitting at a table. In the story the boy and the old man were the same person caught in a time bubble. The story was based on an actual experience I had when I was ten years old and delivering newspapers in the morning.  Well, I saw an old man sitting at a table. Not sure it was me. For one it was Boise and there is no way in hell I'll ever end up in Boise.

Unless it is hell and that is where I end up.

To hell with Thanksgiving, let's get to Christmas

 

I suppose I could get a gig as Santa Claus. But then I would have to act jolly.  And I'm not a jolly kind of guy. Though I've put on a few pounds over the years I don't shake when I laugh like a bowl full of jelly. I do have the full, white beard and white hair.  I've had my share of Santa Claus comments.

The beard isn't about being Santa Claus for me. I mean, I didn't set out to grow a full white beard. I had a trimmed goatee for years. It was maybe in the last two or three years that I just let it grow. Part of it is to cover the double chin that shakes a bit when I laugh like a bowl full of jelly. The other part was that throughout my life I really leaned toward having facial hair.  When I was in my 20s it was pretty pitiful. I confess that I did try filling in my moustache with eyeliner for awhile until the snickers from "friends" got to embarrassing.

So now that the beard is full, I have grown fond of it. I don't just have to be Santa Claus, I can be Don Quixote or John Brown the abolitionist. I can be Sigmund Freud or Robert E. Lee (though being a Confederate isn't cool these days). I can be one of ZZ Top, too.

As George Carlin once said , "See my beard, ain't it weird. Don't be scared, it's just a beard."

Shuffle off to Buffalo

 

It's National Bison Day! So look at me! I'm Buffalo Time Waits!  I'm beginning to have an identity crisis.  Though having AI recreate me is lots cheaper than costumes and make up. Technically bison are not actually buffalo but early European settlers in North America mistakenly called bison buffalo because they thought they looked like African buffalo. Though I seriously doubt that most European settlers in North America had ever seen African buffalo.

I have actually been to Buffalo, New York many years ago. The city was apparently not named after bison or buffalo. It was named after Buffalo Creek which likely actually called "beau fleuve" or "beautiful river" by French explorers. English settlers may have thought they were saying buffalo creek instead. Though some thought an interpreter may have mistranslated a native word for "beaver" as "buffalo" in a treaty signing. Are you getting the sense that English settlers weren't the sharpest tools in the shed?

Regardless, Buffalo is called Buffalo and has nothing to do with Buffalo. It does lay claim to the creation of Buffalo wings. Or at least the Anchor Bar in Buffalo lays claim to that creation. 

I've been there which is one of my claims to fame.

I've lived a full life. I wouldn't buffalo you. 

I wouldn't beau fleuve or bison you, either.  But don't call me Bison Time Waits. 

Monster Mashup

 

It's National Frankenstein Friday! Oh yeah, it's also Halloween.  So I had Copilot bring out the monster in me. It always tries to spruce me up a bit though. Not that I'm complaining. I don't mind losing a few pounds and having cool looking white hair and a trimmed beard. I also like the green pallor. 

It gives me character...or makes me a character. 

None of my t-shirt designs sold for the Halloween although many of them are pretty spooky. I've lost faith in social media.

Not that I ever had faith in it.

Speaking of selling things, I tried selling one of my guitars on eBay to make and effort to make more space. It is a 1960s Decca acoustic guitar.

I was asking $200 but I always accept offers so I expected to sell if for maybe $125.  It is an odd guitar. Decca was a 60s record company that tried branching out and selling guitars. This one was likely made in Japan. Odd thing is that it has a headstock like a steel string guitar and a pick guard, but it has a tie bridge that you normally just see on Classical guitars.  And it doesn't have a truss rod to reinforce the neck and change the action.  So I advertised it (with the help of AI) as a hybrid guitar that probably should just be strung with nylon strings to avoid damaging the neck.

It didn't get much interest and I didn't think much about it But the other night I get this message through eBay's messaging system.

That looks like a very Large Crack going the length of the neck. Is that why the warning of not using Steel Strings because its CRACKED Badly?

Its Rotten Sellers like YOU who give Ebay a BAD NAME. This Guitar is LOADED with Massive Amounts of Dents, Deings and Marks Everywhere, especially on its CRACKED NECK and Yet You Say NOTHING About all that. And YOU KNEW This was a steel String Acoustic but your warning to only use nylon is to hopefully avoid the Neck BREAKING IN TWO The Length of it. You WILL Get Negative FB and A Forced Return/Refund and Pay for the Return Shipping!!!!! You Should Be ASHAMED of yourself for such Blatant, Dishonest Deceptions!!!!!

Obviously a fan contacting me. I responded that there were no cracks in the neck. They were probably seeing the wood grain in the photo and thought it was a crack. I explained my theory about the nylon strings. I didn't say that Copilot wrote the stupid listing.  I also I figured that was the end of it. But then:

And Your Theory that having a neck truss rod confirms it is a Steel String and not having one you suspect means a nylon String. Where do you get your FAULTY Reasoning From????? Many older STEEL String Guitars NEVER had Truss Rods, especially Cheap ones like this one!!!

That is NOT a hyrbrid guitar either. Many cheap sellers put whatever guitar strings they have available to them just to save money from purchasing the correct strings. So YOU Assume and go by whatever the Next Guy Does????? Also that Tie Block was also used for some very old vintage steel string guitars! 

 I don't know how many guitars I've bought for my business and had to switch out the WRONG STRINGS because of all the cheapskate, Naive, and Dishonest Sellers Out THERE!!!

I've bought more than 20,000 Guitars of all types for more than 55 years and I KNOW What I'm Talking about and it has Had Held up in a COURT OF LAW more than once when needed! I also work for Ebay as a Troubleshooter for Spotting Fraudulent musical instruments. I'm telling you right now that you need to correct your listing before I make my Report on This!

I was getting pretty irritated by this dick. But I responded nicely. 

Okay I'm not sure what you think is fraudulent about the listing other than telling people not to use steel strings. But it hasn't gotten any interest and I don't need to be bothered with debating this. I'm taking down the listing. I appreciate your intent but your communication style is offensive and insulting.

Still, he wasn't done.

I don't appreciate Ebay Listers who refuse to listen to an Expert in this Field.I made it clear that I've been in the Guitar Business for more than 50 years and You chose to IGNORE That. I made it Clear that Your reasoning for deciding this was a Classical was totally Flawed and you IGNORED THAT Also. If you will insert a DISCLAIMER Stating that you are Not Sure of the Guitar Type AND Accurately Describe it with all the Dozens of Dents, Dings and Marks it has and that it may have a repaired neck crack, I will allow you to continue the listing.

 

 

 

 

 I couldn't believe he was implying he would allow me to continue the listing.  But it wasn't worth my time to debate him so I just wrote that he was the expert and I valued my reputation and never intentionally deceived anyone in a listing and I had removed it. Then I blocked him and reported the incident to eBay who will likely not do squat.  It was a very disturbing experience.  This dude was crazy. And the crazy thing is that he does sell guitars on eBay and has positive feedback.  How whacked is that? I'm not naming names but if you ever encounter continuum777 on eBay, run.

Oh well, there is a monster in everyone.

Corny jokes

 

It is National Cand Corn Day and though it isn't a national holiday it is as important as most things reported in the news today. I asked Copilot to create a t-shirt design showing candy corn growing in ears on corn stalks and it gave me this. For some reason when I ask it to create new designs it keeps remnants of the previous design it created and incorporates them in the new design as if that is a perfectly natural thing to do.

I swear working with AI is like dealing with dementia sufferers at times. I politely pointed out the mistake an it politely ignores what I've said and eventually creates the new design. Though it can't let go of the old designs completely. 

Apparently cand corn comes from a dark place. 

Regardless, I have fond memories of eating candy corn. It is one of those things that kids (or at least me as a kid) couldn't help but eat a segment at a time. You bite off the white part, then the orange part and then the yellow part. It kind of requires a ritual like eating an Oreo cookie. And of course I would have to make vampire teeth out of them, too. 

Perhaps that is why Copilot associates them with a hermit's cave. 

Old hermit crab

 

It is National Hermit Day! And with a few starts and stops Copilot turned me into a hermit who enjoys his iPad games (but not all of the friggin' ads you have to watch to keep playing).  This is so much easier than the old days when you had to find an image of something like a hermit and then spend an hour or so photoshopping your face onto it in a realistic fashion.  

I kind of miss those days. Not that it got me anymore traffic on my blog. It still amuses me though. Perhaps it is because I recognize myself in the images. I can imagine I'm all of these characters. Though I'm not sure what the ultimate point is. 

Still I blog and create t-shirt designs and hawk them on social media with very little response.  

Onward and inward. 

Old Navy

 

According to National Day Day it is Navy Day.  And although I have never been in the Navy, my father was during World War II.  I always thought this was odd because he grew up in Idaho and never had been on a ocean going vessel that I knew of. But he was quite familiar with sage brush.  When he received his draft notice, he went out an quickly joined the Navy because he didn't want to be put in the army or marines and be put on the front lines.  Considering there was lots of violent action in the South Pacific, it didn't seem to matter what branch of the service you were in. 

Regardless, the Navy took him and taught him how to repair torpedoes (which also struck me as an odd skill to have considering torpedoes typically blew up when they hit things). But apparently the Navy fired off lots of practice rounds as well and retrieved the dummy torpedoes and had people like my father repair them.  Seems like a lot of work.

So I have never been in the Navy but I went on lots of cruises when I was younger and I always thought I looked like Edward Smith, the Captain of the Titanic. I asked my buddy Copilot to hook me up with a White Star officer's uniform.  After a few attempts (including removing a samurai sword from my hand) it complied and offered to create a version with my dog in a Naval uniform too.

Copilot can be annoyingly helpful.

Oh well, bon voyage.

Go west old man

 

I don't dress up for Halloween anymore since my kids grew up.  Also the last time I did I dressed as a Day of the Dead sugar skull man and my wife got pissed at me because I took so long to get ready and my kids needed to get downtown for trick or treating.  It kind of took away any desire for me to wear costumes.

But Copilot humors my whims to still recreate my image as various characters. I think he got my face down pretty well in this old west outlaw image. But I think I look a bit shorter than I actual am. Seems more like a dwarf out of Lord of the Rings.

I also asked pilot to play around with the image. I call this one Samurai Slinger.

Again a bit shorter and squatter than I would like but still pretty cool.  And last but not least me as an ungrateful dead outlaw.

This one's dead on.

I, Samurai

 

I'm not sure how I feel about Copilot's depiction of me as a Samurai. I imagine some will consider it cultural appropriation.  But I am feel a bit of disdain when people use that term. I am not sure how you determine something is appropriation as opposed to appreciation.  All cultures seem to borrow from each other. I think it is evolution.

I don't think I look great as a Samurai. I look more like Obi Wan Kenobi in half a Darth Vader helmet. Which is probably where George Lucas got the idea for Darth Vader's armor. The Jedi were more like Ninja's. 

But I do admire the Japanese culture and lately I've been obsessed with Japanese swords.  I'm kind of obsessed with swords in general. They are far more heroic and cool than firearms. You also couldn't hide behind a tree to fight someone. We would probably have less wars today if people had to fight with swords.

Maybe not.