The evening before yesterday, I finally managed to refurbish some of the skills I used to possess in getting various photo collections online in the form that I wanted. I do have a book which I call ‘What I have learnt today’ and in this book, I document any procedures that I have used in the past but some details may have been forgotten in the meanwhile. By consulting this book, I managed to ascertain that the website that I used both to resize and also to label photos is still in operation as well as another website useful for cropping photos and these websites are now safely stored in some bookmarks for when I need them next. I also succeeded in ensuring that all of the photos that had taken of the cat that used to visit me (Miggles) are all now resized in the same aspect ratio as the originals and this means that I can now give my friend with whom I was in email contact recently the link to the website that displays the photos. I must say that messing about with photograph collections can suck time out of you, particularly if you do it irregularly and forget some of the key details. The email client that I use allows one to store photographs in the webspace that they provide and, in theory, these are available to be viewed either as a film strip or as a slideshow. Some photos I have uploaded in the past are shown in one mode and some in another so I need to do a certain amount of fiddling about and experimentation to get things the way that I actually want them. Actually, my email client webspace reveals some quite interesting historic family photos but I need to get these displaying a slideshow mode before I can construct a website that would tie them all together into one access URL. I think that the younger generation probably just take a photo and then make it available on Facebook without all of the messing about with which I am currently engaged. But I have no desire or intention to use Facebook in this particular way, particularly as one’s security details are always potentially at risk. There is a huge row going at the moment because Elon Musk’s ‘X’ social media (formerly Twitter) is now giving users to opportunity to undress and then to publish photos using some of the latest artificial intelligence models. The British government is pushing back quite vigorously against this development but is being accused of ‘Fascism’ and ‘denying the rights to free speech’ by Elon Musk and the ‘X’ corporation, even though these developments are evidently falling foul of the latest and still rather weak legislation in the Online Safety Act, passed in 2023 but already being overtaken by the marches of technology. In theory, the whole of ‘X’ could be banned in the UK but no government wants to take on the media giants such as Musk who now possess enormous social and political as well as economic power. I am sure that the average users of ‘X’ have no real idea of the uses to which their data will be put once they have been seduced in parting with some of their personal data which can then be manipulated or abused in all kinds of ways. Savvy parents may try and shield their adolescent offspring from these dangers but they are no match for the huge corporations that now dominate the social media scene.
My son called around this morning and he was a welcome visitor as I had not had any social contacts over the weekend, as the bad weather had put paid to some plans that we had to have a meal together over the weekend. At the end of the morning, I attended my Pilates class but it proved to be rather a sad occasion as one of our ‘old faithfuls’ is leaving us to go and live near to her daughter in Dorset, I believe. This makes a total of four of my acquaintances and near neighbours who are selling up to live nearer to their daughters, and all of this is quite understandable, of course but it is always an occasion of sadness when a long-established friend moves away. It was raining hard when I attended my Plates class but upon my return I cooked myself a lunch of quiche and readily steamed vegetables, before continuing working on getting some of my software to work to provide me with rolling displays of some of my collections of photographs. This contained some sources of frustration as some of my collections of photos give me a wonderful rolling display but others do not and I cannot work out why the same software appears to act inconsistently. I struggled it with a bit more in the evening having thought that I had discovered a ‘work around’ solution only ultimately to be thwarted.
We have seen some interesting political news domestically as the former Chancellor (for a few days), Nadhim Zahawi, has now defected to the Reform party. Normally, the defection of a big scalp like this would be seen as a source of celebration but this is not the case today and reaction has been decided mixed. This is because of the move made by Zahari is being perceived as naked political opportunism, devoid of any ideology and only reinforces the nation that firstly, Zahari is only looking after himself and that secondly Reform is becoming a resting place for ‘spent’ Tories. Reform are finding that now having a prominent place in local government is no bed of roses as they are having to manage services which have to be provided by law but with a funding regime that has been systematically squeezed over the years. Interestingly, Reform-led councils seem to be putting up council tax at the same rate as other political parties and this calls to mind the aphorism of a prominent American politician of the 19th century that one ‘campaigns in poetry but has to govern in prose’. On the subject of politics, there is now almost daily speculation in the liberal American media about the state of Trump’s mental acuity which seems to be declining fast. He was asked by a fairly friendly reporter when each member of the American public was going to get the $1,000 that he promised as a’bonus’ coming from the tariffs he as imposed. Trump had apparently forgotten that he had made the promise and it is quite evident that it is not going to be honoured. Trump is quite notorious in constantly changing his mind according to the last person that has spoken with him so even close allies are having to factor in that what Trump may promise today may well have been forgotten about by tomorrow.