A.C. Flory's Blog, page 10

Aussie political humour with bite

I’ll start by apologising to all non-Australians for the language, but this is the irreverent Aussie culture that I love. Oh, and the video is not what it seems.

cheers,
Meeks

Your brain, as you’ve never seen it before

I just stumbled across this Short on Youtube and it literally blew my mind:

THIS is why we have to keep learning new things as we age. That brain cell made a new connection…it grew! Break out and do something new today.

hugs,
Meeks

Australia – Foodbank appeal

I donated, not much, because the pension doesn’t go very far these days, but I couldn’t sit down to a meal knowing so many others are going hungry.

My thanks to the Offspring for telling me about this appeal. I knew there was a Foodbank, but I didn’t know how many people it feeds, or how great the need is.

I’m writing this post for those, like me, who also don’t know but would donate if they did.

The true measure of Aussie culture is not our larrikin humour or our talent at sports, it’s how we stick up for others. It’s the heart that turns the ‘fair go’ into a reality.

Let’s make sure that no one goes hungry today. Or tomorrow. Or on Christmas day.

hugs,
Meeks

The Six

I’ve been working on a full body graphic of the Six – one of the main characters of Vokhtah. Making it look as if it really is flying was hard, so…I’m showing off a bit:

The Six looking down at the ground as it flies over a Tukti mound.

I’ve turned comments off. Have a wonderful weekend.

Meeks

An unexpected little ‘miracle’

I just bought one of Cathy Cade’s books on amazon.com, so I thought I’d checkout my own books, as you do… -cough- Well, despite doing no marketing of any sort for a shamefully long time, today was my day for little miracles; I found this fabulous review of The Vintage Egg:

‘MacTrish

5.0 out of 5 stars Short but beautifully formed tales of a future we may be facing Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2024

Verified Purchase

This is a delightful and thought-provoking set of six tales set in a future that has forced mankind to avoid the natural world outside. We know this from the opening line:
”Pop! Pop! Pop!” the child shrieked as he came charging in from the main airlock”.
It isn’t clear what has happened, but there is that overarching sense that it’s what happening to our world now, and its climate, that is leading us to this sterile world of the future where the weather is so violent that animals are bred indoors in manufactories.
The book takes current developments in science and technology and projects them as they might be used for our pleasure, health and nutrition a hundred years from now. I found most of this as disturbing as I suspect the author intended it to be.
It’s a future where people game excessively, kill each other for excitement, and lose the will to live.
But not everyone is like this. The opening story and the final one provide hope that we can learn to work with nature instead of against it.
This little treasure of a book is a wake-up call to all of us.’

I haven’t got a clue who MacTrish is, but if you’re reading this…THANK YOU!

cheers,
Meeks

“Over my dead body!”

That is what the mother of inventor, BE Alink, said when she saw ‘old people’ shuffling along with a walking frame. If I’m honest, I’ve thought the same thing about a lot of the things that happen to us as we age: retirement villages, walking frames, crap food, stigma, isolation. I’m not there yet, but if I’m lucky enough to live long enough, it will happen.

So how do you mitigate the disabilities of ageing and keep living…really living?

I think this invention may be part of the answer:

This next video is a talk BE gave about the how behind the Alinker, and it’s all about compassion:

Sorry to flood you guys with so many posts all at once, but this is how and when I discover wonderful things, and wonderful people. Sharing them with you makes me feel as if I’m doing something good for all of us.

cheers,
Meeks

Spiral Tiny Home…I want!!!!

I have always loved curves and spirals, so I was stunned when I came across this Short on Youtube:

But…are these spiral homes real? I recently created a similar build, but in ESO, an online game, so definitely not real. Intrigued, I went searching with Duckduckgo and found:

These Tiered Tiny Homes Are Stacked with Style and Innovation

Having read through the entire article, I was still not sure whether these structures were real or not, so I dug deeper, and on the About page I found the answer:

‘In the age of technology, digital design has become an art form in its own right. By remaining digital, we offer flexibility, allowing for swift iterations and endless customization. Our designs can be adapted, modified, and envisioned in various settings before making the commitment to production – a sustainable approach that minimizes material waste and champions creativity.’

The ‘and envisioned in various settings’ says it all. I’m disappointed that no one has built one of these tiny homes in the real world, but boy, would I love to play with the software that allows Inspiring Designs to create such realistic looking digital models!

cheers,
Meeks

Google doesn’t recognize pseudonyms?

Some of you know me as ‘acflory’, others know me as ‘Meeks’, some even know me as Andrea Flory, but all of you recognize that all three names belong to me. Apparently the AI doing the ‘support’ for Google Play does not.

To recap, in this post, I talked about how hard it was to setup an account with Google Play. From there, I discovered that you have to publish an ebook on Google Play before you can create an auto-narrated audio book of that ebook. And that is the point at which things really went down hill. First, my account was put on hold while a ‘preliminary review’ was carried out. I eventually discovered this could take up to seven days. After waiting patiently – hah – I received an email telling me my account had been ‘disapproved’. WTF?

After much digging I finally worked out that Google Play didn’t think I was who I said I was. So I sent off another email asking what kind of proof I need to satisfy the review. I received a canned response so I figured the one thing that would conclusively prove that I am both Andrea Flory and acflory would be my Thorpe-Bowker account. This is the Australian branch of Bowker and the place from which I’ve always bought my ISBNs. For those new to publishing:

‘An ISBN is essentially a product identifier used by publishers, booksellers, libraries, internet retailers and other supply chain participants for ordering, listing, sales records and stock control purposes. The ISBN identifies the registrant as well as the specific title, edition and format.’ https://www.isbn-international.org/content/what-isbn/10

Please note this bit: ‘The ISBN identifies the registrant as well as the specific title, edition and format.’

This is a screenshot of my email and the attachment I sent to Google Play:

And this is a full screen shot of that attachment:

If you click on the image, you will get a much bigger picture. On that picture can see my full name twice at the top right of the screen. Under the Title column you can see ‘Miira’ along with the ISBN I bought for it from Bowker. Short of giving Google Play my Bowker password, there is no other way I can think of to get them to recognize my ownership of ‘Miira’. Yet despite this, a few hours after I sent off my Bowker proof, I received this email from Google Play:

Apparently, I am still not recognized as both Andrea Flory and acflory. This would be funny if it weren’t so infuriating.

In hindsight, I suspect that what happened was that the review was conducted by an AI/algorithm. It parsed the text in my email but could not decipher the text in the screenshot I sent. A human would have seen that screenshot as a picture of text…and read the text. The AI/algorithm saw only an ‘image’. Therefore there was no proof. Therefore my request was denied. -facepalm-

The question is: how could I have provided any sort of proof when everything is digital? And that question leads to another: why are these reviews not carried out by humans?

To be honest, I’m almost relieved that my account has been deactivated; my only reason for creating it in the first place was to experiment with Google Play’s auto-narrated audio book offering. Experiencing this absolute nonsense has confirmed two things for me: Google is crap, and its AI is literally, stupid.

I’d love to know what all you self-published authors out there think of this ridiculous situation.

cheers,
Meeks aka Andrea Flory aka acflory

p.s. apparently WordPress is messing with things again because I can only add a few tags before it simply deletes whatever I type. I’m just a wee bit…annoyed.

African Elephants, by Robbie Cheadle

Me: Robbie Cheadle is a South African poet, author, artist, and wildlife lover who knows a thing or two about elephants. All of the photos and videos in this post were taken by Robbie, and they’re brilliant. Grab a cuppa, sit back, and take a deep dive into the world of these wonderful animals.

Robbie: Thank you, Meeks, for hosting me today to chat about elephants, in particular, how they are being impacted by climate change.

Me: I know next to nothing about elephants, Robbie, so I’m looking forward to learning about them. I still remember how surprising your post about hyenas was! Sadly, I do know something about climate change because it’s driving a great many iconic Australian animals to extinction. We have always had bushfires, but not on the scale we’re seeing now, and that is thanks to climate change. In the summer of 2019/2020, huge swathes of the east coast were on fire, and literally millions of animals were burned to death.

I’m really keen to learn how your elephants are faring.

Let’s Talk About Elephants – Climate Change and Elephants

Photograph of an elephant playing in a puddle by Robbie Cheadle.

An adult elephant needs to drink up to 200 litres of water per day. They get this water from pools, rivers, waterfalls, and other water sources. In the game reserves in South Africa, elephants drink from man-made waterholes during the dry winter months. In the wild, the need for water is the primary driver of elephants’ migration routes and they have been known to travel long distances in search of reliable water sources. This high consumption of water is how elephants cool themselves internally.

African elephants have declined in numbers from approximately 26 million in the 1800s to approximately 400,000 in 2024. This reduction is largely due to habitat loss and poaching but now elephants are facing new challenges introduced by climate change. Climate change is causing longer and more severe droughts throughout Africa and this results in less water for elephants and less food.

Elephants are known to swim, play, spray, and socialise in water. One of the reasons elephants are so attracted to water is to cool themselves down. Elephants accumulate heat in their bodies through their natural metabolism, physical activity, and from the environment. The thick skin of elephants lacks sweat glands, and this combination slows down heat loss. When an elephant’s internal temperature is high it can disrupt the function of cells, tissues, and organs and cause the elephant to become sick and die. When elephants swim and spray their skins with mud and water, the subsequent evaporation imitates the effect of sweating and cools them down.

Historically, elephants migrated to water during times of drought. In our modern environment, fencing and property ownership has disrupted this natural movement. Artificial creation of water sources is the common management intervention when elephants need water, but this introduces problems. The water must come from somewhere in a drought-stricken environment and large numbers of elephants congregating in small areas results in permanent damage to the environment and reduced food availability for other animals.

One potential solution is wildlife corridors which enable animals to move among protected habitats and game reserves throughout Africa. Obviously, that requires significant change and collaboration between various governments. Let us all hope steps and interventions can be introduced fast enough to save these magnificent animals for extinction. Just imagine Africa without African elephants!

Video of two elephants playing in the river by Robbie Cheadle.

Thanks Robbie! I had no idea that elephants didn’t have sweat glands. I had a feeling you’d tell us something unexpected, and you haven’t disappointed, however, what you say about their ability to get to water is really disturbing. I’ve always hoped to be able to visit Africa one day. The thought that these mighty creatures might not be there when I do? Awful.

I said at the beginning that Robbie is an author. Well, amongst the fabulous things she writes are books for kids that teach them about wild animals in a way that is both delightful and accessible. Robbie’s latest book is called “Sesi says goodbye to Granny“:

Cover of Sesi says goodbye to Granny. Oil pastels artwork by Robbie Cheadle.

Sesi the elephant calf is feeling sad. Granny, the herd matriarch, has left as she can no longer keep up with the other elephants. Sesi is anxious about what will happen to Granny. She also wonders who will look after the herd and see to their needs. Includes illustrations, photographs, links to video footage of elephants, and fun facts about elephants.

I know I’m not a kid, but I read it and loved it.

Pre-order link:

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/goodbye-Granny-Southern-African-Adventures-ebook/dp/B0DKCD2Y7X

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/goodbye-Granny-Southern-African-Adventures-ebook/dp/B0DKCD2Y7X

About the authorsRobbie Cheadle

Robbie Cheadle author photograph.

South African author and illustrator, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated seventeen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, and written and illustrated three poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

Michael Cheadle

Michael Cheadle is a student in Johannesburg, South Africa. Together with Robbie Cheadle, Michael has co-authored eleven books in the Sir Chocolate books series, two books in the Southern African Safari Adventures series, and Haunted Halloween Holiday.

I hope you all enjoyed this post as much as I did. Thanks again, Robbie.

Meeks

Why humans are still worthwhile

Comments are closed. Just enjoy.

Meeks