Monday, December 6, 2021

A Wintry Blast from the Past


I hope you're getting the full effect of this photo. Why is snow falling in the train station, you may ask? I have no idea. Google made it happen.

I found this image when I was having trouble posting pictures a few days ago. Usually, when I click on the photo upload icon at the top of my post, I choose "upload from computer" and that's that. But because that option wasn't working I explored the other choices, one of which was "photos," which connects with something called "Google photos." There were only a few pictures there, but this was one of them.

I took this picture of Dave and Olga in the Liverpool Street train station on Dec. 23, 2013. I even blogged it at the time (without the snowflake effect). I don't know how it wound up in my "Google photos," whatever those are, or how the snow came to be added. I remember another blogger around that time posting a similarly embellished image and saying that Google had added the snow -- which he wasn't all that thrilled about. I kind of like it, though, even if it makes no sense inside a train station.


This was also in my Google photos. I don't know what it shows or where it was taken, but that navy blue rumpled thing looks like a sweater I own, and the bit of purple on the floor could be our living room rug.

Will the Internet ever stop surprising me? Probably not.

Yesterday was pretty quiet. Dave had a performance at school -- the high school winter concert -- so he was gone most of the day. I normally attend the high school concert too, but I wasn't crazy about sitting in an enclosed auditorium with a couple hundred other people. (They were all masked and allegedly lateral-flow tested, but still.) So I stayed home.

I hibernated on the couch, reading "Shen of the Sea," a Newbery winner from 1926. Like "Tales of Silver Lands," it's a collection of stories, and I'd say it's better than "Tales" but not great. I also cleaned more windows, this time in the living room. I'd like to clean the glass around the back door but there are just too many plants in the way. I'll have to wait until spring when I can move them onto the patio.

I tried to take Olga for a walk, but it was gray and wet outside, and she only wanted to go around the corner. Then she was ready to come home. I'd hoped to walk another segment of the Green Chain but the weather nixed that idea.

Last night Dave and I watched a documentary called "Jawline," which I saw recommended in the Times. (Here's the trailer.) It's a look at the world of online teen "influencers," centered on a young guy in Tennessee who was determined to make himself a household name. I found it interesting, but somewhat bleak. It's so bizarre that there's an entire youth culture built around becoming famous for doing basically nothing -- just posting pictures and collecting "likes." And yet these guys "go on tour" and attract crowds of screaming girls. And sure, they're cute, but not really any cuter than your average cute guy in your average high school. It all seems very mysterious and transient and empty.

44 comments:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Perhaps there was a hole in the roof at Liverpool Street Station but the snow does not appear to be settling. Picture number two is one of your best - blurry and mysterious like most school librarians.

Anonymous said...

Google photos, which I don't use and Google Drive which I do use do some queer things at times. They have uploaded photos and docs themselves that I never chose to do and oddly it is not many.

I hope those high achieving influences have built themselves good lives along the way, because as soon as they stop posting or for other reasons, they will be yesterday's news and not remembered for long.

Moving with Mitchell said...

Wow! I’ve never noticed my google photos being edited. How very strange. The photo itself, however, is fun to see. We went to theatre last week. Masked and “temperatured” and hand-sanitized on entry. Required to change to theatre-provided new masks. A fully packed theatre, however, which made us just a little uncomfortable. And then, being in the front row, we could see the spit as the singers hit their big notes. I think Antonio Banderas spit right on me. But I seem to have survived it all.

Debby said...

Influencers, they call them, and I don't understand the sway myself. It is empty. Hopefully transient, but sometimes I wonder. I received a complaint letter to do some account adjusting. The woman was threatening that if we did not do this, and this, (and this too), she would be giving us a bad review, and she has thousands of followers. It actually made me laugh out loud to read the empty threats. PS: Did I do what she wanted? I did not. She was being unreasonable.

Bob said...

I like the snow effect, even inside a train station. I have checked out the Google Photos when I upload to my blog, just to see what's there and it always seems to be random photos I've taken or used before; it makes no sense.
And not one had snow!!!

Ms. Moon said...

So many mysteries in our lives- Google photos and influencers among them.
As you are still having to mask and test, here in Florida it's a big ol' free for all. It's like...Covid? What's that?

ellen abbott said...

That's how I add images too, upload from computer. I'll have to look at the Google photo option to see if I have any pictures there with snow. I don't get the whole influencer thing. What do they influence? I suppose companies could use them to 'influence' their followers to buy certain products.

Since I was gone all day Saturday Minnie didn't get a walk, when I took her out for her walk yesterday she wanted the longest version of our path.

Marcia LaRue said...

I don't have a blog, but I do believe Google is far too invasive on every device we have: computer, phone, tablet ... Google is there! Is there an alternative platform?

Pixie said...

That documentary looks deeply depressing.

Ed said...

I only recently became aware of YouTube channels and was shocked to see how much money some of them make or are able to do with other people's generosity. This will probably earn me some boos, but personally, I see this as no different than say a baseball player that gets $40 million a year. If someone wants to spend their hard earned money supporting that baseball player, or in this case, influencer, who am I to say differently. I have been known to support certain authors by buying their books before it is even published and I'm sure many consider that extravagant behavior.

Ellen D. said...

I like the snow in that photo, altho, it is odd that Google did that. The second photo is strange - like Google is photographing you when you are unaware. Weird!

The Bug said...

I've had the snow thing happen too, but I never used that photo in a post. I should go track it down! When I have trouble using the upload from computer feature & will upload my photos to google photos & that will work. Fortunately I haven't had that issue for a while.

I find influencer culture such a mystery. And I follow some "influencers" - but they're mostly social justice influencers so I feel a little more virtuous.

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering now if I have Google Photos and don't even know about it. I'm going to have to google around to find out. I like the snow effect.
"Mysterious and transient and empty" sounds like the perfect description for so many things these days.

Sharon said...

I have a vague memory of a sort of social media type application that Google hosted many years ago. I remember actually adding a photo or two to it and it had options to add different effects. I can't remember what it was called but I remember when they shut it down. I'll have to take a look myself to see what's out there in cypber space.
I don't really understand the whole "influencer" mentality but I don't think it's healthy.
By the way, Ratana was back last night. How irritating.

gz said...

Google photos does seem to be random . I liked it when they just added anything that I had used when blogging...which was useful as some were on now defunct phones!

Mary said...

Having waited for trains in the Liverpool Street Station in winter, it certainly can be cold enough in there to snow. Brrr.

Margaret said...

It's terrifying and disheartening how much influence those influencers actually have. Are people really that gullible? :(

Kelly said...

Well I'm glad you happened across the photo since it gave me a chance to look back at the original post with photos of a young Olga! (I kinda like the added snow) I also liked that as Olga got desperate to empty her bladder, you and Dave were filling yours with more beer!

Allison said...

The snow is a nice touch. I'm with you, no fully occupied indoor spaces for me.

The Padre said...

Best Photo Ever - It Was Simply Meant To Be

Cheers

A Cuban In London said...

Google saves your photos automatically in its Google Photos album, whether you want it to do it or not. :-) I like the snow effect.

Hope you're having a nice week.

Beth Reed said...

Hi Steve, I really love my Google Photos. Every picture that I have ever taken is in my Google Photos. I also have folders and when I made scrap pages I also made albums and I have most of them uploaded to my Google Photos. The ones that I have put on my blog recently is from Google Photos.
This computer is really acting up and it has not been my favorite laptop even tho it is a Dell and the same brand as my last one but it is not easy to operate nor is it easy to find anything on.
I wanted to move some of my kits from my external hard drive over to this computer but all of the folders are empty with a red x mark next to the name. I am seriously thinking of having Jonathan set it back to Factory reset and start over with the entire thing and see if whatever is wrong with it can be fixed. It is just a pain with having to use passwords to get in to my sites and I fear that I will have blog issues as well.
But anyway back to Google Photos, from time to time at least on mine I get the effects and sometimes I get collages made especially for the sole purpose of selling me a photobook which I never buy but I think that some of the effects are really nice. I like the Live photos that if I take in succession it will show them in real time and I enjoy exploring my photos so if you want to explore it a bit further just take some photos on your phone and then go over to Google after a few minutes and see if they are there. You can easily delete them if you don't want them there. I am happy with mine because if I lose my phone or my computer crashes then I just have to sign in to my Google account and there they are.

Jonathan is off work and I really hope that he wants to go to the grocery store tonight. I need my prescription if nothing else. This UTI is becoming extremely uncomfortable to deal with.
Oh I really do like the photo of Dave and Olga. It is funny but I doubt that even Google cannot tell the difference of inside or outside of a train station lol. It is a winter effect I am guessing. So far I have not seen any snow on my photos... (Yet) lol.
Have a great day/evening my friend and give Olga a great big hug for me!

Steve Reed said...

Thanks for the explanation, Beth! I upload my pictures to Flickr as a back-up and also store everything on an external drive. It's nice to know they're stacking up on Google as well! (At least some of them must be -- I don't have the iCloud backup turned on so I think it's only the photos I blog here that Google keeps on file.)

Steve Reed said...

That second picture is mystifying. I'm sure I simply deleted it, so how it wound up being stored for years by Google is anyone's guess.

Steve Reed said...

Yes, the movie makes that very point -- that the "fame" of influencers is fleeting. Once they stop being young and cute, they're back among we mere mortals.

Steve Reed said...

Well, if you have to be spit on, Antonio Banderas is a good option! LOL

Steve Reed said...

I don't think the phenomenon is transient, but the career of any single influencer certainly is. It's funny how people think they have so much pull because of the Internet. Don't they realize how many bazillions of reviews are out there?

Steve Reed said...

In my case, they seem to be photos I blogged years ago, a few of which have been "enhanced" like this one. I don't know what I did to deserve the snow.

Steve Reed said...

Well, it's kind of like that here, too. Government schools are open and I believe most students are unmasked. Our school is an exception (because we're a private school and we have more latitude to set our own rules).

Steve Reed said...

Yeah, I think that's exactly it -- they influence other kids to buy certain things or follow certain trends. In theory, anyway.

Steve Reed said...

There are definitely alternative platforms for most things, but I'm not sure any of them have the reach of Google. I don't mind Google storing my pics -- especially ones I uploaded and chose to put out there. But it's weird that they have that one blurry pic that I'm sure I never would have used for anything!

Steve Reed said...

It's bleak at times, as I said. It's always hard to watch someone cope with disappointment. But apparently the kid who's at the center of it has gained quite a bit of media attention by being in the film, so it worked out OK for him too!

Steve Reed said...

Oh, absolutely -- I don't criticize anyone for spending their money on supporting these people. I mean, it's up to them, right? I have a YouTube channel and as far as I know it's never made a dime! LOL

Steve Reed said...

I'm sure it's a photo that I took, probably a mistake when I was handling my phone. My guess is it was automatically backed up to Google somehow.

Steve Reed said...

Yeah, influencing people on justice or political issues seems a bit more worthy. (Well, depending on their perspective!)

Steve Reed said...

I'm sure you DO have Google photos -- probably photos you've blogged in the past. When you go to the photo upload tool for a blog post, look for the little pinwheel in the drop-down menu that says "photos." That's where I found mine.

Steve Reed said...

Yes, I remember that social media thing. Google Circles or something like that? I never used it. Ratana -- aaaargh!

Steve Reed said...

It's a nice inadvertent backup, that's true!

Steve Reed said...

Ha! Yeah, none of the train stations are very cozy!

Steve Reed said...

I think they THINK they have a lot of influence, but I don't think any of it lasts long.

Steve Reed said...

Oh, that train trip was the worst. We still talk about it!

Steve Reed said...

Yeah, that just seemed way too tight to risk it!

Steve Reed said...

It was a pleasant little discovery! Look how young Olga looks!

Steve Reed said...

It seems like most of the photos there are things I blogged years ago. I don't know if Google is still saving them in the same way? I didn't look very closely, though.