Our poor petunias are about done, straggling to the end of their lives, looking weedy. I haven't been able to bring myself to throw them out, though, because they're still blooming. I originally planted three different colors in this hanging basket -- pink, red and purple. As you can see, the pink continues to bloom and the red is still hanging on, but the purple seems to have vanished.
For a long time now, I've blogged under the belief that my blog wasn't that easy to find on the Internet. In the past, when I've Googled myself, I'd tend to get lost in a sea of Steve Reeds who are all doing other things. The Croydon MP Steve Reed, in particular, gave my blog cover because his Internet presence was much more prolific.
In the days of AI, though, Google finds me right away:
In fact, I'm the only one it links to! Go figure. So I guess I need to remind myself more than ever that this blog is public and anyone looking for me can find me in a heartbeat. (There's also a voice-over artist named Steve Reed. I'm always surprised how many Steve Reeds there are in the world. We should form a club.)
I'm impressed at how quickly it assessed the contents of my blog as "local walks, urban architecture and snapshots of city life." That's not my wording, so it must have scanned some substantial portion of my more than 6,800 posts to come up with that description.
Another beautiful day yesterday. I took the dog to the cemetery and on the way, we passed our first jack-o-lantern of the year. I like the "bling" around its eyes, not to mention the floral patterns drawn onto its outer skin. I'm not sure that pumpkin's going to make it all the way to Halloween but you never know.
I found a curious bottle cap featuring artwork of a kiwi bird, wearing a pith helmet and carrying binoculars. Turns out it's from Old Mout cider and it's one of a series. Google AI thinks the binoculars are a salt shaker, but then wouldn't the bird be wearing a chef's toque?
I popped into our local bookstore and bought Barbara Kingsolver's newest, which The New York Times terms "sexy" (and if that's coming from the staid Times it truly must be). I also bought singer Lulu's memoir (signed!) and one by James Marriott called "The New Dark Ages," examining the diminishing ability of many people to read long-form text like books and even magazine articles. The Times featured it in a video podcast (ironically) and it sounds interesting.
The end of your petunias is something like the final farewell to summer, isn't it.
ReplyDeleteI know that there is only one Meike Riley (at least it was so last time I looked), but if I found another person with exactly the same name as myself, I think I'd get in touch and "form a club" :-)
Nothing to do with today's post of yours, but I know you and Dave watch Netflix, too. Have you watched "Bodies"? If not, I recommend it. Cleverly done and great actors.
Last night, I watched "Sunday Best", a documentary about Ed Sullivan (both the man and the show, which seem inseparable anyway). I found it very interesting.
I have not watched "Bodies." I'll look for it! And the Ed Sullivan documentary sounds interesting too. :)
DeleteIt is always sad when the petunias end as you really know winter approaches.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Highriser brings up my blog immediately, as does From the Highrise, but my real name brings up nothing, and I hope it stays that way.
The pumpkin's extra decoration is cool.
The bottlecap is cute.
Yeah, since you don't use your full name in blogging, it makes sense that you'd still be more or less incognito.
DeleteLook forward to hearing about the Barbara Kingsolver new book. I've read a couple but found others too much like hard work.(maybe i'm one of those people with the diminishing ability!) but I enjoyed her biography - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
ReplyDeleteHer earliest books, "The Bean Trees," "Animal Dreams" and "Pigs in Heaven," are very accessible, I think. Later books get more complex, but I've loved all of them.
DeleteI can't remember the name but a comedian bloke looked up his name and found about 24 in the UK and set out to find them all - and made TV out of it. Perhaps you should form a club. I found another of my name by accident - account at the same bank and same middle initial. Let's just say some red-faced bank tellers....
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea! I'd be surprised if there are more than a handful of Steve Reeds in the UK, but there are probably many more in the USA.
DeleteAI is impressed with you, buddy, but I'm not surprised. You're famous to all of us. Let us know what you think of the new Kingsolver book. I haven't read Demon Copperhead yet. So many books, not enough time to read.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Maybe AI could tell that I was the one Googling, and it's trying to stroke my ego!
DeleteI once received a pay slip by post, addressed to me but obviously for someone else. It turned out there was another woman with exactly the same name as mine working for the same organisation (different department, different date of birth). She was also a patient at the same dental surgery as me, which caused a couple of confusing moments.
ReplyDeleteWow! A lot of coincidences there! I hope she didn't make more money than you!
Delete"Order! Order! The twelfth annual meeting of The Steve Reeds Society is now in session. If there is anyone in the hall who is not called Steve Reed then they should leave immediately. And now in our traditional manner let us open the event by singing The Steve Reed Hymn. Written by Steve Gershwin Reed:-
ReplyDelete"We are humble, we are strong
Always right and never wrong
And we try to get along
With almost everyone
Steve Reeds! Steve Reeds!
Together we're the best
Conquering the planet
From the east down to the west!"
The meek shall inherit the earth, or something like that. LOL
DeleteIt is probably futile but for now, I remain anonymous to Google's AI and it lists me as such. If I google my actual name, I too am buried under a slough of others by the same name. It helps though that I use Google's free service to scrub my information from the internet on a monthly basis. I sifted through the first 10 pages of results and not a single one pertained to me so I gave up.
ReplyDeleteOh, I haven't heard of that service. I wonder if I should look into it? On the other hand, it doesn't hurt to have people find me by Google, though some of them might be annoyed by what I've written here and there!
DeleteI'm not sure how to access it but it is somewhere in the settings and it Google's "Results About You" platform. Once I signed up, it emails me a report once a month about which site has what information about me. Within that report, I can click to have it removed and Google does the work sending me emails that the request has been made and when it has been completed. The first time there were quite a lot but in the subsequent months, it is just maybe one or two and they are always the same address aggregating websites hat must have bots searching for my information somewhere. Likely they mine county assessor sites which display public addresses by law, at least here in the U.S. Short of deeding my property to a anonymous name, it is likely impossible to get that information removed.
DeleteI never much thought about how anyone found my Blog in all of Cyberspace and just figured nobody intentionally did, they just stumbled upon it. I like that Bottle Cap, I have a ridiculous Collection of them that I once Imagined I'd make some Tramp Art out of, but, that never happened. *LOL*
ReplyDeleteI used to look at my blog traffic and it would tell how people got to me -- a surprising number of them searched. I wondered who those people were!
DeletePetunias are such lovely plants. I only got rid of my plants a week ago, it certainly feels like the end of summer. Demon Copperhead was my fave Barbara Kingsolver book. She really is a fine writer.
ReplyDelete"Demon Copperhead" was terrific, though I felt like it employed maybe one too many Appalachian stereotypes.
DeleteWell I have found a lot of obituaries in my name ;) but my name takes you to another blog of mine. I don't like lots of people reading my blogs anyway though I had an upsurge yesterday which was rather unnerving.
ReplyDeleteIt's always weird when the stats show a shift, but I think a lot of time it's just bots.
DeleteI dislike pulling up plants that are still flowering, especially when the bees are visiting them. Hence the mess in my garden!
ReplyDeleteI keep everything as long as possible, even when it's no longer what anyone would call "beautiful."
DeleteI have not looked for myself in a long time, maybe I should keep it that way. I love the bottle cap art.
ReplyDeleteOh, it's fun now and then to see what's out there!
DeleteI try not to Google myself. I was told it can make you go blind.
ReplyDeleteHa! Well, it IS a rather self-indulgent practice, I agree.
DeleteThat's a great pumpkin. I don't think it will make it either, unless you get a serious cold spell but it will be great while it lasts. Here at the lake I've had to pitch the dead plants but two basils and a thyme made it and the geraniums, so home with me they'll go. Oh, I hate to leave!
ReplyDeleteIf it is the great pumpkin, wouldn't we see Linus, Snoopy and the gang?
DeleteNow I'm going to have "Linus and Lucy" playing in my head all morning. LOL
DeleteI think it would be disconcerting to find myself online like that and so I'm not planning on looking myself up. Curiosity may get the best of me. I have found images from my blog when doing a google image search before and also once when I googled, Bird that says "You're sweet!" I found a link to my blog.
ReplyDeleteI've woken up very anxious this morning so that probably has a lot to do with my current feelings about this.
Your petunias are celestial.
Of course the results all depend on what you search for. In this case I used not just my name but "blogger" and "London" as search terms, so that narrowed it down considerably! Funny to find a link to your own blog when researching something else.
DeleteI thought I had mostly prevented anyone here from finding my blog by just blocking them so I googled my name. No AI overview and apparently it's a fairly common name and I didn't come up on the first page of results (didn't look any further than that).
ReplyDeleteCorrect me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there IS a way to block individual readers on Blogger. I've tried to do it and learned my only option was to make the blog private and invite certain readers to read it, which was too restrictive.
DeleteCorrect, no way to block individuals on Blogger. I meant here as in Wharton and blocked FB accounts and phone numbers.
DeleteYour petunias did well all Summer. They are reliable bloomers.
ReplyDeleteOur upcoming weekend is predicted to be in the 30-degree F range. That's cold. I'll cut my marigolds and put them in a vase rather than lose them in the freeze.
AI is cleaver. The online summary of you provides an accurate, concise and well written profile.
Those petunias DID do well, even though they were in a pot that was entirely too small. We're not freezing yet!
DeleteI was just surprised by how my search came up. Mitchell Block the late, award-winning filmmaker always steals my thunder. This time, I came first!
ReplyDeleteMy AI Overview:
The name "Mitch Block" or "Mitchell Block" in relation to blogging or popular media typically refers to one of three contexts:
• Moving with Mitchell: A lifestyle and expat personal blog written by an American blogger named Mitchell who moved from the US to Sevilla, and later Córdoba, Spain. He blogs about daily life, travel, and personal stories under tags like "mitch+block".
Well, that's pretty accurate! At least it didn't say you lived in Fuengirola and published unflattering pictures of tourists and their wardrobes. :)
DeleteI like the pumpkin but agree it might not last until Halloween.
ReplyDeleteIf we were in Florida it would be riddled with insects within a few days!
DeleteI've been curious about searching my own name but haven't done it yet. I've used the Google AI several times and have been impressed with it but I still have this nagging fear that AI will be used for bad things.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it's inevitable that people will use it for nefarious purposes. I just hope it doesn't use ITSELF against us!
DeleteI always have that same problem with petunias. The plants look so pitiful, but there are still flowers!
ReplyDeleteI'm off to google my name to see what AI says about me...
Whew - my blog isn't mentioned. Probably because I don't have my actual name on there. Duh.
DeleteOh yeah, it wouldn't know who you are! I do see the advantage of anonymity but the cat's out of the bag for me.
DeleteIn the past when I've googled my name, also my nickname version, I get a ton of like named people, mostly artists, but not my kind of art, usually cartooning. The rare occasions I've found myself, the information has been completely mixed with another person same last name. Maybe I'll check again for interest.
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun to just see what's out there. Is it more than one cartoonist that you share a name with? THAT would be an interesting coincidence!
DeleteMore than one! It's very confusing. And explains why a friend was surprised to see me -- she'd checked to see how I was doing, found the me who lives in the Bay area, and thought I'd moved.
DeleteI like the pumpkin but not sure it will last until Halloween!
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Then again, by the 31st it will be much scarier!
DeleteDespite choosing the option for my blog not to come up in google searches, AI has found it and has been "mining" it for a while now. It's unfortunate that AI takes all our words and combines them to come up with "facts". Neil deGrasse Tyson had an interesting post today talking about the inaccuracies of Large Language Models.
ReplyDeleteWell, AI is only as good as the information that it feeds upon, and considering how much falsehood is floating around out there it's not surprising that it's sometimes inaccurate!
DeleteIt's suprising when you find something accurate about yourself on line.
ReplyDeleteMore surprising (and alarming) when it's inaccurate, but fortunately that hasn't happened to me yet!
DeleteMy petunias have been relegated to the yard waste: straggly also with only a rare bloom. It's on to cyclamen and perhaps a few other cold weather flowers. I don't want my blog to be searchable! My name is unique too which makes it even more difficult to stay hidden. :(
ReplyDeleteHave you tweaked your settings so Google won't search it? Apparently there's a way to do that in WordPress. I know there is in Blogger, though I leave mine open to searches. I don't really care if people find it.
DeleteThat AI posting about you feels kinda creepy to me.
ReplyDelete