Digital Photos

Aggregating Digital Photos

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One of the my biggest challenges with digital photos is aggregating them. This doesn’t even include time spent to review, delete, and organize. I recently went on a 3-week trip to India (trip posts coming soon!). Even from that short trip I have photos in at least four distinct places. Naturally I have photos on my phone. However, this also includes photos sent to me through social media from other people. Although all of them reside on my phone, they are not all stored in same place. We also took the digital camera, which has at least 300 photos we haven’t even looked at yet. And then there are the photos stored on other people’s devices when my camera or phone wasn’t readily available. In other words, aggregating is going to be a project.

A friend of mine recently showed me a beautiful photo album she made through Shutterfly. I’ve also made several albums with the same company, but I was curious to hear about her experiences. Without any prompts from me, she thought finding and aggregating all the photos from disparate sources was the hardest part. She worked on the scrapbook over a period of months, diligently chipping away at it. The photos, she explained, came from phones, email attachments, other people, etc. In other words, finding and accessing the pictures was almost a separate project. Then came the hard task of selecting which ones to include in the photo album. After that is creating the actual album. It’s almost like three mini-projects to produce one thing!

However, there are technological conveniences to make some tasks easier. For example, Shutterfly will place your aggregated photos into an album. Although you do have to be mindful if you want photos arranged chronologically. Sometimes moving photos from one place (device) to another, results with the move date rather than the create date. In some cases, this can be a significant difference. Though I have yet to explore the apps, I know there are some available to clean up photo collections. This will deduplicate photos. Some of the apps can also organize photos based on location, faces, or objects.

While there are some ways to make it easier, I still find aggregating the photos I want for my albums the most tedious part of the process. So far I haven’t found any good ways to make this faster.

Digital Dilemma, True Confessions

The Hand Count

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We use technology to improve our lives. Sometimes we experience situations where technology is more reliable and faster than humans. Yet, at a time when we rely on technology to make things easier, some US ballots are still being hand counted. To be honest, I don’t even know if that makes them more, or less, reliable than electronic ballots.

In some scenarios, using low-tech options can be safer and more reliable than technology. For example, passing paper notes. A single source of information passes from one person to another with no option to hack, steal, or spy on anything. It’s easy to destroy the note after reading it. Unless somebody photographed the note, it’s likely the only copy in existence. In the digital world the simple act of sending a message can create many copies. At a minimum, one is with the sender and one with the recipient.

When it comes to ballots, however, I don’t feel confident that the low-tech option is more reliable and tamper resistant than electronic ballots. In some ways, I feel that paper ballots, or ones cast in-person, are almost riskier. In the days following the election, I’ve heard numerous stories about funny things happening. Bomb threats at voting centers in Georgia. Fires started in ballot boxes in the Pacific Northwest. Bags of ballots disappearing. Miscounting, and inconsistent totals. Added to that is the time it takes for some areas to physically count and tally the votes. This is critically important when the race is close. Yet, I don’t trust the process anymore. Or the results.

One of the only times I voted in person, as most of my ballots are absentee, it was on an old-fashioned machine with levers. It was the same machine I remember watching my dad vote on when I was a kid going with him to the polls. Once inside the voting booth, pulling a giant lever closed the curtain and prepared the machine. Before me was a board with levers to select my candidates. Once selected, a switch of the giant lever recorded the votes and opened the curtain. Easy. And I felt confident about it. The machine was sturdy, robust, and hard to tamper with, though I’m sure it was possible.

Now, with so many voting options available, the process feels questionable. How could so many votes be lost and yet so many gained by the Republicans?

Digital Dilemma

Not Enough Technology to Save the Election

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As an expat, I’ve watched the last four elections north of the border. Some years, I’ve been able to participate. Each ballot submission requires advance planning, snail mail, and a lot of annoying, ancient forms.

Each state does voting differently. After all, this generates a lot of the post-election ruckus. It allows for candidates to have something to complain about if the polls aren’t favorable. Blame it on the voting style! The year 2000 featured “hanging chads.” Unfortunately, in 2020, much of the dispute focused on electronic voting. The claims were largely fictitious and eventually disproved. However, all I could think about was my dashed hopes for one day voting electronically in CT.

A fellow American expat seemed genuinely shocked at my voting experience. This was a couple elections ago. Each time I contact the registrar in my home state, I hope for a different outcome. I want a modern, efficient and reliable process. We’re encouraged to vote and yet, it can be a difficult and frustrating process in some parts of the US. Then I hear criticism for not voting.

Since I moved after the last election in 2020, I started the process to get a ballot at the end of the summer. Anticipating another paper ballot, I started the process in early September. This time I was able to search online for my registration. I couldn’t locate it. This was not entirely surprising because I have a complicated last name. I often find it misspelled or punctuated incorrectly. I located the registrar’s office email and sent a ballot request. Before going on vacation in early October, I repeated the process certain that I would come home to a ballot in my mailbox, or instructions. Nothing.

I logged on to a federal website to try and print out a ballot. Somehow I couldn’t download the form and was unable to get it out in time.

When the stakes are so high and the consequences so dire, why is the basic action of casting a ballot still so difficult? Why are there so many variations? Why is the process a weird hybrid of some electronic elements combined with some very manual ones?

Since that rocky election in 2004 that drove me north over the border, I declared the “Dark and Stormy” as my official election night drink. I’ll be having those (yes, plural) tomorrow night to watch the ruckus.

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Reality Check

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Hanna adjusted her goggles. It had been a rough night. First she lost Bean’s body. Even worse was the way she lost it. She watched it get sucked into the inky ooze that used to be the ocean. The waters now so congested with plastics, filth, and rampant growth of undesirable organisms, even the waves couldn’t break through. Every once in a while something tsunami-like came along. The strength in it enough to dredge up a sticky, viscous sludge from the depths, dumping and spewing on everything in its path.

She shook her head to clear the thoughts. Ater that horrendous “rescue” mission, she needed her recharge time. The lost body, the failed search after in Bean’s house. She knew there hadn’t been anything to find. If there was, she would have found it. Hanna felt sure about this, but her boss didn’t share this confidence. Hanna could still hear the gruff voice barking her ID number along with a few expletives and artful descriptions of her ineptitude. Yes, Hanna decided, they were artful descriptions. Yet, not important in this moment.

After adjusting the goggles Hanna used her feed to review the Augmented Reality options. After being so close to what used to be the ocean she definitely wanted a salt-water theme. She only had a vague recollection of what the beach used to be like. Even as a child the beach always had trash on it, bad smells, and loamy looking sand patches. But at least the waves had been there, lulling her with their relentless shushing.

Honing in on salt water options, Hanna decided she wanted a colder water theme. She whizzed through some of her favorites. Swimming in Antarctica among the ice bergs and penguins. Or the Pacific Northwest among kelp forests, otters, whales, seals, and other marine life. Sometimes she preferred the cold, gray icy waters of the North Sea. Too harsh to visit in person, but just right to work out tension in the Endless Pool.

Tonight, however, she opted for colors and animal activity. Hanna selected Ketchitan, Alaska. She set the pace on her Endless Pool and stepped in. Goggles in place, the pool magically transformed into the Alaskan coast line rife with curious fish and kelp forests swaying gentlly under the dappled sun rays. In the distance she could see humpbacks gliding beneath the surface. She got on her stomach and started swimming.

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Operation: ER

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Even if they could conceive naturally, the laws were hazy. Too many stored eggs already, people told them. Some of the most zealous referred to the eggs as “children.” People frowned upon natural conception with so many unborn and fertilized “children” awaiting birth. Year after year, waiting patiently and inert, nestled in their cryopreservation capsules. There were laws, and sometimes serious repercussions, for couples trying to bypass Operation: ER.

Clutching their hands together tightly, the couple stood before the Baby Designer Studio’s looming entryway. They discreetly scanned the area trying to glimpse the elusive orange-lit door the Thrinters used. With thirtieth birthdays approaching, time was running out for the couple to make a decision. Only young bodies could be used. Only young people would be considered for Operation:ER. However, the choices remained slim.

One option resulted in receiving an egg instead of an embryo. At least this possibility provided an opportunity for half the couple to fully participate. The other option, fertilized embryos, meant the couple could try to conceive on their own later. If, and only if, the embryos didn’t implant. With both options, couples had no choice about the age, quality, or really anything about the biological materials received. If an offer happened, they had to accept.

The female, in particular had to accept the presented option. Contractually, and in some cases willingly, offering up her uterus to “rescue” the unborn eggs, or embryos. People used other names to refer to the frozen eggs and fertilized embryos. A strategy used by many eager to appear on the moral “high road” with their virtuous acts to save” children.” Yet, the morality only went so far. To date, no pregnant women, nor any person storing eggs or embryos, received any financial assistance. So even though the law considered these eggs, or whatever they were called, to be “children,” they didn’t receive the benefits of one.

Each glanced at the other through a side eye. A silent reminder to stay calm. Take deep breaths. Steady the heart beat. Erratic feed readings could indicate instability or result in further testing. Was this really what they wanted? The pull for a family was strong, but was this the best way?

The female swallowed. Her saliva rasping noisily on the way down her throat. She squeezed her partner’s hand. “Operation Egg Retrieval, here we come,” she whispered, her foot stepping toward the entry.

Digital Dilemma

AI’s Hunger

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Artificial Intelligence hunger is insatiable. It’s always hungry for more data and more information in the digital realm. On the physical side, powering AI machines and services requires huge amounts of energy and space. Huge data warehouses are needed to accommodate the machines providing AI services to people. Technology equipment fills the warehouses. They require lots of electricity to operate. Yet, these are only some of the costs behind the scenes.

Beyond AI’s appetite, it’s curious to think about how it’s changed our own longings. The power and potential of AI has filled us with new kinds of yearnings. A different kind of greed to have things instantly that once might have seemed unattainable. With the power of Generative AI, it’s possible for anyone to produce a book, or an artistic work in mere minutes. This can happen even without any talent, training, or skill. All one needs is the ability to create a good prompt.

It always reminds me of a certain character I’ve read about in myths and folktales. Each culture describes it differently, but the underlying intent is similar. In Asian cultures, the portrayal is sometimes as a hungry ghost. Nothing is ever enough to fill or satisfy this being’s intense emotional needs. Some Indigenous cultures call the being Wendingo. Essentially it’s a creature with an insatiable hunger. The more the creature eats, the hungrier it gets.

Are we collectively, as a society, headed in this direction by placing so much energy into AI? The longer AI is around and continues to advance, our uses for it also continue to swell. Or rather, our desires grow, even if it never becomes a reality. Though many places want to use AI, sometimes the service cost can be prohibitive, especially when compared with the perceived savings. And yet, we continue to lust after the potentials of AI.

AI’s insatiable hunger for more information, more data, more electricity, more space, more everything is transferring to us. We also want more analysis, more creations, more automation, more insights, more everything that we think AI is promising us. However, everything comes at a cost. Will our societal cost be satisfaction? Will we ever feel full again?