Being pestered on Instagram

A comment on my Instagram photo of my cat offers me the opportunity to sell my work as NFTs. I know NF stands for Non Fungible (transactions?). I noticed that a friend of mine has had a similar proposal offered to her. I immediately got that sinking feeling that this is dodgy. My images are covered by my copyright, but what happens if you start selling digital images. Aren’t they sold via crypto currency? How is it converted into something tangible. My art is OK but I wouldn’t say it was exceptional. Isn’t this just a bit of ego polishing? Like vanity publishing, and who gets any profit. I have friends who were going to set up an NFT gallery with a lot of friends art last year, but after a while I didn’t hear anything more. But the thing that really put me off was the silly Trump NFTs which were sold for masses of money, but almost instantly crashed a few weeks later. Until the whole thing is regularised I won’t touch it with a barge pole!

Cat, a digital sketch

A digital drawing of a black and white cat, then which I then digitally manipulated to add textures and tilt the image. I used artrage oils free for the original drawing using a stylus on my phone screen, then photodirector to add texture and finally the editing tools including a sharpness option and tilting option on my Instagram account. I have also duplicated this image as four seperated cats, but that was done after I did this.

Universes…?

I was just reading a discussion on Instagram (a mistake) which said that if gravity was a bit stronger the universe would collapse (yes) or a bit weaker it would expand and fly apart forever (again yes). It then goes on to say, since gravity is so precise God MUST exist! I took umbridge at this I said :

Huh? There were possibly other universes that collapsed or expanded.. We are just lucky to be in this one. Its not precision its just that we are able to observe it. Its like saying I’m five foot three tall, therefore my short trousers fit!

In any case the Universe IS expanding, There is a considerable red shift and we can see Galaxies are moving apart. There is no sign that its slowing down… Has God forgotten and left the Universe on too low a gravity? I know – I’m cynical.

Looking out

I decided to play with a previous drawing. It’s fascinating how you can rotate and reposition images in Instagram filters. You can make parts of the image recede or come forward. And if I’d wanted to I could have blurred the edges of the image. It also allows you to change the colours and contrast, shadows and brightness. Other apps allow you to do other things. The world is your oyster.

Send a drawing

Sent today to the Russian Embassy from an idea on Instagram by @johnapedder

It’s worth a try. Using the postal system instead of digital media means there will be a physical object to show my objection to the war. Its a peaceful drawing. On the reverse I’ve written ‘from a concerned UK citizen, peace and love’.

I’m deliberately not using offensive language. I do not wish to be aggressive, I just remember that old film about Santa, where all the children send a letter through the US postal service, which proves Santa exists. Perhaps this might have a small effect.

Annoying

I keep getting messages on my Instagram account that I have won an iPhone. The trouble is I don’t want one and I’m fed up after a couple of months of being spammed. I will never click on a link. I’m not daft, I’m not tempted, I will keep blocking the posters. I think I’ve had fifteen or twenty messages so far. If I’d won that many (from all different peoples Instagram accounts) I could make a great deal of money selling them all. But I’m NOT INTERESTED. I keep blocking them and reporting them. OK that’s enough, I’ll stop spamming you xxx

Blocks

Digital manipulation of paving blocks. The colours are from water and green algae on the blocks. The perspective of them means that because I have mirrored them both side to side and up and down there appears to be a bulge in the centre of the picture. I again used the Layout app that comes with Instagram to do the mirroring.

Missing friends

The trouble with blogging is that you make friends and then after a while they might disappear. Suddenly they go into the fog of the Internet. It’s not clear if something has happened to them or if they have just left. Thankfully people do write and say they are going sometimes. That’s not as bad. But it leaves a hole in your life when you’ve got used to reading their words. You can go back and look at previous posts but it’s not the same. Or you can find them on other platforms. I remember finding someone on Instagram after they had left here. But a few months later they left there as well.

It’s also a shock when after losing touch with people over the years you find out they have died. It happened last weekend, someone I had known for a while had passed away. I asked her husband how she was and he said she had died two years ago. He said everyone in the town knew she had passed away. I had to explain that I don’t live in that town so had not found out. I was so sad to have discovered she was gone.

The worst thing I think is Facebook memories. Someone who has died will suddenly appear on a memory. Or their birthday will show up. It can be disturbing. There should be a memorial button. A way of closing an account without erasing them. Meanwhile. If I decide to leave WordPress I will try and remember to let people know. X

Moon closer?

There’s a new film out about the Moon getting a lot closer to the Earth. Its by the same director as ‘Independence day’ and ‘the day after tomorrow’ I think?

There is also a video on Instagram showing the Moon closer and instead of being tidaly locked with the Earth (one face always towards us), it’s shown wobbling irregularly.

Thinking about it I wondered what would happen. Unless it was hit by something very large it wouldn’t move closer to us. But if it did I think we would have massive tides and earthquakes. The land rises as the moon passes over it. The question is how close does the video or film represent? The closer, the worse the effects. I know the moon is slowly moving away by a few centimeters a year, its been measured with a laser fired at mirrors left on its surface by the Apollo missions. If it was knocked away the Earth’s tilt would become worse and our spin unstable. Either way not good news…