Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, Fröhliche Weihnachten, Nollaig Chridheil, Feliz Navidad, Vrolijk Kerstfeest, Rozhdestvom Khristovym, Nollaig shona daoibh.
December 25, 350: Pope Julius I chose December 25th for the "Feast of the Nativity" (now Christmas Day), to mark the birth of Jesus Christ. No one is sure why this date was selected, but it was very close to the popular Roman pagan festival Saturnalia and to the Winter Solstice.
![[Image: lAWmWxR.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/lAWmWxR.jpg)
I didn't get the truth so I'm gonna burn this place down!
104-year-old Alfred Anderson, the last known survivor of the Christmas Truce of 1914, is interviewed by the BBC at home in Scotland.
They ask what he thinks about the idea of Christmas. Anderson said:
"I'll give Christmas Day 1914 a brief thought, as I do every year. And I'll think about all my friends who never made it home. But it's too sad to think too much about it. Far too sad."
Alfred Anderson (25 June 1896 – 21 November 2005) was a Scottish joiner and veteran of the First World War. He was the last known holder of the 1914 Star (the Old Contemptibles), the last known combatant to participate in the 1914 World War I Christmas truce, Scotland's last known World War I veteran, and Scotland's oldest man for more than a year.
![[Image: KaT5b7k.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/KaT5b7k.jpg)
Christmas Day truce 1914 | BBC Obit | Oldest war veteran reaches 106 | Wiki
Apparently, some Scots of a certain bloodline have Highlander genetics. Damn, 109, WoW!!
"Today...is Christmas!" The "magic show" mentioned by Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in this scene from FULL METAL JACKET is Marine slang for a religious service.
December 25, 1924: 100 years ago, Rod Serling is born.
As he put it: “I was a Christmas present that was delivered unwrapped.”
![[Image: jlKZRdX.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/jlKZRdX.jpg)
An IBM computer plays “Jingle Bells” at Arlington State College in Texas, December 1965.
IBM Grok Christmas
![[Image: KEFXY4I.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/KEFXY4I.jpg)
Here is the first prompt of two, "Render an IBM computer from the 1965 era, but have it transformed into a large mech-robot. Note the IBM computer does not have a monitor or keyboard, as it was only a console with lights and switches. The IBM logo should be visible, along with the slogan "Think". It's also decked out in Christmas output (red and white winter clothes). But it's head should be the IBM computer, and it's not a human-like head, should look boxy like the 1960's style IBM computers. The scene should look as realistic as possible, with darker natural lighting."
Grok kept using a monitor and modern-keyboard to compose the image, which was not desired, so I kept trying to correct it, repeating this second prompt until I got one image that didn't have the irrelevant peripherals: "In the last images you used a monitor and keyboard in the images. Please re-render, but do not use a monitor and keyboard. The original IBM computers had a console of lights and switches, and no monitor or keyboard."
December 25, 1997: THE POSTMAN arrived.
![[Image: QUFObq7.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/QUFObq7.jpg)
Aside from Arizona, the primary filming locations was in & around Bend, Oregon.
"The Black Clock of Time," a "nuclear holocaust novel" - author Louis Greene (John Hodgman) in S3.E3 of BORED TO DEATH (HBO). IMDB
![[Image: 1GnOkqk.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/1GnOkqk.jpg)
WSJ: 'Twas the night of Two fairy tales published?
![[Image: e47Jk3q.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/e47Jk3q.jpg)
242 years later Senate bill S.4610 makes the bald eagle the official USA bird. The bald eagle has landed in the U.S. code after Joe Biden signed a bill on Christmas Eve making the predator the official national bird.
Although the bird of prey is prominently displayed in the Great Seal of the United States, the country has never had an official bird in its 248-year history.
What took so long?
![[Image: XtZmsD2.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/XtZmsD2.jpg)
Press Release: Bill Signed: HR 663
MOVIES MADE BY AI? WE’RE BASICALLY THERE NOW
Every shot in The Heist was created with Google Veo 2’s text-to-video AI.
No cameras. No sets. Just words turned into film.
Jason Zada handled the sound, editing, and music, but the visuals? Pure AI.
As we've been seeing we’re on the brink of AI-made movies becoming the norm. Think about it, storyboards to screen without ever picking up a camera. Will become a lost art, sadly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFc1jxLHhyM
I believe all of us here have said this is coming for past few years. Human actors, film sets, & human art will be something of the past and I think the only human action will be of those who have captivating unique voices. But, even that can easily be mimicked/duplicated by AI. However, in AI created vids it gets a lot of things wrong. Such as in this vid (link above) the 70s muscle car appears to have front wheel drive (at 50 second mark). Course the younger generations won't know that.
From the same AI company, Secret Level, a next-generation entertainment studio powered by AI produced 85 minutes of content in less than 3 weeks:
![[Image: BZ5s0Tl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/BZ5s0Tl.jpg)
https://x.com/secret__level/status/1871614378912710660
A few years from now it may/will be much harder to differentiate AI from real.
"What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."
- Morpheus
Christmas words... I'm kedge-gutted on my favorite sonrock.
![[Image: 7DS5Sjh.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/7DS5Sjh.jpg)
December 25, 350: Pope Julius I chose December 25th for the "Feast of the Nativity" (now Christmas Day), to mark the birth of Jesus Christ. No one is sure why this date was selected, but it was very close to the popular Roman pagan festival Saturnalia and to the Winter Solstice.
I didn't get the truth so I'm gonna burn this place down!
104-year-old Alfred Anderson, the last known survivor of the Christmas Truce of 1914, is interviewed by the BBC at home in Scotland.
They ask what he thinks about the idea of Christmas. Anderson said:
"I'll give Christmas Day 1914 a brief thought, as I do every year. And I'll think about all my friends who never made it home. But it's too sad to think too much about it. Far too sad."
Alfred Anderson (25 June 1896 – 21 November 2005) was a Scottish joiner and veteran of the First World War. He was the last known holder of the 1914 Star (the Old Contemptibles), the last known combatant to participate in the 1914 World War I Christmas truce, Scotland's last known World War I veteran, and Scotland's oldest man for more than a year.
Christmas Day truce 1914 | BBC Obit | Oldest war veteran reaches 106 | Wiki
Apparently, some Scots of a certain bloodline have Highlander genetics. Damn, 109, WoW!!
"Today...is Christmas!" The "magic show" mentioned by Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in this scene from FULL METAL JACKET is Marine slang for a religious service.
December 25, 1924: 100 years ago, Rod Serling is born.
As he put it: “I was a Christmas present that was delivered unwrapped.”
An IBM computer plays “Jingle Bells” at Arlington State College in Texas, December 1965.
IBM Grok Christmas
Here is the first prompt of two, "Render an IBM computer from the 1965 era, but have it transformed into a large mech-robot. Note the IBM computer does not have a monitor or keyboard, as it was only a console with lights and switches. The IBM logo should be visible, along with the slogan "Think". It's also decked out in Christmas output (red and white winter clothes). But it's head should be the IBM computer, and it's not a human-like head, should look boxy like the 1960's style IBM computers. The scene should look as realistic as possible, with darker natural lighting."
Grok kept using a monitor and modern-keyboard to compose the image, which was not desired, so I kept trying to correct it, repeating this second prompt until I got one image that didn't have the irrelevant peripherals: "In the last images you used a monitor and keyboard in the images. Please re-render, but do not use a monitor and keyboard. The original IBM computers had a console of lights and switches, and no monitor or keyboard."
December 25, 1997: THE POSTMAN arrived.
Aside from Arizona, the primary filming locations was in & around Bend, Oregon.
"The Black Clock of Time," a "nuclear holocaust novel" - author Louis Greene (John Hodgman) in S3.E3 of BORED TO DEATH (HBO). IMDB
WSJ: 'Twas the night of Two fairy tales published?
242 years later Senate bill S.4610 makes the bald eagle the official USA bird. The bald eagle has landed in the U.S. code after Joe Biden signed a bill on Christmas Eve making the predator the official national bird.
Although the bird of prey is prominently displayed in the Great Seal of the United States, the country has never had an official bird in its 248-year history.
What took so long?
Press Release: Bill Signed: HR 663
MOVIES MADE BY AI? WE’RE BASICALLY THERE NOW
Every shot in The Heist was created with Google Veo 2’s text-to-video AI.
No cameras. No sets. Just words turned into film.
Jason Zada handled the sound, editing, and music, but the visuals? Pure AI.
As we've been seeing we’re on the brink of AI-made movies becoming the norm. Think about it, storyboards to screen without ever picking up a camera. Will become a lost art, sadly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFc1jxLHhyM
I believe all of us here have said this is coming for past few years. Human actors, film sets, & human art will be something of the past and I think the only human action will be of those who have captivating unique voices. But, even that can easily be mimicked/duplicated by AI. However, in AI created vids it gets a lot of things wrong. Such as in this vid (link above) the 70s muscle car appears to have front wheel drive (at 50 second mark). Course the younger generations won't know that.
From the same AI company, Secret Level, a next-generation entertainment studio powered by AI produced 85 minutes of content in less than 3 weeks:
https://x.com/secret__level/status/1871614378912710660
A few years from now it may/will be much harder to differentiate AI from real.
"What is real? How do you define 'real'? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain."
- Morpheus
Christmas words... I'm kedge-gutted on my favorite sonrock.
"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong." – Thomas Sowell