Veterans Day 2024. . .

Western front Stock Photos, Royalty Free Western front Images | Depositphotos

This anniversary is more poignant than it has been previously, for some of us at least, here in the United States. What have previous and current generations fought and died for? Despite the fact that the ugly alternative has been staring us in the face for quite some time, despite the warnings from constitutional and legal scholars, despite the warnings of senior military leaders and government officials with firsthand knowledge, we have chosen yet again to turn our back on the weakest in society, on individual and human rights, on our history, and on our obligation to and productive collaboration with the rest of the world. For that, I am truly heartbroken and sorry.

-- Stokes

Comments

Neil said…

I think bewildered sadness will be a prevailing emotion for the next few years. But all things must pass and we have the best hobby in the world for when it gets too much.

1:56 PM

Sean said…

Great regrets! It is another version of Brexit, with even more impact internationally. From a little island off wonderful Europe.

5:03 AM

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said…

I just hope that things will not be get as bad as they might get. There are still some checks and balances and some good people in your government.

Not sure how keen I'll be to head south over the border to attend the wargame convention in Maine next year but that decision is months away.

7:48 AM

Fitz-Badger said…

I share the emotions and concerns for the next few years, at least.

Best wishes to us all!

5:15 PM

And We're Off!!!

Arrrgh! Gotta go back into camera settings on my iPhone to bring all of the frame into focus. Blast! Painting is underway on the 60 or so Minden Austrians, which are slated to become my version of the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment of AWI renown. More or less indistinguishable from Austrians of the era really, right down to the red facings and turnbacks, but the eventual flags (already in my files) will set them apart. I went ahead and based-coated all of them over a couple of days lthe last week of August, using a mix of light gray and white acrylic gesso, before next applying my usual basic alkyd oil flesh tone to the faces and hands. In a day or two, I'll hit that with Army Painter Flesh Wash to tone things down a bit and bring some definition to the faces and hands. As usual, the plan is to focus on about 20 figures at a time, splitting the regiment roughly into thirds along with the color party and regimental staff. Depending on ...

Sunday Morning Coffee with AI. . .

A rmed with a second cup of fresh, strong coffee, I messed around a bit this morning with artlist.io using its image to image function in an attempt to convert my hand-drawn map from September 2006 to something that more resembles an old map from the mid-18th century. And just like my experiments with Ninja AI in June, the results are mixed. The above map is pretty good, but Artlist keeps fouling up the place names and has trouble putting a faint overlay of hexes across the entire area. Hexes, admittedly, are not likely to be found on any genuine maps from the era in question, but there we are. Frankly, I prefer the appearance of the Ninja map, but there were problems getting it to correct its errors. Grrrr. As is the case with so much having to do with the various AI's out there now, the output generated is a direct result of the prompts entered. For text alone, and when you develop a lengthy, highly detailed prompt, it is...

Continued Regional Map Revisions. . .

F ooled around a bit more with the revised map just before and after dinner this evening, using the Fotor app to reinsert missing text . I also removed a few other things using the 'Magic Eraser' function, which works surprisingly well. Now, we're getting somewhere. I just have to figure out how to ensure that the text is all a uniform font style and maybe figure out a way to add a few bunches of trees to suggest forested areas, Ninja AI is not always entirely cooperative to the tune of "I'm sorry Dave. I can't do that." -- Stokes

The Grand Duchy of Stollen

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