Sea moncster
“Weird animal washed up on the beach” is another perennial local story, but this one is weird. It washed up on a Sussex beach – last year, if you read the article. Which is a pity; someone should have gotten a tissue sample.
I don’t know if those are nostrils or eyes toward the big end, but it’s got spines sticking out of the thin end and a couple of flippers – two different sizes – sticking out of the little bulge. No, the fish experts weren’t any help.
Perhaps it’s an alien.
No really. Have you seen that weird Tucker Carlson clip where he talks about UFOs coming up out of the sea? No idea what to make of that.
Have a good weekend!
April 14, 2023 — 6:30 pm
Comments: 6
Sexy, sexy swans
This afternoon.There were three, actually, and they were flapping and chasing each other. I don’t know if that’s normal swan interaction or mate selection or what. Wikipedia says:
Swans famously mate for life, and typically bond even before they reach sexual maturity. Trumpeter swans, for example, who can live as long as 24 years and only start breeding at the age of 4–7, form monogamous pair bonds as early as 20 months. “Divorce”, though rare, does occur; one study of mute swans showing a 3% rate for pairs that breed successfully and 9% for pairs that do not.
So, swan divorce? Who knows.
It’s not unheard of to see a gathering of swans in a field. I once saw so many, I lost count at around thirty. Hit the link for a discussion of swan-upping. A sheep farmer told me the swans gather when it’s going to be unusually cold inland (coming to the coast for warmth), but wrong time of year.
Me, I hope we have more babies!
April 13, 2023 — 4:14 pm
Comments: 2
I don’t mean to brag…
I’m one of the Community Notes contributors on Twitter now. I mean sure, anyone can sign up, but it was ages before I got confirmation.
They claim they get a balanced set of opinions, which probably means Elon has sicced an AI on my posting history to decide if I add enrichment.
The irritating part is shooting down a bunch of notes I agree with because the tweet doesn’t need a damn note.
And alas, Spoony is gone for good this time. I looked through my old posts today and, my goodness, she got herself into a lot of scrapes. Up a tree, on the roof, in a hedge. She disappeared for more than 24 hours once and I was sure that was it. Turns out, she was in the kitchen the whole time, standing silently in the corner.
The strangest of all my chickens.
Sorry about this. I try not to post when I lose one. I hate to be a downer. Some days, Twitter feels like one long montage of dead dogs and cats.
April 12, 2023 — 6:29 pm
Comments: 5
She’s done it again…I hope
Spoon wasn’t there at rollcall tonight. She’s done this before. Next morning, I find her pecking around the garden like nothing. Let us hope.
But it’s going to be a wild night. Wind and rain, a specialty of the house. I’ve been round and round the house, looking high and low – I’m good at spotting her silhouette – but I’ve got nothing to show but wet.
I hope she has a nice dry safe perch somewhere.
My favorite hen. I mean, look at that face and tell me it doesn’t cheer you right up. Yes, she has a face.
April 11, 2023 — 6:56 pm
Comments: 7
Where now?
Always makes me laugh that there’s only two manuscript parchment copies of the US Declaration of Independence and they are located in:
1) the US National Archives
2) the archives of West Sussex County Council, where it was found by chance in 2015.
Following up on that, it’s true. There are lots of copies, but that’s the only other one on parchment. Most copies are 19th C, but they believe this one was about ten years after the original.
Back to work tomorrow after a fabulous four-day break. I am sad.
April 10, 2023 — 6:48 pm
Comments: 7
Happy Good Friday!
I have today and Monday off, because England is an explicitly Christian country. Nominally.
To kick off the long weekend, we’re going to watch Dr Zhivago tonight. Wish me luck.
The image is Craiyon’s notion of “weasel watching television seen from behind”. I had to try this prompt twice. Each try yields nine images; most of them were real nightmare fodder.
I know the picture the AI pinched for this – it’s an image of a weasel licking its nose. The tongue has rather gotten away from the AI here and appears as a sort of white growth, but this was the most explicable and least disturbing of the eighteen pictures.
I’ve got to elbow my way into the MidJourney beta somehow.
April 7, 2023 — 5:19 pm
Comments: 4
Sad.
Someone in my circle has recently gone into a care home. Her brain still works, but she is no longer up to running her own affairs. She’s 91 or 92, I think.
She is a well-known local illustrator, widely published. I was asked to come look at her art supplies today to see if anything is worth saving. She would be happier if her stuff went to an artist.
Oof. Half empty bottles of ink and a curious little box with two nibs in it. Several drafting sets, nothing special. Some paper.
Made sadder because I will leave behind precisely the same sad pile of half-consumed pencils and curious little boxes and drawing pads. Only, I have a lot more of it. Yay me.
I’ll probably go heap it all in a box and carry it away because I can’t bear for it to be thrown out. Very bad juju.
The picture is what happens when you give craiyon.com the prompt “half empty bottles of ink and old art supplies.” Delighted to see AI struggles to get ellipses right, too.
April 6, 2023 — 7:35 pm
Comments: 9
Imagine if one pooped on the windshield
Six chinooks flying over Sussex. We were right in the flight path and I’m sure we heard them, but not sure when. There have been several times lately we heard something go over, like what the hell was that?
It was a jet once, for sure.
Flightradar24 isn’t great with military aircraft (but I prefer their interface). ADSBexchange does a more complete job. I haven’t seen anything like six of these go over, though.
There are plenty of chinooks in the RAF, but the article says these were American. What’re y’all up to?
April 5, 2023 — 7:39 pm
Comments: 12
Ew.
Ew ew ew. I mean, I knew this would be one of the first things anyone did with VR, but I didn’t expect it to be offered to me as part of my regular Steam recommendations. Right to my face, in front of the cat and everything!
If you can’t read the text:
VR HOT is a VR adult experience for creating and interacting with dream partners (m/f). It gives you the opportunity to explore your most intimate desires in a non-judmental surrounding. VR HOT offers a virtual environment and a construction kit for dream partners and the interaction with them.
I found a guy doing YouTube gameplays, but all he seemed to be doing was changing the model and the outfit and stumbling around a depressing hotel room with his arms outstretched like a zombie.
To be honest, I didn’t listen to the audio, I just scrubbed through the video. I find gamesex unbearably cringe.
You may (or may not) be pleased to know there’s a wrinkles slider, so you can make your dream girl (or guy) super wrinkly!
April 4, 2023 — 7:15 pm
Comments: 4
This is a test of…
Britain has never had a nationwide emergency alert system. They’re about to get one and they’re flipping out about it.
Sunday, April 24th everyone’s smart phone is going to make what has been described as “a very loud noise” for ten seconds, or until acknowledged by the user. There has been speculation that people will drive off the road or have heart attacks. There are concerns that the government is harvesting who does (and doesn’t) have a smart phone.
It does seem a little pointless (and therefore a little sinister). Britain has very placid weather.
It doesn’t have earthquakes, a tornado alley, wildfires to speak of or a hurricane season. Some flooding, but you can usually see that coming. They had a couple of apparent tsunamis in the Middle Ages – at least, the sea snuck in and ate a couple of villages. They were never quite as directly threatened in the Cold War, though last year Vlad did promise to nuke London first if the current thing goes sour.
In the end, probably a nothingburger. Instructions are making the rounds how to claw the app out of the guts of your phone, though the article I linked said you can just turn your phone off.
I’ll probably decide to experience it. Curiosity and all that.
April 3, 2023 — 7:00 pm
Comments: 12