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
I’m not even sure *this* is English
I’m doing it, guys. I’m doing the last ever bit of paperwork – going for my British citizenship.
I’ve been eligible for years now, I’m just. You know. Lazy.
Also, I hate, hate, HATE dealing with the immigration authorities here. They’re all surly brown people with a chip on their hijab.
So this is a tick box: I have promised to provide “The United States of America passport, identity card or official letter for S. Weasel to prove the level of English language required”
What does that mean? Showing my passport proves I speak English? It doesn’t, you know.
Oh, well. If I make it, I have to go take an oath to Charlie in public and then I get a new citizen welcome kit. Really.
Going to cost me £1,330, too. Still, I’ll be able to commit misdemeanors and not get deported. Worth it!
March 31, 2023 — 6:34 pm
Comments: 12
thispersondoesnotexist does not exist
Well! Uncle B was combing through his old bookmarks (the browser equivalent of rearranging your sock drawer) and discovered that thispersondoesnotexist.com is gone. Or, rather, the URL was bought by Stability AI and redirects to their product.
Confirmed by Reddit r/TPDNE a month ago. Though they don’t seem to know the story.
Stability AI’s product is called Stable Diffusion and it does a similar job to TPDNE, among other things. You’ve probably seen some illustrations created with it.
They offer a free Photoshop plugin, which got me all excited, but it only works with Photoshop 23.5 or newer.
I think my version is 9. Poop.
Anyway, TPDNE was always good for a fascinating half hour. The faces it generated were scary good – for the most part. It had problems with glasses, earrings, other people in the shot.
People used it a lot for things like fake Twitter profiles. I wonder if that played a part in its demise.
Oh, thiscatdoesnotexist is gone, too. It sucked.
March 30, 2023 — 7:49 pm
Comments: 5
Well, that didn’t last long
My fancy new coffee subscription service, kaput. I only had two deliveries.
I joined them after I saw an ad on Twitter. I wonder if they had one last marketing blowout trying to revive their fortunes.
Oh, well. I have now more or less figured out what I do and don’t like, so coffee surprise! isn’t such an important service.
I mean, I haven’t worked out what all that language about tropical fruit and notes of tobacco and chocolate means in real terms, but I know I cannot tell the difference between one dark roast and another. And I don’t like ’em.
March 29, 2023 — 7:20 pm
Comments: 8