web analytics

Not bad, AI

I asked Grok to “make me an image of elon musk eating a pickle in comic book style” and this is what it gave me. Not bad at all.

Why the phrase “elon musk eating a pickle” popped into my head, I do not know. I’m kind of surprised Grok allowed it, in that it could easily be edited into something ruder.

I do know a whole lot of illustrators will be out of work.

Have a good weekend!

February 7, 2025 — 7:16 pm
Comments: 6

Embarrassing

Bought myself one of these. It’s the small version of the big and unwieldy one I have with my desktop machine. It’s small and unwieldy (Huion tablets use an unfeasible number of ports). I haven’t been able to set it up yet because I’m having a Windows 11 update that’s been downloading for over an hour.

Just had a message saying installing the update could take an unusually long time(!). Yeah, maybe later.

I bought this from the Huion Ebay shop – it’s a refurb. Yes, sorry, I can’t make myself not be a cheapskate. I ordered it yesterday afternoon and it showed up at 1:00 today. Wow.

Took a picture of the box to show you, propped up in a chair. When I saw the image on computer, there was a terrifying amount of cat hair on the chair. Crop! Crop!

February 6, 2025 — 6:42 pm
Comments: 6

Uncle B liked it, anyway

This photo won the Natural History Museum’s 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award. It was taken in an urban setting not that far from here. Do hit the link – there are some wonderful photos there.

There is a darker side to this image. I live in rural Dorset where I’m on a rewilding mission to enhance habitats for a huge array of wildlife. The badger cull – which is still ongoing – has decimated their numbers and I fear that unless the cull is stopped, we’ll only see badgers in urban settings in several parts of England. My hope is for this image to raise awareness of the damaging effect of the badger cull and help push for change.” – Ian Wood, winner of this year’s People’s Choice Award.

That’s the photographer, Ian Wood. While I agree the cull is disgraceful (they’re trying to murder their way out of bovine tuberculosis), I don’t know why anyone would want badgers in the city. They’re a menace to traffic and awfully destructive.

If you scroll down the BBC article on the topic, you might just spot a Belgian ermine.

p.s. don’t get me started on Banksy.

February 5, 2025 — 5:41 pm
Comments: 5

Lucky little newt

Look at the adorable smooth newt that Uncle B found SWIMMING IN THE DOWNSTAIRS TOILET. I may never poop again.

Yes, he rescued it.

Speaking of slimy things: Adobe. I posted a rave review of Photoshop Elements some time ago, which has damn near all the functionality of my full Photoshop but only costs, like, £70. I went to buy a copy for new machine, and noticed in the fine print it now says “3 year license.”

So I looked it up. Yup. After three years, the program stops working and you have to pony up again. They started this in 2025 and, because everything is delivered digitally now, you simply cannot buy an older version.

Anyway, I may have a workaround. I bought the 2024 version for work and it’s a one person, two seat license. If I can find the serial number.

Wot bastards.

February 4, 2025 — 7:50 pm
Comments: 8

Guess who got a new computer?

Me. It was me. It was a trick question.

The laptop that I sit around and shitpost with is over ten years old. It still works fine for my purposes, but the keyboard is going (notably the spacebar, which is hard to work around) and it was starting to lock and complain more and more.

Stupid. I can easily afford a new one. But a certain innate cheapness is hard to overcome. So I bought a nice computer, but bowed to my thrifty instincts and bought an ex-display model. They knocked a few hundred off it.

Nice, bangy screen. Lots of memory. Good sound. Big hard drive. I was loving this thing.

Day two, after assorted updates, the soundcard stopped working. I had sound with Bluetooth speakers but not the native sound. I spent an entire day in Gates hell, fart-assing around with the Device Manager, Control Panel, downloading drivers, rebooting.. I so didn’t want to send this computer back.

In the end, Uncle B found the answer: a Windows update from December broke Realtek and Microsoft hasn’t bothered to fix it. The solution: do a firmware update on the computer. The search idea that called it up for him was the bizarre fact that sound worked with Bluetooth speakers.

I wonder how much of my life I’ve spent chasing Gates bullshit.

Anyway – new computer! w00t!

February 3, 2025 — 7:19 pm
Comments: 19