
A pointless curmudgeonly bookmarklet.
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 10:37, Reply)

It has become the most criminally overused and misused word of late.
Is the book that inspired you any good? He certainly has a sensible opinion on wanksy.
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 20:51, Reply)

I found his prose a bit too dense to be an easy read, though.
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 22:17, Reply)

Every time I hear someone say it I know they are talking about something ill thought out and full of holes.
( , Sat 22 Apr 2023, 9:18, Reply)

Full on Nippon. Might nab this
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 9:45, Reply)

There's a lot of woo-science stoner talk about the magical utility of weed, a lot of it overblown, pardon the pun.
But to me, apart from apparently reducing glaucoma, its best use is as an appetite enhancer. I had a close elderly relative who was getting badly knocked around by chemo, really at deaths door, to the point where they were planning to call it off early. Strong nausea all the time unrelieved by ant-nauseants, and hence no appetite and not eating. And when you don't eat you get weaker and you need to be strong to get through chemo. I gave them hash oil, they'd never touched pot in their life. didn't do anything for the nausea, but they found they started eating, even before realising what they were doing.
Just an unscientific trial of one, but now I can say "hey, look at the fucking worms"
Worms crave junk food after consuming cannabis, study suggests

( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 2:45, Reply)

also now not getting much better - unresponsive.......
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 1:15, Reply)

sad news, though 89 is a good innings if this is the final curtain call
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 2:27, Reply)

perhaps he was just faking it for a laugh.............
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 23:18, Reply)

I thought up a little melody. I messed around with it in Cubase to see where it would take me. It turned into something that I thought might suit a theme tune, so I made this. If you know anyone who needs some low-grade quasi-celtic nonsense, send them my way.
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 0:07, Reply)

After I posted "Banjo Kitty," I got several requests to post more of this smooth little cat doing music. He's no pro but he practices a lot. :)
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 23:32, Reply)

The new term for blowing up.
— Link to tweet
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 17:34, Reply)

— Link to tweet
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 15:25, Reply)

The fireworks are set to go off in 5 minutes...
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 14:23, Reply)

I think about 6 engines are offline... Still good...
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 14:36, Reply)

Ship still spinning...
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 14:38, Reply)

Parts of the launch platform appear to have hit the water tower and dented it, shit is still on fire. Lots of debris everywhere.
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 14:53, Reply)

Have sent to the profanisaurus for good measure
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 14:53, Reply)

at least according to Tim Dodd. The momentum of the rotation separates the two vehicles rather than having explosive decouplers, springs or retro rockets.
It's crazy.
It seems they attempted the manoeuvrer while too low in thick atmosphere, or just plain lost control of the rocket and all that flipping was unintentional. There was a call for main engine cut off but engines were still firing (or slowly exploding).
Personally, I would bring back the extending gridfins rather than having them open the whole time (they just can't be good for stability during ascent and they are a massive drag) and I'd buy back those oil platforms and commit to sea launches going forward. Bring back the big landing legs, too, no fucking way is that launch tower catching a falling starship any time soon.
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 19:49, Reply)

If the whole point of the first stage is to place the second stage on a safe trajectory to orbit, tumbling it into a spin seems like a very bad idea.
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 23:04, Reply)

I guess they're prioritising design simplicity and mass savings over losses to momentum and aerodynamics. Ideally Starship doesn't do any cartwheels, glides away and powers through with minimal loss of speed, while Superheavy does a 180 (or 540?) rotation to become aerodynamically stable while flying in reverse.
It does seem utterly insane, but reusable decouplers or spring powered docking ports are probably an even more complex problem to solve than flipping a rocket.
This test flight was mainly concerned with taking off, staging, and crashing the two stages in roughly the right places. No payload, no attempt to make orbit, so they were running light and massively overpowered. Assuming it truly exploded due to auto-destruct the structure did very well, performing numerous flips and rotations while firing its engines, shedding about 1000kmh in a matter of seconds and holding together. All this with no autostrut!
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 19:22, Reply)

Bloody Musk.
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 17:16, Reply)

( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 0:39, Reply)

Where there's muck, there's brass.
That being said, it seems a bit unfair to lump all the legitimate artists and designers with such an astronomical tax just to benefit from the AI crowd. There's probably going to be some adjustment to the terms over the next few weeks I reckon.
This whole AI 'revolution' really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 6:36, Reply)

"It's just another tool, and it frees me from boring labour so I can devote my time to higher pursuits like concept and style choice." Yes, because a client will still want to pay you for something they can easily do themselves.
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 8:09, Reply)

"Well, I generated the base image via AI, but then I touched it up a little in Photoshop which means that the final product is very much my own."
Load of fucking shite, but I suspect we're stuck with it now - especially as the algorithms/NN's continually improve and it becomes more and more difficult to distinguish computer generated output from actual human artistry. Looks like things are very quickly beginning to go that way with Music and Literature, too.
I suppose we could hope that the majority continue to value authenticity over aesthetic. But I reckon we're fucked in that regard as well.
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 8:30, Reply)

1. Draw a house freehand.
2. Draw a house using a ruler so your edges are a bit straighter and things line up.
3. Draw a house after constructing a base grid on the page with measurements and vanishing points.
4. Draw a house after blocking out the structure using a 3D package and outputting an image as basically a very advanced base grid, complete with lens curvature and angle of view. But you have still made all the choices and done all the groundwork yourself.
5. Tell a computer to draw you a house, using prompts that you know will get an appropriate output. It will probably ape someone else's style without their permission, and look slightly "off" if you spend any time studying it.
Levels 1 to 4 are art, using varying amounts of assistance to save time and get everything as technically correct as possible. Level 5 is briefing another individual to do the art for you.
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 18:22, Reply)

Progress can feel like cheating to those whose status and sense of purpose is rendered obsolete by new technology.
I'm frankly amazed by some AI music I've heard. I'm excited to work with AI music tools, and I'm excited to work with AI visual art tools too, once they become, you know, good. Contextual selection tools would be so useful and time-saving. Typing (or speaking) instructions to perform laborious and repetitive tasks would be wonderful.
I understand the fear surrounding AI, but right now I'm quite optimistic about it all. Without AI this could be a lonely galaxy. If we can't have the Star Trek future at least we can have Battlestar Galactica.
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 19:28, Reply)

An argument could certainly be made that a traditional artist's status will eventually be rendered obsolete by AI, but only because the vast majority of consumers are looking at the final product and give not a shit about the process involved.
The same goes for AI music. The tracks that I've heard have been astonishingly authentic (although, considering that contemporary pop and rap are already based largely upon algorithms and largely written/produced by third parties, it's not that much of a leap).
Either way, I wouldn't really regard it as progress. Especially if the value of human art is subsequently depreciated.
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 7:16, Reply)

but this will certainly improve. AI will eventually be able to emulate the creative process without having to rely on human input for good ideas .
There might be a backlash against AI generated art, with people using authenticated human body fluids to paint on cave walls.
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 11:54, Reply)

showing you their thought processes in designing a simple game graphic. Stage one looked okay (a point where many people would think it was finished - the sort of thing AI can generate), but then they tidied it up and stylised it so by the end it was undeniably a far superior image.
I wish I could find that post, because AI art always seems to be at the "it looks about right" stage, when the real depth of knowledge seems to come after that. The article really made you focus on the subtleties of such work.
Whilst AI art tools are impressive/scary, it does seem another massive leap for it to understand creativity in any way. By design, it feels like it will always head toward the average, when interesting art needs something unique.
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 12:49, Reply)

I wonder if growing up in an age where most imagery has been generated by AI will further blind people to the flaws of AI art, not unlike the way many have become deaf to the lifelessness of autotuned vocals in pop
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 21:15, Reply)

like a mimic in nature only has to look close enough to the real thing from the perspective of its prey. I think it could do this within a decade, and without achieving/suffering consciousness. Plants can mimic.
( , Sat 22 Apr 2023, 0:17, Reply)

And when it comes to matters of life and death, evolution seems to favour erring on the side of caution.
My point was about the effect of exposure on aesthetic preferences
( , Sat 22 Apr 2023, 5:47, Reply)

and how they use things like cgi or autotune, then you can see both interesting use, practical use, and lazy use. The good stuff is still there.
Unfortunately the lazy use seems the most popular with the public, though.
( , Sat 22 Apr 2023, 9:14, Reply)

See also the history of tea, cotton/clothing, the food industry, etc.
IMO an artificial intelligence producing art does nothing to devalue art produced by a biological intelligence, and vice versa. The widespread availability of previously archaic elite knowledge doesn't devalue the product of that knowledge to me. It may diminish the value of the previously privileged elite's skill set in an economic sense, but that will hopefully matter less and less as we head towards post-capitalist Utopia.
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 19:59, Reply)


( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 21:43, Reply)

There's an awful lot of human art sold for 99p or less.
( , Sat 22 Apr 2023, 0:11, Reply)

Most people can't do that very well, and just copy existing work.
However, 99% of work that pays the bills is copying and grunt work, which it does seem very good at.
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 9:01, Reply)

Maybe everybody's next job could be fixing the machines that made them redundant. An exciting future awaits!
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 21:01, Reply)

“Yay, I can get AI to do my grunt work!”; it means that whoever needs the grunt work done will say “Yay, now I don’t have to piss about with expensive illustrators to get grunt work done”.
Not only that, but the person that uses the AI instead of hiring you won’t be saying “phew, I’m glad I’ve found a programme to create images for me” - instead that person will be saying “wow, I’m very good at art. Why did I ever bother paying illustrators and designers when I’m actually great at it, now I have this tool!”
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 11:24, Reply)

but my point about grunt work was that it is a bad thing for creatives who need the boring work to fund the good work, and it will steal that work, not provide any good work. However, Photoshop has been doing that for years with each new feature it adds.
It's the smaller "time-saving" tools rather than the type-in-a-prompt-and-I'll-do-everything tools that seem the bigger problem in that regard.
Regarding “wow, I’m very good at art. Why did I ever bother paying illustrators and designers when I’m actually great at it, now I have this tool!” - there is a point where AI art just looks like placeholder shit, and it's likely going to be easier for a designer to start from scratch than try and salvage something, should they want the artwork to look professional.
I see it as the same as Wix is to web development. It gets you to a certain point, but without acquiring any skills along the way. The best you can hope for is mediocrity if you don't understand any of the details.
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 12:28, Reply)

Every once in a while I need to be reminded of how awesome this track + video is.
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 22:14, Reply)

Never heard of them before but i'm listening to more of their stuff.
Edit : i have heard some before but didn't know who it was.
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 10:56, Reply)

( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 21:03, Reply)

To be honest I’m more excited for Invincible at the end of the year.
That said, as I recall Monstroso got King Gorilla’s heart so it’s not referring to him but it’s obviously too much to hope that Heavy Weapons Guy (who has the heart of a mega-baboon) will make a cameo appearance. Then again who knows; Brock was in Poker Night after all.
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 21:40, Reply)

It sounds like a cod inscrutable Eastern mystic saying, I guess in a line of dialogue.
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 23:03, Reply)

What kind of cross-dimensional hell is this?
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 18:08, Reply)

But a quick estimate puts the rotation rate at around 7.5 arcminutes per hour.
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 18:29, Reply)

Obviously it would be a smaller number measured closer to the point of rotation.
They knocked it all down 30 years later anyway.
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 19:24, Reply)

They moved it then rotated it then moved it some more apparently.
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 21:44, Reply)

A tad more impressive here though, since they didn't have worshippers in at the time.
( , Thu 20 Apr 2023, 7:22, Reply)

New Zealand cat-killing competition for children axed after backlash

( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 12:19, Reply)

Greater loss of wildlife and spread more disease than rats.
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 13:23, Reply)

We looked at each other in confusion for about 3 seconds, then it knocked over a table and fucked off, thus doing nothing to disprove the CaC theory.
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 16:59, Reply)

When they’re done, pin them to the ground and let the wetas have at them.
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 21:59, Reply)

"makes God Save the Queen sound like a tame Royalist ballad"
( , Tue 18 Apr 2023, 23:43, Reply)

...they say 'that's great! - now stand here while we do a TikTok video...'
( , Tue 18 Apr 2023, 23:01, Reply)

His guide took him to the act that tours the campsites/hotels and do their Maasai thing. To be fair, I am impressed that he thanked the guide in Swahili and the thanked the Maasai in Maa.
also
youtu.be/FbYtASAakAI
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 0:32, Reply)

Still - easy money!
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 7:24, Reply)

It's been a few weeks since I was gifted an Arduino for my birthday. I have learnt the rudiments of programming and soldering and have created this soundboard for my 5-year-old son. Really enjoying this new hobby. I am determined never to make anything actually useful.
( , Tue 18 Apr 2023, 17:57, Reply)

( , Tue 18 Apr 2023, 23:26, Reply)

Bonus click for the name, all ALL inventions should be suffixed "o-tron"
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 7:27, Reply)

...it guffs all over Frippertronics.
( , Fri 21 Apr 2023, 17:39, Reply)

FBI arrests guardsman who applied for job on RentAHitman.com

( , Tue 18 Apr 2023, 10:39, Reply)

surprised it's admissible but it is the US
( , Tue 18 Apr 2023, 22:05, Reply)

This is a honey pot.
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 7:51, Reply)

In other English speaking countries, a defendant can claim entrapment based on opportunity or inducement. Opportunity-based entrapment is when police provide a person with the opportunity to commit the crime without reasonable suspicion that the person was already engaged with the specific criminal activity. With inducement-based entrapment, police encourage a person’s illegal actions through deceit, fraud, or undue persuasion. To me this seems like both.
If a plainclothes cop says, “Thievery’s great. There’s a bloke who’ll give you 100 quid if you grab that bike over there” and then nicks you, you might be a little put out. Same dif, just with a website for the credulous.
Still, must be fine in the States else he’d be free
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 8:11, Reply)

And with my particular set of skills I have acquired over many years I will find your cats and give them treats and some fussing.
( , Tue 18 Apr 2023, 22:15, Reply)

Hospital told me lacerations should heal with time
( , Wed 19 Apr 2023, 20:56, Reply)
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