I finally finished my seamless jumper! This one was designed using a tutorial on “how to design your own sweater” using any yarn and using some basic mathematics to determine how much yarn I had to use and stitches to cast on. Knitting a square and then determining its tension and with a measuring tape […]
Guy Buys Physical Encyclopedia Set to Prepare for Information Doomsday
I had a chuckle with this post. Why? I had thought of doing the same thing but then I thought I’d only find a set that goes up to 1990 or some such…. Forget the gas masks and Spam, and maybe try buying some encyclopedias to prepare for the AI-driven information apocalypse instead. — Read […]
How To Predict Consequences
“Kids nowadays don’t know the meaning of consequences,” says my husband after he’s heard yet another story on the news about wayward teenagers creating havoc in the suburbs. “Maybe because it feels as if there are none nowadays. Or they haven’t learned to understand that with each action there is a consequence – good or […]
What We Really Need To Learn To Be Successful In Life by Robin Good
I’ve been reading the curated lists of Robin Good’s work for many years. He has been consistently sharing educational and informative links in the field of learning and education for many years. In particular, he introduced me to curation and the many different platforms that I could use to curate information sources. Here is a […]
Knitting in Public Day
June 10th is Knitting In Public Day and this year, Linda, librarian of Caulfield Library and expert crafter organised an afternoon of knitting for our local community. So I gathered a couple of friends from my knitting and ukulele groups (who then invited theirs) and headed down to enjoy knitting and chatting for a few […]
Another Unsuccessful Job Application
Argh. I’ve been trying to get a casual or contract role in a library since late last year but to no avail. The roles I’m going for are helping customers with finding books; returning books to shelves and general admin roles. Today I received yet another rejection. Luckily, some time ago I had spoken with […]
Stuff I Write in My Personal Diaries
Relax. It’s nothing exciting. I’m in my 50s and life has become a tad less thrilling. Today this is what I wrote and cracked up with myself. Emily is my niece. If anything, my diaries are random collections of thoughts that I would otherwise not express publicly. Mostly self deprecating or self loathing but almost […]
Hand Talk
This week in our french class, I submitted a video for general discussion. It’s about the gestures that the French do and how I got nearly all of them WRONG. In the video, the host says that in order to learn the French language, you also need to understand the gestures they use. If you’re […]
Earthquake In Melbourne
Early this morning around 1:30am I was awakened by a tapping sound just outside our bedroom door. Andrew wasn’t in bed as he had just returned from a night watching a live band in a dodgy part of town. He was in the lounge room having a quiet cuppa before he went to bed. As […]
Competition Frenzy
About once every couple of months (or thereabouts), I sit down at my computer and spend a few hours submitting for competitions. Usually I do random searches of local or national competitions and they could be anything. Health and beauty products, cash, home accessories, fashion, garden, cars, travel, anything really. As I don’t play lotto, […]
Wuthering Heights
I’m reading Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights and getting my fair share of the Yorkshire Moors. A book to read on these dark, cold, windy Melbourne nights. But geez, already, Cathy and Heathcliff! I have to get a hold of myself and rethink how I approach this book every night as I reach for it. Cathy […]
Democratic Inputs to AI
Our nonprofit organization, OpenAI, Inc., is launching a program to award ten $100,000 grants to fund experiments in setting up a democratic process for deciding what rules AI systems should follow, within the bounds defined by the law. — Read on openai.com/blog/democratic-inputs-to-ai *********OpenAI isn’t really open. It’s actually owned by Microsoft who bought it a […]
Hotel Bars
When I stay home all day, there are times I put on the big screen, YouTube videos of big bands like the Glen Miller Band or Jazz Bar music. I then sit back on my husband’s chair, (it swivels around), with my feet on the stool then close my eyes and just let my feet […]
AI Writes a Novel
I hope this product dies a quick death. This tweet stream was sent by a good friend and I nearly choked on my coffee while the developer was going through the demo. Pseudo alright. Read the comments. Then I did a search on YouTube. Already there’s some writers using this tool. It’s making me think […]
Creating a Preferred Supplier List
I don’t know about you but over the years, I’ve noticed a huge drop in customer service standards across the board. From banks, pharmacies, retail, hospitality, bad service is rife. Sometimes it’s not bad per se, it’s just “inconvenient”. Through its “misguided convenience” it becomes bad because it treats the customer as an idiot. We’re […]
Scull A Drink Every Time AI is Mentioned…
You’ll end up pissed pretty quickly (which is the preferred state to be if you have to listen to everything being taken over by this topic. Everything. “Pretty sure Google is focusing on AI at this year’s I/O. #google #googleio #ai #tech #technews #techtok”. Google I/O and AI original sound – The Verge. — Read […]
BuzzFeed Says Its AI Is Outperforming Its Pesky Human Employees
Maybe this article is a good reminder not to read articles from such sites. Oh, wait a moment. I don’t read them. 🤣 Still, it makes me wonder what other news sites are using AI (or soon will be using it). I think it’s high time for me to curate my feeds once more and […]
The Decline of Eye Contact
Yesterday I went for a walk with a good friend who has been in my life for many years. She put a proposal in front of me regarding a potential opportunity to return to my first ever employer. The industry is going through a massive build up here in Australia and there’s plenty of opportunities […]
“Why Do I Have to Look Shit Up For This Machine?”
An excellent post by Alan Devine showing his frustration with ChatGPT. The quote however hits the mark. Lying, Hallucinating? I, MuddGPT – CogDogBlog — Read on cogdogblog.com/2023/05/i-muddgpt/ Another good conversation to follow in Mastodon (HT Stephen Downes) in response to the recent Guardian article by Naomi Klein called AI Machines Aren’t Hallucinating, Their Makers Are […]
Follow Me, Coco Chanel
The new Coco Chanel ad comes on the television. I listen to the opening notes of a mesmerising song. What is she singing about? The machines? The social media influencers?” I immediately stop knitting. I pick up the phone and type in “Coco Chanel Ad Soundtrack” It comes back with this. I’m getting outI’m moving […]