Microposts

Sun 19 Nov 2023 19:15

I do not want to be spending my Sunday evening trying to get the washing machine on the Wi-Fi so that I can give it a spin-only cycle it should’ve already had only to be told, once connected, I can’t do it right now because the “software is optimising. Try again later“.

Thanks for listening.

Sat 18 Nov 2023 10:00

I think I’m going to enjoy this book: “For instance, why did humans evolve to walk upright? Was it to run further on the African savannah? Why did humans evolve to use complex language? Was it to complain about how far they had to run on the savannah?”

Thu 16 Nov 2023 18:05

Had fun making a GPT to identify (): Take a photo of the ingredients on a packet, get an answer and some reasoning. I’ll post the prompt somewhere later, but it’s been fun, but also limited (what is this? A free sales effort for ChatGPT Pro accounts?)

In doing this I also discovered an nifty OpenFoodFacts app: world.openfoodfacts.org

An easy case: margarine. Screen shot from a tablet showing a image of a packet, and the output from GPT saying “Yes, this is UPF”. There’s then a list of ingredients and each explained.

Thu 09 Nov 2023 22:09

UK people: just one more sleep until the next weekly Helen Lewis newsletter: helenlewis.substack.com

Sun 05 Nov 2023 21:09

So far so good for bonfire night. Breezy barks at loud fireworks, ignores the rest, which seems preferable to how Skitters coped. Hoping your animal pals are doing well.

Fri 03 Nov 2023 18:55

Took little Breezy into the office tonight for Friday beers. She was very good, practiced a few things the behaviourist taught us, and she disgraced herself in a minor (and easily cleaned) way. I blame the owners.

A small black and white Parterdale mixed terrier in an office. She’s a very good girl.

Fri 03 Nov 2023 18:51

Emotional from visiting the vet today. People there with an older dog in trouble, and people sobbing and hugging outside.

Wed 25 Oct 2023 19:36

Remarkable that this didn’t exist already: “If your MP makes a mistake when speaking in Parliament and wants to make a correction, they will now be able to do so. And someone looking up what your MP has said online will be able to see when they have corrected their mistake.” fullfact.org/blog/2023/oct/maj

Wed 18 Oct 2023 20:33

Skips: zero VAT rated; Wotsits: standard rated. Here’s the table, which I’m told has no relation to product cost.

Found via “ultra-processed people” book’s discussion of Pringles various tax arguments. gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/v

Sat 14 Oct 2023 19:44

Fun times with obstacles in a barn.

A small terrier jumping over a two bar gate. Her belly and front legs have cleared the bar and her back legs will soon follow. This is taking place in a large barn with sand on the ground.

Tue 10 Oct 2023 07:12

Woke up at 3am and thought I’d listen to something to get back to sleep. Ah, “In Our Time”, with almost an hour discussing Plankton should do the job.

Annoyingly it was fascinating. I knew nothing about plankton.

bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001r1t5

Sun 08 Oct 2023 19:14

Any convenience or time saving from having a robot vacuum cleaner has been blown away: today it caught the lower door bolt and locked us out.