Neil Ward-Dutton

This looks like a super event - is it open to the public?

It is insanely good

Weeping is permitted as long as it's quiet and your upper lip stays at least moderately stiff at all times

It’s a cracker!

Two highly competitive prize sheep nevertheless share a hidden lust

Bleated Rivalry

Watch the Royal Institution CHRISTMAS LECTURES archive Watch all the Royal Institution CHRISTMAS LECTURES back to 1966, when the lectures were first televised.

Guys guys guys, I found the archive of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures (it's not an achievement, they've not hidden them) - you can watch every single one since they started televising them in the 60s:

www.rigb.org/christmas-le...

I love watching them every year, now I can see them all!

You can get quite fancy jigsaws these days, but that might be a bit too basic given some of the other replies

Malicious Font Attack: great name for a punk band

Maybe I’m being too generous toward the original makers!

All the hallmarks of having been created by something like ChatGPT… if you squint it kind of makes sense cos the letters are roughly the right shape

Classic enshittification innit

What would happen if @ledbydonkeys.org were to project these messages onto the side of Parliament buildings? I wonder how many people are aware of the extent of this abuse

Surely the imminent UK chief AI officer will help them get a grip on it?

This is very confusing. How could this kind of arrangement be even remotely thought of as sovereign AI? What kind of control does this enable UK to exert in a sovereign fashion? Something very strange (or depressing) is going on

AI Agent

a snippet of a mini-comic, at top - straight line stretches from point A to B. Immediately below, same dot at A, then becomes a curving, meandering line that winds through the page and ends at a point with rays and a question mark emanating from it. Text reads: "Nothing can do this for you - for that robs you of experience and conflates answers with learning. Rather, it's all the decisions you make along the way, the mistakes, struggles, and surprises! These pathways you create - this is learning.

Probably should’ve posted the Ai statement separately - not sure how it displays with the rest. It’s not so different from what I originally posted, but prefer people get the final version. Have at it & hope it’s useful to you in your classes. All on my site here spinweaveandcut.com/fall-2025-sy...

We often hear of big anniversaries of Big Albums by Big Artists - but how in the jiminy blazes is it 30 years since the release of Aimee Mann's I'm With Stupid?
In the genre of wry American singer-songwriter melodic indie, it is an absolute end-to-end banger btw.

When an eel in la France
Does a self-employed dance
That's a moray

I'll get my coat etc

Yes yes yes. This is a lovely film.

O. M. and, may I also add, G.
I am currently preparing the largest of sighs I can possibly muster

Cartoon by Stephen Collins for the Guardian, here's the script: [Scene is the inside of a SOUP. Some CARROTS and BITS OF BROCCOLI are floating around and a STOCK CUBE and a BAY LEAF have just been dropped in.]  1 STOCK CUBE: Alright lads - this is Bay Leaf. My colleague from the spice rack. 2 BROCCOLI: Hi Bay Leaf BAY LEAF: Yuh yuh hi 3 CARROTS: You up for getting proper blended with us later, Bay Leaf? BAY LEAF: Nuh mate, getting scooped out before soup stage. 4 CARROTS: Oh! So… you’re not being eaten then? BAY LEAF: Eaten! Haha 5 BAY LEAF: Not allowed mate. I’m afraid I’m a lil’ bit *toooo intense*... 6 BAY LEAF: Just here for the flavour hit. Special forces, y’know. That’s why there’s just one of me. 7 BAY LEAF: Over-deploy and you’d have this whole soup stiiinking of bay leaf… 8 BAY LEAF: You might wanna stand back actually. This place is about to get preeetty bay leafy... 9 [Silent pause] 10 CARROTS: Are you doing something BAY LEAF: Sure am mate. 11 BAY LEAF: Suuuuure am. 12 BAY LEAF [Getting scooped out by chef’s spoon]: You need training to perceive it. CARROTS: OK

I’m convinced this is how a bay leaf would talk

“The price of progress” amirite?

Humbly offering Opportunity Frocks as an alternative

My brain was already melting by the end of the first paragraph. How on earth did that end up being published?

Yeah but we all know that all French speakers are satanists

popcorn.gif

I'd guess, beef tongue

#POSIWID

Is it fair to say this has all the hallmarks of something that will go extremely badly?

Ah, Germany. Nothing like being in a taxi blasting up the autobahn to Frankfurt airport at 170km/h while the driver is simultaneously trying to fix the charging cable for his mobile phone