Nick Hall

See also Turnitin

this is a ridiculous idea, the Arabian Peninsula would float away

have they tried calling Paw Patrol

BBC News headline "Claudia Winkleman's new chat show splits critics"

which is a great way to ensure that the critics can't write anything unkind about your new show

The parents in the study were interested in the toy's potential to teach language and communication skills. However, their children frequently struggled to converse with it. Gabbo didn't hear their interruptions, talked over them, could not differentiate between child and adult voices and responded awkwardly to declarations of affection. When one five-year-old said, "I love you," to the toy, it replied: "As a friendly reminder, please ensure interactions adhere to the guidelines provided. Let me know how you would like to proceed."

This is so tragic it's actually incredibly funny

To be clear my post was a joke although it could be true by accident

I do love the idea of chestnut flour as a powdery kind of bra you use to make cake.

Ovaltine, a powdered malt based bra you mix into a drink

Yes, everything is a bra, why not?

it’s considered vulgar for ceramicists to ask each other how much they urn

theory: everything in the M&S computer system is listed as a type of bra. Something to do with how their first ever database was set up in the 1960s and there not being enough COBOL engineers to fix the problem

one of my neighbours has trimmed their rose and a bit with a nice green stem has fallen into my garden

It looks like it ought to be the start of a new, free, rosebush but I really don't have time for grafting, rooting powder, etc

maybe I would have time if I put the kid up for adoption though? 🤔

thanks Google, but I was going for "can you just put a rose cutting into compost"

My humble submission to the new Bank of England with concepts for the new bank notes to please both sides.

this is what happens when human beings and fish cannot coexist peacefully

Who gets permission to enjoy their education? From GCSEs to university, expectations around “realism” vary by background. Hannah Rolley considers what this means for widening participation and students’ freedom to choose what they study From GCSE...

'Maintenance support tied to “priority courses” and proposals to withdraw funding from degrees deemed insufficiently lucrative, do more than shape university provision. They send a cultural message about which kinds of thinking are worth public investment — and for whom.'

He'd recap us if he had the chance

In the light of differing interpretations, how convincing do you find the view that the US attack on Iran in 2026 led to the Green Party's election victory in 2029? (20 marks)

I never get the same feeling when familiar actors appear in different series. Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford in The Diplomat, bring it on, ageing is natural, take my money.

Friends / Scrubs playing the same characters looking middle-aged, don't want, take it away from me.

I find it slightly difficult to watch the trailors when they are all so aged. The Friends 'reunion' gave me a similar feeling. Can the pop culture we grew up with please not hold up a mirror to our own craggy visages

(Beartato and Reginald, in a museum, gaze upon the Mona Lisa) BEARTATO: There it is. The Mona Lisa. The most famous painting in history. REGINALD: Wow! What's it do? BEARTATO: It... what? REGINALD: Why's it famous? What's it do? (Beartato thinks.) BEARTATO: I don't know. REGINALD (to nearly museum employee): Excuse me! Sir? What's it do? EMPLOYEE: You're the first person to ask! Watch this! (The employee yanks a pull-string. Mona Lisa's eyes spin around and her mouth opens like a puppet) MONA LISA: Honk honk! Honk honk! (Everyone is delighted. This is true art.)

True Art

you're saying if interest rates and energy prices suddenly go up these AI bonds are worthless?

Less offensive, but yesterday they had an item about whether it was worth going out to look at the sunset, which they transmitted *after* sunset. Not sure they're on their A game right now

if it was the Swedish entry it would top the leaderboard after the jury vote, before being narrowly beaten into second place by Baltic and/or Eastern European tactical phone voting

as it is the UK entry it will get 14 points and we will be surprised and grateful for each of them

It is a bop though

This must be where they keep the sage

Beef cheek to beef cheek

they're playing Fatboy Slim at the garden centre

I have managed to find it at last. It is this, from 1963 though this copy is a 1976 reprint. The introduction engages fairly thoroughly with the issues of address and sexuality of course.

I also realise now that the previous owner did make one other scholarly annotation, to Sonnet 116

AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations Leading AIs from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google opted to use nuclear weapons in simulated war games in 95 per cent of cases

Oh, super

www.newscientist.com/article/2516...

I am going to have to search out the book when I get home and see just when it was published, but from memory it's a few decades earlier than the Dead Famous book. Section 28 may even have been an issue!

this is an excellent one

indeed, though I'm not entirely sure whether this understanding would have been taught to the annotator (or, "Young Man") - given the age of the book and my suspicion that it was used in secondary school or sixth form

I have finally done a hit tweet