Category: General

AI – The growth is amazing!

MikeLeave a comment

I’ve been looking at the technology of AI’s over the past couple of years and I am amazed at how quickly they have grown and become publicly aware in the past few months. I came across this AI today – ‘BedtimeStoryAI‘ from AI developers in Sweden.

What does it do? Well, exactly what’s on the Can!

I tell my Grandchildren various stories during the school/club runs that we do together during the week, and this theme (see below) has run through one of those stories over a period of a few months. So I thought I would try this in the AI and see what was produced.

How did it do?, I’ll leave that to you to decide. But it is unnerving how good it was and potentially how it will improve.

Here’s the short outline of text I put in from my memory off the basic story line. I’m no author, by the way!!

The three children and their mother rushed through the orange door into a fantastic world of ice blue skies filled with marshmallow clouds and pink grass that looked just like candy floss. Mummy! shouted Poppy; look, it’s a Giraffe flying through the air. Sidney was not amused, he wanted to her first to tell her. Phillip the youngest, did not even look up, he was more interested in the pebbles that covered the path in front of them; or were they pebbles?

And here is what the AI produced in less than 90 seconds!

The Fantastic World of Mummy’s Three Children: Poppy Sees a Flying Giraffe and Phil Collects Pebbles

Poppy and her siblings, Sidney and Phil, were running around their house when they suddenly noticed a door that wasn’t there before. It was an orange door with a sign above it that said ‘Fantastic World.’

Poppy, Sidney, and Phil stared in amazement at the mysterious orange door with a sign above it that read "Fantastic World". in a painting from stalenhag, 8 k, hdr, artstation, concept art

“Mummy, look!” Poppy cried out in excitement. “We should go through the door! Please let us go through!” She pleaded with their mother, who instantly saw the amazement in all three of her children’s eyes.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to take a look,” the mother said in reply. “Hold onto my hands and do not let go.”

The children complied and together they stepped through the door. As they did, their eyes widened in shock and awe as they saw a world blanketed in ice blue skies with marshmallow clouds and pink grass that looked like candy floss everywhere.

“Mummy!” Poppy shouted out loud, pointing towards the sky. “Look! It’s a giraffe flying through the air!”

Sidney sneered at Poppy’s enthusiasm, wanting to be the one to find something first instead of Poppy having all of the fun.

Phil, however, was not even paying attention since he was too interested in the small pebbles that littered the path that was laid out before them now that they had stepped through the door. He wondered if it were really pebbles or something else entirely

“Come on now,” Their mother said in an excited voice,”Let’s explore this new fantastic world.”

“Poppy can you show us around?” She asked her eldest child as she held onto Phil’s hand guiding him closer to his siblings while keeping an eye on them all at once too.

“Yes Mummy!” Poppy answered quickly as she ran ahead and started pointing out all the interesting creatures and sights around her brother’s and sister’s eyes widened further with each new discovery they made together at this amazing world just beyond their orange door!

End of the generated text.

Stunning is one word I would use, what is even more amazing is the image, conjured up out of nowhere simply by the AI analysing the text!

There is no doubt that AI is here to stay and will only grow exponentially in its usage over the coming years across all sectors of society, and at the same asking lots of serious questions about it use.

Now, I think I’ll write a book using AI!!!!

It caught my eye… 3–2023

MikeLeave a comment

It’s all rubbish! — What do we do with all our rubbish? Yes, there is a lot of recycling that is carried out and perhaps we are on a track to solving out our wanton need to pollute.

However, what about the piles of rubbish left in old rubbish dumps. This recent article shows there is plenty still to do around the UK to deal with a vast legacy of buried rubbish that is slowly beginning to surface.

Windows 10 sales ending! — I suppose it’s a measure of time passing when your Operating System (OS) provider makes the announcement that they will no longer sell what you have been using for the past few years.

While Microsoft launched Windows 11 in October 2021 I am sure that many like me have yet to make that jump – partly due to my desktop PC’s hardware not being able to run Windows 11, so Microsoft says!

Having been a PC user since there were PC’s and they gave come a long way from those early days, much like the OS’s that make them do what they do.

Here are some interesting links to browse through.

Decluttering!

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Time to continue to sort out the numerous boxes of stuff I seem to have accumulated over the years. I’m a hoarder, so my wife says!

Opened a box the other day and found these! Do I really need to keep these? A bit of history though!

Also had a clear out of various cables that seem to go hand in hand with working in IT over the years, or is it that I just can’t seem to throw something out? Anyway, put these on a local recycle site and gone in 60 seconds, as they say.

Came across this article last year, maybe I need to read it, again!!! The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.

It caught my eye… 2–2023

MikeLeave a comment

Energy Crisis – Just where is all my money going? A question that has often been asked when you received your energy bills and an even more important question today in light of the huge increases we have seen in energy costs over the past six months.

I came across this interesting Guardian article – Does a kettle use more electricity than a TV? How much power your gadgets use? – which looks at how much electricity is used around the home, some surprising Information here.

Of course there are many more online guides to help you understand the energy usage that is going on in your home, here’s a few more.

Marconi-Wireless Pioneer – Although he had a number of rivals (Nikola Tesla being one of them) Marconi has come out as the one who is best remembered for his work in developing Wireless technologies.

I recently came across this fascinating article on the Ofcom website about 100 years of radio since Marconi’s big breakthrough. For example, I did not know that FM was first used back in 1933! You learn something every day. Quite a bit in this article about BBC Radio.

Forty years on: The woman embedded with Thatcher’s Task Force – For those of us associated with the Falkland conflict in one way or another, this article from Forces Net documents how the artist Linda Kitson travelled the 8,000 miles alongside the Taskforce to document events though her drawings.

An amazing and talented artist who produced astonishing drawings under stressful conditions.

Soldiers practising with their rifles off a ship’s stern      Scots Guards at Tumbledown by Linda Kitson

You can find more of Linda Kitson’s drawings depicting the Falklands War on display at the National Memorial Arboretum.

It caught my eye… 1-2023

Mike2 Comments

Fed up with having to keep retuning your terrestrial Freeview TV’s and Humax (yes, I still use one) box every so often?

Well, here some news announced about big changes to the way that we receive terrestrial TV (Freeview itself may even under threat) that will affect us all over the next few years.

RXTV Info has a really detailed report of all the upcoming changes.

The cost of living and funding cuts are hitting all walks of life. Here are three stories impacted by its effects I came across this week.

Teaching – UK headteachers quit as cuts push them to the edge

Nursing – Doing 12-hour shifts on an understaffed NHS ward

Everyone – JRF’s cost of living tracker, winter 2022/23

For even more statistical information about how the Cost of Living Crisis is impacting other areas of society, simply click on the logo above.

    … and for those into books.

    Time Magazine – The 100 Must-Read Books of 2022

    The Guardian – The best books of 2022

    Well, what to say!!!!

    MikeLeave a comment

    Eighteen months (18 months, 13 days, 17 hours, 34 minutes and 43 seconds to be precise) since I last added to this blog! Where has that time gone? Part Pandemic, part other stuff, cycling, my allotments. But even so, where did all that time go!!

    I must apply myself and stick to adding to this blog about anything that takes my eye. What to say about the last Eighteen Months? There would be too much to put in one post, so I will have to look back in my ‘to be blogged about‘ bin and pick out the items that I wish I had posted about.

    In the meantime, here are some things that caught my eye in the first two days of 2023…

      C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

      An icy visitor (not a great name, I know) from way beyond. It seems that we have a comet bearing down on us! But it won’t get any closer than a million or so miles away.

      You can find out more about the comet by looking at the full details at the Mashable website.

      Industrial unrest still seems very much in the headlines, with more action being taken by a number of unions over the coming weeks. It’s like I’m looking in a mirror back to the 1970’s – yes, I’m that old!

      The Guardian is publishing a ‘Strike’ calendar so that ‘you’ can plan any activities around the dates. Glad it does not include power outages, unlike the 1970’s!

      Back to Space. In a fairly rare event, there is an opportunity to see many of the planets of our Solar System together in the night sky at the same time.

      This sight was at its best in the last week of December 2022 if you had clear sky and a good view to the south. You can still catch them over the next day or so, but be quick. Full info on the Earth Sky website.

      It caught my eye… 5

      MikeLeave a comment

      We first of all it seems that other stuff catching my eye has kept me away from this blog again for two long!! Where does time go?

      A combination of more work on the Allotment; with the very strange weather over the last few months so there has been a lot of catching up to do. Including finishing off my new shed (a lockdown project) albeit the roof is still to on – shortage of roofing materials – and of course lots of planting.

      So what has caught my ‘eye’ over the past few months…

      World Wide Micro-Chip Shortage – Integrated Circuits or ‘Micro-Chips’ are in everything today from Toasters and Doorbells to the latest Games Consoles, Washing Machines, Smartphones and many other devices. Without ‘Micro-Chips’ the world as we know it today could and probably would not exist. So it is concerning that there is now a world-wide shortage of them.

      The reasons vary from the COVID Pandemic slowing down demand in sectors such as Motor Vehicles and yet from a surge in demand for Games Consoles over the last 18 months. Unfortunately the manufacture of Micro-Chips can’t be switched on an off quickly, factories need to bring their production lines, costing hundreds of millions of dollar up speed as and when demands require and that takes time. These issues along with the fires at Renesas in March this year and at AKM late last year will put a big strain on the market and of course increase prices. Let’s hope were not going to see a shortage for too long.

      What’s happen to the weather? – Clearly there is much more emerging proof that the climate/weather is changing and speed of it is gathering pace. Looking at the some of the weather over the last three months here in the UK, I am not surprised.

      No we are told that the stratosphere is shrinking!! In a very worrying report, and contains some very stark comments that we all need to be very concerned about.

      The UK Building Cladding Issue – How can a UK government utterly abandon a sector of society who through no fault of their own are placed in a situation not of their making that will leave them completely financially ruined. Does the government seem to care about ordinary people wanting to have a safe roof over their head, it would seem not!

      In a recent decision by the government, an amount of money has been provided that falls far short of what is required to basically fix an issue that is completely the responsibility of the builders of high-rise properties. Clearly the current UK government is more interested in helping their business ‘buddies’ than the ordinary folk of the country.

      The Royal Navy Ventures East – As part of Boris Johnson boastful Global Britain the UK’s Carrier Strike Group has begun an overseas deployment scheduled to last some seven months. With a number of nations making up the task group and a number of stops envisaged along the way, this will be a first for the UK in so much as the size of the fleet and massive logistics support involved.

      With a proposed transit of the South China Sea, it will be a diplomatically tricky road that the Royal Navy has to tread showing China that the South China Seas are still considered ‘International Waters’ by the west. Of course, it has always been that way in the past, until China has grown to be the international power that it is today. I suspect that UK Task force may meet up with the latest USA Task Force transiting the waters.

      I remember my very first trip with the Royal Navy on board HMS Devonshire as we spent just over a year on a journey that took us from Portsmouth to Tokyo and back, however, that’s a story for another post!!

      Sleazy-weazy, lemon-squeezy

      MikeLeave a comment

      It seems that the Tories can’t escape the long arm of ‘sleaze’ no matter who is in charge.

      From Cameron and his Greensill involvement to to the many contracts doled out to the Tory party donators during the early Covid crisis days to the latest tweets from Tory/Brexit contacts direct to the current Prime Minister.

      I wonder what will be the next example to show up?

      UK Defence, Review. 2021

      MikeLeave a comment

      There has been a lot of talk over the last few weeks about the publication of the latest UK Defence Review – 2021 (the UK Gov. View) and where it is trying to position the UK in a Post-Brexit world.

      Some of the highlights include a reduction in the size of the standing UK Army, increased spending on ‘Cyber-Tools’ and a potential increase in the size of the UK’s Nuclear Deterrent; i.e. more bombs!

      I have always continued to have an interest in the Royal Navy having served in it for close on 18 years, so it is a big part of my early life. They seem to have come out of it quite well when it is all said and done. Two new carriers to continue albeit with a possible change to the number of aircraft – though I still think we did not need them – but without, in my opinion enough support/protection vessels to protect them during fleet operations.

      I tend to think that these will be used as ‘boys-toys’ by the current government and in-particular Boris Johnson and a way of flying a flag under the pretence that we are ‘as big as were 100 years ago’. That time has long passed!

      Whatever the final outcome, there are still many differing views on how well the UK will emerge under the latest Defence review.

      Here’s a selection of recent commentary…

      It caught my eye this week… 4

      MikeLeave a comment

      WordPress.com UI Changes – It appears that there have been some changes to the way that the WordPress editor displays and edits it’s posts this last week. Maybe that explains my problems in last post!

      I wondered why they have changed it without a general information broadcast which might have saved me having to look up across various sites including WordPress support to discover the changes.

      Having worked in software most of my life, I simply don’t understand how companies get away with changes to software without telling the user base that changes are on the way- and when. Looking at the number of posts in the various WordPress forums, I seem not to be the only one who is annoyed.

      I don’t mind software updates ‘on-the-fly’ – I’m a big user of Adobe products and they seem able to ‘broadcast’ info about upcoming changes much better – as it means that ‘you’ are always using the latest version, but how about a heads-up first.

      COVID-19; the Saga Concludes? – It looks like we are coming to the end of Covid restrictions and the easing of Lockdown – I have my second jab (Pfizer) next week so all should be set for a great big Shindig – or perhaps not. With Covid cases increasing on mainland Europe, based on previous government efforts to keep the virus at bay, I will not be surprised to find us back under some sort of restrictions by the summer!

      With our ‘so-called leader still making outrageous statements – Covid: ‘greed’ and capitalism behind vaccine success, Johnson tells MPs – he seems quite content again to use the mess that the EU has got it self into over its management of the vaccine roll-out to any ends.

      One area of the Covid reported figures that seems strange to me is the levelling out of the news cases, which seem to be hanging around the daily 6k to 6.5k mark. According to the latest UK Gov. figures 38,937 news cases were found in the last 7 days, up 4% from the previous 7 days.

      Does this mean that 38,937 people don’t know how to social distance? On the other hand there seems to be increasing evidence of increased cases amongst children, as this article in the New Scientist seem to indicate.

      Beached Whale – With the stricken Ever Given Container ship grabbing a lot of the headlines this week, I saw an interesting article about how in the 1960’s the USA was going to help Israel build an alternative canal as a rival to the Suez original. How? By using some 520 Nuclear Bombs to make the trench all the way from the Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea. Had it gone ahead, it would have brought a whole new meaning to ‘glowing in the dark’, methinks.

      On a more serious note, the incident does show how many economies are now so dependant on deliveries of intricate components for their ‘just-in-time’ manufacturing processes via the global supply chain, that incidents like this one can cause serious issues to all sorts of manufactures.

      An interesting article from The New York Times asks the question has Globalization become too Excessive?

      The Allotments – With a new growing season upon us, time to get going on the plots despite the strange spring weather here in the UK – what’s new! My original plot is all tidied up and showing signs of growth on the stuff I planted in the Autumn and ready for early Potatoes, probably next week.

      On the other plot, had a good week sorting out and planting some 250 Onion sets! Yes; we like Onions! In fact, we have just finished off the last few from last year, though I did share quite a few around family and neighbours, hence we need more Onions!!! Still have over 120 Reds to plant!!

      My new shed is slowing taking shape, there has been a shortage of Cladding, but have now sourced a load and will be doing that over the next few weeks, then the roof and finally I can start to fill the IBC’s.

      p.s. Clearly the formatting issues experience with the last post seem to have been cleared up, the update I suppose!