A.I. Caramba!

The Melbourne Metro tunnel is the largest change to public infrastructure in this city since the launch of the City Loop 40 years ago.  It has taken a decade to build, and there has been much disruption across the city as the various parts of it have been constructed. Some streets and intersections were blocked off for long periods; existing train lines have seen on and off closed. People are understandably keen  to see the thing finished.  While it is close, there has been some recent confusion about when, exactly, it would open to the public. '2025' was the official launch date until 2025 actually arrived; as we entered this year there were murmurings it may get pushed back to next. Then the Premier announced , this morning, that it would open in 'Early December'. So, not a date then, but a narrowing. Here are some takes on these delays and changes, from our friends the AI. Gemini So much rich detail from Gemini. Love that there is both a kangaroo (Australia!) and Big...

The Westall UFO is a world famous UFO sighting, that happened in Melbourne in 1966. It is one of history's most famous sightings, with more than 100 witnesses seeing a mysterious, disc shaped object in the sky in broad daylight. A wrote a blog post about it, which you can read here if you are interested. One thing that frustrated me at the time was a lack of images: there are no photos of this event, and people have barely even tried to recreate it artistically.  So just a short post today, as AI finally enabled me to create and add an image, to this old article. I tried all four of my regular tools, they all delievered roughly the same.  ChatGPT was, as is often the case, the winner.

Jane Goodall passed away today. I have had a lot of alt-left friends over the years, and she is a huge figure in that community. Her work made us think of animals as more than objects, there to serve humans needs (or just be ignored outright). She showed apes, and so: all animals, as complex beings, with needs, desires, and emotions. Later in her life, she added advocacy to her scientific achievements. Her legacy is vast.  Today I asked my friends the AI tools to make a tribute to Jane, including a quote from her. The prompt was: Create an image of Jane Goodall as a tribute to her life and work, including this quote from her 'The greatest danger to our futre is apathy'. ChatGPT A sensitive effort from ChatGPT, which refinds its footing after some dodgy results. This is pretty perfect, and in a style and form that my old alt-left friends would have appreciated.  One thing to note: the quote did not originally come with quotation marks, which I wanted. I asked ChatGPT to add th...

US Defense (sorry: War) secretary Pete Hegseth was in the news today. Partly for bringing the top brass from all over the world to a meeting in the US at massive cost to tax payers, partly for using this meeting to talk MAGA nonsense and brag about chin ups, and partly for an old skateboarding incident from his Fox News days. I had never heard about this, a quick google search for 'Pete Hegseth Skateboard' filled me in. It seems that he tried to flip a skateboard, and hit himself in the groin; one of those online things that never seems to die, but just advances and recedes, like the tide. But Pete should rest easy: if this had been entered in a short film festival in Springfield, it would have won top prize. I was curious to see what AI would make of this, and also to try out some less descriptive prompts than what I had done to date. And so I offered only: Make an image based on the phrase: Pete Hegseth skateboard. ChatGPT I thought a less descriptive prompt may prompt extr...