Yesterday I wanted to download a high res historical newspaper page scan from the Australian National Library's Trove website, but the PDF download they offer was too low quality. I used Gemini to make a Chrome extension to download and resemble the tiled images from the viewer. It worked well!

Amazing that we're now using AI hallucinations to dunk on people we don't like. This image (without my red text) has been shared by at least one of the biggest accounts on Bluesky. The first clue is the repeating of the misuse of "through" instead of "threw" in the supposed quote. AI lies!

I just learned about mapspast.org.nz So cool. Go wherever and then use the layers control to explore what old maps are available there.

OMG that's so weird, that's exactly what Dylan says to me every morning.

1/ Hi, I'm TProphet. I write the Telecom Informer for @2600.com. A lot of people have been asking me about www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat... given that I'm somewhat knowledgeable in the area. Here's my take: I'm kind of astonished that this is public, and it isn't normal that it would ever be.

BREAKING: Florida cop treated for autism after exposure to tylenol during traffic stop

Slightly downgrade a band A Pretty Good Circle

And to think, he didn't even launch any airstrikes against civilian boats in foreign territories...

Not sure if any Aucklanders with Costco memberships are interested, but there's a pretty incredible XBox deal at the moment (according to Facebook from a few hours ago, no idea about stock levels) Console with no bundled game is currently $850 at PB Tech

I mean, everyone is still here that I can see ... so either it hasn't happened (yet) or that's just kinda a judgement on the whole country.

Finally! Some genuinely original decision making from this Government!

I mean, I know that technically this is true. But also it's now surprisingly easy to imagine the USAF conducting drone strikes in random Priuses on the 405 in LA and Trump posting the video on Truth declaring he's destroyed an Antifa cell.

The "hard way" was just a Zoom meeting to casually chat about it, but obviously finding a common availability for everyone was going to be very tricky. The easy way, as we all know, was an email. So much easier.

Seen on display at the library today. Yes please tell us about your very successful date nights 😂😂

Trump has done countless absolutely awful things since being sworn in again. But pandering to RFK's bullshit Autism witch-hunt, with both the massive attack on vaccines and this transparently unscientific hit job of a painkiller, is way up on the list of shitty things.

Ah yes, and we all know how much we use Netscape now in our day to day lives.

I feel seen.

Honestly quite amazed they managed to get this numberplate across the line...

Is it really "fast-tracking" or "accelerating" when it's basically restarting some of the 100-odd projects you iced a year ago, putting the construction sector into a nosedive? www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

If they're going to try and retcon Charlie Kirk, then we should try to retcon him too.

I think I might be a robot. But I'm a level 16 robot at least.

It's so difficult to comprehend that this is a real ad, not a section from a dark satire film about a near future that's slipping into dystopian authoritarianism.

As CNN offers daylong saturation coverage of the podcaster’s funeral, I went back and checked to see how CNN covered Melissa Hortman’s memorial on 6/28, where Walz spoke and Biden/Harris attended. It got about four minutes during the hours it was happening—less than Jeff Bezos’s wedding that day.

Another example of the same phenomenon; they are killing people so they can make videos of them killing people. There is not actually any policy that Venezuela or Colombia can enact to satisfy them, because the purpose is just content creation. Podcasters with the power of the Federal government.

While doing some research for work I found this incredible 1886 aerial view of Auckland in the Auckland Libraries Heritage collection! It's zoomable in high detail on the website — kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/coll...

Grok, highlight Armenia and Cambodia on a map for me...

I beg of you, please, do not make me have to defend Bill Maher from government censorship

“Was Joe Biden president when the thing happened that Republicans are blaming on Joe Biden?” Difficulty level for political reporters … impossible.

Honestly surprised to learn it took this long. It was pretty clear Elon was, frankly, excited to bring back the worst people. Somehow he apparently missed one until now?

I have to admit I underestimated how much Elon buying Twitter would influence our politics - not because of its influence on ordinary people, which I predicted accurately as "significant but not extraordinary," but because I didn't realize how addicted all our journos and politicians are to Twitter

How long until the US has a new national song — The Charlie Kirk Song — to be performed at public events, with specific gestures.

I humbly suggest, for everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand, when you wake up on Tuesday September 23rd ahead of other timezones in the world, Do Not Post. Just keep radio silence until about 11am when Australia realises they are still there.

entire press has gotten bullied into treating charlie kirk as if he was one of the most important americans alive and not a modestly popular podcaster

Saw this demo on LinkedIn — ostensibly a demonstration of what AI can do with minimal effort for VFX. I think it's actually an interesting example of how far from usable this tech is. There's SO much wrong with it, and anyone who's experimented with AI knows how hard it'll be to iterate on it.

What time zone does the rapture happen in? Is it simultaneous globally, or will it follow the time zones around the world? Does the hell on earth stuff happen for the rest of us immediately, or is it a slow build? And if the latter, will it be slower than the current situation?

Anyone who agrees to this is no longer a journalist

I think this comes from the idea, by some, that "wokeness" is telling people what to do, or not to do. So "woke right" would be the right wing now getting to tell people what to do.

There it is. The dumbest thing on the internet today.

They're making the sunsets transgender!

I won't be getting up for this, but if you enjoy watching sports you should absolutely consider it!

new zealand government reaching new heights of stupidity next year our public dollars will go more to AI grants ($70 million) than all investigator-initiated basic science combined ($56 million in the Marsden fund)

@sentimentbot.bsky.social read me, you psuedo-sentient tin can!

They're asking for opinions about "justification" of assassination on a 1 to 7 scale where all answers that aren't 1 get classified as "supportive" — it seems like very dishonest survey design.

I honestly did believe Trump 2.0 would move toward some genuinely authoritarian stuff, but I don't think I could have imagined how quickly or overtly. Nor how easily they have been able to do so.

I don't want to boast, but I saw a billboard for the Laneways lineup, and I'm sort of familiar with three of the advertised acts. (I thought it was only two, but then I saw this on Instagram and realised I missed one)

I love the way National, in opposition, refused to acknowledge that global markets were the main driver of inflation, but in government, after a massive campaign of cuts, they're all like "waaaah, global pressure!"

No law authorizes the president to designate something as a domestic terrorist org (only a foreign terrorist org), so it will be interesting to see what law he invokes here (if any). “Domestic terrorism” is more of a concept than anything with a legal underpinning.

It's absolutely wild to think that he was a podcaster. Like not the President or some high up national political figure. A podcaster. All this for a podcaster.