This café is really nice except the piped music. It's like a good amateur sat down at a train station piano without a plan, and tried to play a medley. Currently they are murdering Brimful of Asha, which is mostly 2 notes so it lives or dies by the arrangement.

Just reading an estate agent's offer of "AI virtual staging". They use AI to 'redecorate' the property in 3 different styles. I'm not convinced this will help to sell homes. A viewing always brings buyers back to reality. Why risk making the shock worse?

From #BBCSpringwatch I learned that dragonflies heat their eyes, to see fast movement better. I guess if they applied that to all their organs they would end up warm-blooded like birds and mammals. Yeah the science was a bit dumbed down, treating eyes as video cameras taking a succession of stills.

When I see this, or "only some people can reply" I feel I have been prejudged to be an asshole. Obviously there are assholes out there, but it's sad to be treated, by default, as one of them.

Is AI mysterious? No and yes. We know exactly how machine learning works. But what the machine eventually learns can be mysterious. AFAIK we don't yet have a human-intelligible account of how Alphafold predicts protein configurations.

How they didn't call this album Primary Colours...

At 8am BBC Radio 4 described Sonny Rollins as "the last of the jazz greats of the 20th century", which sounds good but doesn't really mean anything and is unfair to, for example, Herbie Hancock. They have now changed the wording to "one of the giants of American jazz".

It is with deep sorrow and profound love that we announce the passing of Sonny Rollins. The Saxophone Colossus died this afternoon at his home in Woodstock, NY at the age of 95. 1/2

Sonny Rollins, one of the most influential Jazz musicians of our time, died this afternoon. He was 95

Debates on the criminal responsibility of children should not depend on evidence from neuroscience. The brain isn't fully mature until 30, they say. That doesn't excuse children. On the contrary, it demonstrates the absurdity of equating moral responsibility to brain maturity.

Welcome to Brighton, people. Use sun protection. Drink responsibly. Remember the sea is very cold. Don't waste police time. And if that lot hasn't torpedoed your plans for the bank holiday weekend... welcome to Brighton😎

Pig snake

Sat by the open garden doors I get good cooking smells from two sides. Smoky vibes from the barbecue next door. And an aromatic blast from our own kitchen where the frying is done, and wine just went sizzling into the risotto. Olfactory experience (good and bad) is so much richer in warm weather.

The headline in the print edition is "AI tipped for Nobel within the next year" which is a bit like "microscope tipped for Nobel". www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

The human brain continues to defy the expectations of researchers. “It absolutely defied all of our expectations. This was so surprising that my whole project changed.” This phenomenon could have far-reaching implications, and is leaving neuroscientists baffled. go.nature.com/3RPAhhc

Do read the thread. It's not just an AI failure. The whole system is fucked up.

I'm sure the UK will have more air conditioning by 2050, but it will happen without government intervention, because AC is an easily available sticking plaster. Govt effort should go into all-seasons thermal efficiency in new and refurb buildings. Shading, insulation, reversible heat pumps, MVHR...

Oh the pleasures of a weekend with the grandchildren. 2yo comes indoors grinning and announces: A cat poo! A cat poo in my garden!

Sad that we have lost Dave Mason, writer of Hole In My Shoe, released in 1967 and possibly the most psychedelic song ever 🍄🍄🍄

This is the lovingly designed packaging of my old Nexus tablet. I kept the box just in case, as you do. I think the tablet expected to be laid to rest in its box in a dignified way. Instead of me chucking it into the mixed electricals recycling bin, with the dead kettles and toasters, as I did.

JFC the dystopian shit lawmakers have to deal with.

I don't know the reversed-bicycle literature but this looks like an interesting addition to it. Are we anywhere near a general understanding of interference between skills and its converse, mutual reinforcement? And for a bike novice, is a reverse bike objectively harder to ride than a regular one?

TFW you successfully troubleshoot a faulty appliance, and the fault is in a tiny, non-replaceable component.

The 10 bars of Blue in Green contain infinite musical possibilities. music.youtube.com/watch?v=gdsQ... This piano trio version by Eliane Elias is beautiful, and less brooding than the original. I'll posr what I wrote about it in 2019 1/n

This is awful news.

England and Scotland would have a healthier relationship as equal member states of the EU than as unequal members of the United Kingdom.

Happy birthday #DavidAttenborough100 An amazing life spreading knowledge and inspiring love for our wonderful planet, its people and places, and all its living things. National treasure, broadcast hero, the personification of the Reithian triad of information, education and superb entertainment.

I met David Attenborough once, on preview day for a new exhibition at the Natural History Museum. I was a science reporter for the BBC World Service. As I went into the museum he was coming out. Couldn't believe my luck. Returned to the office with the perfect soundbite from a supreme broadcaster.

maps.app.goo.gl/M5zF45Pw8XBf.... Took me a while to figure it this local café gets its unusual name from a Prince song

Neighbours had two massive stone kitchen worktops craned over their house. Might seem like an extravagance, but y'all, pastry rolls out so much better on a cool stone surface.

Reposting this for everyone who thinks that it's a simple question and Dawkins is obviously wrong.

Zack Polanski apologises as officers explain that suspect repeatedly struck their boots with his face.

I am not someone who normally starts the day with a berry smoothie and a B12 injection. But that's how it was today. The B12 looks like vodka and blackcurrant in the syringe. I am now bursting with vitamins, and probably bright pink inside.

I think this study falls in the worthy scientific category of 'better check even though it is bleeding obvious'.

If this was an attempt to decapitate the Trumpist regime, we know that doesn't work. Just look at Iran.

When I am trying to log in to the bank and it says "we are experiencing some technical problems" I assume this is a stalling tactic while they send round a SWAT team to bash my door down and pull me in for attempted fraud.

We eat citrus peel in marmalade and hot cross buns. Should we be eating all our peel instead of throwing most of it away?

1950s studio audience dutifully clapping on 1 and 3 as pianist Winifred Atwell plays a rock'n'roll medley. #BBC2

I remember when we first got multichannel TV and there was this channel called QVC where the presenters just showed products and tried to get viewers to buy them. All day. Every day. It seemed bizarre and even quite shocking then. Now I guess I'd just roll my eyes and mutter 'late capitalism'.

Love the way Afrobeat bands from Chile, Argentina, Italy, Germany etc. manage to sing in English, with convincing Nigerian accents👏👏. OK, some of the singers may be actual Nigerians...

Could anything be less rock-'n'-roll than a Hall of Fame?

Reading this, I'm rethinking Kosslyn's experiments in which, supposedly, people turned objects around in their minds. Did the task really distinguish between pictorialist and descriptionist theories of imagery? Did the task even require imagining, or might that have been an epiphenomenon?

Physicist: e=mc^2 Neuroscientist: that's not an equation. *This* is an equation.

Tulips are having a moment.

Google Photos loves digging up the fabulous views I photographed from my 10th floor hospital ward and reminding me of one of the most miserable and painful episodes of my life.

Cataract op diary day 2. No longer looking like the Phantom of the Opera, but I do wear an eye shield at night. Everything looks dirty. Have I not been seeing this filth? As I get back into doing physical work, spring cleaning beckons.

Just reading Michael Tye's The Imagery Debate! This paper describes pretty much what I'd expect to find, given a rare chance to probe a conscious human brain. TBH how else could it work 🤔? Computer metaphors are really helpful here, for things which aren't physical pictures but behave like pictures.

Cataract operation is an interesting experiment in psychology of perception. They said colours might change. They have, but it's the other eye (still cataract-affected) that now looks muddy.

Might seem expensive but these birds are professionals.

When you have a cataract removed, as I did yesterday, I wish they would tell you more about the op. How do they reduce the old lens to pulp without mashing up everything else? How do they stop bubbles getting inside the eye? Or blood? How do they close up the eyeball without stitches or staples?