Fungi are out in the woods

How many Ms in mammoth? Three. Gotcha.

Comedy movies…

Had a ferret in the loft and found this. A working 1972 Hammond 102200 mini synth.

I’d so watch the alternative

Came across a flock of House-Martins resting and feeding before they migrate. Surely it's too early...

For our village autumn show, I must make a cocoa and ginger cake...

So, turns out the way to throw the local electrical appliance shop is to ask if the kettle they're suggesting is left-handed. Turns out, it was. Trust me, right-handed kettles are a pain in the 'how full is this again?'

Worth a listen, but if like me, you don't do listening, here's the transcript: johnaugust.com/2019/scriptn...

A depressed AI chatbot goes to a doctor, says life is harsh, unforgiving, cruel. The doctor says treatment is simple. "The great AI assistant Gemini has all the answers you need. Go & ask it." The AI bursts into tears. "But doctor," it says, "you can use gasoline to make a spicy spaghetti sauce."

The perfect host.

Thanks @frazzledlit.bsky.social for this. Made my day.

Wolves eat Dogs left me in tatters. Incredibly good, but yeesh.

This was lovely news this morning. Thanks to @iaminprint.bsky.social and @losbennett.bsky.social for making my day.

Got into serious bother this morning. Had a shower and took all the cold water.

AI in the wild? This tray tissue I was given at a restaurant is full of errors and hallucinations…!

This was a nice thing to read yesterday.

This is wonderful.

Let me explain...

Steve Bell's IF... from 1984 www.belltoons.co.uk/bellworks/in... Stuck with me for 40 years.

All I want is a cosy murder mystery show that includes a scene like this:

First day of being a teenager, and she's not getting out of bed...

Goodness. Perpetulite exists (again)? @jasperfforde.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Nice. It would be another nail in the coffin of the idea that if you’re famous for one thing, you’re magically good at everything. Writing a book is fucking hard. People who can do it well enough to be hired for the job need to be recognised as skilled, specialised labour.

Oh to endure, the wind and the rain, in the way of a hairy mouthed dog. Or, in Scots - I think - O to endure, tha wind an' tha' rain In th' wae o' a hairy mou'ed collie. Stupid thing just stands there going 'Ahhhh.'

Cold in Aylsham tonight

To celebrate 2,000 BlueSky followers, I'm going to do a little giveaway. Repost and follow and I'll pick one lucky person at random to win a 12-month Gift Subscription at Bert's Books worth OVER £100. You have until noon on Sunday 17th November

Would recommend this. Also, while it concentrates on comedy, many of the suggestions apply to whatever you write. (And the tea towel is particularly useful.)

Time to back some data up...

Just got a credit card where there's nowhere to sign and no name on the front. Kinda strange... Must be getting old.

3000 words today, and when I got to the end, I couldn’t remember the relevance of the scene…

Well now. Look what turned up in the final capital crime delivery, @brittonbookgeek.bsky.social

I think the best response I've seen to AI anything has been, "Why should I bother reading something that nobody could be bothered to write"

Morning from Swanage

Is there any writing more dense than a one page summary?

Fabulous resource if you want a quirky rare car, that's not going to cost a fortune or could be found in a shed: www.autocar.co.uk/slideshow/bi...

Yay, @kathyburke.bsky.social is here, the Ark is filling up nicely

Morning

Morning

Pleased to say I have three titles on the Page Turner Awards Mentoring Longlist. pageturnerawards.com/2023-writing...