Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out. As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class. Here's what happened:

The Ladybug Clock puzzle

> reform to labour 0% another sir keir masterclass

"Europeans hate Americans" factoid actualy just statistical error. average American is fine. Spiders Donald, whom everyone would like to see physically burst as 10,000 baby spiders violently erupt from his body, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

"Without America you'd be speaking German" says a guy who, without America, would be speaking German en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederi...

BBC: "This is the president in his most enigmatic and expansive mood"

chatgpt is much like an improv comedy group 1) you are the audience, giving it prompts 2) it produces things roughly shaped like your prompt 3) it is trained to respond with Yes, And 4) it has the factual accuracy of improv 5) it does not understand comedy

Itchycoo Park

By now, asteroid 2026 Dreadstone has impacted the Indian Ocean, sparking a firestorm not seen on this planet since the K–Pg Extinction Event. Most people just want to be with their families. Here are three ways effective business leaders can leverage targeted KPIs to turn tragedy 😔 into triumph 💪

MARTY: I had a horrible nightmare. Dreamed I went back in time to 1803. Spilled a truckload of manure all over a bunch of French diplomats in Louisiana LORRAINE: Well, you're safe and sound now back in good old Toussaint, Arizona

It's a bold casting choice but I'm not sure about the new look for the Tardis

What do you call a gathering of 100 Viscounts? A Discount

"On the whole it's better for campaign slogans to clearly and unambiguously express what you're campaigning for, and less good when they're likely to be misunderstood by the public" "Oh, so you're saying it should be impossible for someone to wilfully misinterpret your slogan?" Every single time

Love to open an article headlined "Reasons to be Optimistic About That Thing You've Been Worrying About" and then the first 28 paragraphs are "Here's a reminder of That Thing You've Been Worrying About and how depressingly scary it is" before eventually getting to "But it's not all bad..."

If you’re after something to distract you for the next few days, try this. A grid of 2025 things – all you need to do is put them into 45 categories of 45 things each. Rather restful. thomaswc.com/2025.html

Ha! I linked the wrong blog entry in the second post of this thread. It should have been the following:

Mac users: do you do the long-click on a word to pop up its definition? Do you also find the built-in dictionary to be a bit lackluster? You can add your own dictionaries! Let me explain how to add the Webster's 1913 edition, which is one of my favorites.

I truly believe that 2026 could be the year when humanity cracks the biggest remaining scientific question: wherever do people get their podcasts?

Water is The One True Liquid, but there are three other liquid types: Tea, Soup, and Juice. Tea is water that's changed by the introduction of a thing which is then removed Soup is water that has a thing in it Juice is water that comes from a thing (Thanks to @marble.bsky.social for the diagram)

My friends in Austria sent this and I can't stop watching...wait for the end. 🤗💜

Discovered a website that enables you to create annoying music that is almost too easy to share on social media www.beepbox.co#9n31s6k0l00e...

[rushing into the Situation Room clutching a sheaf of papers] Change of plans I'm afraid — in a poll 52% described Cuba as "the big one that Florida points to" and Panama as "the little neck bit", which our lawyers reckon would stand up in the International Criminal Court. Where else have you got?

[the morning after I conduct air strikes on North West Essex] There's a lot of noise from people who couldn't find Saffron Walden on a map yesterday

It's all very well saying "don't give out your name" but it's not as simple as it seems, as explored by Constance Cooper in a related field escapepod.org/2006/02/06/e...

2024: President Joe Biden withdraws from re-election. Vice President Kamala Harris is defeated by Donald Trump South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is impeached after declaring martial law Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is overthrown The UK closes its last coal-fired power station #YearPerDay

In 2026 I swear I will get to the bottom of the biggest conspiracy of silence: why is IMDB hiding that one thing you've seen that actor in before?

2023: Hamas launches a surprise attack on Israel, killing around 1200 people and taking 251 hostages. Israel bombards Gaza, killing tens of thousands of people Military contractor Yevgeny Prigozhin briefly leads an armed rebellion toward Moscow. Weeks later he dies in a plane crash #YearPerDay

"What troubles you Theseus?" "Oh I'm thinking about all the things we've seen and experienced, and how they've changed us. I worry — are we truly still the same men who hunted the Calydonian Boar together so long ago? The same men who..." Pirithous stepped closer. "Perhaps this will convince you?"

2022: Russia invades Ukraine Liz Truss becomes UK Prime Minister for 7 weeks Queen Elizabeth II dies, aged 96, after a 70 year reign. She is succeeded by her son Charles III The world population reaches 8 billion people Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion OpenAI releases ChatGPT #YearPerDay

As a consequence of my extremely high degree of personal moral virtue I developed an innate knowledge in utero of every bad deed committed by any person or institution throughout recorded history. If someone has to learn these things via exposure to facts they deserve nothing but contempt

black sABBAth

The same issue arises in philosophy of cooking: if a recipe says to cook something for N minutes and that “meanwhile” you should carry out some other steps, is it true in the fiction of the recipe that those steps can be completed within N minutes? (no, don’t be daft)

Just watched the new Knives Out and I think it's really important you know that the scene in the Seminary's Gym is filmed in the same place Rick Astley filmed the music video for Never Gonna Give You Up. I saw the window tracery and immediately made my friends pause the film so I could tell them.

2021: After losing the presidential election, Donald Trump sends a mob of supporters to attack the US Capitol The Taliban rapidly retake control of Afghanistan as US forces withdraw Container ship Ever Given runs aground and obstructs the Suez Canal for 6 days, disrupting global trade #YearPerDay

2020: The World Health Organization declares the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. Many countries close their borders and implement lockdowns. With more than 80 million confirmed cases worldwide, the global death toll exceeds 1.9 million. By the end of the year several vaccines are approved #YearPerDay

2019: Fire engulfs Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, destroying the roof and main spire Chinese probe Chang'e 4 lands on the far side of the Moon President Trump is impeached Volodymyr Zelenskyy is elected President of Ukraine The first human case of COVID-19 is found in Wuhan, China #YearPerDay

"Die Hard is copaganda" factoid actualy just statistical error. Spiders John, who lives in ventilation duct & kills over 10,000 terrorists each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

2018: Journalist Jamal Khashoggi is murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal is poisoned with novichok in Salisbury, England 12 boys and their football coach are rescued from a cave system in Thailand NASA launches the Parker Solar Probe #YearPerDay

メリクリ(meri-kuri), the Japanese abbreviation for Merry Christmas, sounds a lot like “Marie Curie,” so I’m officially treating it as a physics holiday too 🧪⚛️🎄

If you've ever wanted to actually watch a laser beam bounce through a light clock, AlphaPhoenix just dropped the most incredible video

2017: The Grenfell Tower fire in London kills 72 residents Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, is assassinated A genocide against Rohingya Muslims begins in Myanmar Asteroid ʻOumuamua passes through the solar system Emma Morano, born in 1899, dies aged 117 #YearPerDay

2016: The Paris Agreement on climate change is signed after the COP 21 summit A Zika virus outbreak spreads worldwide In the Brexit referendum, the UK votes to leave the EU Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize for Literature Nintendo releases Pokémon Go Donald Trump is elected president #YearPerDay

"What would you like for Christmas?" What I say: "Oh, you know, there are a few books I've got my eye on, or maybe a fun seasonal jumper!" What I think, sadly, privately, hopelessly: "Don't suppose you could get Netflix to commission a second season of Scavengers Reign?"

Hypothesis: the people who say "LLMs are completely useless because you have to check their output" are also the people who regularly have to reply to their own posts with "Oops, damn autocorrect"

Hypothesis: the people who say "LLMs are completely useless because you have to check their output" are also the people who regularly have to reply to their own posts with "Oops, damn autocorrect"

2015: NASA's Dawn probe enters orbit around dwarf planet Ceres; New Horizons flies past Pluto Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest-reigning British monarch in history The LIGO observatory detects gravitational waves Terrorist attacks in Paris kill 130 people OpenAI is founded #YearPerDay

2014: After a disputed referendum, Russia annexes Crimea The West African Ebola epidemic spreads. It will kill 11,000 people Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappears over the Gulf of Thailand with 239 people on board In a referendum, Scotland votes against independence from the UK #YearPerDay

2013: Benedict XVI is the first pope to resign since 1415. Pope Francis is elected Euromaidan demonstrations begin in Ukraine after President Yanukovych rejects an alliance with the EU A meteor explodes over Chelyabinsk in Russia, injuring almost 1500 people Disney releases Frozen #YearPerDay

"I'm sorry ⬛⬛. I'm afraid I can't do that"