New Video. If you love musicals, please give this a listen! 🎶 youtu.be/a7NUc2kuDFk

I finished the 11th and last novel in the Flavia de Luce Mystery series. It is good. The IMPORTANT point is: it confirms my conviction that it's vital to read the books in sequence. Flavia slowly grows up; sub-plots ripen. This last book should always be read Last! Whopping spoiler.

Saw this comment under Wired article: "Gamers’ Worst Nightmares About AI Are Coming True" Meep meep 🙄

“Telegram stands out because it offers anonymity, speed, and large networks of like-minded users.” “We can probably say that without Telegram, it would be much harder for these people to have such a big user base.”

What are the odds? No power because a transformer in our street caught fire. 🔥😧 Just 4 houses are affected. Thankfully it didn't burn too deep and should be repaired soon.

New Video: XANADU youtu.be/AYWf4F1RGK8

Yay, more games, thanks to Easter sales! (Note: weak bargain resistance skill)

4 snapshots of limited editions from my PS Vita collection.

Never thought I'd see the day when "interest in porting older RPG series like Dungeon Travelers and Tears to Tiara" might actually become reality! I'm still chugging away in Dungeon Travelers 2 on my Vita! 😄

I played the PS5 Demo of ETRANGE OVERLORD. The game is published by NISA and was created by Sohei Niikawa (Disgaea and Rhapsody), with several studios involved. The art is by illustrator Shinichiro Otsuka (popular anime Re:ZERO – Starting Life in Another World).

Chocolate Lovers alert! This is a very good, hard hitting expose with lots of useful info - and not just for Aussies! Most of the brands discussed are international.

I finished this "classic" crime/mystery novel and it deserves the epithet Crime Classic. 👍 It was published in 1960 and the story is set in the late 1950s, with lots of social background including the long reach of the war years. -> 2

This should brighten up your day 😋 because it's a funny story and CHATGPT is utterly laughable. 😂

It's 10 years young 🐣and I just bought it on Steam in the spring sale. 😀

Fun weekend playing anime games!

I have Always been a WIRED HEADPHONES gal! Bluetooth tech is cumbersome and often fiddly, even unreliable. I only have one pair of btooth headphones. On my phones, I've used my ancient Motorola earbuds with a dongle for yonks.

"It only took Mindgard a few prompts to crack the AI, a test Erdélyi would have expected the company to face as part of its global certification, had it completed it before the New Zealand approvals process." NZ Ministry of Health is still in denial over this #AI chatbot. Idiocy writ large. 🙄

My 50th physical PS5 game: Fairy Tail 2! Gust did a good job with the first game, and I'm expecting more of the same.

"New Zealand is an interesting case because it had a highly regulated food system until the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s and early 1990s. The market was insular and food choices were limited until then." #neoliberalism Knowing when Limitation is in fact a Strength - think against neolib tide.

Testing the selfie lens on my new phone! 😎 Just washed & towelled my hair and PoodlePa said "that looks cool" and grinned from ear to ear. What a gentleman 🤠🤦.

Sam Neill explains what's going on with gold-mining projects in our unique Otago region. Politicians and greedy unscrupulous mining companies are just one problem, however ... if you look at the comments 😱 you can see the other, even vaster, problem.

"It's Gaming Copilot! Something absolutely no-one asked for! The world's least popular lying plagiarism bot, shoehorned into the console brand that is seemingly determined to fast-track itself into becoming the world's least popular console!" #xbox #AI #gaming #copilot

Early chilly morning - what better than a mystery novel with a cup of tea! We had a lovely time camping in the Abel Tasman National Park.

I'm leaving! .. just for a week - holiday trip. 😎 We always go in March, fab time of year here. No decent mobile coverage where we're headed! See ya next weekend 🙋

Had to upgrade my phone after 5 years and went with Nothing phone (half price bc new model just out). So why not upgrade keyboard too! 😁 I'm an old laptopper and more comfortable with that low profile style.

QUIZ TIME! 😎 Remember This RPG?

My favourite video about favorite cRPGs! 😁

Yes, I am having fun! 😎 Fantasy Life i

She thinks some New Zealanders, with their “She’ll be right” attitude, are still a little naive about the bullet that this country dodged by shutting borders and locking down so hard. #covid "At least we saved lives. I think what New Zealand did was incredible.”

I'm currently reading this novel and if any other as good should come along this year, I'd be very happy but also rather surprised.

MS, you brought this upon yourself! 😄

THIS. 👇 Be aware, be informed - otherwise your life could turn into a nightmare. I know it only too well. Important that younger women know about their right to receive correct treatment!

And NZ is, slowly, catching up with the rest of the world. #AI #enshittification

"the Norwegian Consumer Council has delved into enshittification and how to resist it." 🎯🇳🇴 #enshittification And please watch the wonderful video! youtu.be/T4Upf_B9RLQ?...

#dothack I love reading the entries in the News compilation. What looks at first glance like a tedious chore ... actually turns up gems like this one. Considering the age of the G.U. version and its base material, there are so many insightful and prescient ideas floated.

"Using elaborate statistical analyses, they generate language that sounds plausible." Good explanation of what a LLM actually does! And don't expect them to know grocery prices: "they do not automatically know today’s prices unless they are explicitly connected to a live database."

Moto Hagio #manga #graphicnovel beautifully published by Fantagraphics

Jack Dorsey #AI

Good blog post. Will we end up with a dead internet? 😕 The way things are going, I don't think we can discount that possibility. #AI #internet

I finally bought Breath of Fire IV - the GOG Preservation Program version! 🐉 This is so much easier on the ol' eyes than my VC version on the 3DS. 👍 It's currently 50% off 😎

"what if what matters is very, very different from what we have been raised to believe matters." #nihilism #nietzsche "Engaging in nihilistic thought experiments doesn’t have to mean mooning around feeling tortured and writing poems about the futility of life."

PoodlePa was sent a lovely pop-up card from friends in Japan.

More .hack//G.U. ! The graphics look pretty bad nowadays ... but the world is still as intriguing as ever! 😎👍

This is an important story for: - its connection to NZ - its connection with the Guardian - its reflections on the GoFundMe platform

#books #fantasy

"Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu says the moon economy “may have just gone through a key inflection point.” Which is to say we’re gearing up for a nitwit-off. If you think that sounds risky and untested, you’re correct. Just like current AI ventures, a loose promise is enough to bet the house on."

"Rather than a model of how we should all work, the tech industry may be a premonition for the anxiety and attempts to compensate that are coming for all of us."

"This is not only about American history arriving in New Zealand through entertainment. It is about a word that has already been used here as a weapon. So when it gets tossed around casually, it is recycling the violence." Very moving article.