Showing all posts about humour
LinkedIn CringeBot 3000, generating AI slop of the best quality
13 August 2026
Since the volume of slop-in-general is of epidemic proportions on the platform, it makes perfect sense an AI agent write actual AI slop for consumption there.
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artificial intelligence, humour, social networks, technology, trends
AI does not compose my pickup lines, I do, have the t-shirt to prove it
29 July 2026
Natalie Kaufman, writing for the Wall Street Journal, about an apparent trend in early twenty-somethings, to rely on AI agents to supply them with conversation starters, and pickup lines.
The article is paywalled, but would you really want to read about this?
I think these things are best learned through experience, and watching other people, rather than turning to AI for pointers. It gives me an idea for a t-shirt though.
Some websites and blogs sport not by AI buttons, as a way of reassuring readers their content was written by a person, and not an AI agent.
People who want others to know their conversation starters, and, where applicable, pickup lines, are their own effort, could wear a not by AI-style t-shirt, perhaps bearing the slogan “AI does not compose my pickup lines, I do”.
It might help eliminate the confusion as to what banter is AI-generated, and what is not.
For the record, my pickup lines are reserved for the only person who reads this website…
Update: Simon at Firesphere has created a mockup of my no-AI t-shirt idea. Green is an ideal colour choice to, it’s affirming, and noticeable. Awesome, thanks Simon.
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artificial intelligence, humour, technology, trends
Backrooms: McDonald’s versus Kane Parsons
15 June 2026
You don’t see too many mentions of global hamburger behemoth McDonald’s here, but their take on Kane Parsons’ 2026 horror/thriller film Backrooms, is simply finger licking good.
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film, food, humour, Kane Parsons
Talk the talk but cannot circle back and walk the walk
26 March 2026
Researchers at New York’s Cornell University have devised something called the Corporate Bullshit Receptivity Scale. Long story short, the scale measures how convincing corporate jargon and buzzwords are. Offending terms include actualise, adaptive coherence, credentialing, pressure-test, and the particularly loathsome align, when agree would do.
A high score on the scale, meaning someone cannot hear enough of this… language, suggests they may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer:
People who scored higher on the Corporate Bullshit Receptivity Scale tended to perform worse on tests measuring analytical thinking, cognitive reflection, and fluid intelligence. They also made poorer judgments in workplace decision-making scenarios designed to mimic common business problems.
That’s a conclusion that will come as no surprise to anyone in this corner of the web.
If like me though, you struggle to comprehend corporate speak, much less talk or write the lingo, this translator compiled by Kagi will help should you, for whatever reason, need to talk the talk.
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A day in the life of a world without an internet
1 March 2026
Libraries, letters, street magazines, and face-to-face social networking.
This is how I saw a world without the internet sixteen years ago.
Most very serious.
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humour, self publishing, social networks, technology
Time may be an artificial construct, but it feels awfully authentic
3 July 2025
Managing time when time doesn’t exist, from the Multiverse Employee Handbook, a science comedy podcast, produced by Robb Corrigan:
The real productivity crisis emerged when physicists tried merging Einstein’s relativity with quantum mechanics. They discovered something that would terrify any time management consultant: the Wheeler-DeWitt equation — quantum gravity’s fundamental mathematics — contains absolutely no time variable.
So maybe time doesn’t exist in the realm of physics, but who cares about physics when you’re running late for that train you must be on. Or when the hours and minutes are dissolving ahead of a critical deadline. Or anything else for that matter. And if time in fact does not exist, that’s not a problem either, the universe, and us along with it, carry on as usual.
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humour, physics, podcasts, science
The estimated lifespan of the universe has been reduced, adjust your calendars
22 May 2025
The cosmos may not last quite as long was previously envisaged. New calculations have shown that the final stellar remnants in the universe will cease to be in 1078 years time, rather than the originally thought 101100 years. That’s a significant shift in the timeline, however you look at it.
The stellar remnants part of that sentence seems to be key here though. I think. The last star in the universe — which probably won’t even be born for an eternity — will cease shining at some point in the long distant future, but its remains will take 1078 years to turn into near nothingness.
Then, I think, it’ll be curtains for the universe. But what even is 1078? I’m awful at maths and have no idea, but, according to the Thinkster Learning website, 1078 is a one followed by rather a lot of zeros. It looks like a really long time to me.
If there’s something you were hoping to achieve though, it seems like it might be a good idea to get on with it. There’s nothing more motivating than a tight deadline…
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Australia is bigger than Pluto, are then dwarf continents a thing?
22 April 2025
This, an image comparing Australia with dwarf planet Pluto, was published years ago, but somehow I only saw it for the first time a few days ago. Incredible, isn’t it? Width-ways, going from the east to west coasts, Australia dwarfs Pluto (no pun intended).
But drawing comparisons between dwarf planet Pluto, and the Australian continent, however, makes me nervous. Might such a stark juxtaposition result in Australia being downgraded to dwarf continent standing? In the same way Pluto was demoted from full, to dwarf planet, status in 2006?
Were such a travesty to occur, Australia would have to claim the title of the world’s largest island, an honour presently bestowed upon Greenland. That’s not a new idea though, a rum brand, for one, made the suggestion several decades ago.
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astronomy, Australia, geography, humour, Pluto
The fifty best Microsoft products? This is not an April fool
3 April 2025
I wondered if this was an April’s fool joke. A list of the fifty best things Microsoft (MS) ever made, compiled by The Verge.
Among inclusions is Clippy, a well intentioned though sometimes annoying paperclip-like assistant, that shipped with Office 97. There’s also Slate Magazine, originally a MS publication. Solitaire is an obvious highlight. But no mention of NotePad. Or Windows NT4? This has to be an April fool’s prank.
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Farewell to the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
12 March 2025
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC), a humorous literary award honouring terrible made up opening sentences to what will, presumably, be terrible novels, is no more. BLFC founder, Dr Scott Rice, who established the award in 1982, and had been running it with his daughter EJ Rice in recent years, has decided to retire:
Being a year and a half older than Joseph Biden, I find the BLFC becoming increasingly burdensome and would like to put myself out to pasture while I still have some vim and vigor!
The BLFC was a light-hearted addition to the literary award circuit, and I hazard to guess a few of the winning entries might well have inspired some not so terrible novel openers. A list of past winners has been archived here.
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