Easily missed, but James was actually Health Secretary for the last two months (yep, me neither) and before that he was Chief Secretary - insert “can all of them type?” joke here
Turns out working out who's in charge of the tax system is almost as complicated as the tax system. Dan Tomlinson retains his title as Exchequer Secretary but is no longer responsible for tax. James Murray remains Financial Secretary to the Treasury and takes over tax.
There is a weird building halfway along your commute. Every time you pass it you look at it and think, "That place looks weird. I wonder what it is? I should find out." By the time you get where you're going you have forgotten about it. Every time Everyday example of antimemetic shielding
Today is the 91st anniversary of the last diary entry of the first man who tried to climb Everest solo. Mind you, his plan had been to crash land a plane 14,000 feet up and then stroll the rest of the way, so perhaps he wasn’t destined to succeed 🧵
He has identified 1433 cases so far where AI-hallucinated case law has been used before actual courts or tribunals.
The French scholar Damien Charlotin is doing gods work in compiling every AI-hallucinated case featured in recorded cases around the world. www.damiencharlotin.com/hallucinatio...
'A Drawing of the Shelf Unit Beside My Desk on February 27th 2024 at 2:35pm'. Part still life, part Pop Art, an artwork that can't be replicated/imitated by #AI (which can't deliver true detail). Every detail is verifiable, right down to correct fonts on book & record spines, & even product codes...
Slightly diminish a book Danny the Runner-Up of Europe
Katie Birkwood@girlinthe.bsky.social · 3mo agoSlightly diminish a book The Housecat, the Wise Woman, and the Cupboard
I regularly donate plasma at the local blood donor centre. People think it's because I am an altruistic, generous person. But really it's because I get an hour away from work and family, no one there knows me but they're all really friendly, and I get unlimited Club biscuits.
The original Ewok music at the end of Return of the Jedi was much better than the utter bilge Lucas shoved in there when he insisted on digitally ruining the original trilogy.
Make Jack Aubrey a commodore with that mission and give him almost no material support
Henry Mance@henrymance.ft.com · 5mo agohow would YOU open the Strait of Hormuz? Wrong answers only
Business conduct guidelines say I have to sublimate my irritation through social media rather than yell at people directly
As Mary & Joseph & the wee donkey approached the Little Town of Bethlehem they will have seen at least one shepherd, in a field, with a flock. But how many shepherds, fields, and flocks were there in Bethlehem? 1/10
As it’s Armistice Day, I wanted to share an image of one of the most astonishing things I’ve ever seen in an archive: This is the pen which ended the First World War. It was used by British Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss to sign the Armistice on the 11th November 1918 in the Forest of Compiègne.
I never join a teams meeting before 4 people are in it out of sheer hatred of small talk.
Very sorry to have to do this - usually I post threads in more than one place. Today, however, my partner is telling me to get in the car or find a divorce lawyer. So with apologies - here's a Substack link instead michaeldnes1.substack.com/p/what-reall...
What really ate Ebbsfleet?
And do spiders have jetpacks?
michaeldnes1.substack.com
I'll never get over Richard Briers being 40, doing a well paid, secure design job, making fun toys, being married to a 29 year old creative, devoted sexpot, living in a large suburban London home with a massive garden and thinking everything is rubbish at the start of A Good Life
@davidallengreen.bsky.social don’t think Mata v Avianca has featured in any of the commentary so far? Notable for the lawyer initially doubling down by going back to ChatGPT to ask for the texts of the cases…!
Aardeninian.bsky.social@ardeninian.bsky.social · last yr.
Bit late now, but the US case noted in this (Mata v Avianca) is a fascinating read, with make-believe cases and therefore fittingly a citation of L Carroll law.justia.com/cases/federa...
Clangers “horrified” by new 10% tariff on soup dragon soup.
‘Okay which one of you accidentally added Robert Cecil to the chat?’
But doesn’t it say so much - that we live in a country where two thirds of the ‘improvement’ of our infrastructure is statistical illusion? Our contribution to our built heritage is so tiny it can be swamped by literal rounding errors.
A new quirk in the history of British infrastructure has presented itself. Say hello to the ghost motorway. And like most ghosts, it has a message for us. 🧵
If you care, here are some rare books and manuscripts on display at the Adler Planetarium. First, an Apollo 13 handbook. The cover was removed and used in constructing a makeshift carbon dioxide filter that saved their lives.
In honour of international women’s day – was the motor car co-invented by a woman? And have we been robbing her of credit for 140 years? The story begins with a heist…
Word of the day is ‘lickspittle’ (17th century): a person who fawns upon someone in power for personal gain.