Nick
@handpressed.net
Servant of cats. Sniffer of books. Wrangler of WordPress. https://handpressed.net
WordPress advice, fixes and tweaks for coffee. https://ko-fi.com/handpressed
WordPress advice, fixes and tweaks for coffee. https://ko-fi.com/handpressed
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Nick
@handpressed.net
· Nov 13
HandPressed – WordPress Websites That Don't Cost the Earth
Planet-friendly websites built with WordPress. Powered by 100% green energy.
handpressed.net
Writers, poets, photographers, artists, artisans, academics, activists, musicians, bohemians, beats, boozers, booksellers, radicals... do you require a website or have a website that's in need of a lick of paint? Hit me up. I don't charge the [E]arth. handpressed.net
Reposted by Nick
Is this cheese grater conscious? Many users feel they're talking to a real person. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
November 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Is this cheese grater conscious? Many users feel they're talking to a real person. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
"LLMs are simply tools that emulate the communicative function of language, not the separate and distinct cognitive process of thinking and reasoning, no matter how many data centers we build."
Is language the same as intelligence? The AI industry desperately needs it to be
The AI boom is based on a fundamental mistake.
www.theverge.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:44 PM
"LLMs are simply tools that emulate the communicative function of language, not the separate and distinct cognitive process of thinking and reasoning, no matter how many data centers we build."
Everything is so fucking stupid.
I am so tired.
But tomorrow is another day.
Good night.
I am so tired.
But tomorrow is another day.
Good night.
November 24, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Everything is so fucking stupid.
I am so tired.
But tomorrow is another day.
Good night.
I am so tired.
But tomorrow is another day.
Good night.
I watched Yes Minister again over the weekend.
Government will always be one big joke.
Government will always be one big joke.
November 24, 2025 at 9:51 PM
I watched Yes Minister again over the weekend.
Government will always be one big joke.
Government will always be one big joke.
About to go more than 100% for Erasure... of my hearing. Worth it. www.last.fm/user/Guerril...
November 24, 2025 at 8:37 PM
About to go more than 100% for Erasure... of my hearing. Worth it. www.last.fm/user/Guerril...
Reposted by Nick
MAGA is falling apart. The Republicans are falling apart. Trump is falling apart. They will continue to do terrible (and in some cases irreparable) damage at home and abroad but something has changed. You can feel it
November 24, 2025 at 7:54 PM
MAGA is falling apart. The Republicans are falling apart. Trump is falling apart. They will continue to do terrible (and in some cases irreparable) damage at home and abroad but something has changed. You can feel it
Reposted by Nick
Oh Nigel was doing gentle and kind racism, stand down everyone
“I would never ever do it in a hurtful or insulting way”
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
Nigel Farage responds to allegations of racist behaviour from when he was a teenager at school
@itvnewspolitics.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Oh Nigel was doing gentle and kind racism, stand down everyone
Reposted by Nick
Periodic reminder that this kind of doomer bullshit is marketing for these companies. It makes the models sound more human-like and also more effective than they actually are.
“Anthropic compared this to Edmund in Shakespeare’s King Lear.” 🙄
Anthropic AI research model hacks its training, breaks bad
Is AI.... "evil?"
mashable.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Periodic reminder that this kind of doomer bullshit is marketing for these companies. It makes the models sound more human-like and also more effective than they actually are.
"It's time for bed. And here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to get in bed, and I don’t have anyone to sleep with now, so what I do is I sleep with my books ..." westernflyingpost.tumblr.com/post/3565531...
November 22, 2025 at 11:33 PM
"It's time for bed. And here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to get in bed, and I don’t have anyone to sleep with now, so what I do is I sleep with my books ..." westernflyingpost.tumblr.com/post/3565531...
Reposted by Nick
Turns out the media & most of Parliament is as out of touch with reality as Twitter. Dear England.
Why do people think England flags have been raised on lampposts?
White adults
National pride: 26%
Anti-migrant/minority sentiment: 49%
Both: 19%
Ethnic minority adults
National pride: 15%
Anti-migrant/minority sentiment: 55%
Both: 20%
yougov.co.uk/society/arti...
White adults
National pride: 26%
Anti-migrant/minority sentiment: 49%
Both: 19%
Ethnic minority adults
National pride: 15%
Anti-migrant/minority sentiment: 55%
Both: 20%
yougov.co.uk/society/arti...
November 22, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Turns out the media & most of Parliament is as out of touch with reality as Twitter. Dear England.
Reposted by Nick
I just think Trump understands Mamdani is not someone he wants to tangle with. Too smart, too charismatic, too New York, too straightforward, too young. Easier targets elsewhere, like everyone who works for him and most of Congress. (1/2)
November 21, 2025 at 10:35 PM
I just think Trump understands Mamdani is not someone he wants to tangle with. Too smart, too charismatic, too New York, too straightforward, too young. Easier targets elsewhere, like everyone who works for him and most of Congress. (1/2)
Sunk into a funk but wine and Chemicals are lifting me out of it... www.last.fm/user/Guerril...
GuerrillaArtist’s Music Profile | Last.fm
Listen to music from GuerrillaArtist’s library (111,806 tracks played). GuerrillaArtist’s top artists: The Rolling Stones, Daft Punk, Oasis. Get your own music profile at Last.fm, the world’s largest ...
www.last.fm
November 21, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Sunk into a funk but wine and Chemicals are lifting me out of it... www.last.fm/user/Guerril...
#NowPlaying With Mani in mind. One of the great debut albums - and one of my all-time favourite albums. www.last.fm/user/Guerril...
November 21, 2025 at 3:23 PM
#NowPlaying With Mani in mind. One of the great debut albums - and one of my all-time favourite albums. www.last.fm/user/Guerril...
Reposted by Nick
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Word of the day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet politician whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.
Reposted by Nick
this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
November 21, 2025 at 10:18 AM
this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
it is also free to read
youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...
Reposted by Nick
Look, we were right about Brexit, and we were right about Covid. Why is it so hard to believe we are right about immigration and asylum?
November 21, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Look, we were right about Brexit, and we were right about Covid. Why is it so hard to believe we are right about immigration and asylum?
Reposted by Nick
Wizened Millennials sneering at Gen Alpha: I told you the old ways are best
(Gen X, petting its moldering set of the 1983 World Book Encyclopedia: Soon. Soon.)
(Gen X, petting its moldering set of the 1983 World Book Encyclopedia: Soon. Soon.)
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Wizened Millennials sneering at Gen Alpha: I told you the old ways are best
(Gen X, petting its moldering set of the 1983 World Book Encyclopedia: Soon. Soon.)
(Gen X, petting its moldering set of the 1983 World Book Encyclopedia: Soon. Soon.)
Reposted by Nick
In my corner of the bass-playing universe there was life pre- and post-Mani. He brought a liquid, melodic funkiness that EVERYONE copied. And when I finally met him he was exactly how you imagined him: joyful, generous, unstarry (& more of a star because of it) and wickedly funny. A life well lived
November 21, 2025 at 8:20 AM
In my corner of the bass-playing universe there was life pre- and post-Mani. He brought a liquid, melodic funkiness that EVERYONE copied. And when I finally met him he was exactly how you imagined him: joyful, generous, unstarry (& more of a star because of it) and wickedly funny. A life well lived
Reposted by Nick
Finally, a digital skillset I‘m primed for
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 20, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Finally, a digital skillset I‘m primed for
Reposted by Nick
Funnily enough I just got called Sir by the train conductor because I have short hair and was wearing a hat… so what I’m saying is that I’m sure this will all work out great.
The core aim of the Terf movement - a tiny number of newspaper columnists who melted the brains of middle aged reactionaries - was always to encourage maximum public hostility against transgender people, and give them the impunity to act upon it.
November 20, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Funnily enough I just got called Sir by the train conductor because I have short hair and was wearing a hat… so what I’m saying is that I’m sure this will all work out great.
Reposted by Nick
Some people may see this as a demonstration of the half-life of the errant teaspoon. Others may conclude "Australian scientists are thieves". These are the wonders of a multidisciplinary intellectual environment.
70 teaspoons placed in tearooms around the institute & observed weekly over 5 months. 80% of spoons disappeared; spoon halflife~81 days. Communal room halflife lower than in specific labs. 250 spoons annually required to maintain 70 spoon population.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute
Objectives To determine the overall rate of loss of workplace teaspoons and whether attrition and displacement are correlated with the relative value of the teaspoons or type of tearoom. Design Longitudinal cohort study. Setting Research institute ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 20, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Some people may see this as a demonstration of the half-life of the errant teaspoon. Others may conclude "Australian scientists are thieves". These are the wonders of a multidisciplinary intellectual environment.
Nothing's new. #DigitalID
Yes Minister - Series 1: 4. Big Brother
Sitcom about a British government minister and the advisers who surround him. Jim tries to implement a privacy safeguard for a new national computer database.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 19, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Nothing's new. #DigitalID
Reposted by Nick
Starmer genuinely loves football, like, there's evidence of him LOVING football for decades. And yet...when he talks about it....he sounds like someone who has never seen a minute of it. He sounds like someone who only just heard the word "football" earlier that day.
November 19, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Starmer genuinely loves football, like, there's evidence of him LOVING football for decades. And yet...when he talks about it....he sounds like someone who has never seen a minute of it. He sounds like someone who only just heard the word "football" earlier that day.
Reposted by Nick
