The h2g2 Post 13.11.23

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Posted: 13th November 2023

This week's title is Things Real and Imagined. Clockwise from upper left: A map of Dagestan, a country on the Caspian Sea, an AI-generated image of ancient Rome at night, only the AI has thrown in street lighting and a parked car, a tempting bowl of bacon lentil soup, some autumn trees with bright yellow leaves, an elaborate medieval city gate in France, an old church bell tower at night, an elaborate city fountain with mythological figures in it and a Ferris Wheel in the background, a hearse with a painted skeleton on it advertising a Goth nightclub, a carton of eggs with one enormous egg sitting on a space, not in it, and a log jam on the weir as seen through autumn leaves.

Our theme for the week: Things Real and Imagined. It is often difficult to distinguish them these days.

There are the 'strange but true' things often found in nature. Let Willem introduce you to prairie dogs. They are wondrous but real. So are the arboreal phenomena Paigetheoracle has carelessly photographed and I have more carefully looked up. SashaQ astonished me with this photograph of a rosebush bearing fruit and attracting a web.

Some things may confuse you: FWR's wineshop photo, Mrs Hoggett's believe-it-or-not eggs. Nature doesn't play by our rules. Neither did humans of the past. Look and be surprised at some of the structures FWR found on a trip in the south of France.

The final frontier, of course, is imagination: these days a disputed territory between humanity and those jumped-up toasters called AI. So don't miss the last section of this ezine. That's where Paigetheoracle brings you some homework-help-grade historical fiction whose accuracy failed to be matched by the design robot Sirius Cyber. . .er, Microsoft supplied the editor with. And then, just to make sure you're well-informed, we'll show you where Dagestan is. Dagestan is a real place, and so is North Korea, which is where Awix's review is set. Let him tell you about the movie he saw.

Have fun with this issue (I know you will) and have a wonderful week. Remember: if you see a bird, don't be like Paige and tell me about it. Instead, stop and take a picture and show everybody1.


Dmitri Gheorgheni



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Quote of the Week. I like social media. But being a nice person in the real world is pretty okay, too.

– Gail Simone
Tombstone and trees.


November 2023 Post Challenge:
Tales to Make You Shiver


Video Extra:
First Snow, Juncos
Click here in Ripley


NATURAL OCCURRENCES
Prairie Dogs!

Prairie dogs by Willem.

STRANGE BUT TRUE

  • Video

    • Baby budgie experience, part 2.

EYEWITNESSES

Supersized, Again

Another giant egg in Mrs Hoggett's carton.


SPOTLIGHT ON SOUTHERN FRANCE



Wine Country
A vineyard by FWR.
SEE YOU IN THE FUNNY PAPERS
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1To be fair, Paige only sees birds in two circumstances: either he's driving, in which case he can't stop, or he's walking Luna the dog (or she's walking him), in which case they've already scared the bird away. But it's discouraging to hear, 'I saw a tawny owl and two herons yesterday, also a whole skein of geese.'

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