h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yes, I tested the new pump on one of my old wheelchair tyres, which had a stronger valve on it - the pump didn't deflate it like yesterday, but didn't inflate it either, so there is definitely something wrong with the pump. I plan to take the new pump back to the shop tomorrow and see what other options there are so I can exchange it for a new new pump

That is sad that the D-Day Museum wasn't able to make the most of a bank holiday weekend in the 80th anniversary year, but glad you got to see something new, and meet up with friends, too

Ah, yes - Wednesday is easier for people who don't have to travel too far to get there. The Friday would have been just about doable, but yes those tickets went quickly (apart from the 'easy access' seat all by itself, but I see even that has been booked now). I look forward to hearing about how it goes, and yes it is good to keep an eye on Dave Gorman's plans for touring

My Birdwatching book is proving fruitful for AI alt text

It doesn't like Avocets - "We were unable to automatically generate alt text for this picture."

The barn owl is "A bird flying over a field"

The barnacle goose is "A duck swimming in the water"

We then have more generic "A bird flying in the sky", "A bird standing in the grass", "A group of birds standing in water", "A bird flying over water", and a couple of "A bird on a tree branch".

The AI is definitely US English - calls a Buzzard "A hawk standing on grass".

After the generic 'birds', we have "A goose standing on a rock in a marsh", which is impressive

"A black bird standing on grass" is not a blackbird

"A couple of white birds walking in a grassy field" is accurate, too

"A bird on a pole" is a mixture of generic and accurate

"A seagull standing on a post" is also accurate (although the technical term is 'Common Gull')

'A bird standing in water' is also rather generic, so there are a few of those. 'Birds standing on the shore of a lake' is impressively accurate.

'A bird standing on a log' is good.

"A bird standing on a rock in water" is not good - I think it sees the bird's reflection as a rock Yes - same caption for the Snipe

"A bird standing on a post in the water" and "A bird sitting on a branch in water" are good.

"A bird standing on grass near water" is close enough - we can't see the bird's legs to tell whether it is standing on grass or in water

"A duck swimming in a pond" is good

"A bird standing on a surface of water" is a fascinating interpretation!

"A duck standing in grass" - it can sometimes tell the difference between a duck and a goose, but not always - fascinating... A Greylag goose is also "A duck standing on the edge of a pond"

More 'A duck swimming in the water' then more 'A bird sitting on a branch'

"Two birds standing on the sand" - fascinating that it recognised sand, but didn't opt for 'seagulls'

"A white bird in a lake" is good enough, as is 'A bird on a pole'.

"A bird standing on a body of water" is another fascinating concept.

"A bird on a bird feeder" is good, as is "A bird standing on a rock".

"A bird flying through a hole in a wall" is an interesting one - I think it sees the bird's white rump as the wall and its tail as a hole. Impressive that it got 'bird' as I'm not sure it is that obvious.

"A bird sitting on a wire" is good. "A bird standing on the ground" is basic but accurate. "A bird standing on the shore" is more detailed but less accurate, as I would say the Little Ringed Plover is standing in water.

The Marsh Harrier is "A bird flying over a field" and then "A bird standing on the shore of a lake" and "A bird flying in the sky"

Moorhens are "A group of birds walking on grass"

"A white swan swimming in water" is very good

"A bird standing on a stone surface" is nice detail, as is "A bird standing on a pile of hay".

A Short Eared Owl is "We were unable to automatically generate alt text for this picture." rather than a bird flying in the sky

A Stonechat is "A bird perched on a stick" A Swallow is "A bird sitting on a light" (the AI getting closer to recognising what a traffic light is?!)

"A bird standing on a concrete ledge" is nice detail, too, as is "A bird standing on dirt" and "A bird perched on a fence post". The Wren is "A bird standing on a metal post", which is not far off (can't tell from the photo, but it's a milk churn).

Excellent - I enjoyed that

W was a funny episode on BoB - the first one I found was missing the beginning. Luckily I found a repeat with the beginning included so I could understand the setup of the 'Words of one syllable' game. Unfortunately that one was missing the ending, so I had to switch back to the first one

Successful pump mission (yellow car) - the instructions were missing a step, but the guy in Halfords was able to get the pump working by pushing the valve and then turning it (my first attempt at turning it failed, then my attempt at pushing it failed, so now I know the magic combination ).

The supermarket was quite quiet (yellow car), but also quite low on resources as it is a bank holiday weekend - a metaphorical plague of locusts had been in to buy up all the bread and a few other items I was looking for... Thankfully I have bread in the freezer, and found other stuff instead, so I can make do

Glad to hear that you now know how to use the pump - hopefully it will be easy to use whenever you need to use it.

Glad to hear that you've been enjoying AI alt text, even if AI doesn't appreciate avocets or short-eared owls, and doesn't know how to play duck, duck, goose.

Now the next step is surely now that AI has identified some acutally useful descriptions, such as "A goose standing on a rock in a marsh", what happens if you put those descriptions into an AI image generator? How do the generated images compare with the originals? (That seems like something potentially for to me )

Glad you managed to get to hear all of W Wokingham in the end, only drawback being that it is near the end and not many episodes left. I hope you've enjoyed hearing them though - I must admit I've started re-listening to the Souvenir Programme.

Glad you managed to find enough in the shop to make do - how will the locust people cope with shops closing a few hours earlier than normal?

Today's been a quiet, and very wet, day for me - though I did complete my parkrun position bingo at long last. Position Bingo is where you need to finish in every position ending in 00 - 99 and I'd finished in every position except 87. And today I finished 87th - and only because halfway round my laces came undone so I had to stop and tie them up, otherwise I'd've been ahead of 87th. So that was serendipitous. I've finished 54th eight times.

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"what happens if you put those descriptions into an AI image generator?" - Challenge accepted - I discovered my favourite AI tool allows for a base image to be uploaded and the results are hilarious! The AI is so bad at counting, a base image of 6 people at a meeting table generated 19 people, some of whom are sitting *in* the table A article will be incoming soon

Yes, Cabin Pressure is officially 'Brilliant!' Yes, sad that there aren't many episodes left, but good that it is cleverly drawing to a conclusion, bringing all threads together Plus of course we're now playing the Yellow Car Game, so its legacy is long-lasting I have a few Souvenir Programme episodes left to listen to, so they will be good after Z.

"how will the locust people cope with shops closing a few hours earlier than normal?" - how indeed Pleasant birdwatching yesterday, although nothing new - impressive numbers of House Martins feeding up before they fly south for the winter.

Congratulations on completing parkrun position bingo Serendipitous indeed! I hope you all have a good day today, too

It's been a strange time. We had a neighbour set off a firework which terrified Maxy, our cat with a heart-condition, and he was visibly struggling with breathing and wheezing since, so yesterday we took him to the vet and he's been there since, on oxygen to help with the breathing but the cardiology team was off over the long weekend, so hopefully they'll be able to do something to help tomorrow.

Today my son had arranged to spend the day with his friend at the tank museum, so we went there and enjoyed their Top Trumps trail. We went round every room in the museum hunting the Top Trumps cards and answering all the questions, doing the spot-the-difference, drawing a Sherman Crab flail tank and working out which of the listed tanks had the best power/weight ratios etc, and at the end we went to the gift shop counter with our completed sheets and the guy behind the counter didn't even look at them but passed over some cards. We could hear the lady next to him asking someone questions about the answers to check they'd done it, but not the guy who served us, which was a bit disappointing.
Then outside we stopped to look at our cards. My son and I both had exclusive Ferret cards whereas my son's friend had a different one. As having identical cards is how you play 'Snap!' and not 'Top Trumps' I went back in the museum and asked if I could swap a 'Ferret' for a different card, explaining we had two identical ones, and was given a 'Little Willie' (the prototype tank disparagingly nicknamed after Kaiser Wilhelm).

So at the moment we're all worried about , but were told that no news is good news and that he's stable at least. So hopefully the cardiology team will be able to do something to help when they're in tomorrow.

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That is sad about being badly affected by the firework I was thinking of him on Sunday, as my sister mentioned her was at the vet this week - improving thanks to antibiotics All the best

Glad you had another good time at the Tank Museum. Sad that not all the staff were enthusiastic about the trail, but glad you all got good prizes for your efforts "identical cards is how you play 'Snap!' and not 'Top Trumps'" - yes indeed!

I had a good time at the seaside yesterday - not too busy, so it was pleasant going along the promenade and watching the tide coming in. The birds were quite active, and it was good to see a mixture of adults and juveniles I found a ringed bird, too - judging by the database I found online, the Black-Headed Gull was about 7 or 8 years old and had come from Germany

In good news we have had back yesterday, and he's back to acting his old self. We've been given more medicine to give him - three different types, and one has had the dose increased to 1 1/4 tablets, though how I am supposed to give a quarter tablet without it disintegrating into dust I'm not sure....

Today I started my new job - I now work in the Quality department, but as my line manager is on holiday this week I am still rather in the dark as to my role.

Good to hear you had a good time at the seaside and spotted a good mix of birds, including international travellers.

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That is good news that is back home. Tricky about the 1/4 tablet - reminded me that D used to have a tool to cut one of her pills in half, but a quarter isn't much more than a crumb indeed...

All the best with your new job Not a great start but I'm sure things will settle down as the new term gets going

Sadly I found out today another of my colleagues has died Again his public webpage was taken down instantly, but I discovered his intranet profile won't be taken away until next Monday, so it was good to learn more about his research and career from before I met him.

I was in the office today, and on the journey in I was just thinking I hadn't seen any yellow cars and then two went round a roundabout at the exact same time The Y episode was another excellent one - really good about how people have different skills, and a blend of practical and theoretical is a real asset to a team

Sorry to hear that a colleague you knew has passed away Did you know him well?

I had an e-mail saying that my Pope-up 'Pope Joan's Home in Rome' was rejected for sale on Amazon because 'Amazon & Ingram do not accept colouring books, journals, diaries, puzzle books, or books with many blank or lined pages.' Though as it is none of those, I'm none-the-wiser as to why it was rejected. Unless they thought that because the Pope wears white, it must be a colouring book? I'd've though the fact that people don't buy my books on Amazon or Ingram so they're not exactly missing out is a more legitimate reason. Also they never did like the image quality, saying the PSI was too low (though I thought that was how much I pumped up my tyres?)

I'm still trying to get a dentist appointment. I didn't realise that my dentist made the local news:
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/24474249.southampton-nhs-dentist-practice-brunswick-place-administration/
The last I heard from them was when I was texted to say that my appointment the following day was cancelled. I keep checking their website but they say they've been without electricity for over a month.

I'm beginning to think they're not the best dentist in the world...

So you only have Zurich to go before 'Cabin Pressure' comes to an end - short but sweet. I must admit I do wish there were more episodes as I do enjoy the characters so much.

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That is shocking but not surprising about the dentist going into administration - based on your experience, they can't have had many private patients prepared to partake of that... Good news that it has been taken over, but not good that they haven't got electricity yet... All the best with it all

Of the three aged 60ish men who died this year, he was the one I knew best, yes - we worked well together when I first joined the uni, as he supported his department's PhD students from the academic perspective, while I provided their professional services support. I hadn't had as much to do with him in the last few years, as our jobs changed and he semi-retired, but the last time I spoke to him 1-1 he was really enjoying spending lots of time with his grandchildren on his non-working days

That is strange that Amazon decided your book isn't a comic like the others Maybe it is the white robes, but that does seem to be a stretch (I recently saw a 'colouring book' meme on with Star Wars Stormtroopers in it ). I know what you mean about the PSI complaint - my photo book included 2MB images, so there shouldn't have been any problem, but I still got that message. My only guess is that it is something to do with the 'print to PDF' function, but I'm very satisfied with how the book looks, so that's the main thing.

Yes, 27 episodes of Cabin Pressure is not a bad run, but even so it definitely leaves us wanting more as the characters are brilliant. Episode 1 of Series 9 of Souvenir Programme was more of a struggle than other episodes but I got there after two false starts - excellent ending with 'Since you asked me' and the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles

I think I may have seen the same colouring book meme .

Series 9 of the Souvenir Programme is definitely a different format, but it does give glimpses in the tale of the same family over 120 years. Once you have heard them all then this might help you put it together: http://bleedingcool.com/tv/a-final-timeline-for-john-finnemores-souvenir-programme-series-9/ but it is on repeat listens that you realise how people are really related to others and the significance of what is in each episode. It really is like getting a random handful of pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and of course at first you don't know what the picture is or how the pieces relate to each other, but once you have enough and can start slotting things in next to each other that you can appreciate the artistry of the bigger picture.

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Thank you for that link - will be useful indeed. Clever how, once I got past the first bit, it became clear that there were jigsaw pieces that would fit together, and that helps to know that not all the jigsaw pieces in an episode relate to other pieces in the same episode

I've been watching lots of Paralympics this weekend but did listen to Zurich Part 1 - excellent. Made me laugh a lot about Arthur bidding £10 million - reminded me of the Freddie Mercury Auction where people who wanted to bid on items valued at more than £50k had to prove they had the funds - if an item was valued at £5,000, it seemed like someone could bid £10 million by mistake (I didn't try it... ).

I had a good weekend, even though I was a bit disappointed at first - I went on a Spoonbill hunt, as 7 had been seen on Friday, but they all hid somewhere on Saturday. I then went to Burton Mere and there wasn't much around because it was so hot. However, I sat in the shade of a tree for a while and heard lots of tweety birds - they were mostly bluetits and long-tailed tits, but I found out later that, as I was taking a photo of the tree, I captured a Treecreeper camouflaged on the trunk A very pleasing addition to the year list and overall list

Another addition to the list was a funny - mum and I were just going out to a talk at the botanic garden, when the car in front stopped and we saw some Guineafowl trotting across the road and going up the drive to someone's house Not sure where they came from or where they were going, but I'm adding it to my list because they were out and about rather than in captivity

The talk was good, about the flora and fauna of the Pennsylvania area I didn't meet the other wheelchair birdwatcher, but did meet other people I knew, so it was an enjoyable afternoon

I hope you all had a good weekend

Yep, the guinea fowl definitely count as they were out and about, even if it raises the question, "Why did the guinea fowl cross the road?" And excellent news that you surprisingly had a pleasing addition to the list.

Yesterday was my wife's first day back at work and my son's first day at College. We are bot impressed with the college so far.
Did I say that while in the end he qualified for the prestigious college, in the end he decided he wanted to do a vocational course and so accepted a place on a woodworking course at the neighbouring course? While the good college sent welcome packs and all sorts of information throughout the summer, the only thing his has sent is a timetable - and yesterday's timetable was dated 'Monday 1st September' when of course it is the 2nd. Not the best start.
According to his timetable, he was supposed to be in college until 5pm yesterday but was back home at 11am saying that he's not due in again until next Monday, and even then he only goes in two days a week. He asked what he was supposed to do the rest of the week and they said maybe find a job? In the open days we went to we were told it would be a full time vocational course, so we feel lied to. We had thought it was at least 'learn everything about carpentry and joinery, learn a real, proper trade in depth' but now it seems to be 'turn up for a day and a half a week and the rest of your time we don't care'.

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Why did the Guineafowl cross the road indeed?!

That is shocking about the college - I think I found the course online, and it definitely says Full Time, with up to 21 weeks of work placement. Hopefully the timetable just had a typo, and wasn't the timetable from 2014 when 1 September was a Monday. Even so, it's very strange that it said there were activities until 5pm but then activities finished at 11am... All the best with finding out what's going on

Hmm - I found another webpage from the same college group and it says learners have to find their own work placements. As learners are only 16, surely the college should provide some help for how to go about doing that... (I found a 4-week work placement for myself when I was 16, but only after my school had provided me with a 2-week one (I chose from a list of options) so that gave me a clue).

I see there is an apprenticeship at the same college that is one day a week of study, but I couldn't find how they expect people to get apprentice jobs for the other 4 days a week... All the best with it all

I think that in many ways the fact that the college is merging with two others is having a detrimental effect, so they told my son yesterday that they have had three times as many students enrol as they had expected. Instead of spreading the subjects across the colleges, they only have some subjects in each one. They also dedicate a lot of their teaching to getting their students to pass GCSE maths and English - but my son passed both of those. It is just frustrating feeling lied to, as we asked specific questions before he made a final decision, only for key facts to turn out to be wrong.

We had an e-mail response saying that for much of the week they expect their students to work and learn 'transferrable soft skills' - not entirely sure what that means So we feel very much that he is being abandoned.

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Yikes, that is terrible - sounds like they were more interested in 'bums on seats' rather than whether the courses were right for people (and whether the course quality would be maintained with so many enrolments)...

'Lied to' is the word, when 'facts' aren't facts after all - if they had told you this earlier, your son either might have made a different decision or could have planned in advance... I thought 'transferable skills' are what you get from education to apply to employment, so that does sound like fobbing off indeed... (unless they are saying they need students to work with customers in a shop so as to learn how to work with woodwork clients, as the course won't teach them that...)

I'm angry on your behalf just reading about all that All the best with it all

Term has definitely started for me - lots of meetings, and lots of minute-taking... Not quite sure how I got roped in to taking the minutes of the committee I used to take minutes for before I got promoted, but there we go - the powers that be can't say I'm not flexible.

My project is inching along very slowly, but hopefully the meeting tomorrow will give it a boost

I'm still enjoying the Paralympics - wheelchair racing is probably my favourite, but the running, swimming and cycling is interesting, and it's always good to see wheelchair tennis on TV Interesting seeing wheelchair basketball, too, after I went to see the uni team