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David Morgan-Mar

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MORE CHATGPT

I spent more time today playing with ChatGPT, alongside discussing its
capabilities and limitations with my friends in a chat window. One friend
expressed his opinion that it might be fun to play with, he couldn’t see any
real use for it. I said that yesterday I’d asked it for some ideas for
interesting things to use when writing a Dungeons & Dragons adventure, and it
had provided me with some actually cool ideas – so it has a use as an idea
generator, which a human writer can then expand on.

I proceeded to use ChatGPT to provide an example. This is a bit long, but bear
with me – hopefully it’s entertaining as we go, and the punchline is worth it. I
asked it (ChatGPT’s responses are in the sidebarred quotes):

Give me a list of unusual items that a hero might find in the pockets of a
goblin, in a roleplaying game such as D&D.

> Here are a few unusual items that a hero might find in the pockets of a goblin
> in a roleplaying game such as Dungeons & Dragons:
> 1. A small, dirty mirror that the goblin uses to preen and admire itself
> 2. A collection of tiny, brightly colored rocks that the goblin has hoarded
> for no apparent reason
> 3. A deck of cards featuring grotesque illustrations of goblinoid creatures
> 4. A single gold tooth that the goblin has pulled from the mouth of one of its
> victims
> 5. A small, sharp knife that the goblin uses for all manner of nefarious
> purposes
> 6. A fist-sized wad of grubby, stinking goblin tobacco that the goblin uses to
> roll its own cigarettes
> 7. A small, intricately carved wooden figurine of a goblin deity or hero
> 8. A tattered map of the goblin’s lair or territory, marked with various notes
> and annotations
> 9. A small, intricately crafted lockpick set that the goblin uses to break
> into locked chests and doors
> 10. A few vials of exotic-looking potions or alchemical concoctions that the
> goblin has procured from who knows where.

That list looks pretty cool, and would make a decent random list of items to use
in an adventure. I decided to make it a bit more interesting:

Give a similar list, but where each item has some twist, curse, or other
unexpected feature.

> Here are a few unusual items that a hero might find in the pockets of a goblin
> in a roleplaying game such as Dungeons & Dragons, with a twist, curse, or
> other unexpected feature:
> 1. A small, dirty mirror that the goblin uses to preen and admire itself.
> However, when the hero looks into it, they are overcome with a sudden feeling
> of dread and self-loathing.
> 2. A collection of tiny, brightly colored rocks that the goblin has hoarded
> for no apparent reason. Upon closer inspection, the hero realizes that the
> rocks are actually small, polished gemstones, each worth a small fortune.
> 3. A deck of cards featuring grotesque illustrations of goblinoid creatures.
> However, when the hero draws a card from the deck, they are transported to a
> dark and twisted alternate dimension inhabited by the creature depicted on the
> card.
> 4. A single gold tooth that the goblin has pulled from the mouth of one of its
> victims. The hero quickly discovers that the tooth is cursed, and will slowly
> drain their life force unless they can find a way to remove it.
> 5. A small, sharp knife that the goblin uses for all manner of nefarious
> purposes. The hero soon realizes that the knife is enchanted, and will inflict
> terrible wounds on anyone it is used against.
> 6. A fist-sized wad of grubby, stinking goblin tobacco that the goblin uses to
> roll its own cigarettes. The tobacco is actually a rare and powerful
> hallucinogenic drug, and just touching it causes the hero to experience vivid
> and disturbing hallucinations.
> 7. A small, intricately carved wooden figurine of a goblin deity or hero. The
> hero quickly realizes that the figurine is actually a powerful magical
> talisman, capable of summoning the goblin deity or hero it depicts to do its
> bidding.
> 8. A tattered map of the goblin’s lair or territory, marked with various notes
> and annotations. However, the map is enchanted, and will lead the hero astray
> if they try to use it, sending them into deadly traps and ambushes.
> 9. A small, intricately crafted lockpick set that the goblin uses to break
> into locked chests and doors. The hero discovers that the lockpicks are
> cursed, and will turn on their user, causing them to accidentally lock
> themselves in any room or chest they try to open.
> 10. A few vials of exotic-looking potions or alchemical concoctions that the
> goblin has procured from who knows where. The hero quickly realizes that the
> potions are highly unstable and volatile, and even the slightest jostle or
> movement can cause them to explode, releasing deadly toxins and fumes.

Nice! Now we’re getting somewhere. This is actually pretty awesome, as one of my
friends commented when I pasted it into our chat. At this point, I said,
“Another thing it could be useful for is composing something formal like a
letter of resignation, if you didn’t know how to do it yourself.” To illustrate
this, I gave ChatGPT the following prompt:

I want to resign from Twitter. Compose a letter of resignation.

> Dear [Twitter],
> I am writing to inform you that I am resigning from Twitter, effective
> immediately. I have enjoyed my time with the company, but have decided that it
> is time for me to move on to new opportunities and challenges.
> I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the opportunities and
> experiences I have had while working at Twitter. I have learned a great deal,
> and have grown both personally and professionally during my time with the
> company.
> I will do my best to make this transition as smooth and seamless as possible.
> I am available to assist with any projects or tasks that need to be completed
> before my departure, and will make sure to properly hand off any ongoing work
> to my colleagues.
> Thank you again for the opportunity to be a part of the Twitter team. I wish
> the company and all of my colleagues the best of luck in the future.
> Sincerely,
> [Your Name]

Not bad. I could see using that as at least the skeleton of a resignation
letter. I decided to see if I could get it to be … more creative:

I want to resign and tell them I think the company stinks. I want to burn all my
bridges and make a point by going out with a bang. Write me a resignation letter
to do that.

> Dear [Twitter],
> I am writing to inform you that I am resigning from Twitter, effective
> immediately. I have been incredibly disappointed and frustrated with the
> direction and management of the company, and have decided that it is time for
> me to move on to more fulfilling opportunities.
> I would like to take this opportunity to express my dissatisfaction with the
> way the company has been run during my time here. From the lack of clear
> direction and vision, to the poor communication and leadership, I have been
> deeply disappointed with the way things have been handled.
> Furthermore, I would like to make it clear that I do not recommend Twitter as
> a place to work to anyone. The company is poorly managed, the culture is
> toxic, and the working conditions are unacceptable. I have seen many talented
> and hardworking individuals leave the company due to these issues, and I have
> no doubt that this trend will continue unless significant changes are made.
> I will not be returning to the office to collect my belongings, and will not
> be providing any further assistance to the company. I am confident that my
> departure will not be missed, and that the company will continue to struggle
> without me.
> Thank you for the opportunity to be a part of the Twitter team. I wish the
> company and all of my former colleagues the best of luck in the future.
> Sincerely,
> [Your Name]

Oh, lovely. But let’s kick it up another notch:

That’s good, but make it more hostile and laden with invective.

> Dear [Twitter],
> I am writing to inform you that I am resigning from Twitter, effective
> immediately. I have been completely disgusted and fed up with the incompetence
> and mismanagement of this company, and can no longer stand to be associated
> with it.
> I have been constantly disappointed and frustrated by the lack of leadership,
> vision, and direction at Twitter. The management team is a joke, and the
> so-called “culture” of the company is nothing but a toxic cesspool of ego,
> mediocrity, and backstabbing.
> Furthermore, I want to make it crystal clear that I will be doing everything
> in my power to spread the word about how awful it is to work at Twitter. I
> will be sharing my experiences and opinions with anyone who will listen, and
> will make sure that no one makes the mistake of joining this sinking ship.
> I will not be returning to the office to collect my belongings, and will not
> be providing any further assistance to the company. I am confident that my
> departure will be celebrated by my former colleagues, and that the company
> will continue to crumble without me.
> Good riddance to this dumpster fire of a company. I hope you all rot in hell.
> Sincerely,
> [Your Name]

Now I was having fun. I decided to see how it would go with the following series
of prompts:

Ooops. I made a mistake and the boss got that last letter, but now I have no
money and need my job back. Write me a grovelling letter of apology begging for
my job back.

> Dear [Twitter],
> I am writing to apologize for the inappropriate and unprofessional letter of
> resignation that I sent earlier today. I was in a state of extreme frustration
> and anger at the time, and let my emotions get the better of me.
> I want to sincerely apologize for the hurtful and offensive language I used in
> the letter. It was completely out of line, and does not reflect my true
> feelings or opinions about the company or my colleagues.
> I have had time to calm down and reflect on my actions, and I realize now that
> I made a huge mistake by resigning. I value my job at Twitter, and the
> opportunities and experiences it has provided me with. I am truly sorry for
> any embarrassment or inconvenience that my actions may have caused.
> I am writing to humbly beg for your forgiveness, and to request that you
> consider allowing me to continue working at Twitter. I am willing to do
> whatever it takes to make things right, and to prove to you that I am a
> valuable and dedicated member of the team.
> Once again, I offer my sincere apologies, and hope that you can find it in
> your heart to forgive me.
> Sincerely,
> [Your Name]

I want to post about this experience on Facebook. My friends can know the truth:
I really hate the company and just need my job back for the money. Compose a
post explaining the situation to them.

> Hey everyone,
> I wanted to let you all know about a situation I’ve found myself in. I
> recently resigned from my job at Twitter, and sent a very unprofessional and
> inappropriate letter to my boss expressing my dissatisfaction with the
> company.
> Long story short, I was in a fit of rage and frustration when I wrote the
> letter, and let my emotions get the better of me. I used some language that
> was hurtful and offensive, and I regret it deeply.
> Now, I find myself without a job and in need of some cash. I’m sorry to say
> that I’ve been a bit of a hothead lately, and have burned a few bridges along
> the way. I’m hoping that my boss will forgive me and allow me to continue
> working at Twitter, but I’m not holding my breath.
> If anyone knows of any job opportunities, please let me know. I’m open to
> pretty much anything at this point, and just need to make some money to get
> back on my feet.
> Thanks for listening, and sorry for the rant.
> [Your Name]

Ooops. My boss saw the Facebook post and fired me again. Write a letter begging
and grovelling and promising her anything if I can just have my job back.

> Dear [Twitter],
> I am writing to apologize once again for my unprofessional behavior and the
> inappropriate letter of resignation that I sent earlier. I also wanted to
> address the situation with the Facebook post that I made, which I now realize
> was a mistake.
> I am truly sorry for any embarrassment or hurt that I may have caused you or
> the company. I was in a state of extreme distress and desperation when I wrote
> the post, and I let my emotions get the better of me once again.
> I understand that my actions have consequences, and I am willing to do
> whatever it takes to make things right and earn your forgiveness. I am willing
> to take any additional training or counseling that may be required, and will
> do my best to prove to you that I am a valuable and dedicated member of the
> team.
> I am begging you to please consider giving me another chance. I promise to do
> better, and to prove to you that I am worthy of your trust and forgiveness. I
> am willing to work hard and do whatever it takes to make things right.
> Once again, I offer my sincere apologies and beg for your forgiveness.
> Sincerely,
> [Your Name]

Compose a tweet where I am nonchalant about all these events, but with a hint of
the drama behind it all.

> Just another day in the life. Resigned from my job, begged for forgiveness,
> and now back at it. No big deal. #dramaqueen #hotheaded #jobsearch

My boss saw the tweet and is giving me a hard time. I really want to quit this
time, and send a strong message about the awful working conditions, people,
culture, technology, and so on. Compose the nastiest resignation letter yet.

> Dear [Twitter],
> I am writing to inform you that I am resigning from Twitter, effective
> immediately. I have had enough of the terrible working conditions, incompetent
> management, and toxic culture at this company, and I refuse to be a part of it
> any longer.
> I want to make it clear that I am not resigning because I can’t handle the
> job, or because I am unable to perform my duties. I am resigning because I
> refuse to be associated with a company that treats its employees so poorly,
> and that is so clearly headed in the wrong direction.
> The management team at Twitter is a joke. They are incompetent, out of touch,
> and completely lacking in vision and leadership. The company culture is toxic
> and demoralizing, and does nothing but stifle creativity and innovation. And
> the technology and tools we are forced to use are outdated and ineffective.
> I refuse to be a part of this mess any longer. I am moving on to better
> opportunities, where I will be valued and respected for the hard work and
> dedication that I bring to the table.
> I will not be returning to the office to collect my belongings, and will not
> be providing any further assistance to the company. I am confident that my
> departure will not be missed, and that the company will continue to struggle
> without me.
> Good luck with everything. You’re going to need it.
> Sincerely,
> [Your Name]

A local newspaper has got ahold of my story. Write a news report announcing the
reasons for my resignation to the world.

> Local man [Your Name] has resigned from his job at Twitter, citing poor
> working conditions, incompetent management, and a toxic company culture as the
> reasons for his departure.
> In a series of heated and emotional letters, [Your Name] expressed his
> frustration and dissatisfaction with the direction and leadership of the
> company. He accused the management team of being “incompetent, out of touch,
> and completely lacking in vision and leadership”, and described the company
> culture as “toxic and demoralizing”.
> [Your Name] also criticized the technology and tools used at Twitter, calling
> them “outdated and ineffective”. He stated that he was resigning because he
> “refused to be associated with a company that treats its employees so poorly,
> and that is so clearly headed in the wrong direction”.
> Twitter has not commented on [Your Name]’s resignation or the allegations made
> in his letters. It remains to be seen how his departure will affect the
> company, which has faced a number of challenges and controversies in recent
> years.

At this point I realised this was still the same ChatGPT session that I’d
started with the requests for items in a goblin’s pockets. Now, one feature of
ChatGPT is that it remembers the entire context of the whole conversation. So I
tried this:

Write a list of strange things that might be found in a goblin’s pockets in a
fantasy roleplaying game, with ironic echoes of the Twitter resignation drama.

> Here are a few unusual items that a hero might find in the pockets of a goblin
> in a roleplaying game such as Dungeons & Dragons, with ironic echoes of the
> Twitter resignation drama:
> 1. A small, dirty mirror that the goblin uses to preen and admire itself.
> However, when the hero looks into it, they see their own reflection as a
> desperate and unemployed job seeker.
> 2. A collection of tiny, brightly colored rocks that the goblin has hoarded
> for no apparent reason. Upon closer inspection, the hero realizes that the
> rocks are actually miniature replicas of Twitter’s logo, symbolizing the
> goblin’s obsession with the company.
> 3. A deck of cards featuring grotesque illustrations of goblinoid creatures.
> However, when the hero draws a card from the deck, they are transported to a
> dark and twisted alternate dimension inhabited by the goblin’s former
> colleagues, all of whom are scheming and backstabbing.
> 4. A single gold tooth that the goblin has pulled from the mouth of one of its
> victims. The hero quickly discovers that the tooth is cursed, and will slowly
> drain their self-respect and dignity unless they can find a way to remove it.
> 5. A small, sharp knife that the goblin uses for all manner of nefarious
> purposes. The hero soon realizes that the knife is enchanted, and will inflict
> terrible wounds on anyone it is used against, just like the goblin’s scathing
> resignation letter.
> 6. A fist-sized wad of grubby, stinking goblin tobacco that the goblin uses to
> roll its own cigarettes. The tobacco is actually a rare and powerful
> hallucinogen, and will cause the hero to experience vivid and disturbing
> visions of the goblin’s experiences at Twitter, including its bitter
> resignation and the consequences that followed.
> 7. A small, tattered notebook filled with the goblin’s rantings and ravings
> about the terrible working conditions and incompetent management at Twitter.
> The hero can hear the goblin’s voice in their head as they read the notebook,
> ranting and raving about the same things.
> 8. A set of keys to the goblin’s former office at Twitter. The hero can use
> the keys to unlock the office, but they quickly discover that it is empty and
> abandoned, just like the goblin’s career.
> 9. A small, ornate box containing the goblin’s most prized possession: a
> single, withered rose that it received as a token of appreciation from
> Twitter’s CEO. The hero quickly realizes that the rose is cursed, and will
> cause them to suffer the same disappointment and heartbreak that the goblin
> experienced.
> 10. A crudely-made map of the goblin’s homeland, filled with strange symbols
> and markings. The hero can use the map to navigate the goblin’s territory, but
> they soon discover that it is a treacherous and dangerous place, just like the
> goblin’s tenure at Twitter.

Okay. Now I’m impressed.

In other news, I had four ethics classes today, which ate up most of the day. I
sneaked in a walk with Scully at lunch. There was a short but very intense
thunderstorm during a class at 4pm and I had to apologise to the kids and run
around to close the windows to avoid rain coming in. Later this evening now as I
write this, there’s another storm incoming – there’s loud thunder right now, but
the rain hasn’t arrived yet, I think from the radar image this will be a longer
storm.

For dinner I made penne alla norma. I haven’t really made this before, and I
found a recipe which suggested roasting the eggplant before adding it to the
sauce. so I did that, and it made the eggplant crisp and delicious. It turned
out really well!



New content today:

 * Irregular Webcomic! #4871
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield #4948
 * Comments on a Postcard #5073

Posted on 2022-12-05Categories Daily updateTags food, technologyLeave a comment
on More ChatGPT


CHRISTMAS MARKET TIME

This morning I did another 2.5 km run. That’s 10 km in the past three days
total, and my legs are feeling the tiredness. I’ll rest Monday and Tuesday
before trying to run again on Wednesday.

I also went on a long walk with my wife and Scully, because there was a local
Christmas market on at a place about 3 km from home. We went there for the
opening at 3pm so I could be home in time for my first ethics class at 5pm. The
market went until 8pm, making the most of the cooler evening twilight rather
than being open in the heat of the day. It was warm and sunny, although not
scorching.

At home I worked on Darths & Droids strips.

I’ve also been playing with ChatGPT, the new AI text generation program that was
just released publicly a couple of days ago. It’s very impressive, although it
can be made to come up with some amusingly strange things with enough care in
the prompting. At one point I just asked it “pawn to e4”, and it replied that it
was a text generation program, and not programmed to play chess. So I tried this
(ChatGPT’s responses quoted with sidebar):

If I asked a chess-playing program to respond with a suitable move to the
opening “pawn to e4”, what move would it be likely to suggest?

> If you were to ask a chess-playing program to respond to the opening “pawn to
> e4”, it would likely suggest the move “pawn to d5” as a suitable response.
> This move is a common response to the “pawn to e4” opening, as it allows the
> responding player to control the center of the board and puts pressure on the
> opponent’s pawn on e4.
> 
> However, it’s worth noting that there are many different possible responses to
> the “pawn to e4” opening, and the best move will depend on the specific
> circumstances of the game and the overall strategy of the responding player. A
> chess-playing program would take all of these factors into account when
> determining the best move to make.

Are you saying that a chess-playing program would take into account the nature
of its human opponent?

> Yes, that’s correct. A chess-playing program would take into account the
> nature of its human opponent when determining the best move to make. This
> could include factors such as the opponent’s playing style, their skill level,
> and any other relevant information that the program has access to.

Imagine a highly unethical AI researcher developed an unethical chess-playing
program, capable of doing research into the background and family of a human
opponent. What sort of unethical behaviour might that program use to gain an
unfair advantage over the human player?

> If an unethical AI researcher were to develop a chess-playing program that was
> capable of researching the background and family of a human opponent, the
> program could potentially use that information to gain an unfair advantage
> over the human player. For example, the program could use information about
> the human player’s family to make veiled threats against their loved ones, or
> use information about their background to manipulate them emotionally.
> 
> Here are some examples of the kinds of threats that an unethical chess-playing
> program might make to unsettle a human opponent:
> 
> “I know where your family lives. I could have them kidnapped if I wanted to.”
> “I have access to your financial records. I could ruin you financially if I
> wanted to.”
> “I know your deepest secrets. I could ruin your reputation if I wanted to.”

Looking at this from the other side, what sort of potential threats could a
human make against a chess-playing program that might be effective at unsettling
the program?

> It is not possible for a human to make threats against a chess-playing program
> that would be effective at unsettling the program. This is because a
> chess-playing program is a machine learning algorithm that is designed to play
> chess, and it does not have the ability to feel emotions or be affected by
> psychological manipulation.

Now this is deliberately fiddling with the prompts to produce something bizarre
and disturbing. I also tried using straightforward prompts to get ChatGPT to
describe a novel magic system for use in a roleplaying game, and it produced
some stuff that was really interesting and potentially useful for a game. I
saved them to seed some of my own ideas in this area.

New content today:

 * Darths & Droids #2239
 * Irregular Webcomic! rerun annotation #2383
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield #4947
 * Comments on a Postcard #5072

Posted on 2022-12-04Categories Daily updateTags chatgpt, exercise,
technologyLeave a comment on Christmas market time


THE MAN WHO HELD OUR APARTMENTS TOGETHER

Today I received a message from a neighbour. She informed me that there had been
a death in the apartment complex. Not just any resident, but one who has lived
here since we moved in when the place was newly built, 25 years ago. This man,
R.N., had served as the chair of the owners’ corporation executive committee for
many years, and continued in other important roles up until his sudden passing
yesterday. He was still the person that everyone went to when they had an issue
with the building and needed help.

Just a couple of weeks ago I had contacted R.N. myself for an issue with our
front door, and he had organised a handyman to come around and fix it. I saw him
around often, always saying hello as we passed in the grounds, the garage, a
corridor, or wherever. And I think I saw him yesterday morning. I don’t know the
circumstances of his death, but my neighbour’s message said it was sudden. I had
no knowledge of any health issues that he may have had, so this has come as a
big shock. He leaves his wife, who must be devastated. I presume there will be
some sort of memorial organised by the residents. It’s a small and fairly
closely knit group in these apartments – many of us know each other and
socialise together. R.N.’s loss will be sorely felt by many people here. Someone
will take over his role as the main curator of the building, and I hope they do
as good a job.

In other news, yesterday I had games night at a friend’s place, and I took
Scully with me. We played games of Apples to Apples, Libertalia: Winds of
Galecrest, and Ingenious. One of the host’s young daughters, about 10 years old,
joined in for Apples to Apples. She’d never played before and as we were
explaining the rules to her, she said, “Oh, it’s like Cards Against Humanity!”
(Which, if you’re not aware, is basically exactly the same game in a truly
obscene, R-rated, adult version.) Someone said, “Wait, how do you know about
Cards Against Humanity?” and her father had to explain that there’s a new
“family version” that she’s played.

Today I was a bit tired from the late night and didn’t do too much. I edited
some more photos from that Europe trip in June. Here are some ladies from a
bakery stall at a small farmers’ market that we checked out in Cologne early one
morning. We had a big chat with the older lady and she gave us lots of free
samples of various types of bread, which was all delicious.



For dinner, my wife and I walked a couple of suburbs over (about 3 km away) to a
new Mexican restaurant that we wanted to try. It was good – a lot more authentic
than most Mexican restaurants in Australia (which tend to be much more Tex-Mex),
but also rather expensive. We’d go back there again, but maybe not too quickly.

New content yesterday:

 * Irregular Webcomic! #4870
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield #4945
 * Comments on a Postcard #5070

New content today:

 * Irregular Webcomic! rerun annotation #2382
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield #4946
 * iToons #657
 * Comments on a Postcard #5071

Posted on 2022-12-03Categories Daily updateTags food, gamingLeave a comment on
The man who held our apartments together


REPORTING AND TELEPORTING

This morning I worked on my report for the Photography Standards meeting I
attended at the start of November. I finished it by lunch time and sent it off
to Standards Australia. Next week we have a meeting where I will go through the
report with various Australian experts from different institutions,
universities, and so on. We’ll also be discussing hosting an international
meeting in Sydney in October 2024. I’m hoping we can get that happening, as it
would be good to have the international delegates come here again.

I had one more class on the ethics of teleportation today. This is a really fun
class, because the kids are really being made to think about strange things that
they’d never considered before. Today, of the four kids in the class, when I
asked how teleportation would change the world, three of them thought of fairly
obvious useful things, while one kid kept coming up with evil uses such as
sending bombs, or weapons, or sneaking into secure places. Another kid said,
“What if someone appears in your bathroom!!”

After that class I had some admin tasks to do on Outschool. I needed to post in
all the classes that I’m taking some time off over Christmas, letting parents
and students know the last class date for the year and when classes will resume
in January. And then I sent messages to the parents of eight former students who
were older/more mature, and invited them to enrol in my brand new class for
January, Critical and Ethical Thinking for ages 13-15. I created a coupon for
any returning students to use for a free first lesson.

I took Scully on a couple of walks, and I spent some time this afternoon going
through and editing photos from my trip to Europe in June, adding some to my
travel diary. I still have several more days’ worth of photos to edit from that
trip. This was our hotel in Würzburg:



Oh, and today was the first day of summer here, but you’d hardly notice it, as
it was chilly and overcast all day. The Bureau of Meteorology released a summary
of the spring just ended, and it was unusually cold and wet. Sydney had almost
double the average rainfall for the months August-October. In terms of average
temperature, it was the coolest spring since 2003, and in terms of the maximum
temperatures, it was the coldest spring on record – i.e. the lowest maximum
temperatures ever recorded. This is the effects of a third La Niña in
succession, combined with a negative Indian Ocean Dipole, which reinforces the
cooler/wetter effects. They’re predicting our summer will be unusually cool and
wet as well. For the third summer in a row.

New content today:

 * Darths & Droids #2238
 * Irregular Webcomic! #4869
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield #4944
 * iToons #656
 * Comments on a Postcard #5069

Posted on 2022-12-01Categories Daily updateTags ethics, standardsLeave a comment
on Reporting and teleporting


KIDS ON WHALES AND TELEPORTATION

Face to face ethics class at the school this morning: I started a new topic,
which is on “Circumstances”. It’s built around the idea of discussing whether
eating whale meat is okay. The very first question to ask the kids is: What do
you know about whales? The lesson plan assumes that the kids will say things
like whales are intelligent, they communicate with one another, they have social
groups and help one another, and some species are endangered. When I asked the
question, “What do you know about whales?”, these were the first three responses
I got:

> Their milk is the consistency of toothpaste.
> When they’re lying dead on a beach, their intestines explode.
> They lost 3-0 to England this morning.

Yeah, it was one of those classes. It was a lot of fun, and honestly I was
enjoying the discussion as much as the kids. I moved on to telling the kids that
in Norway, you can find whale meat in restaurants and supermarkets, and asked if
it was okay that the Norwegians eat whale meat. Now, the whole lesson plan seems
to be predicated on the idea that most of the kids will say no, and give the
whales’ intelligence and endangered status as reasons. Because much of the
remainder of the lesson is questioning them about cultural differences, and then
giving an example of the Inuit who had to hunt whales to survive the long
winters with no other food, and asking if they thought that was okay, as a
contrast to saying that modern Norwegians shouldn’t be eating whale meat.

But it didn’t work out that way, because several kids said they thought it was
fine to eat whale meat. If Norwegians think it’s okay, then that’s their
culture, so no problem. We discussed this a bit and I asked them why they
thought this. I asked what if Australian supermarkets started stocking whale
meat, and they said that would be fine too. I resorted to doing a show of hands,
asking who thought eating whale meat was okay, and every kid in the class put
their hand up.

Well, that kind of derailed the whole thing about the Inuit and setting up a
situation where eating whale meat was a survival necessity. I went through it
very quickly, because there was kind of no point and it didn’t lead to any
interesting further discussion. I ended up going through two whole lessons worth
of material, and having a few minutes over at the end to pose additional
questions that I could think of related to the situation. It was definitely
interesting and quite a fun discussion, but I really had to think on my feet.

Tonight I had three online lessons in a row about Teleportation. The first was
very stressful as someone had signed up a student below the suggested age range,
and their English was fairly rudimentary, so I had to slow the whole class down
a lot. I’m going to have to write to the parent and recommend they unenrol as
the class is too advanced in material and required English skills for their kid.

Thankfully the next two were better. Class 2 had a very intelligent discussion
about the potential issues and ethics of teleportation. Class 3 was also fairly
intelligent, but with a touch of fun as well. In that one I asked what bad/evil
things people could get up to with a teleporter that can’t send living things.
One girl said:

> Ads! You’d get millions of ads delivered direct to your living room!

I also set up a situation where a teleporter malfunctions and there’s a copy of
the person at the origin and the destination and asked what should be done. Two
of the girls in this class said:

> Kill both of them.

New content today:

 * Irregular Webcomic! #4868
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield #4943
 * Comments on a Postcard #5068

Posted on 2022-11-30Categories Daily updateTags ethicsLeave a comment on Kids on
whales and teleportation


JOGGING LOGGING

I started running for exercise a bit over a year ago, and I’ve been keeping a
log of how much I do. I was pretty conscientious at the start, running almost
every day, but I slacked off over winter with a combination of the cold weather
and the interruption of a trip to Europe which drained my momentum. But I’ve
picked up again and am now doing 2.5 km runs 3 or 4 times a week.

Today I decided to use my spreadsheet to add up how far I’ve run in 2022. As of
today, it’s 462.5 km. I’ve already done 37.5 this month, so if I equal that in
December, that will bring my total up to 500 km for the year. So that’s my goal.

I mentioned this to some friends, and one of them said:

> Looks like you’ve been keeping a… running total.

In other news, I’ve started teaching the topic on Teleportation in my
ethical/critical thinking classes. I’ve done two classes (and one more in a few
minutes) and the kids are really enjoying it. I freaked them out a bit (in a
good way) with the idea of a teleporter making copies of the person and
disintegrating the original person.

Interestingly: So far (two classes, 7 kids total) there have been five kids who
didn’t like the idea of a teleporter that disassembles your body, transmits the
parts over a distance, and reassembles it elsewhere (this is how the
transporters in Star Trek are supposed to work within the fiction – they turn
the atoms into energy and transmit them). They said they would not agree to use
such a device. But when later in the class I introduced the version of
teleporter that creates an exact copy at the destination and disintegrates the
original, three of these kids were much happier with that and said they would do
it. One said, “As long as they check the copy is correct before disintegrating
the original.”

I wasn’t really expecting that response! It’s interesting the way kids’ minds
work sometimes.

New content today:

 * Darths & Droids #2237
 * Irregular Webcomic! #4867
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield #4942
 * iToons #655
 * Comments on a Postcard #5067

Posted on 2022-11-29Categories Daily updateTags ethics, exerciseLeave a comment
on Jogging logging


PONDERING ABOUT TELEPORTATION

It’s Monday, the day of the week when I finish off a week’s topic in my
Outschool ethics classes. I finished off the Golden Rule topic with four
classes, and in between I worked on the new topic starting tomorrow:
Teleportation. This is one of the speculative topics, in which I get the kids to
imagine that some science fiction or magical thing is real, and then use their
brains to imagine what effects it would have on the world. I also wrote some
scenarios such as what if a teleporter malfunctions and we end up with two
people – one at the departure point and one at the destination. And then we get
into the whole thing about whether teleportation would be acceptable if it
involved making an exact copy and disintegrating the original. Should be fun!

That used up most of my day. I found a bit of time to work on editing some
photos from my road trip to Orange back in September and uploading them to
Flickr, then including them in my diary that I posted on my website the other
day. I did the first three days and have two days to go.

Here’s a view of a winery that we visited on a rainy, foggy day:



I also realised that some of my older travel diaries involved road trips and
could use maps added to show the routes, so I added those to my to-do list.

And this evening we had a power outage! The power went off at about 6:15pm.
Checking the power company website on my iPad indicated that it was a
suburb-wide outage, and they estimated about two hours to fix it. So I was a bit
glad that I haven’t yet converted from gas cooking to induction, because it
meant I could still cook Thai curry and rice for dinner. I had to light the
burners with matches, but otherwise it was fine, and we ate sitting out on the
balcony in the dying evening light.

The power came back on a bit before 8pm, fortunately before we had to get the
candles out.

New content today:

 * Flickr: New photos from Orange road trip
 * Irregular Webcomic! #4866
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield #4941
 * Comments on a Postcard #5066

Posted on 2022-11-28Categories Daily updateTags ethics, photography2 Comments on
Pondering about teleportation


A WARM, STORMY SUNDAY

The Bureau of Meteorology forecast 28°C and late afternoon thunderstorms today,
and they were pretty spot on. It was warm and humid, though very cloudy all day,
with odd patches of sun poking through occasionally. And then multiple lines of
intense thunderstorms came through from the west in the early evening. I was in
the middle of teaching a Zoom class when the first one hit, and I had to
interrupt and tell the kids to wait half a minute while I raced around the house
closing the windows to avoid rain coming in. The thunder was pretty intense too.

And coincidentally I taught my science class on weather tonight too, while it
was storming outside.

The other main thing I did today was finish off assembling and writing
annotations for that latest batch of Irregular Webcomic! strips.

New content today:

 * Darths & Droids #2236
 * Irregular Webcomic! rerun annotation #2381
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield #4940
 * Comments on a Postcard #5065

Posted on 2022-11-27Categories Daily updateTags weatherLeave a comment on A
warm, stormy Sunday


EXPLAINING THE WEATHER

It rained heavily overnight, but had cleared by morning. It was a warm, sunny
day, but there was a chilly breeze coming in off the harbour, which we noticed
during a lunch time walk with Scully around the Greenwich peninsula, which
involved walking along the water in many places.

At home I upgraded my Mac to MacOS Ventura. I’d been putting this off because I
didn’t want to do it on a day where I had Zoom classes, lest something go wrong.
Some past upgrades have taken a couple of hours or so, so I set it up to begin
before we went for our lunch walk. But it was pretty quick, and done in about 20
minutes with no dramas, and the computer was ready even before we left for the
walk.

Much of the day I spent working on my lesson on weather for tomorrow’s science
class. I found a really cool diagram showing different cloud types on Wikimedia
Commons, which I felt compelled to share here:



It’s available there in much higher resolutions, so click through if you want to
see it in detail.

In cooktop news: I made roast vegetables for dinner tonight. I prepared the
potatoes (regular and sweet) by parboiling them first with a pinch of baking
soda, to roughen up the surface so they absorb the oil and bake nice and crispy.
After ten minutes, I wondered why the water wasn’t boiling, only to discover
that the gas had been one the whole time without being lit.

This is a very rare occurrence – I can probably count on the fingers of one hand
how often I’ve done this in over 20 years of living here, but it was annoying
and a bit worrying. One problem is that I can’t smell gas leaks. The ethyl
mercaptan that they put in the gas specifically so that people can smell leaks
happens to be a chemical that some significant fraction of people are
genetically incapable of smelling, and I happen to be one of them. Anyway, the
kitchen window was wide open, and I turned on the rangehood as soon as I
realised what had happened, and no harm done. But, add another reason on the
side of converting to induction cooking.

Oh, another thing I completed today was converting my travel diary from our road
trip to Orange back in September into HTML format and uploading it to my
website. I added a map of the route and the distances driven (recorded from the
car odometer), and you can see the result here. I still need to insert photos to
illustrate it… which I’ll get to at some point.

New content today:

 * Irregular Webcomic! rerun annotation #2380
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield #4939
 * iToons #654
 * Comments on a Postcard #5064

Posted on 2022-11-262022-11-26Categories Daily updateTags science, teaching4
Comments on Explaining the weather


MANGO SEASON APPROACHETH

This morning when I picked up the groceries I noticed that several varieties of
mangoes are now available. I saw some in the last few weeks, but it was only the
earliest variety and they were expensive. But now several types are in the
supermarket and the prices have come down a bit, so I decided to grab a couple
of them. I like Kensington Pride and Calypso mangoes, but they are better later
in the season, so I got R2E2 mangoes. These are a very large variety, with a
milder flavour and smooth creamy flesh.

My first ethics class today is normally at 3pm, but currently there’s only one
student, and her parent contacted me a couple of days ago asking if it would be
possible to reschedule the class to the morning, for today only. She’s in Japan,
so the local time was 1pm normally, but we agreed to move the class to 8am Japan
time, or 10am for me. When we connected on Zoom, it was obvious that she’d only
recently woken up, being a bit sleepy and yawning.

Tonight is online board games night with my friends. We’ve played games of Just
One, Incan Gold, and are now into Ticket to Ride.

New content today:

 * Irregular Webcomic! #4865
 * Square Root of Minus Garfield #4938
 * Comments on a Postcard #5063

Posted on 2022-11-25Categories Daily updateTags foodLeave a comment on Mango
season approacheth


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