The 9pm Cheap Booze Cheap AI Chocolate-Free Disappointment

Hoshi Japanese Gin is EVIL? (Photo: Hoshi Japanese Gin; Background image: Hans/ Pixabay; Digital composition: Stilgherrian)

This week I’ve been obsessed with a certain news story out of Glasgow, so I just had to do a podcast. Also, the episode I’d originally scheduled is running late — and that’s my fault.

In this episode we talk about Laurie Anderson’s weird AI experiment, various other gripes about AI, politics, and alcohol pricing. There’s audience feedback. There’s a long whinge which might be interpreted by some as a defence of capitalism, but it’s really a defence of the Industrial Revolution. And we ask whether eggs are the same as gin.

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  • Bone dry and restrained; subtle botanicals with lasting coriander character and a fiery, peppery finish.
  • [20 February 2024] Even Australian spirits wholesaler Kathleen Davies was initially confused when she recently picked up a bottle of Pure Origin in a Vintage Cellars store owned by Coles.
  • Pure Origin Tasmanian Dry Gin: Classic juniper berry, earthy and herbal notes give way to aromas of bergamot and lavender with subtle spice and a long finish. A must try for the Gin devotee.
  • The Malt Shovel Brewery is an Australian brewery owned by Lion, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Kirin. It is located in Camperdown, New South Wales.[1] Malt Shovel is best known for its James Squire range of beers.
  • The Stone & Wood Brewing Co. was established in 2008 by Jamie Cook, Brad Rogers and Ross Jurisich, all of whom previously worked at Carlton & United Breweries... In 2021 Stone & Wood parent Fermentum reached an agreement for a 100% sale to Kirin subsidiary Lion (Australia) handing custodianship of the Fermentum family of brands to Lion, subject to regulatory approvals.
  • Suntory Holdings Limited (?????????????????, Santor? H?rudingusu Kabushiki-gaisha) (commonly referred to as simply Suntory) is a Japanese multinational brewing and distilling company group. Established in 1899, it is one of the oldest companies in the distribution of alcoholic beverages in Japan, and makes Japanese whisky.
  • Takashi Wakasugi discusses the concept of unnecessary plan B. Recorded on Wednesday 22 March 2023 at the Palais Theatre for ABC
  • [1 March 2024] Paying attendees of a Willy Wonka experience in the UK were stunned to see the event was falsely advertised. Organizers had initially sold tickets on the notion that "Willy’s Chocolate Experience" would recreate the colorful candy scene from the movie. But when fans arrived, it was anything but what the pictures promoting it looked like. The organizers have since apologized and offered refunds. Inside Edition Digital has more.
  • [1 March 2024] Police were called to an event described as a "Willy Wonka Experience" in Glasgow as angry families demanded refunds. The event was advertised as a "journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn". Paul Connell said he was given the role just days earlier and handed an "AI-generated gibberish" script and told to "do whatever you want". It was cancelled by organisers House of Illuminati mid-way through Saturday following complaints from parents.
  • [28 February 2024] A Willy Wonka experience in Scotland was so far from what was described that police were called and children cried.
  • [28 February 2024] Paul Connell, who portrayed “Willy McDuff” at Willy’s Chocolate Experience, talks to WIRED about the Unknown, jelly beans, and an impossible vacuum cleaner trick.
  • Dive into the whimsical of Willy's Chocolate Experience!, a place where chocolate dreams become reality. Book your adventure now and embark on a journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn!
  • Dive into the whimsical of Willy's Chocolate Experience!, a place where chocolate dreams become reality. Book your adventure now and embark on a journey filled with wondrous creations and enchanting surprises at every turn!
  • [29 February 2024] Anderson’s experiments with language-based AI predated ChatGPT – with one machine modelled on her dead husband that her friends ‘just can’t stand’
  • "Be Right Back" is the first episode of the second series of British science fiction anthology series Black Mirror. It was written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker, directed by Owen Harris, and first aired on Channel 4 on 11 February 2013. The episode tells the story of Martha (Hayley Atwell), a young woman whose boyfriend Ash Starmer (Domhnall Gleeson) is killed in a car accident. As she mourns him, she discovers that technology now allows her to communicate with an artificial intelligence imitating Ash, and reluctantly decides to try it.
  • “I was working with the Machine Learning Institute and Sia Furler Institute in Adelaide and they made algorithms out of things I’ve said and written, creating a writing machine made from my vocabulary, pace and style. They did the same with Lou Reed, my partner for 21 years. These are activated by writing short phrases. The engines then write in those styles, which can also be combined or put into prose.” – Laurie Anderson 
  • Innovative artist, musician and inventor Laurie Anderson will join Adelaide audiences [on 6 March 2024] via live stream for a conversation about art, artificial intelligence, technology and more. She'll be joined by Tom Hajdu (Professor and Chair of Creative Technologies at the University of Adelaide and Director of the Sia Furler Institute), Anton van den Hengel (Director of Applied Science at Amazon and Director at the Centre for Augmented Reasoning, Australian Institute for Machine Learning) and chair Stephen Whittington in Bonython Hall. 
  • Provided to YouTube by Rhino/Warner Records
  • [26 February 2024] Some terrible news from Tasmania’s own Jon Kudelka, cartoonist and artist and all-round lovely human.
  • [29 February 2024] Inspired by #9pmedict, I’ve watched part of “Nemesis,” and I gotta say: The sheer magnitude of stuff that consumed everyone’s attention at the time, but now, several years later, we don’t even remember, should give a lot of commentators pause for thought.
  • [29 February 2024] "It's infuriating that Red Ventures' decisions have undermined the quality work done by CNET's writers, editors and producers."
  • [16 November 2023] "Why bother reading something no one was bothered enough to write" is still excellent AI criticism.
  • [28 February 2024] Chatbots that promise to give custom migration advice to their hundreds of users are providing incomplete or sometimes wrong information.
  • [17 February 2023] Air Canada appears to have quietly killed its costly chatbot support. After months of resisting, Air Canada was forced to give a partial refund to a grieving passenger who was misled by an airline chatbot inaccurately explaining the airline's bereavement travel policy.
  • From the album "16222" (2017).

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Thank you, Media Freedom Citizenry

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For this episode it’s thanks to Oliver Townshend for his contribution.

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