lewisandquark:

A while ago I made a bunch of new pies. Well, I didn’t *make* them because they were neural network invented titles and although it tried to imitate the list of pies I gave it, the neural net’s imitations are imperfect.

The neural network, after all, is a computer program with about as many neurons as an earthworm. It doesn’t understand what the ingredients are, or why some combinations don’t work. Some of its titles were intriguing, though. They sounded mysterious. Potentially delicious and/or magical?

Or maybe it just helps that they’re vague. I decided I wanted more like these. To help it along, I spiced up the pie dataset with the names of cookies and apple varieties from the 1905 edition of Apples of New York. I filtered the names for those that had possessives: Mcaffee’s Nonesuch, Cornell’s Savewell, Wile Ox’s Winter (all apples), combined with Goldy’s Dungeon Bars, Esther’s Bracelets, and Fido’s Rewards (all cookies). Then, to give it added old-school flavor, I added all the Dungeons and Dragons spells that had possessives as well (for example, Ivy’s Irresistible Scent, Freedom’s Toast, and Leomund’s Tiny Hut).

I arranged the training data so the pies would be last (so they would be freshest in the neural net’s virtual mind). Then I gave it one single look at the data.

It turns out that I didn’t manage to prevent the neural net from coming up with bad ideas. Perhaps what I should have done instead was remove all the meat pies from the training data.

But some of the pies were exactly what I’d hoped for.

And some even went a little past “ancient” and into “legendary”

This week’s bonus material: a few more pies, including some that were inexplicably PG-13.

lamassusoup:

tilthat:

TIL that B.F. Skinner, a famous psychologist, instilled superstitions in pigeons by giving them food in a cage at set time intervals. The pigeons responded by forming rituals, which they believed brought them the food, such as bobbing their heads or turning counter-clockwise.

via reddit.com

P I G E O N

R E L I G I O N

geri-lea:

me externally: I write fanfic because I enjoy it! I write for myself!

me internally: validate me. drown me in kudos. i will sell my soul for comments and fic recs

tophatandboots:

akeelahandthetea:

akeelahandthetea:

aquarianmm:

lilacbreastedroller:

filipinawitch:

lilacbreastedroller:

kcloveletter:

lilacbreastedroller:

i think high heeled winter boots are the cruelest trick played on women. here’s some footwear specifically designed for cold weather and rough, slick terrain, but we went ahead and made it less functional so you can look more fuckable. don’t slip baby! that’s it that’s womenswear distilled down to its purest core

my thoughts exactly but also about high-heeled hiking boots

high heeled WHAT NOWS

But have you seen the Teva hiking/working stiletto?

UM

What the fuck

For the on-the-go swamp witch who won’t let anyone forget she’s a baddie

she has the red bottom winter hiking heels

Ok for most people, yes. Definitely.

But my catastrophic ass has a connective tissue disorder (officially complications of hypermobility, strongly suspected EDS but haven’t seen the geneticist yet)

This meant that from birth to age 20, my ankles were ludicrously unstable. As in, spontaneously falling over at least twice a week level unstable. Now, what changed at age 20 is that I started wearing high heels every day.

What is a side effect of always wearing high heels that is usually bad for people? It tightens your calf and Achilles tendon.

And after six months, my ankles were almost completely stable.

I still have issues, (I dislocated my shoulder by joining in a chorus like of goths last month,) I use a stick a lot, but I no longer spontaneously fall down because my ankles have just gone “nope!” Which let me tell you, makes me far less anxious about crossing the bloody road.

And as such, may I present, my winter boots. Which were a bugger to find because they are, admittedly, a very poor choice for the majority of women who will be walking downhill in snow like I will this winter.

understandager:

whatbethsays:

the other night i tried to make a curry and i got chilli burns all over my face, so i thought to myself ‘hang on, doesn’t milk soothe chilli burns? it does’ and i couldn’t google because i couldn’t see so i just had to blindly feel my way to the fridge and pour out a bowl of milk, and then plant my face in the bowl of milk, anyway at that point the rice cooker went off and triggered a power surge which turned my electricity off, which i didn’t notice at first because i had my face in a bowl of milk and when i did emerge from the dairy prison i thought i had gone blind with chilli burns. so no i don’t really cook much.