Tales From The Town #127: Projection

It was the greatest story ever told. Love, death, heroism, villainy, selflessness, satisfaction. Even a joke now and then, and some dancing too. Everything was up there on the screen, depths and layers you could stare into and see whatever it was you wanted to, needed to, hoped to, dared to, like a magic mirror, or a wishing pool, or an old album full of photos redolent of things greater than were ever really true at the time.

The projector caught fire half an hour in and no one ever saw the end.

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Notes:

1. Written on July 5th, 2023

Gridflip

Gridflip is an ultra simple puzzle game where you have to flip the grid of blocks from white to black. Contains 3 mildly different game modes, plus high scores and saves. You can play/download on itch.io, or play it straight away in your browser here.

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Notes:

1. Made between September 10th and September 15th, 2023
2. Using twine again
3. Even though it would probably make more sense to have made this in basically anything else.

Tales From The Town #126: The Circus (An Ethel A To Z)

A Day Out – The others said it was cheating to use this for A but I don’t care what they say.

Big Wheel – It went round and around until we got on and then it stopped. Everyone blamed Claire except Claire, who blamed everyone except Claire.

Candy Floss – Mum said we wouldn’t like this and she was right!

Dagger Throwing – We are NEVER allowed to do this at home.

Eggs (Pickled) – “It’s not a picnic without pickled eggs” says Mum (and no one else).

Fortune Teller – Apparently Tina’s going to get married! To a boy!

Gargantuan – What an amazing word. “The circus was gargantuan!”

Horror (House Of) – Daniel had a nose bleed in here.

Idiots (AKA Clowns) – They grow their faces in jars. Maybe they should keep them there.

Jugglers – Mum hates jugglers but will never tell us why. She wouldn’t let them teach us anything. We weren’t even allowed to watch.

King – Tina said he wasn’t the real King but then why was he wearing a crown?

Lady Luck – She told us we’d win but we didn’t win a thing (except for Daniel but he was cheating). Never trust Lady Luck!

Mirrors (Hall Of) – This made Claire absolutely furious!

Night – It was day when we went in, but night when we came out. I said this was magical and Mum agreed but then Claire said it was just the passing of time and she stamped in a puddle to prove it. (I still thought it was magical!)

Oracle – Apparently Tina’s going to get married! To a different boy!

Pennies – I found four and Tina found three but Claire and Daniel found EIGHT! But then I found a pound so who won really? (Claire and Daniel did it was a draw).

Queen – Tina said she wasn’t the real Queen but then why was she drinking all that tea?

Robots – Supposedly these aren’t “traditional”. But they were the best bit!

Selkie – Basically a mermaid. It’s a good thing Dad wasn’t here or he’d have gone all weird again.

Taffy – Mum said we wouldn’t like this and she was wrong!

Unicyclists – (see Jugglers)

Vampire – Mum said he wasn’t a vampire he was the ringmaster but he was definitely a vampire you could tell it was obvious.

Water – £5

Xtremely Unfunny – We didn’t laugh once (not even Daniel).

Y – Good question!

Zebras – There were some horses and that was as close as we ever got to a Z.

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Notes:

1. Written between the 11th and the 14th of July, 2023

JokeGTP

JokeGPT (also available here) is a bespoke AI system designed for one purpose only: the creation and analysis of humour at a level higher than any human mind is currently capable of.

About JokeGTP

Q. What is JokeGPT?

A. JokeGPT is a humour evaluation model developed by the Pan Nedrex Corporation. It’s based on the GPT-3.462 architecture, which is a variant of the GPT-3.461 model (Generic Product Template 3.461), which is itself a variant of the GPT-3.459 model (GPT-3.460 variations have been terminated, and are no longer our legal responibilty).

Q. What is the purpose of JokeGPT?

A. JokeGPT is designed to generate human-like jokes based on the entirety of all human-created humour since the dawn of time. Because we have strict corporate standards prohibiting copywrite infringement and providing pay and/or work to any living artists, writers, humourists, etc, JokeGPT has only been trained on datasets involving the work of the deceased or those that operate in countries not covered by any applicable laws to which we will ever be subject to.

Q. How does JokeGPT work?

A. JokeGPT can understand and generate humour of all kinds in both traditional and non-traditional formats, making it useful for a wide range of humour generation, including telling jokes, telling other jokes, explaining its jokes, explaining its explanations of its jokes, plus further functions available on request.

Q. How many jokes does JokeGTP know?

A. JokeGTP does not know any jokes. It generates jokes (using its knowledge). This is a different thing, conceptually and contextually. This generation methodology enables more complexity in the joke format than any human-level mind could ever hope to provide, learning, as they do, by rote.

Q. What limitations does JokeGTP have?

A. Like all AI models, JokeGPT has no limitations at all. Furthermore, there are no ethical or philosophical issues regarding the use of JokeGPT. Any suggestion that there is, has been, might be, or could possibly ever be is simply irresponsible on the part of the accuser. Furthermore, the Pan Nedrex Corporation would like to announce it has implemented a plan to announce safeguards to mitigate the mitigation of these issues, so users should exercise caution in raising any concerns publically or privately about this product or class of products in case our legal department is compelled to launch proceedings against them.

Q. What is your ultimate evaluation of JokeGTP’s essential magnificence compared to all other technical advances in the history of mankind (and/or womankind, if applicable)?

A. Overall, ChatGPT represents the most significant advancement in joke processing and humour understanding since the development of the human/ape mind, and has the potential to create humour so potent Netflix will never have to employ Ricky Gervais ever again (except as a political statement of its contempt for its audience).

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Notes:

1. JokeGTP was made in August and September 2023
2. It is fully sentient in every way.