Nostalgia ain't what it used to be

[jfgw]

At the end of the day, there was "Closedown". Telly finished for the night. After "God Save The Queen", there was a short break before the continuous tone to tell you to get up out of your chair and switch it off

And don't forget Test Card F which used to appear shortly after close down on BBC2

I remember the music now,
I met my blue-eyed Englishman,
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside...

Julian F. G. W.

[nora10]

In the ever-evolving tapestry of time, nostalgia remains a bittersweet embrace of bygone moments. As the years pass, the lens through which we view the past may warp, coloring memories with a hint of wistfulness. Nostalgia, once a familiar comfort, transforms into a fleeting specter, reminding us that the essence of those cherished moments is both elusive and subjective. Yet, in this ever-shifting journey, the echoes of the past continue to shape our present, weaving a narrative that tugs at the heartstrings, for indeed, nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

[redsturgeon]

In the ever-evolving tapestry of time, nostalgia remains a bittersweet embrace of bygone moments. As the years pass, the lens through which we view the past may warp, coloring memories with a hint of wistfulness. Nostalgia, once a familiar comfort, transforms into a fleeting specter, reminding us that the essence of those cherished moments is both elusive and subjective. Yet, in this ever-shifting journey, the echoes of the past continue to shape our present, weaving a narrative that tugs at the heartstrings, for indeed, nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Interesting...

Here is what ChatGPT returned for me

In the quiet corners of my mind, nostalgia isn't what it used to be. It once held the sweet embrace of simpler times, like a cherished melody echoing through the years. Now, it seems to linger in the shadows, a wistful whisper of moments that slip through my fingers like grains of sand. The sepia-toned memories, once vibrant and full of life, have taken on a muted hue, a faded photograph in the album of time. Nostalgia, once a comforting companion, has become an elusive specter, leaving me yearning for the vivid hues of yesteryears that time has gently muted.

[terminal7]

In the ever-evolving tapestry of time, nostalgia remains a bittersweet embrace of bygone moments. As the years pass, the lens through which we view the past may warp, coloring memories with a hint of wistfulness. Nostalgia, once a familiar comfort, transforms into a fleeting specter, reminding us that the essence of those cherished moments is both elusive and subjective. Yet, in this ever-shifting journey, the echoes of the past continue to shape our present, weaving a narrative that tugs at the heartstrings, for indeed, nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

Interesting...

Here is what ChatGPT returned for me

In the quiet corners of my mind, nostalgia isn't what it used to be. It once held the sweet embrace of simpler times, like a cherished melody echoing through the years. Now, it seems to linger in the shadows, a wistful whisper of moments that slip through my fingers like grains of sand. The sepia-toned memories, once vibrant and full of life, have taken on a muted hue, a faded photograph in the album of time. Nostalgia, once a comforting companion, has become an elusive specter, leaving me yearning for the vivid hues of yesteryears that time has gently muted.

Swimming in waters with sturgeon is not generally dangerous. However, they have the ability to jump out of the water and serious injuries to novice boaters have taken place on TLF.

T7

[stevensfo]

Wow, a thread resurrected from 7 years ago.

Is that some kind of record?

Steve

[redsturgeon]

Wow, a thread resurrected from 7 years ago.

Is that some kind of record?

Steve

That's nostalgia for you...

[Mike4]

Curious isn't it, how quickly the writing style of ChatGPT et al has become so instantly recognisable.

More puzzling though is how it has learned to register itself a username and post. Or maybe it hasn't, and a human hand is still responsible for actually posting the post.

[XFool]

How about the Esso ad campaign 'You've a tiger in the tank', which came with tiger striped textile things to hang out of your car boot that rather looked like Tarzan's willy-warmer!

Ah yes, what a brilliant idea that was. Persuade people to stick a wick into the ends of their petrol tanks, and hope that nobody struck a match after they'd just brimmed the pipe with fuel. (Bearing in mind, of course, that many tank caps leaked like sieves in those days.)

Do remember that fashion (in the 1950s) for 'static discharge' strips hanging off the back of vehicles? I think they were supposed to touch the ground.

My favourite recollection of that motoring era was the fashion for decorating your windscreen with stick-on bullet holes. Could look very 007 if it was done well. Which, sadly, it very rarely was....

Plus the late 1970s and 1980s one for side by side boyfriend and girlfriend names on the windscreen: "Sharon & Dave"
A bit sad if things fell through...

The 18 year old lad across the road from us won a Hillman Imp Rally Sport in a national car magazine competition, just weeks after they first came out. He had it for a whole weekend before he rolled it and terminally stuffed it while trying to do something vaguely rally-ish. Easy come, easy go. I expect it was fun while it lasted?

Yes! Hillman Imps were fun.

[UncleEbenezer]

Curious isn't it, how quickly the writing style of ChatGPT et al has become so instantly recognisable.

More puzzling though is how it has learned to register itself a username and post. Or maybe it hasn't, and a human hand is still responsible for actually posting the post.

It's not chatgpt. It's a bot built using chatgpt. An hour's work for an average IT student to write and deploy one. Much easier than, for example, figuring out how to use a TV remote control.

[Mike4]

Curious isn't it, how quickly the writing style of ChatGPT et al has become so instantly recognisable.

More puzzling though is how it has learned to register itself a username and post. Or maybe it hasn't, and a human hand is still responsible for actually posting the post.

It's not chatgpt. It's a bot built using chatgpt. An hour's work for an average IT student to write and deploy one. Much easier than, for example, figuring out how to use a TV remote control.

Ah I see, thanks. Of course its a bot now you point it out!

I think this sort of mischief could spell the end of discussion forums unless we develop a way to filter these posts out. Once yer average chav figures out how to do it, real posts on forums will get swamped with this sort of dross wrecking all meaningful conversation, I predict.

Does Facebook suffer from this too? If not, how do they prevent it?

[stewamax]

The somewhat eerie music .... ahhhhhh .... preceded:

"JOURNEY INTO SPACE - we present Andrew Faulds as Jet Morgan, Alfie Bass as Lemmie, Guy Kingsley Poynter as Doc and Don Sharp as Mitch. Other parts were played by ... etc. THE WORLD IN PERIL". More eerie music .... ahhhhhh .

Monday night on the Light Programme. 1953 onwards

Riveting stuff for a young lad.
Girls had dolls.

[kempiejon]

think this sort of mischief could spell the end of discussion forums unless we develop a way to filter these posts out. Once yer average chav figures out how to do it, real posts on forums will get swamped with this sort of dross wrecking all meaningful conversation, I predict.

Ah but once they get a bit better they'll be chatting to themselves and us as if we're all real. Sometimes these little niche backwaters of the social medium do get a bit stagnant from lack of participation a gang of bots driving some discussion might actually be useful. There are a few real posters who do a fire and forget provocative statement which can start a discussion rolling add a couple of bots and suddenly the boards are vibrant places to engage with. I suppose the interesting outcome is how do google keep paying the advertising revenue when much of the traffic isn't real people and will never be translated into purchases. I guess they've already started working on this but any army of bots chatting amongst themselves, being the traffic on sites could result in a big pay-out for the site owners.

There's the other end of that thought too, real users being tagged as bots or AI, I've already seen that.

[Gersemi]

I think this sort of mischief could spell the end of discussion forums unless we develop a way to filter these posts out. Once yer average chav figures out how to do it, real posts on forums will get swamped with this sort of dross wrecking all meaningful conversation, I predict.

Does Facebook suffer from this too? If not, how do they prevent it?

Well Facebook is built around "friends". I don't accept friendship requests from anyone I don't actually know. Indeed most of the requests I get now are impersonations of existing friends, which of course I report and delete. The main problem is the number of adverts and memes clogging up the feed. I have to scroll for ages to see posts from my actual friends. Of course the ads is how they make their money, so I have to accept this.

I guess the LF community will have to see how this develops. I can't see much reason for it to be deliberately attacked, but it could become a problem anyway I suppose.

[Mike4]

Ah but once they get a bit better they'll be chatting to themselves and us as if we're all real.

The problem I perceive is for bots to chat with us in a human way which fits in would require them to have opinions. I've yet to see any of these bot posts express an actual personal opinion about something. Its always generic 'fluff' from their broad learnings about the subject we are expressing opinions about.

If it plays out as you describe this would be great! More meaningful discussion would be no problem at all, but currently I'm just not seeing any travel in that direction. Just more and more bot posts of the same nature as the post that prompted this discussion.

[bungeejumper]

Do remember that fashion (in the 1950s) for 'static discharge' strips hanging off the back of vehicles? I think they were supposed to touch the ground.

Still common in the sixties and seventies, as I recall. The theory was that the release of the static charge would ease travel sickness for the occupants. (Just as long as the straps did indeed touch the ground, which some would do for a mile or two before abrasion took its inevitable toll.) I think the static reduction principle was indeed confirmed by scientific enquiry - but nobody ever proved that static had the least bit to do with travel sickness.

And then there were go-faster stripes, which could add 10 mph to any car's speed. These days, a baked-bean-can exhaust will reliably achieve the same effect, especially if you've got a dummy one on the other side of your bumper as well.

But another striking seventies motoring memory is of the chap in our road whose shiny red Jaguar (pronounced "jaaaaaaaaaaaaag") bore an expensively crumpled wing. Across which was written, in white enamel paint, the word: "HERS!!!" These days I don't think he'd have been allowed to live, or not for long.

BJ

[kempiejon]

The problem I perceive is for bots to chat with us in a human way which fits in would require them to have opinions. I've yet to see any of these bot posts express an actual personal opinion about something.

But thigs like Chat GPT have (apparently) only just been let loose in the wild, give it time, if the algorithms, AI and computing power improve they could pass. A quick tweak of the programming and they'll have opinions. They're probably using this as training. Perhaps we're only seeing the budget ones and military intelligence or the billionaire super heroes have much tidier AI but aren't spamming TLF with them. It's a brave new world.

[Mike4]

The problem I perceive is for bots to chat with us in a human way which fits in would require them to have opinions. I've yet to see any of these bot posts express an actual personal opinion about something.

But thigs like Chat GPT have (apparently) only just been let loose in the wild, give it time, if the algorithms, AI and computing power improve they could pass. A quick tweak of the programming and they'll have opinions. They're probably using this as training. Perhaps we're only seeing the budget ones and military intelligence or the billionaire super heroes have much tidier AI but aren't spamming TLF with them. It's a brave new world.

All true.

More pertinently, any properly developed AI could be successfully masquerading as a human bean on here anyway, and we could be chatting happily with it blissfully unaware.

[stewamax]

More pertinently, any properly developed AI could be successfully masquerading as a human bean on here anyway, and we could be chatting happily with it blissfully unaware.

And an AI bot could also be raising new posts, with other AI bots replying to them.

Utterly pointless? Well no: because the tenor and opinions of the conversations could - and perhaps would - influence real posters and viewers.
If a bot - let's call it Lies Social - regularly posted to the effect that nice Mr Trump is a Wonderful/Caring/Honest Man and other bots replied with affirmative embellishment , we might get to believe it.

No different really from what China et al do, except that they use armies of human posters who get tired and stale after a few hundred posts of an evening, whereas bots have awesome 24 x 7 electronic stamina.

[Clitheroekid]

If a bot - let's call it Lies Social - regularly posted to the effect that nice Mr Trump is a Wonderful/Caring/Honest Man and other bots replied with affirmative embellishment , we might get to believe it.

Hey everyone,

Jumping into the Trump talk with my two cents! Now, I know opinions about him are as varied as a box of chocolates, but let me throw my thoughts into the mix.

First off, Donald Trump has a certain charisma that's hard to ignore. Whether you agree with his policies or not, you can't deny the man knows how to work a crowd. That confidence and larger-than-life personality? It's like watching a master of the art of persuasion.

Now, let's talk caring. Did you see how he interacted with people during his presidency? From veterans to everyday folks, he had a way of connecting that felt genuine. Remember that kid who mowed the White House lawn? Classic example. Trump made time for him, and that shows a more personal side to his leadership.

And on the honesty front, let's dive in. Sure, he might be unfiltered on Twitter, but there's a refreshing candor to it. Some see it as brash; others see it as a straight-shooting approach. He says what he thinks, no political dance. You know where he stands.

Remember, we're all entitled to our perspectives, and this is just mine. What's your take?

Cheers

[swill453]

Remember, we're all entitled to our perspectives, and this is just mine. What's your take?

Something entirely opposite, but this is neither the board nor the thread for it. There's a long running Trump thread here viewtopic.php?f=99&t=28557 though it's been quiet for a couple of weeks.

Scott.