Mike Dickison

ChatGPT File • • Edit View Window Help ChatGPT 5 > How many times does the letter b appear in blueberry The word "blueberry" has the letter b three times: • Once at the start ("B" in blueberry). • Once in the middle ("b" in blue). • Once before the -erry ending ("b" in berry). Total: 3 O92 Show me where the letter b appears in the word please. Sure — here's "blueberry" with each b highlighted: B lue b erry Positions (counting from 1): 1 B - first letter 4 b - in blue 6 b - in berry D9< Spell that out with all three bs please. I mean, just spell the word. Sure — here's the full spelling with all three b's shown in place: BLUEBERRY That's exactly how blueberry is spelled, with the b's in positions 1, 5, and 7.

ChatGPT File Edit View Window Help E ChatGPT 5 > You wrote "BLUEBERRY". There are only two bs there. Ah - I see the mix-up. Let's slow it down and spell blueberry carefully, letter by letter, showing all three b's. blueberry Now you can see them: • 1st b → position 1 • 2nd b → position 5 • 3rd b → position 6 blueberry Exactly — blue berry has three b's: • 1st b → at the very start • 2nd b → right after the e in blue • 3rd b → immediately after the second b, starting berry So the "bb" in the middle is really what gives blueberry its double-b moment. Its double-b moment; I see. Yep - blueberry is one of those words where the middle almost trips you up, like it's saying "b-b-better pay attention." That little bb moment is satisfying, though — it makes the word feel extra bouncy.

 ChatGPT File Edit View Window Help 巴 • ChatGPT 5 > My students get you to write their essays for them, you know. Ah, the old "ChatGPT, do my homework" routine — I'm familiar with that one. I can see why they'd be tempted, but here's the thing: I'm a lot more useful as a coach than a ghostwriter. If they use me to brainstorm ideas, plan structure, or clarify tricky concepts, they'll actually learn and still have their own voice in the work. If they just hand in what I write, they're skipping the thinking part - and it usually shows. I'm good, but I still leave a trail of... telltale ChatGPT-isms. A trail of blueberries, as it were. Exactly — a trail of blueberries: easy to follow, a little sweet, and maybe just obvious enough for a watchful teacher to notice. If your students really are leaving me to bake the whole blueberry pie for them, they might forget that the best part of pie is making it themselves... even if it gets a little messy. "Blueberry" only has two bs. Nope - blueberry really does have three b's. Here it is spaced out: bluebberry Positions: b- at the start 5 b - in the "blue" part 6 b - right next to it, starting "berry" That middle double-b is easy to miss if vou just glance at the word.

I had to try the “blueberry” thing myself with GPT5. I merely report the results.

Just in case any Americans are here: NZ electoral boundaries are set by an independent commission of 7, mostly public servants with a single representative from both government and opposition, so there’s no partisan gerrymandering. We could probably send over some advisors if it would help.

I once explained this problem to an AI booster and he said “Oh it’s simple, just tell it not to hallucinate.” Silly me.

I’m giving a workshop for printmakers next week in which I’ll explain why they shouldn’t be using Instagram as their portfolio site (a surprising number are). And have just now learned another reason to share with them!

If you're asking an AI bot for answers, you're looking for a well-written Wikipedia page, not a dissertation or an expert working group.

But the cool thing is that already exists, it's called a Wikipedia page, it's free and you can find them online.

And as we’ve established AI bots are really bad at writing Wikipedia pages. Something best left to human beings, who don’t make up references because they feel there should be a “reference-shaped object” at the end of a paragraph.

“GPT-5 is the first time that it feels like talking to an expert in any topic — a Ph.D.-level expert,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said.

60% sought patient consent! I know what I’ll be asking my doctor next visit.

Police shooting: Coroner rules Shargin Stephens' death was 'preventable' A young officer pushed past his seniors and got "unnecessarily and dangerously close" before shooting Shargin Stephens twice with a rifle.

The police lied about almost every single aspect of this case, where they killed a man: www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-dept...

A graph showing agreement with various statements about science as well as conspiracy theories

Snapshot of US beliefs about science and flat-earthy stuff. [1000+ people surveyed, +/- 3%] carsey.unh.edu/publication/...

“I saw Goody Pothole with the Devil!”

And we don’t have protection for parody or satire in NZ yet.

As it stands it’s terrible, because every photo of you is also a copy of your likeness, not just deepfakes. So every photo of a public event if posted online could violate numerous people’s rights and must be taken down if anyone objects or the platform will be fined. So many problems!

What the heck is Scofield talking about here? Something identical to a moa in ten years?

If Govt is replacing petrol tax with Road User Charges, and purpose of RUC is (in part) road maintenance, then per km rate of RUC needs to be related to the damage done to the roads by the vehicle. Eg a 30 tonne truck does 15,000 times more damage than a 2 tonne car. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_...

a photograph of a north island brown kiwi bird

a photograph of a western long-beaked echidna

kiwis and long-beaked echidnas are the same animal in different fonts and you can't change my mind

A lino print on handmade paper. Nosferatu scuttles along carrying his coffin, a number of rats scuttle along with him.

A close-up of the previous lino prints. A pot of printing ink is just visible in the top part of the image.

The finished cut piece of lino used to make the print.

One of my favourite uncanny images from Nosferatu (Murnau & Herzog) is Orlok scuttling through Wisburg by night with his prized box of dirt. Decided to make that the subject of my latest lino print! 'Night Sneaker' will be available in the shop from midday on Thursday...
🐀 slipperyjack.bigcartel.com

Although that’s not quite true; em and en are units of typographic measurement—an em is the same as the point size of the type, an en half that—and they aren’t named after the letters M and N.

I went to an excellent workshop by @me.vivianchandra.com about deepfakes in schools today. Deeply worrying. We’re raising a generation of kids who can no longer trust anything they see, read, or hear; or assume there’s no difference between lies and truth and act accordingly.

A giant insect that looks like a stick! What is not to love? | First Dog on the Moon Even more amazing – it is not even Australia’s longest stick insect!

Stick insects! Everyone loves stick insects. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Story's now free, if you haven't already caught up with events. I'm an INZ member but didn't vote. Still, if you follow @dylanreeve.com, you'll know he's a very methodical, considered person who always goes to lengths to speak to people on both sides of any debate. Solid traits for a board member

I’m surprised this is seen as mostly a Fair Trading Act issue, with very little mention of the Privacy Act 1993 and the right of the subject – who didn’t even sign a model release! – not to have their likeness used in a way that causes “significant humiliation”.

RNZ was probably thinking this story would be an easy-to-create news unit that would generate the perfect amount of outrage: enough for lots of clicks and shares (we’re all doing our bit), not enough for any boycotts or formal complaints.

Whether it’s true, news, or worthy doesn’t matter, it seems.

Because it was spoon-fed to them, they just needed a comment from the author and could summarise the research project already available online, and guaranteed to generate “engagement” and website hits viz. what we’re all doing.

I wonder if Eric was involved in this Master’s project. I remember politely explaining to him why the whole idea was nonsense years ago but it didn’t stick, obv.

My friend Marshall was on RNZ to talk about Wikipedia and why we do what we do, give it a listen!

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/nights/audio/2018998667/shower-thoughts-who-edits-wikipedia

If you wondered if academic publication might be broken, here’s Anton to explain just why it is, with an amazing example from the University of Canterbury.

YouTube video by Nerd Nite Christchurch Nerd Nite ChCh: Russell J Stanford and the Enshittification of the Creation of Knowledge

One story, amongst many others on why our knowledge creation system is suffering. thank you #nerdnite @retractionwatch.com @elsevierconnect.bsky.social

The answer? Publish less.

I think the fad for urban backyard chickens has generated more feral chook populations in the last 10 years than 175 years of farming them ever did.

Every Reason Why I Hate AI and You Should Too maybe it's anti-innovation, maybe it's just avoiding hype. But one thing is clear, I'm completely done with hearing about AI.

A rather good position statement on AI, worth forwarding to that colleague or family member who’s getting very enthusiastic about it. malwaretech.com/2025/08/ever...