Category Archives: Ridiculous

Elon Musk thinks he’s Gendo Ikari – what that means, and why it’s both very bad and just cringe

Posted on 12 May 2025 by Spuggy

Why a 1990s anime series about giant robots and depression might just explain Elon Musk. Continue reading →

Posted in Ridiculous, Science | Tagged | Leave a comment

Training a computer to write like Tommy Wiseau

Posted on 17 September 2017 by Spuggy

In the past year or so there have been some very funny attempts to use neural networks (roughly, programs that try to learn to identify patterns in data) to produce text. From the RoboRosewater bot that creates new Magic: The Gathering cards, … Continue reading →

Posted in Ridiculous, Technology, Writing | Leave a comment

Google Search Q&A 7

Posted on 13 January 2017 by Spuggy

It’s really thin pickings now. The only search results we still see are from what I imagine must be the really exotic search engines. Hello to all you Yahooers and Lycosers and Duck Duck Goers! But there’s one search that … Continue reading →

Posted in Google Searches | Tagged , | Leave a comment

In praise of… the adverts for Frankfurt’s municipal services

Posted on 6 April 2016 by Spuggy

The twenty-first century is a weird time. The word “phone” now refers to small computer that you poke. People can devote themselves full time to swearing at celebrities. And everything needs a brand. Luckily, Frankfurt’s municipal services are more than … Continue reading →

Posted in Germany, Ridiculous | Leave a comment

British and Irish saints, ranked by cruelty to reptiles

Posted on 17 March 2016 by Spuggy

Happy St Patrick’s day, where the people of Ireland (but mostly Chicago) celebrate a man who killed thousands of snakes. Patrick was no friend to the reptiles, but was he the worst? Let’s find out! 8. GodricGodric was your typical … Continue reading →

Posted in Ridiculous | Leave a comment

Google Search Q&A 6

Posted on 8 November 2015 by Spuggy

It’s been a long time since we did this, and the boring reason why is that Google now encrypts its search engine referrals (officially for privacy reasons, but it will still show you search terms for paid search adverts…) But … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, Google Searches, Science | Tagged | Leave a comment

7 Things only 90s kids will remember!

Posted on 26 November 2013 by Spuggy

The 90s was the decade when everything sped up! Sure, in the previous decades, technology and entertainment and politics changed, but that was so slow. The explosion of culture in the last decade of the century was completely unheard of … Continue reading →

Posted in Ridiculous, Writing | Leave a comment

Occupy Tom Nook

Posted on 29 June 2013 by Spuggy

A pre-print of an article soon to appear in the prestigious Mushroom Kingdom Journal of Socioeconomics. Occupy Tom Nook

Posted in Economics, Ridiculous | Leave a comment

Google Search Q&A 5 – English pub name cross stiches

Posted on 12 May 2013 by Spuggy

Hey, let’s see what’s in the search grab-bag this time! sparrow like birds thrupenny sixpence sparrows and doves what is the different between a dove and sparrow? sparrow eye recipe family of dove and sparrow sparrow with black bib Come … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross stitch, Google Searches | Tagged | Leave a comment

Google Search Q&A 4 – A beginner’s guide to set theory

Posted on 9 March 2013 by Spuggy

According to our site stats, almost two thirds of visitors to our site are looking for information on sparrows. Don’t believe me? Here is a graph of the search strings that have found our site, grouped by whether or not … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, Google Searches, Maths | Tagged , | Leave a comment