The Bluestocking: it's the season of mulled wine, conversations about pineapple and, of course, gerbils. Confused? You will be...

[EdithStourton]

Welcome to the anarchic and marvellous women-only on-line pub, the Bluestocking. The booze won't give you a hangover, the cakes won't make you fat, and the conversations are fascinating, covering knitting, health and safety, the Muppets and anything else that comes to mind.

Climb Peak Woo, have a cuddle with Rosie the Red Panda, and watch out for capybaras busy with any necessary building works.

Welcome in (and name change at the door if you need too).

I asked ChatGPT:

It’s one of the great mysteries of the machine mind: it has memorised millions of laptops, yet somehow believes the screen floats around like a removable biscuit tin lid.

The short, unsentimental truth: AI image models don’t “understand” objects—they pattern-match.

A laptop is “two rectangles hinged together.” The model knows this visually, but not structurally. So when it generates a scene, it often treats the lid and base as interchangeable rectangles. It doesn’t grasp:

• which rectangle contains the keyboard
• which one the hinge attaches to
• which one should face the user

It only knows “this configuration often appears,” and sometimes scrambles the components because spatial logic isn’t actually being applied.

In other words: AI can paint a lioness doing an interview, but it cannot reliably assemble a laptop without accidentally turning it into a reversible serving tray.

And the gerbils are almost certainly responsible. Their Top Secret PSYOP clearly involves sabotaging Myrtle’s tech to ensure she keeps hiring emotional-support rodents.

Oh man, that's several minutes of my life I'm not getting back. Surely "because its more than a bit shit" would suffice? 😁

😂😁

This is a valuable lesson: never ask AI if duct tape is the same as gaffer tape, or if it via took the M3 or the A354... it will tell you, in great detail and at great length..
You have been warned...

Nooooooooooo.......

Sandie Peggie won against NHS Fife but not Upton.

https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Peggie-v-Fife-Health-Board-and-another.pdf

Commentary on the thread here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5447019-nhs-fife-tries-to-silence-nurse-sandie-peggie-vs-nhs-fife-health-board-and-dr-beth-upton-thread-55?page=32

Ignore the previous answer.
obviously, the AI understands that the team of gerbils who will be performing behind the laptop (from myrtles perspective) will need to be able to see what’s going on. Hence the laptop needs a pair of screens.

Thanks for signposting the thread.

The idea that DU is convincing as a woman is a bloody joke.
As is the faux naive, 'Well, only Sandie complained so clearly no kne else was bothered...'

Pint of gin please bargerbil? Oh, and a pint of cat wee for that cowardly bellend Big Sond.

If there is an obliging gerbil about, I should very much like a half of cognac and a double cardamon coffee please. And some ideas for affordable Christmas gifts.

Affordable gifts for... MIL? DH? DC?
With which interests, hobbies, obsessions?

Or is this for a random Secret Santa recipient who you barely know?

I would presume for the gerbils surely?

https://colouryourstreets.co.uk/
Bit random, but affordable and unusual!

Meeting went well, which was great given that I'm upset about the Peggie decision.

And then someone let me know that a member of staff from my previous employer, who also came to my wedding, died yesterday. He was mid-40s, with a known heart condition, and leaves a wife, a 10 year old daughter and a 6 year old son.

Beyond devastated.

Oh hell @MyrtleLion Sending a great big hug for your loss.

If those mean what I think they mean, I don't have any of them. It's parents, friends, sibling/inlaw/nibling. Unreasonable of me to have expected the gerbils to be on top of that, sorry. And thanks for that, Magpie Complex.

And sorry for the nonsense when people have real stuff going on. Horrible for you and all concerned, Myrtle.

Glad the meeting went well, fingers crossed for the rest.

Really sorry to hear about your colleague. I'll send Rosie over for a hug, accompanied by a selection of gerbils with a selection of alcohol.

I am disappointed but not surprised by the Sandie Peggie tribunal decision - Scotland has completely given in to the TWAW shite, and do not give a single fuck about the needs, rights, safety or dignity of biological women.

I haven’t read the details (the tribunal threads are a bit overwhelming). From the bbc radio news headlines I’ve heard it’s a win for Sandie (she was accused of harassing but has found to have been harrassed by Fife) - they didn’t mention Upton or what his part was about.

I'm so sorry about your friend, Myrtle. Horrible shock.

In short the tribunal said they should have made.other arrangements for Upton while investigating and sorting out the shift clashes. They took too long to reply to her grievance.

Sandy was not credible. Her IT expert (best in Scotland) was not impartial so was not completely credible.

Upton had a legal right” to use the women’s changing room because the employer, as the owner, granted permission. This is actually wrong in law.

Upton was credible because he wrote it down at the time and even though sometimes it wasn't contemporaneous that's fine, he's definitely not a liar.

And other shit like this.

Very sorry to hear about your colleague and friend.

For adults, unusual alcohol can work.
Otherwise I tend to go with hobbies and interests. A friend of mine travels a lot, and this year she's getting a travel towel.

DC
age 5-ish: huge packs of felt tips
8-ish and up: Rubik's cube, colour your own poster, grow your own cress

Thank you. Good thoughts. I have just ordered a T shirt bearing the logo of a fictional brand that only exists in a game for the nibling. The new world order is confusing and I'm not that old!

<munching on snowballs> (found in @Boiledbeetle secret stash)

sometimes this place is a retreat from another thread.

Slurps a pint of gin pass the herbal cig i need one.