But wait! What if it’s not a robot, and they’re just calling from the moon? How can you tell the difference?
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Well, one of the reasons I have a phone is so people can call me and tell me things I need to know. And when people call me, it generally takes a little conversation before I can decide whether they’re offering something I need to know, or not.
In the past, I had become pretty good at filtering genuine calls. In some cases, as soon as the caller spoke their first word, I knew to hang up. Now it has become much harder to tell scammers and cold-callers from people I might actually need, or want, to talk to.
Thet’s the problem, really. Not all calls are bogus. Hospitals still change appointments at short notice, doctors still want to change medication, electricity suppliers still need to cut off my power for emergency work, tradesmen still need to re-arrange work dates, the Police still need to call and tell me friends or family have been involved in accidents. Sometimes it’s just someone I haven’t heard from for 40 or 50 years.
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Ahhh…time delay or a problem with their universal translators. Could be. Those little green men…pretending to be women…trying to get info out of us…
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I watched a new defunctland video about Disney Parks quest to achieve a fully living character.
The evolution followed a similar one to these scam callers technology over the years. From full actor/pupeteers, to a person on a sound board to an AI that can recognise crowds and people and respond to their queries, behaviours and actions.
I love the idea they’re all just big Disney fans taking cues from Walt.
Thanks Walt 
It’s a 4 hour video fyi if anyone’s thinking of watching it. Knocked it out over a few days in phases.
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I thought this was fake. It’s looking like it might be real 
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Oh that is totally real. He replaced Bidens pic with the auto-pen that is used by many for signatures. Thankfully, WH demolition is something they are getting used to. The whole wall can come down easily.
And @Polyphemus , you might want to answer those calls about home heating 
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Vic Berger edits have a way of amplifying the minutia of the worst denizens of the void.
Technicaly, should go in getting a laugh thread, but i havent screened this one so it may be filled with despair. (Edit: It seems to have zero republican demons, and its all just wholesome 80s and 90s xmas tv segments, phew!)
Either way, he has blessed us with an hour long christmas special.
Thank you vic, bah humbug.
Edit: trigger warning for @Polyphemus , a wild Cilla Black appears shortly therein, be brave, you can survive this.
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For many years, Cilla Black was living proof that a total lack of talent need not be a barrier to success, provided you have luck, and unbridled ambition. I don’t seek to deny her success - she took her chance, and she made the most of it.
There is, however, something I will never forgive Cilla Black for.
In the sixties in the United States there was an extremely talented singer named Dionne Warwick. Whenever Dionne Warwick relased a record, Cilla Black would immediately cover it in the UK. Because Cilla Black was famous here, and Dionne Warwick wasn’t, people bought the Cilla Black versions. I thought that was a travesty then, and I still do. The Dionne Warwick versions were immeasurably better, but she never got the recognition she deserved.
Try it - go through Dionne Warwick’s back catalogue, then look at Cilla Black’s - every one of Cilla’s hits was stolen.
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Well Turrah Turrah to Cilla, and hello hello to Dionne Warwick. Im actually familiar but i never made the cilla black connection.
The video above has her doing a very painful rendition of Lionel Ritchies All Night Long around some pop lockin early 90s dancing kids on christmas.
Its always short sighted cringe when someone sings a song about sex and tries to make it about kids having fun all night at christmas 
The Alan Partridge Christmas special immediately comes to mind.
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I confess I find myself a little confused. Are you saying there’s no connection between sex and children, or that sex does not involve having fun all night?
The Catholic Church has a lot to answer for.
“Obviously, the proper place for sex is between Priest and a small boy, in some dark and hidden place. The Church is teaching by example on that one.
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Well thankfully, having lived in the US all my life, I am fully aware of Dionne Warwick and have never heard of this Cilla person.
“these artists were not singer-songwriters but interpreters of 1960s contemporary popular music by songwriters and producers.” From wiki
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But, at least Cilla was a real person.
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/20/synthetic-soul-ai-gospel-singer-solomon-ray
Most disturbing news of the day
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Agreed. However, the others mentioned - Dusty Springfield, Helen Shapiro, Petula Clark et al had the distinction that they could actually sing. Cilla Black’s voice sounded like someone gargling in a drainpipe.
She became famous because she knew The Beatles - and, at the time, Beatlemania was such a force that anyone from Merseyside could get a record deal.
Try this from the Ed Sullivan show. When she hits the line “With your hand resting in mine” you can actually watch the paint peeling off your woodwork. It’s physically painful. But people bought it.
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Oh I can tell from the first few notes…she has strength in only one small range and even it is a bit weak and flat.
Petula Clark…I have several of her albums and loved singing along back in the day because we sing in a very similar range. Her singing is enjoyable. Not so much with Cilla. How bizarre that someone could rise to such fame. Was her acting any better?
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Oh God no. Her one real claim to fame was that she came from Liverpool, at a time when coming from Liverpool was the most fashionable thing anyone could do. As I said, she was extremely ambitious, and made the absolute most of the chances she got. In that respect, good luck to her.
She did have an easy-going charm, and an engaging personality, although she greatly overplayed the Liverpool connection - she exaggerated her accent in a way that was pretty grating to people who acually live here. In her later years, she mostly survived as a chat show and game show host - something her garrulous nature suited her for.
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Thats how I know of her primarily, growing up in the 90s. My parents watched Blind Date every week. I was more of a Generation Game fan.
Jim Davidson is still alive? I could have sworn he died 
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I’m posting this because it’s about 500 yards from my house. What do you mean, “That’s not news??”. It’s on the BBC - it must be news.
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Why? I had always wondered who was buying that pish (along with Johnnie Walker) nowadays, when actually good whisky is effortlessly available… 
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We may find that music weird, but I would like to hear from the people who grow up with genAI music, do they like it or find it acceptable? As you mention, there are countless talentless human singers every decade as well. Is the genAI just “another silly EuroTrash one-hit wonder” to them?
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It is sold mostly in Canada. They have now boycotted US whiskey and bourbon
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