Personal blog of Shaun Pedicini, a place where thought comes to be scattered like a leaf blower.https://mordenstar.com/en-US© 2026 Shaun Pedicinihttps://mordenstar.com/favicons/mordenstar-rss-logo.pnghttps://mordenstar.com/144144Mordenstar Logohttps://mordenstar.com/blog/gen-failures/https://mordenstar.com/blog/gen-failures/Here we take a look at some examples of poorly generated images from the perspective of the limitations of the user and how to go about fixing them.Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/weeping-angels/https://mordenstar.com/blog/weeping-angels/Is your guardian angel also a quantum-level horrific life draining monster?Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/the-worst-candy/https://mordenstar.com/blog/the-worst-candy/In this article, we cover some brands of sweets that really stretch the definition of candy. The kind of candy that makes a child want to brush their teeth for no other reason than to wash out the taste.Fri, 26 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/kqiv/https://mordenstar.com/blog/kqiv/In this brief review, we take a closer look at some of the more problematic puzzle designs in one of the most famous game franchises of all time: King’s Quest.Wed, 17 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/oregon-trail/https://mordenstar.com/blog/oregon-trail/A brief foray into the memories of a millenial who as a child would have almost certainly been one of the first pioneers to be eaten by wolves along the Oregon Trail.Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/scantron/https://mordenstar.com/blog/scantron/Remember Scantron tests and the gestapo-level of strict rules around using a Number 2 pencil? Explore the nostalgia of automated test scoring. You have 60 minutes. You may begin... now.Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/dutyfree-shop/https://mordenstar.com/blog/dutyfree-shop/In this article we explore how a musician might go from a melodic motif all the way to a full-fledged song using generative AI as a collaborative partner.Sat, 04 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/screwdriver-sonata/https://mordenstar.com/blog/screwdriver-sonata/Exploring how AI can transform an original piano composition into a chamber orchestra arrangement while preserving the core melody.Tue, 23 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/edits-with-nanobanana/https://mordenstar.com/blog/edits-with-nanobanana/Testing Gemini Flash 2.5's photo editing capabilities with challenging before and after comparisonsThu, 11 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/immortality/https://mordenstar.com/blog/immortality/In this article, we discuss how we might achieve a digitization of the conscious mind.Tue, 29 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/edits-with-kontext/https://mordenstar.com/blog/edits-with-kontext/Demonstrating the power of AI-powered photo editing with before and after comparisonsFri, 20 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/q-basic/https://mordenstar.com/blog/q-basic/What if the Q Continuum from Star Trek created their own variant of BASIC? “Q”-BASIC turns warp drives into GOTO statements and overflow errors into core breaches.Tue, 22 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/historic-deepfakes-with-ai/https://mordenstar.com/blog/historic-deepfakes-with-ai/This article tries to see how the SOTA GenAI models fare against famous historic deepfakes.Sun, 13 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/chatgpt-4o-images/https://mordenstar.com/blog/chatgpt-4o-images/In this article, we put 4o, the latest multimodal image generative system by OpenAI, through its paces.Wed, 26 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/the-halo-effect/https://mordenstar.com/blog/the-halo-effect/In this article, we argue that anonymizing defendants' identities during trials is crucial to prevent the halo effect from compromising jury impartiality and undermining the fairness of our legal system.Fri, 30 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/the-missing-socks/https://mordenstar.com/blog/the-missing-socks/This article represents a thorough investigation into the strange disappearance of half of my socks, and the consequences will never be the same.Sun, 11 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/on-genies/https://mordenstar.com/blog/on-genies/In this article, we propose how Aladdin might have solved his genie problems by exploiting loopholes in the construction of wishes.Wed, 07 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/flux-comparisons/https://mordenstar.com/blog/flux-comparisons/In this article, we take a look at how, a 12 billion parameter transformer model, Flux, compares against the SOTA generative model DALL-E 3 using a variety of examples.Thu, 01 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/how-to-build-a-better-ide/https://mordenstar.com/blog/how-to-build-a-better-ide/In this article, we propose a wishlist of things we would love to see in a future IDE.Sun, 21 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/bible-stories/https://mordenstar.com/blog/bible-stories/This article presents a humorous and critical analysis of three biblical stories, featuring characters like Elisha, Isaac, and Solomon, through a modern lens.Tue, 16 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/job-satisfaction/https://mordenstar.com/blog/job-satisfaction/This article explores creating a means of evaluating new job opportunities based on four key factors - Meaning, Knowledge, People, and Compensation.Thu, 11 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/astro-exporter/https://mordenstar.com/blog/astro-exporter/This article introduces an Obsidian to Astro exporter, a tool designed to simplify the process of moving a blog from Wordpress to a static site generated by Astro, a Typescript-based static site generator.Mon, 08 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/win9x-hacks/https://mordenstar.com/blog/win9x-hacks/How a young boy learned the importance of only pulling computer related pranks while they were a minor and other such stories.Thu, 20 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/artificial-pets/https://mordenstar.com/blog/artificial-pets/From Sony's metallic clanker Aibo (the poor man's Blitz) to the humble Chia Pet, nothing screams "21st-century millenial ennui" more than our love affair with artificial pets.Tue, 18 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/collapse-sort/https://mordenstar.com/blog/collapse-sort/Collapse sort is a "revolutionary new" sorting algorithm that takes full advantage of the AMAZING qualities of Javascript arrays and their dynamic nature.Mon, 10 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/bot-ross/https://mordenstar.com/blog/bot-ross/Behind the scenes of building a Discord bot that generates progressively more detailed images of people and places as players race to guess them in a live Pictionary-style game.Tue, 04 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)https://mordenstar.com/blog/strangest-things/https://mordenstar.com/blog/strangest-things/Sean Astin shows off his technical chops in the TV series Stranger Things by writing a brute force attack using BASIC code.Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMTnoreply@mordenstar.com (Shaun Pedicini)