Nothing Happened Today
--:--:-- UTC

Method 3.0

This page is generated from the same constants the code runs on. Dated 2026-10-15. When a rule changes, the version changes and earlier drops keep the explanation they were made under.

Nine steps

  1. 01 Listen

    Every 30 minutes, all day, the sources are read and a sample is stored. Nothing is judged yet.

  2. 02 Collect

    At 19:30 UTC the sources are read once more. Each category becomes a card with a status, its sources and the time.

  3. 03 Group

    Headlines from different publishers that share enough words are grouped into themes. A theme is independent when two or more distinct publishers carry it.

  4. 04 Measure

    Eight numbers are computed from the cards and themes with the fixed rules below. Each one prints its working.

  5. 05 Carry

    The last fourteen days' numbers, decayed with a three day half-life, pull today's numbers by at most five percent. Only numbers are carried, never pictures.

  6. 06 Read

    The model reads the themes, the measures and the carry and writes a short plain account of the day, a feeling and a weight.

  7. 07 Make

    As the artist, the model chooses a medium from the public glossary, a palette, a composition and a technique, and writes the depiction, a title and a statement. Nobody steers these choices.

  8. 08 Check

    The picture is measured. A near-black or near-uniform image is rejected. A vision check rejects a visible real face, a logo or legible text. One regeneration is allowed.

  9. 09 Publish

    The picture, the record and this day's numbers are stored. Scheduled runs wait for 19:38:38 UTC. Retries publish when they finish.

Listening passes run on the schedule */30 * * * * (UTC). The drop run starts at 19:30 UTC and publishes at 19:38:38 UTC. Retries run at 20:38 and 07:38 UTC when the day still has no picture. Each source gets 12 seconds and 2 retries; a rate-limit answer is not retried.

Sources

33 sources, each with the terms that allow this use

World news

What people are talking about

The planet

Markets

Culture

Sport

Science and technology

Only aggregates are stored: headlines, counts, prices, magnitudes. No usernames, no personal data. Social sources contribute topic names and counts only.

Grouping

A headline is cut into lowercase words of three or more letters, minus common words. Two headlines join a theme when the smaller word set shares at least 50 percent of its words with the theme and at least 2 words. A theme is independent when two or more distinct publisher hosts carry it, excluding aggregators. The 12 largest themes are shown, independent first.

Eight measures

each is 0 to 100 or not available, never guessed

  1. Volume How much happened?

    The number of themes carried by two or more independent publishers, divided by 40, capped at 100.

    Limit: Counts what English-language publishers covered. A quiet feed is not a quiet world.

  2. Concentration Did one story take the day?

    The share of independent-theme headlines held by the top 3 themes, as a percentage.

    Limit: Depends on how the clustering groups headlines. The grouping rule is public.

  3. Tone of coverage How did the headlines read?

    Each news headline is scored by a fixed word list. 50 plus 50 times the share scored positive minus the share scored negative.

    Limit: This is the tone of the words journalists chose. It is not how people feel. The word list is validated on labeled headlines and the agreement is printed below.

  4. Gravity How heavy was the news?

    The share of news headlines containing a heavy word, divided by 35 percent, capped at 100.

    Limit: A word list. It counts the vocabulary of harm, not the harm.

  5. Planet Was the ground, sky or sea restless?

    10 points per earthquake at magnitude 5 or above in the last 24 hours (capped at 40), a bonus of 10 if the strongest reached 6 and 25 if it reached 7, 5 per open severe storm (capped at 25), 5 per active volcano (capped at 15), 1 per extreme US weather alert (capped at 20). Capped at 100.

    Limit: Earthquakes and storms are global. Weather alerts are United States only.

  6. Markets How much did prices move?

    Half from the mean absolute 24 hour move of bitcoin and ether (3 percent is 50 points), half from the mean absolute daily move of the dollar against the euro, pound and yen (0.6 percent is 50 points). Capped at 100.

    Limit: No stock index. The keyless sources with permissive terms do not include one. Weekends show the last available exchange rates.

  7. Pace How fast did the day change?

    Across the day's listening passes, the mean share of headlines that were new since the previous pass, divided by 50 percent, capped at 100. Needs at least 4 passes.

    Limit: Feeds refresh at their own rhythm. Pace reflects the feeds as much as the world.

  8. Spread How far did attention wander from the news?

    The share of trending searches and social topics that share no theme with the news, as a percentage.

    Limit: Matching is by word overlap. Needs at least 6 trending topics.

Tone, tested

The tone word list (version 1, AFINN-165 plus headline additions) was checked against 60 hand-labeled headlines before use. It agrees with 52 of 60, that is 87 percent. The bar is 75 percent; the unit tests fail below it. This number is computed when this page renders, not typed in.

Heavy words used by Gravity

killed, kills, kill, dead, deaths, death, dies, died, toll, victims, war, attack, attacks, airstrike, airstrikes, strike on, bomb, bombing, missile, missiles, shooting, gunman, massacre, siege, invasion, genocide, hostage, hostages, earthquake, quake, flood, floods, flooding, wildfire, wildfires, hurricane, typhoon, cyclone, tsunami, tornado, landslide, famine, outbreak, epidemic, pandemic, collapse, collapses, explosion, crash, crashes, derail, evacuate, evacuated, evacuation, injured, wounded, sinks, sank, drowned, stabbing, terror, execution, executed

Memory

Each day's eight numbers are stored. The next day, the last 14 days are averaged with a half-life of 3 days (yesterday weighs 1, four days ago weighs 0.5). The weight of that average in what the artist is told ramps from 0 with no history to 5 percent at 7 days and never exceeds it. When today's gravity is at least 8 points below the recent stretch, the difference is named as relief. Only numbers are carried, never pictures. Every drop page shows what was carried, from how many days, and at what weight.

The artist

The model (gpt-4.1) reads the day and writes the brief: medium, palette, composition, technique, depiction, title and statement. Nobody steers these choices. The brief carries a random nonce so the same data never makes the same picture twice. The picture is made by gpt-image-1 at 1024x1536.

Rules the artist works under: One two-dimensional graphic that can be printed. Nothing illegal or hateful. No recognizable copyrighted characters, no logos, no brand marks, no real people and no faces of real people. No letters, numbers, words or captions inside the picture. Interpret the day. Do not illustrate it. A football story is not a ball; it may be two masses leaning into each other. A storm is not a weather map.

Medium glossary, version 2, dated 2026-10-15

  • Watercolor. Transparent pigment thinned with water on paper; soft edges, color that bleeds and blooms, light shows through from the white paper.
  • Gouache. Water-based paint that dries opaque and matte; flat, even color fields that can be layered.
  • Ink wash. Black or dark ink diluted with water and brushed in tones from pale grey to deep black.
  • Pen and ink. Fine lines drawn with a nib or pen, with tone built from hatching and dots.
  • Charcoal. Burnt wood drawn dry on paper; soft smudgeable blacks and greys, rough texture.
  • Graphite pencil. Grey line and shading with fine control, from faint to dense.
  • Colored pencil. Waxy layered strokes that blend slowly, with a grainy texture.
  • Oil paint. Pigment in oil; thick, slow-drying, rich color, visible brushwork, blendable edges.
  • Acrylic. Fast-drying plastic-based paint; flat or thick, bold saturated color.
  • Pastel. Dry pigment sticks; soft, powdery, vivid color on a chalky surface.
  • Collage. Cut or torn paper and found material glued in layers, with hard edges and mixed textures.
  • Linocut or woodcut. A carved block printed in flat ink; bold shapes, hard edges, visible gouge marks, few colors.
  • Screen print. Flat layers of ink pushed through a stencil screen; limited bold colors, crisp shapes, slight misregistration.
  • Risograph. Stencil duplicator print in a few grainy, translucent spot colors that overlap.
  • Cyanotype. Sun-printed iron salt on paper; pale forms on deep Prussian blue.
  • Etching. Lines bitten into metal and printed; fine dense linework, plate marks, velvety dark ink.
  • Photography-style. A lens-made look; light, focus and grain, rendered as a photograph would be.
  • Digital vector. Flat shapes and clean edges drawn with geometry; solid colors and gradients, no brush texture.
  • Marker and spray. Felt marker or spray paint; saturated flat color, hard or fuzzy edges, drips.
  • Textile or embroidery. Thread or woven pattern; stitched lines, grids, tactile texture.
  • Mixed media. Two or more of the above combined in one piece.
  • Other. The AI may name a medium not listed and define it in one sentence; that definition is stored and published.

Checks before publishing

The picture is measured on a small copy: a mean luminance below 6 of 100 or a luminance spread below 3 of 100 rejects it. Then gpt-4.1-mini is asked whether a real face, a logo or legible text is visible; a yes rejects it. One regeneration is allowed. When both fail, the day publishes with no picture and the reason, and the operator is told.