LLMs are not capable of original thought, but they can do quite well at mimicking it. They are—it seems to me for the time being—a couple steps of tech advancement above really good auto-complete algorithms.
It is unwise to rely on them completely where it counts. Humans with specialized knowledge have to double-check their work. They can be inaccurate *unpredictably*, which makes them trickier to oversee.
Arnold Kling (or was it Ethan Mollick?) has described them as akin to human personal assistants who are eager to please and relentlessly upbeat, but who are somehow lacking in the final hard-to-describe traits that would make them reliable enough to take unsupervised control.
I think the mimicking may be the most dangerous aspect. People are conditioned, maybe even hard-wired, to believe other people who are talking to them and sound like they know what they are talking about. And they transfer this same acceptance and trust to AI because it has the ability to imitate, to sound like such a person. But the AI may be hallucinating "facts" that are not true, or it may even be fronting for someone's agenda. It's a new thing and people don't have defenses yet. We don't even have much of a strategy for developing defenses, which in my opinion would be largely a matter of wising up, though I can see a disclosure requirement as a key part of society's defenses.
I’m not sure where I recently heard it, but I’m thinking it might have been the Commentary podcast. Someone basically commented that we’ve solved all the big problems, so now we spend time worrying about the *small stuff.*
I think that’s true in a lot of ways. The majority of us don’t have to worry about food, clothing or shelter. Some of the worst health problems now have solutions, and people are living longer than ever before. Of course, we now seem to be going through a self destructive period when it comes to personal health. I wonder what that’s all about?
I think the point is that because we aren’t spending time dealing with the basics, we have more time to worry about a plethora of other things. And, what we haven’t thought of, social media and MSM provide plenty to fill the gaps.
Within my parents’ lifetime, the changes they experienced were and are hard to imagine. In my 72 years, it seems as though the biggest change was personal computers, something that started making it possible to reach out to people and places that were impossible for the average person before that.
We are fearful and concerned because we are able to know about almost anything that is happening at any given moment. I live in Wisconsin, and I am able to know what’s happening in California or Florida or even South Dakota. I know when there’s a wildfire, or a kidnapping, or some other horrific thing in places that are far across the country. And, to top that off, I am constantly made aware of all the global instability.
That’s why I’m trying to spend less time online, and more time enjoying my life. It’s a gift we’ve stopped being grateful for in our obsession with the next possible disaster.
A lot of people seem to live in fear of other people in general. Why else would home security systems and cameras be so commonplace these days? I blame the sensationalizing news people.
Good morning. Sunny but cold day, staying at or below freezing all day.
The mothership is covering the Supreme Court arguments yesterday over the Tennessee bill banning so-called "gender affirming" treatments, whether hormonal or surgical, for minors. (As an aside, the phrase "gender affirming" is not a neutral term, but is widely used in the media, which indicates their bias).
Meanwhile, TGIF's headline is "Pardon Me?" and the subhead is "America’s president, Dr. Jill, pardons Hunter." Zing!
Biden will forever be a joke punchline because he couldn’t or wouldn’t see when it was time to walk away. Dr. Jill and others who knew better deserve a share of the blame. His party is paying the price.
Yes. The whole mess reveals just how idiotic some of the White House shenanigans are. Dr. Jill should have taken away the key a long time ago, but she apparently very much enjoys playing Empress Dowager.
A thought about the CEO shooting. Many sickos are praising it, or at a minimum excusing it. I don't. Murder has been wrong since at least Cain and Abel.
One commenter wrote that safety nets are designed to keep us safe...I was sad by that, because they miss the point.
Our Heavenly Father wants us to care for others, so we can experience the joy of love, of giving to others. We share in his creation when we do. It is a gift he gives to us. But it requires us to love more than just our spouse and kids, but to love everyone. And that isn't easy, especially my neighbor who views the wind as his version of raking leaves into my yard. 😡
A government doing that may be more efficient (WNC residents may disagree), or have more means, but it robs us of that gift. We don't feel it is us doing it.
I am sure the Bills Mafia gets paid for shoveling out the stadium, but when I watch them they seem to have fun doing it. There's a joy there.
My grandmother was poor, especially during the depression. She taped her shoes for years afterwards, to my Mom's chagrin. But Grandmother Crockett never turned away anyone for a meal. Hobos knew she'd feed them. So it wasn't welfare she'd have simple jobs for them to do, so they'd feel good about getting fed. And she'd ask them for help, it wasn't a requirement for being fed.
Having a government do that may be more efficient, but when is the last time you felt joy in the government doing that?
You wouldn’t believe how much I get bogged down and wallow in OCD thoughts over image selection, which is why I’ve generally given it up. Just describing something very vaguely and having the llm generate something is so much less tortuous.
In some ways, this tracks with recent stories that Google is suffering a decline in search profits because younger folk are skipping the effort of searching websites and analyzing them one by one, in favor of getting an AI to find and summarize the search results. I advocate that, too, in the form of Perplexity AI’s search tool, for instance. It gives you the links to its summaries as a list of footnoted links.
I actually had the same thought on the waves in the image, and considered having ChatGPT generate another, but…there’s no end to that in an OCD mindset…
I, on the other hand, make a point of scrolling right past the AI material at the top of my Google search results. (I'm hoping maybe they'll figure out that I'm not interested and stop putting them up for me.) I try not to even register what they say anymore. I just keep going until I come to links to actual websites, and I follow the results from the ones I consider relevant and authoritative. Just because "Google" says something about something doesn't mean it is true or even has much to do with what you wanted to know.
I've had to actually explain that concept to people. Mostly younger ones, but not always.
I’m not too wild about the Google Gemini summaries. The ones that Microsoft Copilot does in the Edge browser are a bit better when it comes to getting to the point of a simple task that I happen to know something about.
But if you want a different experience entirely, Perplexity does much, much better than those or the other newish built-in online llms. (Amazon’s Rufus tool does a decent job at its limited task of summing up user reviews, which can save time.)
Thank you, but it seems you are speaking a different dialect from mine. I didn't know they were called Gemini summaries, but I don't need to. I refuse to use Edge. I use Firefox. I don't know what Perplexity is, or what a built-in online lim is. And I will certainly never engage Rufus! Doesn't matter to me what names they give the bots, I don't talk to bots. I can read stuff on web pages all by myself. I'm pretty quick at making my way through the underbrush to what I want. That's my position and I'm sticking to it!
Thanks for trying to be helpful anyway. And thanks for all the likes.
If you’re looking for information like “how to change screen output settings in Windows 11 to prevent image cutoff on edges” (asking for a friend), Perplexity doesn’t just give you a bunch of site links for you to surf through—including sometimes obnoxious adware popups—it gives you a summary with the links as footnotes. It’s not perfect, but it does save considerable time in a lot of specific searches.
You probably mean OCPD. I’m a little sensitive to the inaccurate way in which people use the term OCD. I live with my son who suffers dreadfully from OCD.
Thanks for this! I'm glad to have this information after losing a dear friend to OCD. No one should ever make jokes about OCD or OCPD, unless it is the person actually diagnosed with it. I signed up for the newletter. Hopefully this will help my understanding of family and friends who have been struggling with this.
Sorry about that. I figured it wasn’t the right term. Just was in need of something to call it…the ability to get sidetracked until mental derailment, if there’s a better term for that. Fickle goofy run-of-the-mill neurosis, or something.
Definitely ADD or ADHD, which runs in my family. I can very easily be distracted; however, I can also become intensely absorbed, and almost unaware of anything else.
What we old people call ADD. It's interesting that so many who suffer the problem ended up mesmerized by the screen - but it is sure full of rabbit holes!
David Baszucki (creator/founder of Roblox) and his wife Jan used metabolic therapy to get their son over his severe bipolar disorder. They established a research foundation to continue pursuing the science in that area.
The research behind the treatment is partly inspired by the work of Chris Palmer, which he covered in his book “Brain Energy”. Palmer mentions OCD as one of the areas where metabolic treatment *can* work, but strongly recommends professional assistance.
We're pretty desperate, conventional therapy hasn't helped him. The psychiatrist is all about trying drugs, drugs and more drugs that just make him feel crappy. Hopefully some day something will be discovered to help this insidious mental illness.
Thanks for link! The AVE devices can be very helpful too with lots of things, including ADD, but be very careful of these in general because improper use can trigger BP mania. They say the same for TMS but I don"t know.
I think there’s a general feeling of optimism these days. Check out that stock market! OK OK do I think that’s going to last….ummmm, no. Maybe a few more months but reality will hit. The national debt is a disaster.
I agree but the problem is I’ve been thinking that for 20 years or so and it keeps not happening. Should I cash in now, or wait a couple more years, or move off the grid, or what?
If you're young-ish, I wouldn't worry about it. We are within 5 years of retirement and aren't super comfy being 100% in the market. Thank goodness we can at least earn 4+% in short term treasuries but we've also forgone the huge gains in the market the past few years (except for a few holdings.) We are pretty risk averse this close to retirement.
Today’s special animal friend is the lilac-breasted roller, Coracias caudatus. This sturdy, colorful bird is found throughout the lower half of Africa. They are about 10 inches high, with long tail streamers, and they are colored in patches of green, blue, reddish, olive, and the distinctive lilac (or purple) breast, as if you told your child to color a colorful bird while you make dinner. The two subspecies have slightly different shades. Males and females look very similar, while juveniles have more subdued coloring.
The members of the Coraciidae family are called “rollers” because some of the species engage in aerobatic courtship flights. Because it’s hard to tell the sexes apart, ornithologists aren’t sure whether this is a behavior of males only or of both sexes. It looks very air-show, and I thought about that crash in “The Great Waldo Pepper”.
They live in open, savannah habitat with some large trees and shrubs. They often perch on a branch in a clearing. They are carnivorous, consuming lots of invertebrates as well as lizards, snakes, and other birds.
As is so often the case with southern African animals, the breeding season depends on the local rainfall patterns. They are cavity nesters, putting some dead grass in a tree hollow or an excavation in a termite mound. They don’t dig their own hollows but take over the homes of other animals. The female usually lays 2 or 3 eggs, and both parents incubate them for 22-24 days. Fledging takes about a month.
The lilac-breasted roller is a species of Least Concern. There are abundant populations in many countries, and they are well represented in national parks and wildlife preserves.
Folks imagine China as being this stultifying restrictive set of rules, but at street level where I exist, it's pretty wide open. Street vendors galore that would never be allowed in any America municipality, and little businesses opening up in garages and makeshift sheds where folks can at least pursue their own little business ideas. None of that is allowed in America without onerous licensing, zoning, and restrictive regulations that stifle the creativity that's in everyone.
Not to in any way contest your observations. But it's been obvious for a long time that the post-Mao rulers of the PRC figured out how to make a Marxist state viable, perhaps learning from the failures of the Soviet Union.
What’s funny is if you had a good understanding of what’s going on in China, you would understand that China is a capitalist country where the general population is the most hard wired for entrepreneurial and non-communist activity as is imaginable. It's way more entrepreneurial and capitalist crazy than America. Yes, there is a big state with the SOE's that are struggling to maintain their hold on the commoners, but everyone gets what's going on. No one believes the Marxist crap and few pay any attention to the big man still blabbering Marxist stupidities.
You need to do a deep dive on the actual policy initiatives taking place right now. It is not a communist country. It is a bizarre hybrid of capitalism struggling with a small coterie of increasingly sidelined individuals mouthing Marxist homilies. To provide a realistic and comprehensive description of the craziness of this place would take up way too much of my time. Just please understand, it is not a communist country. That’s all a bunch of bizarre Western media stupidity. Completely crazy? Absolutely yes. Communist? No.
Yes, thank you...and one more time, if one is deeply engaged with what's actually happening, the Party is commie in name only. The name isn't going away, and it's always possible that some weird backflip double gainer will occur that once again makes the real commies ascendant, but this place ain't commie. It's so hilariously capitalist and enamored of luxury and status, I don't see backsliding on any scale that's significant.
I read in our local paper the appeals court struck down the lower court’s ruling that home bakers (think cottage bakery like the oatcakes my daughter makes) must follow the same rules as retail establishments in order to sell their goods. Practically speaking that means all goods must be baked in a commercial kitchen (defined by regulations.) Maddening. Time to contact the local representatives to get this fixed.
That's a perfect example. Someone just trying to make a few extra bucks, or maybe they're trying to grow a business, and they get squashed. It's all wrong.
So I went back to read the opinion and the DATCP (Dept of Trade and Consumer Protection which sounds communist-y) did not appeal the part of the lower court ruling that ruled the state could not disallow cottage bakers to sell BAKED goods. They appealed the part of the decision where the court stated cottage bakers could sell "unbaked" goods, like fudge or no-bake bars. Muffins and cake are OK, NO FUDGE FOR YOU.
Thank you again. I (well, a lot of the time) live in The People's Republic of Evanston, and to read their and the State of Illinois similar documents is to feel one is living in a Communist country.
The difference between here and the States is in the States, this stuff is rigidly enforced. Here, the mechanisms seem designed to be circumvented, or at least, no one is enforcing much of anything. It's a free for all at the grass roots level. This is very similar or exactly the same as all previous dynasties. The Emperor makes proclamations, and the citizenry goes on about its business navigating around the proclamations.
Trying to make it in the world is a battle. One shouldn't have to battle local governments just to operate some little business entity. I've foregone a lot of battles just because I don't want to deal with the stiffs.
Lol - I actually meant the CPC had picked its battles!
The US govt reminds me of those guys I used to see at the gym who liked to drop 500 lb plates on the floor and break your eardrums. They had little pinheads on tick bodies and could hardly walk. They puzzled over hot rod mags between sets.
Also, you used CPC which is the correct name. FWIW, Chinese recognized years ago that Americans just weren't going to call the party by its correct name and accepted it. The correct response, if someone uses CCP, is to ignore it and keep moving. But, it's CPC for anyone interested in the silliness of our international relationship...(me, for instance).
Axios this morning has an interesting bit about how enormously wealthy the incoming cabinet nominees are. It struck me that the income disparity in this country has really gotten out of control. In any event, here you go:
The income disparities are huge here—but you really see them when you move between higher population centers and the rural areas. Most of the metrics I’ve seen that compare the present with the past, there’s been a general upgrade in the middle sections of the income distribution over the past three or five decades: The rich have gotten richer and more numerous; so have the middle quintiles.
The poorest have it better than previous generations, too, especially measured by access to modern conveniences and amenities—by a large margin. Wealth effects for the whole of society have lifted all boats, as it were.
The nosebleed segments of the income distro are likelier to make good friends in high places by having the cash to throw at political campaigns. That’s been the traditional American way of doling out ambassadorships—and a rather frivolous tradition at that…
It would take too long to look up all the bios, but I wonder how many are rags to riches stories? Either themselves or their parents/spouses. Is created wealth (fixed it!) better/different than inherited wealth?
I agree that the disparity has gotten out of control - but it's complicated. I don't mind at all that truly creative and productive people make lots of money, but there there's a lot of parsing to do among the current crop of the very rich. What bothers me a lot is the thin line between the middle class and the bottom. Too many people have simply dropped out and too many working people are struggling terribly.
I think it's one thing when the CEO is the founder or innovator, the guy who bet everything but his dental fillings on one mad roll of the dice and turned out to be right. It's something else when the CEO is a hireling.
One of the problems is that it's very difficult to measure upper management's actual contribution to the success of a company. It's easier to identify catastrophic failure, but even then, the executive generally walks away, still extremely wealthy.
A similar dynamic can be seen in the roles of people like university presidents. What are they even doing? Fundraising, one reads. Interfacing with government and the super wealthy. How is "success" or "failure" measured? What are the penalties for failure?
For university presidents, there is no penalty for failure, near as I can tell. It's a club with an obscure registration and acceptance matrix. Even Claudine Gay will most likely move on to "better" and definitely higher (paid) callings.
You mentioned U presidents just as I was thinking of U NCAA sportsball coaches. Even when they have a hopeless losing streak, they walk away with multi-million-dollar severance packages.
Yes, that's another good analogy. There are many people in many positions who, no matter how badly they fail, will never experience any meaningful decline in their standard of living.
I don't resent those people personally - unless I can tie a specific decision/action to a specific bad outcome for me - but I think this situation creates a bad incentive structure.
I'm not so good. In my darker moments, I resent these mopes. It doesn't give me indigestion or interrupt anything in my life, but resentment is there occasionally. I did a couple jobs for NU; the university was renovating the Prez's house (mansion). These people are weird. All the folks at higher level administrative positions are weezle types. Every act, utterance, or random bathroom visit seems to have politically inspired overtones.
Remember when Amazon was an online book seller? I tried to talk my husband into investing because I thought it was such an awesomely well-run company which showed incredibile promise - he said a horrified no because it hadn't shown a profit over its history. Well, shoot…
This is a good one. I could get complicated, esoteric and multi faceted, or I can look at simply. I'm going simple. There's lots of folks out there with good ideas ready and raring to go, but it so often runs into those regulatory limitations you describe early on. There are always going to be laggards and non-creatives, but it seems like they've achieved a majority, or at least the legislative power, to nip creative effort with a blizzard of hoops and required gymnastics. I know I've had thoughts of building various projects, but end up going "nah" because I just don't want to deal with the stiffs.
That problem in building things is really severe in America’s deep blue cities, and states that are dominated by them. Out here in the boonies of West Virginia, there isn’t even code enforcement in 46 of 55 counties. You can stack milk crates together and sell it for a house if you want.
Our county has code enforcement, as does our nearest city (as defined by law) of Beckley, 19K population). The goofy city has its own code up to the highest international standards, now requiring arc-fault circuit breakers for any electrical upgrade work—sometimes on housing stock that has embedded knob-and-tube wiring.
The idea seems to be to continue ratcheting up building code standards until the most modest dwelling can withstand a nuclear armageddon, money no object…
Great. Just great. Now I not only have all my other fears/issues, but I now have to parse whether Marque68 is actually doing the musing himself or just letting AI do the heavy lifting. I'm gonna go ski.
I absolve myself of any guilt about the impulse to confess that I think hooking ChatGPT or some other LLM up with this would be, ummm, interesting...
https://theconversation.com/ai-jesus-might-listen-to-your-confession-but-it-cant-absolve-your-sins-a-scholar-of-catholicism-explains-244468
Lordy!!
My belief is that AI cannot think, in the same sense that we think. But maybe that's just me.
LLMs are not capable of original thought, but they can do quite well at mimicking it. They are—it seems to me for the time being—a couple steps of tech advancement above really good auto-complete algorithms.
It is unwise to rely on them completely where it counts. Humans with specialized knowledge have to double-check their work. They can be inaccurate *unpredictably*, which makes them trickier to oversee.
Arnold Kling (or was it Ethan Mollick?) has described them as akin to human personal assistants who are eager to please and relentlessly upbeat, but who are somehow lacking in the final hard-to-describe traits that would make them reliable enough to take unsupervised control.
I think the mimicking may be the most dangerous aspect. People are conditioned, maybe even hard-wired, to believe other people who are talking to them and sound like they know what they are talking about. And they transfer this same acceptance and trust to AI because it has the ability to imitate, to sound like such a person. But the AI may be hallucinating "facts" that are not true, or it may even be fronting for someone's agenda. It's a new thing and people don't have defenses yet. We don't even have much of a strategy for developing defenses, which in my opinion would be largely a matter of wising up, though I can see a disclosure requirement as a key part of society's defenses.
I’m not sure where I recently heard it, but I’m thinking it might have been the Commentary podcast. Someone basically commented that we’ve solved all the big problems, so now we spend time worrying about the *small stuff.*
I think that’s true in a lot of ways. The majority of us don’t have to worry about food, clothing or shelter. Some of the worst health problems now have solutions, and people are living longer than ever before. Of course, we now seem to be going through a self destructive period when it comes to personal health. I wonder what that’s all about?
I think the point is that because we aren’t spending time dealing with the basics, we have more time to worry about a plethora of other things. And, what we haven’t thought of, social media and MSM provide plenty to fill the gaps.
Within my parents’ lifetime, the changes they experienced were and are hard to imagine. In my 72 years, it seems as though the biggest change was personal computers, something that started making it possible to reach out to people and places that were impossible for the average person before that.
We are fearful and concerned because we are able to know about almost anything that is happening at any given moment. I live in Wisconsin, and I am able to know what’s happening in California or Florida or even South Dakota. I know when there’s a wildfire, or a kidnapping, or some other horrific thing in places that are far across the country. And, to top that off, I am constantly made aware of all the global instability.
That’s why I’m trying to spend less time online, and more time enjoying my life. It’s a gift we’ve stopped being grateful for in our obsession with the next possible disaster.
A lot of people seem to live in fear of other people in general. Why else would home security systems and cameras be so commonplace these days? I blame the sensationalizing news people.
People used to wish they could have those systems, but they used to be too big and expensive. Now they're not.
Agree completely!
Here's a darling new video about pets in medieval England:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b78z2jfglk
Much better than worrying about what’s going on in the world!
That's fun.
Fun!
Good morning. Sunny but cold day, staying at or below freezing all day.
The mothership is covering the Supreme Court arguments yesterday over the Tennessee bill banning so-called "gender affirming" treatments, whether hormonal or surgical, for minors. (As an aside, the phrase "gender affirming" is not a neutral term, but is widely used in the media, which indicates their bias).
Meanwhile, TGIF's headline is "Pardon Me?" and the subhead is "America’s president, Dr. Jill, pardons Hunter." Zing!
Biden will forever be a joke punchline because he couldn’t or wouldn’t see when it was time to walk away. Dr. Jill and others who knew better deserve a share of the blame. His party is paying the price.
Yes. The whole mess reveals just how idiotic some of the White House shenanigans are. Dr. Jill should have taken away the key a long time ago, but she apparently very much enjoys playing Empress Dowager.
Depending on what Donald Trump does in the next 4 years, we may all be paying the price. That will be Joe Biden's true legacy.
Nellie was very funny today.
I enjoy her writing.
A thought about the CEO shooting. Many sickos are praising it, or at a minimum excusing it. I don't. Murder has been wrong since at least Cain and Abel.
One commenter wrote that safety nets are designed to keep us safe...I was sad by that, because they miss the point.
Our Heavenly Father wants us to care for others, so we can experience the joy of love, of giving to others. We share in his creation when we do. It is a gift he gives to us. But it requires us to love more than just our spouse and kids, but to love everyone. And that isn't easy, especially my neighbor who views the wind as his version of raking leaves into my yard. 😡
A government doing that may be more efficient (WNC residents may disagree), or have more means, but it robs us of that gift. We don't feel it is us doing it.
I am sure the Bills Mafia gets paid for shoveling out the stadium, but when I watch them they seem to have fun doing it. There's a joy there.
My grandmother was poor, especially during the depression. She taped her shoes for years afterwards, to my Mom's chagrin. But Grandmother Crockett never turned away anyone for a meal. Hobos knew she'd feed them. So it wasn't welfare she'd have simple jobs for them to do, so they'd feel good about getting fed. And she'd ask them for help, it wasn't a requirement for being fed.
Having a government do that may be more efficient, but when is the last time you felt joy in the government doing that?
If the government was even mildly efficient, I might feel some joy, but I very much get your point. Nice post, btw.
Those are totally inaccurate waves in the artwork.
Not in my dreams! 😳
You wouldn’t believe how much I get bogged down and wallow in OCD thoughts over image selection, which is why I’ve generally given it up. Just describing something very vaguely and having the llm generate something is so much less tortuous.
In some ways, this tracks with recent stories that Google is suffering a decline in search profits because younger folk are skipping the effort of searching websites and analyzing them one by one, in favor of getting an AI to find and summarize the search results. I advocate that, too, in the form of Perplexity AI’s search tool, for instance. It gives you the links to its summaries as a list of footnoted links.
I actually had the same thought on the waves in the image, and considered having ChatGPT generate another, but…there’s no end to that in an OCD mindset…
I, on the other hand, make a point of scrolling right past the AI material at the top of my Google search results. (I'm hoping maybe they'll figure out that I'm not interested and stop putting them up for me.) I try not to even register what they say anymore. I just keep going until I come to links to actual websites, and I follow the results from the ones I consider relevant and authoritative. Just because "Google" says something about something doesn't mean it is true or even has much to do with what you wanted to know.
I've had to actually explain that concept to people. Mostly younger ones, but not always.
I’m not too wild about the Google Gemini summaries. The ones that Microsoft Copilot does in the Edge browser are a bit better when it comes to getting to the point of a simple task that I happen to know something about.
But if you want a different experience entirely, Perplexity does much, much better than those or the other newish built-in online llms. (Amazon’s Rufus tool does a decent job at its limited task of summing up user reviews, which can save time.)
Thank you, but it seems you are speaking a different dialect from mine. I didn't know they were called Gemini summaries, but I don't need to. I refuse to use Edge. I use Firefox. I don't know what Perplexity is, or what a built-in online lim is. And I will certainly never engage Rufus! Doesn't matter to me what names they give the bots, I don't talk to bots. I can read stuff on web pages all by myself. I'm pretty quick at making my way through the underbrush to what I want. That's my position and I'm sticking to it!
Thanks for trying to be helpful anyway. And thanks for all the likes.
I wish I understood your 2nd paragraph... :-)
Here’s one of the Google stories:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/google-is-losing-ground-to-unexpected-rivals-in-search-ad-revenue-and-name-popularity-according-to-new-estimates/ar-AA1rTTNS
They mention that Gen Z no longer uses “to google” as a verb anymore…
The summarizing search engine that really helps is Perplexity AI:
https://www.perplexity.ai/
If you’re looking for information like “how to change screen output settings in Windows 11 to prevent image cutoff on edges” (asking for a friend), Perplexity doesn’t just give you a bunch of site links for you to surf through—including sometimes obnoxious adware popups—it gives you a summary with the links as footnotes. It’s not perfect, but it does save considerable time in a lot of specific searches.
You probably mean OCPD. I’m a little sensitive to the inaccurate way in which people use the term OCD. I live with my son who suffers dreadfully from OCD.
Forgive me, but the additional 'P' (for personality) doesn't seem to add anything to the definition, even if it's the preferred clinical term
Trust me, they are not the same. https://www.verywellhealth.com/ocd-vs-ocpd-5197998#:~:text=The%20symptoms%20of%20OCD%20and%20OCPD%20can%20overlap.,do%20not%20occur%20in%20OCPD.
Thanks for this! I'm glad to have this information after losing a dear friend to OCD. No one should ever make jokes about OCD or OCPD, unless it is the person actually diagnosed with it. I signed up for the newletter. Hopefully this will help my understanding of family and friends who have been struggling with this.
Sorry about that. I figured it wasn’t the right term. Just was in need of something to call it…the ability to get sidetracked until mental derailment, if there’s a better term for that. Fickle goofy run-of-the-mill neurosis, or something.
Definitely ADD or ADHD, which runs in my family. I can very easily be distracted; however, I can also become intensely absorbed, and almost unaware of anything else.
What we old people call ADD. It's interesting that so many who suffer the problem ended up mesmerized by the screen - but it is sure full of rabbit holes!
It’s OK, you’re not the only one who does that. I just want people up add that additional P and all is good!
David Baszucki (creator/founder of Roblox) and his wife Jan used metabolic therapy to get their son over his severe bipolar disorder. They established a research foundation to continue pursuing the science in that area.
Their website is https://www.metabolicmind.org/
The research behind the treatment is partly inspired by the work of Chris Palmer, which he covered in his book “Brain Energy”. Palmer mentions OCD as one of the areas where metabolic treatment *can* work, but strongly recommends professional assistance.
We're pretty desperate, conventional therapy hasn't helped him. The psychiatrist is all about trying drugs, drugs and more drugs that just make him feel crappy. Hopefully some day something will be discovered to help this insidious mental illness.
Thanks for link! The AVE devices can be very helpful too with lots of things, including ADD, but be very careful of these in general because improper use can trigger BP mania. They say the same for TMS but I don"t know.
"Just describing something very vaguely and having the llm generate something is so much less tortuous."
And then a viewer with a differently-glitchy brain says, "Those are totally inaccurate waves"!
Don't worry about it. It's all fine.
I am confused! Did you add the AI “corrections” and image to the Marqueg68 OP? Are you the same person or is one of you an AI generated alter-ego?
I,m an electronic ignoramous and have given up trying (can you tell?!)
I think there’s a general feeling of optimism these days. Check out that stock market! OK OK do I think that’s going to last….ummmm, no. Maybe a few more months but reality will hit. The national debt is a disaster.
I agree but the problem is I’ve been thinking that for 20 years or so and it keeps not happening. Should I cash in now, or wait a couple more years, or move off the grid, or what?
If you're young-ish, I wouldn't worry about it. We are within 5 years of retirement and aren't super comfy being 100% in the market. Thank goodness we can at least earn 4+% in short term treasuries but we've also forgone the huge gains in the market the past few years (except for a few holdings.) We are pretty risk averse this close to retirement.
Talk about a question with no answer…
I comment from a different pseudonym. 😇
Today’s special animal friend is the lilac-breasted roller, Coracias caudatus. This sturdy, colorful bird is found throughout the lower half of Africa. They are about 10 inches high, with long tail streamers, and they are colored in patches of green, blue, reddish, olive, and the distinctive lilac (or purple) breast, as if you told your child to color a colorful bird while you make dinner. The two subspecies have slightly different shades. Males and females look very similar, while juveniles have more subdued coloring.
https://ebird.org/species/librol2
The members of the Coraciidae family are called “rollers” because some of the species engage in aerobatic courtship flights. Because it’s hard to tell the sexes apart, ornithologists aren’t sure whether this is a behavior of males only or of both sexes. It looks very air-show, and I thought about that crash in “The Great Waldo Pepper”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAiROYPvxVM
They live in open, savannah habitat with some large trees and shrubs. They often perch on a branch in a clearing. They are carnivorous, consuming lots of invertebrates as well as lizards, snakes, and other birds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbnXdJP4igE
As is so often the case with southern African animals, the breeding season depends on the local rainfall patterns. They are cavity nesters, putting some dead grass in a tree hollow or an excavation in a termite mound. They don’t dig their own hollows but take over the homes of other animals. The female usually lays 2 or 3 eggs, and both parents incubate them for 22-24 days. Fledging takes about a month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zByZrWPjjaY
The lilac-breasted roller is a species of Least Concern. There are abundant populations in many countries, and they are well represented in national parks and wildlife preserves.
A pretty little bird, somewhat reminiscent of the indigo bunting of North America.
I'm guessing it is male birds deciding who wins the courting competition, because in most species, it's the guys who do stupid things like that.
But I could be wrong.
The male birds may be doing more risky stunts, but the females decide who wins.
Very flashy. The colorful wings in flight remind me of our mockingbirds.
This reminds me of a song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3jEb4ZqArQ
Very nice!
Folks imagine China as being this stultifying restrictive set of rules, but at street level where I exist, it's pretty wide open. Street vendors galore that would never be allowed in any America municipality, and little businesses opening up in garages and makeshift sheds where folks can at least pursue their own little business ideas. None of that is allowed in America without onerous licensing, zoning, and restrictive regulations that stifle the creativity that's in everyone.
Not to in any way contest your observations. But it's been obvious for a long time that the post-Mao rulers of the PRC figured out how to make a Marxist state viable, perhaps learning from the failures of the Soviet Union.
What’s funny is if you had a good understanding of what’s going on in China, you would understand that China is a capitalist country where the general population is the most hard wired for entrepreneurial and non-communist activity as is imaginable. It's way more entrepreneurial and capitalist crazy than America. Yes, there is a big state with the SOE's that are struggling to maintain their hold on the commoners, but everyone gets what's going on. No one believes the Marxist crap and few pay any attention to the big man still blabbering Marxist stupidities.
You need to do a deep dive on the actual policy initiatives taking place right now. It is not a communist country. It is a bizarre hybrid of capitalism struggling with a small coterie of increasingly sidelined individuals mouthing Marxist homilies. To provide a realistic and comprehensive description of the craziness of this place would take up way too much of my time. Just please understand, it is not a communist country. That’s all a bunch of bizarre Western media stupidity. Completely crazy? Absolutely yes. Communist? No.
It's not a communist country, it's just ruled by a communist party.
Yes, thank you...and one more time, if one is deeply engaged with what's actually happening, the Party is commie in name only. The name isn't going away, and it's always possible that some weird backflip double gainer will occur that once again makes the real commies ascendant, but this place ain't commie. It's so hilariously capitalist and enamored of luxury and status, I don't see backsliding on any scale that's significant.
I read in our local paper the appeals court struck down the lower court’s ruling that home bakers (think cottage bakery like the oatcakes my daughter makes) must follow the same rules as retail establishments in order to sell their goods. Practically speaking that means all goods must be baked in a commercial kitchen (defined by regulations.) Maddening. Time to contact the local representatives to get this fixed.
That's a perfect example. Someone just trying to make a few extra bucks, or maybe they're trying to grow a business, and they get squashed. It's all wrong.
So I went back to read the opinion and the DATCP (Dept of Trade and Consumer Protection which sounds communist-y) did not appeal the part of the lower court ruling that ruled the state could not disallow cottage bakers to sell BAKED goods. They appealed the part of the decision where the court stated cottage bakers could sell "unbaked" goods, like fudge or no-bake bars. Muffins and cake are OK, NO FUDGE FOR YOU.
Thank you again. I (well, a lot of the time) live in The People's Republic of Evanston, and to read their and the State of Illinois similar documents is to feel one is living in a Communist country.
The difference between here and the States is in the States, this stuff is rigidly enforced. Here, the mechanisms seem designed to be circumvented, or at least, no one is enforcing much of anything. It's a free for all at the grass roots level. This is very similar or exactly the same as all previous dynasties. The Emperor makes proclamations, and the citizenry goes on about its business navigating around the proclamations.
Pick your battles!
Trying to make it in the world is a battle. One shouldn't have to battle local governments just to operate some little business entity. I've foregone a lot of battles just because I don't want to deal with the stiffs.
Lol - I actually meant the CPC had picked its battles!
The US govt reminds me of those guys I used to see at the gym who liked to drop 500 lb plates on the floor and break your eardrums. They had little pinheads on tick bodies and could hardly walk. They puzzled over hot rod mags between sets.
Also, you used CPC which is the correct name. FWIW, Chinese recognized years ago that Americans just weren't going to call the party by its correct name and accepted it. The correct response, if someone uses CCP, is to ignore it and keep moving. But, it's CPC for anyone interested in the silliness of our international relationship...(me, for instance).
Hah! Now I get it.
Good description....little pinheads on tick bodies... that made me laugh.
Did they also groan dramatically? I once said, "It sounds like he's going to have that baby any minute now!" and several other older women cracked up.
Good one.
Hahaha!
Axios this morning has an interesting bit about how enormously wealthy the incoming cabinet nominees are. It struck me that the income disparity in this country has really gotten out of control. In any event, here you go:
https://www.axios.com/2024/12/06/trump-billionaires-cabinet-elon-musk?
The income disparities are huge here—but you really see them when you move between higher population centers and the rural areas. Most of the metrics I’ve seen that compare the present with the past, there’s been a general upgrade in the middle sections of the income distribution over the past three or five decades: The rich have gotten richer and more numerous; so have the middle quintiles.
The poorest have it better than previous generations, too, especially measured by access to modern conveniences and amenities—by a large margin. Wealth effects for the whole of society have lifted all boats, as it were.
The nosebleed segments of the income distro are likelier to make good friends in high places by having the cash to throw at political campaigns. That’s been the traditional American way of doling out ambassadorships—and a rather frivolous tradition at that…
I,m in a transition area - very poor rural to high-income bedroom suburbia.
You don,t see much dirt poor here any more, unlike the deep south and Appalachia, because of sophistication regarding govt redistribution.
It would take too long to look up all the bios, but I wonder how many are rags to riches stories? Either themselves or their parents/spouses. Is created wealth (fixed it!) better/different than inherited wealth?
I agree that the disparity has gotten out of control - but it's complicated. I don't mind at all that truly creative and productive people make lots of money, but there there's a lot of parsing to do among the current crop of the very rich. What bothers me a lot is the thin line between the middle class and the bottom. Too many people have simply dropped out and too many working people are struggling terribly.
Agree with you there. What is stunning is the gap that has grown in corporations between the pay of the CEO and the working layers of the company.
I think it's one thing when the CEO is the founder or innovator, the guy who bet everything but his dental fillings on one mad roll of the dice and turned out to be right. It's something else when the CEO is a hireling.
One of the problems is that it's very difficult to measure upper management's actual contribution to the success of a company. It's easier to identify catastrophic failure, but even then, the executive generally walks away, still extremely wealthy.
A similar dynamic can be seen in the roles of people like university presidents. What are they even doing? Fundraising, one reads. Interfacing with government and the super wealthy. How is "success" or "failure" measured? What are the penalties for failure?
For university presidents, there is no penalty for failure, near as I can tell. It's a club with an obscure registration and acceptance matrix. Even Claudine Gay will most likely move on to "better" and definitely higher (paid) callings.
I agree.
You mentioned U presidents just as I was thinking of U NCAA sportsball coaches. Even when they have a hopeless losing streak, they walk away with multi-million-dollar severance packages.
I find subsidized college/university sports a real thorn.
Me too, which contradicts my fascination with college sports. I don't get myself (most of the time).
Yes, that's another good analogy. There are many people in many positions who, no matter how badly they fail, will never experience any meaningful decline in their standard of living.
I don't resent those people personally - unless I can tie a specific decision/action to a specific bad outcome for me - but I think this situation creates a bad incentive structure.
I'm not so good. In my darker moments, I resent these mopes. It doesn't give me indigestion or interrupt anything in my life, but resentment is there occasionally. I did a couple jobs for NU; the university was renovating the Prez's house (mansion). These people are weird. All the folks at higher level administrative positions are weezle types. Every act, utterance, or random bathroom visit seems to have politically inspired overtones.
Remember when Amazon was an online book seller? I tried to talk my husband into investing because I thought it was such an awesomely well-run company which showed incredibile promise - he said a horrified no because it hadn't shown a profit over its history. Well, shoot…
I thankfully disregarded all the conventional wisdom and people telling me I didn't know WTF I was doing and got in when it was $260-ish.
I wish.
Agree.
Clever use of AI
Thanks!
This is a good one. I could get complicated, esoteric and multi faceted, or I can look at simply. I'm going simple. There's lots of folks out there with good ideas ready and raring to go, but it so often runs into those regulatory limitations you describe early on. There are always going to be laggards and non-creatives, but it seems like they've achieved a majority, or at least the legislative power, to nip creative effort with a blizzard of hoops and required gymnastics. I know I've had thoughts of building various projects, but end up going "nah" because I just don't want to deal with the stiffs.
That problem in building things is really severe in America’s deep blue cities, and states that are dominated by them. Out here in the boonies of West Virginia, there isn’t even code enforcement in 46 of 55 counties. You can stack milk crates together and sell it for a house if you want.
Our county has code enforcement, as does our nearest city (as defined by law) of Beckley, 19K population). The goofy city has its own code up to the highest international standards, now requiring arc-fault circuit breakers for any electrical upgrade work—sometimes on housing stock that has embedded knob-and-tube wiring.
The idea seems to be to continue ratcheting up building code standards until the most modest dwelling can withstand a nuclear armageddon, money no object…
Don't get me started... Folks wonder why affordable housing is unattainable. We make it that way.
No building permit required when I did a bathroom remodel up north. Perhaps one is required when building a new structure but nothing for remodeling.
Great. Just great. Now I not only have all my other fears/issues, but I now have to parse whether Marque68 is actually doing the musing himself or just letting AI do the heavy lifting. I'm gonna go ski.
I hope you have a good day of skiing!
Thanks!
AI doesn't muse
It sort of muses. It certainly hallucinates.
But in such a polished way
Indeed.
Definitely a complex thing - Fear.
Lots to say. Later. Sleepy. But one big thing.
Rule 1. Don't dismiss another's fear of a thing.
It's never too soon for a little paranoia.
Paranoia has always been in style!!!