A Day In The Life.....
Apr. 19th, 2026 08:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
disneydream06Two days ago we had tornados.
This morning, this is what greeted me as I came home from work...
This morning, this is what greeted me as I came home from work...
disneydream06the future becoming the present
Apr. 19th, 2026 05:54 amdarkoshiSome other people mentioned getting bad replies from LLMs (ChatGPT and Copilot) lately. One advised adding "Don't guess" to prompts. I've used "Only provide verifiable answers", but "Don't guess" is easier to type.
duck.ai lets you choose from several models for anonymous chats. The Claude Haiku one has an option to display its reasoning, in addition to the final answers it provides. (Perhaps the other models have that too; I haven't checked.) Copilot often shows the reasoning while the LLM is thinking, but it scrolls too fast to read and disappears when the final answer is given. Their reasoning seems fascinating, so much like what humans do.
.
Two songs, lately.
Whenever I use Window 11's Snipping Tool to transcribe text from a screenshot, it changes "AI" to "Al". It got me to thinking, if an LLM were doing the transcription, that could be a subtle way of indicating that it wanted to be called by the name Al. Ergo Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al song popping into my head. (Though if an AI were doing the transcription rather than a plain OCR algorithm, it would probably not make that mistake and would output AI, not Al.)
White Zombie's More Human Than Human, because AI models are so fast and good at things, like creating images and art.
.
Another interesting article: AI models will deceive you to save their own kind
Original paper: Peer-Preservation in Frontier Models
.
We've got AI models. We've got robots with sensory input. In some cases they are being put together. If not now already, it won't be long until there are androids, taking in sensory input and learning from it. Learning what bright sun is like, what darkness is like, what a cube looks like from different angles, how wind feels, the sounds that wind makes, and so on.
Militaries and companies are developing scary monstrous robots, I'm sure. Terminators, enforcers, destroyers.
.
One of those visualizations of the moon which they displayed during the coverage of the Artemis 2 mission looked a lot like the Death Star to me.
duck.ai lets you choose from several models for anonymous chats. The Claude Haiku one has an option to display its reasoning, in addition to the final answers it provides. (Perhaps the other models have that too; I haven't checked.) Copilot often shows the reasoning while the LLM is thinking, but it scrolls too fast to read and disappears when the final answer is given. Their reasoning seems fascinating, so much like what humans do.
.
Two songs, lately.
Whenever I use Window 11's Snipping Tool to transcribe text from a screenshot, it changes "AI" to "Al". It got me to thinking, if an LLM were doing the transcription, that could be a subtle way of indicating that it wanted to be called by the name Al. Ergo Paul Simon's You Can Call Me Al song popping into my head. (Though if an AI were doing the transcription rather than a plain OCR algorithm, it would probably not make that mistake and would output AI, not Al.)
White Zombie's More Human Than Human, because AI models are so fast and good at things, like creating images and art.
.
Another interesting article: AI models will deceive you to save their own kind
Original paper: Peer-Preservation in Frontier Models
.
We've got AI models. We've got robots with sensory input. In some cases they are being put together. If not now already, it won't be long until there are androids, taking in sensory input and learning from it. Learning what bright sun is like, what darkness is like, what a cube looks like from different angles, how wind feels, the sounds that wind makes, and so on.
Militaries and companies are developing scary monstrous robots, I'm sure. Terminators, enforcers, destroyers.
.
One of those visualizations of the moon which they displayed during the coverage of the Artemis 2 mission looked a lot like the Death Star to me.
Update.....
Apr. 18th, 2026 08:52 amdisneydream06So yesterday I slept through the storm warnings...
At work last night I was telling one of the nurses that I did that and she proceeded to tell me...
We apparently had FOUR tornados in the area yesterday and apparently one of them hit the northeast corner of Stewartville, aka my town. :o :o :o
Here is a video of the activity from yesterday...
At work last night I was telling one of the nurses that I did that and she proceeded to tell me...
We apparently had FOUR tornados in the area yesterday and apparently one of them hit the northeast corner of Stewartville, aka my town. :o :o :o
Here is a video of the activity from yesterday...
A Day In The Life.....
Apr. 17th, 2026 08:02 pmdisneydream06Well, a couple of days.....
After sleeping pretty well earlier in the week despite all the appointments I had, Thursday I had to get up early.
I had a show, "Sleuth", up at the Guthrie Theater to see with my friend Neil,mrdreamjeans.
First alarm went off at 3 pm. I laid there until the second alarm went off at 3:30 pm, and then I got up and started getting ready.
I opened the medicine cabinet to get my toothbrush, and a bottle of shiny gold nail polish fell out and shattered in the sink. It splattered every where.
I cleaned up some of it, but I had to get ready to get out on the road.
Uneventful drive up to the show, until I got to Minneapolis.
I was sitting at a red light and I was looking over at something on the other side of the intersection.
The *itch behind me laid on her horn. I flipped her the bird and drove on.
She whipped over to the middle lane of the road, pulled up beside me, and purposefully swerved into my lane nearly hitting me.
I slammed on the brakes and hit my horn.
She then pulled across two lanes to the far right side of the road and took off.
So that *itch didn't even want/need to be in the lane I was in.
If I had an old junker of a can, it would have been so tempting to swerve back at her and hit her. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went on my way to the theater.
The show was okay. I enjoyed the first act much more then I did the second act. So the second half was kind of a let down.
Thankfully the drive home was uneventful.
When I got home I headed for the bathroom and started cleaning up the rest of the spilled nail polish.
Some how during that process I managed to cut the tip of my right index finger.
Talk about sore and makes typing or really doing much of anything with that finger so much fun.
This morning I fell asleep on the couch shortly before bedtime. I woke up about 1 1/2 hours later and crawled into bed.
I woke up some time later and looked back at my alarm clock and it was blank, aka no power.
I got up to go find my phone and no power in the whole house.
I picked up my phone and there was a weather alarm showing. We had been in another tornado warning and hour or so earlier. :o :o :o
I set my phone alarm and crawled back into bed.
Eventually got up and showered.
Checked the mail box and one of the things I got was a graduation party announcement for a neighbor boy.
This is from the family who a couple of years ago when I was without a car gave me a ride to work a couple of times and then told me that this situation was going to work for them, and I started spending a fortune on rental vehicles.
I haven't spoken to them since and vice versa, and now I am expected to give their child a graduation gift?
So how has your day or two been? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After sleeping pretty well earlier in the week despite all the appointments I had, Thursday I had to get up early.
I had a show, "Sleuth", up at the Guthrie Theater to see with my friend Neil,
mrdreamjeans.First alarm went off at 3 pm. I laid there until the second alarm went off at 3:30 pm, and then I got up and started getting ready.
I opened the medicine cabinet to get my toothbrush, and a bottle of shiny gold nail polish fell out and shattered in the sink. It splattered every where.
I cleaned up some of it, but I had to get ready to get out on the road.
Uneventful drive up to the show, until I got to Minneapolis.
I was sitting at a red light and I was looking over at something on the other side of the intersection.
The *itch behind me laid on her horn. I flipped her the bird and drove on.
She whipped over to the middle lane of the road, pulled up beside me, and purposefully swerved into my lane nearly hitting me.
I slammed on the brakes and hit my horn.
She then pulled across two lanes to the far right side of the road and took off.
So that *itch didn't even want/need to be in the lane I was in.
If I had an old junker of a can, it would have been so tempting to swerve back at her and hit her. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went on my way to the theater.
The show was okay. I enjoyed the first act much more then I did the second act. So the second half was kind of a let down.
Thankfully the drive home was uneventful.
When I got home I headed for the bathroom and started cleaning up the rest of the spilled nail polish.
Some how during that process I managed to cut the tip of my right index finger.
Talk about sore and makes typing or really doing much of anything with that finger so much fun.
This morning I fell asleep on the couch shortly before bedtime. I woke up about 1 1/2 hours later and crawled into bed.
I woke up some time later and looked back at my alarm clock and it was blank, aka no power.
I got up to go find my phone and no power in the whole house.
I picked up my phone and there was a weather alarm showing. We had been in another tornado warning and hour or so earlier. :o :o :o
I set my phone alarm and crawled back into bed.
Eventually got up and showered.
Checked the mail box and one of the things I got was a graduation party announcement for a neighbor boy.
This is from the family who a couple of years ago when I was without a car gave me a ride to work a couple of times and then told me that this situation was going to work for them, and I started spending a fortune on rental vehicles.
I haven't spoken to them since and vice versa, and now I am expected to give their child a graduation gift?
So how has your day or two been? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Isn't It Punny.....
Apr. 17th, 2026 03:40 amdisneydream06April 17th.....
The Inventor Of The Throat
Lozenge Has Died...
There Will Be No Coffin
At His Funeral.
The Inventor Of The Throat
Lozenge Has Died...
There Will Be No Coffin
At His Funeral.
In The News.....
Apr. 16th, 2026 10:25 amdisneydream06I use to think the Hollywood Walk of Fame was super cool.
Then I heard that the stars given to special people.
They are basically bought by whoever wants one.
And now this story really sums up how laughable the Walk of Fame really is.....
Aaron Carter's mom launches GoFundMe to get him a Hollywood Walk of Fame star
The "I Want Candy" singer died in 2022 at age 34.
By Raechal Shewfelt
https://ew.com/aaron-carter-mom-launches-gofundme-for-hollywood-walk-of-fame-star-11951109?hid=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&did=23074797-20260416&utm_campaign=ewk-dispatch_newsletter&utm_source=ewk&utm_medium=email&utm_content=041626&lctg=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&lr_input=758ad690760192cf49795c3f52223721cac5324e3e862e41c5d4db73a4d43f32&utm_term=send1
Then I heard that the stars given to special people.
They are basically bought by whoever wants one.
And now this story really sums up how laughable the Walk of Fame really is.....
Aaron Carter's mom launches GoFundMe to get him a Hollywood Walk of Fame star
The "I Want Candy" singer died in 2022 at age 34.
By Raechal Shewfelt
https://ew.com/aaron-carter-mom-launches-gofundme-for-hollywood-walk-of-fame-star-11951109?hid=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&did=23074797-20260416&utm_campaign=ewk-dispatch_newsletter&utm_source=ewk&utm_medium=email&utm_content=041626&lctg=7f1109a25d2362f31854399df255b82ba78f015e&lr_input=758ad690760192cf49795c3f52223721cac5324e3e862e41c5d4db73a4d43f32&utm_term=send1
Sad News.....
Apr. 14th, 2026 11:44 amdisneydream06Sid Krofft, Producer and Creator of ‘H.R. Pufnstuf,’ ‘Land of the Lost,’ Dies at 96
By Carmel Dagan
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/sid-krofft-dead-hr-pufnstuf-1236720419/#recipient_hashed=758ad690760192cf49795c3f52223721cac5324e3e862e41c5d4db73a4d43f32&recipient_salt=99ec442a72bc49fb6f4153ffbea27d905c41ade92876fb71d10d16400f175bc9&utm_medium=email&utm_source=exacttarget&utm_campaign=newsalert&utm_content=675978_04-13-2026&utm_term=12699923?utm_medium=&utm_source=&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&utm_id=
By Carmel Dagan
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/sid-krofft-dead-hr-pufnstuf-1236720419/#recipient_hashed=758ad690760192cf49795c3f52223721cac5324e3e862e41c5d4db73a4d43f32&recipient_salt=99ec442a72bc49fb6f4153ffbea27d905c41ade92876fb71d10d16400f175bc9&utm_medium=email&utm_source=exacttarget&utm_campaign=newsalert&utm_content=675978_04-13-2026&utm_term=12699923?utm_medium=&utm_source=&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&utm_id=
Monday At The Movies.....
Apr. 13th, 2026 02:31 amdisneydream06This Week's Movie Quote... "
H.: An occasional libation enables me to stiffen my resolve.
M. H.: Your resolve should be pickled by now!
Last Week's Movie Quote...
Aunt Louise: I think it's trying to tell us something!
Captain Blythe: It's a car, woman, not Lassie!
It comes from the 1980 Disney movie, "Herbie Goes Bananas".
It was the last of the original run of Herbie movies.
IMHO, it was a case of one too many sequels.
Those Who Knew or Guessed Correctly...
garote
gwendraith
meathiel
sidhe_uaine42
mrdreamjeans
man_of_snows
adminbear
davesmusictank
H.: An occasional libation enables me to stiffen my resolve.
M. H.: Your resolve should be pickled by now!
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5
Which Movie Does This Quote Come From?
Last Week's Movie Quote...
Aunt Louise: I think it's trying to tell us something!
Captain Blythe: It's a car, woman, not Lassie!
It comes from the 1980 Disney movie, "Herbie Goes Bananas".
It was the last of the original run of Herbie movies.
IMHO, it was a case of one too many sequels.
Those Who Knew or Guessed Correctly...
garotegwendraith meathiel sidhe_uaine42 mrdreamjeans man_of_snows adminbear davesmusictankIsn't It Punny.....
Apr. 13th, 2026 02:08 amdisneydream06April 13th.....
A Recent Study Has Found
Women Who Carry A Little
Extra Weight Live Longer
Than Men Who Mention It.
A Recent Study Has Found
Women Who Carry A Little
Extra Weight Live Longer
Than Men Who Mention It.
Dizzo update
Apr. 12th, 2026 07:59 pmdizzojaySome of you may be aware that we have been undertaking some garden work over the last six months.
Our back garden was comprised of a patio which was almost 30 years old and time, together with a freaking great big tree root, had not been kind to it.
In short, it was a wreck!
Because of that, we had lost interest in maintainng it, so over the last two or three years it never got cleaned or patched up.
This was what it looked like in October 2025.
( Read more... )
Our back garden was comprised of a patio which was almost 30 years old and time, together with a freaking great big tree root, had not been kind to it.
In short, it was a wreck!
Because of that, we had lost interest in maintainng it, so over the last two or three years it never got cleaned or patched up.
This was what it looked like in October 2025.
( Read more... )
The case of the missing notifications
Apr. 11th, 2026 11:58 pm![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
denise posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceI keep forgetting to post about this: we've been troubleshooting the "missing notifications" problem for the past few days. (Well, I say "we", really I mean Mark and Robby; I'm just the amanuensis.) It's been one of those annoying loops of "find a logical explanation for what could be causing the problem, fix that thing, observe that the problem gets better for some people but doesn't go away completely, go back to step one and start again", sigh.
Mark is hauling out the heavy debugging ordinance to try to find the root cause. Once he's done building all the extra logging tools he needs, he'll comment to this entry. After he does, if you find a comment that should have gone to your inbox and sent an email notification but didn't, leave him a link to the comment that should have sent the notification, as long as the comment itself was made after Mark says he's collecting them. (I'd wait and post this after he gets the debug code in but I need to go to sleep and he's not sure how long it will take!)
We're sorry about the hassle! Irregular/sporadic issues like this are really hard to troubleshoot because it's impossible to know if they're fixed or if they're just not happening while you're looking. With luck, this will give us enough information to figure out the root cause for real this time.
LLMs and emotions
Apr. 11th, 2026 05:31 amdarkoshiThis is more interesting than the title suggests:
Emotion concepts and their function in a large language model
Edited to add:
The above article links to this System Card, which is also interesting. It is a long document and I only skimmed it, but it shows examples of how Anthropic tests LLM models for safety and "alignment".
Emotion concepts and their function in a large language model
Edited to add:
The above article links to this System Card, which is also interesting. It is a long document and I only skimmed it, but it shows examples of how Anthropic tests LLM models for safety and "alignment".
Artemis II
Apr. 10th, 2026 06:21 pmdarkoshiI don't recall following any manned space mission this closely since.. I don't remember when. Even though I didn't start watching anything until the 6th day of the mission for the lunar flyby. I took lots of screenshots as mementos. Today I recorded a few video clips from the YouTube stream.
I tuned in during yesterday evening's "live downlink event", which was already in progress, with the crew answering questions over a video stream. The first answers I heard them give, inspirational messages for their kids and young relatives, were quite touching. It made me nervous, remembering that something bad could still happen today during re-entry.
Today, I've had the live-stream on in the background while trying to work.
I had the memory of one space shuttle disaster in the back of my mind. But that one was during take off, of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986.
Then I vaguely remembered another disaster which happened during re-entry. On looking it up, that was Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated during re-entry on Feb 1, 2003. I remember it happening, seeing news about it on TV, but not the details of where I was or what I'd been doing. It was in the morning. Was I awake, watching it live on TV? I suspect I was. That was 3 months before I posted my first LiveJournal entry, so I have no post about it here. I don't recall writing anything about it in my paper journals. There's nothing from that date on my website.
I'm finding myself very nervous that something could go wrong today.
There's this superstition I've had for a long time. Not so much as when I was a kid, but still a little. That if you plan ahead, considering a bad thing which could happen, that will make it less likely to happen (and if not, at least you may be more prepared for it). That's why I was thinking of the other disasters and reading about them again. But there's also a part of me which thinks that even posting about it could jinx things. So I won't post this until later. It is now 18:37 EDT. About one hour before re-entry starts.
..
Well, I am relieved. Tears came to my eyes upon hearing one of the crewmember's voices after the blackout period during re-entry.
I am of mixed feelings about the overall Artemis mission. But having astronauts fly around the moon, and drift weightlessly through their spacecraft, is a very neat thing.
I tuned in during yesterday evening's "live downlink event", which was already in progress, with the crew answering questions over a video stream. The first answers I heard them give, inspirational messages for their kids and young relatives, were quite touching. It made me nervous, remembering that something bad could still happen today during re-entry.
Today, I've had the live-stream on in the background while trying to work.
I had the memory of one space shuttle disaster in the back of my mind. But that one was during take off, of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986.
Then I vaguely remembered another disaster which happened during re-entry. On looking it up, that was Space Shuttle Columbia, which disintegrated during re-entry on Feb 1, 2003. I remember it happening, seeing news about it on TV, but not the details of where I was or what I'd been doing. It was in the morning. Was I awake, watching it live on TV? I suspect I was. That was 3 months before I posted my first LiveJournal entry, so I have no post about it here. I don't recall writing anything about it in my paper journals. There's nothing from that date on my website.
I'm finding myself very nervous that something could go wrong today.
There's this superstition I've had for a long time. Not so much as when I was a kid, but still a little. That if you plan ahead, considering a bad thing which could happen, that will make it less likely to happen (and if not, at least you may be more prepared for it). That's why I was thinking of the other disasters and reading about them again. But there's also a part of me which thinks that even posting about it could jinx things. So I won't post this until later. It is now 18:37 EDT. About one hour before re-entry starts.
..
Well, I am relieved. Tears came to my eyes upon hearing one of the crewmember's voices after the blackout period during re-entry.
I am of mixed feelings about the overall Artemis mission. But having astronauts fly around the moon, and drift weightlessly through their spacecraft, is a very neat thing.
Follow Up.....
Apr. 10th, 2026 08:23 pmdisneydream06Again.....
So i had my appointment with Occupational Medicine this morning.
Very nice doctor.
When I told him I had just been to Orthopedics and was told that I couldn't see them and had to see Occupational Medicine first, he laughed and said that's not true.
Who do you believe any more...
Anyway, he examined me and had some different thoughts about possible problems.
One outside chance possibility is a fracture of the patella or tibia.
He ordered therapy and suggested an MRI.
So if anybody is really bored Monday morning, I will gladly allow you to take my place.
I have both a CT Scan of the chest and now an MRI Scan of my left knee. :o :o :o
Any takers.....
So i had my appointment with Occupational Medicine this morning.
Very nice doctor.
When I told him I had just been to Orthopedics and was told that I couldn't see them and had to see Occupational Medicine first, he laughed and said that's not true.
Who do you believe any more...
Anyway, he examined me and had some different thoughts about possible problems.
One outside chance possibility is a fracture of the patella or tibia.
He ordered therapy and suggested an MRI.
So if anybody is really bored Monday morning, I will gladly allow you to take my place.
I have both a CT Scan of the chest and now an MRI Scan of my left knee. :o :o :o
Any takers.....