Daniel Wise

Are we going to ignore the part where Goldberg repeatedly highlights in his article that there was information communicated in the chat that he does not feel comfortable making public for national security reasons?

By the way, this is not a critique based on a personal disdain for low brow writing or whatever. I am currently working my way through Marvel's 1970s horror comic Tomb of Dracula, which has generally not been accused of being sophisticated.

Damn, I wish I could get that volume. I just suck at plotting. I can make flowy sentences, and I know my stuff is funny (I write fantasy comedy), but I just can't for the life of me plot. I'm always so worried about what exactly happens next in my book, and even if I have a general idea of what I want to happen eventually, getting there is painstaking. Almost 10k into my novel, and have no idea where to go from here. I dunno how people think of 6-8 fully fleshed out plots per year. Reply: Secret tip: Use ChatGPT or Claude. Brainstorm with it. Tell it where you are and ask for 10 suggestions of where to go next… and mix and match the responses. My plotting speed has 4x’d over the last year lol.

Sometimes, these writers are already turning to LLMs to assist in types of writing they themselves can't manage.

To add to this, the woman I mentioned originally has said she feels tapped out of ideas and wants to start writing more serious/adult novels for older audiences, but is finding it extremely difficult because she doesn't know how to write prose properly and not have a book be 90% dialogue etc in the ways that don't matter with her current niche. So it's cool what she's doing, but it can't last forever.

Sometimes, even these authors tire of their niche within iron genre conventions, but have difficulty writing outside of them.

I'm an editor. I have a client who self-publishes YA reverse harem romance novels on Amazon. Her books are around 45k words each, and she releases 6-8 books a year. She invests a lot into her books to make them successful. She has an alpha reader, beta reader, developmental editor, copy editor (me), proofreader, cover artist, formatter, and advertising. The cost to do all of this averages at $6000 per book, but she makes and average of $80k per book. She's found a niche in this fanfiction type of market, but believe me, the books aren't good. They're rushed, everything is predictable, the characters are weak, and everything else about it's plot isn't very believable, and yet people eat it up. I'll admit, from her cover design, it looks beautiful, something that's hard to scroll past, but it ends there. She wasn't rich before and had no following. She just saved up for a long time to be able to release her first book "the right way" (her words, referring to all the aforementioned editors and such).

If you don't believe me, listen to the editor of one of these authors:

Numerous authors are making careers churning out astonishing numbers of novels, novellas, and short stories using writing styles and employing plots, characters, and ideas that are locked-in genre conventions. As a result, LLMs could easily replicate this writing. It is really what AI is best at.

AI book publishing efforts are absolutely going to be successful if they focus on the new adult/YA types of fiction, fantasy, and romance that make Amazon millions by way of people using their self-publishing platform.

Hahaha so true

Well, we are living in the shadow of the period when the church was generally seen as a variation of the Lions Club. And now, like the Lions Club, our churches are dwindling.

I have felt for a while I need to read some Bergson.

Still image of 1934 footage of the giant Mickey Mouse balloon at the 1934 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

[Home Movies: Medicus Collection: New York, 1934] : Medicus, Gertrude and Philip : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Some good shots to be logged.Selected list of contents:New York City schoolchildren in street outside school family picnic roller skating in Central Park1934...

Without @archive.org there is so much research I couldn't do. But more importantly, I would have never gotten to see the creepy Mickey Mouse balloon at the 1934 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (skip to 48:15 in the video):

archive.org/details/0362...

The MMR vaccine is a live virus vaccine, so they wouldn't give it to someone while pregnant. The second dose did not go on the childhood schedule until 1989, so I assume they would have recommended it to your parents. I can't find anything about harm from a redundant shot.

God as mother

ICE Arrests Pro-Palestinian Activist at Columbia Mahmoud Khalil, who recently completed a graduate program at Columbia, has legal permanent residency, his lawyer said.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/09/n...

I didn't learn this until recently. Rosemary had to relearn how to walk and talk, and she had been set back so much intellectually that they had her secretly institutionalized for the rest of her life.

I am still haunted by the fact that JFK's sister Rosemary was lobotomized by their father while their mother was out of town because she had an intellectual disability and started struggling to pass in Kennedy social circles.

Luke 4:5ff Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “You know what, that actually sounds like a great idea. All of this ‘the last will be first’ and ‘Woe to you who are rich’ stuff is pretty inconvenient, not to mention my eventual being tortured to death like a slave. I’d rather be the one doing the torturing, you know what I mean? Satan, you get it. Look, if we are thinking about things rationally, isn’t the core of my message really about prioritizing your own family and your own people, and then maybe thinking about the rest of humanity? The best way to do that is clearly to set up some sort of political regime, not pander to a bunch of people looking for handouts. I mean, everyday, the poor and the sick are crowding around me saying, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ And look, Satan, I really don’t appreciate your methods and some of the things you say are iffy, but let’s not lose sight of the big picture here: you get things done.”

In light of the current political moment, I thought we could use a revised translation of the Gospel reading appointed for today (Jesus' temptation by Satan in the wilderness):

Modern-Day Oracles or Bullshit Machines: Introduction A free online humanities course about how to learn and work and thrive in an AI world.

Friends, I very highly recommend these accessible, concise lessons from @carlbergstrom.com and Jevin D. West if you need to explain to anyone what LLMs/AI are, what their pitfalls are, and why they cannot be said to "think." Read it yourself even to be ready for these convos
thebullshitmachines.com

The Wayback Machine via Internet Archive comes in handy quite a bit. Wish they had the capacity to scrape even more.

Well, I think Homicide reflected the reality quite a bit at the time with people they often arrested. The show definitely acknowledges the fact that once someone calls a lawyer, interrogation is almost useless

It's pretty nuts. I'm imagining all the money these scholars will be out and the logistics of returning and finding housing on such short notice. Jokes on them for trusting the US gov't? It's not like trust in the US gov't to pay as promised is existentially important for the nation...

I have been watching Homicide: LotS and Brooklyn 99 recently and I'm always kind of thrown by the shows depiction of a world in which almost no one asks for a lawyer immediately

What is the presentation you are working on? And how widely accessible will it be?

A post somewhere reminded me to withdraw my critique of Parker Posey's southern accent in White Lotus. I was taken aback by her first few lines, but she kind of settled in a good place.

I always thought LP and his fans were the worst, but it rose to a new level when I heard about his performance at Woodstock 99

Update Alright well I guess at no point ever again can you have anything but leafy greens and a piece of cheese or you'll shit and vomit for a few hours. Prior to 1mg I could once in a while indulge in a small portion of "cheat" items and get some discomfort. Which is perfectly fine. But have a hamburger put me violently vomiting for 2 hours I guess is on me

Eventually, the OP adds a defensive and sarcastic edit to their comment.

Your body will spit out fatty foods in a heartbeat! Kind telling you what you don’t need. Drink lots of water and eat less fat. I can’t still have a burger, but no mayo I load it with lettuce tomato onions and pickles and ketchup. Fries I don’t crave. I eat rice, beans, salads etc. But not too much meat! Meat will sit in your tummy for hours!! Sometimes I have a vegetable sandwich and I’m fine! Beef is the hardest! Chicken and fish . And too much spicy foods will give you the runs!

I will also add one more reply that suggests a nutritional knowledge the drug itself seems to hold and enforce on the body. The key phrase being: "Your body will spit out fatty foods in a heartbeat! Kind telling you what you don’t need."

Reply 1: I have been on 1mg for 3 weeks, I found lower carbs make the nausea go away completely. If you can, meat, cheese, salads, fruit, but fundamentally, eat less . A burger and fries will make you feel awful. Get bunless burger and salad Soon you wont crave the fries or the bun. Its really working for me, I was a burger monster! Reply 2: My family LOVES burgers at home. Normally now I either skip all together or take a much smaller patty straight, on a plate, with a little ketchup. Slow, well chewed bites have gone well when I was at 1mg.

Reply 1: For me, carbs have mostly been all I have been able to eat. I am only 6 weeks in and have been on .5mg the whole time. It has only been the past few days that I have been able to add in a small amount of meat. Reply 2: Yeah other people told me the same, I am the other way round. Cutting out the carbs has made the nausea and lower tummy issues go away completely. I just do low carb fruit and veg (well low fodmap which weirdly seems to help), eg blueberries, apples, bananas, avocado, cabbage, carrots, green beans, peppers, courgette, Lettice, cauliflower, small amounts of onion, leeks, tomatoes, eggs, cheese, cream, high fat Greek yoghurt, meat (all of it chicken, beef, lamb, pork, venison), fish, olive oil, ground nut oil, butter, beef dripping/tallow. Small amounts of spuds. I feel 10000% times better and losing 200-300grams a day. Better concentration, no mid afternoon naps, more energy, better sleep. No nausea or bad tummy. My food tastes netter, I savour it more. I really miss mushrooms, beans, lentils, I'd like to eat more spuds but they fill me up too fast and leave no room for anything else. But maybe when I am at GW I can eat more of these. I don't miss broccoli..

In spite of some commenters' insistence that the OP is to blame for not following the clear rules for healthy diet known to both nutrition professionals and the drug semaglutide, other commenters can't seem to agree on how one needs to eat to avoid the side effects.

Ozempic is a tool to help you make changes to what you eat. It doesn't do that for you. 90% of the side effects reported are because of incompatible diets. High protein and fiber are key to a healthy diet, which means lean protein and vegetables. Burger fries and Indian takeout are off the menu unfortunately, there isn't an ounce of fiber in those meals. Try and see a nutritionist, they can really help you understand how to choose combinations of food that are satisfying. Ozempic is a waste without investing an equal part in diet and exercise.

Here a commenter blames the well-recognized and common side effects on users refusing to accept the discipline of the drug. It is not the drug itself, it is the insolent patient.