WTF-Beta

@wtg said:

Zoom in: Each defection, taken alone, could be dismissed. Together, they could represent an existential threat to MAGA.

Good!

@Bernard Nice!!

BTW from yesterday's NYT:

How Accurate Are Google’s A.I. Overviews?
The company’s A.I.-generated answers look authoritative, but they draw on an array of sources, from trustworthy sites to Facebook posts.

Regular link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/technology/google-ai-overviews-accuracy.html

Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/technology/google-ai-overviews-accuracy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZVA.gVON.lCi51gwbSqxm&smid=url-share

@jon-nyc said:

As an academic you should be aware that those tens of thousands of publications in 2025 were written ~2023.

Good point, I wasn't really thinking about that. (ling is mostly the same, not any faster turn around time than other social sciences).

But with this:

the hallucination problem doesn’t seem much changed.

I wasn't thinking about the academic article issue, more so just the hallucination problem.

I think AI has gotten better, in many ways. And I say that not just based on claims made by the companies producing the products, but from my own usage (for both research and teaching purposes).

So AI itself is improving. But IMO the hallucination problem has not decreased/improved, even if the percentages are improving, the problem persists. And what I wrote above (two years ago!) continues to be a problem. Namely, that the tasks people use AI for predispose them to be vulnerable to hallucinations because they're using AI for something they don't know, or can't do (or can't do fast enough) on their own.

Oh, but here's something that has changed (improved) in the last two years, which is tools like Notebook LM , which use the RAG model. This "retrieval model" has significantly fewer hallucinations (though not zero) because of how it works.

But ChatGPT continues to be the most widely used product, and it's the worst in terms of hallucinations because of how functions (e.g., not saying when it doesn't know, etc.)

So @jon-nyc do you use AI for any professional purposes? Which product(s), and for what kinds of tasks?

Oh wow, this thread was stated two years ago!! And the hallucination problem doesn’t seem much changed. I don’t know that it’s necessarily worse, but the scale of AI use means that even 20%, or 10% hallucinations is a huge number.

We have a dogwood tree in our yard. Somehow, neither of us remembered that! We are actually wondering if it didn’t bloom last year, if that’s possible? Anyway, it’s pink, which is lovely. I’ll try to grab a pic later.

The cherry blossoms in the neighborhood were not very impressive this year, the weather did them in I think. They were still pretty but not as spectacular as last spring. But they are all done.

Now the crabapples are blooming, really gorgeous. (They seem more robust than the cherry trees). The red bud trees are blooming too. And lots of cheery daffodils.

Wow! I’ve never heard of him, but Google showed me this:

https://www.cobbecollection.co.uk/musical-instruments/

May he rest in peace!

The only time I ever made something from a NYT recipe was during the pandemic, I tried to make a no-bake cheesecake and it was horrible.
I probably should have check the comments!

Wait, so what is he doing with his hand? Presumably if he pedaled faster, the piece would speed up, right?

How interesting! I’ve never seen one of these before.

@wtg that’s great!

@wtg Thank you for the update. Going home is a big step, and although it comes with its own challenges, I'm sure it will be a relief for him.

You are both in my thoughts!

@Bernard said:

Trump's love of Trump trumps his love of country.

This.

It’s really bad. I think I saw $4.19 at a place yesterday. We fill up at Kroger so we have points that bring big down to under $4 but still.

@admin thank you!!!

I didn’t go, but I wanted to. Besides the fact that my foot makes that kind of activity pretty much impossible these days, a long time ago Mr. SK asked me not to attend protests, because he worries that if something happened to me, he wouldn’t be able to help. Which makes sense.

My mother (almost 82 now) also wanted to go but didn’t (concerns about her age etc.)

So we support in other ways…

@jon-nyc that’s super interesting! Is it real?? I mean, I assume it is, but some of those words are particularly surprising.

@RealPlayer said:

Would it be hard to put in a border and add soil to level it?

Hmm, looking at the photos @andyd uploaded, I’m thinking it would be hard to do something that on your own… maybe @steve-miller has some advice?

@AdagioM thanks for those links, it looks like it was a great trip!

@Rontuner I like this approach to making the expectations clear. I think the worst thing for the audience is when they’re not sure.

Anyway it sounds like a great group! I’ll be curious to hear which director you end up with.

@Rontuner sounds like fun, challenges, but fun!

Let us know which dir story you end up with!