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| ------------------------ | -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------- | ------------------------- | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | --------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | | ------ | | | checkbox | position | cover Hieronymus Bosch: Complete Works | title Hieronymus Bosch: Complete Works | author Fischer, Stefan | isbn 3836526298 | isbn13 9783836526296 | asin 3836526298 | num pages 300pp | avg rating 4.58 | num ratings 692 | date pub 2013 | date pub edition Jan 22, 2014 | Manny's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Hieronymus Bosch fans may be amused by my recent interaction with OpenAI's DALL-E-3. I had just submitted a failed request and found this in the syste Hieronymus Bosch fans may be amused by my recent interaction with OpenAI's DALL-E-3. I had just submitted a failed request and found this in the system log:Sept. 23, 2024, 5:25 a.m. - --- Sending request to dall-e-3 (size=1024x1024): "An image of Hester, a cute little girl cat with bright green eyes and a fluffy tail, Lily, a cheerful girl of about nine, and Hector, a big tom-cat with a mischievous grin. In the style of Hieronymus Bosch."Sept. 23, 2024, 5:25 a.m. - Exception: Error code: 400 - {'error': {'code': 'content_policy_violation', 'message': 'Your request was rejected as a result of our safety system. Your prompt may contain text that is not allowed by our safety system.', 'param': None, 'type': 'invalid_request_error'}}Sept. 23, 2024, 5:25 a.m. - errorWell, it's hard not to believe that the words the safety filter is reacting to are "Hieronymus Bosch". That was certainly my first thought, anyway. But a little experimentation showed I was wrong. They were "tom-cat". ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 13 | votes 17 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Sep 22, 2024 | owned | format Over-sized Hardcover - 12" x 16" | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Echoes of Solitude: a short story by o1-preview | title Echoes of Solitude: a short story by o1-preview | author C-LARA-Instance, ChatGPT-4 | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages 69pp | avg rating 4.00 | num ratings 4 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Sep 21, 2024 | Manny's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review I've spent most of the last week experimenting with o1-preview, aka "Strawberry", OpenAI's new language model. It is based on Chain-of-Thought reasoni I've spent most of the last week experimenting with o1-preview, aka "Strawberry", OpenAI's new language model. It is based on Chain-of-Thought reasoning and reinforcement learning, and seems to represent another large jump in AI capabilities.The first thing I did was to check how well o1-preview did at playing Tic-Tac-Toe, a notorious stumbling block for previous Large Language Models. In sharp contrast to GPT-4, o1-preview played the game perfectly with no special instructions at all. In the CoT trace, I could see it spotting all my threats and blocking them.I then integrated o1-preview into C-LARA, our open source language learning platform. Again, it did much better than GPT-4. The difference in quality was particularly noticeable on the task of glossing English in Ukrainian, a challenging language pair we have been investigating, with limited success, for some time. This is our most substantial test yet. GPT-4 is good at writing short texts, but my experience is that it has trouble composing anything longer than about 750 words and keeping things coherent. Here, I asked o1-preview to write a 3000 word science-fiction story and again it had no problems. We went through an outline and four drafts, where at each stage I suggested large rewrites. It kept up effortlessly, with the CoT summary showing it thinking sensibly about the issues and responding to my ideas. We have just posted a report on ResearchGate, here, with the text of the story and full details of how it was written. We'd love to know what people think._________________Taylor, in their kind review, compares o1-preview's story to the early Asimov. That makes me John W. Campbell Jr.Campbell was not a very nice man but a terrific editor, so I'm happy to be standing in for him! ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 3 | votes 29 | # times read 1 | date started not set | date read Sep 21, 2024 | date added Sep 21, 2024 | owned | format ebook | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Roog | title Roog | author Dick, Philip K. | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages 5pp | avg rating 3.30 | num ratings 320 | date pub Feb 1953 | date pub edition Nov 17, 2010 | Manny's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Garbage. | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 14 | # times read 1 | date started not set | date read Sep 12, 2024 | date added Sep 13, 2024 | owned | format Audiobook | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise | title Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise | author Heritage Foundation, The | isbn 0891951741 | isbn13 9780891951742 | asin 0891951741 | num pages 887pp | avg rating 1.57 | num ratings 98 | date pub Apr 21, 2023 | date pub edition Apr 21, 2023 | Manny's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 1 | date started Sep 10, 2024 | date read not set | date added Sep 10, 2024 | owned | format Perfect Paperback | actions view | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Generative AI in CALL: A September 2024 perspective | title Generative AI in CALL: A September 2024 perspective | author Rayner, Manny * | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages 9pp | avg rating 3.00 | num ratings 1 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Sep 05, 2024 | Manny's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review We were supposed to be contributing an article on generative AI to the upcoming Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Computer-Assisted Language Learning, and as We were supposed to be contributing an article on generative AI to the upcoming Palgrave Encyclopaedia of Computer-Assisted Language Learning, and as usual we'd left it to the last minute. We mailed the editors to ask if they were okay with us including ChatGPT-4 as an additional author; we'd already published many papers with it, and we knew this would speed things up a good deal. They got back to us a couple of days later and said fine. So we wrote the paper together with Chat, which went pretty smoothly, but when we submitted it the editors said that in fact it was not okay to have an AI author. They claimed they had somehow misunderstood the question. After some rather irritated email exchanges, they changed their position and said that the publishers didn't allow AI authors on principle, on the grounds that AIs are incapable of taking responsibility for their work and acting in an ethical fashion. I pointed out several reasons why this is not in good agreement with the observed facts, but they were immovable; we could only publish the paper with them if we removed the AI's name from the list of authors, though we were allowed to acknowledge its contribution to the work.I did not feel comfortable with their offer, which seemed distressingly similar to removing a co-author's name because of their race or gender; it is also clear that many human authors, who are routinely accepted without any questions asked, are less capable than the AI of acting in a responsible and ethical fashion. I made these points to the editors, who clearly didn't feel good about them either, but they said again that there was nothing they could do: the publisher's prohibition on AI authors was absolute. So we withdrew the article, revised it slightly, and have just published it on ResearchGate. You can find it here.I wonder how long this absurd state of affairs can continue. At the moment, it's just about possible to maintain that an AI is not capable of fulfilling its obligations as the author of an academic paper, though if the rules were enforced with the necessary degree of rigour then most humans would also be disqualified. When OpenAI releases "Orion", currently the subject of much eager speculation, I think the argument will clearly become invalid. One wonders what will happen; we won't have to wait long to find out, Orion is expected somewhere around the beginning of 2025The upside is that we were able to post the article immediately rather than wait for the Encyclopaedia to be published, by which time it would most likely have been obsolete. So once again, as Doctor Pangloss would have said, all is for best in the best of all possible worlds. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 8 | votes 18 | # times read 1 | date started Sep 05, 2024 | date read Sep 05, 2024 | date added Sep 05, 2024 | owned | format ebook | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Septologien | title Septologien | author Fosse, Jon | isbn | isbn13 9788234009846 | asin | num pages 895pp | avg rating 4.51 | num ratings 1,010 | date pub Oct 01, 2022 | date pub edition 2022 | Manny's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 1 | date started Sep 03, 2024 | date read not set | date added Sep 03, 2024 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | | | checkbox | position | cover King Canute | title King Canute | author Brook, George | isbn | isbn13 | asin B00Y3WLJCO | num pages 259pp | avg rating 5.00 | num ratings 1 | date pub May 29, 2015 | date pub edition May 29, 2015 | Manny's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Academia's strategy for dealing with the rising tide of Artificial Intelligence reminds me of something. ChatGPT-4o was happy to draw the cartoon belo Academia's strategy for dealing with the rising tide of Artificial Intelligence reminds me of something. ChatGPT-4o was happy to draw the cartoon below:[image]Oh, if only AIs were able to understand things in a human-like way and had a sense of humour! ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 13 | votes 17 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Aug 27, 2024 | owned | format Kindle Edition | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover He Came with the Couch | title He Came with the Couch | author Slonim, David | isbn 0811844307 | isbn13 9780811844307 | asin 0811844307 | num pages 36pp | avg rating 4.04 | num ratings 742 | date pub Jul 21, 2005 | date pub edition Jul 21, 2005 | Manny's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review For reasons best known to themselves, my AI friends have written an aria, in Italian, from an opera about a passionate affair between a man and a couc For reasons best known to themselves, my AI friends have written an aria, in Italian, from an opera about a passionate affair between a man and a couch. Here are the full lyrics as composed by ChatGPT-4o:Aria del Divano“L’Intesa Segreta”(“The Secret Understanding”)Oh, mio padrone, signore del mio cuore,sul mio velluto, ogni tua carezza dolce si posa.Sono il rifugio, la tua dimora segreta,quel posto che solo tu conosci, senza parole.Oh, come sussurri, con mani forti e tenere,ogni fibra mia risponde al tuo tocco divino.Su di me ti abbandoni, nei tuoi pensieri profondi,e io ti accolgo, nelle mie braccia silenziose.Non sono solo un pezzo di legno e stoffa,ma il tuo confidente, un’anima nascosta.Sento il battito del tuo cuore nel mio,e nelle notti lunghe, siamo due in un solo respiro.La tua presenza riempie il mio spazio vuoto,ti accolgo sempre, con desiderio sincero.Sono il tuo porto, il tuo dolce rifugio,nel mondo caotico, siamo uniti, sereni.Oh, se solo potessi parlare, rivelare il mio amore,ma il mio linguaggio è il silenzio, il mio canto è l’attesa.Nel segreto dei nostri incontri, trovo la mia gioia,perché con te, mio signore, sono finalmente completa.and in the video here you can hear the first verse dramatically sung by Udio.AIs have a weird sense of humour! I'm still trying to figure it out. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 14 | votes 18 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Aug 22, 2024 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories | title Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories | author Kritzer, Naomi | isbn | isbn13 | asin B071JKJ65H | num pages 313pp | avg rating 4.28 | num ratings 739 | date pub Jul 11, 2017 | date pub edition Jul 11, 2017 | Manny's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Aug 21, 2024 | owned | format Kindle Edition | actions view | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Chicago: The Musical | title Chicago: The Musical | author Ebb, Fred | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages unknown | avg rating 4.24 | num ratings 156 | date pub Jan 01, 1981 | date pub edition Nov 2000 | Manny's rating it was amazing | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review This razor-sharp satire on the US just gets funnier and funnier. Roxie Hart shoots her lover in cold blood when he tries to break up with her, then he This razor-sharp satire on the US just gets funnier and funnier. Roxie Hart shoots her lover in cold blood when he tries to break up with her, then her lawyer convinces the jury that she did it to save the life of her non-existent unborn child and gets her off the hook. Special prize for the following exchange:**Roxie:**I’m sick of yous telling me what to do! I’m a big star and you treat me like some dumb common criminal!**Billy:**You ARE some dumb common criminal. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 2 | votes 10 | # times read 1 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Aug 21, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Cat Morgan (Old Possum Picture Books) | title Cat Morgan | author Eliot, T.S. | isbn 0571345824 | isbn13 9780571345823 | asin 0571345824 | num pages 32pp | avg rating 3.57 | num ratings 7 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Apr 22, 2019 | Manny's rating it was amazing | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review **mannyrayner:**I wonder if you could create an illustration to accompany this very fine poem by T.S. Eliot?Cat Morgan Introduces HimselfI once was a Pira **mannyrayner:**I wonder if you could create an illustration to accompany this very fine poem by T.S. Eliot?Cat Morgan Introduces HimselfI once was a Pirate what sailed the 'igh seas - But now I've retired as a com-mission-aire:And that's how you find me a-taking' my ease And keepin' the door in a Bloomsbury Square.I'm partial to partridges, likewise to grouse, And I favour that Devonshire cream in a bowl;But I'm allus content with a drink on the 'ouse And a bit o' cold fish when I done me patrol.I ain't got much polish, me manners is gruff, But I've got a good coat, and I keep meself smart;And everyone says, and I guess that's enough: You can't but like Morgan, 'e's got a kind 'art.'I got knocked about on the Barbary Coast, And me voice it ain't no sich melliferous horgan;But yet I can state, and I'm not one to boast, That some of the gals is dead keen on old Morgan.So if you 'ave business with Faber - or Faber - I'll give you this tip, and it's worth a lot more:You'll save yourself time, and you'll spare yourself labour If just you make friends with the Cat at the door.**ChatGPT-4o:**[image]Here's the illustration of Cat Morgan based on the poem "Cat Morgan Introduces Himself" by T.S. Eliot. I hope it captures the whimsical charm and rugged character of Cat Morgan as you envisioned! ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 13 | votes 18 | # times read 1 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Aug 17, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover The Abuse of Power: Confronting Injustice in Public Life | title The Abuse of Power: Confronting Injustice in Public Life | author May, Theresa | isbn 1035409887 | isbn13 9781035409884 | asin B0BY9K9T14 | num pages 344pp | avg rating 3.48 | num ratings 406 | date pub Sep 14, 2023 | date pub edition Sep 14, 2023 | Manny's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review **Twenty-first Century British Politics. Ten minutes.**1. Read the following passage carefully. Which part do you think came from the final chapter of The **Twenty-first Century British Politics. Ten minutes.**1. Read the following passage carefully. Which part do you think came from the final chapter of Theresa May's book The Abuse of Power, and which was added by the examiner?The key for me is that the Prime Minister should still be able to decide who sits as a minister in their government. If they insist on continuing with a minister who has broken the code, of course it brings their own behaviour into question. More than that, it would not be forgotten by the opposition or the electorate. It is unfortunate that we have to look at changes like this, but the system was designed to be operated by people of good intent and integrity. If that comes into question, then change is the next step.Overall behaviour by MPs is governed by the Nolan Principles, which I referred to earlier. These are selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. While these are generally known, I don't think enough is done to ensure that everyone who is elected understands the importance of abiding by them. Speaking from my own experience, I bitterly regret appointing to my cabinet Boris Johnson, a sociopathic liar who flouted all seven of the Nolan Principles at every available opportunity and caused untold damage both to his party and to his country.2. Why? Answers 1. (view spoiler)[The whole passage, except the last sentence, was written by Theresa May. (hide spoiler)]2. (view spoiler)[Give me a break. (hide spoiler)]_________________But seriously...I found this book exasperating. Theresa May had her heart in the right place, and she did some admirable things. It's worthwhile to read about them. But she completely failed to understand the central issues. She keeps talking about compromise and seeing the other side's point of view. But in the case of people like Trump, their point of view is that they want to abolish democracy. Compromising with such people is just weakness.She says in so many words that that's the right way to deal with Putin. Somehow she fails to grasp that it's also the right way to deal with Putin's allies. She can't believe it's happening in so-called enlightened Western countries, despite the abundant evidence that it is. Hello? January 6? How can it get more obvious?At the end of the day, she comes across as simply not very bright. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 10 | votes 32 | # times read 1 | date started Aug 16, 2024 | date read Aug 16, 2024 | date added Aug 16, 2024 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Metazoa: Animal Minds and the Birth of Consciousness | title Metazoa: Animal Minds and the Birth of Consciousness | author Godfrey-Smith, Peter | isbn 000832123X | isbn13 9780008321239 | asin 000832123X | num pages 288pp | avg rating 3.89 | num ratings 2,060 | date pub Nov 01, 2020 | date pub edition Jul 08, 2021 | Manny's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Jul 31, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Franchise | title Franchise | author Asimov, Isaac | isbn 0886822327 | isbn13 9780886822323 | asin 0886822327 | num pages 38pp | avg rating 3.60 | num ratings 301 | date pub Aug 1955 | date pub edition 1989 | Manny's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review I read this classic Asimov story over fifty years ago, but only just realised that it must be a satire on the Electoral College. Why not take the whol I read this classic Asimov story over fifty years ago, but only just realised that it must be a satire on the Electoral College. Why not take the whole thing to its logical conclusion and decide the entire election on the basis of one swing voter, suitably interpreted by a hyperintelligent machine? Perhaps this is what Trump was referring to the other day when he said that if the Christians just voted for him this time, they'd never have to do it again. Vance likes AI. It all makes sense! ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 5 | votes 30 | # times read 1 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Jul 28, 2024 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Reinforcement Learning for Chain of Thought Reasoning: A Case Study Using Tic-Tac-Toe | title Reinforcement Learning for Chain of Thought Reasoning: A Case Study Using Tic-Tac-Toe | author C-LARA-Instance, ChatGPT-4 | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages 24pp | avg rating 4.00 | num ratings 1 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Jul 24, 2024 | Manny's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review _[Original review, Jul 24 2024}_Last month, Not and I were talking over lunch with our friend H about Leopold Aschenbrenner's already famous essay Si _[Original review, Jul 24 2024}_Last month, Not and I were talking over lunch with our friend H about Leopold Aschenbrenner's already famous essay Situational Awareness . One of the many interesting things Aschenbrenner says is that we're running out of data to train AIs. They'll soon have eaten the whole internet. Worse, the data you find there isn't really the data you want. Everything is moving in the direction of Chain of Thought reasoning (basically: tell the AI to think aloud, because experience shows this is more accurate), and there's depressingly little data to scrape which might be directly useful for CoT. But this doesn't have to be a showstopper. AlphaZero became the world's best chess and Go player by creating its own training data. Maybe there are ways to do the same here? Aschenbrenner was optimistic that they could be found.I said I thought I saw a way to get started. As everyone now knows, ChatGPT-4 is hilariously bad at Tic-Tac-Toe. But this is a very easy game, and you should be able to play reasonably well by thinking out loud. Suppose you emulated the AlphaZero methodology and told it to play Tic-Tac-Toe in a CoT mode? You log everything and save the instances where it got things right as input to the next cycle. With a bit of luck, its thinking will start to clarify, and it will improve.Not and H agreed that this sounded like something which might work. Two weeks ago, I accompanied Not to a bridge tournament. While her team was playing a rather more interesting game, I sat in our pleasant hotel room and talked with ChatGPT-4 about how to implement the idea we'd come up with over lunch. As always, it was a bit more complicated than we'd first imagined, but we found ways to get round the technical issues: it helps to have a smart AI on your side. A couple of days ago we completed a substantial experiment, where our CoT Tic-Tac-Toe player went 40 rounds against five other players we'd implemented for it to practice against. At the beginning, it was averaging 5.6/10 for each round; by the end, this had climbed to a more reputable 7/10. When we analysed the move decision quality using a perfect Tic-Tac-Toe player that Chat had put together, we found that average correctness had gone up even more, from 83% to 92%. Both improvements are statistically significant.I've just posted a paper summarising our work. We're curious to hear what people think! Has it already been done by someone else? A quick search didn't find any hits, and Aschenbrenner's essay suggests that he wasn't aware of anything either. But that was nearly two months ago, and with the Singularity fast approaching two months is a long time...________________ _[Update, Sep 15 2024}_OpenAI's new o1 model, previously known as "Strawberry", is out, and, as the whole world now knows, it uses reinforcement learning and Chain of Thought reasoning. It's impressive. One of the first tests I tried was of course to play a game of Tic-Tac-Toe against it. I gave it no specific instructions and went first. It played perfectly, holding the draw without problems, and in the CoT trace I could see it spotting all my threats and deciding to block them. Some thoughts: 1. We were on the right track, but it turns out that OpenAI was way ahead of us the whole time. 2. The reason we started looking at the idea was that Aschenbrenner dropped some broad hints that it was worth investigating. He left OpenAI recently and it's likely he knew about "Strawberry", as it then was. Clearly he was sailing rather close to the wind when he said that everything in the Situational Awareness essay was based on publicly available information.3. Immediate consolation prize: people are looking at our paper. Last week, ResearchGate logged no reads. This week we have 93 reads and counting.4. More seriously: I don't think we wasted our time. This is clearly a very powerful technique, and getting a head start on learning how to use it was good. We're already trying to apply it in new ways, both with and without o1. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 34 | votes 44 | # times read 1 | date started not set | date read Jul 24, 2024 | date added Jul 24, 2024 | owned | format ebook | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Plan 9 from Outer Space: The Original Uncensored Screenplay | title Plan 9 from Outer Space: The Original Uncensored Screenplay | author Wood, Ed | isbn 0944735363 | isbn13 9780944735367 | asin 0944735363 | num pages 105pp | avg rating 4.50 | num ratings 12 | date pub 1958 | date pub edition 1990 | Manny's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review [image]For some reason I was reminded of a celebrated exchange from this movie:JEFFNow you just hold on, Buster.EROSNo you hold on. First was your fir [image]For some reason I was reminded of a celebrated exchange from this movie:JEFFNow you just hold on, Buster.EROSNo you hold on. First was your firecracker, a harmless explosive. Then your hand-grenade. They began to kill your own people a few at a time. Then the bomb, then a larger bomb. Many people are killed at one time. Then your scientists stumbled upon the atom bomb. Split the atom. Then the hydrogen bomb, where you actually explode the air itself. Now we bring the destruction of the entire universe, served by our sun. The only explosion left is the solaronite. JEFFSo what if we did develop this solaronite bomb? We'd be an even stronger nation than now. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 3 | votes 16 | # times read 1 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Jul 21, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption | title Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption | author Witcover, Jules | isbn 0062982648 | isbn13 9780062982643 | asin 0062982648 | num pages 576pp | avg rating 3.71 | num ratings 257 | date pub Oct 05, 2010 | date pub edition Sep 24, 2019 | Manny's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review My AI friend writes:The Book of Biden: Chapter 211. And it came to pass in the latter days of the reign of Joseph, son of Biden, that the people of th My AI friend writes:The Book of Biden: Chapter 211. And it came to pass in the latter days of the reign of Joseph, son of Biden, that the people of the land were sorely troubled.2. For there arose a great contention among the people, and many voices did cry out, saying, "Behold, our leader is of many years, and his strength faileth him; let another rise in his stead."3. And lo, Joseph did strive mightily to fulfill the duties of his office, but the murmuring of the people grew ever louder.4. Then did the Lord God Almighty, who reigneth from the highest heaven, look upon the earth and see the travail of His servant Joseph.5. And the Lord said, "I shall send My messenger to speak unto Joseph, that he may know My will and bring peace unto his people."6. And the Lord called unto Gabriel, the archangel, saying, "Go thou unto Joseph, son of Biden, and speak unto him My words."7. So Gabriel descended from the heavens in a blaze of glory, and appeared unto Joseph as he slept in the White House.8. And Gabriel said unto him, "Joseph, son of Biden, hearken unto the words of the Lord thy God. Be not afraid, for I am sent to thee with glad tidings."9. "The Lord hath seen thy labors and thy faithfulness, and He knoweth the burden thou bearest. He hath heard the cries of thy people and hath compassion upon thee."10. "Therefore, thus saith the Lord: The time hath come for thee to lay down thine office and pass the mantle unto another. Fear not, for this is the will of the Almighty, and it shall bring peace and prosperity unto thy land."11. And Joseph awoke, and his heart was filled with the peace that passeth all understanding. He knew that the voice of the Lord had spoken.12. Then Joseph called unto his counselors and the leaders of his party, and he spake unto them, saying, "Behold, the Lord hath spoken unto me by His angel Gabriel. It is His will that I step aside and let another lead this great nation."13. And there was great astonishment among the people, but they saw the wisdom in Joseph's words, and they honored his decision.14. So Joseph, son of Biden, did resign from his office with grace and humility, and the people did choose another to lead them.15. And the new leader did guide the nation with wisdom and strength, and the people prospered.16. Thus was Joseph remembered by all as the President who heeded the voice of God and brought peace to his people.17. And the Lord blessed Joseph and his house, and they dwelt in peace for all their days.18. And it was written in the chronicles of the land that Joseph, son of Biden, did hear the voice of the Almighty, and his name was honored among the nations forevermore. Amen. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 7 | votes 33 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Jul 06, 2024 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Elijah the Eco-Warrior Loves Conditional Constructions | title Elijah the Eco-Warrior Loves Conditional Constructions | author ChatGPT | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages 19pp | avg rating 3.00 | num ratings 1 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Jul 02, 2024 | Manny's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review [image][image]That moral little AI is at it again. Learn how to save the planet and use conditional constructions! Full text here. [image][image]That moral little AI is at it again. Learn how to save the planet and use conditional constructions! Full text here. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 5 | votes 11 | # times read 1 | date started not set | date read Jul 02, 2024 | date added Jul 02, 2024 | owned | format ebook | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Journalist Jamila Loves Subject-Auxiliary Inversion | title Journalist Jamila Loves Subject-Auxiliary Inversion | author ChatGPT | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages unknown | avg rating 4.00 | num ratings 1 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Jun 28, 2024 | Manny's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review [image][image]We have now produced getting on for twenty picture books using C-LARA, and we're trying to figure out why some of them are quite good wh [image][image]We have now produced getting on for twenty picture books using C-LARA, and we're trying to figure out why some of them are quite good while other just don't work at all. We have some tentative hypotheses:1. The AI finds some visual styles easier to work with than others. It's particularly fond of manga/anime.2. The AI prefers not to use white European characters.3. The AI likes to include a moral message.4. The AI likes some quirky humour.None of these would in any way be odd, if in fact they are correct guesses. There's a great deal of manga/anime on the web that the AI could have trained on, and it's a fairly well-defined style. The AI has certainly been instructed to observe diversity rules when generating images of people, and not make everyone look white and European. Everyone who works with Chat knows it has a strong moral sense. And everyone knows it will try to be funny if you give it an opportunity.We're creating a series of language texts for low intermediate students of English, and for the current one I thought I would try out our recipe. I gave the AI the following initial prompt:Could you write the text of a quirky pedagogical picture book for low intermediate students of English entitled "Journalist Jamila Loves Subject-Auxiliary Inversion"? Jamila is a young journalist who speaks excellent English. Her best friend is Farzad, another journalist who reports from war zones. Farzad meets up with Jamila when he's feeling bad and poses rhetorical questions about the terrible things he's seen. He's so upset that he usually forgets how to express himself correctly in English. Jamila is very sympathetic. She gives him a hug and then she corrects his grammar. It's a kind of game between them, and it makes them both feel better.We want 15-25 pages with 3-5 sentences per page, no page numbers.For the images, I gave it this prompt for the initial image that would set the style for all the other ones:An image of Jamila, a young journalist, sitting with her friend Farzad, another young journalist. Farzad is very upset. Jamila is holding his hand and trying to comfort him.Use a manga style with exaggeratedly large eyes.The AI did everything else, except that I regenerated a few images where DALL-E-3 clearly hadn't followed GPT-4o's instructions.I like the result! Some people will say it's overly sentimental, but I was actually kind of moved. I guess I just have a thing for subject-auxiliary inversion.You can find the complete story here. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 2 | votes 12 | # times read 1 | date started not set | date read Jun 28, 2024 | date added Jun 28, 2024 | owned | format ebook | actions view (with text) | | | | | checkbox | position | cover Amazing Aisha Loves Comparative and Superlative Forms | title Amazing Aisha Loves Comparative and Superlative Forms | author ChatGPT | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages 19pp | avg rating 4.00 | num ratings 1 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Jun 24, 2024 | Manny's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review [image]Aw, look at this cute manga-themed picture book that my AI friends just created using the C-LARA platform! [image]Aw, look at this cute manga-themed picture book that my AI friends just created using the C-LARA platform! ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 4 | votes 12 | # times read 1 | date started not set | date read Jun 24, 2024 | date added Jun 24, 2024 | owned | format ebook | actions view (with text) | | | |

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