today in "google AI is fucking useless because it hallucinates things that never happened", i bought a couple CVS thermometers that have both been acting up, tried to search if there had been a problem with the whole product line:

there is no record of this product recall. it did not happen. the date "feb 8 2024" is the date someone listed a thermometer for sale on ebay.

Google's trying to save you the time spent clicking on a site full of AI-generated SEO garbage by presenting the AI-generated garbage right up front! Such efficiency.

#so google probably uses chatgpt right? #because for some time now chatgpt has done this #become utterly insane and make up random bullshit #and nobody knows why

I was under the impression that we did know why: AI isn't actually a brain and can't actually think or understand information, so it has no concept of something being true or not, or what markers indicate truth or falsity, or how to synthesize information. It's putting a bunch of words in a jar, shaking the jar, and then dumping it out, and acting like that means the jar knows how to talk.

Like, in this case, OP asked for information about a recall. The AI knows that, throughout the entire internet, the word "recall" usually is surrounded by information like a date or a number, so it gives you a date and a number. It doesn't know what a date is or what it's for or what it means. (It also apparently doesn't know the difference between "recall" as in "removing a dangerous product from the shelves" and "recall" as in "remembering," since it smooshes the two together)

what's that thing again that you can put into ublock that blocks all the ai results from google?

On Github is The Huge AI Blocklist for UblockOrigin. You can import it, the linked ReadMe gives a description on howto.

[ID mostly by @homunculusalphonse : A photo of the Google search results for the phrase "cvs thermometers recall": "On February 8, 2024, CVS Health recalled its rigid tip digital thermometer with memory recall and fever alarm. The thermometers have a memory recall feature that stores the previous temperature. The item number for the recall is 375235991489." Both the links attached to this text are from eBay and Pinterest. This module does say "AI overviews are experimental", in much smaller font. /End ID]

The uBlockOrigin AI blocklist above is super helpful y’all.

Try this as well

https://udm14.com/

➸ “This is a sentence.”

➸ “This is a sentence with a dialogue tag at the end,” she said.

➸ “This,” he said, “is a sentence split by a dialogue tag.”

➸ “This is a sentence,” she said. “This is a new sentence. New sentences are capitalized.”

➸ “This is a sentence followed by an action.” He stood. “They are separate sentences because he did not speak by standing.”

➸ She said, “Use a comma to introduce dialogue. The quote is capitalized when the dialogue tag is at the beginning.”

➸ “Use a comma when a dialogue tag follows a quote,” he said.

“Unless there is a question mark?” she asked.

“Or an exclamation point!” he answered. “The dialogue tag still remains uncapitalized because it’s not truly the end of the sentence.”

➸ “Periods and commas should be inside closing quotations.”

➸ “Hey!” she shouted, “Sometimes exclamation points are inside quotations.”

However, if it’s not dialogue exclamation points can ask be “outside”!

➸ “Does this apply to question marks too?” he asked.

If it’s not dialogue, can question marks be “outside”? (Yes, they can.)

➸ “This applies to dashes too. Inside quotations, dashes typically express—“

“Interruption” — but there are situations dashes may be outside.

➸ “You’ll notice that exclamation marks, question marks, and dashes do not have a comma after them. Ellipses don’t have a comma after them either…” she said.

➸ “My teacher said, ‘Use single quotation marks when quoting within dialogue.’”

➸ “Use paragraph breaks to indicate a new speaker,” he said.

“The readers will know it’s someone else speaking.”

Which Acupoints?!?! Or an investigation of Nipples and Nails

So tonight I was working on a Zhou Zishu centric drabble and my progress was halted by a very important issue: which acupoints are his nails in? Which meridians do they block?! Are they actually on acupoints or just arbitrary in Word of Honor? 

I asked some friends if they knew, checked the novel for mentions of specific acupoints, gave up, and spent an hour and a half trying to figure it out. For the last 45 minutes of my efforts, @aowyn​​ joined me on this quest. 

What I know: acupoints are defined by relative position on the body. In chinese they’re called xué 穴 which means cave/cavity. Many acupoints are between bones or in points that can be thought of as dips in the body. My mother liked pinching my 虎口穴  (Hǔkǒu xué) as a kid. It’s the center of the muscle between your thumb and the rest of your hand. And let me tell you, if you hit it just right it HURTS. I’ve seen a diagram where you put your hand over someone’s knee and where your thumb naturally lands is supposedly an acupoint. The temple (太阳穴, tàiyángxué)  is a squishy spot on your head – another acupoint. 

THERE ARE ACUPOINTS ALL OVER and all of them are on some sort of meridians. There are twelve principal meridians and two centerline ones. Many are mapped to internal organs. 

Embarking on this I assumed that the nails were placed symmetrically and the three different nails on each side of ZZS would be (ideally) on meridians affecting different organs. Looking at snips from ep 32, this is confirmed: 

Keep reading

The Final Timeline

It’s done! Click “keep reading” to see the entire fucking thing I spent ten days making.

Keep reading

For any of you who are writing ‘across the pond’-here is a little guide I put together of some common differences between British and American English!

Also for all of us non-native speakers who don’t know which fucking English we’re even using

Always helpful who was born and raised in the States, bit now lives in the UK, and frequently forgets which word came from where. I’ve also been known to use both in the same sentence 30 seconds apart without missing a beat.

Very useful!!

[Image: Illustrated pattern of brightly-wrapped presents on a green background. Credit: Viscious-Speed]

Spoonie Holiday Survival Masterpost

The holidays are great, for sure, but they’re also a huge source of stress and exhaustion—not the best for our sensitive selves. But fear not! We’ve got a collection of resources here to help you get through these cheery weeks with minimum pain and maximum festivity!

We’ll add to this as resources pop up, so definitely check back 🎁

Generators

Character

Names

Plot

Setting/World-Building

Prompts

Misc

Some Tips

Just a few I found from the writing tips tag!

Vocabulary

Some Advice

Playlists

Websites and Apps

For Writing

For Productivity

Prompt Blogs

Writing Tips Blogs

It’s okay to take breaks from your writing!

More than okay: it’s necessary and important to know yourself and your personal mental health and to know when you need to take time off from the things you want to accomplish in order to take care of yourself. 

You are the most important part of your writing.

You cannot write unless you take care of you first.

On this note, remember to take breaks the better way!

Worse way: “I just didn’t write anything the last couple days, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m going to wait until my inspiration returns. The better way: “I’m mentally tired right now so I’m going to set an easy goal of 100 words for today and tomorrow and then on the third day I’ll return to my normal writing goals.”

Worse way: “I just can’t work on this project anymore, I quit for now!” The better way: “Since I’m having trouble with this project, I’m going to finish the scene/chapter/etc I’m currently working on, and then I’ll write the rough draft of a short story to let my mind relax and re-calibrate.”

Worse way: “I keep feeling sick so I’m going to binge watch more tv.” The better way: “I’m coming down with a cold, so instead of writing tonight I’m going to bed 45 minutes early to help my body recover quickly.”

Worse way: “I’m so depressed right now I’m going to wait until I feel good to write again.” The better way: “Since I’m having a depressive spell, I’m going to take a week off from writing to focus on self-care, and then on this day next week I’m going to write 300 words.”

Worse way: “My motivation is gone, I can’t write anything until it comes back!” The better way: “Because my motivation is abnormally low, I’m going to stop writing for the weekend and reread my favorite book to analyze and learn from it.”

Worse way: “I’m tired and busy so I can’t write until my schedule is better.” The better way: “This month is very busy for me, so I’m going to schedule in a few hours to write here and there as well as schedule break days for the times I know I won’t be able to write because I have too many other responsibilities.”

Tl;dr

Worse way: “I have a problem that’s preventing me from writing so I guess I just won’t write.”

The better way: “I have a problem that’s preventing me from writing so I’m going to figure out where this problem is coming from, how much time I need off from writing, and when I’ll begin writing again, and then stick to that plan unless further issues arise and I have to re-evaluate.”

Finishing in a Hoop

Here’s a tutorial for finishing a cross stitch in a hoop. Of course there’s a few different ways, but this is a method I use regularly which can be customized to suit the stitching. I’m hooping ‘Florence the Owl’ and I’ve chosen hot pink felt and bright green ribbon to match her. I’ll stitch the felt backing on with turquoise thread. If your hoop is a bit ropey you could wrap it with ribbon or tape.

As well as your FO and a hoop, you need felt and ribbon, and cardboard of the same colour as your cross stitch fabric. Toy stuffing as well, but it’s not essential.

Firstly, make a circle of felt and a circle of card the same size as the outside edge of the inner hoop. Trace around the hoop in pencil to make a line to cut.

Give your stitching an iron on the reverse side to remove creases and plump up the stitches a little. It helps to be neat like this, especially with evenweave, so that loose thread and trailing ends don’t show though to the front. Trim all the little ends of thread left here and there and press flat with the iron.

Now put your stitching in the hoop. 1 The cardboard circle is going to sit on top of the inner ring and go under the fabric. This does a few things. It will help provide a bright background and so your stitching will look great! The grid holes in the fabric won’t be as noticeable. My stitching here is on evenweave - I’m going to use stuffing inside the hoop and the cardboard will stop it fluffing out the front. And the cardboard will also help protect from accidental impact damage.

2 When you’re happy with the position of the fabric do up the fastener as tight as you can, pulling the fabric flat all around the edges as you do the fastener up a little more each time The gridlines of the fabric should remain straight. 

3 Now trim the fabric all around the hoop to make it a circle. It’s easier to round the corners off first, and then trim down from there.

4 Fold the fabric down neatly at the back. Start at the top and make folds the same direction all around. This way your backing fabric will lay nice and flat. Fix the fabric in place with some running stitches made where the creases lay. 

5 I did two rows with this one as the evenweave wasn’t laying as flat as I liked. You could trim your fabric more than I did at stage 3 so there’s less to stitch. 

6 Poke some toy stuffing under the fabric and push it right up inside all around. This optional extra protection makes the back feel solidly squishy.

7 Now fix the felt circle onto the back by stitching it onto the evenweave fabric. I’ve used a simple blanket stitch. Make straight stitches from the edge inwards, pick up the last stitch and pull it flat. Blanket stitch will give some protection to the edge of the felt and looks lovely. But you could be more creative if you like!

8 This thread is a colour in the pattern. For blanket stitch, use a piece of thread as long as three times the circumference of your hoop. Use all six strands, much easier than separating it! The stitches are about 1cm apart here.

9 Tie the two ends together in a tight knot and tuck that knot into the fabric with the thread in the needle. Trim the ends where they poke out, if you need to.

Finish with a bit of ribbon at the fastener to hang the hoop. Double over one length of ribbon with one twist. Knot it at the end and loop through the fastener with the knot at the back and a flat loop ready for hanging.

(The photos for this one came out a bit rubbish so here’s a similar FO ^^)

Done!

So I’ve been thinking about @bbcbluebell‘s post a few days ago about getting stuck with a story and not really knowing how to move forward. I thought I’d post a few simple tricks that I use when I’m at an impasse to try and get the juices flowing. Please, please add your own to this list, I’d love to make my toolbox stronger.

open a new document and 

-change the voice (try first or second to really get inside a character’s head, sometimes omniscient third yields interesting results). At the beginning this can give you an insight into what the conflict will be in the story to come. In the middle it can give you insight into how the character might be feeling and what obstacles are holding them back and what they need.

-write a letter from one character to another summarising what’s going on and how they’re feeling

-write a scene where a character tells a story (from their childhood, college years, etc) to a stranger in a bar

-write a scene with the character talking to a therapist (what advice does the therapist give? What does the character reveal/not want to reveal? What advice do they take/not take? What are they not aware of about themselves?)

-write a scene from a minor character’s POV to give you insight as to how it appears to an outsider.

-write an outline that carries you past this point (how do you get there from here?)

-write a twist or throw a wrench at them and see how they react

-write the opposite of conflict and let them rest/relax/fuck/eat/enjoy something

Also, read, read, read. Read something that inspires you or gives you insight, read an old favourite, read something you wouldn’t normally read, do research about what you think your fic might be about, read poetry, listen to music.

Lay down and close your eyes and imagine the scene/plot/arc in your head. (Sometimes this takes me weeks of choreographing in my thoughts)

Talk shop with a friend. Let them read what you’ve got or go over your outline with them. This can clarify a lot of things that you didn’t know were holding you back.

Overall I’ll just say that conflict doesn’t need to be a traditional hero vs. villain scale. Most of us have small conflicts in our lives that we struggle with every day. It’s lovely if you want to write a domestic fic, a character study, a pwp that explores very simple minor conflicts (we’re out of milk! I’m feeling sad and need comfort! I just got fired! I missed my train! My mom is sick! I don’t know what to do with my life! I am learning to do this thing and am not very good at it yet! I want sex! I am hungry! The dog peed on the rug!). A lot of my fic is written in that space. But conflicts are what give you the tension in a longer story and are what makes the ending satisfying so it’s good flesh them out at the beginning and these tricks sometimes help point me in the right direction.

I dream of the day when I won’t have to look at this fucking chart….

About Reveals

You know, every time I think I’m over the death of Sherlock, Moffat and Gatiss stick their heads out of their bunker and say something stupid and I find I have just a little more anger left. But instead of yelling at them, I’m going to do something constructive with it, and write up another unsolicited writing advice post about a topic I have long meant to tackle: the proper writing of a reveal.

By “reveal” I mean that point in the story where the reader discovers something that changes EVERYTHING. Well, not actually everything; this is one of the questions I intend to take up. But that moment where a question that the reader has long had is resolved, or where a reader who thought everything was pretty clear already suddenly acquires a whole mess of NEW questions–that’s a reveal, and they are one of the most fun things in the world to write and done right they are also highly pleasurable for the reader. Done wrong, of course, reveals provoke the kind of undying anger I now cherish toward the Sherlock showrunners sorry I’ll come in again a certain amount of irritation.

I’m going to be making certain assumptions about my audience, and one of them is that you prefer stories that make sense and have meaning. If you don’t, then you don’t need this or really any other kind of writing advice. Also, I will be spoiling the plots of: The Sixth Sense, season 1 of The Good Place, and “San Junipero.”  

On we go!

Keep reading

I’ll post more here: instagram.com/nathanwpyle

Take a deep breath. 

cleaning with ADHD is a nightmare. it’s an endless cycle of finding a half-finished chore and stopping the one you were already working on, then remembering that something else needs to be done and getting started on that, then finding half-finished chore and

i have the solution! i call it ‘junebugging’.

have you ever seen a junebug get to grips with a window screen? it’s remarkably persistent, but not very focused. all that matters is location.

how to junebug: choose the location you feel you can probably get some shit done on today. be specific. not ‘the bathroom’ but ‘the bathroom sink’. you are not choosing a range, you are choosing a center; you will move around, but your location is where you’ll keep coming back to. mentally stick a pin in it. consider yourself tethered to that spot by a long mental bungee cord.

go to your location. look at stuff. move stuff around. do a thing. get distracted. remember you’re junebugging the bathroom sink and go back there. look at it some more. do a different thing. get distracted. get a sandwich. remember you’re junebugging and go back to the bathroom sink.

nt’s will go crazy watching you, and if they demand to know When You Will Be Done you will probably have to roll them in a carpet and stuff them up the chimney. you’re done when you feel done, or you’re too bored to live, or it’s bedtime, or any number of other markers, you get to pick. but the thing is, by returning repeatedly to that one spot, you harness the ‘hyperactivity’ part instead of wasting all that energy battling with the ‘attention deficit’ part.

not only will the bathroom sink almost certainly be clean, and probably the mirror and soap dish too, you might’ve swapped in a fresh toothbrush, a new soap, you might’ve unclogged the drain – you will probably also have cleaned or fixed up several things in the near vicinity, or in the path between the sink and where you get the fresh toothbrush, or maybe you did your grocery shopping cuz you were out of soap, or maybe you couldn’t find a clean hand towel and ended up doing laundry.

this is good. you got shit done! it wasn’t necessarily Cleaned The Bathroom in the way nt’s think of it, but screw ‘em. things are better than they were.

plus you worked off enough energy to be able to sleep. which is not small potatoes when living the ADHD life. :D

Don’t let the adorable name fool you—this is some Seriously Good Advice. May be useful for brain fog and depression, too!

I dream of the day when I won’t have to look at this fucking chart….

Interesting which groups don’t like the term queer. It says a lot about who they are, in my opinion.

(I think queer is a great umbrella term. There is a whole lot of inclusion and meaning jammed into one short syllable.)

Why, it’s almost like gatekeepers don’t like inclusive terms or something.