AI hallucinations are making entitled customers even worse

Gaby Del Valle, reporting for The Verge (News+ link):

“Beyond ignoring her warnings about allergens, Madison has noticed an increased reliance on generative AI among patrons at the Michelin-recommended Italian restaurant where she worked until recently. “The amount of times I’ve suggested, ‘Let me grab the sommelier for you,’ and they say, ‘No, I’ll just ask ChatGPT,’ or somms have been dismissed from the table because the guest has a preference for ChatGPT, that has been increasing quite a bit,” she says. She’s had customers request bottles that the restaurant doesn’t carry — or, in some cases, that don’t exist at all. ”

In the work world, I think most folks realize AI works best along with the guidance of a subject matter expert (SME). A better way to use AI in this example would be asking it how best to speak to a sommelier to ask for what you want.

I would be interested to know though what a chatbot properly trained on wine culture would recommend if I screenshot a wine list and asked specifically what’s the best value for money.

Everyone back into the pool

Goddamn finally:

A judge in the nation’s capital agreed on Thursday to permanently dismiss a criminal case charging a former Olympian with vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a move that could prevent federal prosecutors from reviving the case under political pressure from President Donald Trump.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Todd Edelman ordered the dismissal of David Hearn’s case with “prejudice,” which would block U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office from refiling the felony charge against him. The judge ruled nearly a month after hearing attorneys’ arguments.

The fact that this got this far is absolutely insane. A sitting President encouraged the prosecution of a completely innocent man because he’s embarrassed that he can’t even manage the renovation of a pool.

And if Mr. Hearn had been a Black man, he might not be here to tell the tale.

Thoughts on finally having watched both *28 Years Later* films back to back

Here there be spoilers, so approach with care. I’m going to try to keep these in chronological order, but this is me, so I may jump around too. I should start off by saying that I love the first film and liked the second.

  • Oh look, you can write a post-apocalyptic film that isn’t focused on the SA of random women passing by!
  • Opens with the slaughter of a room full of children! Wow, they went there. Not that I’m in favor of it, but I am in favor of being bold.
  • Jodie Comer, again, brilliant. What a light in the acting world. Counting the days till she decides it’s time to explore Lady Macbeth.
  • Aaron Taylor-Johnson is one of those actors whom I can never recognize between films. The Movie Database tells me this is the same guy who played the young husband and father in the amazing Nosferatu, but he did not look like the same guy. Tom Hardy was like this for me for years.
  • The first film has a much more fever-dream quality, maybe intended to align with Isla’s state of mind. Definitely unusual, not sure it totally worked for me. 28 Days Later had a dreamlike look to it sometimes too, but was still rooted in what was actually happening.
  • The whole story element of Spike deciding to take his extremely ill mother into the heart of the mainland — when he and his experienced hunter father were nearly killed the day before — on the hope that this mythical doctor is still alive and wants to help them, didn’t work for me. I get that you have to get them out of the village and into the action, but… It did pleasantly remind me a little of the quest quality of the novel The Talisman
  • The giving birth scene. Women helping women even across all this. Very good.
  • Also add the amazing Jack O’Connell to that list of actors I have trouble recognizing from film to film. I cannot believe he was also Remmick in Sinners!
  • Ralph Fiennes, half-naked, dragging corpses to his ossuary, and singing “Girls on Film,” wow.
    • Tried to think: if this is 2030 and he was a Duran Duran fan, I guess that makes Kelson my age-ish?
  • The interplay between Samson and Kelson (was the name similarity accidental or meant to show their alignment?), very good. Chi Lewis-Parry gives the impression he’s extremely grateful for the opportunity to stretch his acting chops (and put on some trousers), and he meets the moment.
    • “I… I haven’t got a ticket” is an amazing line reading.
  • Kelson is also a lonely man but committed to it, and hasn’t gone full mad scientist yet. I like that.
  • The summit between Sir Jimmy and Kelson, so great. Two actually quite intelligent men having a palaver.
  • Iron Maiden apparently never gives permission for their music to be used in films, but they took a chance here, and we should all appreciate them for it.
  • The logical conclusion that if Sir Jimmy is Satan’s son, he should be willing to crucify himself is genius, and O’Connell’s whole “oh hey waaaaait a minute” was excellent.
  • JIM. ❤️
  • You can learn a lot about the characters by what they have been spending their time doing. Jim and his daughter (where are Hannah and Selena?!) have been collecting books, and learning, and Jim has gone from a young bike messenger to a self-taught history professor. I hate that their happy little world will be shattered in the next film, but I also want to see more of them.
  • “In the House - In a Heartbeat.” Had no idea how much I needed to hear that.

I actually remembered to send my PCP a refill request for my Adderall before running out completely, and remembered to stop at the pharmacy on the way home this afternoon to pick it up! Please clap.

I call this mani “We Have Red Nail Polish at Home.” Yes, these are all ones I already owned. Seeing them all together like this made it easier to choose ones to destash.

A combination of Olive & June, Blank Beauty, and Abomination Cosmetics. Hit me up for specifics if you’re interested.

How…how did he DO that?

Apologies for this becoming the “How the hell did my dog do that?” blog, but this evening I let him out into the backyard. There’s a hole in the backyard fence. I know this because back in February he used it to get all the way out of the yard and to the street behind our house, twice in one day.

I have his harness attached to a 30-foot-long line so that he can still roam the backyard, and I don’t have to worry. In theory.

I let him out in the yard, and then I’m sitting here inside. He’s starting to yelp, and I’m thinking, Oh, he’s barking at some dog in a neighboring yard or something. The yelping gets kind of piercing, and I start to think, Oh no, maybe he’s gotten into some tussle with some rodent or something.

I go out, and he’s all the way at the other end of the yard. He sees me, wags his tail, and I come over. He comes over to me. His 30-foot-long line is wrapped around the bushes in the very back of the yard, and I pull because he’s gotten stuck in the bushes. He’s gotten it wound around the bushes…and the line is not attached to the hook anymore. There’s a big metal ring dangling from the end of it.

So somehow he pulled that off of the hook that is screwed into the dirt with a 6-inch spike, basically, that has a corkscrew shape. Either he pulled it, or it fell apart or something? He got all the way to the other side of the yard, and the only reason that I am not roaming the neighborhood looking for him again is because he got tangled up in the shrubs.

I don’t even know how he did that.

It’s fall, y’all! Happy Official First Day of Autumn!

In the Sept 22 edition of “My dog is lucky he’s cute"

In which our heroine uses a ridiculous number of cleaning implements to try to clean up after a shredded Mike Lindell MyPillow.

I think he's telling me it's fall

Ah autumn. Even though the equinox is still almost 24 hours from now, the mornings are getting cooler, the heat is mellowing…

And the dogs are reinstalling themselves on their people for naps.