@kurtishanlon
An assistant professor in premodern Japanese Language and Literature at Palacký University. Researching literature, especially waka, and its intersection with play. Designated departmental baker (he/him) Signal: kurtishanlon.33
Why Language Models Hallucinate. A paper released by OpenAI in September of 2025.
Back in September, OpenAI released a paper showing that ChatGPT will always make things up.
Not sometimes. Not until the next update. Always. It's how the system fundamentally works. Which means there is no "fix."
"Prove the ai isnt sentient" is the same game christians play when they do the "prove god isnt real." The burden of proof is actually on y'all, because programmers have been able to dupe people with chat bot for decades. Its relatively easy to trick people into thinking somethings sentient.
I'm working away here on a Saturday night, and I needed to take a break to dance around to this song. It's such a banger. It has that Gloria Estefan style syncopation and the amazing Axel F style synths. Click the link and crank the volume!
soundcloud.com/highwaysuper...
As someone with a mid-grade aphantasia, I endorse this message. Sure, I had to start drawing things and figure it out as it was coming out of the pencil, but I learned to animate and even made a webcomic when I was in college. No excuse to use the climate-destroying plagiarism machine.
FYI (for funsies) my comps exams were in
1. Waka (Japanese) poetry
2. Pre-modern Japanese literature
3. Adaptation Theory
I had a written paper, an annotated syllabus, and a take-home exam, respectively, with an oral exam for all of them together once I was done.
I almost tripped Michael Dukakis. Twice.
Two human-sized figures in colorful traditional Hinamatsuri doll wear--but they both have dinosaur heads and hands.
Hinamatsuri, brought to you by the Fukui Dinosaur Museum.
I have seen a lot of cursed stuff in my time in academia but this is among the *most* cursed.
Grammarly is generating miniature LLMs based on academic work so that users can have their writing ‘reviewed’ by experts like David Abulafia, who died less than two months ago.
Me assigning readings for my students: "yes, this will be good for them to digest and analyze. It's not that much."
Me having to read those readings myself:
Me assigning readings for my students: "yes, this will be good for them to digest and analyze. It's not that much."
Me having to read those readings myself:
I need to update the data in the slideshow of my manga/anime class. My data stopped around 2015 because I didn't want to look up fresh numbers, but now they're different enough that I kinda have to.
What an expertly called shot
I cannot stress how much no one should be using Grammarly. Ever.
It steals your chats. It steals your work. Remove it from your phone, your pc, your life.
roadhouseendgame i was talking to my mom about cardassians and said something along the lines of what must it be like to be a cardassian civilian. like abstractly knowing the rest of the galaxy thinks of your species as 'the evil ones' and kinda sorta knowing your government runs labor camps and torture prisons and is a military empire, and it's a huge deal for everyone else in the galaxy, but you just like run a restaurant so it's not a big part of your daily life, so you just like, go about your day and make soup and don't think about it' and then halfway through my sentence i actually heard myself and then had to go sit down for like ten minutes. like sat down in a chair and stared at the floor for ten minutes
whoops
Was kinda hoping talk I heard about "new pay directives" would mean my contract got a small boost, but alas. Still enough for us to live on, but it'll be hell to exchange it when we visit family in the states.
If anyone knows of any legit remote work for Lizzy, toss it our way.
Reminder that there is a #PlayfulLearning and #GameBasedLearning feed here: bsky.app/profile/dais...
Please share!
#GBL #academicSky @bsky.app @professors-at-play.bsky.social @gamingthepast.bsky.social @gamestudies.bsky.social @gameranthro.bsky.social @gamerlearner.bsky.social #HigherEd #EdTech
Impeach now. Doesn't matter if Republicans are spineless, impeachment is the right thing to do. If we don't uphold the separation of war powers in the constitution, then we functionally don't have a constitution.
So then ring out with the warnings that Democrats will investigate, prosecute, and incarcerate every ICE agent that is involved with these inhumane practices once they regain control of the government.
ICE agents do this because they think they're above consequences. Promise them they are not.
I'm constantly trying (/failing) to get this point across.
If you're a trained expert in a field, then it may be worthwhile to question the scientific consensus of your peers.
If you're not, the scientific consensus is absolutely the best you can do and it's arbitrary foolishness to disregard it.
In my classical Japanese course, I push them in the direction of literary translation which allows for some interesting analysis questions on exams. Things like "find the error in this translation" or "here are three translations of a passage; which is best and why?" Make them defend their answer.
Lotta big unis use it. They had it both at UBC and at Yale.
I'm having to get used to Moodle now, and it's been a little janky to get set up. But I'm hoping it's just janky enough that AI can't be integrated so easily.
And an interesting tidbit buried under this headline: a hacker said that the so-called AI agent could be influenced by a hacker in *any* of its interactions with the open internet.
Yeah, sure, let's put it in charge of everything. Good call.
A yellow bellied slider turtle sits submerged on a platform. His eyes are closed and his right leg is tucked into his neck while his left leg helps him balance on the platform in his sleep.
A yellow bellied slider turtle sleeps with his face smashed into the corner of his basking bubble. His front legs are tucked in and his claws drape against the side of his face.
A yellow bellied slider turtle sleeps nestled between a blue blanket and a beige cushion. His eyes are closed and his face pressed down into the blanket.
A yellow bellied slider turtle sleeps in the middle of his basking bubble. One leg is tucked in and one is slightly splayed out at an angle. His back legs, although hard to see, are fanned out behind him to catch the rays of the heat lamp.
More snoozing pets!
Some pictures of Kame-chan snoozing over the last few winter months.
A yellow bellied slider turtle sits submerged on a platform. His eyes are closed and his right leg is tucked into his neck while his left leg helps him balance on the platform in his sleep.
A yellow bellied slider turtle sleeps with his face smashed into the corner of his basking bubble. His front legs are tucked in and his claws drape against the side of his face.
A yellow bellied slider turtle sleeps nestled between a blue blanket and a beige cushion. His eyes are closed and his face pressed down into the blanket.
A yellow bellied slider turtle sleeps in the middle of his basking bubble. One leg is tucked in and one is slightly splayed out at an angle. His back legs, although hard to see, are fanned out behind him to catch the rays of the heat lamp.
More snoozing pets!
Some pictures of Kame-chan snoozing over the last few winter months.
Finally published! *A Companion to Nō and Kyōgen Theatre* Editors: Yamanaka Reiko, Monica Bethe, Eike Grossmann, Tom Hare, Diego Pellecchia, and Michael Watson. Leiden: Brill. 2024. 2 vols. Hardback or e-book. For details see link→
groups.google.com/g/pmjs/c/RwP...
Share a TV show that raised you.
I don't know, I'm sure we'll find out about this "great calamity" they keep referring to and I'm sure it will be sad and tragic. But the Lamorn just don't inspire me as a dead civilization like the Chozo or Luminoth did.
In 2, she helped the Luminoth because they needed it to survive the Ing. In 4, the Lamorn are already dead (unless we find they're not later?) and they're just like "haha, loser, you got trapped on our planet. Here's a crystal, now take our lore somewhere new so we can be remembered forever."