I’m excited to be joining @bookpeople.com in Austin and representing the PPP for Lord of the Rings Day on January 25! If you’re in or near Austin, I hope to see you there!
16.01.2026 00:19
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I’m excited to be joining @bookpeople.com in Austin and representing the PPP for Lord of the Rings Day on January 25! If you’re in or near Austin, I hope to see you there!
I forgot to answer the ethics question! Common concerns with the way these models work include plagiarism of copyrighted text/art, a tendency to amplify biases and discrimination, and lack of privacy over data used to train the AI. They also guzzle energy, so there are environmental impacts, too.
My understanding is that these LLMs like ChatGPT work by predicting what the next word in a sequence should be based on what a plausible/grammatical answer to the prompt should look like. They have no way of evaluating what’s true or false.
Not an expert, but an interested bystander.
This paper from a few years ago on the probabilistic nature of large language models is a good read. dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/...
I’ll be on a panel in the Innovation Lounge (5th floor) at 10:30, and selling and signing copies of Why We Love Middle-earth all day in the Author Hall in the Special Events Center (1st floor). Hope to see you there!
Greater Austin Book Festival is this Saturday, April 26! Central Library branch of the Austin Public Library, 710 W. Cesar Chavez St. on Sat, April 26 from 10a-5p. FREE to enter!
#GABFest2025 #greateraustinbookfest #Tolkien #atx
Looking forward to seeing you there, Mr. Underhill!
GABFest 2025 is less then 2 wks away, Sat April 26! Author meet/greets, book sales/signing, panels & more! FREE to enter!
I’ll be on a panel about world building, and selling and signing copies of Why We Love Middle-earth. Hope to see you there!
#GABFest2025 #greateraustinbookfest #Tolkien #atx
Join me at GABFest 2025, all day Saturday April 26! Author meet/greets, book sales/signing, panels & more! FREE to enter!
I’ll be on a panel about world building, and selling and signing copies of Why We Love Middle-earth. Hope to see you there!
#GABFest2025 #greateraustinbookfest #Tolkien #atx
That sounds right. Wow. 😬
Today is #TolkienReadingDay!
Founded by the Society and held on the date the Ring was destroyed, Tolkien Reading Day is an opportunity to read your favourite #Tolkien passages. This year's theme is "Fellowship and Community". But what will you be reading?
www.tolkiensociety.org/2025/03/toda...
That takes me back! That’s one of my favorite episodes of the PPP. Hope you enjoyed it!
Mine came in just a few days ago! A surprise gift from the Lady of the Mark. ❤️🗡️
Happy #TolkienReadingDay! I had the pleasure of rejoining @prancingponypod.bsky.social for the 10th annual TRD episode, and joined a stellar lineup of readers for A Long Expected Soundscape’s TRD Special on YouTube on Sunday.
What are you reading, and why?
Wow. Talk about getting the wrong message from a book. Interesting write up on the company here. futurism.com/the-byte/sau...
This is the word we’ve been looking for!
So glad to hear that! I’ll make sure to pass it on to Alan and the rest of the team. Thanks!
I heard about this!
I feel this. I’ve only ever seen the complete Ring on video (Met production from the 1980s) and I know Wagner was horrible, but I do love that opera cycle. It’s one of my go-tos when writing.
Looking forward to watching this! If you’re outside Europe, see further down the thread. #Tolkien
Thanks for the welcome! It’s good to be here.
Image shows a photo of my illustration of the Prancing Pony Inn as laid out in physical poster format. See next image for description of the artwork itself!
Under a deep velvety night sky, four hobbits ride up towards the Prancing Pony Inn with its famous green sign. It’s a stone building with a thatched roof and ivy climbing the walls. Golden light spills out of the windows and front door. On the hills above, the shadow of a Nazgûl is just visible overlooking the scene.
Everything in my shop is 20% off thru December 4, so I thought this week I’d share some of my favorite items. First up, this poster illustration of the Prancing Pony Inn, a collaboration with @shawnemarchese.bsky.social & Alan Sisto—I am very proud of it!
emilyaustindesign.etsy.com/listing/1613...
This was my other favorite talk of the day. What a weekend it’s been! Thank you @tolkiensociety.org ! #ChristopherTolkienCentenaryConference #Tolkien
Too many great talks today at #ChristopherTolkienCentenaryConference to mention them all! Just heard this one by James Tauber @digitaltolkien.com and I’m inspired to go on some new research adventures. #Tolkien
And to anyone reading this, if you aren’t yet following @tolkiensociety.org to keep up with events like this, you should. Join us! #Tolkien
It truly was! My favorite thing about this event has been getting to hear about the presenters’ personal experiences with Christopher: getting a glimpse of the person behind the words. It’s been enchanting.
@drhannahmcd.bsky.social Thank you for all your hard work to make this happen!
You are so welcome! I’m glad we could help you get into The Silmarillion, and I hope you’ll want to keep going! 🙂
Perhaps my favorite talk of #ChristopherTolkienCentenaryConference so far. It was incredible to hear how Parma Eldalamberon became the venue for Tolkien’s linguistic papers. #TolkienSociety #Tolkien
To Christopher!
A toast to Christopher Tolkien on what would have been his 100th birthday, for his lifelong dedication to his father‘s literary legacy and for bringing so much more Middle-earth to light for fans around the world. His importance to us fans cannot be overstated. Eglerio! Praise him with great praise!