Where’s my “I’d rather be gaming” bumper sticker?

This thread speaks to me. I’m grading final papers and I know many are written by AI. Rarely are students grappling with the actual texts their papers are on; there’s this sloppy gloss like AI word-vomited a bunch of points about their topics. 1/2

“The perfect caption doesn’t exi- …” Oh. Yes it does.

I’ve reviewed this and cannot find any error.

Getting my annual security training out of the way. They’re recommending passwords that are a favorite phrase from a movie or book I like. All I can think about is the Reddit posts, etc. that ask you your favorite quote from this movie or that. Yeah, maybe that’s not so secure in an age of AI.

“Be prudent, be wise, be careful that your use of AI does not limit your true human growth,” [the Pope] told the students. “Use it in such a way that if it disappeared tomorrow, you would still know how to think, how to create, how to act on your own, how to form authentic friendships.” 💯

lol, and we know googling something makes us experts. 🙄

I’ve been grading papers daily for two weeeks straight. In the back of my mind is the constant question: did a student write this, or generative AI? It makes grading an absolutely soul-crushing task.

Unfortunately, genAI can now create text for papers with accurate citations if prompted appropriately. That’s one more more way students can potentially outsource their learning effort.

Burns and his team have held advance screenings of "The American Revolution" across the country, including in DC. Kerger described GOP lawmakers who voted against PBS $$$ waiting in line to shake his hand:

Weird. At the local coffee shop someone just mistook me for a local radio personality. I’m not sure which one. I wish now I had asked more questions before he left.

please don't @ me like "actually cerium is unique among the lanthanides for its +4 oxidation state" ⚗️🧪 #chemsky

I see Mamdani won. I hear he’s one of the horsemen of the apocalypse. /s

Well, this should be fun. Initial survey of the latest batch of papers suggests that over three-quarters of the class had AI write their papers. This doesn’t mean they definitely used AI; it just means I have to examine each one more carefully, which means a helluva a lot more work. Damn AI.

The country has plenty of problems, most of them inflicted by the current party in power, but the ballroom? That’s the priority? Really?

Our new AI overlords approve of this message!

Whether in education or in personal creative endeavors, if you want something done right, you need to do it yourself.

One more item in the file for things too ridiculous to be in works of fiction (but which actually happened under this administration). I mean, would you offer “a sword or something” requested in a email from giftgirl2025? More likely you’d click the “delete phishing email” button.

Situation resolved. Someone with more wit and tact than me suggested that they change it to a more neutral station, like the Weather Channel. I made a point of thanking them.

I don’t know about you, but if I were pregnant I wouldn’t take any medical advice from a huckster who once suggested imbibing bleach to cure Covid.

My favorite coffee shop just got TVs, presumably for football. But they’re now broadcasting FOX “news”. I may need a new favorite coffee shop.

Screw it, I’m quitting and starting a DnD-themed rock band. We’ll call ourselves Tank and the Four Casters.

Well, it’s an improvement. Went to schedule my annual Covid booster earlier this week only to find I needed a prescription. F RFK Jr.

Florida Decided There Were Too Many Children

Colleges shouldn’t require adjuncts to attend meetings outside the scope of their contracts. I got a stern reminder about attending the pre-term faculty meeting at one place where I adjunct. The meeting took place a week before the start date of my contract.

Just watched Robocop 2. A company takes over a city and enforces order with machines loosely controlled by criminal minds. I feel that’s a metaphor for something in our contemporary society. Just can’t put my finger on what.

People with cognitive decline and dementia say the darnedest things.

Napping during a Zoom faculty meeting - now that’s multitasking I can handle.

Under the current administration the government is no longer a reliable source of information the Constitution of the United States. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

This is fantastic. “Better than data is when you can tell a story about something that happened to a guy you knew, or better yet, a guy your cousin knew. That is how most of the CDC recommendations happen now.”

You give them a week, and you send follow-up reminder emails, and still there’s always that one student who emails the morning after saying they missed taking the Final. Every. Single. Term.

Is that how much the going rate for selling your soul is these days?

We’ve been watching a TV series from the 80s and my son asked if there was as much bullying then as TV portrays. I told him yes, growing up in the 80s was like Lord of the Flies. He said he had never seen bullying in his schools, and there were regular and frequent anti-bullying campaigns. 1/

Rolemaster TTRPG, first combat: Round 1: spell fail R2: spell botch R3: stunned (see round 2) R4: spell success! Downed 2 enemies R5: draw bow, shoot, and roll a fumble. Lose two rounds. My dice hate me.

Rolemaster 2e update: thanks to random rolls, my fragile elven wizard is actually 7’5” tall. He’s the same height as our half-troll. We’re starting a basketball team. Session 1 down and we’re already taking the game off the rails.

Is a taco a sandwich? If so, then I’d like my librarian name to be Jim McSlowbeans.

Sadly, I often have to evaluate genAI output when it’s presented to me as a paper with a student’s name on it. It’s some consolation that I also get to assign a grade to said student who turns in AI output as their own.

Lately I feel like I’m being too logical in my homebrew dungeons designs in DnD. I need this kind of energy.

A two and a half hour session zero tonight, and we still didn’t finish making our characters. But we had fun puzzling over the tables and rules. Except the GM, who knows the rules and got tired of explaining the same things three different ways .

Our gaming group is starting Rolemaster this week. Second edition, from the 1980s. Making a character is starting to feel like doing my own taxes.

The city of Buffalo. The looping structure to the left is the new Bills’ stadium under construction. On a clear day you can see Niagara Falls from here (too hazy today).

I'm just glad one of these men has the nuclear codes and the other has all our personal data.

Sadly, the use of GPS has eroded my instincts for navigation without a map.

"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." -Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

The palantirs in Tolkien were marvelous magical artifacts for communicating across great distances. At least until the Dark Lord Sauron got his hands on one and used it to twist the minds of once great people.

Terrible policy that will massively increase the national debt and harm most Americans so a few rich people can have tax cuts.

Pouring one out for one of the greats. Rest in peace, sir. 🍺

Well, Saturday nights aren't what they used to be but I'm seeing the appeal of life in the order... #ActuallyAutistic

I’m not lax on mowing the lawn. I’m preparing it to become the nation’s strategic dandelion reserve.