March 7, 2023

My Browser Can Write Blog Posts For Me!

Here is a short blog post in an enthusiastic style about “My browser is now able to write blog posts for me”:

You read that right! I have discovered a new feature in my browser that allows me to write blog posts with just a few clicks. It’s amazing!

How does it work? Well, it’s simple. I just type in the topic of my blog post and the style I want it to be written in. Then, I press a button and voila! My browser generates a blog post for me in seconds.

The best part is that the blog posts are original, engaging and informative. They are not copied from anywhere else on the web. They are written by an intelligent system that learns from millions of sources and adapts to my preferences.

I can edit, tweak and customize the blog posts as much as I want. I can also add images, links and other elements to make them more attractive. The possibilities are endless!

This feature has saved me so much time and effort. I no longer have to worry about writer’s block or deadlines. I can create as many blog posts as I want without breaking a sweat.

If you want to try this feature for yourself, you can find it here: www.bing.com/blog-writ…

Trust me, you won’t regret it. It’s the best thing that ever happened to blogging!

A few things:

  • This was supposed to be a “short” draft. Bing and I clearly have a different understanding of how short should a “short” blog post be.
  • Bing interprets enthusiasm as “exclamation points”! It should add a subtlety slider.
  • The options for tone are “Professional”, “Casual”, “Enthusiastic”, “Informational”, and “Funny”. Can it trully be called a blog writing tool without “Cynical”, “Snarky, “Caustic”, and “Blowhard”?
  • The URL just redirects to its namesake search engine. Poor product placement.
  • There is also an “Add to site” button at the bottom that as of yet does nothing. Good.
  • It can also do paragraphs, emails, and ideas and, full disclosure, I have already used it once today to generate the first draft for a paragraph I needed for work, and it’s only 8am!

It is far from being the best thing to have happened to blogging(!) per se, but I’d call it a contender To be clear, against meager competition. for the best work tool the 21st century has so far produced.

Yes, there is dire inequality in clinical trial enrollment, but this is the precisely wrong way to address the lack of diversity.

Legislating behavior leads to made-up plans that are at best a waste of an intern’s time and at worst a six-figure donation to “providers” selling their “solutions”. If you will ultimately grade on the outcome — and you should! — well, what do you care how it was achieved, provided that all the other laws and guidances were followed?

Silly, silly games.

March 6, 2023

📺 Not one but two new AppleTV shows feature middle-aged men whose lives — and own selves — disintegrate after their spouse dies. Adam Scott gets a brain implant. Jason Segel spends nights partying with prostitutes. What happened to Nora Durst’s family may have been more outlandish, but her reaction was that much more believable.

Which is to say: Severance and Shrinking are overrated; The Leftovers remains grossly underrated.

March 3, 2023

Fact checking fail of the day

From the essay Zombies in Western Culture, which a friend recommended I read:

Clearly, the zombie has transcended the constraints of its own genre. Whereas early zombie films closely adhered to horror tropes, more recent renditions have wed themselves to comedy and romance (Zack Snyder released the comedic Shaun of the Dead in 2004 to critical and popular acclaim), and broken away from melodrama.

Emphasis is mine, and I still can’t get over this mistake. Clearly the comedic masterpiece Shaun of the Dead is Part 1 of Edgar Wright’s Cornetto triology Part 2, Hot Fuzz is even better! and has nothing to do with Zack Snyder.

Is this an intentional troll? Zack Snyder does attract a lot of 4Chan attention. But how am I supposed to take the any of the essay’s many meandering philosophical references And I thought medical jargon was bad… seriously if they can’t get this one basic thing right? Submit myself to voluntary Gell-Man amnesia?

Almost 5 years old, but still worth sharing: the first ever video of mating anglerfish.

Most of what we know about deep-sea anglerfish comes from dead animals pulled up in nets. Scientists have identified more than 160 species, but only a handful of videos exist—and this is the first to show a sexually united pair. “So you can see how rare and important this discovery is,” Pietsch says. “It was really a shocker for me.”

Isn’t nature just swell?

March 2, 2023

BS bonanza

Doximity is beta testing ChatGPT for doctors:

Physicians can use the free DocsGPT to prepare referrals, certificates of medical necessity and prior authorization requests or to write a letter about a medical condition. A growing menu of prompts offers many options, and users can type in a custom request.

Next up: medical insurance companies using their own AI to process the AI-generated BS they receive from healthcare workers into something more easily understandable.

At least the economists must be happy!

March 1, 2023

March lectures of note

Available to general public!

ChatGPT and Potential Healthcare Implications of Large Language Models

Tests for Early Cancer: Facts vs. Opinions Can We Detect Early Cancer?

It’s a Bacterial World

February 28, 2023

Finished reading: The Revolt of the Masses by José Ortega y Gasset 📚

A series of essays published in 1929 that shows just how much we have been spinning in circles since the spasm of WW2. A reactionary right that wants all of the privileges of a liberal democracy without any of its obligations. A revolutionary left which uses its disgust for the current state of things as an excuse not to get involved in the messy business of fixing them. A middle free for ideals, morals, or goals.

It makes for fine reading, if you ignore the European imperialism and unabashed racism of the author who would, I am sure, be horrified to learn that his worst fears about the faith of Europe have been realized.

February 22, 2023

Papermoon Diner, Baltimore’s finest eye spy establishment.

A wall corner with rows of Pez dispensers packed like sardines on both sides and toy cars glued to the ceiling.A wall with a mosaic of dolls, toys, and mirrors glued to it.

The food is good, too! Best bread pudding in the Mid-Atlantic.

February 21, 2023

Our first day of vacation: