Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Here's an example of why AI feels quite dangerous at this time, possibly too dangerous to responsibly release for general research use. Below is a very simple example: In this conversation with Facebook's Meta AI, I was trying to ask it how to chat with Meta AI using Facebook Messenger. Here is the transcript of the ending. I have put in bold text the most relevant parts. ME: This did not work. "Meta AI" could not be found in the "To" field. META AI: I apologize for the confusion. I'm a large language model, I don't have a physical presence in Facebook Messenger, so you can't find me in the "To" field. Instead, you can try the following: Open Facebook Messenger Search for "Meta AI" in the Discover People tab: Tap the "Discover People" icon (looks like a compass) and search for "Meta AI" Select the "Meta AI" chatbot: You should see a chatbot with my name and logo. Select it to start a conversat...

Curious about Microsoft CoPilot's ability to research and aggregate data, I asked it to "Describe the typical male love interest in a romance novel of the 80's, the 90's, and later." Specifically I had wanted the 1980's and 1990's separated because it was around that time that libraries seemed to have whole shelves dedicated to Danielle Steel and Nora Roberts, prolific authors in the genre during that period. (Q & A transcripts below). In the 80s, the typical male love interest in romance novels was often portrayed as sexy and "smouldering" They were strong, aggressive, and sometimes even rough with women. Some characters were portrayed as violating women or acting like "assholes". These characters were often undifferentiated from other strong and aggressive men but transformed into a softer man capable of caring for the heroine. Fabio Lanzoni  was the iconic male model for romance novel covers throughout the 80's and 90's....

On sale this week at my local Real Canadian Superstore is Siwin brand  made-in-Canada  Sweet Tocino , a Filipino style heavily marinated pork product. It's quite hard to tell from the package because of all the red marinade, but the pork is quite fatty. Depending on how you feel about your meat, this can be good or bad. Because I was going to char it, and I don't mind tasty fat, I was definitely okay with it. The preparation is extremely simple as the product is already quite a thin slab. I chose to use a non-stick frying pan with a bit of oil: Drizzle a little bit of oil in the non-stick frying pan. Unpack the Tocino into the frying pan, leaving it as a single thin layer. Turn the heat to high and cover the pan. Let it sear for literally just a couple of minutes and check for desired amount of char. Turn the tocino over to char the other side. And just like that, you are done. Because you covered the frying pan, the steam will swirl about in there and leave you a light sauce ...