andrewducker | Network

Bee at the Minnesota Historical Society's pollenator garden, yesterday

My whole household was up this morning at 3:30 am to see Jas off to the airport. Even my notorious late-sleeper, Mason, got up to come along on the ride to the airport.

We are all going to miss Jas. Jas won my heart over not only because Mason is so clearly in love with them, but also because they cooked at least two evening meals for us! And, convinced Mason to do the dishes afterwards! Independent of each other both Shawn and I very much implied to Jas that not only were they welcome back any time, they were welcome to STAY!!

We did manage to pack them back with some gifts so hopefully we aren't failing this whole gift-giving ritual thing.

They will be missed! But, Mason is already making plans to go to them next (Oklahoma City in Oklahoma--a place he's been once already, but about which I know almost nothing.) We joked that we'd have to try to host Jas in the winter, so they could see Minnesota at its worst.

The news continues to be horrific. I guess I knew that the National Guard being called out on citizens for being Black was probably not that far behind the concentration camps for Brown folks, but JFC. I'm supposed to be traveling to the DC area in mid-September for Capclave and I have no idea what will be waiting for me there. Like, WTF. To be crystal clear--not that I fear for myself, because the last time I was in DC I walked through the area that the tour guide book suggested was unsafe with my then twelve year old son and we had a great time, the only thing I exposed him to was some poverty not unlike the neighborhood we live in back here in the Twin Cities. People were super friendly and helpful when we were lost. DC is very Black? This is, last time I checked, not a crime or indicative of criminal behavior. Maybe a person might feel safer in DC if, I dunno, they weren't racist.

So, yeah, here's a cool picture of a grasshopper (under the cut for the bugphobic)...

( WARNING: Bugs! )

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/11/melting-antarctic-glacier-reveals-remains-of-briton-who-died-in-1959-accident?utm_source=DamnInteresting

Antarctic glacier melt reveals remains of Briton who died in 1959 accident (from theguardian.com)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/11/melting-antarctic-glacier-reveals-remains-of-briton-who-died-in-1959-accident?utm_source=DamnInteresting

damninteresting_link_feed

https://theconversation.com/im-a-physicist-who-studies-fossils-and-i-recently-discovered-preserved-blood-vessels-in-the-worlds-largest-t-rex-261786?utm_source=DamnInteresting

'I’m a physicist who studies fossils, and I recently discovered preserved blood vessels in the world’s largest T. rex' (from theconversation.com)

https://theconversation.com/im-a-physicist-who-studies-fossils-and-i-recently-discovered-preserved-blood-vessels-in-the-worlds-largest-t-rex-261786?utm_source=DamnInteresting

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/11/1121314/this-quantum-radar-could-image-buried-objects/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

This quantum radar could image buried objects (from technologyreview.com)

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/11/1121314/this-quantum-radar-could-image-buried-objects/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

prisca posting in

fic_promptly

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

justin_mason_feed

Posted by Links

https://jmason.ie/2025/08/12/141002a.html

Is Chain-of-Thought Reasoning of LLMs a Mirage? A Data Distribution Lens - 2508.01191v2.pdf

"Is Chain-of-Thought Reasoning of LLMs a Mirage?":

Chain-of-Thought (CoT) prompting has been shown to improve Large Language Model (LLM) performance on various tasks. With this approach, LLMs appear to produce human-like reasoning steps before providing answers (a.k.a., CoT reasoning), which often leads to the perception that they engage in deliberate inferential processes. However, some initial findings suggest that CoT reasoning may be more superficial than it appears, motivating us to explore further. In this paper, we study CoT reasoning via a data distribution lens and investigate if CoT reasoning reflects a structured inductive bias learned from in-distribution data, allowing the model to conditionally generate reasoning paths that approximate those seen during training. Thus, its effectiveness is fundamentally bounded by the degree of distribution discrepancy between the training data and the test queries. With this lens, we dissect CoT reasoning via three dimensions: task, length, and format. To investigate each dimension, we design DataAlchemy, an isolated and controlled environment to train LLMs from scratch and systematically probe them under various distribution conditions. Our results reveal that CoT reasoning is a brittle mirage that vanishes when it is pushed beyond training distributions. This work offers a deeper understanding of why and when CoT reasoning fails, emphasizing the ongoing challenge of achieving genuine and generalizable reasoning.

(via Paul Watson)

Tags: data training reasoning llms chain-of-though via:paulmwatson ai data-distribution

https://jmason.ie/2025/08/12/141002a.html

prettygoodword

bokmakierie (bok-muh-KI-ree) - n., a bushshrike (Telephorus zeylonus) of southern Africa.

Thanks, WikiMedia!

A striking yellow fellow. We got the name from Afrikaans, which got it imitating the mating duet -- the male calls bok and the female immediately replies bok-mak-kik. Or something like that. Here's a recording.

---L.

topinambur

Немецкий язык в Австрии не такой, как в Германии. И английский в Австралии не лондонский.

Русский язык в Украине теперь развивается по-своему. И этот момент с предлогом прямо сейчас становится символом этого развития.

То, что мы делаем с русским языком внутри Украины это наше дело; но вот это будьте добры запомнить, выучить и принять. Это вроде флага на консульстве: как бы он ни был кому-то противен, консульство имеет право на эти цвета.

Мы говорим "на россии" и еще "на московии". Закрепим ли мы это в учебниках? Скорее всего да и выражение "на московии" станет языком официальных бумаг.

И с каждым военным преступлением рф мы все ближе подходим именно к такой ветви развития событий и языка.

m_of_disguise

Massive, stupid things at work yesterday. I was left off of an email chain (because why would you need to include the person who wrangles your paperwork on an email chain about paperwork, right?), and so didn't know that shift supervision was supposed to be turning in two copies of their logs. When I had called the audit team about supervision turning in two copies when they started showing up, the person I talked to said they only needed one, so I threw out what I thought was the extra. WELL. No, they needed both, and the audit team was supposed to get all our paperwork yesterday morning to begin going over it (it's a standing monthly thing), but instead I had to reprint the copies (about 56 logs in total!), run around to get a half-dozen signatures from different people, organize it all into its books, and run it over to the audit team. It was well after lunch by the time all that was done, and I was exhausted. So, yeah, the day was stupid.

When I got home, M told me that the baby had been sleeping a ton all day long. She slept in until nearly 11, then she napped from 1:30-3:00! We were sure she'd be up late into the night, but no, at about 6:30 she started giving me the sign for "sleep". I made sure she ate dinner, gave her some milk, then around 7:00 she grabbed her pacifier and blanket and very adamantly shoved her head into my lap, so I bundled her up and put her to bed. I checked her temp to make sure she wasn't coming down with something, and she was fine, and she wasn't in bad spirits at all, so I guess it's a growth spurt or maybe just a sleepy day? Who knows.

Tacos for dinner, and watched the season finale of The Gilded Age. If they continue to sort of loosely follow the Vanderbilt family history for the Russell storyline, it means that we could see them divorce next season. They have been sort of setting it up with Mrs. Russell welcoming divorced women back into society and trying to remove some of the stigma around them, so I could see them going forward with it.

Half my FB feed has been people at Pennsic, and the other half has been people at the Las Vegas Star Trek convention, and it seems like everyone I know was at either one or the other. My feed hasn't had this much event activity on it in a long time! And with stuff still trickling in from Costume College last weekend, my feed is just stuffed full of costume stuff. Can't deny that I'm feeling quite a bit of FOMO. Even had dreams last night about trying to get ready for a Victorian tea event, and running around my imaginary costume closet (which in the dream was also half Mardi Gras shop?) trying to find a gown for my sister. ~sigh~ Of course, all the gorgeous ballroom scenes in The Gilded Age finale episode didn't help! Very bummed that I won't be able to make it to an event until next Spring.

yourlibrarian posting in

tv_talk

Laptop-TV combo with DVDs on top and smartphone on the desk

An article citing Brooklyn Nine-Nine as having the most words per minute (as well as listing the least wordy shows) begs the question as to how much dialogue influences your preferences for shows. Does it vary according to genre for you? And what episodes without any/much dialogue stand out for you?

seawasp

I've had some people say "okay, Ryk, now that we see what's going on is it important to keep posting about Project 2025?"

The answer is "absolutely YES" and I'll explain why. First, for those who haven't seen my long writeup on 2025, here's the link. Note that the ORIGINAL document is about 900 pages, and even my summary and high points commentary is something like 150.

Okay, now, WHY is it important to keep talking specifically about Project 2025, even though we're well -past the point where we can prevent someone (whose name begins with T and ends, appropriately, with RUMP) from initiating it?
( ... cut for length... )

wickedgame posting in

mundodefieras

Fandoms: Beauty & The Beast, Chicago Fire, Country Comfort, Daredevil: Born Again, Dead Boy Detectives, DOC - Nelle Tue Mani, Good Trouble, Gotham Knights, Hawkeye, How To Get Away With Murder, Kevin Can F*** Himself, Nancy Drew, The Sandman, SkyMed, Warrior Nun, XO, Kitty, Young Royals

( So good when we slow gravity, so good. Breathe one, two, three, take all of me, so good )

* don't repost to fanpop or anywhere else
* comment and credit if you take any icon (either

wickedgame or

mundodefieras)

* comments make me very happy :)
* if you like what you see, watch the community for updates

Current Music: Troye Sivan - Rush

lirazel

+ My girl Lissie (who I've been following since her song "Everywhere I Go" was used on an episode of Dollhouse) just released a cover of "America" by my boys Simon and Garfunkel. The video is made of home videos from the 40s-70s and I love it so so much. The cover is good but the video really elevates it.

Watch on YouTube

I am deeply moved by ordinary people living good lives, so I got teary-eyed.

Anyway, watching it made me think of how much I love Lissie's covers. She's actually known for her covers as much as all the songs she's written herself, and for good reason. She has SO many good covers and I like how she'll often go for something really unexpected and outside her genre (folk-rock singer-songwriter, basically).

Here's "Pursuit of Happiness" by Kid Cudi:

Watch on YouTube

"And Nothing Else Matters" by Nirvana:

Watch on YouTube

"Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga:

Watch on YouTube

"Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac:

Watch on YouTube

"2000 Miles" by the Pretenders:

Watch on YouTube

"Wrecking Ball" which is apparently by Miley Cyrus:

Watch on YouTube

+ I've been listening to a lot of The Strike lately and I've realized they've written my two favorite songs about being a struggling working band.

"Painkillers" is IMO the very best song ever written about being a wedding band. It may not have a lot of competition lol! But I just think it's so clever and moving (and has a great hook)--the singer is reminding themself of why they have to play the same songs over and over at every wedding--because they're painkillers for the people listening and give them a way to escape reality for a hours and go back to when they were young. The bridge is "tonight we're going to dance our pain away," which should give you some idea of the song.

Watch on YouTube

The other one is, imo, an even stronger song. "Down" is just about the struggle to make it. The singer is asking themself, "Why are we still doing this? Why have we invested so many years into this even though we've never struck big?"

"Another night sleeping in the car
Wondering what we’re even looking for
Burning the gas that we can’t afford
To heal the broken hearts

"And they still call up the radio stations
And ask us how we’re not so frustrated
Because they saw us way back in 15
And I say I’m not sure where the time goes."

The answer is the magic of live music, tbh.

Watch on YouTube

Anyway, I love both of these songs madly.

+ I Do Not Do video games, but apparently really great music is getting written for video games? Someone posted a clip of a symphony playing a beautiful piece of music, so I went to find it on YouTube, only to find that there's two hours worth of additional music, equally beautiful! Apparently Undertale is a video game that was created by one genius dude and he also wrote all the music for it??? Even though he had no background in music???

Anyway, I've been listening to this a lot and loving it:

Watch on YouTube

rolanni

Tuesday. 'nother hot one, so say the weatherbeans. The AQI isn't perilous, but it's not pleasant, either.

Second good night of sleep in a row. I could get used to this, though I'm still a bit groggy, which I suppose indicates that the sleep debt has not yet been paid off.

Breakfast was a bialy with the last of the cream cheese and grapes. Second cup of tea to hand. Lunch -- who knows. I have frozen dinners, or I could DoorDash -- can't skip, though. The late adventures have dropped me to slightly below my preferred lower weight limit of 160, so -- no cheating.

My Big Plans for the day are!

1 Get the trash and recycling to the curb
2 Dispatch one's duty to the cats
3 Call for a haircut
4 Work on the WIP

There's needlework, which I missed last week. I'd really like to go this evening. I suppose I'll see what the day has made of itself, after lunch before I make a decision.

All that said! What are your plans for the day?

Today's blog post title brought to you by ee cummings, [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

Firefly and Rookie planning last night's entertainment:

snopes_feed

Posted by Joey Esposito

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/orca-jessica-radcliffe-death/

Though seemingly based on real events from 2010, claims circulating on social media were generated using AI.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/orca-jessica-radcliffe-death/

netgirl_y2k

Hey! A wild meme that I can distract myself with while I pretend that I'm not worried as I wait for the vet to call me to pick Freya up. She's in getting two teeth pulled because her life long endeavour of 'everything is food if you try hard and believe in yourself' has finally caught up with her. It's not major surgery, but is under anaesthetic, and she's an older pup now...

Anyway.

( What parts of the MCU have I watched )

The funny thing is, everyone I've seen post this has had roughly the same arc of having been super into the early MCU and then gradually falling off. Whereas my arc is more like aggressive disinterest in the early movies shading into outright dislike of the OG Avengers, a brief period of, like, Ragnarok, Black Panther, Captain Marvel that I actually really dug, that eventually turned into 'It's free on Disney+' ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

snopes_feed

Posted by Taija PerryCook

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/08/12/staged-photos-gaza-claim/

A study of multiple angles indicates Palestinians were waiting for food, not a photoshoot.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/08/12/staged-photos-gaza-claim/

dailybunny_feed

Posted by Daily Bunny

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2025/8/12/i-just-cant-look-away-from-you-bunny

Thanks, Ginny and bunny Ziggy Stardust!

https://dailybunny.org/posts/2025/8/12/i-just-cant-look-away-from-you-bunny

marcicat

Yesterday, I ran out of tissues. This exact same thing happened in January, which is very funny to me. Because I purchased the three-pack in January and then immediately forgot any lessons I might have learned from the experience.

SURELY I must have another box in the cupboard still! Yep, that's what I thought before, but there is not. Once the three boxes are gone, there are no more boxes.

I expect one of the reasons I struggle with this is because I don't SEE the tissue supply getting lower inside the box. And I already ask my brain to keep track of a bunch of other paper goods, so maybe it's just reached a paper goods tracking threshold. (Also, it IS funny, to be fair.)

Anyway, I can't wait to go to the store, buy three boxes of tissues, and have this exact same experience in another seven months or so!

rolanni

42 Regency Buck, Georgette Heyer (re-re-re-&c-read)
41 I Dare, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Liaden Universe #7) (page proofs)
40 To Hive and to Hold, Amy Crook (The Future of Magic #1) (e)
39 These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer, narrated by Sarah Nichols (re-re-re-&c-read, 1st time audio)
38 Faking it (Dempsey Family #2), Jennifer Crusie, narrated by Aasne Vigesaa (re-re-re-&c-read, 1st time audio)
37 Copper Script, K.J. Charles (e)
36 The Masqueraders, Georgette Heyer, narrated by Eleanor Yates (re-re-re-&c-read; 1st time audio)
35 Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language: Hereditary Deafness on Martha's Vineyard, Nora Ellen Groce (e)
34 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Winifred Watson, narrated by Frances McDormand (re-re-re-&c-read; 1st time audio)
33 The Wings upon Her Back, Samantha Mills (e)
32 Death on the Green (Dublin Driver #2), Catie Murphy (e)
31 The Elusive Earl (Bad Heir Days #3), Grace Burrowes (e)
30 The Mysterious Marquess (Bad Heir Days #2), Grace Burrowes (e)
29 Who Will Remember (Sebastian St. Cyr #20), C.S. Harris (e)
28 The Teller of Small Fortunes, Julie Leong (e)
27 Check and Mate, Ali Hazelwood (e)
26 The Dangerous Duke (Bad Heir Days #1), Grace Burrowes (e)
25 Night's Master (Flat Earth #1) (re-read), Tanith Lee (e)
24 The Honey Pot Plot (Rocky Start #3), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
23 Very Nice Funerals (Rocky Start #2), Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (e)
22 The Orb of Cairado, Katherine Addison (e)
21 The Tomb of Dragons, (The Cemeteries of Amalo Trilogy, Book 3), Katherine Addison (e)
20 A Gentleman of Sinister Schemes (Lord Julian #8), Grace Burrowes (e)
19 The Thirteen Clocks (re-re-re-&c read), James Thurber (e)
18 A Gentleman Under the Mistletoe (Lord Julian #7), Grace Burrowes (e)
17 All Conditions Red (Murderbot Diaries #1) (re-re-re-&c read) (audio 1st time)
16 Destiny's Way (Doomed Earth #2), Jack Campbell (e)
15 The Sign of the Dragon, Mary Soon Lee
14 A Gentleman of Unreliable Honor (Lord Julian #6), Grace Burrowes (e)
13 Market Forces in Gretna Green (#7 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
12 Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, Judi Dench with Brendan O'Hea (e)
11 Code Yellow in Gretna Green (#6 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
10 Seeing Red in Gretna Green (#5 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
9 House Party in Gretna Green (#4 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)*
8    Ties that Bond in Gretna Green (#3 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
7    Painting the Blues in Gretna Green (#2 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
6 Midlife in Gretna Green (#1 Midlife Recorder), Linzi Day (e)
5    The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (Author), Kyle McCarley (Narrator) re-re-re&c-read (audio)
4    The House in the Cerulean Sea, TJ Klune (e)
3    A Gentleman in Search of a Wife (Lord Julian #5) Grace Burrowes (e)
2    A Gentleman in Pursuit of the Truth (Lord Julian #4) Grace Burrowes (e)
1    A Gentleman in Challenging Circumstances (Lord Julian #3) Grace Burrowes (e)

_____
*Note: The list has been corrected. I did not realize that the Gretna Green novella was part of the main path, rather than a pleasant discursion, and my numbering was off. All fixed now.

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andrewducker

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August 2025

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Page Summary

lydamorehouse - Just on a Roll, so Bear with Me (or Bee with Me, as it Happens)
damninteresting_link_feed - Antarctic glacier melt reveals remains of Briton who died in 1959 accident
damninteresting_link_feed - 'I’m a physicist who studies fossils, and I recently discovered preserved blood vessels in the world
damninteresting_link_feed - This quantum radar could image buried objects
prisca in fic_promptly - Tuesday, August 12 - Promotion Day
justin_mason_feed - Is Chain-of-Thought Reasoning of LLMs a Mirage? A Data Distribution Lens – 2508.01191v2.pdf
prettygoodword - bokmakierie
topinambur - В Украине. На московии
m_of_disguise - (no subject)
yourlibrarian in tv_talk - TV Tuesday: Gift of Gab
seawasp - Why Project 2025 is still deadly important to understand...
wickedgame in mundodefieras - 2025 #7 - multifandom icons.
lirazel - three music-related things
rolanni - this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
snopes_feed - Orca killed trainer named Jessica Radcliffe during performance?
netgirl_y2k - MCU meme thing-y
snopes_feed - Contextualizing claims Palestinian photojournalist 'staged' photos of people waiting for food in Gaz
dailybunny_feed - I Just Can't Look Away From You, Bunny
marcicat - seven months
rolanni - Books read in 2025

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Page generated Aug. 12th, 2025 03:15 pm

Very cool, if true

Network

Just on a Roll, so Bear with Me (or Bee with Me, as it Happens)

Antarctic glacier melt reveals remains of Briton who died in 1959 accident

'I’m a physicist who studies fossils, and I recently discovered preserved blood vessels in the world

This quantum radar could image buried objects

Tuesday, August 12 - Promotion Day

Is Chain-of-Thought Reasoning of LLMs a Mirage? A Data Distribution Lens – 2508.01191v2.pdf

bokmakierie

В Украине. На московии

(no subject)

TV Tuesday: Gift of Gab

Why Project 2025 is still deadly important to understand...

2025 #7 - multifandom icons.

three music-related things

this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

Orca killed trainer named Jessica Radcliffe during performance?

MCU meme thing-y

Contextualizing claims Palestinian photojournalist 'staged' photos of people waiting for food in Gaz

I Just Can't Look Away From You, Bunny

seven months

Books read in 2025

Profile

August 2025

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