queenlua | Network

Here are the entries for this challenge:

( List of entries )

Please Note: Because we only have 3 entries this week, there is only a First Place and Runner Up to vote for!

In order to vote, please reply to this post using the form provided. All comments are screened, and entries are listed in the order they were submitted. For your vote to qualify, you must fill out your entire voting card (both spots) in order to be counted. Winner votes are worth 2 points, Runner Up votes are worth 1 point. Meeting the bonus goal on an entry gets an extra point for that submission.

When voting, please copy/paste the ENTRY NUMBER and the FIC TITLE from the list above into the spot you're voting for (this prevents accidentally mis-numbering a vote and casting it for the wrong entry). It should look like this:

First Place: 61. Fic Title Here
Runner Up: 88. Another Fic Title

Please note that you cannot vote for your own entry, and that votes cannot be made anonymously. You do not have to be a member of the community in order to vote, nor have submitted an entry for this week; everyone is welcome to participate in the voting. IP addresses are logged to prevent duplicate voting.

Voting closes Wednesday, February 11 at 9:00PM EST.

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3205/

This dating is corroborated by the presence of stone tools at the site, rather than earlier and less effective helium ones.

https://xkcd.com/3205/

cornerofmadness

I decided to buy the professor price tickets to the Bourbon City Steampunk in Louisville KY in May. It's the same weekend as graduation. I also put in to do 2 lectures (one I have done since it was my sabbatical and one I shall have to pull forth from my ass) Wish me luck

Today I did find a phone number for recollection clothing and I shall be calling about my dress I've never seen (probably friday as it's the next time I have time) I didn't call United Health Care today because my phone was being a dick.

I did call this collection company knowing it almost couldn't possibly be for me. I haven't been in that kind of mess in years but Penny Williams (the other pain in my ass) who had my telephone number in the early 00s STILL gives it out to avoid collection agencies. This time it was for some man I never heard of.

Today was 20 degrees colder than anticipated.

it's music monday 30 weeks of music. This week's prompt is 13 has a really good music video. Share your faves too.

( It's going to be the 1980s all the way and you know I can't pick just one )

here's the whole prompt list

( it's under here )

Current Mood: nauseated
Current Music: The Olympics

autobotscoutriella posting in

purimgifts

Good timezone, everybody! I come with two announcements!

First, we've opened up requests for treating! You can check out that list right over here.

Second, we are now two weeks from the deadline on February 23 (anywhere in the world)!

If you haven't posted yet, now's a great time to check out our Posting Guide here or our Embed Guide here. And if you’re not sure how it's going, or have some concerns, you have options!

Extension. If you’re sure you can complete your assignment, you just need a little more time, this option is for you. To request an extension, please email purim_gifts@yahoo.com.

The backup protocol. This option is for people who’re not sure whether they can complete their assignment, but who really really want to. A backup is a pinch hitter assigned ahead of time. If you complete your assignment, that’s great! Aaaaand there’s a chance of treats. If you don’t complete your assignment, you can call it off at the last minute - while your pinch hitter had had a much longer time to prepare. To request a backup, please email purim_gifts@yahoo.com.

Partial default. This option is for people who already know they can’t complete their assignment, but who want to post what they can complete. To request a partial default, please email purim_gifts@yahoo.com.

Full default. If you’re absolutely sure you can’t complete your assignment, this option is for you. You can activate it by email purim_gifts@yahoo.com, or by hitting the “Default” button at the AO3. Either way, you won’t be penalized for it; life happens, and we get that.

And if you’re not sure which of those options is right for you, please email purim_gifts@yahoo.com! The mod team's here to help, and we'd much rather do that as early as possible.

torachan

1. Got my teeth cleaned today and since Carla was awake before my appointment (which was at 8:30am), she was able to drop me off so I could just walk home. The dentist is a good walking distance away, but with my appointment being on the early side, I wouldn't have had time to cool off once I arrived, and I didn't want to risk being hot and/or sweaty and having to get right in the chair. But I did get a nice walk on the way home, though, and it was fully overcast, which is definitely my preference for walks.

2. Since the dentist appointment was a good excuse and I didn't really have a pressing reason to go into the office, I just worked from home today. I think I'll have to go in every day the rest of the week, so it was nice to stay home today.

3. I love these sunny window shots!

pivot_to_ai_feed

Posted by David Gerard

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/02/09/waymo-self-driving-cars-powered-by-agi-a-guy-instead/

https://pivot-to-ai.com/?p=7099

We know “self-driving” cars aren’t really self-driving. Waymo was using 1.8 humans per supposedly autonomous car for a while. They haven’t revealed more current numbers. [IEEE Spectrum, 2018]

The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation called a hearing on Wednesday February 4th to find out what barriers are in the way of self-driving cars everywhere! [Senate]

The biggest barrier is that the whole activity called driving is constructed around the assumption of a human brain. So you would need an AGI — an Artificial General Intelligence — to drive a car as well as a human does.

And it keeps turning out that all the jobs they sell AI as doing, one day in the fabulous future, assume a human intelligence!

So what do you do? Well, you do the obvious — you use an AGI. That is, A Guy Instead. You tell your investors the machine will totally do the whole job next year. It won’t, but that’s tomorrow’s problem.

In the hearing, Senator Ed Markey hammered on the remote operators. Dr. Mauricio Peña, the Chief Safety Officer at Waymo, admitted a lot of the operators were in the Philippines. Markey went off, and that’s what made the press. [YouTube; Business Insider]

Waymo also insists the cars are not actually driven remotely — just “advised” in some manner that totally doesn’t count as driving. But I suspect that claim is full of weasels and actions that would sure look like just driving remotely.

The reason this hearing happened is that Waymo and Tesla want less state legislation on safety and more overriding federal legislation they think they can tweak their way. This will let them kill more pedestrians. Such that you can no longer legally blame the company making the two-ton misguided missile.

The self-driving systems can be pretty good! They’re super cruise control that’s good for a robot. We know a Pivot reader who lives in Silicon Valley and gets Waymos all the time and they’re great. It works! It’ll be highly tweaked to Silicon Valley. I mean, fine.

But I suspect the Waymo in, say, the middle of San Francisco need a lot more assistance from their remote totally-not-drivers. They want to bring Waymos to London too, which should be amazing.

I predict Waymo in London will use multiple “operators” per car to replace one minicab driver. They don’t care what they have to spend. The point is to make workers feel obsolete. Because there is nothing investors want more. Even if you have to lie about your AI to do it.

Video — Podcast

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2026/02/09/waymo-self-driving-cars-powered-by-agi-a-guy-instead/

https://pivot-to-ai.com/?p=7099

stonepicnicking_okapi

1. first love
2. friendship
3. love of nature
4. passion
5. soulmates
6. unrequited love
7. lust
8. love of the game
9. devotion
10. love of food
11. polyamory
12. long distance love
13. lovesickness
14. romantic love
15. love of place
16. marriage
17. love of order and method
18. divine love
19. platonic love
20. infatuation
21. maternal love
22. obsession
23. agape
24. love of animals
25. unconditional love
26. forbidden love
27. ecstasy
28. the beloved

--

I just finished a detective novel where the motive revolves around an anti-abortion fanatic so it had me thinking interpreting devotion in other ways.

Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Length: 100
Rating: Gen but warning for mention of pro-life/anti-abortion violence and fanaticism
Summary: After a case, Sherlock makes an assumption.

( Read more... )

this is my favorite solo performance of Jungkook's, and this song has a line (which actually rhymes in English! Huzzah! Most of the time, their English lyrics sort-of-not-really rhyme): Show you what devotion is / deeper than the ocean is.

Watch on YouTube

mrkinch

There were indeed a lot of American Robins in Wildcat Canyon this morning.:) U reported seventy, and there seemed like that many Lesser Goldfinches, given how much chatter and song we heard. I missed the Townsend's Warbler and a White-throate Sparrow that U and Chris saw on Upper Packrat but heard a Pacific Wren and heard/saw two Allen's Hummingbirds that they did not. The second Allen's was feeding on and defending a big ribes that we've always checked out when walking the upper trail, but he wasn't visible when they went by. ( The list: )

A pair of Mallards flew in, landing on Jewel Lake with two quiet splashes while I was sitting on the bench waiting for U and Chris, so that was convenient.

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: enthralled

mistressofmuses

This weird creature was a sticker from Abi Stevens Art. I picked it this week for the vibes. I still feel kind of weird and off, like a bizarre and monstrous serpent bird, so that seemed appropriate.

This week was the final stretch of recovery and my return to work. While I still feel like it wasn't quite enough time, I have been feeling far better than I did the previous week. I did have a few reasonably productive days at home, where I started to get caught up on some of what I'd missed. The week itself was difficult, though. The news on Wednesday about my friend Mark passing was... heartbreaking. I still just don't feel like he can be gone.

Goals for the week:

I did finally catch up on DW
I wrote up my January book reviews
I finished reading We're Here
I took more walks
I returned to work
I did not work on my reading page
I did my getyourwordsout check in: 12542 words
I did my tracker grids for the next month
We paid rent
I started reading Hell Bent

Tracked habits:

Work - 1.5/7 - I returned for a half day on Friday, resuming my regular schedule on Saturday
Household Maintenance - 5/7
Physical Activity - 7/7
Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 0/7
Non-fiction Writing - 6/7 - three days of over 500 words, three days of over 1000
Meta Work - 4/7
Personal Writing - 6/7
Other Creative Things - 0/7
Reading - 6/7 - I finished reading We're Here and started Hell Bent, plus read a small bit of my ebook side-read; Alex and I finished The Sun Dog and started The Luminous Dead
Attention to Media - 7/7 - Sunday had various background stuff, watched some reviews later; Monday had youtube in the background, then later watched agility qualifiers for the Westminster dog show; Tuesday Alex and I went to see Iron Lung (enjoyed it!) and later watched more dog show stuff; Wednesday watched more dog show stuff and some video game videos; Thursday was more game videos and later some of the Olympic snowboard qualifiers; Friday watched a paranormal video, a review, and some game videos; Saturday had news in the background.
Video Games - 0/7
Social Interaction - 5/7

Total words written: 8105, all non-fiction; some about the stresses of paperwork, some about my friend's passing, some on book reviews

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: my apartment

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