A study in Nature indicates that AI systems can pick up on and ingest our anxieties.

I've been using Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash to analyze some of the documents regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Mostly, it's gone well, but we've gotten into a bit of a tussle. 

I've uploaded about 20 PDF documents, each 600 pages. (Thank you, ChatGPT, for writing a Python script that splits a humungous 36,000 page document into separate 600-page files.) 

Using Gemini  2.0 Flash, I uploaded several of the 600-page docs, eventually getting about 20 in place. I asked a series of questions about the information in the set, such as "Was any of the information unverified?" The answers led to more questions, including names of people. For clarity, I also checked a couple of the docs and asked questions about what I saw. 

It went well, and then, it didn't. Gemini would provide an answer to a question that I'd asked in earlier prompt, completely ignoring the question I just asked. When I mentioned such, it'd try to come back, but the responses indicated that it was getting tired and confused. I asked about a Prof. Luria from MIT who'd been at an anti-war demonstration with Noam Chomsky and others; Gemini told me instead about Maurice Halperin. 

Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking has a limit of 10 documents per prompt.  Flash Thinking reached the same tiredness. 

Finally, I explained to ChatGPT o3-mini-high what I was trying to do. It wrote some semantic search Python code that has had some problems.

Under Trump, AI Scientists Are Told to Remove ‘Ideological Bias’ From Powerful Models

A bit of background: Paris Just Hosted a Major AI Summit. Its Biggest Debate Was a Trap.

When I was a kid, I’d get off the school bus and go next door to have coffee and kahvileipä (coffee bread, often called nisu or pulla, depending on the region of Finland). It wasn’t my first cup of the day. From as long as I can remember, I drank coffee with my parents in the morning and pretty much any other time of the day. Of course, I started off with plenty of milk and sugar. Mine is now black, Tanzanian Peaberry from Indigo Coffee.

In spite of the apparent ubiquity of Dunkins and Starbucks, the rest of you aren’t consuming as much as did your grandparents, sez the Guardian: Americans are drinking half the coffee they did in the 40s. One theory that they put forward is that we are working fewer hours than we did 70 or 80 years ago and hence need less caffeine to keep us going.

But, don’t ever think that I’ll consume any of this stuff.

	Wachusett Watershed Regional Recycling Center 131 Raymond Huntington Highway West Boylston, MA 01583 978-464-2854

News from the Executive
Director

Did you see us in The Landmark on March 14?

If you’re not a subscriber, you can read a copy of the article that one of our volunteers has provided at the Center.

Volunteer Spotlight

Tonya and Bill Cronin –
You’ll recognize these two hardworking people who are often stationed at
our Reuse Dropoff location to accept your (up to two) packed cardboard
or plastic boxes.

Tonya and Bill offer a welcome, packing tips, and help. They’ll let
you know where you can find extra boxes, and help you find a place for
stuff that doesn’t fit into a box. Repacking as necessary, these two
then stack your boxes in covered storage areas nearby, so your donated
goods are ready for unpacking and shelving at the reuse center. Bill
also is the vintage electronics master repairman and Tonya helps in the
Store when she can.

Thank you, Tonya and Bill!

Looking ahead

April 27 9am to 1pm is our first Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day.

See the website for details about Latex Paint Collection. https://wachusettearthday.org/special-collections/,

What’s new on the floor?

What to do on a Monday when we  weren’t open on Saturday? Organize the Annex! Here are pictures of the Left side of the Annex where Baby and Home Medical items are stored.

There are more pictures on our Facebook page.

Special discoveries

A local resident asked us if we’d help him give away his baby grand piano from the 1950s. It’s best kept at home vs. our furniture pavilion so here are pictures. If you are interested, message us and we’ll pass along your contact information to him. Transportation will be needed but it’s on the first floor.

Where do things go?

News from the North 40

More changes! One MIBOX has gone back home and the other moved nearer the Furniture Pavilion in the N40 so we can unload it and send it home soon. Thank you MIBOX for being so great to work with.

Teuvo Hakkarainen, who hails from the same Finnish town where my grandfather was born, is not a known relation. He was a member of the Finnish Parliament and, most recently, one of Finland’s representatives to the European Parliament.

Hakkarainen announced that he is a candidate for re-election. His party, the Finns Party (formerly True Finns), had told him that he was not on its list of candidates. He wants it in writing. “I get so many calls…,” he said.
Finns Party and Hakkarainen at odds over European election candidacy

Although Hakkarainen claims that he has served Finland well, particularly on forestry issues, he has not always acquitted himself well in the past. He showed up drunk on his first day in the Finnish Parliament, was reprimanded for being too racist in his racist party, and, well, more.

It appears that he’ll seek re-election without his party’s support. The elections take place in June.

Friend and tech-writing colleague Tom Parmenter used to say, “We write our manuals for the one person in the office who’ll read them.”

Microsoft’s new Copilot key is the first big change to Windows keyboards in 30 years

From The Landmark – December 28

There were 10 animal-related calls, nine suspicious incidents, and several additional incidents that suspiciously weren’t deemed suspicious.

Princeton

November 28

5:51 p.m.: Phone, assist Rutland, East Country & Pommogussett roads. Rutland advises they have a stolen Ashburnham ambulance and request assistance. Ambulance was returned to Heywood Hospital.

December 2

10:15 a.m.: Phone, disturbance, Wheeler Road. Caller requesting officer to her residence she is selling. Reports she is having an open house and her neighbor has come and is causing a disturbance. He is putting up signs and causing an issue with her realtor.

Rutland

November 22

10:17 a.m.: Suspicious activity, area of Overlook Road, Wachusett Street. Caller reporting a party in a tan-colored Malibu trying to shoot a deer from their car. 202 check the area, nothing found.

5:34 p.m.: Motor vehicle, at Holden, Main Street. Caller requested an officer after hitting a deer in Rutland and now parked over the town line, no injuries or fluid, deer no longer on scene.

Nov. 25
12:18 p.m.: Threats, Pommogussett Road. Party receiving threats from a user she met on tiktok after she received a tarot card reading. User threatened to kill her and her entire family if she did not pay hm $400.