Is That A Large Language Model In Your Pants...

...Or Are You Just Happy To See (And Deceive) Me?

From the lede of a comprehensive and extremely well sourced piece by Emily Kennard and Margaret Manto published in the non-profit 'NOTUS':

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says his “Make America Healthy Again” Commission report harnesses “gold-standard” science, citing more than 500 studies and other sources to back up its claims. Those citations, though, are rife with errors, from broken links to misstated conclusions. Seven of the cited sources don’t appear to exist at all...

From the abstract of an actual peer-reviewed paper by William Walters and Esther Isabelle Wilder published in the Nature journal 'Scientific Reports':

Although chatbots such as ChatGPT can facilitate cost-effective text generation and editing, factually incorrect responses (hallucinations) limit their utility. This study evaluates one particular type of hallucination: fabricated bibliographic citations that do not represent actual scholarly works. We used ChatGPT-3.5 and ChatGPT-4 to produce short literature reviews on 42 multidisciplinary topics, compiling data on the 636 bibliographic citations (references) found in the 84 papers. We then searched multiple databases and websites to determine the prevalence of fabricated citations, to identify errors in the citations to non-fabricated papers, and to evaluate adherence to APA citation format. Within this set of documents, 55% of the GPT-3.5 citations but just 18% of the GPT-4 citations are fabricated....

In other words, if it looks like AI slop and smells like AI slop it very likely is AI slop.

As for the folks that cooked and are pushing the slop as truth?

They refuse so far to say either way according to quotes obtained by Dani Blum and Maggie Astor of the New York Times:

...Asked at a news conference on Thursday whether the report had relied on A.I., the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, deferred to the Department of Health and Human Services. Emily Hilliard, a spokeswoman for the department, did not answer a question about the source of the fabricated references and downplayed them as “minor citation and formatting errors.”...

Cue Mr. Morrison...


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Woo, All The Way Down.

Lysenkoism
UberAlles Ville


From the fine folks at Politico (who, as a result of this piece, will likely be compelled to re-start the sanewashing by this time tomorrow):

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. threatened to stop government scientists from publishing their work in major medical journals on a podcast Tuesday as part of his escalating war on institutions he says are influenced by pharmaceutical companies.

Speaking on the “Ultimate Human” podcast, Kennedy said the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association and The Lancet, three of the most influential medical journals in the world, were “corrupt”...

I mean, honestly, if this was six months ago I would think that the good Mr. Kennedy is just trolling us.

But it turns out that the latest threat from Mr. Kennedy is actually much worse than just preventing scientists from publishing in certain places.

...“Unless those journals change dramatically, we are going to stop NIH scientists from publishing in them and we’re going to create our own journals in-house”...

Why is forcing people to publish in 'in-house' journals worse than keeping them publishing in top-flight, peer-reviewed journals?

Because such in-house 'journals' are nothing more than prop shops that are driven by the opposite of rigorously generated and analyzed data.

And, as we noted a few weeks ago, Mr. Kennedy's minions have already built one of those:

A new journal co-founded by President Donald Trump’s pick to direct the National Institutes of Health (NIH) says it will “promote open and transparent scientific discourse” but is drawing controversy within mere days of its launch...

{snippety}

...The journal, which has already published eight articles on topics including COVID-19 vaccine trials and mask mandates, eschews several aspects of traditional publishing. It lacks a subscription paywall, posts peer reviews alongside published articles, and pays reviewers for their work. But other researchers have criticized the journal’s exclusivity and lack of quality control. Only members of a newly formed body, the Academy of Public Health, can submit articles, and all submitted articles are published...

Honestly.

If this happens, it will be the final nail in the coffin of the American biomedical research enterprise, an enterprise that has driven truly innovative science, world-wide, for far longer than I have been in the business.

And, just to be clear, I have been in the business for a very long time.

OK?

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Lysenkoism?...This!


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Making Honesty Not Pay.

TheNewNewDeal
ScamAroundAndFindOutVille


From a piece by Ana Swanson and Lazaro Game in The New York Times (web archive link):

As President Trump’s tariffs have ratcheted up in recent months, so have the mysterious solicitations some U.S. companies have received, offering them ways to avoid the taxes...

{snippety)

 ...Leslie Jordan, an apparel manufacturer who has been in business for nearly four decades, said fraudulent schemes were becoming “rampant” in her industry, with companies offering her and other importers clearly illegal ways to bypass tariffs...

{snippety doodle dandy}

...Ms. Jordan said the tariffs had encouraged “opportunist cheaters in both China and the United States” and put “many honest companies at a competitive disadvantage.”...

So.

What ultimately happens when every aspect of an economy becomes a scam all the way down, from top to bottom?



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Eastbound And Down...In The Scientific Bunker Again.

PeerReviewIsADishBestServed
FaceToFaceVille


Had to climb into the cigar tube, again, yesterday to head into the Eastern time zone.

Which meant that, this morning, given the time change, it was up at 4:00 am Pacific time to head down into the hotel basement bunker with fifteen other science geeks so that we can metaphorically bash each about the head as a prelude rank ordering a passel of grant applications from our fellow geeks.

The thing is, when I'm lying in bed at night in these places trying to get to sleep by 9:00 pm Pacific/Midnight local time after having already suffered through an entire day of all that stinks about riding the cigar tube on the cheap these days, I invariably come to the conclusion that I'm too old for this stuff.

But then, once we get in the bunker and the bashing/discussions begin all those science geek nerve endings get tickled such that, before you know it, the excitement begins all over again.

Why?

Because there really is a whole lot of really good stuff being done by lots of folks working in the life sciences these days - and these grants are filled to bursting with their newest/freshest ideas. It's a chance to have our best and brightest try to convince you that they can dent the universe which is something that never gets old.

OK?

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Why cigar tubing on the cheap?...Well, what do you want health charity donor dollars to be spent on - research or a little more leg room for a fine fellow like myself?

Subheader?...Since COVID this kind of thing is most often still done online...That, in my opinion, is sub-optimal as, over the two to three days that these things usually take, the collective attention often wanes online and the best decisions are not made.


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Is Something Happening Here?

He'sBeenUnderOurSkin
ForMoreThanEightYearsVille


Something seems to be happening here.

But is it the right thing?

First, there was the news that Mr. Carney has rescinded a number of the retaliatory tariffs on US'ian goods coming into Canada.

And then we heard that Carney let Mr. Trump know that we'd be kinda/sorta/maybe happy to be a part of the so-called Golden Dome.

Now, after the latest US'ian Ambassador started making noises about how we could have the lowest of the low of all the tariffs in all of the liberated lands, Mr. Carney let on that tariffs were discussed when he met with a bipartisan(ish) herd of Congress Critters, today, in Ottawa.

Imagine that!



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Of course,  the howler monkeys are gonna howl...But isn't this the thing we actually elected Carney to do?...I reckon the proof might be in the coming G7 summit pudding that will be baked in the Albertalands in mid-June.

Heckfire - I'd even be willing to take reasonably short odds that Carney will push for some sort of Resolution Dogs-type announcement in the days before the G7 meeting commences for all kinds of reasons, including the anti-successionist deflector spike-spin that would ensue for the duration...

And I would not discount that bipartisanish thing...This is something that Carney is doing that Mr. Trump is incapable of doing, except for the tragi-comic, non-congressional case of Gretchen Whitmer...Why does this matter?...Because those US'ian midterms are out there now, lurking, just over the horizon.

Good Ol' Cross Border Can-Con Earworm in the subheader?...This!

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The Enshittoscene Is Here.

BeforeNavigatorThereWas
MosaicVille


Cory Doctorow explains all in his new four part CBC podcast.

And he's bringing the receipts:

...The thesis of the series – and indeed, of my life's work – is that the internet didn't turn to shit because of the "great forces of history," or "network effects," or "returns to scale." Rather, the Great Enshittening is the result of specific policy choices, made in living memory, by named individuals, who were warned at the time that this would happen, and they did it anyway. These wreckers are the largely forgotten authors of our misery, and they mingle with impunity in polite society, never fearing that someone might be sizing them up for a pitchfork...

Give it a listen.



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Just Say No, Emphatically, To Codswallop.

TravelsWithMy(Wife's)

DogVille


Unlike Beer, I did not get up early this morning to listen to a far away soccer game on the wireless.

Instead, it was down to the river's end with the Whackadoodle II for me.

On our way home, while doing my darnedest to get the new hybrid down to 5 litres per 100 km, we listened to the most recent Front Burner podcast from the CBC.

It was about Canada's measles problem which, by official case counts at least, is actually worse than the entire United States, just in Ontario.

Host Jayme Poisson and health reporter Jennifer Yoon discussed the critical issue of declining vaccination rates with sensitivity and nuance before getting down to the crux of the public health matter - the ability of families to request exemptions such that their children can attend public school unvaccinated.

They even spoke to the Globe's Andre Picard, who has been very clear about the lack of a either a mainstream religious or philosophical basis for allowing such exemptions.

So far so good, right?

Then they played a clip of Ontario premier Doug Ford responding thusly to a reporter asking if childhood vaccinations should be mandatory for school attendance:

"...It's a good point, but how do you force someone? Do you grab their kid and start jabbing them with a needle?..."

And how did Poisson and Yoon respond to this codswallop after they had just explained that mandatory vaccinations for school attendance would work to both increase vaccination rates and prevent communicable disease spread in schools?

Did they state uneqivocally that Mr. Ford was obfuscating and risking making a dangerous communicable childhood disease that was deemed eradicated in Canada almost thirty years ago endemic once again?

Of course not.

Instead, they skated  and only tangentially discussed how there is a political element to all of this stuff.

Sheesh.

****

In retrospect, perhaps I listened to the wrong public broadcaster's offerings this morning.

The thing is that, unlike Beer, I don't actually give a hoot-in-heckfire about the fortunes of West Ham United.

Although, I must confess that I kind of like the idea of watching a soccer game in the forest of Nottingham while dodging the dastardly deeds of the sheriff.

Or some such thing.

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Hey!...I just realized how Beer's dog of yore got her name!

As for the subheader...The WII came along after the WI passed at the beginning of Covid...The WII really is C's dog, not mine.

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The Lunchtime View Outside My Office Window.

ShadesOfTheSinging
DetectiveVille


When it gets to this time of year, when everything in Lotusland is so lush and green, I find it hard to even conceive of how barren the foliage will be six months from now.

As for the rain that has arrived just in time for the long weekend?

Well, more rain today equals fewer fires tomorrow.

Hopefully.


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Subheader?...This, from Dennis Potter's masterpiece brought to lush and green cinematic life.



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More Horsemen.

MitchellHaldemanErlichmanAndColson
NoDeanVille

This follows on this morning's post about the current rider of Pestilence.

Regarding the image above...

More Horsemen, different Apocalypse.

Of course, all four of those fine pear-shaped fellows pictured above went to jail for the things they did in the name of a certain US'ian president.

If you get my historically directed drift.

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Of course, John Dean, pencilled in by Nixon to be the goatman of this particular apocalypse, spent a little time in the hoosegow as well, but by then his conscience was relatively clear.

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PZ's Revelation.

TheyWereGivenAllTheFoodsOfVanity

AndBitTheDustScreamingInsanityVille


Further to the subject of yesterday's post about he who swims among the coliforms, noted biology blogger and educator PZ Myers has had a wee revelation:

"...The man is an absolute legend. He’s bathing in effluent and eating rotting road kill; of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, he’d be Pestilence. And he’s in charge of American health!..."

Cue the band.



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Germs Are Just A Theory, Not A Fact.

Bacteria
SchmacteriaVille

From the US'ian who is, apparently, in charge of health, humans and services of some kind:

****

From the part of the US'ian National Park Service that has not yet been DOGE'd:

...Stay safe while enjoying Rock Creek Park! Swimming and wading are not allowed due to high bacteria levels.

Stay out of the water to protect streambanks, plants and animals and keep you and your family (including pets!) safe from illness.

Rock Creek has high levels of bacteria and other infectious pathogens that make swimming, wading, and other contact with the water a hazard to human (and pet) health. Please protect yourself and your pooches by staying on trails and out of the creek. All District waterways are subject to a swim ban - this means wading, too!...

I guess if you believe in the 'theory' that germs don't make you sick then 'facts' about germs don't really matter.

Right?

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What Makes Ira Run.

StuffToStickInYour

EarsVille


Sam Fregoso gets to the heart of the matter in a long form interview with Ira Glass, the guy behind 'This American Life' which has been going for 30 years now.

They talk about the before times, how much Glass' approach to story telling is driven by Roland Barthes, the making of stuff, and why Glass hasn't stopped yet.

The making of stuff, I mean.

It's a very good Sunday listen, either before or after you listen to this week's edition of TAL.


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Video at the top of the post is by a guy named Cole Lindbergh whom Glass interviewed in 2011 and saw a lot of himself in him. At the time, Lindbergh was an almost, but not quite yet, aged-out 'games director' at a US'ian midwestern, mid-market amusement park who constantly had to figure out ways to motivate his young charges...The video shows the games team that sold the most tickets on 'prize day' getting a prize of their own - the chance to throw their boss in the lake.
A lot of Canadian folks, including perhaps my own kids, may have forgotten that the Summer Vacation episode of the TAL (#443) had a fantasmagorical act three from former WireTap heavyweight Jonathan Goldstein.

And good news!....After being immolated in the great Gimlet/Spotify podcast war of 2023, Goldstein's Heavyweight is all set to come back on Pushkin...Allegedly.

Finally, because, despite my best effort to prevent it,  the YouTube algorithm got to me again, it's....Howard Chakowicz on Montreal Smoked Meats.



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You've Been To The Doctor...Do You Know Where Chart Data Are?

De-IdentificationRe-Indentification

AI-A-Go-GoVille


From a report by Alison Northcott of the CBC:

Going to the doctor can involve sharing your most personal information, including details about your health, medical history and prescriptions.

It all ends up in your medical record — but a new study by researchers at Women's College Hospital in Toronto found that in some cases, private companies are accessing parts of that data and selling it to pharmaceutical companies...

{snip}

...Through a series of 19 interviews, the researchers concluded "chains of for-profit primary care clinics, physicians, commercial data brokers and pharmaceutical companies ... work together to convert patient medical records into commercial assets."

{snippety doo-dah}

...(Lead author Dr. Cheryl) Spithoff and her colleagues identified two different models. In one, a private clinic sells data to an outside company, with personal information like names and birth dates removed. The company then offers to sell or analyze that de-identified information for its clients in the pharmaceutical industry.

In the other model, the clinic is a subsidiary of the company collecting the data, giving that company even more direct access to patient information...

The real issue here as all these data are rapidly becoming digitized is the lack of regulation, not to mention consent.

Oh, and of course, privatized delivery plays a role as well.


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The actual paper, published in JAMA Network Open, is here.



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What's A Little (Park) Land Swap Among Friends?

ParksBoard?
WeDon'tNeedNoStinkingParksBoard!Ville


I'm pretty sure Dr. Beer is not going to be happy about this one, as reported by Bob Mackin a few weeks ago:

The Whitecaps’ ownership confirmed in an early evening statement on April 4 that they are “currently in discussion with the City of Vancouver regarding the construction of a stadium at the PNE fairgrounds site.”

A source told theBreaker.news that the two parties have a memorandum of understanding to explore building a soccer-specific stadium at Hastings Racecourse...

{snip}

...The Hastings Racecourse land could be transferred to the Whitecaps’ new owner, who would be responsible for financing the stadium project...

Apparently, this is being done to help convince a new buyer to take the Whitecaps off the hands of Greg Kerfoot and friends who have seen the value of the club rise from $30 million when he bought it in 2002 to an estimated $470 million today.

Which begs the question, why, as Andy Yang has asked, should we, the citizens of Vancouver, be subsidizing the playthings of billionaires?

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim's answer to that question is the following:

“What we’re going to focus on here is the fact that the Whitecaps might leave the region. And so we’ll look at everything … we will do whatever we can, within our power, that makes sense for the residents of Vancouver to keep the team in the region.”

The argument, apparently, is that if you sweetheart the deal into the stratosphere the new billionaire (which the way things often go as these gambits play out may turn out to be the same billionaire) will take pity on us once they've got what they want and keep the team in Lotusland.

In the meantime, a big chunk of a public park will be gone forever and there is no guarantee that either the CondoKings or the CasinoCorps (or both) won't move in for the duration.


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CityHallWatch has more....Much more.

As for the state of play amongst the real Whitecaps fans these days....Tim Bray walked (and stood) among the Southsiders recently and had a heckuva time. 


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Pretzel Logic Factory (Just) East Of The Rockies Adds Extra Shift...

ACornerOfTheConfederationRiven

ByDuplicitousDuncesVille


From David Climenhaga's excellent 'Alberta Politics' blog:

RED DEER – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called a news conference yesterday to tell the impertinent journalists who showed up why, as a strong believer in Canadian Confederation, she intends to do whatever she can to ensure her province’s loony separatists get to have a secession referendum as soon as possible...

Apparently, Ms. Smith also did not appreciate it when Doug Ford tried to hand her a logic straightening tool:

...Ms. Smith likewise wasn’t pleased yesterday when Ontario Premier Doug Ford, also a Conservative, reminded her that “we have to stay united … this is about Canada, this isn’t about Ontario or Alberta.” Ms. Smith waspishly suggested he stay in his lane. “I don’t tell him how he should run his province, and I would hope that he doesn’t tell me how I should run mine,” she sniffed during her presser...

Imagine that!


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Image at the top of the post?...The cover art of an early printing of John Toole Kennedy's 'A Confederacy of Dunces' a book for which the movie has yet to be made...Interestingly, however, based on the likeness above,  the good confederationist John Candy once passed on the lead role.


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