A.I. hallucination

Day job true story. Software.

We need to do a large project. I’ve been reading the documentation and the only way to do what we need to do is through command-line and scripting on the back-end.

My manager used ChatGPT to find a UI interface solution. It confidently reported back the menu tree to follow.

The menu tree doesn’t exist. NOT ONE SINGLE OPTION THAT WAS DESCRIBED.

For further embarrassment, my manager went to the tool vendor and asked them to turn on the hidden menus.

The vendor was like “where in what documentation did you read that?”

I don’t know if that is technically “hallucination” but ChatGPT just made up answers to keep him happy. 

 ===

And now, the Chinese have unveiled Kung Fu robots. Not even kidding.

Let's hasten our demise in a fever dream mash-up, ENTER THE TERMINATOR.

 

"I have always known about Man. From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand-in-hand with his idiocy!" - Dr. Zauis, PLANET OF THE APES

The Weird of my Weird Tales

At some point over the past *mumble-mumble* years, I caught a sale (I think it was Radio Archives?) They were moving along stuff they carried that wasn't their own line, and so they had a fire sale on issues of Weird Tales.

Now, before you get all excited, this wasn't classic-classic Weird Tales (1920s-1930s.) This was a clutch from the late 1980s through early 1990s issues. (still might be classic, in their own way.)

I was able to get a pretty full run, from issue 290 through 301 - not including 291.

As with too many of my reading purchases, the issues were acquired and then gathered dust. (I know, don't @ me.)

I pulled out 295 last week and read it. That got me interested in finding that lost issue. I also realized that the run went on a few more issues, more sporadically. I looked up 302. To my surprise, there are issues on Amazon (like, mint? Sold by and shipped by Amazon,) including 302. But not, of course, 291.

So, I went to eBay to seen what 291 was doing.

Lo and behold. There, in my search, was a lot of 2 issues for sale.

Care to guess which issues?

Yes. 291 and 302. Together. In good to great condition, judging by the photos, and reasonably priced.

Instabuy, as they say.

Serendipity like that is not to be ignored lightly.

Science Fiction Day 2026

Yesterday was Science Fiction Day. I took a break from my current jungle pulp read and read a couple of science fiction short stories. I find myself, now, at the head of yet another side trail.

One story I read was "Clash by Night" by Henry Kuttner & C. L. Moore. An undersea tale set on Venus, collected in the Baen anthology, DEPTH CHARGE. 

Kuttner revisited the setting later with the novel, FURY. This was the Venus setting David Drake later explored in two novels, THE JUNGLE and SURFACE ACTION, which were omnibused by Baen as SEAS OF VENUS.

I have a copy of FURY. I will be on the lookout for SEAS OF VENUS.

Also, I listened to an episode of the DOCTOR WHO spinoff audio-drama, COUNTER MEASURES. This series continues on with characters who first appeared in REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS. 

Sort of a smaller, prototype of the UNIT concept. Big Finish Audio do an amazing job of invoking eras. Even though this is audio, it very much feels like watching a 1960s science fiction television programme. Recommended.

Reading challenge FAIL!

I am not going to finish reading 12 more books by year's end. First time I've come in under goal since 2019.



I am not concerned about this. My goal choice is arbitrary. I tend to set it high because I'd been reading pulpy-length books for a while. In the past few years, I've allowed myself a few longer books per year, and it feels right. It's nice to stay with something deeper for a while.

There were a couple of thick books in the mix this year. I'm glad I took my time with them - especially THE THREE MUSKETEERS.

31 horrors (part 2)

Surpassed 31.

A lot of Bloch because I was mainly working my way through (the new Valancourt Books reissue of ) THE OPENER OF THE WAY, with random choices tossed in.

"Tighter" by Christa Faust

"The Way Station" by Nathan Ballingrud

"The Faceless God" by Robert Bloch

"Remnants" by Tim Lebbon

"House of the Hatchet" by Robert Bloch

"The Opener of the Way" by Robert Bloch

"Return to the Sabbath" by Robert Bloch

"One Way to Mars" by Robert Bloch

"The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson

"Lilies" by  Iain Rowan

"The Body Snatcher" by Robert Louis Stevenson

"Waxworks" by Robert Bloch

"The Mandarin's Canaries" by Robert Bloch

"The Feast in the Abbey" by Robert Bloch

"Slave of the Flames" by Robert Bloch

"The Shambler from the Stars" by Robert Bloch

"Mother of Serpents" by Robert Bloch

"The Secret of Sebek" by Robert Bloch 

"The Eyes of Mummy" by Robert Bloch

"Polyphemus" by Michael Shea

31 horrors (part 1)

I am trying to read 31 horror short stories in this month of October.

Half way report.

"The Cloak" by Robert Bloch

"Beetles" by Robert Bloch

"The Fiddler's Fee" by Robert Bloch

"You Go Where It Takes You" by Nathan Ballingrud

"The Mannikin" by Robert Bloch

"The Strange Flight of Richard Clayton" by Robert Bloch

"Wild Acre" by Nathan Ballingrud

"Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" by Robert Bloch

"Hurst of Hurstcote" by Edith Nesbit

"Plague Pit" by Charles R. Rutledge

"The Seal of the Satyr" by Robert Bloch

"The Dark Demon" by Robert Bloch

"North American Lake Monsters" by Nathan Ballingrud

"The Crevasse" by Nathan Ballingrud & Dale Bailey

"Sunbleached" by Nathan Ballingrud

"The Case of Lady Sannox" by Arthur Conan Doyle 

Contact! (again)

It's been a hot minute. My latest short story, "Red Cold Front," will soon be available.

The setting for the story is Archangel, 1919.  The story is fiction, the setting is real. It isn't alternate history. It's a forgotten war. The US and the Allies sent expeditionary forces into Russia, and yes, they battled with the Reds.

The Kindle edition of Contact 3: War Is Hell is available for pre-order now. If you want the paperback, it should be going live at the end of the month.