The Reading Room

CowperKettle

00:53

The Curtain - by Milan Kundera [Full Audiobook]

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Bookworm

01:13

0

Q: "How should conflicting themes in literature be analyzed? Is there a standard approach?"

Many literary works present multiple themes that don’t always align neatly with each other. For example, in Macbeth, there’s the theme of fate vs. free will, but also the theme of unchecked ambition. At times, these themes seem contradictory—if Macbeth is doomed by fate, how can he also be respo...

bobble

03:05

@Bookworm they have clearly not read my link about list questions

I'm beginning to suspect they're feeding my comments into genAI or something, given the ratio of buzzwords to actual content

bobble

05:31

@Bookworm I guess it was meant for their sock to post a genAI answer to. I'm honestly not sure if this is some sort of spam or not, but it's not adding value.

@mods, can we have some magical delete and close votes?

... and now they're lying about using genAI. that answer is definitely genAI

@verbose, since you're in the room, care to look it over?

verbose

@bobble I voted to close that question

and to delete the answer

bobble

thankee

oh, life updates for me, I guess. besides the constant low-level stress from worrying over the future of science funding and democracy in general, and the recent stress of learning that I'll be kicked out of my supposedly permanent housing arrangement, and the disappointment of a few failed dates, my, uh, well, my academic life is going great. fun research, good environment, etc.

recently I've been doing tag cleanups on Meta SE. I meant to just try to get to 10k but have accidentally hit 11k with no signs of stopping

verbose

@bobble whoa. The housing thing is quite a shocker. Sorry about all that.

bobble

05:46

I only recently learned about it. Trying to contact some people to see what I can do.

verbose

Good luck!

@Bookworm Asleep and dreaming of the HNQ

Bookworm

07:10

0

Q: Theme of Nelson Mandela's "A Long Walk to Freedom"

Nelson Mandela’s speech in Long Walk to Freedom, highlights his lifelong struggle against apartheid and the sacrifices he made in pursuit of freedom. His journey is often discussed in terms of resilience, as he endured 27 years of imprisonment while holding onto his belief in justice and equality...

literary-device theme

verbose

oh good, a mod is here, now @Mithical can beat all those AI bots into submission

\o @Mithical

vigilantvino02

07:58

Guys I have a doubt. Can anyone clarify it??

verbose

@vigilantvino02 It's hard to say without knowing what the doubt is

I mean, we can give it a shot if you care to elaborate

vigilantvino02

08:17

Sure. Just a min..

In a lesson called "From the diary of Anne Frank" from Class 10 Textbook, there is this question,
"Anne called 26th July a ‘tumultuous’ day. Explain the reasons behind it."
I gave the answer as, "She called 26th July a 'tumultuous day' because it was full or terrorism. But my answer was wrong. Did i understand the meaning of 'tumultuous' wrong? or is there any other way i should have answered the question? @verbose

verbose

I don't know what happened on 26 July in The Diary of Anne Frank, unfortunately

"Terrorism" means some kind of scary attack, like September 11 2001 in New York

or November 26 2008 attacks in Bombay

Is that what happens on 26 July in that book?

Or is it just a terrifying day?

A day full of terror rather than terrorism?

vigilantvino02

So, this means that i should have given 'A day full of terror, fright and tension rather than giving terrorism'. Thanks for your help!

@verbose

verbose

you're welcome, glad to help

Mithical

@verbose o/

it appears that my phone dropped me into chat earlier when I opened the browser to check the news

verbose

08:33

@Mithical I've stopped checking the news. I need my sleep.

Mithical

sleep? hahaha

verbose

this is what I'm saying

vigilantvino02

@Mithical

I wanted to clarify why my answer was deleted...

Can i ask you??

https://literature.stackexchange.com/questions/28809/theme-of-nelson-mandelas-a-long-walk-to-freedom

This question is not at all AI generated.

I did this in my own words using reference from Grammarly and other online webs.

Mithical

@vigilantvino02 Sure, you can ask. The answers were deleted for violating the policies against unreferenced AI-generated content. I'm afraid I'm not allowed to reveal what specific methods were used to determine that. Since you're disputing that they're AI-generated, policy is that a different moderator or staff member than the one who initially took action will review the case and evaluate the relevant posts, and decide if the original identification as AI-generated was correct or not.

Note that using generative-AI tools to rewrite your posts is also a violation of the policy against unreferenced AI usage; Grammarly and other spell-check tools are fine, but not tools that substantially rewrite your post.

2

verbose

08:52

Golly it's 1a ... what an odd time for me to be hungry.

vigilantvino02

No, I use Grammarly only to collect infos, not for rewritings and copying... Please understand from my view. It hurts me when i come to know that mods say that the answers are AI generated even when it was written entirely by me @Mithical

Mithical

@vigilantvino02 Yes, I understand that a false accusation hurts. Unfortunately, there was enough evidence that the answers were removed; the case will be re-evaluated, though, and if it turns out there's evidence to the contrary or the initial evidence as AI-generated isn't strong enough, the answers will be restored. In the meantime, the original decisions stands.

verbose

@Mithical how's the Em Dickie paper coming along? All done?

How did the meeting with the Dean for deciding your next set of classes go?

Mithical

@verbose Done and submitted; waiting on a grade now. I'm actually actively reviewing my notes for that class now, because in addition to the paper I have an exam on Monday

verbose

oh wow

Mithical

09:05

@verbose Went okay, I think; I have a standing invitation to sign up for any of her more advanced classes, including graduate courses. Unfortunately it didn't look like anything would fit into my schedule this semester, given the dual major requirements, but maybe next year

verbose

I had a midterm today, if it's any consolation

Mithical

In what? How'd that go?

verbose

@Mithical 😢

@Mithical Introduction to Data Science. It seemed fine, though I'll need the prof to confirm that. The cute Persian lad with whom I usually study came up with the same answers I did (we chatted post-midterm) so I'm guessing it was fine (he is as smart as he is cute, which is saying something)

Mithical

💜

Yeah, waiting for grades is frustrating. I only have one of my exam grades back at this point.

verbose

\o @GarethRees

@Mithical grr

Gareth Rees

09:09

@vigilantvino02 You say that you don't use language models to generate answers such as the one you posted on the Smiley's People question. If so, can you give us a citation for the block quotation starting "A literary interpretation of this". Where does this quotation come from?

verbose

I wanted to message the prof saying "hey, if you're administering a midterm today, it'd be kinda nice to get back our assignments that cover the material that the midterm is testing us on?"

Mithical

@verbose yeah... I got one of my midterm grades back last night, and I'm waiting on another one still; the semester is over! :p

verbose

@Mithical 😱

Mithical

I think I have a Statistics course as a requirement at some point in this degree, although that's not quite the same as an intro to data science

verbose

I mean I have some grounding in Stats and I programmed in Python professionally so it would be, like, quite shameful if I did not find this course boring I guess

Statistics is fascinating. It manages to be super interesting and horrendously boring at the same time. Not quite sure how it manages that.

Kinda like reading the Bible 🤣

Mithical

09:25

@verbose I think it's part of the research methods section, which I am particularly looking forward to

verbose

I am grateful that I took a statistics class, and that I have a close friend who has a PhD in Statistics. I can't claim to enjoy the subject exactly, but it is very useful for spotting patterns and determining how meaningful they are. Good survival skills.

h'm remind me. Slate used to be a mod here? Under a different username? Is that correct?

Mithical

aye

verbose

09:41

@Mithical ah thanks

Slate replied to the re-reading question and that triggered a faint memory

h'm I guess I still don't understand how badges work despite all the help folks have been giving me. I'd've thought that manually awarding kimchi_lover a bounty on @PeterShor's question would've qualified me for an altruist badge? But I don't seem to have one? I'm not thirsting for one or anything, I guess I am just not sure (still) how badges work.

Sorry to be so lame

wait is that ableist

sorry to be so un-clued-in

Mithical

It can take up to 24 hours for badges to be awarded

verbose

it's been more than that I'm pretty sure. Granted, time is fungible

Mithical

lessee

literature.stackexchange.com/help/badges/48/altruist?userid=289

verbose

oh

how odd

thanks!

I usually see a l'lle green trophy when I get a badge

I missed it somehow I guess

Well that just underscores what I've been saying, I really need to figure out the workings of SE

I never know what's going on

maybe that means it's bedtime. G'nite ladies

Mithical

If you open the achievements dropdown, do you see it in the backscroll?

\o

verbose

09:52

um

what's an achievements dropdown?

sorry

Mithical

the trophy icon

verbose

oh

lemme look

No?

It shows that I got a revival badge for that question

but not an altruist one

Mithical

interesting

verbose

necromancer, not revival, sorry

Mithical

And you've looked back to Feb 8?

verbose

09:58

I scrolled down to "Older" which I think is more than a month old?

Mithical

There should be a "last 7 days" section

verbose

wait that's not very useful gimme a min

Mithical

oh wait

verbose

okay that's more useful

Mithical

you don't get a notification for that badge apparently

53

A: Which badges do not cause a notification for experienced users?

Silver and gold badges are always considered veteran-worthy, so you'll always be notified of those regardless of reputation or site. On per-site metas, you're always considered a veteran; on all other sites (including Meta Stack Exchange), you're considered a veteran if you have the network assoc...

verbose

10:00

huh

how odd

Mithical

little quirks of the system that trip even me up sometimes ;)

verbose

ah

oh well thanks @Mithical and gn all for reals this time

Mithical

night!

Clara Díaz Sanchez

Is "Dante Roth" another AI bot? sigh....

Gareth Rees

12:53

@ClaraDíazSanchez I don't think so; they made an edit after I prompted them to relate the answer more clearly to the question. I think they may just be someone who knows a lot about narratology but little about writing clearly for non-experts.

Clara Díaz Sanchez

13:21

@GarethRees Their first answer (to the now-deleted "conflicting themes in literature" question) did seem quite AI-generated. The other answers less so, admittedly.

bobble

14:43

Whoops, fat-fingered an edit from "Reject" (it changes way too much) and instead but "Approve" literature.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/16282

Don't ban me from review please :) also override me please

DLosc

18:13

@verbose Not entirely unrelated. Part of the Bible is Numbers, after all.

(Personally, I'll take the Bible over Statistics. As a math major, it was my least favorite class.)

Gareth Rees

19:12

To see how well large language models are doing at answering the kinds of questions that we have here at Literature, I tried this latest question of mine on Google Gemini, and it emitted the following confabulation:

> The quotation "Non quos amisimus sed quantum lugere par sit cogitemus" is not attributed to Cicero by Robert Burton. It is actually a quotation from Seneca the Younger, from his letter to Lucilius, "Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium", 70.15.

The claims here are expressed with complete confidence, and they are all falsehoods. Burton does attribute the quote to Cicero, and nothing remotely resembling the quotation appears in Ad Lucilium 70.15.

Bookworm

22:25

0

Q: Trying to find a kids puzzle book (80s-90s)

I have a memory etched onto my brain of a puzzle book that had mazes that were like cross-sections. The one I remember specifically was a space ship, and to solve the maze you had to find a route through the rooms and doorways. There would be things in the rooms and sometimes other routes like la...

identification-request

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