Just curious, when you say “those products are still on the shelves”, do you mean they’re selling product from the lot numbers that were recalled?

You should be able to tell the grocery store employees and have them remove it if they’re selling recalled products, but also I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re only selling products that are no longer part of those recalled lots

Edit: WAIT you said “still not on the shelves”, sorry! Ignore my comment lol

That’s valid! I agree. I think in this case it would be reasonable for the model to give multiple (or like, at least one, jeez) images with white queens. I don’t disagree with anyone in that sense. I just also don’t think it’s worth pitching a fit when the dumbass model that has been trained to show more racial diversity produces (frankly comical) hallucinations.

The ethos of the trainers is a good one. Attempting to counter the (demonstrated, measurable) bias of many models toward whiteness is a good choice. I prefer that the trainers choose to address the bias even if it (sometimes, in early versions) makes the model make silly mistakes like this. That’s all.

• it’s true that this would mislead children, but the model could hallucinate about literally anything. Especially at this stage, no one-- children or adults-- should be uncritically accepting what the model states as fact. That said, I agree LLMs need to improve their factual accuracy

• Although it is highly debated, some scholars suggest Queen Charlotte might have had African ancestry, or that she would be considered a POC by today’s standards. Of course, she reigned in the 17-1800s, but it isn’t entirely outlandish to have a “Queen of Color”, if we aren’t requesting a specific queen or a specific race

• People of color did live in England in the middle ages? Like not diverse in the way we conceive now, but here are a few papers discussing the racial diversity at the time. It was surely less intermingled than today, but it’s not like these images are impossible

• Other things are anachronistic or fantastical about these images, such as clothing. Are we worried about children getting the wrong impression of history in that sense?

• Of course increasing visibility and representation of all kinds of marginalized people is important. I, myself, am disabled, so I care about that representation too-- thanks for pointing out how we could improve the model further. I do kinda feel like people would be groaning if the model had produced a Queen with a visible disability, though… I would be delighted to be wrong on this front :)

It’s also like, I guess I would prefer it to make mistakes like this if it means it is less biased towards whiteness in other, less specific areas?

Like, we know these models are dumb as rocks. We know that they are imperfect and that they mirror the biases of their trainers and training data, and that in American society that means bias towards whiteness. If the trainers are doing what they can to prevent that from happening, whatever, that’s cool… even if the result is some dumb stuff like this sometimes.

I also don’t think it’s a problem for the user to specify race if it matters? Like “a white queen of England” is a fine thing to ask for, and if it isn’t specified, the model will include diverse options even if they aren’t historically accurate. No one gets bent out of shape if the outfits aren’t quite historically accurate, for example

You say you don’t like poetry, yet you write a lovely free-form poem. Suspicious…

Oooh it’s even cooler than that!! You’re spot on, acid is the problem. And acid from food, candy, coffee, etc. is harmful for enamel for sure.

But sugary stuff that isn’t acidic also rots teeth. Why? Because the bacteria in your mouth do what’s called lactic acid fermentation. Basically, when they take a sugar molecule and want to make “usable” energy out of it (in the form of something called ATP, or adenosine triphosphate), they end up creating lactic acid as a byproduct. In essence, the stuff living in your mouth makes acid out of sugar.

We also need to break sugar down into ATP, but we do something called cellular respiration instead. It uses oxygen and creates CO2 as a byproduct! That’s why we need oxygen to breathe, and why we breathe out carbon dioxide. But, when you work your muscles hard (lifting weights, sprinting), you might use the ATP in your muscles faster than your body can make it with cellular respiration. In that case, your cells will also do lactic acid fermentation! That’s what we’re feeling when we “feel the burn” (well, that and micro-tears in the muscle, in some cases).

Source: I’m a biologist! And I love sharing weird facts like this! Thank you for the excuse to write this out :-)

Other commenters have good suggestions also, but one option I haven’t seen mentioned would be to buy a powdered acid and make your own dilutions

It’s easy to get citric acid in a dry form (like the crystal coating on sour candy), you can get 10 lbs (enough to make many gallons) of it for like $30-50 online. I put a small scoop in my dishwasher to keep my cups from getting foggy from our hard water, and I use it to descale our kettle and in our laundry, too.

Just be careful, acid dilutions are no joke. Whether you get the cleaning vinegar or make a citric acid solution for yourself:

• use nitrile or latex gloves when working with the acid solutions

• wear something to protect your eyes, glasses are probably good enough but goggles are better

• if you have an acid solution and want to dilute it, pour the acid into the water, not the water into the acid!!!

• flush your skin or eyes with water immediately if the acid gets on you or your clothes

These rules might seem like overkill but better safe than sorry!

Citric acid is slightly stronger than acetic acid so if I were you I’d make like a 20% solution to have a similar effect to the cleaning vinegar (so like 100 g powdered acid to 400 mL water). You might have to mix it on the stove so that the water is simmering to get the acid to dissolve.

Again, be careful! But as long as you’re smart about it, take your time, and prioritize safety, you can definitely use this for descaling and cleaning (and cooking!)

I don’t think that’s true? They have a dysfunctional guilt/shame system but they still have other feelings, right?

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Pretty much every day, multiple times a day, with strangers, acquaintances, and friends. I think it usually brightens people’s day, and with strangers, I think delivery and content is much more important than what I look like or who I am.

For content, I only compliment choices, not attributes:

“Cool shirt!” is good, “Nice legs!” is not

“I love your haircut!” is good, “Your hair has such a nice texture!” is not

Tailored compliments are even better, ex. “That book (or other media) is awesome!” is great, if I really do like it, and it can start a conversation, but obviously I don’t lie and pretend I know it when I don’t.

For delivery, I keep it light and casual. I am mindful to only do it when they aren’t preoccupied, like on the phone or reading something. For tone, I guess I pop the compliment, smile, and movie on. For example, if we’re walking past each other-- I don’t slow down, and I look away immediately after giving a friendly smile. I don’t mean that I don’t care about their response, because of course I’m mindful to be sure I didn’t offend them, but I don’t burden them with needing to respond with gratitude or happiness. I think of it as, I want this person to have the (hopefully pleasant) information that their choice was seen and respected by a stranger. I don’t want anything back from them.

I would say 95-100% of the people I compliment seem to be genuinely happy I did, and of the ones who don’t react positively, I’d say the vast majority react neutrally. In the rare case where my compliment has totally failed, I usually go “Oh! I’m sorry” and again, disengage.

Obviously, with friends and acquaintances the options open up a little more, and usually I do follow up/continue the conversation instead of moving on. But it’s similar in the philosophy that I’m usually just trying to give them positive information, and not seeking anything in return. Compliments are not a tool to get people to talk to me or be friends with me. That can and does happen, but it’s not the point. Honestly, I think that’s the part that most people struggle with, if they feel like they don’t get good responses with compliments. It’s not for us.

I do think I’m probably an outlier, because I give compliments a lot. But I continue to do it because it seems to really make people smile!

Oh, good point! Yeah, in our old house (copper plumbing) plumbers usually did repairs with cpvc, not sure why.

Huge disclaimer that I’m not a plumber or even close to a plumber, but I did have a house and think about houses:

Isn’t the current “standard” plumbing PEX plumbing, which is basically just a bunch of hoses?

Like I think you’re on to something but the industry beat you to the punch 😉

Love this quote, but struggling to look the book up. Do you by chance mean “The Prophet” by the same author? There’s a painting by his cousin (with the same name) called “The Prince” so I could totally see the names getting confused.

If it’s really The Prince, can you link it? I just love this quote a lot

I enjoyed LingoDeer for Japanese!

dude the downvotes are because the entire vegetable section is about lactic acid fermentation, so your comment is just factually wrong

It’s okay to be wrong… just maybe think about whether it’s your own mistake before calling people alcoholic dipshits

I have an honest question for all the commenters saying “I’d rather not use reddit”: where do you get niche information from other than reddit?

I don’t want to give reddit traffic, but I find myself constantly looking for information that would necessarily only be available on a platform like reddit. Examples:

• Product info and reviews
• Niche troubleshooting for odd hobbies (fermentation, video games, diy)
• Travel advice from locals/regulars (do I need wetsuit to swim here? Where are restaurants that won’t harass my partner and I for being queer?)
• Advice, when the “official” recommendations on SEO websites were clearly written for a litigation-happy American society (some healthcare, some law, etc.)

I consider myself pretty information-access savvy but a lot of these things require a “crowdsource” aspect that blogs and other websites can’t provide.

What do y’all do?

To me I think the scariest part is the unequal power dynamic of value-adders (contributors, content creators, and users) and administration. I’m so worried because reddit feels like the last remaining bastion of un-SEO’d, unsponsored information written by real human beings. Users don’t have profit motives and instead care about sharing information in our shared “town square”, but it turns out the owners of that space can and will revoke access to that information if it helps them make money.

Reddit is the proverbial, contemporary Library of Alexandria. Please don’t set it on fire, guys…

Coffee grounds have a high N content relative to P and K, but they’re pretty acidic. Be careful using too much!

Honestly, most all fertilizers publish their “npk ratio”, either online or on the package. Usually general purpose fertilizers are high in nitrogen (like miraclegrow, for example), but it’s easy to get in the habit of checking the npk ratio before buying.

Again, I would recommend you not fertilize your newly potted plants if you use a potting mix from a store, usually they have enough fertilizer for at least a while and you don’t want to use too much or you’ll burn your plants.

If you pot right now, they’re probably good until like Feburary/March. After that, you can fertilize over a few weeks in the Spring and top off a bit in the summer. Then, no fertilizer in fall and winter until the following spring.

That might not be like… the objectively best way to do it? It’s just one way. Mint and lemon balm are pretty self sufficient tbh, so… don’t over think it ;)

Also, I don’t want to share spoilers but the ending is… bad? The twist leaves you feeling bummed :(

1. mint n’ balm to my knowledge like moist-but-well-draining soil. I’d check daily to see if the top inch or so of the soil is dry and water when it is.

2. naw, generic is fine. You picked hardy herbs!

3. if you were planting these outside and in the ground, I’d be cautioning you that they were about to take over your entire flower bed and suggesting you grow them in pots instead.

3.1. You can transplant your seedlings straight into big ol pots, they’ll be fine. Don’t get ones that are too small, and don’t plant them in the same pot. They like to spread out!

3.2. I’m serious, though, don’t plant them in the ground. If you ever move the pots outside for a while, keep them on concrete away from beds where they could spread seeds or runners.

4. pick a real sunny spot in your house-- where I live these lil guys would thrive best at a southern or western facing window.

5. pinch the flower buds off as you see 'em to force the plant to spend more time on the foliage and less on flowers and seeds.

6. if you fertilizer, (big if, it likely doesn’t need it for a while if the soil is fresh from the store) pick one with more nitrogen than potassium or phosphorous, since you want lots o’ leaves and not so many flowers or fruits

Enjoy! These herbs are a delight to grow and use in foods. Love 'em.