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  On my last job before retirement, we were asked to explore using LLMs to extract information from reports intel analysts have carefully prepared. I noted that the LLM summaries, even when factually correct (it made up quite a bit of stuff), often missed the judgment conveyed via nuanced words chosen by the human analysts. I'm sure nobody read my report, just like they couldn't be bothered to read the reports by trained analysts and they wanted a shorter version from a stochastic parrot i...

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  Someone had found a pair of White Ibis, a day after and no more than 4 miles north of where I saw a pair last Thursday. This pair may have remained there thru the weekend. They were in a neighborhood "lake" that's being dredged. There are no shorebirds there right now, but the shorebird migration just started. #birding

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  Someone reported a Yellow-crowned Night Heron at a place south of the retention pond. I went back to the retention pond to see if they stopped there. They didn't, but I found out that the Green Herons have had at least one successful nest: there were at least two newly-fledged juveniles #birding

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  A lot has happened since I was last there. Earlier in the week the nest failed and both baby owls, too young to have accidentally fledged, fell out. They were rescued, examined, and given a clean bill of health. A wildlife expert rigged up a basket and a tree climber secured the basket, with the two babies in it, to the tree. The mom eventually found the two babies and the new nest. And Dad was nearby: as I approached, an owl called from the other side of the path. #birding