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You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Dog Blogging / Akita Success (Open Thread)

Akita Success (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  June 15, 20231:35 pm| 28 Comments

This post is in: Dog Blogging, Open Threads, Technology

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Generative AI is probably coming for my job and maybe even yours eventually, but in the meantime, its dumber cousins amuse me by barfing up unintentional howlers while transcribing human speech. A recent example was “Akita success,” which did not allude to an accomplishment attributable to a handsome, dense-coated dog with pointy ears and fold-over tail. It was a botched translation of “a key to success,” and by the time I realized that, my train of thought had derailed badly. It’s all yours, robots.

Speaking of handsome dogs, here’s our Pete hanging over the side of the sofa. I think it’s a cooling off technique he uses when he returns indoors overheated from playing in the yard; otherwise, I can’t account for the odd behavior.

dog resting on the back of a sofa

He looks a sophomore on spring break who recently discovered tequila shots in a big way and is now about to puke over a cruise ship railing. Also, the vet says he’s too fat, so I’m dispensing fewer treats and am therefore a monster. Also, I need to trim his damned claws, which is a nightmare. 

Open thread!

 

 

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Previous Post: « Yeah, I Wondered About That (Open Thread)
Next Post: You Don’t Have to Be This Way »

Reader Interactions

28Comments

  1. 1.

    cope

    June 15, 2023 at 1:48 pm

    Our pooch needs a nail trim as well. Our old vet in FL said, after an initial attempt at cutting her nails failed, that she would have to be sedated. I said no.

    One of the pet big box stores here has walk-in nail trim service and I keep meaning to take her there. Maybe later today after I meet with my dentist to discuss the upcoming extraction of #18.

  2. 2.

    Jerzy Russian

    June 15, 2023 at 1:50 pm

    Our cats often hang their heads over the edges of boxes they are in.  It does not look comfortable to me, but I am not in a position to judge.

     

    Pete is a good boy.  I assume you have reclassified everything he does as good behavior so that he always remains a good boy?

  3. 3.

    JustRuss

    June 15, 2023 at 1:50 pm

    Pfffft, AI. I was listening to the radio this morning, they were interviewing some expert about self-driving cars, and he was explaining how their system will monitor your face to make sure you’re watching the road…while your car’s driving itself.  If I had a friend who  said “I’ll drive, but I kinda suck, so you need to watch the road at all times and be prepared to take the wheel”, I’d tell them, yeah, no thanks, you’re shotgun

    The interviewer was refreshingly skeptical.

  4. 4.

    patrick II

    June 15, 2023 at 1:53 pm

    I searched for Youtube videos about the Ukrainian counteroffensive and saw a couple of reliable reporters I have seen before, but in addition some Russian propaganda and a couple of clearly AI-generated videos that aren’t quite there yet, but it is scary what they will be able to do.  One professed to be an attack on Russian positions by some Leopard tanks and Ukrainian soldiers.  The Ukranian tanks, however, had big white “Z”s painted on them. The smoke trail from a hit enemy vehicle would lengthen and shorten unnaturally and a vehicle partly hidden behind a distant treeline would appear and disappear.  I am pointing out the shortcomings, but much of it was remarkably realistic.

    Some of these efforts are better than others.  One video showed Ukrainian fighter aircraft landing at an airfield after a confrontation — one of them was a WWI biplane, so that kind o gave away the game.

    They are getting to be ubiquitous and will only become more sophisticated.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    June 15, 2023 at 1:55 pm

    Akita success.  LOL.  I will substitute that phrase everytime I hear “AI”, which is the Next Big Thing, from all the media attention.

    Pete is adorbs.

  6. 6.

    Butch

    June 15, 2023 at 2:02 pm

    My golden retriever does the same thing on the couch.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    June 15, 2023 at 2:06 pm

    So cute.

    And you are a monster!

  8. 8.

    sab

    June 15, 2023 at 2:06 pm

    1. Akitas are large hunting herding guard dogs from Japan. Hunting herding guard is sort of scary. They have opinions about what they should be doing.

    Like every Sci Fi  book I ever read. The protaganist thinks his mission is slightly different from what the reader thinks.

  9. 9.

    Roger Moore

    June 15, 2023 at 2:09 pm

    @JustRuss: ​
     
    Most of the stuff we hear about self-driving cars is marketing hype from car companies. I’ll believe we have an actual self-driving car when they start selling cars where the only driving control is the navigation system.

  10. 10.

    Ann Marie

    June 15, 2023 at 2:11 pm

    Aw, poor Pete, you are mean, not giving ALL the treats!  My cat Hugh used to take this same position and I just assumed he had been hitting the catnip too hard.

  11. 11.

    zeecube

    June 15, 2023 at 2:14 pm

    Only anecdotal but might work with Pete. It was always a battle to trim our young aussie’s claws. Then we put a soft muzzle on her and she became very docile and gave up fighting.

  12. 12.

    zhena gogolia

    June 15, 2023 at 2:20 pm

    Pete is adorable!

  13. 13.

    Juice Box

    June 15, 2023 at 2:24 pm

    Baby carrots for treats! They slide right through without leaving calories behind and yet they are sweet and delightful to chew. Plus they make poops easier to see and pick up since they come out decorated with bright orange flecks.

  14. 14.

    Hob

    June 15, 2023 at 2:25 pm

    I can’t help sympathizing with machine transcribers, because I did the human equivalent of that job for many years, and even though I was better at understanding context and knowing that “a key to success” would make sense more than “Akita success”, I and my co-workers did sometimes make mistakes that in hindsight were pretty embarrassing. At one point the agency had me transcribing doctor’s notes even though I didn’t in those days have any medical background, and based on my somewhat bot-like approach of “if I don’t know what this is about, try to use a pattern that superficially resembles other things I’ve seen”, I decided that “Cohen biopsy” must be a thing because there are lots of procedures named after people. The correct term is “cone biopsy” and the doctor wasn’t too happy with my guess, although it sounded like she was at least amused.

    There was also an infamous incident at one of my jobs where they’d been asked to transcribe some old interview tapes from the ABC News vaults, of Barbara Walters interviewing Richard Pryor. They wanted these transcripts to be as accurate as possible, because they were (I think) considering airing some outtakes that hadn’t previously been used, and given that Richard Pryor was Richard Pryor, they wanted to be sure he wasn’t saying anything objectionable. The transcriptionist on duty at the time (not me)—due to carelessness or naivete or prudery, I don’t know which—mistranscribed one of Pryor’s comebacks like so: “Barbara, are you being country?”

  15. 15.

    john b

    June 15, 2023 at 2:34 pm

    From downstairs:
    @AM in NC:

    So the 1/2 hour “Live” just ended, and I thought Cooper knocked it out of the park.

    Jonathan Capehart was the host, and he focused on 3 main things: abortion; education; politics

    Cooper made a passionate case for abortion rights, as a moral and rights-based issue, and gave a nifty 30-second history of the Tricia Cotham-switching-parties-and-now-the fascists-have-a-supermajority situation, and he really called out the Republican “moderates” who told constituents they wouldn’t change abortion laws in NC but then ALL did. He tied ALL Republicans to MAGA extremists and didn’t break a sweat.

    Then he went to town on public education and how the GOP is destroying public education in order to give public tax dollars to rich people to go to un-accountable “academies”.

    During this section, Capehart was having trouble suppressing a grin, because Cooper was making such a compelling case. It doesn’t hurt that he has a serious southern accent while making the progressive case and was also righteously angry.

    Lastly, Capehart talked (national) politics and 2024. Cooper reiterated that NC is gettable and made the case for investing resources here. He talked about how Democrats are right on the issues (particularly abortion and Democracy) and voters have rewarded them with victories across the country. He stressed the importance of this election in negative existential terms regarding the GOP, but he also talked about all of the POSITIVE things Democrats have done.

    Capehart ended by asking him about his legacy, which Cooper brushed off and said, legacy shmegacy, here’s what we’ve gotten done and here’s what Democrats want to continue to do to improve the actual lives and welfare of our fellow citizens.

    The Cotham thing is especially troubling as the district she represents is urban and would absolutely not have supported her if she had been honest about her intentions. She did a 180 on abortion (and so much else) just a few months after her election to the state legislature. Her mom is my county commissioner and both of her parents are longtime democrats. Makes me really question if I can support even her mom anymore.

    On Cooper though, I’ve been impressed at his ability to hold back the tide from the GOP as long as he can. This ill-gotten supermajority is really tough though — as is the gerrymandering for state and federal elections he’s had to deal with throughout.

  16. 16.

    dexwood

    June 15, 2023 at 2:50 pm

    I took Maggie to see her vet this morning for a follow up on her ear infection, some bloodwork, and 4th of July tranquilizers. She told me it would cost around 500. I asked if they could toss in a complimentary nail trim. She agreed to it without hesitation. Yay! Saved 34 bucks.

  17. 17.

    Betty Cracker

    June 15, 2023 at 2:55 pm

    @john b: Has the mom addressed the turncoat daughter issue?

  18. 18.

    Jay

    June 15, 2023 at 3:04 pm

    Casey (PitX), Digger(Belgian), Mellow(Mixed Tabby), Capra(Gorgeous Tabby), all loved having their nails trimmed. Foot rub time, scooches, smushes, extra attention, treats afterward.

    L’il Bit (Mixed Tabby) however spent the entire time very loudly threatening to kill me.

  19. 19.

    Fraud Guy

    June 15, 2023 at 3:12 pm

    Most of our dogs do this, with either their head and forepaws on/over the edge, or the head and most of their front legs.  Everyone from the Boston, to the Rat Terrier (large), to the Dachshund/Chihuahua/Dachshund/Terrier triplets, to the Pomeranians, to the Yorkie, to the Chin, to the Shih Tzu.  Heck, even the cats do it now.

  20. 20.

    geg6

    June 15, 2023 at 3:21 pm

    Our Lovey does that hanging off the edge thing summer, winter, spring and fall.  On the bed, on the couch, on a chair.  I thought it was just another weird habit of hers, but maybe not now that I see Pete.

  21. 21.

    Miss Bianca

    June 15, 2023 at 3:39 pm

    Peeeeeeete!!

  22. 22.

    Hob

    June 15, 2023 at 3:44 pm

    @Betty Cracker: This Charlotte Observer article is paywalled, but I paid $1.00 because I was curious and then unsubscribed. Short version: Pat Cotham makes all of the same excuses for Tricia Cotham that the latter made (frustrated due to being “sidelined” by other Dems in the legislature, and also the party has changed and become too mean so it’s “not the Democratic Party I grew up in”), and supports her daughter’s decisions unconditionally, but doesn’t herself plan to switch parties. Because, I guess, nothing really matters except personal feelings, which shouldn’t be a basis for political decisions except when they should be.

    …she still wasn’t shocked to see her daughter tell TV cameras Wednesday that she’s switching to become a Republican. “I knew she was frustrated from the very beginning and from day one, at the legislature she was shocked by how she was treated. And she talked about that a little bit, you know, that she was sidelined pretty much and she was a freshman even though she served 10 years,” Pat Cotham said. “As a parent, you never want your son or daughter to experience a lot of pain, but she has experienced pain. And we knew it was gonna get worse.”

    After she got elected in 2022, Rep. Cotham was sometimes left out of Democratic Caucus meetings and was told to stop posting American flag emojis on social media, Commissioner Cotham said. Her mother said Rep. Cotham told family members of her decision a few days before she officially made the announcement.

    Commissioner Cotham said she’s seen both the Democratic and Republican parties become more “toxic and vicious” toward each other. “That wasn’t the Democratic Party that she was involved in when she was younger,” Commissioner Cotham said. “It’s not the Democratic Party I grew up in.”

    Last year, Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board member Jennifer De La Jara wrote an opinion column published in alt-weekly Queen City Nerve accusing Commissioner Cotham of being a Republican herself (Commissioner Cotham said she hasn’t read it). But despite the criticism and her acknowledgment that the parties have changed, Commissioner Cotham said she has no plans to make the same switch as her daughter.

    “I kept telling her, you have got to live with this,” Commissioner Cotham said. “Whatever you do, I will be supportive of you. I’m a mother, I’m not gonna disown you.”

  23. 23.

    Hob

    June 15, 2023 at 3:50 pm

    Note, as I understand it, the “she was a freshman even though she served 10 years” thing is because TC decided to quit the state legislature and run for Congress, lost, and then five years later decided to try being in the state legislature again. I wouldn’t have expected to retain any seniority privileges if I did that, but that’s just me…

  24. 24.

    Ken

    June 15, 2023 at 3:56 pm

    by the time I realized that, my train of thought had derailed badly

    Uh-oh, the robots have learned how to pull the “I am lying” trick on us.

  25. 25.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    June 15, 2023 at 4:02 pm

    Speaking of speech-to-text errors, whatever happened to TFG lawyer Patsy Baloney? I haven’t heard his name recently. Is he another lawyer who ended up on the witness list?​

    I guess he’s more on the 1/6 list than the stolen documents list, and nobody is currently reporting rumors on the 1/6 grand jury.

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    June 15, 2023 at 4:31 pm

    @Hob: Thanks for the insight! What a puling infant Cotham is. If I lived in that district, I’d vote for the mother’s primary opponent too. A mom can support her grown kids without making excuses for inexcusable behavior.

  27. 27.

    karen marie

    June 15, 2023 at 5:36 pm

    @Juice Box:   Baby carrots, cherry tomatoes – any vegetable scrap (except for onions and garlic) that would go into the trash instead goes into the dog bowl as a treat.  She’ll eat spinach and green or red leaf lettuce but draws the line at iceberg lettuce – it’s all water!  Asparagus ends?  GIVE THEM TO ME, she shouts!  She even likes celery!

    My Lucy throws a fit when I have cherry tomatoes on the counter instead of giving them all to her.  I had to give up on having a tomato plant on my patio because as the fruit starts to ripen, she sits on the patio and barks at it.

    She’s now 13 and has maintained her girlish figure nicely.  Vets are always shocked to see a spaniel of her age without a weight problem.

  28. 28.

    Quinerly

    June 15, 2023 at 6:17 pm

    Best dog I ever had was half Akita, half Chow. Buddy was gorgeous, and he knew it.

    90 lbs the day he died with the very, very rare cancer of the tear duct. Lived less than 30 days after being diagnosed. Spread very quickly to his brain. Dog of a lifetime.

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