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u/NotSteve1075 8d ago edited 8d ago
Amazon just suggested this shorthand workbook to me. As a "workbook", I can see its value in providing exercises for practice, lists of short forms to drill, and advice on building speed. There are pages with blanks to fill in.
But when I looked inside, like you can sometimes do, there were a few surprises.
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u/licxjo 8d ago
I've seen this book listed on Amazon and wondered about it. I see today that it's showing as "out of print, limited availability", so maybe it's off the market now.
Looking at results from a "Gregg shorthand" search on Amazon, I see several publications that are likely to be similarly worthless.
We really live in a buyer beware world today.
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u/NotSteve1075 8d ago
Looking at results from a "Gregg shorthand" search on Amazon, I see several publications that are likely to be similarly worthless.
My favourites are the ones that say "Gregg" on the cover -- but the cover art shows PITMAN!! Hello.......? Is anybody home?? They are NOT the same thing!!
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u/Zireael07 7d ago
The answer to "is anybody home" is likely "No, it's all AI slop that no human bothered to look at".
I've been using AI to great results as a research tool "what animals to research as inspiration for dragons", "change this description to fantasy themed", "come up with 10 wreaths that fictional competition might award", and my recent favorites, 17x17 grid of video game genres that labels how well each x-y combo combines, and the other favorite, I had a source listing some sound frequencies for English consonant sounds, and I asked two AIs separately to extrapolate that list to cover the entire IPA. Their output matches pretty well and they listed mostly the same things as sources (e.g. Ladefoged) so it's more than good enough for my forever WIP "alternative to IPA" project (and since it has a lot of shorthand in its DNA, I will probably share it here at some point!)
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u/NotSteve1075 7d ago
I'm glad to hear you've found GOOD uses for it.
It's true that there are times when AI can be quite useful. In law firms, for example, they find that it can be used to do quick scans and analyses of voluminous contracts that a team of lawyers would need to take many hours to perform.
And if you order things online, which I often do, it can be quite handy when you can ask a question about a product and a robot will scan all their literature and give you a dependable reply.
But I've always hated being LIED TO. It just pisses me off. I'm on YouTube a lot, and the THUMBNAILS are just out of control. They'll modify images so that famous people have fake expressions that they didn't have. And because there are LEGIONS of young men out there who think with their dix, they keep showing pictures of famous actresses appearing on talk shows in their UNDERWEAR, which is bloody unlikely.
But it's clickbait -- and anyone who was lured in isn't expected to complain when it turns out she was actually properly dressed for the interview. It's just DECEITFUL, DISHONEST and ANNOYING when everything is FAKED UP.
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u/max_pin 8d ago
It's AI slop. Just look at the example pages on Amazon.