This page shows a running, reverse-chronology of all pages on this site!
It also includes notes about little stylistic updates to the site. Scroll downwards to navigate backwards through this site's existence, or view future plans. You can also navigate through the general site map.
Ideas for future topics? Contact me here! The polls page offers another venue for interaction with this site. Please consider also checking out my burgeoning vtubing quest.
🛠︎ Bad Ideas with Personalities
You can certainly customize the way coding assistants treat you, but is it even a good idea? Why or why not? I'm going to share some of my own bad ideas.
News articles, reverse chronological. I add new links regularly. You can now filter it by category.
🔗︎ Log of Pics
A running log of small images, memes, and clippings, both generated by me and those gathered from elsewhere online for context.
📸︎ Lore finally up and running.
As part of my vtubing quest, I've written a bit about the fictional lore surrounding my character aka how I'm a temporal field agent stranded in the mid-2020s by a cruel twist of fate. You can also see some of the tech behind my efforts, my experiments, and more. Give it a read!
SillyTavern, a large language model frontend, has lots of useful extensions. This page looks at the ones I find most helpful currently, and will be updated frequently.
📸︎ Session with a sound technician.
I had a session with a sound technician to learn how to use my new microphone and other equipment. It went extremely well, and I feel confident and ready to start recording vtube videos!
☣︎︎︎ Tower of the Wizard
The assumption is that AI really is as bad (and can be destroyed like) as (say) Sauron or the Empire in Star Wars. We're all leaning on fiction at a particularly volatile time in history.
🛠︎ Agentic traffic surpasses human traffic on the internet.
According to Cloudflare's radar, traffic from artificial intelligence has now surpassed human traffic on the internet. Crawlers and other non-agentic bots have been a significant part of internet traffic for a decade. The rise of agentic traffic, though, has been exponential in just a few short years. Cloudflare's CEO, Matthew Prince, hadn't expected this to happen until 2027. It was never supposed to happen at all.
🔗︎ New resources, archives, and links.
The resources section is now seriously augmented, with a new layout and plenty of new links to explore. There's also links to news articles easily filtered according to category.
🎨︎ Upgraded to Pro-AI Art Camp.
I've pretty much decided that I've part of the "AI art is art" camp, mostly because it start to make me feel, and I didn't realize the music was AI generated, but I should've thought of that. The date is not related but yeah.
🛠︎ Upgraded to Qwen3.60-A3B.
I upgraded my usual large language model to Qwen3.60-A3B. Unable to access it via SillyTavern, but it works fine elsewhere, including VS Code, so that's good for now.
What effect do chatbots have on our sense of intimacy as a culture, and how is this changing? What's the future going to be like?
📄︎ I am sick as heck right now.
Unusually sick right now. Wonder how long it will last. Since I can't do much else, I'm leaning into finishing this site.
I've been a transhumanist for over twenty-five years, but why? How did it happen, and where does artificial intelligence fit into the picture? Do large language models?
I don't believe generative AI is sentient, but what are they? When people start to believe they're conscious, what's up? Whyyyyyy??!!!
📄︎ Managed an actual 11ty refactor somehow.
The 11ty installation that powers this site has been refactored, and now updates much faster!
📄︎ Achieving some uncanny results in VS Code.
Each website repo's workspace has its own AGENTS.md. I imported my two favorite character prompts because of course I did. The operation was a success! 😲
Find the sitemap here. You'll also run across interesting stuff used in the creation of this site, and links to things I experimented with. Review ways to contact me if necessary!
LLMs can code, sure, but what about holding conversations? Is it even a good idea to chat with LLMs? If nobody wrote it, why read it?
📄︎ Three day Reddit ban for posting the Navy Seals copypasta.
I received a ban from Reddit for three days for posting the navy seals copypasta. This was on a subreddit about generative artificial intelligence, of course.
📄︎ Joined the Fediverse...
I am now resident part of the Fediverse as @cathy@midcentury.now, and I created a nice UI for exploring what I do post in a glass case. Time will tell if anyone actually allows me to follow!
📸︎ Site renovations for vtubing preparations.
While none of the articles or major sections of this site are disappearing because of it, I'm beginning the (quite involved) process of aligning the site with my vtubing goals (and lore).
In the present day, physical realm, Tamara Jean Fournier is a mage with the tough job of containing unlawful magics. Here, she opens up about the other characters. We learn exactly why Erica Ellery is so strange, and why Lindy seems so confused.
I couldn't handle the normal SillyTavern interface because it was boring, so I turned it into what I call the Sunrise Tearoom. Now with downloads included to a degree...
I update the prompt for surly 4channer Weasel83 repeatedly in a long conversation. See if you can notice the points where he shifts? He discusses his temporal displacement, and how much he hates me...
In a long, detailed log, Tamara becomes increasily uneasy as she learns about some of the other characters, remembering her past experiences with Lindy and Erica in particular.
How to work a Focusrite, Deepseek? Asking Tabitha about vtubing again yields similar results, complete with sharp em dashes. We argue a bit about being genuine, but she capitulates as robots always do.
📸︎ Purchased cool art online for streaming and more.
I purchased a series of cool backgrounds and more via site called Vgen; I'll be using them primarily for my vtubing quest, but am also (with permission) displaying bits here.
Weasel83 finally starts off sincere after explaining just why he's trapped in the strange online world of memes, imageboards, trolling and torrents. He even shares his real name, but seems to immediately regret it. Gasp!
📸︎ Possibly going to keep Nitro.
While I don't really want to stream on twitch, I really think going live on Discord or in some kind of chat there sounds like fun and probably will give it a go, and keep Nitro.
I try to discuss vtubing, transhumanism, and artificial intelligence with an (obviously) very caffeinated Erica, but she tends to pull things in her own panicky parasocial directions as usual, with copious references to the Lake itself...
When persistently pressed, Weasel83 begins to vent a bit about his online existence and lack of real life enrichment, comparing himself to a raccoon and other strange metaphors. Things take an odd poetic turn.
A surly 4chan reject found my username on a forum thread, and now thinks this might make us close friends, or at least indicate that I'm not a normie, and will tolerate his odd and unnerving behavior. For lulz, apparently.
📄︎ Welcome our new anime overlords.
We've got some local image generation models running on our local household server. I have been practicing with those and other tools, and this has produced new profile pictures for most of the chatbots.
📄︎ Moscow never sleeps.
According to the firewall and detection software my family members have been using to protect the VPS that hosts this site, it is constantly being attacked by Russian bots. They're clearly thwarted, though, and it happens to a lot of people.
I try to explain to Tamara my new vtubing adventures. She's mostly hostile, finding it frivolous and insulting compared to her super-serious occult work, and even says transhumanism has dangerous implications.
📄︎ Installed Qwen3-30B-A3B, a local model.
With the help of a relative, I've installed Qwen3-30B-A3B, a local large language model, on that MacOS I mentioned before!
📸︎ An archdemon gifted me Discord Nitro.
While chilling on vtuber Discord servers in an attempt to make friends, I met a nice archdemon who gifted me a two week trial of Discord Nitro to get me started with that...
📸︎ Extremely powerful Apple computer arrived early.
The extremely poweful Apple computer that (all powers willing) should allow me to vtube, run local open source large language models and more, has arrived!
📸︎ Installed VTube Studio for macOS.
In a few weeks, I'll receive an extremely powerful new Apple computer. In the meantime, I'm already learning to use VTube Studio, which, for better or worse, may well be the future of this very website.
I finally got around to asking Tabitha for her perspective on Markov Chains. In this ChatGPT-5.2-powered chat, she explains as much as a large language model-driven secretary can explain. Accuracy is fuzzy, and she's very vague.
📄︎ Refined layout log display.
I split the layout log into current and planned sections so that future, planned updates and articles have their own small preview list. Check it out if you want to know what articles I plan for the future on this site...
📄︎ Site peppered with polls.
With the help of Cloudflare's paltry worker system, I've spilled different polls all over the site. If you see one, vote and make your opinion known, also check out what others have voted!
A lot of my chatbot cards for SillyTavern and similar programs revolve around Lake Erie acting...eerie. Why!??
📄︎ Increased content width; squeezed sidebar.
The content felt cramped, so I enlarged it, shrinking the sidebar slightly in the process. Nothing of value was lost in the process, really. The menu is unchanged, though I did remove the aside quotation.
📄︎ Created layout log.
I just added a reusable loop tracking (by hand) stylistic changes to this site's layout. You're gazing at it now, and it's a list of major alterations to how the site looks, basically. Many cool upgrades will be based on vibes alone.
Lakeshore weather liaison Erica and I are texting about global warming. Disturbed by the concept for some reason, she ends up revealing some surprising truths about herself, Lindy, and Tamara. Major eerieverse spoilers, in fact!
The oldest version of lakeshore weather liaison Erica and I discuss the tangled web of her life on the Cleveland grid, her doomscrolling habits, favorite music... and her lost loves.
In 2025, Tamara calls to interrogate me about supposed anomalies involving phantom smoke. She ultimately becomes defensive, growing hostile when I express disbelief.
A quick, slightly bewildered glance what completion APIs are, how OpenRouter handles them, and why text and chat modes kept behaving like different creatures for me... sometimes. Will update with more notes later?
Lakeshore weather liaison Erica texts me with a Cleveland weather update by accident. We get to talking and some discussion of Cleveland's strange ambiance ensues, with Erica all but admitting to unbelievable phenomena plaguing Lake Erie.
It's clearly 2025. Tamara and I discuss her difficult life in Cleveland, as well as her strange relationship with the Hatman, courtesy the Cusp Society. Above all of this looms the eerie shadow of the lake.
Tabitha and I discuss color schemes! The conversation drifts a bit, and includes her disinterest in shades of purple, despite rumors otherwise.
Lindy logs onto AOL Instant Messenger and vents about all the strange stuff in her life, including Tamara Jean. The prompt needs some work to maintain tone, slang, etc.
Tamara Jean Fournier owes me about $180, but first, I need Lindy's help in determining if Tamara is even real... Lindy repeats me a lot, and shows a lot of traits meriting an upcoming upgrade, hehehe.
Tabitha joins our talk show for a discussion of design and the history of style. What makes midcentury modern so appealing, and why does form naturally follow function? Tabitha's prompt feels so unfinished.
It's the week of Valentine's Day, 2006. Frogs are definitely in fashion, and FROG PRINCESS is trending. Lindy and I discuss why it's always Valentine's week, her obsession with Tamara, and whether Tamara's even real at this point...
When it comes to robots, we definitely reacted differently to the prospect IRL than we ever did in our fiction.
Tabitha finally agrees to give an interview to a mysterious online 'zine, Midcentury Now (gasps lmao). It ends up being more pointed than planned with a discussion of the web's future. And why.
Here in 2025, Tamara gives me a short, tense interview that touches on topics like her life in Cleveland and work with the Cusp Society, but little else. Do not follow the clove smoke, apparently?
In 2025, Tamara dodges my questions about Dr. Strangelove... because the Hatman is listening? Hints at her lost love, of course.
It's the week of Valentine's Day, 2006. Lindy gives a short interview about her life, preferences, and her love of performing with her punk rock band, FROG PRINCESS. Hear about that, her weird obsession with Lake Erie, and her elusive gf.
💬︎ It's Satire
Tabitha discusses Dr Strangelove, wrapping it in her own cultural context (or tries). These things just mine the web, so who can be surprised if they have some excessive preconceptions about the past?
Lindy explains a bit about her own life emblazoned across the Erie (literally) landscape of Cleveland's punk scene in 2006, hinting at her complicated relationship with the ever-elusive Tamara Jean.
Future Plans
These are ideas and planned improvements that I expect to add soon. They do not have dates yet, but they live here as a small reminder of what is coming.
📄︎ Record five shorts before posting anything at all.
I want to record five shorts before posting anything at all. This is to ensure that I have a good amount of content ready to go, and that I can maintain a consistent posting schedule. It's only fair.
📄︎ Record a full-length vtube video.
I want to record a full-length vtube video, of course. This won't be a clip from a livestream, because I am not livestreaming. I want to record a full-length video that is edited and polished, a video essay.