Wesley Livesay
@historyofthesecondworldwar.com
Creator of History of the Great War and History of the Second World War weekly history podcasts. Always ready and willing to discuss video games, Tolkien, and the Detroit Red Wings
K-Pop Demon Hunters still going strong in our household. Every time I hear "fit check for my napalm era" this is all I think about:
November 11, 2025 at 1:04 AM
K-Pop Demon Hunters still going strong in our household. Every time I hear "fit check for my napalm era" this is all I think about:
It finally gets somewhere by being VERY restrictive with its search. But the way it tries to be restrictive appears to not work AT ALL. And it it still pulls back a ton of results from sites not in the site: filters. But maybe the filters helped nudge it in the right direction.
October 20, 2025 at 6:06 PM
It finally gets somewhere by being VERY restrictive with its search. But the way it tries to be restrictive appears to not work AT ALL. And it it still pulls back a ton of results from sites not in the site: filters. But maybe the filters helped nudge it in the right direction.
Yes, it is returning a ton of medical sources for what I feel is a pretty clear question. It then tries again with slightly different questions and gets the same results.
It then has a third go at it, and gets engineering results. Which I guess is closer?
It then has a third go at it, and gets engineering results. Which I guess is closer?
October 20, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Yes, it is returning a ton of medical sources for what I feel is a pretty clear question. It then tries again with slightly different questions and gets the same results.
It then has a third go at it, and gets engineering results. Which I guess is closer?
It then has a third go at it, and gets engineering results. Which I guess is closer?
Doing a bit of research for a possible upcoming project. Decided it was a good opportunity to give an LLM a try. Trying out Perplexity Pro and the results are pretty hilarious. Their search index must be garbage, because asking the questions in Google/Bing gives the correct results.
October 20, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Doing a bit of research for a possible upcoming project. Decided it was a good opportunity to give an LLM a try. Trying out Perplexity Pro and the results are pretty hilarious. Their search index must be garbage, because asking the questions in Google/Bing gives the correct results.
"i was married but i'm not married anymore. women dont like the vehicle."
October 16, 2025 at 3:52 PM
"i was married but i'm not married anymore. women dont like the vehicle."
Always assumed that the podcast would get more popular once I got into the core war years of the SWW. Not seeing that so far. Clear downward trend over the last 2 years. Except for two large bumps due to promotions that did not have a lasting impact.
October 11, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Always assumed that the podcast would get more popular once I got into the core war years of the SWW. Not seeing that so far. Clear downward trend over the last 2 years. Except for two large bumps due to promotions that did not have a lasting impact.
TNOMod is an alternative history mod for HoI IV in which Germany and Japan achieved their goals during the SWW and is now at war with America in 1962. And the user is clearly asking questions about the mod's setting and lore.
October 2, 2025 at 3:05 PM
TNOMod is an alternative history mod for HoI IV in which Germany and Japan achieved their goals during the SWW and is now at war with America in 1962. And the user is clearly asking questions about the mod's setting and lore.
You can add this to the list of problems with using AI for history questions. I asked most of the major providers the same question. Perplexity ended up using a source from Reddit, from a subreddit dedicated to a HoIIV mod, from a user asking a question about that mod's alternative history.
October 2, 2025 at 3:05 PM
You can add this to the list of problems with using AI for history questions. I asked most of the major providers the same question. Perplexity ended up using a source from Reddit, from a subreddit dedicated to a HoIIV mod, from a user asking a question about that mod's alternative history.
If only the next generation of German officers had done some reading about planning before WW1.
And yes, this is a joke, they assumed that the greater mobility provided by the armored divisions would solve the problem. It didn't.
And yes, this is a joke, they assumed that the greater mobility provided by the armored divisions would solve the problem. It didn't.
September 26, 2025 at 5:38 PM
If only the next generation of German officers had done some reading about planning before WW1.
And yes, this is a joke, they assumed that the greater mobility provided by the armored divisions would solve the problem. It didn't.
And yes, this is a joke, they assumed that the greater mobility provided by the armored divisions would solve the problem. It didn't.
I clicked on this link so fast and a single sentence in the first paragraph convinced me I had to read the entire thing.
September 26, 2025 at 5:38 PM
I clicked on this link so fast and a single sentence in the first paragraph convinced me I had to read the entire thing.
The best part is that it is a quote post of a very reasonable and broadly correct opinion on the Civil War from another account. The correct answer is right there.
September 25, 2025 at 1:40 PM
The best part is that it is a quote post of a very reasonable and broadly correct opinion on the Civil War from another account. The correct answer is right there.
Looks like it is time to dive into Burma again, this time with @lmbd1418.bsky.social as my guide.
September 22, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Looks like it is time to dive into Burma again, this time with @lmbd1418.bsky.social as my guide.
Just a random newspaper article for no reason whatsoever. . The Montreal Star Saturday February 2, 1939, Page 2.
September 18, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Just a random newspaper article for no reason whatsoever. . The Montreal Star Saturday February 2, 1939, Page 2.
When I post this week's podcast episode my second podcast will have more episodes than my first. Which doesn't really matter, but I think it is fun.
September 17, 2025 at 11:12 AM
When I post this week's podcast episode my second podcast will have more episodes than my first. Which doesn't really matter, but I think it is fun.
Now now, lets make sure our jokes are accurate.
Thanks to these guys Berlin fell apart well before April 1945 ;)
Thanks to these guys Berlin fell apart well before April 1945 ;)
September 13, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Now now, lets make sure our jokes are accurate.
Thanks to these guys Berlin fell apart well before April 1945 ;)
Thanks to these guys Berlin fell apart well before April 1945 ;)
Serious Social Media Post of the Year candidate here.
Man who creates Slop Machine surprised when people use Slop Machine.
Man who creates Slop Machine surprised when people use Slop Machine.
September 4, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Serious Social Media Post of the Year candidate here.
Man who creates Slop Machine surprised when people use Slop Machine.
Man who creates Slop Machine surprised when people use Slop Machine.
Next up on the fiction reading list. Have not read it in awhile, hoping it holds up.
Also, if anybody knows of a place online to discuss Cold War-era milhist that is not full of the worst people please let me know.
Also, I use Fable to track my reading check it out!
fable.co/wesley-lives...
Also, if anybody knows of a place online to discuss Cold War-era milhist that is not full of the worst people please let me know.
Also, I use Fable to track my reading check it out!
fable.co/wesley-lives...
September 1, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Next up on the fiction reading list. Have not read it in awhile, hoping it holds up.
Also, if anybody knows of a place online to discuss Cold War-era milhist that is not full of the worst people please let me know.
Also, I use Fable to track my reading check it out!
fable.co/wesley-lives...
Also, if anybody knows of a place online to discuss Cold War-era milhist that is not full of the worst people please let me know.
Also, I use Fable to track my reading check it out!
fable.co/wesley-lives...
I am sure nobody is asking, but in case you were wondering how good LLMs are at ASCII Art.
Well...
Well...
August 18, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I am sure nobody is asking, but in case you were wondering how good LLMs are at ASCII Art.
Well...
Well...
This is what it gives me for that prompt:
August 7, 2025 at 8:16 PM
This is what it gives me for that prompt:
This screen grab, from the OpenAI GPT-5 presentation might be the greatest graph in the history of bad graphs.
August 7, 2025 at 6:07 PM
This screen grab, from the OpenAI GPT-5 presentation might be the greatest graph in the history of bad graphs.
Due to my waning patience I then threw out another very clear bad answer, the fact that it began the response with "Fair point"...
July 29, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Due to my waning patience I then threw out another very clear bad answer, the fact that it began the response with "Fair point"...
Biggest problem is probably a lack of push back, in another thread where I claimed to know about the subject you can see this exchange. When I got an answer clearly wrong, it gives me a horrible "clue" and then just moves on. I'm not sure what I am supposed to learn from such short interactions.
July 29, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Biggest problem is probably a lack of push back, in another thread where I claimed to know about the subject you can see this exchange. When I got an answer clearly wrong, it gives me a horrible "clue" and then just moves on. I'm not sure what I am supposed to learn from such short interactions.
Major missed opportunity to include sources and web sites based on web searches that could provide further info. In fact, it specifically seems to forego web searches on history based questions based on this bit of "thinking" at the start.
July 29, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Major missed opportunity to include sources and web sites based on web searches that could provide further info. In fact, it specifically seems to forego web searches on history based questions based on this bit of "thinking" at the start.