I’m glad I’m not alone!
A new use case occurred to me just today. I was reading a chapter of Middlemarch and there is a scene where the Brookes, uncle and niece, visit a tenant and a long description of his dilapidated but picturesque house. I though it would be interesting to look at an illustration based on the text and ChatGPT produced a rather decent one. Definitely something I will try out more in the future.
I am also (re)reading Middlemarch, and while I have a nicely annotated edition, sometimes I would like to better understand its political elements. I have asked ChatGPT to contextualize some remarks, and it seems to do a really good job.
Hardly worth mentioning but I am using Gemini at work constantly to discover how to do small things in Excel or Windows. I’m sure it’s making me stupider, but this kind of info is so much easier to find in an LLM than it used to be in Google.
Example from just now, I saved a PDF into the wrong folder, on a huge server with a million folders, and Gemini told me how to find it quickly by searching the whole thing with the term “datemodified:today *.pdf”. It came right up. Sure, Google would have gotten me there, but it would have taken a lot longer.
It doesn’t make you stupider to:
- Learn things
- Use different tools
… just FYI. 
I only use it for skills I don’t mind degrading. Like making spreadsheets and flowcharts. Things I am perfectly okay with being kind of crap at. I’ve never been good with spreadsheets.
I think any time I am asking “How do I X?” I am doing okay. I have learned some skills from Claude. I’m slowly learning how to prioritize. I definitely write better federal grant outcomes because of Claude.
Claude is good at knowing how to frame an idea in a way that fits funding priorities. I had one case, where I wrote the whole grant, but we had a significant material weakness, which is that we did not have specific identified partners for completing the project. I asked Claude about it and it gave me a way of saying “we’ll find these partners later, we swear” that was really specific, concrete and intentional, you know, an actual plan. This worked so much better, in fact, the the funder circled back with additional questions (this is a very good sign.)
This is something I have to get better at knowing how to do on my own. But by working with Claude I’m gradually learning how to do it. I’ve been writing grants for 15 years and it has really helped identify the gaps in my knowledge and start to close them. I have enough professional discernment to know when it’s incorrect and so far it’s only really gone wonky a handful of times.
Yeah. I am using it to keep track of the rather massive cast of characters in Middlemarch which, at least at the 50% mark I am at, seems to be still expanding. So I can say something like I am on Ch 35 and explain to me the context of characters X,Y,Z up till that point without future spoilers.
This past week I connected Quickbooks Online (QBO) and Claude using Make.com so our accounting team can ask questions about the client’s books.
For example, I had the following issue:
"Can you review QBO payroll balances for CLIENT X for 2025? The payroll tax liabilities are negative for that year and we don’t know why. Please look into this and let me know:
- Your findings
- Proposed solutions"
Here’s what it came back with, in less than a minute:
“On 10/2/2022, an IRS federal tax deposit of $8,233.18 was made against an accrued 941 liability of only $2,872.36 — an overpayment of $5,360.82. That overpayment has never been recovered or applied, and it has kept the Federal Taxes (941/943/944) liability account pinned at roughly negative $5,300 ever since (-$5,284.86 as of 12/31/2025).”
(truncated - I didn’t include the “proposed solutions”)
Well, 2022 was long before we took over, but it’s thrilling to be able to handle queries like this without having to dig and dig and dig. I don’t know how long it would have taken a manual search to find a 4-year-old transaction, but I’m sure it would have taken longer than 60 seconds!
I still have not been able to get my list of buttholes. It seems to be trying things like looking for occurrences of the literal term “butthole” in the text.
This is an interesting approach. I’m listening to the Wheel of Time series and having the same challenge. A couple of times I’ve tried to do a targeted web search and both times ended up getting spoilers. It’s frustrating because I don’t know if it’s a spoiler for the book that I’m in or six books from now.
AI might be a safer approach.
I hope your clients are okay with you giving their sensitive financial data to an LLM which has been known to have privacy breeches. If I knew about that I’d no longer be a client.
Also, how do you know the result is accurate? Can you cross-reference the transaction?
I won’t give any budget information to Claude for our agency. I’ve had it help me with budget narratives but the amounts are redacted. I would never trust an LLM with anything I wasn’t okay with everyone knowing.
Thick pants? 
Maybe coveralls!
Sigh.
Today I went to cancel my wife’s car registration for her but couldn’t remember the plate number. I knew there had to be a picture on my phone, but those go back to 2012 or so…so I went to Gemini, typed in “car”, and the first picture (from 2020) was the right one. Useful.
AI can replace some of the functions of this discussion board. I remember I used to be able to ask a question about obscure topics in a wide range of fields, and someone would provide the relevant answer within minutes. I can obtain instant information about anything by using AI nowadays. Of course I have to doublecheck this information, but so did I in the past, when SDMB users tried to educate me.
One can also debate things with AI, without running the risk of being attacked. Personal attacks may be one of the important factors that gradually made forum boards less enjoyable despite their initial major attractivity. I know AI tends to make me feel young and beautiful, but this proclivity can be deactivated and I can actually learn things during debates instead of investing energy in resisting inflationary egos or feeding professional contrarians.
I would imagine any of them, provided they had access to Ulysses or you could upload a copy.
That said, I ran the following prompt:
Enumerate the references to “buttholes” in James Joyce’s Ulysses. Count, type, size, etc…
and got two similar, but different answers from Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini.
Here’s Gemini’s answer, as it was the more straightforward. Copilot took me very literally and basically said that Joyce is scatological and earthy, but doesn’t actually refer to “buttholes” as such, because that’s a latter-half 20th century term.
Here’s Gemini’s answer:
In James Joyce’s Ulysses, the anatomical references to the posterior end are rarely straightforward. While Joyce infamously used explicit terminology like “farting hole” or “arse” in his private 1909 love letters to his wife Nora, Ulysses handles the subject through euphemism, metaphor, mock-heroic circumlocution, and physiological references.
The explicit modern term “butthole” does not appear anywhere in the novel. However, explicit, implicit, and metaphorical references to the anus, rectum, buttocks, and anus-adjacent anatomy recur across its 18 episodes.
Key Categories & Direct Mentions
1. Direct & Formal Anatomical References
Count: ~2 explicit uses of formal terms (fundament, rectum).
Example (Episode 15 - Circe):
“Up the fundament. With Hamilton Long’s syringe, the ladies’ friend.”
- Type/Context: Bloom in his hallucination references an enema/douche apparatus (Hamilton Long’s syringe) inserted directly into the fundament (a traditional euphemism for the anus).
Example (Episode 17 - Ithaca):
Bloom considers medical cures for hemorrhoids and constipation, referring dryly to rectal treatments and body functions.
2. Euphemisms, Synonyms & Metaphors
Count: ~4-6 prominent instances.
Example (Episode 15 - Circe):
BLOOM: “I have paid homage on that living altar where the back changes name.”
- Type/Context: One of Joyce’s most famous circumlocutions for the exact spot where the back turns into the buttocks/anus.
Example (Episode 11 - Sirens):
“Pprrpffrrppfff.”
- Type/Context: The episode ends with Leopold Bloom passing gas in the street to mask the sound of a passing tram. While the aperture itself isn’t named, the release from it is rendered phonetically as onomatopoeia.
Example (Episode 4 - Calypso):
Size/Sensory: Small, constricted, relaxed.
- Type/Context: Bloom’s morning defecation in the outdoor jakes (outhouse). Joyce details the physical sensation of the stool exiting the body: “He yielded quietly to his greed of bowel… It did not hurt, he listened to the trill of the bird from the kitchen of Number 7…”
3. Erotic & Positional References (Episode 17 - Ithaca)
Count: 1 major climax scene.
Size / Target: The posterior anatomy / buttocks (rump).
Context: Bloom gets into bed with Molly at the end of the day, sleeping inverted (head-to-foot):
“He kissed the plump mellow yellow smockless mellon-smelling rump of female fat.”
- Joyce uses spatial, geometric language to describe Bloom’s proximity to Molly’s rear end, focusing on shape (melons/globes), texture, and scent.
4. Slang and Insults (“Arse”)
Count: ~12-15 uses of the word “arse” or “bottom” throughout the book (e.g., in Cyclops, Telemachus, and Circe).
Context: Used colloquially by Dubliners in conversation or internal monologue (e.g., “kiss my arse”, “kick his arse”), referring to the buttocks/rear end generally rather than the specific opening.
Summary Breakdown
Attribute Breakdown Exact Word (“butthole”) 0 occurrences. Formal Terms (Fundament, Rectum) ~2 direct mentions. Euphemistic/Poetic Phrases ~3 (e.g., “Where the back changes name”, “Living altar”). Phonetic/Excretory Acts 2 major scenes (Calypso jakes scene, Sirens ending fart). General Posterior Slang (Arse, Rump) ~15+ references across the text.
I cannot take that seriously. E.g., right at the beginning of “Calypso”,
The word “butt” even occurs in the very sentence!! And let us not forget the goddesses in “Lestrygonians”, for another example… I do not see any of that in your A.I. search results (well, if I make this post it will be instantly hoovered, but that does not ultimately help)
That’s the thing; AI makes assumptions if you don’t get specific. I’m guessing it assumed “human” buttholes, and based on the following exchange in the same chat, I was probably right.
Don’t limit yourself to human buttholes. Were there any other references to anuses of any creature?
Expanding beyond humans, James Joyce turns his meticulous, sensory lens toward animals throughout Ulysses. While explicit anatomical jargon remains rare, non-human posterior, anal, and caudal anatomy receives distinct attention across four main creatures.
Non-Human Posterior & Anal References
1. The Cat’s “White Button”
Episode 4 (Calypso)
Reference: “The cat walked stiffly round a leg of the table with tail on high… Clean to see: the gloss of her sleek hide, the white button under the butt of her tail…”
Type: Visual observation of the anal opening / sphincter.
Context: Leopold Bloom is watching his domestic cat stroll around the kitchen while preparing breakfast. As the cat raises its tail, Joyce notes the prominent white spot/anal sphincter visible right beneath the base of the tail.
2. Garryowen the Dog’s Tail and Hindquarters
Episode 12 (Cyclops)
Reference: Joyce details the mangy, territorial mongrel Garryowen growling in the pub, highlighting its hindquarters, its tail, and its canine bodily functions (including sniffing rears and lifting its leg).
Type: Behavioural and physiological observation of canine hindquarters.
3. Horses and Draft Animals (Manure & Rumps)
Episode 5 (Lotus Eaters) & Episode 16 (Eumaeus)
Reference:
In Lotus Eaters, Bloom observes the horses pulling the cabs, noting the lifting of their tails and the dropped manure right on the street (“gelding’s lifted tail…”).
In Eumaeus, the cab horses and their rear anatomy reappear in the late-night street scenes, focusing on their tails, rumps, and excretory habits in the middle of Dublin traffic.
Type: Excretory acts and hindquarter anatomy.
4. The Cattle & Slaughterhouse Thoughts
Episode 6 (Hades)
Reference: As Bloom travels in the funeral carriage past the cattle market and slaughterhouses, he meditates on livestock being herded, their heavy rumps, and their digestive/excretory processes prior to slaughter (" Justice it means but it’s everybody eating everyone else…").
Type: Livestock posterior anatomy and industrial slaughter context.
Summary Table
Creature Episode Visual / Physiological Focus Excreta / Aperture Explicitly Mentioned? Pussens (Cat) Ep. 4 (Calypso) “the white button under the butt of her tail” Yes (Direct visual euphemism for the anus) Cab Horses Ep. 5 & 16 Tail lifting, manure dropping, rumps Yes (Defecation & caudal movement) Cattle / Oxen Ep. 6 (Hades) Rumps, processing of cattle in slaughterhouses Indirect (Posterior mass & processing) Garryowen (Dog) Ep. 12 (Cyclops) Tail, hindquarters, sniffing/growling Indirect (Canine posterior interactions)
The other thing is that it’s also oddly specific. Unless the part about the goddesses specifically referenced buttholes in some way, it’s not going to infer that it’s why he’s trying to peek underneath.