We passed the “Holy fuck that’s expensive!” phase a few months ago and have moved on to the “Use AI for everything but don’t actually do that just use it for some things why [didn’t/did] you use AI for that we can’t afford the [additional time/Azure bill] hahahahahahahaha.” phase. Swap the values in brackets at random on any given day.
Literally a meeting at work today.
Director: “Why was this requirement missed?”
PM: “Well, my understanding is that AI was used to write the requirements and that AI was also used to generate the code and perform code reviews. …So there were no actual people who understood the requirements involved in the process. Also, this seems to be becoming more and more of a problem.”
Director: “Oh. Uh… Ok. Maybe don’t bring up “AI” whenever you discuss this with senior management because I’m not sure how well that will go over. Just say, ‘the requirements were missed.’”
PM: …
Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
My first wife was, without a doubt, the worst person I have ever met. I was young and naive and didn’t really understand what I was getting into. But there were signs. Signs that I ignored. I still get a phone call once every few years from someone else whose life she destroyed. People who are so bewildered and worried that they themselves might be crazy that they went through the hassle of tracking me down just so they could have someone to talk to about it.
I don’t necessarily like talking to strangers about that experience but I do take those calls. And I listen, fully explain what has happened to them, and encourage them to go therapy. Because I know what it’s like sitting alone in middle of the crater where your life used be. It’s better to be alone than to be with someone who makes you wish you were alone.
My second wife? Absolute saint. One of the best people I know. Came out of left field when I wasn’t even looking and I’m glad she did.
“I stand for the flag, I kneel for the cross.” – Evangelicals who have never knelt in front of a cross
Same people who are painfully unaware that the “Black National Anthem” is actually a hymn.
Around the US, you can still find lots of buildings that have a disused trash incinerator in the basement or out in a back alley. At one time it was common, basically everywhere, to burn solid waste on site.
I think eliminating that practice was both good and bad. Good because burning waste in what basically amounts to a burn barrel with a smoke stack is nasty and produces tons of pollution which has lots of negative health related side effects, among other things.
Bad because it masked, maybe even helped exacerbate, the problem of generating and dealing with increasing amounts of trash. Now, instead of having to choke on billowing clouds of black smoke, you just throw your garbage in a dumpster where it gets hauled away out of sight and dumped in someone else’s back yard. That has consequences too. There are mismanaged landfills all over the place that cause lots of problems. But for most people, they’re out of sight and therefore out of mind.
And burying trash in the ground is cheap. So much useable stuff gets thrown away because it’s much cheaper, in the short term, to just throw it away.
It’s shameful. But I don’t know what else to expect from a society that primarily runs on greed.
I don’t know. That’s a lot of nails for a DR Horton house. There should be like 4 for the entire wall.
But I like my neurotypical wife. She remembers where I put stuff and is somehow OK with the army of squirrels that I call a brain.
Only time I’ve ever been written up in my career, I told the CEO – very politely – that “cybersecurity is the boards responsibility, whether they want it to be or not.” He did not like hearing that.
If there’s a problem, they can count on me to tell them about it. Always in writing. If they don’t want to act, that’s on them.
Sounds better than sitting on Teams meetings with people who are in the same room as me all day.
Well the Everclear will kill off any remaining bacteria and in a few minutes, you’ll be so drunk you won’t even care that you’re eating raw hamburger. Or remember the poor decisions that led you to this moment.
There is a certain brand of Christianity for which the current nation state of Israel is somehow magically a direct continuation of the Jewish tribes from the Old Testament and who are also somehow [now] exempt from the laws outlined therein.
Nevermind that a significant portion of the old testament consists of either the prophets railing against Israel or God punishing Israel for doing evil shit.
To borrow a phrase from King of the Hill, “If those Baptists could read, they’d be very upset.”
I think I understand what you’re talking about. I wouldn’t classify the extra words I use as strictly “filler” words. My phrasing is designed to avoid speaking in absolutes. I’m sure it was intentional at one point but it’s been a habit for so long that it’s become automatic.
I’ve considered why I do this and come up with a few reasons. First, because I routinely doubt myself. Even on topics where I am an expert. Imposter syndrome is real. Second, because I often find myself having to deliver news that the other person(s) doesn’t want to hear and I feel like it helps “soften the blow.” And third, to give myself the feeling of plausible denyability; even if there really is none. e.g. “I said <X> could happen, not would happen.”
TLDR: Because I doubt myself and want to avoid conflict.
But there are times when I will drop the fillers. And it’s not really a conscious effort. If I’m talking about something I feel morally responsible for, I will drop the bullshit and get straight to the point. It happens when I’ve decided that I’m going to die on this [proverbial] hill and that doing what I think is right outweighs any potential consequences. I can coun’t on one, maybe two hands where I’ve felt I had to choose between a job or a friend and my personal ethics.
In those moments, the fillers go away because my choice is already made.
Entergy is lying through their teeth about the whole ordeal. Claiming the data center would not impact rates while fighting like hell to suppress the details of their deal with Google.
At the same time, they are currently pitching a full rate restructuring to the Arkansas Public Service Commission which will absolutely increase rates. Especially for small businesses.
Sarah Sanders administration also bears some responsibility for this bullshit. After Ted Thomas resigned as PSC chairman in 2022, the governors office began working hard to make the PSC much more friendly to utilities and much less friendly to rate payers.
In some ways, this is Arkansas voters having the day they voted for. Ya’ll wanted a governor who was “pro business” (aka pro corruption) and now you’ve got a PSC – which is supposed to advocate for ratepayers – that just rubber stamps rate increase requests.
TIL POTUS is also a notary.
Yes.The ability to do speech-to-text and text to-speech with a relatively high level of speed and accuracy is impressive. And it has at least a few potentially positive real world applications.
Similar tools have existed for years but the quality and user friendliness of those has generally been pretty lacking.
IKR? For what it costs and for how hard Microsoft has worked to shoehorn it into everything, it offers very little in terms of increased productivity. I would go so far as to call it an epic failure. Especially considering they spent vast sums of money on it and all they managed to produce was something that is at best marginally good at drafting emails.
As far as a coding assistant, Copilot is pathetic and produces code that is utter trash much of the time.
That would actually make meetings a valuable use of our time which is exactly why it won’t happen.