My happy place right now is UK backpacker youtube channels. They are basically "watch me make dinner on top of a hill" with a bit of "let's sleep in this closet made of rocks" and a dash of scenic vistas that probably inspired Lord of the Rings. There is one guy who snarks on the other channels- "sorry, you're not gonna see me eat dinner. Now it's time to sleep on a plank covered in bird shit." Can't get enough of it

my electrologist fired me as a client because my facial hair was "too difficult"; how was your day lol

🎵 it was zero 🎵

FYI the tech bros saying you need to learn AI to get a job were saying the same thing about becoming a software engineer a few years ago. The same software engineers they are firing now

Wow I am tired

“I wanted the blue checkmark on LinkedIn. The one that says “this person is real.” In a sea of fake recruiters, bot accounts, and AI-generated headshots, it seemed like a smart thing to do.

So I tapped “verify.” I scanned my passport. I took a selfie. Three minutes later — done. Badge acquired. I felt a tiny dopamine hit of legitimacy.

Then I did what apparently nobody does. I went and read the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not LinkedIn’s. The other company’s”

https://thelocalstack.eu/posts/linkedin-identity-verification-privacy/

#music
my participation in FAWM (14 songs in 28 days etc etc) got derailed when I re-impinged my shoulder 3 days in. I took it as an opportunity (=pay someone else) to upgrade my favorite #bass, a 1992 Ibanez SR890.

It ate batteries, so I made it passive. I wanted to keep the surprisingly rich tone range, so I replaced the OG pups with big chonky Delano PMVC4 AL/M2's to cut through the mids, and a Seymour Duncan STK-J2b for thick, melodic leads. It also now has a pup switch so I can flip between both modes without having to dial in two stacked tone knobs.

It sounds amazing, I wish I did this years ago

@KatS I know that pain all too well

@edg there is still no better time than this moment imho. i mean, things could get worse, but at that point you wouldn't be able to medically transition even if you wanted to. If you're able to transition, and you want to transition, today is the day <3

@DecaturNature We did the same thing- it was a custom chocolate chip ganache cake from Southern Sweets. I only got to eat one piece and it was the best cake I ever had :/

@KatS I can only hope!!!

I should’ve known my marriage wouldn’t last when I saw the caterers take the leftover wedding cake and slide it neatly into a trash bin. Intact top and all. They were new to wedding jobs and didn’t know what they were doing, but… maybe they were on to something lol

I think my fingertips are more superglue than skin at this point

If you are still wondering about the stubbornness of the #FossilFools in charge...

Update: it brings me no pleasure to report that apparently this cartoon is from the 70s, and things have not changed one damn bit.

Music is a language, so you should try to communicate once you know how to make a few sounds. You'll pick up the words and the grammar as you go, learning from the people you talk with, just like kids do.

You don't to be Shakespeare to say what's on your mind. You don't need a literature degree to say something someone needs to hear.

No one who matters cares about mistakes in expression; they want to know what you have to say and try to respond meaningfully.

#musicking

Much to my chagrin, I’m beginning to realize I need to work on my self-acceptance if I want to make this transition thing happen, as opposed to the other way around

A thought that popped into my head when I woke up at 4 am and couldn’t get back to sleep…

Imagine that AI/LLM tools were being marketed to workers as a way to do the same work more quickly and work fewer hours without telling their employers.

“Use ChatGPT to write your TPS reports, go home at lunchtime. Spend more time with your kids!” “Use Claude to write your code, turn 60-hour weeks into four-day weekends!” “Collect two paychecks by using AI! You can hold two jobs without the boss knowing the difference!”

Imagine if AI/LLM tools were not shareholder catnip, but a grassroots movement of tooling that workers were sharing with each other to work less. Same quality of output, but instead of being pushed top-down, being adopted to empower people to work less and “cheat” employers.

Imagine if unions were arguing for the right of workers to use LLMs as labor saving devices, instead of trying to protect members from their damage.

CEOs would be screaming bloody murder. There’d be an overnight industry in AI-detection tools and immediate bans on AI in the workplace. Instead of Microsoft CoPilot 365, Satya would be out promoting Microsoft SlopGuard - add ons that detect LLM tools running on Windows and prevent AI scrapers from harvesting your company’s valuable content for training.

The media would be running horror stories about the terrible trend of workers getting the same pay for working less, and the awful quality of LLM output. Maybe they’d still call them “hallucinations,” but it’d be in the terrified tone of 80s anti-drug PSAs.

What I’m trying to say in my sleep-deprived state is that you shouldn’t ignore the intent and ill effects of these tools. If they were good for you, shareholders would hate them.

You should understand that they’re anti-worker and anti-human. TPTB would be fighting them tooth and nail if their benefits were reversed. It doesn’t matter how good they get, or how interesting they are: the ultimate purpose of the industry behind them is to create less demand for labor and aggregate more wealth in fewer hands.

Unless you happen to be in a very very small club of ultra-wealthy tech bros, they’re not for you, they’re against you. #AI #LLMs #claude #chatgpt

a home insurance crisis? under national's watch? no way #nzpol
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/585844/major-insurer-declines-new-home-insurance-policies-for-blenheim