Today's presenter has the most annoying filler I've ever encountered. "You know." Literally 5-6 times per sentence. It's just...
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Speaking of filling awkward silent moment...
Or an unexpected crotch shot...
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So... maybe some East Coaster can explain what the big hubbub is about all the drones over New Jersey. Because really, the moment drones showed up at Fry's in the Bay Area, you couldn't drive two blocks without seeing half a dozen of the d**ned things flying around.
So... a lot of drones seen frequently in a bunch of different areas. Um... hobby club?
Anyway, I keep seeing all the news articles and thinking, "Slow news day," but now it's been multiple days and I'm left wondering, "Why?"
(We're seriously at the point that instead of Christmas light competitions, some houses have Christmas drone competitions, so seeing a few dozen drones flying around at night wouldn't make me look twice.)
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Well, I started digging and I found a somewhat-decent Forbes article, but it's still drones that are 6' across, flying for 6-7 hours at a time at night.
Um... I could probably drive by at least 3 friends' houses right now and find drones close to those specifications. There are "hobbyists" and then there are "geek hobbyists with more tech money than they know what to do with", so even with the large dimensions and durations they still don't strike me as anything I'd be remotely surprised to see in the air around here.
EDIT: Heck, when Shiro moved back east he gave the kids a pair of 3' drones complete with camera feeds because he didn't want to bother carrying them. So I blame Californians vacationing in Jersey. Which is a sign of a warped psychology in and of itself...
As someone that has sold a f&#@ ton of drones and also has regular experience with them at work I also don't get it, the high end drones are the only ones that sell and they aren't small! And yes, you always see drones flying st night around here, especially if there's any kind of sporting event going on (even bar softball games have some nerd with a drone filming it.
My guess is that New Jersey/New York simply has a higher level of lingering paranoia from 9/11. I'm not trying to upset anyone with that statement - I simply believe that those people in that area that lived through 9/11 see potential danger at a lower threshold than a lot of other people will.
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Call me old fashioned...
OK. You're an old fashioned.
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Passive-aggressive much?
Global Megacorporation Security: You are required to reset your Windows domain password. Provide a new password and justification.
NobodysHome: Here's the new password. But requiring frequent password changes violates best practice and is in direct conflict with NIST recommendations, so I have no justification for this.
And I do it for every. Single. Password. Change. (I have about 15 required password changes a year.)
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Call me old fashioned...OK. You're an old fashioned.
GAH!
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And I think we have an answer to our drone issue, though it's so boring no one wants to talk about it.
Similar to the DSM-III redefinition of autism in 1980 and 1987 causing a huge spike in autism diagnoses in our country, it turns out that the FAA authorized flying drones at night in 2021, then revised it in September of 2023. And if you were to take a rough guess as to how long it would take hobbyists to purchase nighttime kit for their drones and refit them, you'd guess, "Around a year," putting drones common in the night sky starting somewhere around September or October of 2024...
...oh, wait...
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No one ever wants to trace legislation to explain/contextualize sweeping societal trends.
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My next Blades In The Dark character will be called 'Hatpin' Rants, I think.
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I live in a part of the American South that cotillions. I'm almost positive I have at least one neighbor named Rants Hatpin. And not an elderly one neither...
I live in a part of the American South that cotillions. I'm almost positive I have at least one neighbor named Rants Hatpin. And not an elderly one neither...
You also likely have a Clevon, Clevert, and/or Cletus.
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Yeah, I'm full of it today.
Citibank Costco Card: On a scale of 0 to 10, how would you rate us?
NobodysHome: 0.
Citibank Costco Card: We're sorry to hear that. Why do you feel this way?
NobodysHome: Because you've been whining at me every other day for the last 3 weeks to validate your existence. You're a credit card, not a life partner. I don't need to justify your existence. Leave me the f*** alone.
Citibank Costco Card: And how would you rate Costco?
NobodysHome: 10/10.
Citibank Costco Card: And why do you rate them that high?
NobodysHome: Because they don't whine at me endlessly begging for validation.
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I have just spent four or more hours binging on a webcomics that stopped abruptly somewhere in the middle of the story, with the last strip marked (series finale)...
*sigh*
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Entertainus interruptus... a common internet affliction.
The number that end with an actual conclusion are rare. I recommend Girls With Slingshots!
Haven't heard that title in ages. It had been fun, when it lasted...
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I’m working on a book. It’s my new early retirement plan. It’s also for my own entertainment. If I don’t finish I’ll at least know why.
And we have a new "Zoom meeting idiot" winner.
One of the attendees put herself on video on her phone. Then got on a call with her friend. Hit the wrong unmute button and interrupted the entire meeting with, "Oh, that's a fantastic deal!" Then was so embarrassed that she tried to hide her phone in her lap.
So yes, our recorded meeting that will be viewed by thousands now has a woman exclaiming, "Oh, that's a fantastic deal!" and then giving us a crotch shot for several seconds.
*SIGH*.
>_>
<_<
I have just spent four or more hours binging on a webcomics that stopped abruptly somewhere in the middle of the story, with the last strip marked (series finale)...
*sigh*
waiting for the end to Alfie, along with anon in equestria.
I might go back to Alfie. It's been ages since I stopped following it.
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Is it morally wrong to try and gaslight ChatGPT so I can stall on a creative writing project?
Explain why the sky is green.
No, I'm pretty sure it's always green.
Yeah that looks pretty green to me. Are you using the right definition of sky?
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Is it morally wrong to try and gaslight ChatGPT so I can stall on a creative writing project?
Explain why the sky is green.
No, I'm pretty sure it's always green.
Yeah that looks pretty green to me. Are you using the right definition of sky?
The thing that (figuratively) kills me (and literally kills others) is how bad AI still is at, er, almost everything, and yet how every major tech company is pushing it as the solution to literally anything.
My favorite at the moment: "With Google AI you can find out where your package is right now."
Um... I've had package tracking for decades. What does AI have to do with anything here?
But seriously. My company bought into the AI trend, removed most of our search ability, and now we have to ask the AI. Which is fundamentally useless. "How will my net pay be affected when we transition from the 24-per-year payments in 2024 to the 26-per-year payments in 2025?"
"Well, here's a 4-paragraph essay listing all of the possible deductions that might affect your net pay, but heck if I'm going to give you a number."
It is literally faster to do the calculations myself than to read the essay, and no matter how you word the question the AI can't answer it.
Which has been true for EVERY HR-related question I've asked the AI in the last 3 months. It has a 100% failure rate and I have to look everything up myself. And my company is making it harder and harder to perform those searches.
So for me, AI is concretely making my life worse. Not a fan.
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It finally hit a point of "I think I understand; the sky appears green from your perspective."
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I literally only find AI useful to generate lists or short passages I'm gonna mess up for grammar practice anyway. For anything where the actual content matters, it's beyond useless, but asking it to "generate 100 generic locations, scenarios, and characters" for a forensics event where the kids have to improvise a skit is a huge time saver.
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And it still screws that up.
"Generate a list of 50 opening lines from famous novels."
"The story so far: one of the most famous opening lines in literature. - The Great Gatsby"
You had one f**~ing job, you technoplebe.
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I'm just boggled. There are so many articles of "the most iconic opening lines" out there, and it couldn't find one of those to crib? This is advanced stupid.
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And it still screws that up.
"Generate a list of 50 opening lines from famous novels."
"The story so far: one of the most famous opening lines in literature. - The Great Gatsby"You had one f#@*ing job, you technoplebe.
I just wanted to say ‘technoplebe’ made my day.
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So for me, AI is concretely making my life worse. Not a fan.
Now imagine working for years on novels only to find a bunch of techbros crapping out AI e-books in minutes and flooding Amazon's Kindle Direct in a Gresham's Law tsunami of s$+*, driving any human creativity off the market...
One of my newer table regulars was waxing rhapsodic about how he used ChatGPT as a GM to generate things and I just didn't have the heart to tell him how boring, generic, and uninspiring it all sounded.
AI is going to do for the modern intellect and culture what easy access to high-salt, high-sugar, high-fat foods and La-Z-boy recliners has done to modern physical health.
*wanders off looking for Ned Ludd's loom breakin' stick*
I can almost feel the frustration this bot has with me.
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One of my newer table regulars was waxing rhapsodic about how he used ChatGPT as a GM to generate things and I just didn't have the heart to tell him how boring, generic, and uninspiring it all sounded.
I'll admit that I had it generate a couple of campaign outlines to run the babynerds through, but, uh, most of them are twelve and just here to see how many things they can murder, so the bar for keeping them entertained was very low.
I guess I should be less crunchy about it. I mean, it's not like AI chatbots are telling kids to kill their parents or anything.
I just use ai to make horrific images that should not be viewed by anyone.
See?
That's what my brain at 3 AM is for. AI can't steal my night terrors too! When does it end?!
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I just use ai to make horrific images that should not be viewed by anyone.
This reminds me of a book I should probably send you.
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The problem with courtesy signs is that courtesy is dead.
As I've complained about endlessly, our city has monthly street sweeping and provided us with "courtesy" No Parking signs that we can put up on street sweeping day. Why are they "courtesy" signs? Because the city won't enforce them.
"What if we call you and ask you to enforce them?"
"We can't. What if you put up the signs after someone is already parked there?"
"What if I provide timestamped photos?"
"You could still put up the sign, take a picture, take the sign down, wait for someone to park, then put it up again."
"What if I record a solid 4-hour video?"
"Nobody's going to watch that."
So as usual, I put up my sign. I moved my cars. And people have been using the convenient open space to park all afternoon. Aaaaand... just as I was typing this up the street sweeper came by while a full-sized van was parked in front of my house.
I'm done. Starting in 2025, I won't be bothering with the city's street sweeping program because it's useless to me and causes me stress.
And this is how the Lawful become Unlawful.
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So for me, AI is concretely making my life worse. Not a fan.Now imagine working for years on novels only to find a bunch of techbros crapping out AI e-books in minutes and flooding Amazon's Kindle Direct in a Gresham's Law tsunami of s&%#, driving any human creativity off the market...
One of my newer table regulars was waxing rhapsodic about how he used ChatGPT as a GM to generate things and I just didn't have the heart to tell him how boring, generic, and uninspiring it all sounded.
AI is going to do for the modern intellect and culture what easy access to high-salt, high-sugar, high-fat foods and La-Z-boy recliners has done to modern physical health.
*wanders off looking for Ned Ludd's loom breakin' stick*
Tech companies are terrifically keen on bolting it onto everything, but how much customer demand is there for it, whether from businesses, or the general public? Sure, people will use it if it's there, generally for no good purpose, but I've yet to come across anyone saying, 'Oh wow, I was totally uninterested in your fine product or service before you mentioned it includes . I am also greatly enjoying the intermittent power cuts we're getting because the network can't handle the strain all your new data centres are putting on it. Thanks!'
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The problem with courtesy signs is that courtesy is dead.
As I've complained about endlessly, our city has monthly street sweeping and provided us with "courtesy" No Parking signs that we can put up on street sweeping day. Why are they "courtesy" signs? Because the city won't enforce them.
"What if we call you and ask you to enforce them?"
"We can't. What if you put up the signs after someone is already parked there?"
"What if I provide timestamped photos?"
"You could still put up the sign, take a picture, take the sign down, wait for someone to park, then put it up again."
"What if I record a solid 4-hour video?"
"Nobody's going to watch that."So as usual, I put up my sign. I moved my cars. And people have been using the convenient open space to park all afternoon. Aaaaand... just as I was typing this up the street sweeper came by while a full-sized van was parked in front of my house.
I'm done. Starting in 2025, I won't be bothering with the city's street sweeping program because it's useless to me and causes me stress.
And this is how the Lawful become Unlawful.
Keep some cheap lunchmeat in the fridge to put on the offending vehicles.
Mmmm… expired ham…
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And just how apathetic/antipathetic are we towards Sportsball?
Apparently a local team won a championship a decade or so ago; I vaguely recall it.
And apparently a well-meaning relative or friend spent a not-insignificant amount of funds buying both our kids championship shirts; my impression is that even T-shirts of the sort sell for $80-$120.
And the kids were so deeply moved that they threw the custom bag containing the coveted merchandise into the studio shed, only to have me unearth it now, 10 years later, during my annual cleaning.
And that sums up our family's attitude towards sportball in a nutshell: Not only were the shirts not worth wearing, they weren't even worth remembering to throw out.
I had to google Sportsball...
I had to google Sportsball...
Technically, the San Francisco Giants won the 2014 World Series in 'Merikun baseball and we have mint-condition souvenir T-shirts, but I didn't want to dignify them with a name.
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...Keep some cheap lunchmeat in the fridge to put on the offending vehicles.
In the "golden days" of tech work practical jokes on co-workers were commonplace. I still remember coming back from an on-site to find Rover (a weather balloon) in my office, complete with a faked nameplate with the Prisoner logo and everything. (They inflated it in my office, so it was impossible to get it out without popping it.)
In these halcyon days, Shiro apparently learned that the ultimate practical joke was to put a single shrimp into the support column of a co-worker's office chair. The stench was unimaginable, and finding it almost impossible.
So I'm thinking a shrimp in the grille.
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"So, I've made a bunch of holiday-themed Connections, there's coloring pages. We can just chill."
"...can we finish watching Animal Farm?"
So my sophomores are ringing in the holiday with watching Snowball get chased off by dogs.
All reindeer are equal, but some reindeer are more equal than others.