I know jack about plants, and even less about fungi. But we've had a lot of rain here lately, and these shroom bros just appeared on the edge of my lawn. No idea what they are, if they're good for anything, or poisonous, or what. But they're very round and white, so I figured I'd immortalize them before the lawn service comes.
"Greetings, delegates of Earth. We've received your application to join our Federation. I'm afraid we have some...cultural concerns."
"Is it the crab thing? Your species resembles crabs, and Earth crabs aren't sentient."
"And you *eat* them."
"I see the problem. Could we speak to one of the other members?"
"You misunderstand. We're ALL crabs. On every planet, evolution eventually produces sentient crabs."
"Ah."
"We'll reconsider your application in a few million years."
Company: Your account will be deactivated soon!
Me: What's that? Who are you?
Company: It's us! The company with the account you haven't used in over a year. We're going to have to delete it if you don't log in soon!
Me: Oh, OK. Sounds good; thanks.
Company: We don't think you understand! We'll be *forced* to delete your account! You'll lose all access to our service!
Me: I'm pretty sure one of us doesn't understand the nature of our relationship, but I don't think it's me.
I got a book in the mail! Getting books in the mail is one of my favorite things about the job I used to have, and I'm not sure when it'll happen again. But I now have a complete collection of the works of @vmbrasseur (for now).
If you're in FOSS, in tech, or in any kind of business, this book has things you need to know.
Email: Important notice from your doctor!
Me: What? What is it? Am I dying?
Email: <furtive look> Can't say on an open channel. You'll need to log in.
Me: Oh god. <clicks link>
Website: Need to verify your identity!
Me: Yes, right, 2FA, I know. This could be important!
Website: Thank you for verifying. You may now access your message.
Me: Yes, what's the message?!
Website: We're going to be closed next Thursday for the holiday.
Me: You. Could. Have. Just. Said. That. IN THE EMAIL.
Where exactly in Maslow's Hierarchy is "need to point out a typo in someone else's writing" do you think?
Snowy long-weekend project: Robert Indiana's LOVE statue, the Lego version.
It's a relatively quick build, and it looks simple, but that letter O is one of the most complex builds I've seen.
I've admired the Lego fine art sets, but haven't bought any before. (Contrary to appearances, I don't buy everything Lego releases.) But as a Philadelphian, I couldn't pass this up.
I do not like this new A.I.
Its nonsense answers make me sigh
I do not want to hear its tale
I do not want it in my mail
I do not want it a-la-mode
I do not want it in my code
I do not want it with a scone
I do not want it in my phone
I do not want it as my chef
Not even in a PDF
I do not like this new A.I.
This is the truth I won't deny
"Too many businesses hate their own employees. The AI pipe dream and RTO diatribes have made that very clear. "
How did we get here? The employees don't trust management. Management apparently doesn't trust employees. Is this all just "humans don't trust one another," or have we somehow moved on from the idea that people like to do a good job, be appreciated, and see their work benefit others?
Why is "trust people and they'll trust you" such a radical idea?
Ok, #allthingsopen2024, today's the day to learn about good docs! I'm in room 206 at 11:30, right after the keynotes.
Make the trip down to the mezzanine level and bring your friends! We'll talk tutorials, outlining, tone, verbs & nouns, and other hot documentation topics.
Ever see product name and think "I couldn't work there. I'd never say it without giggling"?
Even the strangest terms become normal if you say them often enough.
At an old job, if you wanted to change a design, you had to fill out a Significant Modification Request Form, or SMRF. Yes, pronounced how you think.
Every SMRF meant more work for Design, so the lead designer would shout about keeping your SMRFs under control.
New employees usually stopped giggling after just a few days.
I'm glad to have escaped the horror show that is twitter, but I miss the roller coaster community. So let's try to bring some over here!
Check out my friend Bryant, aka Coaster365. This madman decided in 2023 to publish a video review of a coaster *every day for a full year.*
He pulled it off, but you can also see his skills and enthusiasm evolving as he went, getting better in real time.
Check out his stuff, and tell him BMac sent you.
Another dose of calming cat pix to round out a very strange day on the internets.
Cat pix will continue until the timeline improves.
Timeline cleanse. Cat photos.
Bonus: I did not know that you could buy modern wringers these days, but this is one of them. They're readily available on Amazon. Apparently they're intended for travel (presumably long camping trips?), or hard-core do-it-yourselfers, or people who want to be off the grid (how those people buy a wringer on Amazon is an exercise for the reader).
Grammar PSA: This (below) is a wringer. Before electric clothes dryers, you'd wash your clothes, then put them through this to remove excess water before hanging them to dry. As you can imagine, your clothes look awful and wrinkled after squeezing them like that, which is why everything needed to be ironed back in the day.
So if you've had a really hard time and you feel worn out and flattened, you've been "put through the wringer," not "put through the ringer."
I'd love to tell you about the stuff I made up for my session tonight, but at least one of my players follows me on here, so I have to be careful. (Hi, Phil!)
I've heard people say that being the GM in an RPG isn't fun, because the players are the ones doing stuff.
I can only speak for myself, but I'm having a blast GM'ing the Doctor Who RPG. Pick a time period and a location, start reading: What kind of people lived there then? What did they do? What was the weather like? What were some common names?
Or, set it on an alien planet and make all that stuff up yourself! It's worldbuilding, but you get to start over every few weeks.
You could set your sights on seeing the sights of Rome at several different historical sites, and photographing them for your web site, but that would be silly.