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I'm sure someone has the original saved somewhere, I had it on an old work computer.

Yeah, I didn't even see the popup

dec0dedab0deon How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs

All regulations end up being scheme’s to protect incumbents. Especially when the incumbent is ostensibly, and loudly against the regulation.

dec0dedab0deon Omakase Computing

I love Omakase, but not because I don’t know what I want.

It is because I want to experience an artist’s work.

dec0dedab0deon Don't paste the AI, please

I didn't say it was a good thing, I said I missed it.

As I think about it, I guess I really just miss people being more authentic. There was a lot more understanding and forgiveness around unmedicated emotional outbursts. Modern work culture is more polite on the surface, but it feels like everyone is a cut throat politician manipulating their way to the top with a dumb fake smile. I would much rather work with someone who is upfront about their plans and how they're feeling, than someone who is friendly to my face while talking shit behind my back.

I do kinda feel bad for the kids that are entering the workforce, expected to act like emotionless robots, while spending most of their time talking to AI. There is an underlying sense of fear that they have to mask themselves to not be fired.

But yes, it is an overall improvement. I did have one truly abusive boss that was able to hide unchecked within that culture, and I would not wish that experience on anyone. The rest were just normal people that were emotional and funny.

dec0dedab0deon Don't paste the AI, please

Deliberate rude acts were very common in my first few jobs. I distinctly remember multiple directors asking people "Are you a fucking moron?", and much worse. This was both at small companies and fortune 200s. The rude cranky IT guy is a trope for a reason. Learning to return the hostility, while proving that you do indeed know what you're talking about, was a rite of passage.

I almost just said it was like working with The Sopranos or Dr House, but now that I think about it maybe that's because I was in Jersey?

dec0dedab0deon Don't paste the AI, please

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=do+people+say+google+it+yourself

Thanks for reminding me of lmgtfy. We used to say that all the time 20 years ago, and it was way politer than how the people older than us spoke. It took some getting used to, but I really miss the hilariously mean bluntness of the IT/tech world.

In retrospect, I think it was just a bunch of people who grew up breathing in leaded gas fumes, with undiagnosed mental disorders. But I miss it just the same.

dec0dedab0deon Don't Paste the AI, please

If I spent an hour or two going back and forth with an LLM, I will write my understanding of the issue, and what I think it means for us. Then at the end I'll put "This is what [llm name] said:" and paste in the detailed ai summary at the end. I think that is the most honest, and effective way to do it.

Before an LLM, I would have worked for much longer, then written the same short description, but without the detailed summary at the end. The llm output is really just extra clarifying info I never would have bothered to do on my own. By clearly marking it, I give people the option to skip it and just trust me.

dec0dedab0deon Proposal to prohibit vibe coded projects from being hosted on Sourcehut

It seems like they're using the term vibe coded as a pejorative to describe all llm use, which is disingenuous. They want to ban LLMs because of political reasons that I mostly agree with, but the term vibe coding invokes being lazy and not even looking at the bad code you generated. But it's just an email subject, so maybe im thinking too much about it.

dec0dedab0deon Python Polars Cheatsheet (based on our O'Reilly book)

I first learned about R at a python user group meeting. It was when Pandas was new, and we were having a bunch of talks about it. Wes McKinney even came to give one before going to Pycon.

Anyway, the general consensus at the time was that R was much nicer once you had your data, and if all you had to do was transform it. But that everything else was better in Python.

One of our group members did an experimental project, where you could open R inside of python and share memory. So you could theoretically do your API calls and screen scraping and whatnot in Python, then transform your data in R, then take the output and use it to do something else in Python. It was pretty cool, but I think it was just a POC and never really went anywhere.

I tried learning R after that, but didn't get very far with it.

dec0dedab0deon Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

Google bricked all of the old fitbit scales with a firmware that glitches out and drains the battery. There were tons of reports at the time, but the devices were out of warranty so they didn’t fix it.

dec0dedab0deon Google buys crashed airline Spirit's data at auction, because AI

funny, spirit was the only big airline without a crash

dec0dedab0deon Donkey.bas is 45 Years Old – 131 line of Glory

Donkey was for basica/gwbasic. Gorillas was for qbasic, like a decade later.

dec0dedab0deon A 'bananas' order for 5000 obscure book titles fuels suspicion

How is this in any way, shape, or form a promotion of the arts and sciences anymore?

Well, if the book is still in production the author will get the royalties. Though if it were still an active release they should just sell digital copies.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

disagree

dec0dedab0deon Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

but everyone else has cleaner air to breathe

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

I am extremely wary about the discourse around "late stage capitalism" but you are absolutely correct about lowering thresholds. I think that is the core of what I was trying to express.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

Thank you, but I didn't even say I prefer it, I definitely prefer working from home. I tried to say that it has been harmful over the last 12 years.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

Yes.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

Yes.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

This is the kind of thinking that makes hn the best place on the internet. It is a shame that it is not the most upvoted.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

I prefer WFO. I just think it has hurt me physically and mentally over the last 12 years.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

Oh I get it, I was an early adopter and advocate for working from home. Hell, it was my job to write code to help tens of thousands of people work from home when the pandemic started. I gladly did it, assuming they would all enjoy it as much as I did at the time. But I was only 6 years into it at that point, it was barely a walk in the park.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

Meditation is impossible when navigating the stress of traffic. Driving isn't exercise.

I was referring to riding public transportation, then walking through the city to the office. I agree that driving doesn't meet the criteria, but commuting != driving.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

I'm not paying anyone to do anything, please don't tell me to fuck off for expressing my personal experience.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

I didn't use the internet until 93, and didn't own a modem until Christmas of 94. I'm part of eternal September, but I always identified with the elders of the internet.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

Were you chasing the feeling of successfully solving a problem?

Yes, and it lead to ruin before llms were viable.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

Dude. This is too mean. I'm a real person.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

I was the same way, and the same work from home job I took in 2014 was the first time I didn't have to worry about bills, or picking up the check for a nice dinner. Everything was immediately better in every measurable way.

The hidden tolls of what I've been missing have caught up with me.

I don't know if you were around hn when the soylent guys were posting on here, but at one point one of them was having problems because they left out some trace substance that only becomes an issue after a long time of not having it. That's how I see it, there are trace elements required for happiness that I discounted at a young age. I'm not sure what they are exactly, but I was getting them previously, while being miserable about the macro issues.

I brought up money, because I was specifically thinking of my best friend, and his friends, and others who all work in construction. They work way harder in a day than I have my entire life. They have a refined skillset that took decades to master. They are outdoors, sometimes in horrific conditions. They get to bullshit and joke and call each other a bitch. They get to come home and enjoy the simple things like cooking a burger on the grill, without feeling bad about missing an unreasonable deadline, or not filing a patent for those last 20 ideas that would change the world. They get to be strong and feel confident about their chances of winning a fist fight and have wives that understand and except their flaws.

Meanwhile I am over here with a pile of old electronics I don't want to give up because they have cool components I dream about using. I have sex with hundreds of women that I have no future with. I look intimidating at a glance, but have no muscle to back it up. My kid is an adult and doesn't need me anymore. It just feels pointless.

At some point I convinced myself that making more than most of my friends and family gave me worth. That I would be a loser if I switched careers to something more fulfilling that made less than 6 figures. I know in my heart that is not true, but I am still struggling to make the leap.

...sorry for spiraling at you, I am aparrently going through something at the moment.

dec0dedab0deon What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

The company I work for has an amazing office with free food and beer that is a 30 minute commute in heavy traffic. The allure of sleeping in keeps me home.