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Playing in the Creek

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Re: Playing in the Creek

#91

Post by wulfstan »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #88
JKCalhoun wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're trying to convince me that I was somehow part of the problem, it's not reaching me. I was as low(ly) as you can get in the "tech industry stack". While I still had some measure of agency as an engineer I added a crayon color picker to MacOS, added most of the PDF features people like in MacOS Preview. That was as much "driving the ship" as I was allowed — until I wasn't even allowed that. I could have skipp…

> added most of the PDF features people like in MacOS Preview. I'm not religious, but for this alone you deserve a life of blessings and happiness. The fact that I never ever have to fuck around with Adobe PDF apps to juggle PDFs is one of the load-bearing things keeping me sane in an insane world.

Yes. I used these features in Preview several times today. You have made my life easier on many occasions. For that, sir, I salute you.

May you enjoy your retirement tinkering in your software garden.

Re: Playing in the Creek

#92

Post by dvaun »

FollowingTheDao wrote: post #82
sepositus wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think this style of argumentation is constructive and beneficial for the broader good of society? I can't think of a single person I've met who would respond positively to being labeled a (partial) sociopath after being able to only express a couple of paragraphs of thought.

Yes, I do, because I’m never going to change his mind, maybe I will, but probably not, but other people reading this can take sides and think about it in a non-direct way. Jesus turned over tables when they were trying to profit inside the church. His movement seemed to turn out pretty good.

Have you considered socratic questioning and other forms of conversation, in order to affect more change?

See https://www.streetepistemology.com/ for content about this. It is possible to guide discussions in a healthy manner and with positive goals in mind.

Re: Playing in the Creek

#93

Post by ryandrake »

noduerme wrote: post #49
bombcar wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve often wondered how, with billions of dollars, do you know someone actually loves you and not your money? Complicated!

I've got a particularly strong view on this, because I've got a brother who tried to get wildly rich in some seriously unethical ways to impress our father, and still never got a single word of praise from him. And who's miserable and unloved and been betrayed by the women he married... who married him for his money. He's so desperate for someone to come admire his cars and his TVs, to just come hang out with him. He…

> she said, "my friends all said he was too short, but I told them he was taller when he was standing on his wallet". Some people laughed. I didn't.

Hey, as long as they are both up front and clear about what they are getting out of their relationship. They're grown adults after all. I knew someone who proudly would admit he was a "sugar daddy" and both he and his "girlfriends" would fully agree that their relationships were transactional and contingent on the money flow. I knew someone in college who was very open and unapologetic that her plan was to find and marry someone rich. There's no right and wrong.

Re: Playing in the Creek

#94

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #88
JKCalhoun wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're trying to convince me that I was somehow part of the problem, it's not reaching me. I was as low(ly) as you can get in the "tech industry stack". While I still had some measure of agency as an engineer I added a crayon color picker to MacOS, added most of the PDF features people like in MacOS Preview. That was as much "driving the ship" as I was allowed — until I wasn't even allowed that. I could have skipp…

> added most of the PDF features people like in MacOS Preview. I'm not religious, but for this alone you deserve a life of blessings and happiness. The fact that I never ever have to fuck around with Adobe PDF apps to juggle PDFs is one of the load-bearing things keeping me sane in an insane world.

I second [third?] this.

I can’t stand Adobe Reader, and use Preview, all the time.

Re: Playing in the Creek

#95

Post by ryandrake »

Thorrez wrote: post #89
broabprobe wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

huh, I wonder if he has relayed this story multiple times, I’m only familiar with this version, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/12020560-talking-about-when... “(talking about when he tells his wife he’s going out to buy an envelope) Oh, she says well, you’re not a poor man. You know, why don’t you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an…

He ignores his wife's suggestion because, among other things, he wants to see some great looking babes. Maybe this isn't a guy whose philosophy I want to follow.

Looks like you're completely missing the point of the quote and instead rat-holing on one word that you don't like. HN in a nutshell.

Re: Playing in the Creek

#97

Post by deathanatos »

jjcob wrote: post #6
profsummergig wrote: post #2

Requesting someone to please explain the "coquina" metaphor.

Coquinas are clams that bury themselves in the sand very close to the surface [1]. The author worries that while they are playing with the sand, they might accidentally bury coquina clams too deep and kill them because they can no longer reach the surface. Anthropic apparently is starting to notice the possible danger to others of their work. I'm not sure what they are referring to. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch…

As a child at the beach, I would think noticing the clams would result in attempting to unearth them. Childhood curiosity about why there are bubbles.

Your explanation makes more sense, however.

Re: Playing in the Creek

#98

Post by saagarjha »

FollowingTheDao wrote: post #82
sepositus wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think this style of argumentation is constructive and beneficial for the broader good of society? I can't think of a single person I've met who would respond positively to being labeled a (partial) sociopath after being able to only express a couple of paragraphs of thought.

Yes, I do, because I’m never going to change his mind, maybe I will, but probably not, but other people reading this can take sides and think about it in a non-direct way. Jesus turned over tables when they were trying to profit inside the church. His movement seemed to turn out pretty good.

Other people reading it will (hello) also are unlikely to take your side if you call random commenters here sociopaths.

Re: Playing in the Creek

#99

Post by ToucanLoucan »

wulfstan wrote: post #91
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> added most of the PDF features people like in MacOS Preview. I'm not religious, but for this alone you deserve a life of blessings and happiness. The fact that I never ever have to fuck around with Adobe PDF apps to juggle PDFs is one of the load-bearing things keeping me sane in an insane world.

Yes. I used these features in Preview several times today. You have made my life easier on many occasions. For that, sir, I salute you. May you enjoy your retirement tinkering in your software garden.

For tax season alone! I'm in and out of Preview constantly, looking at PDFs, sorting the pages out, flipping scans. Utterly indispensable software. It feels crazy that it just comes free with the OS.

Re: Playing in the Creek

#100

Post by ern »

criddell wrote: post #40
ern wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I’m not smart enough, or too tired to decode these metaphors, so I plugged the essay into ChatGPT and got a clear explanation from 4o.

Are you at all concerned that plugging stuff like this into ChatGPT is leaving you with weaker cognitive muscles? Or is it more similar to what people do when they see a new word and reach for their dictionary?

I see AI like the reading glasses I’ll soon need — not because I can’t think clearly, but because it helps cut through things faster when my brain’s juggling too much.

A few years ago, I’d have quietly filed this kind of article under “too hard” or passed a log analysis request from the CIO down the line. Now? I get AI to draft the query, check it, run it, and move on. It’s not about thinking less — it’s about clearing the clutter so I can focus where it counts.

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