January 2023

Someone told me yesterday I don’t have to start everything and I was actually offended… until I thought about it. Part of being a leader is pushing OTHER people to start things and helping them by being a good follower. Must remember, cuz… I’m tired.

One of the things I'm finding so interesting about large language models like GPT-3 and ChatGPT is that they're pretty much the world's most impressive party trick

All they do is predict the next word based on previous context. It turns out when you scale the model above a certain size it can give the false impression of "intelligence", but that's a total fraud

It's all smoke and mirrors! The intriguing challenge is finding useful tasks you can apply them to in spite of the many, many footguns

Mortimer & Whitehouse Gone Fishing really needs to stream somewhere in the US. I’ve never seen a funnier or better depiction of non-toxic male friendship. It’s so gentle and lovely.

🤒 Another weekend sick on the couch. Trying not to be upset about it. There’s stuff I want to do. It can all wait.

I’m really ready for this cold to go away. Dear cold, how about I make you a quesadilla? Will you go away then? It’s gonna be super yummy.

I’ve been getting a lot out of going as literal as possible these days. In that spirit, made a new place for my phone.

I blogged! One more to go this month! https://lawver.net/2023/01/aggressive-accessibility/

Lawver’s 2nd Law: every social media site trends towards containing only screenshots of posts from other sites.

Artist Jonathan Harris and his piece entitled “Critical Race Theory.”

#crt #blackmastodon #racism

it’s really interesting how all of my friends who have been caught up in the tech industry layoffs this week have fit into one or more of three categories:

- over the age of 40
- something other than a cisgender man
- somehow involved in advocacy for inclusive corporate culture

i’m not surprised, just disappointed. and tired.

Say Hello to Ivory. We are now available to all on Apple’s App Store! We have launched as “Early Access” because we still have a lot of exciting plans ahead of that will make Ivory even better. Go download it, try it free for 7 days, and experience it for yourself!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ivory-for-mastodon-by-tapbots/id6444602274

My wife says my chest congestion voice is sexy so, you know, at least I’ve got that going for me.

I would start working out, get hurt, then frustrated, then give up… over and over again. My new(ish) doctor wisely told me to wait and get the weight off so I can do things without so much risk. The e-bike is great because I can take it as slowly as I need to while still feeling some momentum and pedaling, even if there’s a battery there to help.

I’ve been reading a lot about weight loss the last year, and I no longer think I can do it on my own. I plateaued after losing 30 pounds two years ago, and am super proud I’ve kept it off after years of yo-yoing, but… I’ve got so much farther to go. Letting modern medicine help isn’t giving up, it’s acknowledging that our bodies are weird and will fight to keep you fat.

At the pivot point in my cold where I switch from DayQuil to Mucinex. Get thee behind me, green goo!

I don’t know how to explain it, but time works differently in airports. 5 minutes and 5 hours are somehow the same. Your flight is delayed but arrives early. The carpets are from 1980. The water machines are from 2045. It is always happy hour. You have always been in the airport.

⚒️ Plotting my escape. Need supplies (fried chicken, most importantly). That’s good for a cold, right?

Nicked from the Birdsite; re: people complaining about the 50th re-issue of DSOTM having a rainbow in the album art.

i was laid-off twice early in my career in very large reorgs / cost-cutting.

the thing that wld have been helpful for me to hear then was 'this is not abt you. you were a number on someone's spreadsheet. they wanted that number to go down by 1000 or 2000 or 10,000'.

so, to anyone who needs to hear that today:

it's not abt you. you did nothing wrong.

This is genius Albert Einstein who refused to speak at white colleges and at the end of his life spoke exclusively at black universities
"The separation of races is not a disease of colored people but a disease of white people. I do not intend to be quiet about it.

#Einstein #Racism #Integrity #Equality

Cannot reiterate this enough:

PLEASE don’t request refunds from Apple for any unused time on your Twitterrific or Tweetbot subscriptions.

It could literally bankrupt small shops like these.

https://blog.iconfactory.com/2023/01/twitterrific-end-of-an-era/

“Gender affirmative care is safe, effective, and even lifesaving... Children should not be pawns of politicians [who hold] safe, effective healthcare hostage for political and personal goals.”

https://www.popsci.com/health/gender-affirming-hormones-transgender-youth/

I don’t know that I’ll ever trust third party APIs again, unless I’m paying for it, and even then, I’ll probably still be willing to jump ship the moment they even look like they’ll get… musky. It’s so sad. I love mashups and building around interesting APIs - there’s just no trust left.

#Mastodon is hiring!

› Remote-only
› Full-time

Looking for:

› DevOps Engineer
› Product Designer
› Software Engineer 🆕

It could be you! Apply now:

https://joinmastodon.org/careers

First up in #sickday movies: Troll (the newish Netflix one). I’m hoping it’s at least 70% as fun as Trollhunter was.

🤧 Actually have a cold bad enough to take a sick day. That means it’s bad monster and war movies, instant ramen and tea for the foreseeable future.

Hiya cis folks. I love you. I hope you’re well. I worry you might watch the news and wonder how you can help trans folks.

Honestly? I suggest you send them money. Many of you probably have no idea how expensive it is to be trans. Find a gofundme or a Venmo or a kofi.

Go make a real material impact on a trans person, especially a BIPOC trans person. Can’t find a BIPOC trans person to help? Look harder.

Some flowers take more care and energy. Help us bloom. #trans

OK, people, OK. Now that it has been confirmed by #MSNBC columnist Marisa Kabas that #GeorgeSantos used to be a drag performer, let’s just remember as we craft our jokes that drag performers are not the punchline. The #GOP getting duped into welcoming a former drag performer into their house after attacking drag performers IS the punchline—that they are either hypocrites, stupid, or both. All right. Carry on.

I've been in the trans community for 20 years and I've known *one* person who detransitioned. We all supported that person, of course. Saying "we should acknowledge and support detransitioners" is something nobody would disagree with.

But the existence of a tiny minority of people who detransition is *not* an argument for making it harder for everyone else to transition, which is what this media frenzy often seems to be driving at.

Favorite things about pairing with coworkers:

1. How many unread Slack channels they have.

2. All they’re cool little command line hacks, tools and aliases. Nerds are deliciously, creatively lazy.

It turns out, I have very strong opinions about being on call.

Ever wonder what would happen if a Kardashev Type II civilization found us cute?

(That creative writing habit I tried building last Spring didn't stick. But, every now and then, I get the urge to jot something down and post a story scene.)

https://blog.lmorchard.com/2023/01/16/begging-for-treats/

Leaked image of VW's first self-driving car.

Dear trans people, I love you. You’re SO brave, and no one can take that away from you. I am cheering you on and want nothing but the best for you.

Early Friday afternoon reminder to not clear out your inbox at the expense of someone else's. It's a holiday weekend in the US. Schedule that email. Ruminate on justice and love. Have a good weekend.

The best thing about Will Trent is that they don’t have to pretend that Atlanta is some other city.

#silentsunday

I really appreciate the grannies as judges part of Baking It. It respects the wisdom of elders who are frequently ignored, and lets them shine and share their expertise. And they’re hilarious.

Did you lose your ass due to LastPass? Your ass might be in the LastPass Class! Add your ass to the LastPassClass Action Class!

I did the math. I’ve been employed as a web developer for 24 years. For 22 of those years, I’ve been on call in some form - either product on-call or actual availability/SRE stuff. I’m giving myself permission to feel both old AND tired.

Being “the adult in the room” sneaks up on you. How did I get here? Oh yeah… I got old.

Wear makeup.

Wear padded bras.

Wear hip pads.

Wear shape wear.

Wear whatever makes you look like you in the mirror and don’t apologize for it because you deserve it.

Lawver’s Law: Every Slack channel will eventually contain the entire company.

🙊 Sometimes saying what I wish someone would tell me is just the placebo effect motivation I need.

We go now live to the House where the GOP is still trying to elect a Speaker: https://youtu.be/NUC2EQvdzmY

Happy Tuesday from the World’s Rowdiest Dad… according to my daughter, who got me this mug for Christmas.

One of my intentions for this year is to get out of the house more, and I’ve tied that to taking more actual breaks at work (leaving my desk instead of … not). I just took a quick bike ride around the neighborhood and it was AWESOME! I love working from home.

Verdict: pastry crème isn’t quite firm enough, but the combo of it plus the jam and ganache is pretty darn delightful. May try it again with a chess pie.

Submit your blog by Jan. 7, 2023 to participate in “Bring back blogging”

To bring back blogging:
• write 3 posts per month (any subject, any length)
• get into the habit for months to come
• add other bloggers’ feeds in your #RSSreader
• publicize your blog, share your favorite blogs

And reap the goodies! enjoy the serendipity of learning new things or discovering unknown aspects of peeps.

https://bringback.blog

#blog #BringBackBlogging #OwnYourContent #serendipitity

h/t @kpl

Just finished making a new experimental pie: dark chocolate ganache, raspberry jam and orange pastry crème. Can’t wait to see the family’s reaction later!

#COVID Poll - Have you had COVID?
Please boost to get a bigger response.

It's January 2nd, and I signed up to bring blogs back so... here are my 2023 Intentions! (at least two more posts in January, and hopefully two a month all of 2023) https://lawver.net/2023/01/my-intentions-for-2023/

In another edition of Kevin Watches Thing Late: we’re starting It’s a Sin, and I love it. I just want to hug all of them and make them dinner.