Data Killjoy

Nah, that was you

But do you remember the face of the permanent replacement when she found it?

At least now I know that you're capable of turning any colour radioactive

Fake news, I also spend several hours adjusting the colors of the charts several times over, until I get the perfectly contrasting set of two shades of blue.

(Context is that I was an Executive Assistant for 5yrs, which means I was organizing team away days rather than children's parties, but same difference. And it's really striking how someone pick a list of tasks to automate presumably because they are too out of touch to notice that they are hard.)

The idea that generative AI (or even a human who isn't as familiar with the person) could complete that list of tasks well without COPIOUS detail and context is laughable. A good PA just makes it look easy. It's not. Those are very complex tasks.

Since they don't do them, they don't know how complicated they can be, how much time they actually take, and just how much context they require before they're done well. The PA is able to plan the 5yo's birthday party because they listen to their boss talk about that kid here and there.

I could be way off, because I know nothing about these people and I don't care to find out, but why does that list of things people want to fence off to AI sound like something someone would give a Personal Assistant to do? Presumably people in power already don't do those things.

You need one for each room. Do it!

Don't be a coward. Get several different ones and colour-code the rooms!

I'm taken back to that day when a phone update came with changed fonts.

You didn't want to mix it up a little bit? ;)

First sweater destruction has been a success! Yarn washed really well, is knitting beautifully, looks like new. I think I'll definitely remake a few more pieces. We're not wearing them anyway, because they have some learner's mistakes.

I've been trying to buy less yarn, because I started feeling self-conscious about how fast I was burning through it. I don't actually want to stop making things, because it's really good for my head. So my gf and I picked out a few older pieces I'd made when I was learning, and started unpicking.

That was when I actively SEARCHED for knitting! Still haven't seen a single fibre arts related post on the "discover" page.

Meanwhile knitting had 0 impact on what I was seeing, and I know that there is knitting content here, because I searched for it. Almost makes me want to post about a completely different topic once every few days to see what other terms are as mighty as "sourdough".

Part of the shift being so dramatic is likely caused by my profile being so empty. I didn't pick any topics, I had 2 posts, and very few likes, so I wasn't giving the machine much to go on. It's just funny to learn that "sourdough" seems to be such a powerful keyword.

US politics is still a big topic, including grocery prices, so I'm not sure if that counts as food content or not. Either way, a single post about bread resulted in an immediate and major shift in what I was seeing.

I made a single post about knitting. Nothing changed about the page, and I thought, maybe it doesn't try to read from what you post. A few days later I wrote about sourdough starter. Suddenly a big chunk of my "discover" page is food-related, including dieting and some vaguely disturbing shit.

It's fascinating to see the recommendation algorithm work in real time. I have a new account. I didn't tick any topics at setup. Initially my "discover" page was mostly US politics with a bit of tech and wildlife scattered in between.

I'm pretty okay with R. Not like those people coding multi-page dashboards, but pretty okay. I did some very beginner-level SQL and Python, and I could grasp the logic even if I didn't get very far (yet?). But DAX makes me feel like I never met a data in my life.

One day, I might figure out how PowerBI actually works. For now, I have two working theories. Either 1) it's a terrible product that makes no sense; or 2) I'm a dummy who is missing a trick. I'm not setting up a strawman here; I think 2) is a genuine possibility. But I don't know for sure!

I have a sourdough starter, but I don't bake bread super often, and I think that discarding starter is silly, so I just try to use it in as many things as I can. So attempting sourdough pizza today, and when it builds up again, I think I'm turning it into soup.

Welcome to "Because that's how statistics work! I learned that in a leaflet! Which I made myself!" playing in my head on repeat all day

You joke, but I haven't stabbed ANYONE since I started doing this, and you can't prove that it's not because of the meeting socks. Science!

All I'm saying is most meetings require you to listen, keep your mouth shut and sit still. I can only do up to two of these three things simultaneously, and that's on a good day.

A pair of striped, handmade socks, one fully finished and one half-done, with needles still attached.

A half-finished handmade sock with needles still attached

A pair of handmade socks, one fully finished and one with just toes missing, needles still attached.

A pair of handmade, oversized socks resting one on top of the other.

At some point while mindlessly scrolling social media I was introduced to the concept of a meeting sock. A meeting sock is a sock you knit while attending a meeting, for sanity reasons. Even if it doesn't work, you still have warm feet in the end?

This is fine. They are fine.

I wonder if they first became suspicious because the new thing told people to eat rocks.