Sarah W

Yeah. That and the articles about cognitive decline from using it are just... Scary. And reinforcing my lack of interest in them.

Unfortunately, my family is the river parishes of southern Louisiana. Between the economic circumstances (fairly poor), the education (up to 32nd from 49th!), and the still-entrenched racism... It's a very different world down there even from here in Texas, where isolation and distance is an issue.

A horse and a buggy sticker with the text in the Oregon trail font: please be patient with me. I'm from the 1900s.

Sticker at my local coffee shop

(...Although to be fair "the city where people go to get murdered" is... ah. Overblown, but maybe not entirely unwarranted, as there's a history both of multiple serial killers and also the federal government has to come in periodically and clean up the police force.)

And yet simultaneously, it's also That City The State Is Best Known For And We're Kind Of Proud Of That, The Place For Fancy Family Dinners, and The Place For Wedding Receptions. Because nothing is ever uncomplicated when it comes to social isolation paired with economic dependence.

And so the Big City in question has become The Place You Go During A Weekday For Medical Appointments, The Place Women Don't Go To Alone On Weekends Or After Dark, The Place People Go To Get Murdered, It's Full of People Who Look Down On Us, and That Weird Place That's Not Really Like Us.

I have to admit, I always assume they're talking to people like my relatives, who for the most part have not moved more than 10 miles in any direction from where the families settled in 200 years. They're not bad people, but there's a lot of "almost everything we need is here" to the mindset.

I am too tired for siding-related anxiety.

a bunny holding a spiked morning star by lily seika jones text: we must remain whimsical to survive the horrors of this world

The "Don't Make Me Tap The Sign" bus driver from The Simpsons. The sign say: "If we don't make it dangerous to be a Nazi, they'll make it dangerous not to be."

Spotted over at Tumblr this morning, , courtesy of @depsidase... (www.tumblr.com/depsidase/79...)

Sometimes a girl apparently just wants a bowl of nacho cheese.

A recent comment by an older colleague encapsulated it for me:

Before Reagan, the US government viewed the nation as the beneficiary of higher education. Reagan reframed it as the *individual* being its beneficiary. And so the costs shifted accordingly.

40+ years later, here we are.

The cast of Much Ado, being ridiculously gorgeous.

On the subject of Much Ado About Nothing, I did recently(ish) write an essay about it and why it's one of my favorite films to watch:

whatever.scalzi.com/2023/12/07/t...

"TTRPGs are just so expensive now"
According to the MSRPs printed on my AD&D 2e books - PHB-$20, DMG-$18, MM-$30. That's $68 in 1990 money. Inflation puts that at $170ish in 2025.
We now have full-color books. Most RPGs come with PDFs. And all for the same price or less.
Stop yelling at clouds.

A Google alert announces Chappell Roan concert tickets, but the image is of Weird Al

You sure about this, Google?

...grabby hands...

My car is ready!
RIP my wallet!
This is fine. Gif!

Heads up - Instagram added a new maps feature that shows your location. Thankfully someone let me know and I just opted out! Go to “settings and activity” and activity and then select “Story, live and location” to select who can view your location !

It Looks Like a School Bathroom Smoke Detector. A Teen Hacker Showed It Could Be an Audio Bug A pair of hackers found that a vape detector often found in high school bathrooms contained microphones—and security weaknesses that could allow someone to turn it into a secret listening device.

Everything from military radios to AI can be hacked. At the Defcon hacker conference, researchers showed how they hacked into these systems—not for gain—but to point out vulnerabilities.

First, a student who found that vape detectors installed at his high school could be used for surveillance: 🧵

I've been following! (See also, I admire that you have not slapped anyone upside the head yet.)

Oh, 100%. I was just thinking the broken machinery issue might be a case of "can't get the parts faster than it would take to get someone new to come do the work" rather than "won't be fixed."

I had a feeling that might be all that's available. Regardless, I admire your perseverance. It could be "in not slapping people upside the head until they fix shit" - but I leave it up to interpretation. ;)

Could be a timing issue. Once went through 3 different AC companies via home warranty because the 1st had told HW they couldn't do any calls that week and the 2nd looked at the issue but didn't have the manpower to fix it until September and it was August.

I have to admit, I admire your perseverence. I'm sick of this on your behalf.

Oof. That's... That's a lot more car repair than I expected to be paying for.

A real head-screwed-on post about AI coding, reflecting my experience. The only thing I would add is that code generators are at best the average of existing code. To around half of developers average is an improvement - that may explain why some of us fall in love with it and others don't.

At a certain point, the equestrian industry as a whole is going to have to reckon with the number of our upper-level competitors who are choosing results over welfare. 15 year suspensions are a start, but only if they're enforced.

Hey Americans, if this passes you'll be uploading your ID to every social media and website to access it.

Teaching STEM without teaching the Humanities is how you get Spider-Man villians. Teaching Theater without teaching the Humanities is how you get Batman villians.

This made me laugh. And then I sat and thought about it. This is correct.

I guess I need to add "do you use AI to summarize visit notes?" to my list of questions next time I change vets...