I wish I could be like a programmer that did some work for my dad.

My dad, being an asshole, would start telling and screaming when he wasn’t happy. The programmer would just stop and quietly say that he needed to calm down. It drove my dad ABSOLUTELY INSANE, but there was nothing he could do. He’d have to choke back his rage, calm down, and ask nicely.

I wish I could do that, but when people yell at me, I yell back.

ANLONE

From the 80’s when people could still pretend it was satire.

While I don’t disagree, I have a point to make.

Recently watched a home movie of our kids when they are little (18 years ago), so ages between 3 & 8.

It was a little horrifying to hear the absolute despair in our voices as my wife and I kept asking one kid after the other, “please stop.”

Three kids, all desperately trying to get ALL the attention. It’s amazing the five of us survived.

I don’t particularly recall the day the video was made. Hearing our voices, it sounds like we were just completely past the breaking point. Yet, consider: that was a moment that we considered adorable enough to record forever. Watching it now, they were adorable. However, it sounds like we were dying inside without realizing it.

I hear the same voices in every video. I love my kids and I love being a parent, but it’s amazing looking back how much that and all the other demands on us was just absolutely crushing the life out of us.

Well, I think it’s not about what we want at all. It’s about what they can get away with while not affecting the CEO’s compensation.

We’re just the livestock they harvest money from.

According to the article, it’s the payment processing system.

Actually, now I’m thinking I’ve forgotten how it’s supposed to work. I’ve been trying to sit in a chair and use a table.

Maybe I should be sitting on the floor.

Might need some help standing up again.

My wife got a series of letters from some law firm trying to collect state taxes owed. They wanted something like $500 because of a ~$10 tax they claimed was owed by my wife’s corporation.

Problem was, the corporation no longer existed. My wife was an optometrist who owned her own practice. When she became disabled, we had no way to continue, so we had to close it down and sell everything to pay off it’s debts. We ended up spending a bit of our own money (“investing” in a dead corporation), so my wife didn’t feel dishonest about how she left things. That wasn’t a financially sound choice, but I understood how she felt.

It had shut down a couple years before the tax liability. They claimed taxes were owed on business that occured after the corporation had shut down. Not sure how that’s possible, other than a scam.

However, even if it was possible to owe taxes on sales that didn’t happen, it would have been the corporation that owed the taxes, and the corporation didn’t have any assets.

The lawyer wanted her to file some paperwork with them so that they would know the claim was invalid. She told them no. It required far less effort for us and far more for them for us to just ignore them. If they didn’t want to waste their time and money pursuing an invalid claim, they could fix it themselves. They kept trying for a few years, but gave up eventually.

One of only two times when we were able to use the corporate shield to tell some shithead to pound sand.

After years of my family saying I’m too difficult to buy gifts for, and me saying, “What the hell are you talking about? Just get me LEGO!”, one of my kids got the message and has been getting me LEGO sets for Christmas every year.

It might have started when I bought myself the Cinderella Castle set.

The only problem I have is I’m 53, not 13. Sitting hunched over a pile of LEGO bricks for hours leaves me in pain. I need to come up with a space where I can play without injuring myself.

One of my teachers in high school (around 1986 or 1987) said that the Russian people were incapable of freedom. He said they wanted & needed an authoritarian ruler.

At the time I thought he was just buying into propaganda, but I’ve been thinking he may have been right.

But then, it’s starting to look like a huge portion of Americans don’t value their own freedom either. At least, they seem to be willing to trade their freedom for ensuring that the people they don’t like will suffer.

Honestly, without seeing consequences I find them frustrating.

“Here buddy, I read these things can help with your PTSD.”

D’oh!

When we painted our house. We got estimates from a dozen different companies. I asked them all what kind of guarantee they offered. All but one responded with, “there’s no way to guarantee paint”

The most expensive guy said the paint came with a 10 year guarantee and he’d guarantee the workmanship for 8 years.

He explained that he used a probe to test the moisture content of the wood, and wouldn’t paint it unless it was dry enough for the paint to adhere properly.

While he was painting the house, he came to me to explain that he was having trouble with the front porch. The roof was leaking and he was concerned it would never dry out enough. He said he’d do his best, but he was sure it wouldn’t work

With the exception of the porch, we got a good, solid 15 years out of that paint job.

Of course, we’ve needed to repaint for 10 years, but we can’t afford him anymore :-(

Edit: it cost about $17,000 in 1998.

Ok. Who printed “Code zero zero zero. Destruct. Zero”?

That’s not funny, guys.

It’s funny people talking about how things are done in the U.S. and giving different answers.

It would sort of be like saying how it works in the E.U., then describing how the process works in France.

In Pennsylvania, you have to be 16 years old. Initial permit and 4 year license costs $45.50

You need a physical and a form filled out by the doctor.

You need an adult to fill out a form, then you study the drivers manual. When you’re ready you go to the DMV, get a vision test, and take a knowledge test. If you pass, you’re issued a permit that allows you to drive with an adult driver supervising you.

You have to wait six months before you take the road test. You’re supposed to drive for 65 hours driving at different times, in different weather, different traffic, different roads, etc. However, it’s on the honor system. When you take the driving test, the driver who had been supervising you fills out a form stating that you’ve completed the 65 hours. I suspect the vast majority of parents just lie.

When you’re ready for the road test, you discover that now the true challenge begins: scheduling the test. They tell you to schedule your road test for six months after you get the permit, but I can’t imagine anyone would be able to get 65 hours of driving done in 6 months. So, if you can’t manage that, you have to schedule the appointment when you can, and that is another miserable task. The DMV open appointments at 4am, and they’re all taken by 4:01am.

We managed to get our oldest tested at e DMV. He failed during the parallel parking because he didn’t realize he could back out and try again. The examiner told him after he failed that he could have tried up to three times. When he retested, he passed.

When we were going through this with our next child, we paid a driving school to administer the test. The price included a 1 hour refresher course in one of their cars, then another instructor took him out for the test.

In my case, I did do the 65 hours driving with two of my kids, and it was brutal. It’s tough finding that much time. For my last child, the pandemic hit as she was at about 20 hours. I had to work longer hours, and it was tougher finding time to drive with her. We ended up renewing her permit, then eventually had to re-take the knowledge test and start over.

By this time, she was over 18, and I wanted her to have her license so she could drive at college. I took her to a driving school. I described the situation, and they recommended they take her out to see how she does. After the evaluation, they gave her a list of things to practice, and we spent a few more weeks driving, then she went to the school to take a road test and passed. I never got to 65 hours with her, but by the time she got her license she no longer had to do the 65 hours because she was over 18.

If you’re under 18, you get a junior license. You’re not allowed to drive between 11pm and 5am, and you aren’t allowed to have more than one passenger who is under 18 unless they are family. After six months, you’re allowed to have up to three non-family passengers under 18.

When you turn 18, the junior license becomes an unrestricted license.

Edit: forgot to mention: my dad (age 85) told me that when he got his license, he took the knowledge test, passed, immediately took the road test, passed, and got his license the same day. That would have been 1954. Of course, he had been stealing his dad’s car for joy rides since he was 13, so he had some experience driving.

I’ve got one, but I’ve had it for years and years. It was a gift from my kids. I think for Father’s Day.

It’s awesome. I just use it for water. Load ice and water, carry it through the house. Keep drinking water. If I wake in the night feeling thirsty, there’s ice water right there. In the morning when I need to take meds, I’ve got ice water. Nice secure lid, so if my clumsy self knocks it over, it isn’t a disaster.

I’ve got gout, so one of the easiest things I can do to avoid pain is to drink a metric shit-ton of water every day. I think it ended up being a much better gift than my kids thought it would be.

Of course, like I said, I’ve had mine long before any influencer was talking about them.

Those of you women living in U.S. red states will be familiar with the feeling.

Fuck 'em.

My AI professor back in the early 90’s made the point that what we think of as fairly routine was considered the realm of AI just a few years earlier.

I think that’s always the way. The things that seem impossible to do with computers are labeled as AI, then when the problems are solved, we don’t figure we’ve created AI, just that we solved that problem so it doesn’t seem as big a deal anymore.

LLMs got hyped up, but I still think there’s a good chance they will just be a thing we use, and the AI goal posts will move again.