The spring equinox here in the northern hemisphere will be about six hours from now. Here’s my traditional spring quotation of Swinburne: For winter’s rains and ruins are over, And all the season of snows and sins; The days dividing lover and lover, The light that loses, the night that wins; And time remember’d is […]
(That title seems like it ought to be the title of a crossover fic between A Few Good Men and The Thing. “The truth? You can’t handle the truth! The truth is I’m a shapeshifting alien!” Nom nom nom) A few good things lately: A week or so ago, I improved the lighting in a […]
On the one hand, I’m still feeling kinda generally grumpy. On the other hand, I’m also feeling a little triumphant (grumphant?), because I have finished going through my boxes of old papers. Or at least I’ve finished the first pass of doing that. I now have the following: One plastic bin full of papers to […]
Today was kind of emotionally exhausting, but productive. (No advice, please.) Background: Although Google laid me off back in January, I’m still officially an employee until March 31—just an employee who has no responsibilities and no access to anything. (US law requires them to give two months’ notice for this kind of thing, but doesn’t […]
Some notes about the boardgame Ark Nova: I was a little dubious about this game when I saw the Kickstarter for it. Some aspects were intriguing, but appeared to include a couple of mechanisms that I tend not to like: polyomino tile arrangement and worker placement. (But see below.) And the zoo-development theme didn’t really […]
Yesterday, I finished sorting one of my plastic bins full of old papers and mail. (This is just an update on my progress on a couple of steps in a big long-term project; not looking for advice.) To celebrate the availability of an empty plastic bin, I promptly half-filled it again, this time with stuff […]
I’ve been thinking lately about my tendencies to keep stuff. (This post is just recording some things I’ve been thinking about, and adding some musings as I go. I’m not looking for advice here.) I have a lot of stuff. A lot of it is stuff that I love and am very happy to have; […]
Interesting paper: “Talking About Large Language Models,” by Murray Shanahan, discussing some of the ways that we talk about AI systems like ChatGPT. “As we build systems whose capabilities more and more resemble those of humans, despite the fact that those systems work in ways that are fundamentally different from the way humans work, it […]
Yesterday, I noticed that my silverware drawer was getting hard to close, because restaurant-takeout disposable chopsticks and drinking straws were getting in the way. (I’ll note upfront that this is not an advice-request post; also, please be careful in your comments not to imply that reduction of clutter is inherently or universally good or positive […]
There’s lots that I want to write about, but also lots that I want to do today, so maybe I’ll try a quick-ish (but still on the long side) what-I’ve-been-up-to post and then go try to do some stuff. This is meant as a description of what I’m up to, not as requests for advice. […]
(Wrote the first part of this post on Friday (Jan. 20), and posted it to Facebook. Started the second part later on Friday; finished and posted it on Saturday (Jan. 21).) (This is a long post—nearly 6,000 words. The short version: I’ve been laid off after 18 years at Google; I’m fine; I’m not looking […]
I saw a list on CNN of “some of the major concessions and promises McCarthy has made over the course of the negotiations, according to CNN reporting.” So below is a different list: some of the major concessions and promises McCarthy has made over the course of the negotiations, according to JED reporting. Any member […]