If it isn’t raining too much. It rained off and on pretty much all day yesterday, which is the way it should be to really benefit us. Not much good for my plans though. I’m hoping today is a bit less wet. Cool is fine, it was low to mid 70sF yesterday. I’m good with more of that…
Did not get much done other than domestic bliss. Three loads of it for bedding and related. Plus cleaning, putting away stuff and general poking at stuff. My brain and energy are still not recovered, but I’m functional.
And I need to put some of that function to work today. I’ve got pickups to do. If it’s not raining, I’m going to try to do my missed pickup. They usually do incoming shipping on Thur and Fri, but if they are there, maybe I can sneak my stuff out. I really don’t want to wait until next Monday.
There’s always more to do, no matter what you try or who you are. Don’t be like me, get something done. And stack because it’s ebola season again.
nick
Thursday. Good morning!
Lots to do today. Helping a junior colleague with learning new things is probably going to take up some of the day. I reached that as an investment; when the new kid becomes competent, they can take some of my workload, at least the non-complex, non-urgent stuff. At some future time, they no longer need their hand holding… hopefully.
That’s…a lot of eggs.
We buy eggs from a local woman who keeps chickens. Kept chickens. Apparently a fox got into her coop this week, so…no more eggs.
Given the size of your task, you really should look into AI support. I haven’t used it on anything big, but it’s all the rage for a reason. Sure, you’ll have to check the work, but it should do 90% of the work for you – and won’t overlook small-but-important things like array indices.
I think the problem lies elsewhere. The epitome of the education problem are things like NCLB. Participation trophies. Everyone must feel good, everyone must win a prize.
Students need graded on their actual achievements. If they get a poor grade, or fail – that’s what they earned. Also – something we thankfully still have, but the US has lost: students need to be separated into groups with similar performance, so that they can be taught at appropriate levels. Here, after primary school, students go into one of three tracks, based on their demonstrated academic ability. Only the upper track is a direct route to college.
Of course, we have the same disease as the US, just not as advanced: Most parents want to see their kids in the college track, and will pull out ridiculous stops to try and get them there. But not all kids are suited to academia. We had one of each: one very academic kid, and one who hated school. One went to college, the other didn’t. What’s the problem?
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/05/27/stem-professors-in-university-of-california-system-rebel-n3815332
Freshmen walking in the door at Stanford needing remedial math. What a PLT crock. Public teacher unions need to get sued out of existence and their pensions confiscated for the student loan bill.
Look for the blue stickers on the pumps at Buc-ee’s.
All of their new stations have ethanol free gas. Hillsboro uses the blue sticker as an incentive for people to use the pumps furthest from the store.
Green is diesel, and Buc-ee’s also has DEF on those pumps.
QuikTrip around Austin also carries ethanol free.
What may be limiting the popularity/availability right now is the price which is similar to diesel.
If you don’t see blue stickers at your Buc-ee’s, I get the impression that the two partners have differing politics, with the gasoline distribution operation based in Austin and retail offices in Lake Jackson.
If the p*ssing contest with the Geico Gecko continues, the Beaver may have no choice but to expand availability.
I don’t remember ethanol free being available at Pilot.
I get to spend the rest of my week tracking down a core dump in AI generated C++20 which is borderline incomprehensible except to a compiler.
My Colonist co-workers who generated the code certainly don’t understand it, but they got gold stars last year as well as promotions and money to buy Teslas for using the AI to rewrite my C libraries.
In my (admittedly limited) experience, AI is very good writing individual bits of code. I think the problems come, when it is asked to deal with architecture and organisation.
I would work one or two functions at a time. Let it look at the project for context, but then give it a very specific task “Here is a Fortran function, convert it to C++”. Then review the function, fix as needed, and go on to the next one.
The LLMs I’ve worked with are very bad on FORTRAN, whether reading or writing. YMMV.
Ah, Reddit. Tolerance is their byword, unless you are conservative.
There was just an attack by a “Swiss” guy in Winterthur. Stabbed three people while shouting the song of his people “Allahu Akbar”. I say “Swiss” because he unfortunately has citizenship, but from the pics he is clearly from…elsewhere.
Anyway, on Reddit, I posted a link about crime statistics and said that we really need to restrict immigration from Islamic countries. Bam, immediate 3-day ban. They have a bot examining posts, and the bot decided that my comment promotes “hate”.
Funny, how facts can be hateful…
Dries Van Langenhove might have a few words on that topic.
Not a lot of open source FORTRAN is out there for the AI companies to use to train the models.
I’ve seen very good boilerplate libcurl out of the AI, and even the free models we have access to at work will competently review my Json-C code, pointing out the memory leak issues correctly.
We will have a real test this week when we ask the paid models to attempt to translate a Python proof-of-concept program manipulating Json data into C/C++.
The Python is very clean but complicated. I don’t put any Python into the field without high scores out of Pylint.
“So we’re going to take the beginning of this song and do it nice, and easy…”
It smelled like a cool morning from my teens in the SF bay area, like fog.
Not like moist desert earth after a rain, that’s a different odor.
Cool and clear this a.m., breezy, but checking with NWS, indeed, fog after midnight until just before sunrise!
I wish I had noticed, it would’ve been fun to go out for a minute or two, but the winds were howling at 40 mph and I had all the doors and windows closed.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/05/jewish-couple-attacked-with-baseball-bat-and-dog-in-santa-monica-by-man-screaming-genocide/
Maniac stopped his car in traffic, attacked Jewish couple with a baseball bat, went back to his car, got his dog, and set it on the man.
let’s see:
Hate crime. Confiscate the car. Put the dog down. Beat the man with bats, breaking his legs. Tie his hands behind his back, bury him chin deep in the sand at low tide on a beach with lots of crabs.
Plan Day 2….
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/05/deep-state.php
I’ll be working from home and I need 300 gold bars and a wheelbarrow to take out the Rolexes…
So, how many gold bars and Rolexes does the CIA have, and how many are “working from home”?
Defense: “After John Brennan took most of them, I thought it was my duty to protect the rest. I filed the paperwork and my company equipment inventory clearly shows “cubbyhole, desk, home office, next to the MRE’s”
I think I mentioned a friend replacing the 10yo+ Corsair power supply in his old PC with a new Corsair (it is a Win7 machine with expensive engineering s/w) ?
He called to say that it booted with a new hardware SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION message …
He’s taking it to a shop to see if they can get it going.
@lynn, QT stations often have ethanol free. The one in Conroe has it on every other pump, alternating with diesel.
———-
Well I’m up, and the first thing I see is more texting from the board of my hobby about why can’t someone just send a check to the treasurer to join???? Maybe because the treasurer doesn’t want his name and home address on the internet? Maybe it is PAST FREAKING TIME to get everything separated from individuals and think about business continuity?
Get a dang PO box for official business. Get email addys for the Board that pass to the next board. Get all account verification shifted to those addresses. Get all payments shifted to club accounts/cards. We’ve got corporate structure for a reason. Gah. Head is too full of snot for this shite this early.
———–
Sunny, and probably warm, but I don’t care until I have some coffee…
n
I am an officer of a 501( c)(3) nonprofit.
Get a dang PO box for official business. Check.
Get email addys for the Board that pass to the next board. Check. Ours is a group email to the whole board. Our webmaster maintains the recipients.
Get all payments shifted to club accounts/cards. Check. Except we still write checks to reimburse members for authorized expenses.
Gah. Indeed.
I guess we’re doing better than I thought.
Too hot. I had to do some outdoor stuff (load furniture for the BOL into the car, change out blades on the robot lawnmower). Now I am prostrate in a cool, dark room. Too hot.
On a happier note…
A Sturmgewehr 90 (SIG 550), in the PE90 semi-auto version followed me home. Probably the nicest AK-47 clone there is. Too bad it’s a poodleshooter.
https://youtu.be/fy-yTEuetXo
I should have posted this earlier.
NAR – North American Rescue (a trusted source for non-counterfeit gear) is having a sale on Stop the Bleed gear.
https://www.narescue.com/2026-nsbtm-sale.html
n
EdH: I’m a Vallejo native. Went into the Air Force is 1964 and only visited home a few times since then. The last time was in Oct of 2022 after a 17 year absence. I don’t have any plans to return.
Where do/did you live?
– people are missing the takeaway, which is that there is a mechanism for making the request, IT WAS APPROVED and funded, and apparently it is fairly routine to move those sorts of assets and amounts in only a couple of months…
Sweet jebus, what a country.
n
I was born in San Bernardino California, given away by my parents when I was 7 to my aunt and uncle who lived in Oregon near The Dalles. I made occasional trips back to CA for a few months, but I was always sent back. Eventually the aunt and uncle moved to Rogue River OR where I spent my high school years.
Aside from the USAF, I lived in San Antonio, then moved to Oliver Springs TN. I have absolutely zero desire to move back to Oregon, California or Washington. Those states have become too liberal, too tax happy, too property restrictive, just a bunch of jerks. I won’t move back to Texas because it is too hot. I will probably die in TN.
We have a/c in Texas. We are not all inbred hicks.
And dehumidifiers, which do as much to keep it comfortable as the cooling does.
Yeh, I know. I had A/C in my house and my vehicles. I lived there for 14. years. TN has a much more moderate climate and days above 100F are few. San Antonio has many. I spent basic training at Lackland in July and August, in a barracks that had no A/C, walking all around Lackland.
Yes, but when the A/C fails, you need to get an inbred hick to stop humping his sister long enough to come fix it, don’t you?
When I first moved to Austin, it took me about a year to get used to playing ultimate in 40 degree, humid heat. Afterwards, no big deal.
I’ve lost that acclimation. Playing an hour of tennis in 30 degree heat, in a less humid climate, kills me.
In human terms:
40 soulless European/laboratory degrees = 104 human scale degrees.
30 European degrees = 86 human scale degrees.
You’re welcome.
I’ve heard Roy on with Cutie Pie a few times over the last six months, and he doesn’t come off as much of a RINO as “Maga Mayes”, especially on the topic of Islamic developments in Texas based on Sharia law.
Roy made Cutie Pie uncomfortable about the topic which is always a plus in my book.
Middleton is vulnerable on that subject in particular, and I have to wonder about where he got the campaign financing. I imagine that the paper trail is interesting.
Too late to worry about it now, however.
Chip Roy and John Cornyn still have over six months in the House and Senate, respectively. They lost an election, not a trial or even a censure procedure.
I hope that I am right and you are wrong. Because if you are right and we end with a do nothing Attorney General in Texas then we will be truly screwed.
BTW, Middleton loaned his campaign $16 million. Must be nice to have that kind of money laying around.
“Democrats Hopeful Average Texas Voter Wants To Ban Steak And Thinks God Is Gay”
https://babylonbee.com/news/democrats-hopeful-average-texas-voter-wants-to-ban-steak-and-thinks-god-is-gay
“TEXAS — With the field now set for the Texas Senate race, Democrats are hopeful that the average Texan voter wants to ban steak and believes God is gay.”
“For decades, the Democratic Party has dreamed of turning Texas blue, and believe that their message of making beef illegal and calling God non-binary will finally be the ticket to make it happen.”
I have met some crazy Christians over the years but not many that crazy.
I get to spend the rest of my week tracking down a core dump in AI generated C++20 which is borderline incomprehensible except to a compiler.
My Colonist co-workers who generated the code certainly don’t understand it, but they got gold stars last year as well as promotions and money to buy Teslas for using the AI to rewrite my C libraries.
So, why aren’t the Colonists fixing their own blankity blank code?
Don’t they get paid more than you do?
“EIA: US crude inventories down 3.3 million bbl”
https://www.ogj.com/general-interest/news/55380494/eia-us-crude-inventories-down-33-million-bbl
“At 441.7 million bbl, US crude oil inventories are about 2% above the 5-year average for this time of year, the EIA report indicated.”
We ain’t got no crude oil and natural gas shortages here in the USA because we use directional drilling and frack when needful. Them idiots in the EU have the entire North Sea and the Netherlands to drill wells that blow 100,000 bbl/day for 90 days straight and they are shutting them all down. California too. I just don’t understand what their issue is.
“Report: Police Rush to Supreme Court Justice’s Home After Gunfire Scare”
https://redstate.com/terichristoph/2026/05/28/report-police-rush-to-supreme-court-justices-dc-home-following-reports-of-gunfire-n2202792
Swatting Amy Coney Barrett’s home, really?
We need to get control of our phone system. Anonymous phone calls should not be allowed at all.
So they are going to lock down our computers but not the phone system. You gotta love it.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
In my (admittedly limited) experience, AI is very good writing individual bits of code. I think the problems come, when it is asked to deal with architecture and organisation.
I would work one or two functions at a time. Let it look at the project for context, but then give it a very specific task “Here is a Fortran function, convert it to C++”. Then review the function, fix as needed, and go on to the next one.
I have 5,000 Fortran subroutines. This is not trivial.
“AOC Rises to 3rd Place in 2028 Dem Presidential Primary”
https://www.frontpagemag.com/aoc-rises-to-3rd-place-in-2028-dem-presidential-primary/
“Ahead of Kamala in 4th place.”
I keep on telling you, AOC is running for pres in 2028. I think that she will get the dumbrocrat nomination too.
I am trying to decide if I would pay to watch a cage match with Kamala and AOC.
They think God is gay and they want to make beer illegal. Along with wide open borders and free abortions for trans freaks. Something something also about Hawaiian Snack-bars, too.
And power everything with windmills and solar panels.
Hahahahahahahaha! Good one.
Hahahahahahahaha! Good one.
My point exactly.
@BobSprowl: While growing up my family was basically Bay Area adjacent, Daly City, Petaluma, Stockton, Vacaville (with a couple of years in Eureka). We moved to the East Bay in about 1969 and I stayed there until about 1980 or 81 when I moved away to go to college in Pomona, My Dad actually worked at Mare Island as a pipefitter/foreman on submarines In the 70s.
I was back a lot to visit family after that, but never actually lived in the bay area again.
Interesting that the feeling and scent the cold cool foggy air stays with you. When I lived in Ventura there was also significant fog and a marine layer, but it had a saltier edge to it being so close to the beach.
“REALLY? James Talarico Claims Climate Change is Killing Thousands of Texans and Americans (VIDEO)”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/05/really-james-talarico-claims-climate-change-is-killing/
“Later in this clip, Talarico says we can all end up living like ‘The Jetsons’ if we fight climate change. Again, WHAT?”
Wow, this guy is a true nutter.
I wonder if he wants to move the Palestinians to Texas too.
She has no chance at either. There are too many old school Dumbocrats who won’t vote for her.
Ten years ago, she was hot and dumb, giving off “I could hit that, easy” vibes. It got her elected. Rather, it got her the attention of the party bosses who set her up to be elected.
Now that she’s old enough to run for Pres, she’s still dumb but no longer hot. Too bad, so sad.
So…. when is the crowd at the grocery store going to thin out?
DOCTOR Jill trashes any legacy plugs The LastTM has:
Jimmy Failla Flashes Back to What Jill Biden Was Chanting Just After Supposedly Fearing Joe Had a Stroke
Remember her taking plugs’ hands “You did it Joe! You poddied in the toilet all by yourself!” Who watches their spouse and thinks a stroke is happening and does nothing? I’ll tell you who, a greedy, power-hungry fukstik, that’s who.
Sigh…
Oklahoma homeowner is charged with manslaughter after KILLING squatter… as attorney reveals why self-defense excuse may be tricky
I’ve never understood how goobermints allow someone to sit in your house and there is nothing you can do. This guy did something and might go to prison for a long time.
Thursday bedtime.
Coolth, blessed coolth. The BOL is at about 650 metres (2000 feet) higher altitude than home base. The difference in temperature is a godsend. Might even be able to sleep properly, without the weird heat dreams of recent nights.
Time to try… Goodnight!
Sigh…
Oklahoma homeowner is charged with manslaughter after KILLING squatter… as attorney reveals why self-defense excuse may be tricky
I’ve never understood how goobermints allow someone to sit in your house and there is nothing you can do. This guy did something and might go to prison for a long time.
It is Oklahoma. The defense should be able to find one juror to say no.
“You did it Joe! You poddied in
the toiletyour diapers all by yourself!”Fixed it for you.
My photo organization skills are lacking. I found the picture I was looking for. It’s of the water softener. The first water softener in the 3 month old new pump house.
The old pump house was mostly crushed by a tree. First home owner’s insurance claim ever. So a new and expanded pump house, a new roof on the house, and a lot of other little things including tree removal. We were busy as bees for a while there.
Photo is dated August 5/2012. Why does this matter? Well, we got Penny a month before. About nine months old. She turned a year old October 2012.
I’m the only one she has ever tried to bite. I deserved it, too. For the drain line from the water softener we had a plow blade on the tractor and took turns driving the tractor or standing on the blade assembly for added weight. Middle of July, it was dry. We made a few scratches and then started a garden hose to soak the dirt in the ditch. Once the ditch was about four inches deep, it started to get real nice for dogs to run up and down in. And lay in the mud.
It was pushing 100f outside. We finally had the ditch about eight inches deep and called it a day. Time for beer and showers. Penny was covered with mud. Oh, did I ever tell you the water from the well is like 60F? Small detail.
You don’t need ice in your glass of water on a hot summer day.
Ok, Penny Puppy Pooh, come here so I can wash the mud off. She did NOT like that. “snap snap” Hey, chill girl, you need a bath before you can go in the house. Once she was toweled dried she was fine. No grudges.
To cut a long boring story short, Penny will turn 15 this October. She’s doing pretty good I think. She eats. Sure is turning white in the face. Eyes look good. Hearing seems fine. Her hind legs are getting weak so I have to hoist her onto the bed or the sofa. I don’t mind doing that. She does not have that “old dog” smell.
She has always led on walks, 20 feet in front of everyone. Now she usually follows but always catches up. Because she has to lead the last 40 feet to the gate! And lead the last 50 feet to the back door! And yeah, I make Buddy wait for Penny to catch up.
She still goes to inspect the cat food and have a snack. She doesn’t chase the cats like she did, never trying to catch one, just chase to see them run. Now she walks up and barks at them. The cats seem cool about it. Some days she heads out to inspect the cat food, has to pee half way there and then appears to have forgotten what she was up to and even, sometimes, where she is.
And it sounds wacky, but she’s been my dog since I first saw her and I’ve been her person since she first saw me.
Well. Time for cookies.
Which results in a hung jury, not an acquittal. The prosecutor is free to bring up the same charges or related charges and bring the case to trial again. Remember, the state has essentially unlimited resources and the county prosecutor or state AG has almost unlimited discretion about which cases to try.
Meanwhile, the homeowner has spent a year or two under charges, health suffering because of stress. He’s probably had to put his house up as collateral for the bond and to cash in his retirement savings to pay for the attorneys. Defending in a second trial will require another $100k.
As I mentioned a few days ago, prosecutors love it when defendants are resource-constrained. This makes for very easy trials.
This crap will not end until either immunity for government employees ends or the state is forced to repay the defendant’s costs in any trial which does not result in a conviction on all charges. I do not see either of these as likely.
What I see as more likely is the execution of any number of judges (especially family court judges), prosecutors, police, and HOA Karens if society breaks down even briefly.
No. Management and I resolved that issue at the beginning of the year.
Not that it really matters what they get paid. Most are from extremely wealthy families.
Alley Oop: First Man on Mars
https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2026/05/28
He ate the others.
So, why aren’t the Colonists fixing their own blankity blank code?
– because in every company I’ve ever worked for or with there are some people who get the job done, and all the rest. The rest float from thing to thing, and never seem to get dirty. The one’s who actually get the job done are usually only appreciated by a few that are actually in the know. For some, that’s enough.
My buddy built a whole company around being able to come in and get the job done, when it turns out that your own people haven’t been doing it for a long time. We were the ‘pros from Dover’ and we got paid for it. We were also gone as soon as the job got done, usually without a word of thanks, but with a fat check.
Done is good. Gone is better. Paid is best.
n
(There was a show called Monster House? by the monster garage team and if the contestants couldn’t finish the remodel in time, the host called in his LA crew and they just did it. Only happened a couple of times, but the amazement on the contestants’ faces was something to see. We were like that LA crew. )
“Fort Knox”
https://areaocho.com/fort-knox/
“A CIA officer stole 300 gold bars. Each bar is 400 ounces, meaning he stole more than $480 million. Now multiply that by every crooked Federal employee with access, and I’m betting that Fort Knox is empty.”
Yup. And so is the federal treasury. And the Social Security lockbox. And the Medicare lockbox. We have been screwed royally.
The financial apocalypse of the USA is coming. Maybe 2029, maybe later.
https://www.amazon.com/Mandibles-Family-2029-2047-SHRIVER-Lionel/dp/0007560745?tag=ttgnet-20
What I see as more likely is the execution of any number of judges (especially family court judges), prosecutors, police, and HOA Karens if society breaks down even briefly.
There are people with lists out there. Don’t be on their list.
The numbers in the announcement at 4:30 PM this afternoon does not happen without me being there for the last four years.
I just fixed a hot field issue last night related to our oldest monkey trick hardware.
There was never a lockbox for Social Security.
Helvering v. Davis declared it to be general welfare early on.
A big multinational conglomerate that W “works for” admitted at the awards dinner that the only reason the whole enterprise made money one year was W’s office. 6 high achievers in Houston put a huge company in the black.
That’s a lot of coasting and deadwood and unfortunate circumstances being carried by a very few people.
(this was a few years ago, and the wheel turns, but a few people make outsized contributions still)
n
I heard elsewhere that the bars were about 2 pounds. 40 ounces? Also, what kind of ounce, troy or avoirdupois?
Coincidentally, I was thinking about typical productivity in a programming or engineering shop, wondering whether to write a couple paragraphs or a full essay.
My thesis: The median programmer has a productivity of about zero. They might have positive output but when you subtract their pay, the cost of the office furniture and computers and software licenses and the miscellaneous time and expenses involved in having them on the payroll, they aren’t worth their keep. The “typical” programmer brings a negative value to the company and many have net negative productivity not even counting the salary and the rest. The only reason the “average” programmer has a positive value is because the top performers do basically all the work and carry the rest.
This is based on my own experience in a wide variety of companies. It’s possible that some companies like Google, which aim to hire only developers with top skills and top motivation (and pay accordingly), have different experiences. It’s also possible that I’m a cynical bastard and view most of my (former) co”work”ers in an unduly harsh light.
What do y’all think? Greg? Lynn? ITGuy?
“It’s also possible that I’m a cynical bastard and view most of my (former) co”work”ers in an unduly harsh light.”
check Polymarket
While I typed my previous comment (and dealt with an issue The Child was having), several more comments came in, emphasizing my point. Not counting the military or bottom-rung jobs, I’ve worked only as an engineer and a programmer, but I have no difficulty at all believing that in many industries or job fields, a sliver of the workers do everything and the majority of the “work”ers at best ride their coattails.
I can tell you that several projects failed and one entire company folded after I left. You may find it hard to believe of someone as outgoing and easy to get along with as I, but I do a lousy job of schmoozing and making sure that my contributions are recognized and valued. When my contract ends without renewal, or I quit for whatever reason, or “corporate decided that we’re overstaffed and we have to reduce headcount”, the rest of the team accomplishes nothing and the project is killed a few months later for failure to hit any milestones. Or the company folded because the servers stopped working and no one read the (extensive) documentation I wrote on resetting the security token every 90 days.
Yep. When I left canadian bigcorp my big boss didn’t even have an exit interview done. Within 6 months the whole group was reassigned or let go. They abandoned a whole line of business because the customers didn’t trust them, and they couldn’t deliver.(added- without me and one or two other critical guys)
Years of being the hero and pulling it out of my posterior left me a mess though, as I was having anxiety attacks at the end, and my ‘givafuk’ was so low I was arguably a liability/HR issue waiting to explode.
I’m much happier now. Although I do miss that I never passed on all the stuff I learned.
n
VPN seat licenses which allow the marginal to “work” from home.
Sssh, dude, I have daytrading to do and the kid has soccer at 2 PM.
My thesis: The median programmer has a productivity of about zero. They might have positive output but when you subtract their pay, the cost of the office furniture and computers and software licenses and the miscellaneous time and expenses involved in having them on the payroll, they aren’t worth their keep. The “typical” programmer brings a negative value to the company and many have net negative productivity not even counting the salary and the rest. The only reason the “average” programmer has a positive value is because the top performers do basically all the work and carry the rest.
The thesis is incomplete in that it does not account for the contributions of management.
Putting aside any discussion about management skill sets vs. programming skill sets, management sets the direction of any software project. Any deficiency in the direction–ranging from totally off-target to slightly skewed–acts as a drag on the project. This can encompass a range of problems from poorly conceptualized teams to a manager that is not a good enough programmer to make decisions related to progress and direction.
Managers’ primary measures of success are not project success, but power proxies such as budget and head count, and the road is paved by going along with any hare-brained marketing idea. That means not only directing bloated teams to add more bloat to legacy software (when was the last time MS Word added a feature that made it better for the average and 90% of the power users?) but dragging down the productivity of their best people by failing to protect them from b.s.
Watch “Ratatouille” if you haven’t in a while.
Anyone can
cookcode.Peak Pixar got it.
“Although I do miss that I never passed on all the stuff I learned.”
One of the many tragedies.
“I heard elsewhere that the bars were about 2 pounds. 40 ounces? Also, what kind of ounce, troy or avoirdupois?”
Two avoirdupois pounds is consistent with the number and reported value, but reports were that the bars weighed 2 kg..
I will defend a certain class of programmer with median skills.
Because the value of a programmer can depend on other things than programming skills or measurable productivity.
Even as skillful as I once was, the biggest value I brought to any of my jobs was the fact that business are a complex tapestry of different activities and areas of knowledge, and while purely technical problems need high programming skill, a significant number of problems were in conceptualizing the system as a whole, the business knowledge, communication outside of your pigeonhole, and even a bit of politics.
When I was a consultant, and in my Epic rollouts, I beat my head against the wall telling my coworkers they need to get to know their SMEs and users and work with them. Drop in and visit and find out what their issues were. Notice that team A has a firm grasp on dealing with issues, and notice that Team B has the same issues and no way to deal with them. Connect the teams to work together.
It mostly fell on deaf ears. But I’ve seen marginal programmers who understood what was needed solve big problems, too.
OTOH, when I was a consultant I never came into a shop where I didn’t feel like the smartest guy in the room. That’s not big-headed of me; for 20 years I was in wonderful companies where I was definitely NOT the smartest guy in the room. I missed that.
“DHS Evaluating Plan to Restrict International Flight Processing at Airports in Sanctuary Cities”
https://resistthemainstream.com/dhs-proposal-could-disrupt-travel-for-millions-of-people-in-major-power-play/
“The plan would restrict or suspend international flight processing at airports located in jurisdictions that refuse to fully cooperate with federal authorities, a move supporters describe as a rule-of-law response to enforcement noncompliance.”
Is any major city not a sanctuary city?
Reports are that reporters are notoriously sloppy with details.
The restriction is aimed at Chicago. The Governor of Illinois wants to be President.
At the job before last, installing and configuring our “city management software system”, a coworker and friend went to the customer site, and requested an in-person meeting with the department management and a dozen of the most experienced SMEs.
The department manager explained that they needed to track these items and generate these reports. My friend was busily writing down the various requirements and deliverables. Then he said “So we gather this and that and the other thing, and do that with them.” One of the SMEs said, no, we need this other thing as well, and we manipulate it THIS way, and another SME -in the same department – spoke up and said, no, we DON’T need that and we do this OTHER stuff with it. Two other SMEs started arguing with the first one.
The department manager asked my friend to go to the cafeteria and take a break, and come back in a half-hour or so. Turned out that NONE of the SMEs were in total agreement as to what they were all supposed to be doing, and the manager wanted to get them all on the same page, before my friend hard-coded those parameters and procedures into the management system.
I am seeing reports that New Glenn #4 blew up on the pad during a engine test.
Nobody hurt, but a huge mushroom ball of flame, vehicle completely gone.
That’s gonna slide things to the right…
RE Programmers and engineers.
When I was the IT Director at San Bernardino Community College District, I had a Hardware System Analyst, Programming Supervisor, Sr Programmer, and two programmers. The first three couldn’t have been better and the last two were useless but part of the establishment.
We completed major several major goals including putting computers (using Convertant Technology computers) on 40 desks that were also tied to the mainframe as terminals which could query the Districts student database. (At that time only the University of the Pacific could do this; we were both using Burroughs hardware.)
I fought and got major salary increases for the first three members. The classified union, non-teaching staff, couldn’t believe the new salary for the System Analyst ( who by the way, was a retired Air Force C-141 Loadmaster) was higer than mine but they stopped me from getting the raise I wanted for the supervisor; she soon left to take the Programming Supervisor job for the State Comunity College data system in Sacramento.
The complete story is a lot longer but we were able to get a lot done because we had three outstanding programmers at the same time.
Before I took the job with the Commuinity College, I interviewed for the MIS Director job at a company in San Diego; the President was a retired Colonel I knew. He wanted to get a single computer to replace the existing individual Adminstrative, Manufacturing, Accounting, and Warehouse systems. We had a good first and followup interview. We went to lunch with the mangers of the then current computers systems; each of them managed to get me alone to insist that his system had to be the one that replaced all of the others.
When I told the president they said. He admitted had a problem. I told him I could only take the job after they each bought into replacing their system. I don’t know what happened after that.
Turf wars. We should al be such good greenskeepers.
Problem is, as I reminded someone earlier today, I’ve never chanced on a headstone that lauded the deceased skills in keeping his lawn.
I had a neighbor nearly fifty years ago that lavished his summer off from HS teaching on a standard 1/5 acre lot in a suburb. I was tempted to do a midnight prank and transplant a large yellow dandelion in the middle of his front yard, but nixed the idea when I realized he might have a heart attack. About two years later he had a stroke and was mentally impaired for the rest of his life.
What I hear is regret that you didn’t transplant the dandelion and cause the heart attack. It would have been kinder than what did transpire.
Sweet new commercial from Paxton:
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2026/05/27/ken-paxton-first-general-election-ad-against-james-talarico-n2202779
I am seeing reports that New Glenn #4 blew up on the pad during a engine test.
Nobody hurt, but a huge mushroom ball of flame, vehicle completely gone.
That’s gonna slide things to the right…
https://jdrucker.com/blue-origins-new-glenn-rocket-explodes-during-static-fire-test-at-cape-canaveral/
Oops.
“Installment Immortality (InCryptid, 14)” by Seanan McGuire
https://www.amazon.com/Installment-Immortality-InCryptid-Seanan-McGuire/dp/1250375118?tag=ttgnet-20
Book number fourteen of a fifteen book urban dark fantasy series. I read the well printed and well bound trade paperback published by Tor in 2025 that I bought new from Amazon in 2026. There are several other Crossroads books and short stories in the Incryptid universe. I have book 15 already and will read it soon. I note that the author switched from DAW to Tor publishers and that the MMPB format has gone away for now. I paid $15 for the trade paperback which is a fair price.
Mary Dunlavy is almost one hundred years old. She became a professional babysitter at age fifteen for the Price family when she was accidentally murdered. As a babysitting ghost, she has cared for four generations of the Price family. As the persecution of the Price family and the Incryptids has increased, Mary carried a large bomb to the Covenant of St. George and blew up their main facility, but was blown up herself. Now six months later, she has managed to reincorporate but life in the Price family has moved on. And there is Covenant team on the East Coast of the USA capturing ghosts and driving them insane.
I have really enjoyed the Incryptid series and the constant introduction of new types of Incryptids. Of course, the Aeslin mice are highly amusing as usual.
There is a short story at the end of the book about the ongoing life of Verity Price as an apartment building manager for the Dragon Ladies. Oh yeah, and she is eight months pregnant without her husband.
The author has a website at:
https://www.seananmcguire.com/
The incryptids are listed at:
https://seananmcguire.com/fieldguide.php
Note: Even though the author and I share the same middle and last name, I paid for my book and was not compensated for my review. I have no idea if we are directly related.
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (576 reviews)
Lynn
“Keep the Kids Away from Creepy Uncle Jimmy’: Talarico Calls Women ‘Neighbors with a Uterus’”
https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2026/05/28/talarico-neighbors-with-a-uterus-n2428689
This guy gets weirder by the moment. He does not represent Texas whatsoever. Of course, the weirdos will come out in droves to vote for him in Nov.
The restriction is aimed at Chicago. The Governor of Illinois wants to be President.
So does the Governor of California.
Will this affect just non-citizens or every person coming to the USA on a international flight?
How Can we Persuade Climate Alarmists to Acknowledge There Are Two Sides to This Argument?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/05/28/how-can-we-persuade-climate-alarmists-to-acknowledge-there-are-two-sides-to-this-argument/
Why would you want to do something like that?
There is overwhelming scientific evidence that the claims of the global warming zealots are false. There is no credible evidence of a climate crisis, that the earth is hotter than is has ever been, that there are more extreme weather events, or that there is any significant global trend in temperature, rainfall, sea level, polar ice, etc. OTOH, there is tremendous evidence that the slight warming trend that we have seen in the last half century and the increase in atmospheric CO2 has been beneficial in many ways, most notably increasing the supply of food grown around the world.
The global warming zealots predictions have been shown to be not only incorrect, but pure propaganda and scare tactics. The north pole is not ice free, the earth is not burning, and the UK still has snow. The most damning evidence is that the trillions of dollars pissed away to reduce carbon dioxide emissions have had no measurable impact, that green energy is provably not green and more expensive.
The “climate scientists” in the U.S. and Europe who have marched to the propaganda drums beaten by the enemies of Western civilization are mostly transparent whores chasing the billions in research money appropriate every year and building their own prestige while stamping their own huge carbon footprints as they jet to beach resorts for their
climate conferencescircle jerks. This is the same crowd that mounted a Stevenson screen in an asphalt parking lot at ASU and expected it to give them temperature measurements to follow climate.The climate press are almost uniformly PLT’s smugly crusading to save the world with all the intellectual rigor of English majors who hate Shakespeare and the analytical tools developed from their last math class in middle school. It’s a sad lot that would be contemptible but the truth is they have no idea what questions they should be asking, hence breathless stories about making gasoline out of air in your backyard.
Meanwhile the Chinese who have been funding this nonsense under the table have quietly been building gigawatts of coal-fired electric generation. Even more discreetly they have become the largest importer of donkeys in the world, seeking replacements for all the asses they have laughed off at our expense.
I don’t know if there is a family connection, but go check out the middle name. I’ll wait.
I can’t even type that name without a bunch of disclaimers.
Talarico goes on the short list for VP in two years if he wins.
@Nick – If you’re seeing a lot of 300 series Netgear switches in the returns auctions, I’d suggest passing.
I bought two a few months ago, and they both failed with light usage.
Netgear ProSafe switches are generally solid but about twice the cost.
On the way home today, I heard Cutie Pie opine to one caller that the Dems would have been better off with Jasmine Crockett.
I don’t know if there is a family connection, but go check out the middle name. I’ll wait.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Talarico
James Dell Talarico
So his mama is probably a Dell. Oh my.
Or maybe his mama likes Dell computers.
Talarico goes on the short list for VP in two years if he wins.
Buttranger is at the top of that list.
I want as little government as possible and I want what little there is to be as ineffective as possible.
I WAS willing to put up with the self enriching clown show just to keep those people out of real power.
Now I just want them all gone. I’m tired of the non-stop freak show. The pendulum swings and it’s time for it to swing HARD. And maybe chop off a few heads.
n
That’s gonna slide things to the right…
– kinda late in the process to have such a spectacular rapid disassembly. I see a liquidity crunch, mergers/buyouts, stock price crash and other financial consequences headed their way. That will make it all that much harder for the next step, and really put the pressure on to not have a failure. Not the best conditions to be safely testing under.
————
I’m headed to bed. Still too much coughing and snot.
n
That’s gonna slide things to the right…
– kinda late in the process to have such a spectacular rapid disassembly. I see a liquidity crunch, mergers/buyouts, stock price crash and other financial consequences headed their way. That will make it all that much harder for the next step, and really put the pressure on to not have a failure. Not the best conditions to be safely testing under.
Blue Origin is owned by Jeff Bezos. I doubt that he will walk away. This time.
I’m headed to bed. Still too much coughing and snot.
Take a long hot steamy shower twice a day. That is the only way that I could live in New Jersey, “The Garden State”. I think that I am allergic to anything that grows.
>> That’s gonna slide things to the right…
– kinda late in the process to have such a spectacular rapid disassembly. I see a liquidity crunch, mergers/buyouts, stock price crash and other financial consequences headed their way. That will make it all that much harder for the next step, and really put the pressure on to not have a failure. Not the best conditions to be safely testing under.
Blue Origin is owned by Jeff Bezos. I doubt that he will walk away. This time.
There’s always this approach…
https://tv.apple.com/us/show/for-all-mankind/umc.cmc.6wsi780sz5tdbqcf11k76mkp7
BTW, we just started Season 1 so no spoilers please.
Had to disagree with Ace today:
“Flannel shirt and all, Graham Platner is Tim Walz on steroids.”
Nah. Just younger with fewer brains and less estrogen.
Ace also had some keen observations on movies:
https://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=419926
Including Mufflerrepair and Gauges getting cucked by YouTuber-made horror film Obsession.
Neither is my cup of tea. When Foster couldn’t make the first movie make sense in his novelization, I simply passed on the movie for years–I could see Mickey Rooney as Luke gathering the kids together “Hey, I have an idea. Let’s put on a revolution!”
Aside from the obvious thermodynamic problems with zombies and vampires and the impossibility of any chordata ambulating after chordus interruptus by a well-place hollow point, much less the accompanying skeletal dis-articulation, and entire genre was sent up by a thirty-second commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TJCEDW1xoA
Before you ask, I never like Jim Rockford, either.