Only time I’ve ever been written up in my career, I told the CEO – very politely – that “cybersecurity is the boards responsibility, whether they want it to be or not.” He did not like hearing that.

If there’s a problem, they can count on me to tell them about it. Always in writing. If they don’t want to act, that’s on them.

Promised my toddler that if he can go potty in the “potty” for a whole week, I would take him to the rock climbing gym. Today makes a week. He’s doing a great job. We’re going tomorrow and he is so excited.

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Don’t you put that evil on me, Ricky Bobby!

Sounds better than sitting on Teams meetings with people who are in the same room as me all day.

Well the Everclear will kill off any remaining bacteria and in a few minutes, you’ll be so drunk you won’t even care that you’re eating raw hamburger. Or remember the poor decisions that led you to this moment.

Some state legislatures already do stuff like this. Full time job for a few months out of the year that pays like $40k.

The people who run for office are the people who can afford to.

There is a certain brand of Christianity for which the current nation state of Israel is somehow magically a direct continuation of the Jewish tribes from the Old Testament and who are also somehow [now] exempt from the laws outlined therein.

Nevermind that a significant portion of the old testament consists of either the prophets railing against Israel or God punishing Israel for doing evil shit.

To borrow a phrase from King of the Hill, “If those Baptists could read, they’d be very upset.”

There have been projects that made me wish I still rented. Home ownership is constantly dealing with the last guys fuckups.

But if you live in one place long enough, eventually the “last guy” is just you and if you do the job right, the volume of fuckups decreases over time. Some people like renting because they don’t want to deal with the maintenance. I like owning because it’s mine, I can do what I want with it, and I don’t have to put up with the “landlord special.”

“A plane would have smashed through the Trump Tower penthouse, killing [future] President Trump and dooming America then and there, as Osama bin Laden intended. If not for the brave passengers aboard American Airlines flight 11 who broke down the cockpit door screaming, ‘Make America great again!!’ while they successfully regained control of the plane and diverted it into the north tower of the World Trade Center instead.”

Dad notices his son gasping for air

“Apology accepted, Captain Timmy.”

Performs Heimlich

I think I understand what you’re talking about. I wouldn’t classify the extra words I use as strictly “filler” words. My phrasing is designed to avoid speaking in absolutes. I’m sure it was intentional at one point but it’s been a habit for so long that it’s become automatic.

I’ve considered why I do this and come up with a few reasons. First, because I routinely doubt myself. Even on topics where I am an expert. Imposter syndrome is real. Second, because I often find myself having to deliver news that the other person(s) doesn’t want to hear and I feel like it helps “soften the blow.” And third, to give myself the feeling of plausible denyability; even if there really is none. e.g. “I said <X> could happen, not would happen.”

TLDR: Because I doubt myself and want to avoid conflict.

But there are times when I will drop the fillers. And it’s not really a conscious effort. If I’m talking about something I feel morally responsible for, I will drop the bullshit and get straight to the point. It happens when I’ve decided that I’m going to die on this [proverbial] hill and that doing what I think is right outweighs any potential consequences. I can coun’t on one, maybe two hands where I’ve felt I had to choose between a job or a friend and my personal ethics.

In those moments, the fillers go away because my choice is already made.

Entergy is lying through their teeth about the whole ordeal. Claiming the data center would not impact rates while fighting like hell to suppress the details of their deal with Google.

At the same time, they are currently pitching a full rate restructuring to the Arkansas Public Service Commission which will absolutely increase rates. Especially for small businesses.

Sarah Sanders administration also bears some responsibility for this bullshit. After Ted Thomas resigned as PSC chairman in 2022, the governors office began working hard to make the PSC much more friendly to utilities and much less friendly to rate payers.

In some ways, this is Arkansas voters having the day they voted for. Ya’ll wanted a governor who was “pro business” (aka pro corruption) and now you’ve got a PSC – which is supposed to advocate for ratepayers – that just rubber stamps rate increase requests.

The Brave Vengeful Little Toaster

TIL POTUS is also a notary.

Yes.The ability to do speech-to-text and text to-speech with a relatively high level of speed and accuracy is impressive. And it has at least a few potentially positive real world applications.

Similar tools have existed for years but the quality and user friendliness of those has generally been pretty lacking.

IKR? For what it costs and for how hard Microsoft has worked to shoehorn it into everything, it offers very little in terms of increased productivity. I would go so far as to call it an epic failure. Especially considering they spent vast sums of money on it and all they managed to produce was something that is at best marginally good at drafting emails.

As far as a coding assistant, Copilot is pathetic and produces code that is utter trash much of the time.