Tuesday Bookmark Cleanout
Well, it’s Tuesday. Time for a long overdue link roundup. I don’t even know what happened to Monday. It’s probably around here somewhere. I found Sunday in the couch cushions. I mean that every which way. Like many Americans, I planted myself on the couch to watch football all day, except for the part where you watch football. It’s two days later, and I still have a few sleep creases on my face. Oh well. On to the bookmark cleanout!
The Power of Proximity to Coworkers: Training for Tomorrow or Productivity Today?
We find being near coworkers has tradeoffs: proximity increases long-run human capital development at the expense of short-term output. We study software engineers at a Fortune 500 firm, whose main campus has two buildings several blocks apart.
There’s a mark on the calendar where the perfectly cromulent term “office park” was replaced by “campus,” and not much good has happened since then. Or much work.
On 10 Years of Writing a Blog Nobody Reads
In November 2015, I started a blog on Blogger. My first post was a book review of The Martian by Andy Weir. 10 years and a couple of blog migrations later, I’m still writing. I wanted to share some thoughts and learnings I picked up throughout this time.
Well, I’ve been writing a blog nobody reads for nearly twenty years. I’d like to share my thoughts on, ahem, writers who thing learnings is a word.
So why has the public latched onto the narrative that AI is stalling, that the output is slop, and that the AI boom is just another tech bubble that lacks justifiable use-cases? I believe it’s because society is collectively entering the first stage of grief — denial — over the very scary possibility that we humans may soon lose cognitive supremacy to artificial systems.
What you me “we,” paleface? Code monkeys call themselves “engineers,” and start believing it themselves. They’ll be replaced by LLMs, and fight back by sneering. They’re going to learn that math isn’t intelligence. The hard way.
Trajan’s Column: A Digital Evocation
Using artificial intelligence to render scenes from the Dacian Wars (101-106 AD) as depicted on Trajan’s Column.
Oh drat. Caught me thinking about the Roman Empire again.
Netflix Kills Casting From Its Mobile App to Most Modern TVs
The change was first spotted by users on Reddit and confirmed in an updated Netflix support page (via Android Authority), which now states that the streaming service no longer supports casting from mobile devices to most TVs and TV-streaming devices. Users are instead directed to use the remote that came with their TV hardware and use its native Netflix app.
You know, there really are a few useful things you can do with a cellphone. After that, the phone is just thinking up ways to get you to fiddle with it. I’m picturing this Rube Goldberg process of streaming from a cell tower to a phone and launching it at the television, and wondering how it would make sense to anyone sensible.
The Enshittification of Plex Is Kicking Off, Starting with Free Roku Users
Practically speaking, this means that if both sides, the server owner and the viewer are free users, and the viewer is not on the same network as the server owner (meaning in the same house, in most cases) remote access will now just stop working when the Roku app updates. Enthusiasts who are free users, and only stream from home, will most likely experience very little change, but their free user friends will, basically, no longer be able to watch an enthusiast’s movie and TV collection.
Letting other people watch your movie collection remotely was always kinda daft. Everyone should just pirate all their media for themselves, like God and nature intended.
Microsoft Teams will tell your boss when you’re out of the office
The update, set to arrive in December, will let Microsoft’s communication platform automatically detect when an employee arrives at the office by monitoring their connection to the building’s Wi-Fi. If you’re working on-site and step out, Teams will automatically change your work location once it notices you’ve disconnected.
Quelle horreur! I know this sounds like science fiction, but I once had a job where I was compelled to remove a card from a big rack and punch in and out at work. To punch another worker’s card to feign their presence at work was an immediate firing offense for both parties. Then again, we were doing real work in the real world, not pretending to answer emails while looking at TikTok on our phones.
The Differences Between an IndyCar and a F1 Car
Formula 1 is a constructors’ championship, and the cars developed by the teams push technical limits, whereas IndyCar is more of a drivers’ championship, competing not only on traditional road and street courses, but also on ovals. While the key term for a Formula 1 car is ‘on the limit’, for IndyCar, it’s more about ‘robustness’.
Well, only one had Andy Granatelli. Game, set, match there.
Michael and Susan Dell donate $6.25 billion to encourage families to claim ‘Trump Accounts’
Its structure is also unusual. Essentially, it builds on the “ Trump Accounts ” program, where the U.S. Department of the Treasury will deposit $1,000 into investment accounts set up by Treasury for American children born between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2028. The Dells’ gift will use the “Trump Accounts” infrastructure to give $250 to each qualified child under 10.
I had trouble following along with the details. In general, I gather the Dell household will have $6.25 billion less money later, and has no mirrors now.
Every Major City as a Tiny Miniature World
Present a clear, 45° top-down isometric miniature 3D cartoon scene of [CITY], featuring its most iconic landmarks and architectural elements. Use soft, refined textures with realistic PBR materials and gentle, lifelike lighting and shadows. Integrate the current weather conditions directly into the city environment to create an immersive atmospheric mood. Use a clean, minimalistic composition with a soft, solid-colored background.
*Sniff* I miss SimCity.
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