Literally had a coworker, who unfortunately is a bit above me in the hierarchy, do this.

A system that I basically admin/manage was having issues in a way related to the system she manages. She reported an issue to me and I explained how the systems were related and asked her if she had any ideas on solutions from her end. She responded with fairly detailed instructions about where to find a setting in my system that would solve the problem.

Except the where was kind of simultaneously vague and specific at the same time. The description and name of the setting was very specific (and unfamiliar to me) but the location of the setting was one level too high in the hierarchy - there were no settings there... all settings were one level deeper in the hierarchy in subgroups. So I trolled through them all looking for the setting and couldn't find it anywhere - I even ran a search and couldn't find it.

I asked her where she found this setting was documented because it was having trouble finding it... and she responded with the name of a popular AI Chatbot, and three more similar "solutions" that also wasted my time.

I have had this happen pretty often. I think even the wording used in the "prompt" can also influence whether the chatbot hallucinates a solution.

I remember recently asking a third party's mandatory chatbot support system (if it can't help, it then forwards you to a human) whether I was able to change the mapping of some fields in an upload to them without the need for a support agent. It walked me through the process but it didn't work. Eventually, after three failed chatbot modifications to the instructions, I was forwarded to a human that confirmed I was not, in fact, able to do it myself. Such a fucking waste of time.

She does not have a level of access to the system to implement or even view the settings in the "solution" but she does have access to the support documentation. I was still suspicious from the beginning.

The documentation is also not publicly available so I am guessing the chatbot just used words that would sound feasible from other similar systems' documentation.

Americans are backing progressives not because they want socialism, but because they want candidates who will fight for the working class

That's the literal goal of socialism though...

They’re voting for progressive Democrats not because they want socialism, support the Democratic Socialists of America, or reject candidates called “moderate”.

They’re voting for candidates whom they believe will fight to make housing, food, healthcare and childcare affordable to average working families. And who’ll take on Trump’s billionaire backers, CEOs and Wall Street titans who are rigging the economy against them.

So they are voting for socialists not because they want socialism, but because the alternatives are refusing to reign in, or are overtly in favor of, unfettered capitalism...

Well, being disingenuous with literally ever fucking word they speak has worked wonders for Republicans. Turns out to be an effective technique for Corporate and Zionist Democrats too. It's almost like a class war or something.

Many of them are cheering on, and enthusiastically voted for, the ethnic cleansing of the United States. They do not give a single fuck about the genocide of brown people.

Agree to disagree. Marxism wasn't the driving force behind the failure of Communist/Socialist endeavor that I've heard of.

Honestly, the way shit is going, get what you can while you can. Gaming is only going to get worse and more expensive by the week.

Data centers in space, data centers on ships... it's likely just an attempt to avoid laws and oversight.

"Many of us built, whether it's bought homes or whatever, based on this promise of stability," Jesuthasan said. "There was this expectation that the tail was bigger. And we took on liabilities and obligations early on because of that tail. I think this generation has seen that tail dissipate."

In other words, when millennials did what their parents did and assumed if they worked hard they'd get to live a decent life. Then they got fucked by companies whose priorities became getting as much out of their employees as possible while investing in those employees as little as possible.

As a millennial, I hated the idea of debt. As a result, I've had no debt beyond college loans despite being able to afford a lower middle class lifestyle. It took me never living alone (roommates, SOs) but I did it. The education was bullshit and the loans were obscene but I got a piece of paper that helped me keep my job. After working in the public sector for 20+ years I actually had my loans forgiven... and now rent is going through the roof to compensate. Still, I might actually own a home before I'm 50, assuming current and future landlords don't decide to take me for all I'm worth.

When I finally own a home, I'm sure it'll get washed away by the thirteenth "century flood" that year or some other bullshit thanks to climate change. So fucking glad I decided not to have kids. Fuck this world.

In the US, conservative lawmakers have been waging a quiet war against our postal system for a while now.

Highlights: They forced it to be self-sustaining (cut federal funding), then when that didn't kill it they forced it to, in a very short time frame, pre-fund retirement benefits ahead of time for all current and former employees.

The postal system is more or less dependent on the funds it gets from spam mailers.

Edit: To clarify, I'm not insinuating that the bulk/majority of its income is from junk mail, I'm just stating that its not nothing, so they don't really have an incentive to kill that source if revenue.

Golden.

Essentially, the employees most excited and inspired by “visionary” corporate jargon may be the least equipped to make effective, practical business decisions for their companies.

“This creates a concerning cycle,” Littrell said. “Employees who are more likely to fall for corporate bullshit may help elevate the types of dysfunctional leaders who are more likely to use it, creating a sort of negative feedback loop. Rather than a ‘rising tide lifting all boats,’ a higher level of corporate BS in an organization acts more like a clogged toilet of inefficiency.”

More arrests of college students walking out of class and peacefully protesting the situation in Gaza. This time UT Austin.

...and if you do, hoooooo boy. I hope you like a coup, because you are going to get a coup.... or sanctions... or a blockade... or all three.

Honestly, the current situation is beyond double standards. The Republicans have free reign to more or less break any of their own rules and suffer almost no consequences. Meanwhile, literally anything a Democrat does is spun into multiple mutually exclusive conspiracy theories that their base and the media somehow manage to spout simultaneously.

Who would have thought that ignoring international law, treaties, and conventions would encourage your enemies to do the same? It's almost as if limiting yourself to limit those who would do the same to you makes sense. Pesky laws.

It's also noteworthy that neither country, to my knowledge, agreed not to use cluster munitions.

As a nerdy kid with longish hair and few male role models, I really, really looked up to this guy. Hercules, Xena, Kull, and then Andromeda.

He fell off my radar for a while but I was pleasantly entertained when I found him in the Mythica series. I'd always thought well of him.

Eventually I heard about God Is Not Dead and looked into the rest of his more right wing work... Its really heartbreaking when people you respected or even idolized as a kid turn out to be so... gross and just... weird.

Now he again pops up on my radar with stupid shit like this. So sad.

I would also be surprised if the cost of production, now using cheaper ingredients and far more automation, hadn't also decreased.

Lol, like what? Does liking a sport and hating and exposing the corruption of it's organizers equate to supporting it's organizers? https://youtu.be/DlJEt2KU33I?si=WJAc7yVePsn0GwaA

...and apparently understanding the frustration with the EU but calling leaving it insane and urging people to vote against brexit is "supporting" it? https://youtu.be/iAgKHSNqxa8?si=JsEMq6gV7-tp5y7k

Like are you even trying? Nobody is perfect, John Oliver included, and I'm sure there are reasons to dislike him but could you at least chose topics he hasn't released multiple YouTube full clips of episodes of his show where he literally contradicts your point?

There is actually an argument that advertisers like Google are abusing micro targeting to extract advertising revenue from clients while, at least in some cases, delivering few actual new customers.

Here's the process.

1. Google sees that your profile (browsing habits, demographics, search patterns, etc) suggest you are interested in product A.
2. Google blasts you with advertisements for product A, essentially marking your browser session and claiming you as a recipient of their advertising. Ever look at a particular product and find you are being advertised for that product incessantly for a while?
3. If you happen to buy product A around the time that your session was shown an advertisement for that product, Google claims you as a conversion and gets paid for convincing you to buy the product. Advertising works!

So if Google's algorithm thinks you are already going to buy product A, they show you an ad for product A constantly because it means they'll claim you as an advertising success and get paid extra.