I've been using this account as my primary for about a week now, and I'm think I'm settled on using it for the foreseeable future, so I guess it's time to do another #introduction post.
I'm a dad of four kids, and a web developer. I have a college degree in #Theater (or #Theatre) and had aspirations of being an actor. I kind of fell into web development as a career. It was a hobby back in high school, and I just needed to pay some bills after college, so I ended up doing this.
I always have aspirations to do other things, but for now, I'm pretty happy spending most of my time as a dad and husband.
Some day, I'd like to get back into #acting, or maybe do some #VoiceActing. I also enjoy #writing and will, from time to time, post some #MicroFiction, usually from somebody's #WritingPrompt.
I love #StarTrek, and usually watch at least one episode nearly every day. I like all #SciFi really, though, as well as #fantasy. I used to read a lot, but find I don't have as much time or mental capacity for it as I used to. I also enjoy watching #anime, and have really been enjoying the new episodes of #Bleach lately.
Feel free to follow me if you think we have similar interests, and I may follow you back, if I think likewise. 
#WebDev #PHP #BackEnd #Laravel #introductions #Parenting #DadLife 
Dan Jones shared 9 hours ago
Substack’s extremist ecosystem is flourishing. “The Nazi push alert was only possible because of Substack’s continued commitment to not only hosting but actively promoting authoritarian, Nazi-sympathizing, and other bigoted forms of extremism.” https://theracket.news/p/substack-s-extremist-ecosystem-is-flourishing
Dan Jones shared a day ago
So it's been 6 years since I started posting my art on fedi... I just realised it's my anniversary and I can't believe how much this place impacted me. This is the first online space where I felt like my art is seen and genuinely enjoyed and appreciated :') And I met so many cool and inspiring people!! You gave me courage to keep going and even try new things. Thank you so much for all your support, whether it was in the form of boosts, likes, comments or if you bought something from me 💖💖💖
Dan Jones shared a day ago“At a Wisconsin pond, a pair of cranes is raising an abandoned goose as their own.” https://people.com/crane-family-adopts-abandoned-baby-goose-in-wisconsin-11785393
Dan Jones shared a day agoWatchdog Group Downgrades U.S. From Democracy To Whatever Political System Lobsters Have. “There’s just too much scuttling in American politics to call it anything other than a flawed lobster republic.” https://theonion.com/watchdog-group-downgrades-u-s-from-democracy-to-whatever-political-system-lobsters-have/
Dan Jones shared a day ago
3125. Snake-in-the-Box Problem
3125. Snake-in-the-Box Problem
title text: Chemistry grad students have been spotted trying to lure campus squirrels into laundry hampers in the hope that it sparks inspiration.
(https://xkcd.com/3125)
(https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3125)
Caption
Single panel comic. Above text: A snake slithers around a hypercube. No two non-consecutive parts of its coils can be on adjacent corners. Below this there are three small drawings of a snake wrapped around a hypercube in ways that violate this rule. The violations are highlighted in red and the cubs have red X's underneath them. Below that in the center of the panel is a larger hypercube with a snake curled around it. The tail starts at the top back left corner, going to the right, then down the back right side, then forward, then left, then inside to the inner cube, up, and ending with the hear at the top right front corner of the inner cube. Below this cube in green it says dimensions = 4, max length = 7 Equations in black read Snake (N) = longest snake that can fit in an N-dimensional hypercube Snake (N = 1, 2, 3, ... 8) = 1, 2, 4, 7, 13, 26, 50, 98 Snake (N > 8) = unsolved (red letters) Lower caption: It turns out every scientific field has a key thought experiment that involves putting a cute animal in a weird box for no reason. So far, quantum mechanics and graph theory have found theirs, but most other fields are still working on it.
Dan Jones shared 3 days ago
Oh, when sea otters lie on their backs eating food off their chests it's "adorable" but when I do it it's "depression"
Dan Jones shared 3 days ago
Caption
A cartoon character with short hair and a striped shirt is shouting a quote in a speech bubble. The text reads, 'If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth.' The image has a decorative border with floral patterns.
Dan Jones shared 3 days ago
I was on the Oreo website and I clicked Accept All Cookies.
Now we wait...
Dan Jones shared 4 days ago
🚏 👭🏽 🏃🏼♂️️ 🏃🏽♀️️
Dan Jones shared 5 days ago
USpol
USpol
Reposted for alt and CW
Caption
Post by The Associated Press @AP: BREAKING: The Trump administration is pushing an initiative for millions of Americans to upload personal health data to new apps run by private tech companies. Post by Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH @GeauxGabrielle: Hi! Epidemiologist here! Don't do this. In the 80s and 90s this was done by Depts. of Health during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. "Somehow" the lists they created found their way into the hands of cops, landlords, and job sites to deny people human rights. It's partly WHY the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act exists
If you're happy and you know it, it's your meds.
I'm looking for some advice, maybe just a sharing of experiences. I'm thinking about changing careers, but not sure how to do it.
Let me give some background.
I'm finding lately that I'm not very happy with my career. I never intended to become a web developer. It just kind of happened. I do enjoy programming, but it's something I enjoy more as a hobby than a job. Nevertheless, I've been doing it full time for close to twenty years now. I'm also good at it, and am regularly praised by my coworkers for my work. And I make good money doing it. (And that's important to me.)
But I have a degree in theater. I thought I might be an actor when I was younger. I'm also good at that, but haven't done it for years. I miss doing things that are more creative. I miss acting.
I thought I might be able to find time to do other things in my non-work time, but honestly, I don't really have much time in my non-work time. My wife says she'd support me doing community theater or something like that. But, we've got four kids under the age of 15 (3 of whom are under 10), and three of them have ADHD, so they're a handful. If I were spending several hours a few days a week for a couple months at a time away from my family, I'd feel guilty, and wouldn't enjoy it.
So, I've thought maybe I could consider an actual career change.
But, I don't really know how I'd do it. I feel like if I tried to change careers, I'd have to take a huge pay cut (not an option at all), and who knows if I'd actually be any happier. I'm not even sure what I would do yet. I just know that I'd really like a change.
Has anybody on here tried a career change? Did it work out? Were you able to maintain close to your same salary? Any advice or thoughts on the process?
#AskMastodon #AskFediverse #AskFedi #CareerAdvice #JobAdvice #BoostsWelcome
Dan Jones shared 7 days ago
The constant CAPTCHAs and other "I-am-not-a-robot" tests from websites are annoying enough, without considering the reality that they really don't present much of a challenge for bots anymore. Wait till they have to pass age verification...
"Maybe they should change the button to say, "I am a robot"?
"On Friday, OpenAI's new ChatGPT Agent, which can perform multistep tasks for users, proved it can pass through one of the Internet's most common security checkpoints by clicking Cloudflare's anti-bot verification—the same checkbox that's supposed to keep automated programs like itself at bay."
"ChatGPT Agent is a feature that allows OpenAI's AI assistant to control its own web browser, operating within a sandboxed environment with its own virtual operating system and browser that can access the real Internet. Users can watch the AI's actions through a window in the ChatGPT interface, maintaining oversight while the agent completes tasks. The system requires user permission before taking actions with real-world consequences, such as making purchases. Recently, Reddit users discovered the agent could do something particularly ironic."
"The evidence came from Reddit, where a user named "logkn" of the r/OpenAI community posted screenshots of the AI agent effortlessly clicking through the screening step before it would otherwise present a CAPTCHA (short for "Completely Automated Public Turing tests to tell Computers and Humans Apart") while completing a video conversion task—narrating its own process as it went."
Caption
a chat gpt conversation logkn Agent casually clicking the “I am not a robot" button image . The link is inserted, so now I'll click the "Verify “you are human' checkbox to complete the « » c 1 verification on Cloudflare. This step is necessary to prove I'm not a bot and proceed with the action. @ + A screenshot of ChatGPT Agent clicking through a Cloudflare bot screening test. Credit logkn via Reddit
Dan Jones shared 7 days ago
Hey Fedi, can someone please just hire me to teach political science (and introductory economics) courses in a country that is not the United States? And I can bring my cat? #getfedihired
Dan Jones shared 7 days ago
Oreo And Reese’s Team Up To Sicken Dogs
https://theonion.com/oreo-and-reeses-team-up-to-sicken-dogs/
Dan Jones shared 7 days ago
"We have built the largest data center in the world!"
"What does it do?"
"It summarizes two sentence e-mails that you don't want to read. And! AND! It gets it right 80% of the time!"
Dan Jones shared 7 days ago
And if you're looking for someplace to buy queer flags, I've been very happy with Flags For Good.
Dan Jones shared 7 days agoTwo of the most promiscuous snack brands, Oreo and Reese’s, are teaming up to bring the eating public two new treats: the Oreo Reese’s Cookie and Reese’s Oreo Cups. 🫱 Is this… 🦋 innovation? https://www.allrecipes.com/reeses-oreo-collaboration-11781003
I once wrote some PHP code that looked like this:
// 
I put my thang down, flip it, and reverse it
return array_flip(array_intersect(array_flip($allTests), $chosenTestKeys));
A few months later, I came back to this code, and noticed my comment had been changed.
// I put my thing down, flip it, and reverse it
I looked at git blame to see who had mangled my comment. His git commit message was "Fix intermittent failing test", as if my comment somehow had something to do with an intermittently failing test.
This was eight years ago. I never got a chance to change my comment back. To this day, I can't hear a song by Missy Elliott and not be annoyed at the other dev who messed up my comment.