Dan Jones shared 19 days ago
Still one of my favorite McSweeney’s articles: E-mail Addresses It Would Be Really Annoying to Give Out Over the Phone. “[email protected]” https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/e-mail-addresses-it-would-be-really-annoying-to-give-out-over-the-phone
I'm having heart surgery this week. It's a pretty common procedure with low risk and high probability of success, but they are cutting my chest open and tinkering with my heart, so it's not nothing.
But, my five-year-old, since learning that I was having trouble with my heart, and the doctors were going to help it, has been super adorable. Multiple times a day she comes up to me and kisses me on my chest, because she wants to kiss my heart to make it feel better. She brought me some water last night telling me it was good for my heart
This is a hate crime, and also looks like it slaps.
Caption
Screenshot of a YouTube Music playlist titled Oldies by Paulo Hintz, containing 64 songs. The first three are visible: You Oughta Know by Alanis Morrissette, Complicated by Avril Lavigne, and Lovefool by The Cardigans
Yesterday, I got a text from an AI recruiter called Riley from Apex Systems. It said it was reaching out about a backend developer position, and if I'd like to hear more, to reply "CALL" to receive a callback from it.
I was tempted to get the callback out of curiosity, but the whole thing was just too weird.
Since I didn't reply, it followed up today with an email with more information about the job. The job was using a language I've never used before, it was a contract position (I currently have a permanent position), and making just a bit more than half of what I'm currently making.
So, basically useless. And the fact that it addressed me by my proper name (Daniel), when I go by Dan everywhere online and on my resume made it so much weirder.
I would describe myself as an AI skeptic with serious concerns about the technology, but I don't complete dismiss out-of-hand. I use an AI coding agent from time to time, and brainstorm with ChatGPT regularly. But I don't think I'll interacting with any AI recruiters any time soon.
It might as well be a robocall.
Dan Jones shared 23 days ago
Hacker News front page today.
Uh-oh.
"AWS CEO says using AI to replace junior staff is 'Dumbest thing I've ever heard'"
https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/21/aws_ceo_entry_level_jobs_opinion/
"Mark Zuckerberg freezes AI hiring amid bubble fears"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/08/21/zuckerberg-freezes-ai-hiring-amid-bubble-fears/
"95% of Companies See ‘Zero Return’ on $30 Billion Generative AI Spend, MIT Report Finds"
https://thedailyadda.com/95-of-companies-see-zero-return-on-30-billion-generative-ai-spend-mit-report-finds/
Dan Jones shared 23 days ago
Believing that your hiring decision is better with five rounds of interviews is a lot like believing that your outfit is better with five pairs of pants.
Dan Jones shared 23 days ago
You’re in his DMs, I’m in the DSM-5. We are not the same.
Dan Jones shared 23 days agoThis is cool: Internet-in-a-Box. “Up to 32 users who are within about 100m of the hotspot can connect to the device and access or download the content that exists on the device: Wikipedia slices, medical knowledge, videos, and books.” https://mdwiki.org/wiki/WikiProjectMed:Internet-in-a-Box
Dan Jones shared 23 days agoJournalist Lauren Goode convinced her editors to let her spend a couple of days vibe-coding at a tech company. “Both vibe coding and journalism are an exercise in prodding, and in procurement: Can you say more about this? Can you elaborate on that?” https://kottke.org/25/08/much-ado-about-vibe-coding
Here I am at 6am, sitting on the floor of my 8-year-old's bedroom, quoting René Descartes, in an attempt to convince him to get out of bed and get ready for school.
Dan Jones shared 24 days agoThe Covid Vaccine Situation for the Fall Is a Complete Mess. “If you’re under 65 and not high risk, the window to get a Covid-19 vaccine is right now — before the FDA label changes. Once it happens, access will be limited immediately…” https://kottke.org/25/08/the-covid-vaccine-situation-for-the-fall-is-a-complete-mess
Dan Jones shared 24 days agoWhat Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom. “Was it still necessary or valuable to learn to write? […] At the end of the semester, they would decide by vote whether A.I. could replace me.” https://lithub.com/what-happened-when-i-tried-to-replace-myself-with-chatgpt-in-my-english-classroom/
Reinstalling macOS:
- You have 3 hours and 30 minutes remaining
- After five minutes: You have 1 hour and 15 minutes remaining
- After twenty minutes: About a minute remaining
- Two more hours: About a minute remaining
- Until the heat death of the universe: About a minute remaining
- Startup chime
Can I just say how annoyed I am by Elon Muskrat naming his AI Grok? "Grokking" has been a word that I have used since I read Stranger in a Strange Land (probably about 30 years ago), and I really don't like that it's going to be redefined to mean "Asked Twitter's AI bot".
Dan Jones shared 26 days agoHave you tried installing Linux about it?
Dan Jones shared 26 days ago
DHS to NPR query regarding US government agencies posting white-centric imagery on social media: “Get used to it.” https://www.npr.org/2025/08/18/nx-s1-5482921/memes-white-house-dhs-social-media-trump
Dan Jones shared 26 days ago
ask not for whom the taco bell tolls, it tolls for thee
Dan Jones shared 26 days ago
Did you know?
Most economists agree that by the time you're 40, you should:
- own at least one magic sword
- get advice from an enchanted bear skull
- know the ancient language of the trees
- wander the earth as a creature of folklore and legend
My 10-year-old has been strangely interested in the Cartesian coordinate system lately. Today in the car, he asked if there was an x and y coordinates for where we are on the planet.
So I'm explaining latitude and longitude to him, and after explaining the concept, I say to him, "For example, right now, we're probably somewhere around 90° west and 30° north."
My wife turns to me and says, "how could you possibly just know that?"
"
I don't know. It's just a thing I know. It is a very rough approximation."
Turns out my guess was about 5° too far east, but only about 0.1° too far north, and I think that's pretty close.
Dan Jones shared 27 days ago
To avoid burnout at work use the 30-30 rule: after 30 minutes of work, quit your job and disappear into the mountains for 30 years.