What is something you learned in your line of work that other people wouldn't know
-
This post did not contain any content.
How to read well and closely as well as how nonsense academia can be. A recent work I read had multiple minor claims that were not factual while maintaining their main point. It made me realize how it’s hard to have everything right in a work but also how academia and research in general is like a tower of dominos, unless one person questions it the field will continue to build on bs claims.
-
This post did not contain any content.wrote on last edited by [email protected]
When I worked in local television news, people would probably be shocked about how frank and open newscasters often were during commercial breaks. We got direct satellite feeds of the national newscasts, and they didn't mute the mics or turn off cameras during breaks. We got to still see and hear them while local commercials ran.
I remember Katie Couric going off about a bunch of dumb shit during commercial breaks. I especially remember her being a demented cheerleader for the War on Terror, especially behind the scenes.
There used to be a video of her cutting a Native American historian from a special on Columbus Day and saying "what does he know about Columbus anyway?" after chiding him for having negative things to say about Columbus. Since they were short on time, they made the decision to cut him from the program. I'm having trouble finding it now.
The 1995 film Spin is made entirely from direct satellite feeds from between commercial breaks. It was specifically about the 1992 election and how both Republicans and Democrats "massaged the message" with the news media, but watching it you'll get an idea of how it works, because a lot of the clips are from commercial breaks. (The video I mentioned about Couric and the historian might even be in this film, it's been a while since I've seen it).
Mediaburn has a copy of the film to watch on their website.
-
How to read well and closely as well as how nonsense academia can be. A recent work I read had multiple minor claims that were not factual while maintaining their main point. It made me realize how it’s hard to have everything right in a work but also how academia and research in general is like a tower of dominos, unless one person questions it the field will continue to build on bs claims.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I am glad Cory Doctorow has come a long way, but man, this was a major gripe from me about him when he was first getting popular in the blogosphere. He made some outright false statements about the history of Napster in the early 2000's, and it made me furious. I remember being like "motherfucker, you lived through this how did you get it so wrong?" He's been a lot more consistent for about a decade or more now.
-
I am glad Cory Doctorow has come a long way, but man, this was a major gripe from me about him when he was first getting popular in the blogosphere. He made some outright false statements about the history of Napster in the early 2000's, and it made me furious. I remember being like "motherfucker, you lived through this how did you get it so wrong?" He's been a lot more consistent for about a decade or more now.
Thanks for getting me to look up who that is! I knew his work but not his name.
That’s very frustrating. I wonder if that’s better or worse than in academia? People get called out and theories challenged, maybe a new edition is printed, or books challenging it. In blogs will someone often edit old posts for accuracy like the news does recently?
-
Thanks for getting me to look up who that is! I knew his work but not his name.
That’s very frustrating. I wonder if that’s better or worse than in academia? People get called out and theories challenged, maybe a new edition is printed, or books challenging it. In blogs will someone often edit old posts for accuracy like the news does recently?
Oh, that's part of what frustrated me so much about it at the time! I had a friend who had just gotten his Masters whose thesis had been on the co-evolution of control and resistance in digital networks, talking about things like Napster and Bittorrent specifically, and he couldn't find a fucking job as a teacher to save his life. Meanwhile, Doctorow, with all his mistakes, was being asked to teach a class at UCLA.
-
This post did not contain any content.
If you ask a computer expert to fix the weird thing Outlook just did, or explain why Excel is suddenly writing Gibberish into your tables –
Even if we wanted to explain it to you, we can't. No human being alive on earth knows the reason and how to fix it.
Some of us are really good at poking it till it behaves again.
Others are brave enough to venture into the dark lands of learn.microsoft.com .
But what awaits us there are articles written by Copilot about how it worked before Microsoft changed it again for no reason. -
I don't work in a kitchen anymore but the amount of single-use plastic used in chain restaraunts is soul crushing. Most folks have no idea
wrote on last edited by [email protected]I don’t work in a microbiology lab any more, but OMG the amount of plastic waste was unbelievable. Keeping everything sterile (as in germ free and DNA free) does not come cheap! If it’s small and cheap enough, it’s going in the trash. If it’s small but expensive, you’ll autoclave it. If it’s big, you’ll squirt lots of ethanol on it and hope it doesn’t ruin your day.
::: spoiler Spoiler
Sooner or later it will.
::: -
If you ask a computer expert to fix the weird thing Outlook just did, or explain why Excel is suddenly writing Gibberish into your tables –
Even if we wanted to explain it to you, we can't. No human being alive on earth knows the reason and how to fix it.
Some of us are really good at poking it till it behaves again.
Others are brave enough to venture into the dark lands of learn.microsoft.com .
But what awaits us there are articles written by Copilot about how it worked before Microsoft changed it again for no reason.wrote on last edited by [email protected]Speaking of Excel, here’s a fun little experiment into the nature of binary numbers and rounding errors.
Start with some number and add a fraction like =A1+(1/3) to it. In the cell below, add that same fraction to the previous one. Copy this formula downwards and watch the numbers grow. After about 50 rows, you’ll have a number that looks like something specific, such as 71, but it isn’t exactly. There’s a sneaky rounding error hidden in there. The actual number is very close to the one displayed, but not exactly what you think it is.
If you’re using IF statements or XLOOKUP with numbers like this, you’ll run into some perplexing errors. If I recall correctly, you can even test the number with =A50=71, which will return TRUE but the xlookup still fails. It’s been a while since I tested this one, but I remember it being really weird in all sorts of unexpected ways. It’s weekend, so I’m not touching my work computer today.
You just need to know that a long series of fractions causes weird binary rounding errors to happen behind the scenes. Adding a series of whole numbers and neat decimal numbers was perfectly ok though.
Also, trying to explain this to some coworkers won’t be worth the effort.
-
This post did not contain any content.
Millions of government employees work hard every day on so much shit you'll never see or understand that does in fact make your life so much nicer than you deserve when you complain about government workers.
And I'm NOT talking about the cultic worshipped military. I'm talking civilian civil servants at all levels of government.
SOME people are really gonna wonder why everything's getting shittier and never make the connection that their idiotic notions about government led to it.
-
Millions of government employees work hard every day on so much shit you'll never see or understand that does in fact make your life so much nicer than you deserve when you complain about government workers.
And I'm NOT talking about the cultic worshipped military. I'm talking civilian civil servants at all levels of government.
SOME people are really gonna wonder why everything's getting shittier and never make the connection that their idiotic notions about government led to it.
I have some gov contracts and I can confirm this.
Also: the big complaint about working with gov is either apparently expensive stuff and/or apparently slow progress .
Reality? We as citizens require a crazy amount of justified checking and validation from every part of gov because it affects people's lives that things take longer and cost more to do right ... and many times that to back out a fuck-up and not kill anyone. (Oh Hi Elon)
