Tootfinder

A software engineer explains AI fatigue, compounded by a FOMO treadmill of using labs' latest tools, thinking atrophy, and more, alongside boosted productivity (Siddhant Khare)
https://siddhantkhare.com/writing/ai-fatigue-is-real

AI fatigue is real and nobody talks about it | Siddhant Khare
You're using AI to be more productive. So why are you more exhausted than ever? The paradox every engineer needs to confront.

Me: Let’s see how the FairPhone folks are doing… maybe I was overly harsh on them and they’ve used the time to wean themselves off of Google… what with being Waag and all…
Also me: fucking what the fuck now?
*sigh* 🤬

99% of stakeholder "ideas" are just copying a feature they saw on a competitor's product. And the features they notice most are the ones that yell at their users the loudest.
Now all software (not just consumer apps, but also metrics dashboards) yells at you, and trains you to attend to its yelling. Strategy becomes dominated by the overriding need to make the good number go up.

The circular logic of our metrics
We design what is familiar. The design patterns we adopt are the ones yelling at us the loudest.

Debates del TSE rumbo a las elecciones 2026: quiénes participan, cušndo seršn y dónde verlos en Costa Rica

Five bold Super Bowl 2026 predictions that sound far-fetched -- until you look into the data

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/super-bowl-lx-bold-predictions-data-preview/

Because I constantly hear myths about the good old compact cassette here's a longer post dispelling them:
1. They can sound as good as CDs
2. They don't wear out
3. You can't use a pencil to wind them
4. You can go to specific tracks automatically
5. You don't need to carry around extra batteries
I will elaborate below:
1. Sound Quality
Many higher-end decks can record cassettes on metal tape with various Dolby noise reduction settings; especially the combination of metal tape and Dolby S will make tapes that are pretty much indistinguishable from listening to a CD.
Even normal or chrome tape with Dolby B (around since the 1970s) will give great results; likely indistinguishable from a CD when played in a car or while out and about with a personal player.
Some extremely high-end tape decks produce better than CD results in some regards (for example some Nakamichi models go to 26KHz with frequency response, while CD are inherently limited to top out at 22KHz).
It's true that the dynamic range of CDs is much better than either vinyl records or tapes. However, unless you're super into classical music there's likely not much music for which this truly matters, as 99% is mastered to use much less dynamic range than provided by any audio media format. (If you're super into classical music you probably want SACD or other high-res lossless sources anyway, not CDs.)
2. Yes, it will wear out mechanically but you will wear out mechanically before it does. Please watch VWestlife's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dgJ4hRHBiw
3. European and American pencils are too thin to engage the cassette reel cogs. (You'd need to get a Japanese pencil. People mostly used BIC pens for this purpose which have the right thickness.)
4. Most (nice) decks and personal players from the early-to-mid nineties onwards have track skip features (e.g. Sony has AMS, Automatic Music Sensor), which allow precise winding to a specific track.
Some decks even did this in the early 80s!
5. My late-90s Walkman has seventy-eight (78) hours of playback on one (1) single AA battery.
Anyway, the main reason why I like them is they're fun to use and recording them is very deliberate instead of algorithms selecting music for me. :)

If you are using #DuckDuckGo and hate the AI bollocks, there is https://noai.duckduckgo.com (AI Images are not always filtered out, but you can report it as AI)

DuckDuckGo - Protection. Privacy. Peace of mind.
The Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs.

I hadn’t planned to do this today, but I just added a new filter to pandoc-lecturenotes https://github.com/mxpiotrowski/pandoc-lecturenotes, which allows you to produce slides in any of the formats supported by

This weekend all across the country proud patriots will be joining
"Stand Up For Science’s"
✅ National Day Of Action.
Events are planned in more than 50 cities
- check here to see if there is a rally or protest you can join tomorrow.
https://www.hopiumchronicles.…

Tomorrow - Stand Up For Science's National Day Of Action - Events In More Than 50 Cities
I'll be speaking at the DC rally tomorrow. It begins at 1pm - join us!

Here's a piece about $billionaires threatening to leave California because of a proposed 5% wealth tax.
Hey guys (and as far as I can tell they are all guys): Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.
They say "oh, California you will lose taxes because we are gone." Boo hoo - don't these guys know the concept of a non-performing asset, you know, a thing that produces no revenue? Well, from the point of view of Calif. these guys already pay no…