Ted Herman @tedherman@social.cleverlibre.org

The morning surprise, captured in photo. How are you on this fine spring morning?

generated synthetic image of guess what

"Why Gas Bills Are Going Crazy—With No End in Sight" a story in the WSJ that describes causes and effects of increased natural gas price fluctuation. Causes are many, effects are widespread and feed inflation. The most interesting thing to me are the reader comments. Around 770 comments: usually we only see that many comments on social/cultural issues. Here, it is tons of "well actually" splaining, plus weaving politics and cultural tropes into the discussion. A typical comment begins "Answer is quite simple." then veers off into political accusation. Fortunately, I did not see Godwin's Law in play (yet).

I don't get why K means clustering. Is it because in some other language it has a different spelling, such as kluster? Though I have to admit this is no more puzzling than have K mean Potassium.

Pi Day has devolved into promotions for Raspberry PI products. 😞

Left, Helen of Troy, the face that launched 10,000 ships.

Right, the face that lost 10,000 jobs.

The fascinating thing about SVB (or is it SIVB) is how various people interpret events and factors. Some possibly contributory factors are seen as favorable or unfavorable depending on the commentator. Maybe finance is a complex system and significant events happen for a multitude of reasons, a bit like a perfect storm.

Muskopolis.

Hmm is the new So.

@jacobsimmering Here is a story I haven't shared. In the late 1970s I had a job doing custom software installations on IBM mainframes. I had to go to the customer's mainframe and tinker with our software so it would install correctly. So there was a steel mill in Gary Indiana where I had to go. This was back in the day when America still had a lot of manufacturing, steel foundries, and so forth, and before there were laws about curbing pollution. For some reason, I was in Indianapolis at the time, rented a car and drove to the site. As I approached Gary, the sky started turning dark, but not because of a storm. The pollution was so thick, it was just normal. Quite striking and amazing. People who now take things for granted just don't realize how bad it was back then -- excepting current residents of Beijing or Delhi, who now experience similar. Oh, and when I arrived at the mill, I had to wear a hardhat and follow a very specific road to get to the computer room. I later learned that doing inventory in such places can be tricky - like when steel is molten, it becomes hard to track inputs along the manufacturing process.

@muratdemirbas Try a search on Blockchain Operating System

@jacobsimmering https://reason.com/2023/02/28/40-percent-of-liberal-professors-are-afraid-theyll-lose-their-jobs-over-a-misunderstanding/

@jacobsimmering https://filthydreams.org/2023/02/16/i-found-it-the-worst-art-job-listing-ever-created/

@jacobsimmering "In fact, a well-supported theory holds that publicly traded transportation businesses are especially welcoming of safety regulation because it shifts responsibility for accidents—and the storms that follow—to government." https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-rail-is-stuck-in-the-aol-era-ohio-train-derailment-amtrak-boeing-technology-brakes-norfolk-southern-5a63f15a?st=censr04tb6gv9n4&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

@jacobsimmering Poor Nate Silver. Look at the reactions. https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1629876115480141824

@paul Radio 4's Start the Week this time with Martin Wolf & Bernie Sanders.

It's easy except that it's not easy.

@mimsical What I don't get is why prompt engineering can't be automated or at least made easy. "PromptBase is a marketplace to buy and sell prompts." And what kind of training is needed to become a prompt engineer?

@mimsical Yes but where? https://www.wsj.com/articles/dig-hole-relieve-stress-11667598228