Programmers are people who can endure an endless parade of tedious obstacles.

Agreed. I don’t think that’s a bad thing but I cannot do it. I think I have a brain capable of programming in that I have enough basal intelligence, but I simply hate the task completely and totally. I admire those (like my partner) who can tolerate it or even enjoy it. But gawdamn is it just a terrible torture for me (and most people) unsuited to the trade.

Between physical suffering I’ve endured over the years and programming, I’d take the physical any damn day and twice on Sunday. It’s a lot more bearable.

Does IT attract the most liars/fakes?

I don’t think so, but it’s vastly harder in most IT roles to fake it till you make it as compared to many other careers. If you claim to be able to set up a network and there’s no functional network after, it’s pretty dang obvious you have no idea what you’re doing.

In IT it’s often just a matter of hours until it becomes clear that you’re an incompetent or a liar (or both). On the other hand, in other fields I’ve seen people coast sometimes years with little to no relevant knowledge or skills. This is just not possible in my field in most places because you must almost-immediately create or troubleshoot things that actually function in the real world.

It’s usually clear to me within five minutes of working with someone in IT if they know their stuff or not. I don’t think that’s true in a lot of other roles, particularly ones that rely on more soft skills and gladhanding.

This seems somewhat common:

I was in Germany years ago talking with an acquaintance about traveling. She mentioned that she and her family were going to spend three days in the US and planned to see Hollywood, the Grand Canyon, NYC and Florida in that time.

I explained as gently as I could that those places were thousands of miles apart and while it might be just barely remotely possible to visit all those locales in three calendar days, they’d be doing nothing but travel the entire time and see absolutely nothing in any of their chosen destinations. She said she didn’t realize the US was so enormous and they’d look into making other plans. (Maybe I averted a ruined vacation?)

What song breaks your heart everytime you listen to it?

“Winter” by Tori Amos, specifically the live Montreux 1991 version. That might just be the best live performance of all time by anyone and it’s vastly superior to the studio release (which is still really good).

Dang, YouTube, just because I watched some gospel music live doesn’t mean I now want everything to be Jesus-themed 24/7. I mean, I like gospel music but Jesus doesn’t need to be jumping out from behind every (burning*) bush everywhere I look.

*Yes, I know that’s the Old Testament.

No greater truth has been written nor will it ever be:

Waitress could not understand what we wanted.

One time I called up a restaurant to put in a to-go order. This was a place we’d eaten at several times before so we were familiar with the menu. Peruvian joint. I ordered my meal using the Spanish first — and my Spanish pronunciation is pretty good. She had no idea what I was talking about.

So then I switched to English. Still had no idea what I was talking about. Note that this is a common item that has been on their menu for years. Eventually, she figured out what I wanted after I said it in both languages maybe a dozen times. Maybe she was new? I don’t know but it was indeed mildly frustrating to attempt to order a normal menu item and be treated like you were attempting to acquire some Nepalese yak meat or something.

Many of the women the Fat Acceptance goofuses aver are “underweight” are overweight or actually obese.

We’ve descended into hell timeline. Please nuke. Please.

This is something I’ve noticed too:

I’m completely not kidding when I say that smartphones are a Level 1 cognitohazard. They are extremely dangerous to most people and the above is exactly why. Anyone who doesn’t believe this and does not understand why is frankly stupid and a professional clown.

Fuckin’ hell, man, I got this damn song stuck in my head.

The first ten on today’s playlist:

Why buying a house is still a good money move even with sky-high prices and interest rates.

Ha, right. What propaganda operation churned this turd out? These doofs never price in risk, major repairs (roof, sewer, water damage, etc.) so owning always looks way rosier than it turns out to be in reality.

Mispriced risk is a snake in the grass that’s gonna bite you when you step on it and most people don’t realize that until they actually own.

I didn’t know how much I needed to see Wendy James in a full men’s suit with gloves but it turns out that, yes, I did.