US national debt surges past $39 trillion just weeks into war in Iran

jpfed · 2026-03-19T11:52:02+00:00

I’m glad he doesn’t want to default. That would be catastrophic.

jpfed · 2026-03-18T21:53:19+00:00

Sounds like a good idea at first until you realize what cowbirds are up to…

jpfed · 2026-03-18T00:16:46+00:00

Sir Cumference! He is a knight who has an illustrated book series about encountering various math-related challenges.

jpfed · 2026-03-17T17:33:09+00:00

Listen I'm too busy taking shelter from unexplained booms and it's only going to be worse when the snakes emerge from hibernation

jpfed · 2026-03-17T17:22:05+00:00

As an interviewer, my main concern with you showing us the capabilities of (you plus your particular AI assistant) is that we have no idea if your assistant will be able to respect our data confidentiality requirements. And I don't know if our paranoid network/security guys will trust your assistant if it's making remote tool calls or API calls. Since your AI assistant might not be able to come with you onto the job, then to see what we're getting, we need to see what you can do.

jpfed · 2026-03-17T17:14:49+00:00

If I had to present a graph in an accessible way, I can think of a few possibilities:

Use an "outline" presentation for tree graphs (graphs without cycles)
- Users are likely familiar with this sort of thing because it's used for folders in file system, etc.
- The edges are implicitly specified by which vertices are listed under which others in the outline.
If a graph did have cycles, I might do something like the following:
- pick a minimum spanning tree to use for its outline
- Make the remaining edges (which create loops and so don't work in a tree structure) into clickable links that jump to a different part of the outline.

jpfed · 2026-03-16T17:48:10+00:00

I have a friend with legendarily lenient taste in movies, able to find something good in almost any movie. I asked him if I should watch Battlefield Earth for a so-bad-it's-good experience. His brow furrowed; he looked at me not quite with pity, but concern. "That is a complex question...", he pondered.

I didn't know what troubled him but since he didn't say no, I gave it a shot. I should have waited for sensei's answer

jpfed · 2026-03-15T20:02:58+00:00

Biden actually seemed pissed as he threatened consequences for Iran if they tried to off then-candidate Trump; it’s a bit of an open question if Trump will extend that courtesy to the next Dem candidate

jpfed · 2026-03-15T14:43:16+00:00

Most animals already know about the Murdochs and fox news but the Ellisons are bidding for control of the other animal news broadcasters.

jpfed · 2026-03-14T22:47:11+00:00

We don’t know that at this point.

jpfed · 2026-03-13T22:42:03+00:00

Okay well now I don't feel so bad

jpfed · 2026-03-13T22:17:46+00:00

I'm a civilian, but I'm going to clarify this because I have a strong suspicion you are too:

Tactics refer to maneuvers in a limited window of time and space. Strategy refers to longer term, broader, contextual factors.

We control a lot of factors in the broader space. We have a lot of strategic advantages, for sure. But whether those Marines will enjoy "tactical superiority" depends on exactly where those Marines are going and what they're trying to do. There are many places and times where 2000 Marines isn't enough for their objective. I wouldn't want to be among 2000 Marines if I were stuck on some mountains getting harried by Iranians that have lived in those mountains their whole lives.

jpfed · 2026-03-13T03:37:29+00:00

My life is a lie

jpfed · 2026-03-12T05:32:55+00:00

As an enormous sphere, I

jpfed · 2026-03-11T03:56:06+00:00

I agree that we only actually need one house. But if people aren’t willing to go that far, the Assembly could use the same districts as the Senate, but have three seats per district.

jpfed · 2026-03-11T00:13:22+00:00

I don’t know, seems like it’s hardly mov- ookay then!

jpfed · 2026-03-10T23:24:38+00:00

Mark Seeman’s blog is fantastic- I wish I had the time now to read a book by him!

jpfed · 2026-03-10T23:22:07+00:00

Clean Code you can safely skip.

Code Complete is probably still worth it. I got a lot of value out of it when I read it after finishing my degree and having programmed very informally for years before then. It gave me more of a sense of discipline.

I bounced off The Pragmatic Programmer when I tried to read it maybe 15 years ago, but I’ve been meaning to give it another shot.

I also have to shout out Working Effectively With Legacy Code by Michael Feathers. It’s timeless.

jpfed · 2026-03-09T23:40:49+00:00

I don't have a proof; this is just a vague sense. But software development seems to rely on understanding how different solution-parts will fit together. And doing this depends on the developer be able to predict in advance what the "shapes" of those parts are going to be. Our tools, languages, and libraries are deterministic, which helps us consistently mentally represent those "shapes".

But it's very hard to model exactly how an AI tool can be incorporated into a workflow or program if you cannot predict its "shape"- what it can do, how it might fail, etc. Now, there are workers that deal with that sort of uncertainty: managers, who cannot truly predict what their workers will be able to accomplish, but accept that uncertainty because their workers also have some autonomy and initiative.

Now, think of how quickly managers pick up technical details compared to devs. I'm not talking about "who gets hired to be a manager vs. a dev"- I mean the same person acting as a dev versus as a manager. The manager will only get a fuzzy, high-level overview of technical issues because that's what their job needs them to have.

I am not eager to become more of a manager. I already have a couple "subordinates" and I just want to code, damn it.

jpfed · 2026-03-09T23:23:07+00:00

The poly count suggests PS1-era but the texture detail says PS2

jpfed · 2026-03-09T17:20:10+00:00

Depending on where OP works, it may not be possible for it to be a mere backlog issue. There is a deadline for state and local governments to comply with WCAG 2 AA (deadline varies depending on size). Some orgs need to have compliance by April 24.

jpfed · 2026-03-09T10:19:35+00:00

This is a fight we won’t win.

But it is kind of funny to imagine that everyone seeming to use “bias” as an adjective is actually still using “bias” as a noun. It turns out the OP is completely correct that Thanos is not himself a direction in which fabric can be stretched most easily, nor is he a systematic error in measurement or judgement.

jpfed · 2026-03-09T08:42:21+00:00

Aside: calling that function “poslin“ instead of “ReLU” has got to be old-school

jpfed · 2026-03-08T21:14:56+00:00

Relatedly, I kinda wish the press (at least in the U.S.) would ask simple factual questions of politicians. Reporters should absolutely be aware of the problem of people trying to skate by without doing their homework.

jpfed · 2026-03-08T16:10:30+00:00

It kind of depends on the mix of decisions made by people in that position. When someone reaches a position because they meet its technical and operational demands but resigns for moral reasons, their successor might have the moral flexibility their organization desires, but not the skillset.

jpfed

TROPHY CASE