As we get older and stop making sense

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A lawyer friend told me that one of the key things he learned in law school is that his first jobs would entail cleaning up mistakes that old lawyers had made. It meant that old lawyers often made mistakes in basic things and, further, that he had to understand what they were trying to do. He wasn't necessarily applying new law. Rather, he was applying old law correctly.  New law would come later.

So, this article, Beware tech career advice from old heads, make sense at first, until you remember that most people coming into jobs, tech or otherwise, will be working with legacy stuff. You have to understand the old stuff, such as the default date in COBOL, but do it better.

Arguments with a chatbot

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I've been using Google's Gemini 2.0 Flash to analyze some of the documents regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Mostly, it's gone well, but we've gotten into a bit of a tussle. 

I've uploaded about 20 PDF documents, each 600 pages. (Thank you, ChatGPT, for writing a Python script that splits a humungous 36,000 page document into separate 600-page files.) 

Using Gemini  2.0 Flash, I uploaded several of the 600-page docs, eventually getting about 20 in place. I asked a series of questions about the information in the set, such as "Was any of the information unverified?" The answers led to more questions, including names of people. For clarity, I also checked a couple of the docs and asked questions about what I saw. 

It went well, and then, it didn't. Gemini would provide an answer to a question that I'd asked in earlier prompt, completely ignoring the question I just asked. When I mentioned such, it'd try to come back, but the responses indicated that it was getting tired and confused. I asked about a Prof. Luria from MIT who'd been at an anti-war demonstration with Noam Chomsky and others; Gemini told me instead about Maurice Halperin. 

Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking has a limit of 10 documents per prompt.  Flash Thinking reached the same tiredness. 

Finally, I explained to ChatGPT o3-mini-high what I was trying to do. It wrote some semantic search Python code that has had some problems.

Categories AI

Passwords, bloody passwords

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When people learn that I do tech support for family and friends, they'll often ask, "What's the most common problem?" In brief, all problems start with, pass through, or end up as issues of password management. People use password managers, let their browsers manage the passwords, use memorable passwords, or keep a recipe box full of index cards. 

It's not surprising that, as shown in a report from Forbes, people reuse their passwords across multiple sites. Multi-factor authentication is both better and worse: better because it's more secure and worse because it adds to the demand of having another device handy. 

To be continued …

Some of you aren’t drinking enough coffee

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When I was a kid, I’d get off the school bus and go next door to have coffee and kahvileipä (coffee bread, often called nisu or pulla, depending on the region of Finland). It wasn’t my first cup of the day. From as long as I can remember, I drank coffee with my parents in the morning and pretty much any other time of the day. Of course, I started off with plenty of milk and sugar. Mine is now black, Tanzanian Peaberry from Indigo Coffee.

In spite of the apparent ubiquity of Dunkins and Starbucks, the rest of you aren’t consuming as much as did your grandparents, sez the Guardian: Americans are drinking half the coffee they did in the 40s. One theory that they put forward is that we are working fewer hours than we did 70 or 80 years ago and hence need less caffeine to keep us going.

But, don’t ever think that I’ll consume any of this stuff.

Categories AI

Wachusett Earthday newsletter – April 16, 2024

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Wachusett Watershed Regional Recycling Center
131 Raymond Huntington Highway
West Boylston, MA 01583
978-464-2854

News from the Executive
Director

Did you see us in The Landmark on March 14?

If you’re not a subscriber, you can read a copy of the article that one of our volunteers has provided at the Center.

Volunteer Spotlight

Tonya and Bill Cronin –
You’ll recognize these two hardworking people who are often stationed at
our Reuse Dropoff location to accept your (up to two) packed cardboard
or plastic boxes.

Tonya and Bill offer a welcome, packing tips, and help. They’ll let
you know where you can find extra boxes, and help you find a place for
stuff that doesn’t fit into a box. Repacking as necessary, these two
then stack your boxes in covered storage areas nearby, so your donated
goods are ready for unpacking and shelving at the reuse center. Bill
also is the vintage electronics master repairman and Tonya helps in the
Store when she can.

Thank you, Tonya and Bill!

Looking ahead

April 27 9am to 1pm is our first Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day.

See the website for details about Latex Paint Collection. https://wachusettearthday.org/special-collections/,

What’s new on the floor?

What to do on a Monday when we  weren’t open on Saturday? Organize the Annex! Here are pictures of the Left side of the Annex where Baby and Home Medical items are stored.

There are more pictures on our Facebook page.

Special discoveries


A local resident asked us if we’d help him give away his baby grand piano from the 1950s. It’s best kept at home vs. our furniture pavilion so here are pictures. If you are interested, message us and we’ll pass along your contact information to him. Transportation will be needed but it’s on the first floor.

Where do things go?

Worcester Earn A Bike and Funky Phoenix each paid us a visit recently and took some bikes and parts they could use but we have plenty more as well as bike racks – FREE.

News from the North 40

More changes! One MIBOX has gone back home and the other moved nearer the Furniture Pavilion in the N40 so we can unload it and send it home soon. Thank you MIBOX for being so great to work with.

Categories AI

One quick tip of the beanie to me

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It was 20 years ago today that RoastBoy burst upon the scene.

This blog started after I was laid off from IBM. In April 2003, Big Blue had acquired Rational Software, where I’d been employed for five years. I started writing as a way to chronicle my time while looking for work. I picked up some contract work with EMC in early summer which led to a great full-time gig. That ran for a year or so until health issues put me out of work for five years. (This occurred before ObamaCare prohibited insurance companies from denying claims for pre-existing conditions.)

Anyway, 20 years is a long time for anything. I wasn’t thinking 20 years ahead then and certainly am not now. Let’s enjoy the day. Except for some clumps in the woods, the snow is gone. It’s spring.