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SubstantialFrivolity

I'm not even supposed to be here today

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joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
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User ID: 225


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
SubstantialFrivolity


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
I'm not even supposed to be here today

				
				
				

				

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					joined 2022 September 04 22:41:30 UTC
				


				
					

					
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 1, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think both Matrix sequels are vastly underrated. Leaving out the weirdness that the Wachowski brothers put in because they were all into gay sex clubs, the movies are cut from the same cloth as the first movie. Also, Monica Bellucci.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 27, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


I'm not going to sit and pontificate here; this is just my view.




I would love for you to pontificate! I always find your perspective interesting, and I think you have a great deal of wisdom in the things you say. But if you really don't want to, I understand.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 27, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
My guess would be that the situation was one where the girl agreed with what he said, and was pleased he had the courage to say something she thought was true. Saying something controversial which a girl disagrees with would be unlikely to win her approval.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Turns out I should've looked at thread context instead of replying from my notifications. If you meant what will help you stand out in terms of skills, unfortunately it's really hard to stand out early in your career. I got my break by working desktop support and learning as much as I could. Eventually (read: it took me 8 years at that job), I was competent enough that I made an impression on the server admin team and I got a shot at doing higher level stuff. From there it was a lot easier to get jobs, because I had legitimate sysadmin experience under my belt and could get into higher level sysadmin roles. I've also seen people just be in the right place at the right time and get hired as junior sysadmins even though they were really green, but you can't count on that.


Certs can help you, especially if you have a high tier one like CCIE (if someone is a CCIE and isn't at least getting interviews, that would be cause for surprise). But they are expensive AF to get on your own, as they are priced with the expectation that some corporation is paying you to get it and won't balk at a several thousand $ cost to get their guy certified. Because of that, I can't say I recommend pursuing certs as a way to get hired early in your career.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I think the formatting tips @Yeet_far gave were good, but another good trick I've seen is to bring your resume to the interview printed on nice heavy paper. I remember a candidate doing that one time, and we (the interviewers) were super impressed by his resume because of that. It kept us talking about him and honestly, if he had the qualifications (sadly he didn't) I have very little doubt he would've gotten hired because that one thing made him memorable in a positive way.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
That's fine, but "it doesn't benefit you to have a 2-page resume" is very different from "it actively harms you to have a 2-page resume" (which was the original claim). I think the former is true, while the latter is not.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I would say that your formatting advice is good in terms of standing out from the pack. OP's resume isn't bad, it's not going to make someone think less of him IMO, but it's not going to stand out either. It'll be just another resume in the sea of samey-looking resumes. If the job market is super tight, he probably needs every advantage he can get, so I think it makes sense to work on the formatting to really make it pop.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
CCNA is not a very noteworthy cert, so I wouldn't be surprised. It doesn't hurt to have one, but it's not really going to help you stand out much either.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I have been part of the hiring process at companies outside of FAANG, and honestly nobody gives a shit if your resume is more than one page. Maybe if it was 10+ pages that would raise eyebrows, but there's no need to have a hard target of "one page or bust".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I would also suggest that @self_made_human provide some account of how long it took (not counting CPU time of course, just how long he had to spend on it) as well as how many iterations it took to get right. You presumably have some kind of idea how long this task would take you, and then you can compare. Because in the end it isn't just "can it do the thing" which is important (though that is indeed important), it's also "is it less effort/time for me to have it do the thing".


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thanks for the clarification. I definitely mistook you in that case and I'm sorry for that. I'm not sure how to bridge the gap between our experiences and our respective "it's so obvious" understandings of the tech, but at least we are coming at it from a place of cordiality which I do appreciate.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I've enjoyed everything I've read by Tom Holland, he's great. Currently I have read Rubicon, Millennium (weirdly title changed in the US to The Forge Of Christendom), and Dynasty. Recently I was at the used bookstore and saw Dominion and Pax, and I'm really looking forward to both.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 23, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


he believed Belichick should "wait a year" before induction as penance for Spygate, the 2007 cheating scandal that cost the team a first-round draft pick.




Shit man, he should be disqualified for that reason. You cheat, you don't get accolades. Very simple, or it should be very simple.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Thank you for the correction, I did mean ChatGPT base but mistakenly believed it launched with 3 and not 3.5. But no, there was not a meaningful difference between the two models in my opinion (based on my usage of the two). I appreciate you at least not insulting me, but unfortunately I don't think we will ever see eye to eye on this.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


It's not intrinsically incorrect to say "him and I went to the store together," though it's not standard American English.






What's grammatical is defined by what is accepted as grammatical speech by native speakers of that dialect.




We are going to have to agree to disagree here. You seem to be a descriptivist, and I am very much a prescriptivist. So I think that "him and I went to the store together" is intrinsically incorrect, no matter how many people say it that way. They are using an object in place of a subject, which is incorrect grammar.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
If only that were true. Native speakers have incorrect grammar all the time. For example, people who say "him and I went to the store together". Not all the rules are something you pick up naturally, and a decent number of people simply do not care about using the language correctly.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Seriously, compare gpt-4 and gpt-3 output, this is not something that can really be disputed by any thinking person.




I guess I'm not a thinking person then, because GPT-4 was not in my opinion any better than GPT-3. As such I won't continue to waste your time with my brainless ramblings.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


it's willful ignorance to take the capability of a free tier as the actual frontier when told otherwise in a debate forum




No, that is believing the evidence which is available to me. AI bros have been claiming that (insert paid model here) is so much better for a long time now (since GPT-4). It's never been true, and every time those models become available for free use I have seen that they still have the same problems as the previous model did. At this point claims that the state of the art is better than the free tier have no credibility at all, thanks to years of false claims to that effect. Maybe the claims will eventually be proven true this time, but I sincerely doubt it based on past performance.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Several top level posts have boiled down to posters thinking that the free model one can demo on the LLM's developers website, represents the best that developer is able offer.




It is eminently reasonable for people to take the "try our product for free and see if you like it" offering as representative of what the paid offering can do. That is, indeed, the whole point to such an offering: give people a taste so they want more and are willing to pay for it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Good to know. I didn't choose this one (it was a Christmas gift from my sister), so I'm open to the possibility of reading another. Any in particular which you would recommend?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 22, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm working on finally reading the backlog of books I acquired towards the end of 2025. Just finished Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett, the only book of his that I've read. It wasn't bad, but didn't really inspire me to read more. There is some wit there, but I didn't find the book as funny as the author's reputation would've had me think. And the plot, while serviceable, was nothing super interesting (and also the everyone is secretly a girl thing got kind of old by the end). Overall, meh/10.


I also read but didn't finish a book called The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes. Honestly not something I would normally read, but my local book store had "blind date" books and I thought it might be interesting to go with something unknown. The blurb on the wrapping promised a "funny, cozy British mystery" which sounded promising enough, but I didn't enjoy it at all. The premise of the book is that an eight months' pregnant woman moves from London to a small rural town with her boyfriend, and gets caught up in a murder mystery when the shop owner hosting her prenatal class dies in mysterious circumstances. Unfortunately, the book also reads like it was written by Reddit. Partly in tone, but also in frequent asides for the protagonist to preach the good word of feminism, and comments about "adulting" that leave you no doubt whatever about how much of an adult the speaker isn't. The worst part came towards the end of what I read, when the protagonist shares with a friend that she's worried her boyfriend is "getting into right-wing politics", and goes so far as to say that she would more easily be able to accept him having an affair than that. It was a really awful book, don't read it. I made it through a third before giving up, and flipping to the back to see who the killer was.


Next up is Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson. I don't expect it to wow me (as the novella it is based on didn't), but I also don't expect to hate it either. We'll see.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 16, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					


Windows is so much worse than OS X.




Strongly disagree. Windows is going downhill, but OS X has always been inferior to Windows.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for February 20, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Deep Rock Galactic. You are a team of dwarves, going on mining missions in procedurally generated caves while fighting off waves of bugs. The missions are reasonable length, the dwarf classes complement each other nicely, and the tone of the game is fun, dark comedy stuff. Definitely worth your time. Rock and stone!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Wellness Wednesday for February 18, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
They aren't supposed to be fast days, they're supposed to be abstinence from meat. The only required fast days in Lent are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (and in my experience it's common to see Friday fish fries not run on Good Friday for that reason).


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I want you to know that I'm not ignoring your question. I've been trying to think about it, and ultimately I'm not sure. Perhaps someone whom I respect personally would have to explain the reasoning to me? But short of that it's hard to say, despite my honest attempt to come up with something. I realize it's kind of a lame answer, and I apologize for that, but unfortunately it seems that lame honesty is all I have in response to your (quite reasonable) point.