birb_cromble
No bio...
User ID: 3236
birb_cromble
1d ago
Goddamn. That's a right kick in the balls. I hope it works out for you.
birb_cromble
1d ago
Every time somebody makes an "AI related" move like this, I go look at their financials. Once again, I am unsurprised. From Variety:
For a full-year 2025, Snap reported a revenue of $5.931 million (up 11%) and a net loss of $460 million (compared with $698 million in the prior year).
Looking at filings, I don't think they've ever been profitable over the course of a full year unless you're talking positive EBITDA, which is something of a nonsense measurement.
I think my bigger question is: how the fuck is a company that was founded in 2011, and IPOed in 2017, employing over five thousand people while losing hundreds of millions of dollars per year, still in business?
It really seems like that's the deeper question here. Ever since ~2021, the economics of software companies have increasingly decoupled from the fundamentals that are supposed to describe a healthy business. I look at that and think "no wonder people are having trouble finding entry level jobs, some of the biggest sectors in our economy are very sick".
Am I missing something here?
birb_cromble
1d ago
Implants are expensive, particularly when there are complications.
birb_cromble
1d ago
The good news: spending is $838.88 lower than it was on the same day last year.
Bad news #1: My insurance reimbursement for my $4k dental expense was... $35. Modern dental insurance is a Kafka-esque joke.
Bad news #2: I was awoken to a loud, repetitive banging outside my window the other day. It turns out that a woodpecker decided to punch a hole in the soffit of my house. The rot is extensive enough that I don't trust myself to do the work, so I'm looking at a $4k - $5k repair.
I'm reminding myself that emergencies like this are exactly why I made the resolution in the first place, but it's still frustrating.
birb_cromble
1d ago
I'm going to second tea. It's hot, and in a mug, but you can drink more for the same amount of caffeine.
birb_cromble
2d ago
Looks aren't everything. If Ms Fang was in fact part of a Chinese Honeypot, then she was potentially trained in the arts of seduction at a government black site dedicated to the craft. Thousands of man years and billions of dollars may have gone into research and development of novel techniques and grueling conditioning.
The way she fucks probably violates the Geneva convention.
birb_cromble
2d ago
He's loved programming ever since he was a little kid playing with scratch. In theory, he's the kind of kid who should be considering it.
birb_cromble
2d ago
I'm assuming the congressional sex defense slush fund is running dry.
Over the last decade or so, I've heard the name Eric Swalwell a few times.
First, because he got caught up in a Chinese Honeypot, then because he obliquely threatened to nuke me.
He has reappeared in the news recently, not only as a California gubernatorial candidate, but also as an alleged rapist. Fox news is reporting that he will step down.
The balance of power in Congress will likely remain unchanged, as GOP congressman Gonzalez will also be stepping down, though the impact on California politics may be notable.
Historically, California's executive branch has been a powerful feeder into future presidential races. The fall of Swalwell will cause a localized power vacuum that may have unexpected repercussions.
As someone who is not a California resident, I have no special insider information here. Would any locals care to weigh in on how this is impacting things within the state?
birb_cromble
2d ago
Neon Genesis Evangelion gets away with using Christianity as an aesthetic, because it looks exotic and cool. Trump did something similar.
Why do we live in the reality where Trump is appropriating Christian iconography instead of Evangelion? Trump making an illustration of himself in one of those skintight fan service suits would have broken open at least three of the seals.
birb_cromble
2d ago
Any one passing their classes (we hire in two very narrow degrees) while playing an NCAA sport (I don't care what sport or the GPA. Because you need at least some time management skills to do both.
When I was in college, I tutored a football player. He was a decent guy, but he read on an elementary school level. Does the degree requirement filter that kind of guy out?
birb_cromble
3d ago
Oh I'm not a lawyer. I bailed and stayed in software before I racked up a shitload of debt.
I'm one of those engineers.
birb_cromble
3d ago
restaurant business
As somebody who has been looking into the economics of restaurants in the modern economy, let me say that the numbers are not good.
birb_cromble
3d ago
Most of the Amazon warehouse employees I know are young , extremely online, and make me look like I'm to the right of Francisco Franco.
Are you thinking union jobs?
birb_cromble
3d ago
Waiting tables isn’t demeaning
You'd be amazed at the shit customers pull these days. I don't wait tables anymore, but in the time I did, I had customers:
- Scream profanity and slurs at me
- Hit me
- Pour drinks on me
- Spit on me
- Dine and dash
- Lie to management about my behavior in an attempt to get comps.
Bartending wasn't much better.
My partner still works in the industry and it seems like not much has changed.
birb_cromble
3d ago
and the person has worked in some kind of law office and finds they enjoy the work.
It's funny. I love the idea of law. I briefly worked in the mail room of a law firm and even enjoyed that.
I took the LSAT and got a 178.
Then 2008 happened and every single liberal arts student in the country stampeded into law. I guess it wasn't meant to be.
Maybe I'll sit for the patent agent test one day.
birb_cromble
3d ago
It's not a belittling suggestion. My family has a long history of military service. The only reason I didn't join was because I was in a car accident that rendered me medically unfit my senior year of high school.
Being an officer isn't a bad gig, if you can get it.
birb_cromble
3d ago
I've personally suggested he join the military. That idea did not go over well with the family.
birb_cromble
3d ago
Honestly, maybe?
When Capone was running his soup kitchens, publicly funded relief systems didn't really exist like they did today. He took the floor from "nothing" to "something".
It seems like we need more stops on the way down between "gainfully employed" and "underpass resident". Bringing back SROs, for example, might help. On the government side, we could consider reinstating the civilian conservation corps.
birb_cromble
3d ago
The San Francisco Chronicle.
birb_cromble
3d ago
Its patently absurd to say he should toss out his academic achievement and instead divert into blue collar/physical work.
At this point he's considering law, because lawyers decide what's allowed or not in this country. His opinion is that it'll be one of the last safe fields left.
birb_cromble
3d ago
https://morenogama.substack.com/p/ai-existential-risk-is-real
This is the substack of the firebomber.
birb_cromble
3d ago
In Chicago, Al Capone was popular among the working class because he ran soup kitchens.
An assurance that you won't starve to death in a ditch seems like a pretty good baseline.
birb_cromble
3d ago
I think that has something to do with it. He's been in the news quite a lot lately, between the Ronan Farrow expose and the general AI hype.
In the case of the individual who firebombed him, he was a full blown hard-takeoff AI doomer, so I am unsurprised that he'd go after the largest and most established company.
The best explanation I've heard is that nobody is an objective 10. A 10 is a 9 that does it for you, specifically.
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