Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 6h

And it was uphill both ways.

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 6h

A quick note now that the Rapture has come and gone: if you call yourself a Christian and you're still here, maybe you should take inventory of how you practice your beliefs?

2

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

I was about to say "it isn't really a day off, they are working in their districts and meeting with constituents".

But they aren't doing that either.

1

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

That's even better than most, because who else is going to deliver your letter for the price of a stamp?

1 1

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

It's basically the Myers-Briggs test of cust sat, and popular among the kind of managers that also make their employees take the MB test.

1

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

It is also culture-dependent. A product with identical real satisfaction could get different scores in different cultures.

Also, there is no magic "target" score. Scores are not comparable across products, unless you have done a lot of work to calibrate your survey populations (and you haven't)

1 1

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

Fun fact: NPS gives answers that are no better than "how satisfied are you?", because most people ignore the wording and answer that question instead

And the numbers it calculates are essentially meaningless. You could raise all your satisfaction scores from 1 to 6 and your score would not change

1 1

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

Lost the encryption key

Clodagh Tait @clodaghtait.bsky.social · 1d

Four Courts, June 1922

🏰meg⚔️ @Birthright Audiobook! @impavid.us · 4d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand

I'll go first: Six page commercial lease.

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

*Other than OpenAI acquiring its own suppliers or customers and paying with Magic Beans.

1

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

There is a severe absence of acquisitions in the GenAI space*. That's because they are all wildly overpriced and massively unprofitable. The worst of them are too pricey even for Big Tech to swallow.

This is why I firmly expect IBM to acquire Anthropic, right before the bubble collapses.

1 1

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

I remember sitting around reading by candlelight

2 5

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

"parasocial relationships"

1 3

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

Changed my handle, for no particular reason other than it amused me.

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 7h

I miss the trade unions.

1 4

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 9h

Cooking, and singing "half an onion" to the tune of "half a sixpence".

But only the first two lines over and over, because that's all I know.

Getting angry stares from my wife, so should probably stop.

1

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 9h

Naive question: does 'witch' have a specific meaning in these circles, or can it mean anything powerful I want it to mean?

1 2

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 9h

I want a tee-shirt that says "I'm not an introvert, it's just you I don't want to talk to"

1

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 21h

Like, for instance, that fact that "weird" is not spelled "wierd".

English is not so much a language as three languages in a trenchcoat.

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 1d

In words beginning with "wr", what is the "w" doing? Is there a difference in pronunciation between "wrap" and "rap"?

This must drive people learning English as a second language.

Anyway, that just started bothering me this morning.

3

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 1d

I recommend playing the accordion while Morris dancing.

1

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 1d

This is going around. According to Snopes, the second sentence is a verbatim quote. The other two are not, but are fair paraphrases of things he said around that time.

"A shutdown falls on the president's lack of leadership. I mean problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top. A shutdown means the president is weak." Donald Trump, 2013

1 1

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 1d

Noted and appreciated

3

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 1d

Also, what an amazingly welcoming and inclusive community.

1 2

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 1d

When Cloudflare says it is verifying I am human, what exactly is it doing?

Serious question, but ludicrous answers welcome.

Area Man @jzelten.bsky.social · 1d

I hope Chicago PD pulls them over, then goes "oh, sorry, didn't realize you were ICE."

And then pulls them over again ten minutes later.

Rinse, repeat.

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 2d

Illinois law requires all registered vehicles to display front and back license plates, without exception. But to evade accountability, masked federal immigration agents are driving around in unmarked cars without plates.
chicago.suntimes.com/news/2025/10...?

Federal immigration officers wear masks, no name tags — now some drive cars without license plates

The Sun-Times has documented four unmarked cars carrying federal officers without required plates, offering another way to shield their identities. Federal officials say they’re meeting regulations.

chicago.suntimes.com