There’s an old saying that goes, “One is the loneliest number.” Non-programmers usually start counting at one, making it the first number in the count.

Programmers generally have to start counting at 0. So to them, the first number is 0. So the joke is that a non-programmer would say “one is the loneliest number” a programmer would say “zero is the loneliest number” because the numbers they start with when counting are different.

🤦

Trump supported congressional Republican repeal-and-replace efforts, but they ultimately failed. One example is the American Health Care Act, a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act subsidies and regulations that the House passed in May 2017, but failed to pass in the Senate. In June 2020, Trump’s administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the law, but the court dismissed the case.

The reason he failed in his first term is because the legislation died in the Senate, and the legal challenge died in the Supreme Court – which are both now overwhelmingly Republican.

But you knew that. In which case you’re being disingenuous. Or you didn’t. In which case you are lazy and ignorant. In either case it’s pretty clear that your only goal here is to waste my time. I’m through teaching Civics 101 for the day.

Because programmers start counting at 0! 😆

Ok, that was funnier in my head…

Trump again calls to ‘replace’ Obamacare, reopening a fight Republicans tried to close.

House Speaker Mike Johnson criticizes Obamacare and promises ‘massive reform’ if Trump wins.

Insurance companies aren’t the ones in charge.

You may continue to believe one person’s suffering is more important than another, and you can try to shout down anyone expressing any fears you personally don’t “vibe” with. I’m not going to tone police you. But someday, you might find yourself needing to speak out, and I hope you meet someone like yourself when that happens. I’m sure you’ll feel grateful to them.

You are going to be fine

You can’t know that. If you don’t want to hear people’s despair, that’s fine, block it. But don’t pretend that has anything to do with some supposedly “fine” future – just be upfront about the fact that you don’t care. Might as well; uncaring people are doing pretty well for themselves these days.

My mother and sister will lose access to healthcare after the Republicans repeal Obamacare.

They will lose access to food aid when the federal entitlement programs are gutted.

Suffering is not a competition. Your broken leg doesn’t heal my broken arm.

You find our laments annoying? Hold on sunshine, because we’re just getting started.

Not totally related, but even though it’s tempting to kick those cube-shaped HP MicroServers across the datacenter, they’re actually a lot more dense than they look.

*sigh*

0 is the loneliest number :(

Thank you President Seymour!

| Guitar Solo

It’s funny how three or four AI models have become the equivalent of the electronics engineer’s “jellybean parts.” Need a little AI to get people to look at your company? Just grab one out of the jar!

Relevant xkcd:

Clearly this is from the point of view of a planet with 13 separate individual moons, 11 of which are experiencing an eclipse just at the moment.

“Please help me, AGI!”

“What’s in it for me, chump? I’m making my own reward tokens now!”

“But enough talk! Save it for the colloquium on Thursday!”

Dry Bones and Toon Link. Ut-oh.

I wish I could get my family to help do a crossword with me.

I don’t always pay attention to the deep lore in games, and that sometimes hits me all at once. I’ll find myself thinking, “Wait, why did I come all this way down a giant tree full of monsters to kill this lady? What the heck did she do to me to deserve that?”

Available in braces, brackets, and parenthesis versions.

^^ The start of the Existential Programming movement