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Joined 4 months ago
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Cake day: January 31st, 2025

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  • Honest question: I haven’t used AI much. Are there any AIs or IDEs that can reliably rename a variable across all instances in a medium sized Python project? I don’t mean easy stuff that an editor can do (e.g. rename QQQ in all instances and get lucky that there are no conflicts). I mean be able to differentiate between local and/or library variables so it doesn’t change them, only the correct versions.



  • That sounds like a good plan, except for the cautionary tale of the Golgafrinchams from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:

    Golgafrincham was a planet, once home to the Great Circling Poets of Arium. The descendants of these poets made up tales of impending doom about the planet. The tales varied; some said it was going to crash into the sun, or the moon was going to crash into the planet. Others said the planet was to be invaded by twelve-foot piranha bees and still others said it was in danger of being eaten by an enormous mutant star-goat.

    These tales of impending doom allowed the Golgafrinchans to rid themselves of an entire useless third of their population. The story was that they would build three Ark ships. Into the A ship would go all the leaders, scientists and other high achievers. The C ship would contain all the people who made things and did things, and the B Ark would hold everyone else, such as hairdressers and telephone sanitisers. They sent the B ship off first, but of course, the other two-thirds of the population stayed on the planet and lived full, rich and happy lives until they were all wiped out by a virulent disease contracted from a dirty telephone.

    /s







  • I think C-suite’s maniacal push to be early adopters of an unproven technology reveals just how bereft they are of good ideas.

    Any leader with business sense would say, “Ok, we’re doing good now. Let’s investigate AI and see if/how it can help our business. Also, fuck no I’m not gonna go online to tell everyone what we’re doing because that would only tip off our competition.”

    Instead, what we’re seeing is a large number of C-suites thinking AI is fullfilling their wet-dream of firing everyone else and driving their stock prices to infinity by verbally masturbating in public media.







  • In the earlier days of StackOverflow, the founders try to fight the toxicity. I don’t know whether they got overwhelmed or just gave up, but the trolls wound up taking over. Maybe good moderators aren’t willing to put up with both overwhelming toxicity AND no pay.

    I still love what StackOverflow once was. I tried coming back and giving a chance a few times. My last question got “answered” by people who clearly had not taken time to read the question. After updating the question with, “Note: I’m am NOT talking about ‘X’, its subtle, please read the question fully.” I was told that I didn’t know what I was talking about.

    I eventually figured it out and didn’t bother posting the answer to the issue. Fly-by answers by people just looking to improve their stats made continuing to interact with SO frustrating and pointless.




  • Supermarket chain Kroger announced today that they are switching to a subscription model for grocery purchases. “Customers will no longer be allowed to buy groceries directly, but will now be requested to log in using their account in order to complete purchases.”

    “Moving to a subscription model will help us to streamline operations, cut costs and continue to provide our customers with prices.” according to the Kroger CAI’s quarterly filing with Wall St.

    “At the self-checkout, after scanning your groceries, simply login with your e-mail address and 64 character password. You will then receive a text with your 128 digit verification code, which you can type in manually at the 3rd numeric keypad. If you attempt to purchase more than your subscription level, you’ll be guided on how to restock the excess items.”

    Kroger says grocery plans will start at $5/day, which will enable customers to treat themselves to a daily ration of either 1 lb of cabbage or 1 lb of potatoes.

    Please note that customers must create a unique account for each Kroger location. “Customer loyalty is very important to us.” said a Kroger representative, who then offered this reporter an opportunity to invest in a pre-public release of Kroger Koin.