The systems people where I work are absolutely useless.
This time last year I was able todictate entire paragraphs of information to my Google assistant and have it transcribe with near perfect accuracy. This year, it can barely transcribe 3 words and usually one of them will be misspelled. It would be better not to have the feature at all.
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I am so frustrated right now, I want to throw something. I have a two hour commute because I can't afford to live closer to my job. Talk to text made it possible for me to conduct personal business on the road. I can't do that anymore which means I am falling behind on things that are important to me.
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Eff Google and their android monopoly.
He continues to do about as a kitten his size can. ❤️
Big John here is charged with aggressively refusing to eat. He is so incorrigible that at 4 weeks of age he is only 6.25 Oz. He has been so difficult to reform that the rescue had to bring a foster mom out of retirement to save his life. But live he shall. He is here by sentence to at least 3 weeks in supermax (an incubator).
A while back I bought some ferret hammocks so that my crated kittens wouldn't have to sleep on the same level as their foodbowls and litter boxes. They love them.
Today, I was rushing around trying to get ready for an event that we only do twice a year. Our regular event kits were in use so I was pulling things together from my own supplies. I needed a small comfy something that the kittens could hang out in without hiding under. The beds can be flipped and the blankets were in the wash. Then I remembered the ferret hammocks.
I am totally adding this to my rescue's regular event kits supplies.
PDQConnect is about 90% vibe coded.
It's also an excellent argument for why Vibe coding isn't ready for prime time.
On the surface it looks great. It's easy to navigate and intuitive to use.
But the more you use it the worse it gets.
Want to deploy an application to 500 PCS? No problem! Create a group, select all, and deploy.
Did 200 of those deployments fail? Easy enough! Click the "failed" icon and you get a list.
But this is where it gets bad. Lets say, you fixed the problem with the original deployment and want to redeploy to the failed machines.
You would THINK that all you have to do is go to that "failed deployments", click the "select all" box and then send the modified package. Nope! If you do that, you end up sending the package to the entire original group.
Who programs a select all check box to do something like that? A computer pulling code from a repository that has no concept of nuance or care for detail, that's "who".
And that is just one example.
Early on I was sending regular bug reports. Then i realized the replies I got all passive aggressively implied that I was using the application wrong.
Because of course I am supposed to recognize that PDQC agents have a four step uninstall and cleanout process. Doesn't everything???? And, naturally, PCs that haven't undergone this ritual cleansing will reappear in the console like normal after you reinstall the agent -- but only for a few days. Then they are gone again and getting them back is a real challenge. What? Did you think reinstalling the agent (as recommended by the support person) would solve the problem *permanently?* What year do you think it is? 1998?
And the hell of it is the support guy never actually told me any of the information above I had to figure it out for myself. He just implied I should know it already. I love being gas lit. Not.
*sigh*
I adore PDQ Inventory & Deploy. The depth and breadth of the features and tools alongside the ease of use represent the best of what a dedicated team can do when given the time to do it right.
And PDQ Connect represents what happens when a dev team depends upon AI to do everything for them.
I have been using pdqc for 6 months. If I have anything to say about it this contract will not be renewed.
Sigh. These kittens were discovered on May 4th. Star Wars Day. They were therefore given appropriate Star Wars names. I have been trying to get a good picture of all three of them and almost succeeded.... except little miss Chaotic Neutral (R2D2) looked away at the last moment.
So this isn't really a success story but I'm not sure how else to tag it. It's more like a fun story that I want to share.
So I have an indoor outdoor cat. Don't judge -- its a long story. Anyway, this cat occasionally brings home "friends". When this happens I trap them, get them fixed, and release them. If nothing else this deters them from ever coming back to my house. LOL.
So one time she brought home an orange cat. Since I knew this cat lived at a church about a block away, I went ahead and took him back there to be released. As I'm watching him run back towards my house (dammit) I hear behind me, "Where did you get that cat‽"
I spun around to see a Very Large Man with his Very Large Son. Mind you, I'm your stereotypical cat loving, white bread, white woman...and I was all alone.
I'm also in the habit of pretending to be a dingbat as a self-defense. And this looked like a really good time for some self-defense.
So, smiling brightly, I said, "Hi! I found him in my yard but I know he lives over here because I've seen him over here. But when he came to my house, I noticed he wasn't fixed, so I did something about that and got him neutered and now he's being returned! He just ran back towards my house though, which really sucks! Hopefully he will come back here, soon!"
Both men stared at me obviously confused and trying to parse that torrent of words. The older one said, "Wait. You took my cat to be neutered... and now you are bringing him back?"
Well, they're not mad....yet. i don't think.
"Uh-huh! I also got him a rabies shot!"
More staring. Time to make my exit.
"Anyway, I got to go! Y'all take care! Bye!!"
And with that, I dove back into my car and drove like a 🦇 out of 🔱. 🤣
Months later, I told my next door neighbor. She laughed and told me that the older man was a friend from childhood. He had called her up that evening to tell her what happened. She said, "I told him it was probably you. He's okay. He was just a little confused. He'd thought his cat was gone for good and didn't expect to see him again."
I am an agent for the Cat Distribution System. Which is to say that I volunteer for a rescue as a foster mom. I have distributed almost 50 kittens. But I only have one cat of my own. I always said that if one came along that my cat actually liked, I would consider keeping them. But I never thought this would happen because my cat doesn't like kittens. Well this isn't a kitten. And my cat doesn't hate him.
Okay, seriously, how long does this post body need to be? I can't think of anything more to add. Still not long enough? How about now? Thank you!
Baby boy from yesterday's video has been reunited with his sisters.
He is 7 weeks old.
I have never seen a kitten with this eye color before. Anyone else? He is around 7 weeks old.
(Yes, I am aware that this baby has a URI and is significantly underweight. He was only rescued two days ago. We're working on it.)
It was the hallmark of every sophisticated science fiction/science future show. At some point, someone would mention "California Island" or the "Isle of Los Angeles" or some such nonsense.
And now its like everyone has forgotten about that. I went looking for a picture on Google and came up empty.
My indoor-outdoor cat went missing for 7.5 weeks in 2021. After she returned, I bought her a tracker. I wasn't sure how well it was going to work, but I literally, physically could not keep her inside and I needed some way to ensure she wouldn't get lost again.
That was 5 years ago, and we are still using it. I chose the jiobit because tractiv hadn't come out with a cat-sized model yet. It slips onto her collar without any additional clips (although several clips came with the device).
My big concern before buying the tracker is Gina would just pull the collar off. Previously I had not been able to keep a collar on her for more than hour hour. But she doesn't mind the jiobit. I think the weight of the tag helps the collar not irritate the back of her neck.
I also stopped using breakaway collars which come off too easily. Instead she wears an elastic buckle collar that stretches enough to come off her head if it gets caught on something but otherwise stays around her neck. I use hair ties to keep the tracker for sliding to the collar's buckle (which interferes with the electronics). The collar has to be replaces every six months or so.
This thing has saved her life. One time she went wandering in a different direction towards a VERY busy road, but I was able to get her before she went far. She's also learned to run home anytime I hit the "alarm" button.
Its not perfect. Technically the tracker is supposed to alert when she wanders more than a 100ft, but its more like 100m. Also, when it does alert, the first location dot is always WAY wrong. It takes a minute for the location to actually center in on where she is and those minutes can be agonizing. It took a while to get accustomed to all of the locator's quirks.
On the plus side, the battery lasts between 3-7 days before it needs to be charged. Actual life depends a lot on how much time it spends outside "safe" locations. Its also small enough not to look odd on Gina's collar and light enough not to hurt her neck.
The jiobit went out of production about a year ago but you can still get them on facebook marketplace. Tractiv also offers a cat-sized collar and I haven't heard anything bad about it. there are also a couple of cheaper alternatives that I don't know much about.
Not being able to find Gina was always the worst part about letting her be indoor-outdoor. This makes it easier.