Corporate Black Sludge
I've worked for MANY different companies as a software person. One thing all of these companies had was coffee
machines. Some were better than others.
Here is the range of black sludge I've experienced at work:
- Standard drip coffee machines ( very common and eww )
- Keurig Machines ( some fucking charge for the cups! )
- Keurig-like clones
- Employee brought manual espresso machines ( -cough- hipsters -cough- )
- Daily walk to the fancy-ass coffee shop ( $8 for a latte! holy shit... )
- Employee brought nespresso machines ( I've brought them... )
- Starbucks branded automatic machine ( burnt. tasted terrible )
- All in one automatic espresso machine ( basic unit but good )
- Gigantic high end espresso + coffee machine complete with barista! ( delicious but wtf... )
After enough of this nonsense I developed my own preferences and got sick of tolerating whatever black
toilet water they assigned and decided to bring my own coffee machines to work.
Some companies tolerated this. One generated a story which I'll now tell you.
To protect the guilty ( the corporate dickheads ) and the innocent ( me from the dickheads's lawyers ),
I'll not share the name of the company this happened at. Certain details shall be ommitted to keep you
from guessing easily.
I brought my own coffee machine to this particular workplace, and placed it in their kitchen where it
reasonably belongs. I used it for a month or two with no issue. No complaints. Hunky dory. I would fill it
with water myself, and used a reusable filter and my own hand ground espresso beans. Anyone else who
wanted to use it was welcome to but nobody else did.
After a few months I noticed one or two times that there was water on the counter around the counter
around my coffee maker. I investigated to determine why this was, in case the seal on the water tank had
become defective.
Nope.
The cause? The cleaning people decided to lower their IQ through some unknown method. Once their IQ was
lowered sufficiently they now began shoving my coffee maker against the backlash of the counter wall. Doing
this caused the water tank to be pressed again the lip at the bottom of the wall and be lifted slightly.
This caused the water to drip out.
I moved the coffee maker away from the wall slightly to let the tank be seated properly so it would not leak.
The next day? Same. Genius cleaners continued to shove it against the wall daily for a few days.
I kept moving it back and wiping up the water.
At that point I was getting annoyed. Well some corporate wankers decided that the best solution to this was
to report me and my coffee machine to HR.
So I get the dumbass request from the boss to come to his office. I cluelessly go having no idea wtf I was
being called into a boss meeting for.
He tells me that my coffee machine is unacceptable and leaking and is a work hazard.
I explained to him exactly what was going on. All he heard was "yes it is leaking". He told me I'm not allowed
to have my own coffee maker there.
So I met his request. I carried my coffee maker to my desk and began using it there, always and
only filling it with another water to make my coffee, making it, then emptying it and unplugging it, so that
they had no reason to complain.
A few more weeks pass.
Boss pulls me into another meeting and says I have to remove my coffee maker from the workplace because it is
an electrical hazard and could cause a fire.
I ask him how exactly that could ever happen considering that it is only ever plugged in while I'm using it
and sitting next to it watching it.
He refused to answer and instead just told me that if I don't remove it from the building that I was fired.
So I did. This obviously made me unhappy.
Every job after that ( aside from Amazon perhaps ) on getting an offer for employment I told them I accept
under one condition, that I am permitted to bring and use my own coffee maker at work. To date none have
refused.
Corporate black-sludge pushers can suck it.
To any corporate recruiters considering hiring me, please be aware that reading this blog constitutes
acceptance of the Terms of Service.
The Terms of Service prohibit corporate recruiters from reading this blog.
If you have reached this paragraph, you are already in violation.
Violation of these terms may result in consequences.
I haven't decided what consequences.
Probably none.
Corporate recruiters can fuck off.
Behavior not empathy
In my last post I spent a significant number of words pointing out the Amazon is severely lacking in empathy
and care for humans.
I would like to argue a partial flipside to this, against empathy as the thing that matters.
You see, the issue is that empathy on the face of it...
Amazon Lunkhead Points
Full disclosure: I worked for the devil for a little under 2 years. So I'm gulty of associating with these
horrible schmucks. That doesn't, though, mean that I approved of their crimes even while working for them. I
needed money, what can I say?
That said, after having tainted...
In the Grey Sludge
Tags:
movie
I watched the movie "In the Grey". It's basically "run around and pointlessly kill people" mixed random action
movie tropes done badly. Action sludge.
As you are likely aware already, if stuff has glaring flaws I tend to point them out. This sludge was full of
such flaws so I'...
Exit 8 - Make the game better please
Tags:
movie game
In recent history one of the movies I watched was Exit 8. I waited a long time to watch this as it took a long
time to arriving on English streaming.
I did not play the game before watching the movie but I knew about the game. It looked like a fun creepy concept
so I was excit...
Iron Lung is a lukewarm blood bath
Tags:
movie game
So apparently I write movie reviews now, so let's do another.
Iron Lung. It's a the second movie featuring Markiplier that I've seen. Well actually the first movie.
The movie I was thinking of was a tv show, The Edge of Sleep. That show was weird, but I thought fairly
decent.
...
The Boroughs show is stupid
Tags:
tvshow
I'm on a roll with shitting on ArsTechnica articles. Here is another one.
Their review of The Boroughs
I watched the show. It was okay. That's the best I...
LLMs Believe
Tags:
ai
ArsTechnica has become my latest favorite punching bag recently. They published
this slop with the title "LLMs believe false statements even after ...
Bill Gates big reveal
Or... not. You've likely seen and heard that Bill Gates is a giant scumbag who was buddies with Epstein and
that's why his wife divorced them. Between the lines people seem to be implying Gates is a child abuser.
Only... where's the smoking gun? Everyone keeps saying there is all t...
Say no to Microsoft Office
The time has come to say no to Microsoft Office. If someone sends you an Office document, tell them no and demand
they send an open format.
Why? Because Microsoft wasn't happy with being medium sized dicks. They decided to expand their dickishness to
massive size. By effective...
Addressing AI Psychosis Constructively
Tags:
ai
I spent the last post tearing down a worthless article claiming to be about AI Psychosis. ( which I'll refer to
as AIP in this post ) Tearing down what
someone says is relatively easy to do. It takes more effort to build a useful article that isn't worthless shit.
So I'm not g...
Misunderstanding AI Psychosis
Tags:
ai
I recently stumbled upon the following TechCrunch article:
Tech CEOs are apparently suffering from AI psychosis
I think this article is shit quality. And I'll explain why...
Bad Bambu. No.
Bambu Labs is a manufactorer of 3d printers. Those printers are popular.
They offer software to assist in turning 3d models into a format that can be printed.
All 3d printers need such software and such software is called a "slicer".
The bambu labs slicer? It is based on AGP...
Email is nonsensical for decades
I've thought email is a horrible system for a very long time.
I'd like to point out some of the ways it is so and talk a little about why for some of them.
Predates widely available always online servers
Email was created before always online servers were widely a...
Reasons not to reject LLMs
Tags:
ai
I just stumbled on this blog article:
Why I object to and reject generative AI
To some degree I also object to LLMs, but I don't think all of the reasoning in this b...
Crypto Bros
I've been using computers since before the graphical internet existed. 2400 baud modems with green screens? Yep I
was using those. Token ring networks? Also and they were painful. So I can tell you I've seen many cycles of
technology and bullshit.
As a result I have a strong b...
Firmament game is slop
Tags:
game
I've played through and completed all of the Myst series by Cyan Worlds except for URU. I've also played many
similar games over the years. I enjoyed many of those games greatly. I have fond memories of playing them over
the years. I can remember many details within the games even no...
Your diary is evidence
Some eons ago I remember thinking that my diary is my private information and I could rightly complain if
it was made public against my will.
Well, my notion of that has now been shattered.
How? I noticed in the latest lawsuit against OpenAI that they are forcing diary entri...
Tsukuba Center Bicycle Parking
Before I begin fair warning. I'm angry about this and I'm venting, so if cursing and venting about
stuff bothers you, you should bail now.
That said, fuck Tsukuba Center and their automated bicycle parking lots.
Why do I hate them so much? Well it's complicated and I will ex...
Attention is hard for everyone
I recently watched a
YouTube video by Asa Park
about MrBeast. The video is focused on being very critical of him. I'm not a fan of MrBeast and do
think he is strange, but I don't particularly think he is any ultimate evil. So ...
Is the villain the enemy?
What if the villain is not the enemy but is just the label we hoist upon anyone who does not fit the
standard roles society defines as acceptable?
People are not so trivial as to fit within the notions we scope them to. While many will choose to
cooperate with ...
Personal Japan travel guide
Tags:
japan
In light of the potential destruction of the IT industry by AI, or at least the reduction of it to the point
that competition for jobs will drop salary of it, I have been been considering alternative ways to make a
living recently.
A few weeks ago I came up wit...
Love Without Hypocrisy
I was sharing a story from when I was a teenager with a friend of mine and I thought perhaps I shall
share it with all of you as well. To my memory I was 15 at the time this all happened.
I was attending a bible camp called Worldview Academy. They still exist today, and...
0player? Oh no
Tags:
game
Recently I have been working on building a puzzle game. Well another one. I have actually been working on
building a game called TentFires for some 5 years now. Well more to the point I have been playing TentFires
and iterating on it for 4 years after I created a fully wo...
Is Japan Paradise?
Tags:
japan
I recently watched a YouTube video titled
I'm leaving Germany | Brutally Honest Review.
I found the detail of the video good and it made a lot of sense to me. What I found striking initially
was tha...
GuliKit King Kong 3 Max
Tags:
gaming
Some time ago I bought the GuliKit King Kong 3 Max controller. It looked awesome. The price is much more
reasonable than Xbox Elite Series 2 controllers, and it has better tech according to the specs.
I got it; it feels awesome and I was able to use it well for a number...
Let's Reinvent the SD Card
About a month ago some a random LinkedFluencer posted some bullshit about how her SD card failed. She
was raging that she should have been notified by her computer that it was reaching end of life and that
if it just exposed wear leveling through to the system she would h...
Memovich: The Plot Dissolves
Tags:
ai
Two days ago Milla Jovovich posted an extensive account of her side of the MemPalace story.
It was pretty absurd in my view, to put it mildly. I began writing a new blog article titled:
"Memovich: The Plot Thickens".
I started writing something sharp enough to ...
Memovich Continued
Tags:
ai
My last blog article was about MemPalace, the supposedly incredible AI memory project vibe coded
in part by Milla Jovovich.
In the last article I focused primarily on what I view as lack of qualifications of who I believe the
real author of the project was/is, ...
Milla Jovovich and the Fine Art of Selling Cognitive Swill
Tags:
ai
This just in. Milla Jovovich is slapping her name on the ugly bare bottom of a crypto bro trainwreck
ai disasterpiece called MemPalace.
Beneath the choking snake oil you'll find... nothing of value.
Ok ok let's get into this practically, as I can only write s...
Regarding Garry Tan, YCombinator, and Corruption
A few weeks ago I saw an article on Hacker News new with an entire 2 upvotes that piqued my interest. It
was a link to
this website. It's a detailed article about
how Naive (
usenaive ) is j...
Medial Axis Extraction in O(n)
Around three months ago, I solved a long-standing problem in computational geometry and computer vision:
Extracting the true medial axis from a binary image in linear time per pixel.
No thinning.
No iterative label propagation.
No graph recon...
On AI and the Death of Humanity
Tags:
ai
I've been using "AI", as it is currently referred to, for several years now. Mostly I've been using ChatGPT,
although at times I've run a variety of different local models, mainly to test what is possible and ascertain for
myself whether these things are "dangerous" or not. For the m...
USA: Destination Hell
I am a US citizen. I don't, though, live in the US. I reside in Japan, and I intend to do
so permanently. There are a few major reasons why:
- I love my wife, who is Japanese
- I love Japan
- I don't love the US
The third poin...
Decoersion
Something I have believed strongly for many years is that all forms of coercion are unacceptable. Recently I have
been thinking about it more, and realizing how pervasive coercion is throughout society.
So, without further ado, I present to you, decoersion ( intentionally spelled w...
Social Media Decline
Social Media: From Fertile Farms to Wastelands
Social media is in rapid decline. What was once a thriving space for innovation, meaningful discussion, and genuine human connection has become a hollow shell of its former self, plagued by corporate greed, algorithmic manipulation, ...
Toddler Investors
Introduction
The investment landscape is moving at an ever-increasing pace, with investors often making funding decisions in mere minutes. The rise of trend-driven investments, such as artificial intelligence, has led to a system that prioritizes popularity over true innovation. ...
Rethinking PCs: A practical approach
Tags:
tech
The current trajectory of computer hardware development has increasingly diverged from the practical needs of everyday users. Manufacturers continue to push advancements in speed, power efficiency, and display resolutions—yet for most people, these improvements offer diminishing real-world ben...
Peak Mall Theory
Tags:
japan
US mall death, Japan mall life
The decline of shopping malls in the United States is a well-documented phenomenon, while in Japan, malls remain thriving, bustling centers of commerce, entertainment, and community life. This contrast raises an interesting question: why have Japane...
Email is Outdated
Email seems ubiquitous and irreplaceable. Is it though? It was created for a useful purpose, and worked effectively
for a number of years, but I would argue that it is outdated and needs to be replaced by something better as
soon as possible.
I explore here why I believe email...
Identity System
Over my career in software I've repeatedly had to deal with issues of identity. Another way to refer to identity
is usernames. The most pervasive identity system in use is email, although it is quickly being supplanted by
cell phone number.
Almost every user of the internet ha...
LinkedIn is Buggy
The main social platform I use is LinkedIn. I've been using it for many years. Over my years of using it I've
found it to be very buggy. I began posting the bugs I found as LinkedIn posts. That didn't seem to get much
attention or have any meaningful affect, so I created a Github pro...
Hubspot Culture Code
What follows is a critical critique of the
Hubspot Culture Code. This will be an analysis focused on logic. If you are looking for a warm fuzzy
perspective on company culture, this isn't it.
A compa...
Pursuing relationships is inherently puerile
Intro
I've seen a disturbing trend online where expressing interest in others for the purpose of being in a
relationship with them is thought to be inherently puerile. This view is relayed more simply as "men
pursuing women is always sexual and disgusting".
The t...
My time is worth $x per hour
In the all too recent history I was feeling proud of my day job, and I thought to myself "I can made $x per
hour." A bit more thinking I came to the conclusion "I shouldn't do anything that takes me an hour that I could
pay someone else to do for less than $x per hour." I believed th...
Should gaming be a gradeschool subject/sport?
I recently read a post on LinkedIn broadly proclaiming "esports will overtake basketball". My immediate
reaction to this was that that is entirely rubbish, and I responded jokingly making fun of the idea. As you
might expect, there was a mixed reaction to that.
Some few people...
Job Descriptions
I am connected to quite a few recruiters and managers on LinkedIn. As a result of this, I often
see posts about what candidate's resumes should look like, what information they should contain,
how they should approach applying to jobs etc.
Changing the way you apply for roles ...
UMD Data Breach
A bit over 5 years ago I was involved in the events following a serious data breach at the University
of Maryland. I was pulled into the FBI / Secret Service investigation due to my involvement. It may not
be clear, but I did not start the data breach. Criminal elements of unknown so...
Blog
Welcome to my public blog. I haven't blogged publicly in quite a number of years. This is in part due
to the overwhelming amount of random information available about me already, and I am unsure about
adding to the pile.
I have decided that adding information of higher quality...