Cal Evans

Author of StaticForge

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

I am one damn lucky man.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

Today, to every veteran, we say the words too often left unsaid:

Thank you for your service. 🇺🇸

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

@GeorgeRoush YOU CAN'T SINK THE UNITED STATES!

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

@BasedMikeLee It's too late. It was too late Nov 3.

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

@LeaderJohnThune So far you've only left it all in the bar. Stop posting, START DOING.

PASS THE SAVE AMERICA ACT or go back to drinking.

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

@CaseySoftware @iansltx wow...just...wow. Things have changed so much. Glad I've moved on.

[The Vigilant Fox 🦊 @VigilantFox]

Food stamp advocate SELF-DESTRUCTS as Rep. Brandon Gill presses her on why taxpayers pay for Coca-Cola.

She tries to dodge the question. Then Gill pulls out the receipts, and she sits there in stunned silence.

GILL: “Should SNAP dollars be spent on sodas?”

WITNESS: “I am happy to talk about hunger and nutrition, but not dictate what Americans should or should not eat or may have access to.”

GILL: “I’m asking if tax dollars should be used to pay for sodas.”

“Do they need sugary sodas to survive?”

WITNESS: “Some of them do…”

GILL: “You think they need Coca-Cola to survive?”

“I’m giving you the opportunity to say yes or no.”

WITNESS: “I will not answer for individuals and their… choices.”

GILL: “What does SNAP stand for?”

WITNESS: “It’s a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.”

GILL: “What’s nutritional about Coca-Cola?”

WITNESS: “I am not a nutritionist.”

Then Gill asks who’s paying her, and she freezes like a deer in headlights.

GILL: “Is your organization funded by organizations that make money from food stamps?”

[awkward silence]

GILL: “Do organizations who profit off of food stamps fund your organization or businesses?”

WITNESS: “I mean, in the, in the, I, I can’t comment to that.”

GILL: “Does General Mills fund your organization?”

WITNESS: “I don’t have access to that information.”

GILL: “I do. It’s right here. They do fund your organization. […] Yes, and they’re profiting off of your advocacy. Do you think that that’s a conflict of interest?”

[more silence]

GILL: “I think most people think that’s a conflict of interest. I know you don’t want to answer.”

Always follow the money.

CONTEXT: USDA’s own study found soft drinks were the #1 purchase in SNAP households, beating milk, ground beef, and everything else in the store.

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

@OffgridwithJD @ZacharyLevi Good to know. This is a learning experience for me. I think I'm going to try 1 scene first and see how it comes out before I just dump the script in and say GO. :)

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

On a lark, I had Claude turn my first novel, "Moondance", into a movie treatment and a screenplay.

It'll never get made (unless @ZacharyLevi is looking for oddball dramedies), but that's not the point. It's a learning process for me.

I'm using AI to make the movie, and as I read through the script, I'm beginning to understand something. The problem with making movies 100% with AI is nuance.

Take this line from the first restaurant scene:

"She goes. Randy looks at Bobby. Bobby is unbothered."

(She is a waitress, Randy is the protagonist, and Bobby is his foil.)

Hand that to a human actor and they'd understand the subtext: Randy is both aggravated and bemused by Bobby. None of that is written in the script.

A script written for AI needs subtextual cues for its virtual actors that human actors don't require.

I find that an interesting thought.

[heartsntales @heartsntales]

Thank you, veterans. Marc Dossey served in the U.S. Air Force. Karl Lounge served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Today they make spirits at Homosassa Distillery. We're grateful for their service, and for the story they shared with us. https://t.co/fsV5SY6AW8

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

@SenAshleyMoody @SenRickScott I'd like to know how you voted, please.

[Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol]

If you are confused how John Thune just became Senate minority leader…

Imagine your party gets hammered in the midterms, losing at least seven Senate seats to the Democrats and the majority along with it, and instead of stopping to ask what went wrong, Senate Republicans walk into a closed-door room just one week later, shut out the very voters who sent them there, and come back out with the EXACT SAME leader, because when Ron Johnson, Rick Scott, Mike Lee and others begged for a little more time so members could lay out a real vision for the party, the delay was voted down 31-15 in a private tally we only know about from anonymous sources, and then, with no challenger and no recorded vote, Thune kept his job by acclamation, and the rest of the leadership team stayed almost entirely unchanged, as if nothing happened, as if millions of Republican voters didn't just watch their majority crumble, as if "accountability" is something Washington demands of everyone except itself, so now the SAME people who led us into the minority get to lead us through it, Republican voters still don't know how their own senators voted on the delay, and we're all just supposed to nod along and trust the process and feckless, worthless people that put us here in the first place, which is exactly why so many of us are FURIOUS tonight.

[Matt Van Swol @mattvanswol]

If you are confused how John Thune just became Senate minority leader…

Imagine your party gets hammered in the midterms, losing at least seven Senate seats to the Democrats and the majority along with it, and instead of stopping to ask what went wrong, Senate Republicans walk into a closed-door room just one week later, shut out the very voters who sent them there, and come back out with the EXACT SAME leader, because when Ron Johnson, Rick Scott, Mike Lee and others begged for a little more time so members could lay out a real vision for the party, the delay was voted down 31-15 in a private tally we only know about from anonymous sources, and then, with no challenger and no recorded vote, Thune kept his job by acclamation, and the rest of the leadership team stayed almost entirely unchanged, as if nothing happened, as if millions of Republican voters didn't just watch their majority crumble, as if "accountability" is something Washington demands of everyone except itself, so now the SAME people who led us into the minority get to lead us through it, Republican voters still don't know how their own senators voted on the delay, and we're all just supposed to nod along and trust the process and feckless, worthless people that put us here in the first place, which is exactly why so many of us are FURIOUS tonight.

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

@NamesareHard8 @ReOpenChris Breach of fiduciary duty

[Not the Bee @Not_the_Bee]

In order to best continue doing nothing, Senate Republicans reelect John Thune as Minority Leader
https://t.co/5TrxZWLohc

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

@lsferguson Bucket of Meh.

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

You are correct. My question is then...so?

These are primarily **financial statement audits**. They provide reasonable assurance that the county’s financial statements are free of material misstatement and fairly present its financial position under GAAP, plus limited testing of internal controls over financial reporting and compliance with certain specific laws.
https://t.co/TqnExqX1ME

They do not systematically examine whether particular expenditures (such as public art, decorative road painting, or unused software licenses) were efficient, effective, or necessary. That falls outside the scope of a financial audit and into performance or operational auditing.https://t.co/ZjInkdP8vw

Palm Beach County’s reports (including management letters) are publicly available and have generally received unmodified opinions, but the audits focus on material accuracy and compliance rather than comprehensively hunting for waste in the budget.
https://t.co/Ngd59p8XKH

You asked how to save money. I gave you an answer. The audit is a bit of a redirect because it's not designed to save money. My suggestion was let Claude examine the books and find waste that can be eliminated.

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

Well here in Palm Beach, I'd stop doing public art projects. I live near one of the 6 roundabouts that have "French Fry" art in the middle. I could live with out those.

Also, they spent a lot of money painting Rosemary ave with a design that honestly jsut made it harder to drive on.

Audit EVERY dime spent. That's a pretty cheap thing these days. Get rid of a $10,000 annual license that was paid for 3 years without the software even being installed. (Yup, happened)

Stop the county from spending money on philanthropic projects and limit itself to spending money on necessary services.

For everything else, well, that's what GoFundMe is for.

Those are the things I can think of off the top of my head. But if you actually care and not just hoping for a quick hit on me, county expenditures are a matter of public record and $20/mo claude account can help classify those into necessary and unnecessary.

That's where I'd start.

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

Dear @gnome,

I forgot to thank you.

You calling @FrameworkPuter a NAZI, reminded me I wanted to buy one. I got it last week, loaded @omarchy on it and LOVE it. I figure if you guys hate them they HAD to be good.

Just wanted to say thanks. :)

[Danger Casey @CaseySoftware]

AI is great at fixing old code. The hard bugs in an old app live in the data, and nobody wrote down how the data got that way. Lessons from modernizing Web2Project: https://t.co/LE3UtnyQnU

[Cal Evans @CalEvans]

@skrubbedpvp @mrwtffacts reasonable response to my obvious sarcasm. Thank you. :) (and that was NOT sarcasm)