Derek Z. Nold

Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers still come out?

[Derek Z. Nold @NoldDerek]

@Cernovich The Henry Ford Museum. Outstanding display of American History. The ACTUAL house and shop of the Wright Brothers are there in Greenfield Village.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

A mining haul truck driving over a regular-sized pickup truck

[Cliff Pickover @pickover]

Mathematics. Physics.

Magnetic Chaotic Pendulum: adding magnetic forces to gravity gives this pendulum chaotic motion (sensitivity to slight differences in initial launch conditions).

By Physicsfun, https://t.co/BlhNbQsKhR, Used with permission.

[Cliff Pickover @pickover]

Math, infinity, eternity, universe, Golden Penrose, Möbius, higher dimensions.

By @jn3008, https://t.co/bcVQ5NBgG8, Used with permission.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

The working mechanism of various machines

[Chris Paxton @chris_j_paxton]

An autonomous @rivr_tech delivery robot being tested in Pittsburgh. Snow, ice, hills and stairs everywhere: it was genuinely feeling dangerous as a human to go outside at times. Really a great stress test for the robots.

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

Last quarter I rolled out Microsoft Copilot to 4,000 employees.

$30 per seat per month.

$1.4 million annually.

I called it "digital transformation."

The board loved that phrase.

They approved it in eleven minutes.

No one asked what it would actually do.

Including me.

I told everyone it would "10x productivity."

That's not a real number.

But it sounds like one.

HR asked how we'd measure the 10x.

I said we'd "leverage analytics dashboards."

They stopped asking.

Three months later I checked the usage reports.

47 people had opened it.

12 had used it more than once.

One of them was me.

I used it to summarize an email I could have read in 30 seconds.

It took 45 seconds.

Plus the time it took to fix the hallucinations.

But I called it a "pilot success."

Success means the pilot didn't visibly fail.

The CFO asked about ROI.

I showed him a graph.

The graph went up and to the right.

It measured "AI enablement."

I made that metric up.

He nodded approvingly.

We're "AI-enabled" now.

I don't know what that means.

But it's in our investor deck.

A senior developer asked why we didn't use Claude or ChatGPT.

I said we needed "enterprise-grade security."

He asked what that meant.

I said "compliance."

He asked which compliance.

I said "all of them."

He looked skeptical.

I scheduled him for a "career development conversation."

He stopped asking questions.

Microsoft sent a case study team.

They wanted to feature us as a success story.

I told them we "saved 40,000 hours."

I calculated that number by multiplying employees by a number I made up.

They didn't verify it.

They never do.

Now we're on Microsoft's website.

"Global enterprise achieves 40,000 hours of productivity gains with Copilot."

The CEO shared it on LinkedIn.

He got 3,000 likes.

He's never used Copilot.

None of the executives have.

We have an exemption.

"Strategic focus requires minimal digital distraction."

I wrote that policy.

The licenses renew next month.

I'm requesting an expansion.

5,000 more seats.

We haven't used the first 4,000.

But this time we'll "drive adoption."

Adoption means mandatory training.

Training means a 45-minute webinar no one watches.

But completion will be tracked.

Completion is a metric.

Metrics go in dashboards.

Dashboards go in board presentations.

Board presentations get me promoted.

I'll be SVP by Q3.

I still don't know what Copilot does.

But I know what it's for.

It's for showing we're "investing in AI."

Investment means spending.

Spending means commitment.

Commitment means we're serious about the future.

The future is whatever I say it is.

As long as the graph goes up and to the right.

[Jesse Kelly Show @JesseKellyShow]

I’ll never understand this business model.

[Vince Langman @LangmanVince]

Hilarious 😂

[Derek Z. Nold @NoldDerek]

@pickover @gs_bangalore Green area is 2 square units. It's interesting that it's independent of the other 2 squares' areas.

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

THAT'S RIGHT.

[Cliff Pickover @pickover]

Physics, mathematics.

Linkages create walking creature.

By上木 敬士郎 / Keishiro Ueki, @KeishiroUeki, https://t.co/ZQlGrPDznZ, Used with permission.

[Stephen Limbaugh @StephenLimbaugh]

My arrangement the Star-Spangled Banner.

✅Full orchestra.
✅120-voice choir.
✅Canons.
✅Me on piano.

Volume UP!

[FischerKing @FischerKing64]

Personal favorite section of Beethoven 5 is the coda to the opening sonata form movement. The concluding music that takes the ‘fate motive’ and gives you one last electric shock. Maybe having such things in my head is why I’ve never used cocaine.

[Robert Sterling @RobertMSterling]

I don’t want to connect my coffee machine to the wifi network. I don’t want to share the file with OneDrive. I don’t want to download an app to check my car’s fluid levels. I don’t want to scan a QR code to view the restaurant menu. I don’t want to let Google know my location before showing me the search results. I don’t want to include a Teams link on the calendar invite. I don’t want to pay 50 different monthly subscription fees for all my software. I don’t want to upgrade to TurboTax platinum plus audit protection. I don’t want to install the Webex plugin to join the meeting. I don’t want to share my car’s braking data with the actuaries at State Farm. I don’t want to text with your AI chatbot. I don’t want to download the Instagram app to look at your picture. I don’t want to type in my email address to view the content on your company’s website. I don’t want text messages with promo codes. I don’t want to leave your company a five-star Google review in exchange for the chance to win a $20 Starbucks gift card. I don’t want to join your exclusive community in the metaverse. I don’t want AI to help me write my comments on LinkedIn. I don’t even want to be on LinkedIn in the first place.

I just want to pay for a product one time (and only one time), know that it’s going to work flawlessly, press 0 to speak to an operator if I need help, and otherwise be left alone and treated with some small measure of human dignity, if that’s not too much to ask anymore.

[Defiant L’s @DefiantLs]

The gloves 😭

[Defiant L’s @DefiantLs]

😳😳

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Repairing massive tires
https://t.co/JjDtu0XQEY

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Electronics balancing