I remain in recovery mode this week to ensure I am fighting off the current Covid infection completely. I still have sore ears and swollen throat and more tired than normal. I am however getting a lot more sleep and not feeling as ill as previous episodes with covid. I have become very experience with managing this condition.
I am applying for engineering manager roles again, a couple of companies a week, mainly through job adverts on LinkedIn.
I am also posting on LinkedIn on the topic of 'AI', trying to include pragmatic conversations around what the (completely overhyped technology) is actually useful for and what people are currently doing with it. It is interesting that through all the hype around 70% of people using 'AI' are not using it for work. Maybe all those recent cat pictures on the internet are fakes.
I continue to find things in my life that I can let go of, making more space in my house and easing a move to a new location when the time is right. I had forgotten how challenging it is to actually deal with cash nowadays, although I was able to deposit almost all of my coins in my bank account.
NOTE: the title of this post is a reference to the "Back to Reality" episode of Red Dwarf. Once I am fully recovered, then the next article would be called back to reality 🤣
Hacktoberfestλ︎
Hacktoberfest was mentioned on the Clojurians Slack community, so I have started adding the hacktoberfest tag to the description of the Practicalli Clojure projects. I am not really expecting contributions, but perhaps I can track some of my own contributions.
There are many Clojure projects marked with hacktoberfest topic, including the Practicalli Project Templates.
GitHub topic search for Clojure projects with hacktoberfest topic
AI Session: Write a songλ︎
An interesting experiment in testing out the bias of an AI service. By asking a question about AI, it may give some insight as to if an AI would skew results to an only positive response.
Promptλ︎
Rewrite the song "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas to be about the overwhelming hype around AI services and tools. The first first should start with "Everybody was AI crazy"
AI responseλ︎
AI Crazy An original song about the AI revolution
Everybody was AI crazy Those bots were fast as lightning In fact it was a little bit frightening But they answered with expert timing
There were funky tech bros from Silicon Valley And startups pitching with flair They were coding up a storm While the VCs were all there Saying "This will change everything, I swear!"
Everybody was AI crazy Those models trained like lightning In fact it was a little bit frightening But they generated with expert timing
There was ChatGPT and Midjourney And Claude was in the mix Everybody claimed their AI Could do all the tricks
While the hype cycle kept doing flips Everybody was AI crazy The demos were like lightning In fact it was a little bit frightening The disruption, oh so exciting Make sure you have expert timing
AI crazy, oh so exciting (AI crazy, AI crazy)
There you go! An original song capturing the frenzy around AI tools and services, starting with your requested opening line. Feel free to add your own "ho-ha!" sound effects for maximum disco effect! 🎵
Analysisλ︎
The 'new' song is close to the patterns from the original "Kung Fu Fighting" song, so the correct source material seems to have been selected and understood.
AI understood that the song was of the disco genre and demonstrated at least a basic understanding of the qualities of that genre.
The song includes both positive words and more critical words regarding the use of AI. The question did direct the AI to consider the hype around AI and the overall lyrics are fairly balanced.
Downsizingλ︎
I have been clearing my life of things I really don't need. This week its cash.
Until last week I hadn't realised I haven't used physical currency (paper and coin) for many years now. My neighbor is afraid of using online banking, although does use a debit card. I arranged a boiler service from a company I trust and the plumber preferred bank transfer rather than cash or check.
It is understandable that people are only using electronic banking, as it is far less time consuming.
My neighbor gave me cash to pay for their service and I had some notes and coins from the last few years that I have never used.
I have a Monzo bank account which does not have a high street presence. I can go to a post office and pay cash into my account, for a fee of 1 GBP per transaction.
So I assembled all my paper and coin money so I can deposit it all at once.
Coins for less than 1 GBP in value must be packaged in 'money bags', plastic reusable backs that have printed on the cover the values accepted for each type of coin:
- 1 pound in either 1 pence or 2 pence coins
- 5 pound in 5 pence or 10 pence coins
- 10 pound in 20 pence or 50 pence coins
- 20 pound in 1 pound or 2 pound coins
I travelled to my local Halifax high street bank (where I still have an account) and asked at the counter for 'money backs' to deposit coins.
I counted all my coins and bagged them up (without mixing coins of different values).
Unfortunately I have about 2.34 pounds that I cant make complete money bags from, so I will have to give that to charity some how.
Thank you.
Practical.li Website