the_sisko

joined 1 year ago
[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

A pretty cool episode. Top takeaways:

  1. I'm going to miss Captain Ransom. I think it would have been fun to have a season or two of him. Only Discovery has had the balls to hand over the Captain's chair to another during its main run, and I think that is a good thing.
  2. Starbase 80 is now set up as a new DS9-style show. A starbase guarding a dimensional portal. God I hope that happens. I just hope they pull off the ensemble cast that made DS9 such a classic.
  3. I hate the tease for Rutherford x Tendi, it's so mean to tease it in the finale :'( But really it's so cute.

Plenty more I missed of course.

[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 1 points 20 hours ago

Rewatching in preparation for the finale, and I keep feeling that the voice of Curzon Dax sounds quite similar to the voice of Odo in DS9. I'm quite aware that Rene Auberjonois passed away not that long ago: may he rest in peace. And I guess he was voiced by Fred Tatasciore (Shaxs), which I can hear too. But I keep hearing Odo which is really nice.

[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The idea is that the string of lights has a male end and a female end. That way you can have several daisy chained and just plug the one with the male end into the outlet. But if you plan it wrong then you may end up with the wrong end in the wrong place, in which case yeah, use an extension cord or hang the lights all over again.

Oh and it's actually relatively safe this way... Each string of lights normally has a fuse in it, so it prevents the cords from carrying more current than they are designed for.

[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yep! That way you can daisy chain several in a row.

[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That makes about as much sense as saying that pip, gem, npm, cargo, or nix should called be the default package manager on Mac OS...

The default package manager is the default because it manages the system's software. RPM, Deb/apt, pacman, etc. Homebrew is like pip or docker or cargo or snap or whatever else. You can set it up if you'd like but it's certainly not a default. (Though I'm not trying to dispute that it's good 😊)

Mac OS doesn't have a good default package management solution (though they would if they just opened up the app store and added a CLI). It's ok to admit it, and say that third party folks (who Apple does not support unless I'm missing something) are powering a pretty good third party experience. If only Apple cared about people who wanted a truly free an customizable computer, they could make a great OS :)

[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 2 points 1 year ago

The closest analogy is specific tech skills, like say DBs, for a small firm its just something one backend dude knows decently, at a large firm there are several DBAs and they help teams tackle complex DB questions. Same with say Search, first Solr and nowadays Elastic.

Yeah I mean I guess we're saying the same thing then :)

I don't think prompt engineering could be somebody's only job, just a skill they bring to the job, like the examples you give. In those cases, they'd still need to be a good DBA, or whatever the specific role is. They're a DBA who knows prompt engineering, etc.

[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 6 points 1 year ago

I have an air compressor which is powered by the 12V DC outlet in a car. They are quite cost effective and easy to buy. I use it all the time to refill my tires. Much better than some odd exhaust pressure solution.

[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm totally willing to accept "the world is changing and new skills are necessary" but at the same time, are a prompt engineer's skills transferrable across subject domains?

It feels to me like "prompt engineering" skills are just skills to compliment the expertise you already have. Like the skill of Google searching. Or learning to use a word processor. These are skills necessary in the world today, but almost nobody's job is exclusively to Google, or use a word processor. In reality, you need to get something done with your tool, and you need to know shit about the domain you're applying that tool to. You can be an excellent prompt engineer, and I guess an LLM will allow you to BS really well, but subject matter experts will see through the BS.

I know I'm not really strongly disagreeing, but I'm just pushing back on the idea of prompt engineer as a job (without any other expertise).

[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What's wrong with homebrew?

Crappy default package management.

[–] the_sisko@startrek.website 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Not a "hater" in terms of trying/wanting to be mean, but I do disagree. I think a lot of people downvoting are frustrated because this attitude takes an issue in one application (yay), for one distro, and says "this is why Linux sucks / can't be used by normies". Clearly that's not true of this specific instance, especially given that yay is basically a developer tool. At best, "this is why yay sucks". (yay is an AUR helper - a tool to help you compile and install software that's completely unvetted - see the big red banner. Using the AUR is definitely one of those things that puts you well outside the realm of the "common person" already.)

Maybe the more charitable interpretation is "these kinds of issues are what common users face", and that's a better argument (setting aside the fact that this specific instance isn't really part of that group). I think most people agree that there are stumbling blocks, and they want things to be easier for new users. But doom-y language like this, without concrete steps or ideas, doesn't feel particularly helpful. And it can be frustrating -- thus the downvotes.

 

So I'm partly posting this because I like DS9 and wouldn't mind chatting about its episodes once in a while, so I'd love to hear people's opinions in general about the episode.

My main reason though is to voice a complaint. In this episode, some self-obsessed genius terraformer guy comes to DS9 for his latest project. Sisko starts meeting this woman Fenna, who keeps disappearing. Despite this he falls for her. It turns out that this woman is a psychic projection created by Nidell, the unhappy wife of the terraformer. She can't leave him because her species mates for life. At the end, the self-obsessed terraformer makes an uncharacteristic sacrifice, killing himself as part of his final crowning achievement, so that Fenna can be free from their unhappy marriage. At the end, Nidell cannot remember the "relationship" she had with Sisko, and she goes to talk to him. She asks what Fenna was like, and Sisko says "she was just like you."

And to me, this was such a record scratching moment. Like, let's set aside the fact that Sisko has had all of three conversations with either of them, so he barely knows either of them. Fenna dressed in bright colors with elaborate hairstyles, she talked about the excitement/anticipation of the promenade at night, she suggested impromptu picnics. As far as we can tell, she's spontaneous, outgoing, curious, and wants to explore. Compare that to Nidell, who dresses in muted colors, with a more reserved hairstyle. She tells Sisko that she plans to return to her home planet for the rest of her life (and she seems quite young). All that suggests a less spontaneous and curious personality, the sort of person who is happy to live in their hometown their whole life. Which is fine, but it seems to me that these two people are nothing alike, except that they look the same.

I get that Fenna is supposed to be a manifestation of Nidell's subconscious or something. So maybe she secretly wishes to be like Fenna. But that doesn't make the line work for me. I'm not certain if we're expected to agree with Sisko, or if we're supposed to understand that Sisko is only saying this to be nice, since he still has feelings for Fenna and doesn't want to hurt Nidell. Either way is weird.

Anyway, that's my complaint. This episode doesn't go down in the history books as an exciting one, but I sure did enjoy everyone's exasperated reactions to the terraformer dude.

Would love to hear other people's thoughts :)

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