A half-baked thought I've been kicking around...

Generally, when I review past decisions, I do so from the standpoint of "what can I learn from this that would help improve my decision-making process?" I get the impression that some colleagues think this is getting stuck in the past/unwilling to move forward.

If you never pause to make an assessment, are you doing anything other than operating on instinct and bias?

#ScottThoughts

@BoringAttorney @CompStoreVisuals Just a week ago, I had a conversation where I said I wished I had known that these places that meant so much to me (like computer stores, Radio Shack, and videogame arcades) would change and disappear so quickly, and that I'd had the means and foresight to document them with photographs, video, and my first-hand narrative while they were at their peak.

#ScottThoughts

I just had a thought that the introduction of the Impossible Whopper has probably done more to expand my non-meat consumption than any and all PETA publications and advertisements.

Since this is social media (land of bad faith takes), let me emphasize that I'm not making that statement to be confrontational or controversial. It's a random thought that popped into my head, but one that I think might have value. #ScottThoughts #vegetarianism

Summer nearing its end always seems to catch me unprepared. After several decades of seasonal cycles, you'd think I'd be ready.

It feels like 4th of July was only a few days ago - plenty of summer left. No need to rush. Now I'm less than a week away from our kids starting school. Where did the summer go?

#ScottThoughts

I wished my statistics-based MS program had made even a token effort to explain that rejecting the null hypothesis at the 95% confidence level does not mean there’s a 95% chance the original hypothesis is true.

See:
1. Replication crisis
2. XKCD #882

#ScottThoughts #Statistics

I'm pretty lousy at remembering names. My memory such that it is, tends to be associative. I can remember that so-and-so was part of the X Project and was very knowledgeable about Y. Having that list of contacts was helpful to put a name on a memory. #ScottThoughts

I really hate software UI changes, and that is doubled when the update is compulsory.

I was forced to switch from Microsoft Skype to Teams, and they switched off Skype half a day earlier than scheduled. Unfortunately, I hadn't made a snapshot yet of my carefully organized by group user list in Skype before they did that. 10+ years of contact building, gone.

Obviously in hindsight, I should've been keeping that info elsewhere. #ScottThoughts

Does anyone remember tech posters? They were sheets with parameters to frequently used programming functions, UNIX commands, etc. In the 1990s (without always-on Internet), they were real life savers. Even in the 2020s, they can save time & energy.

The last 2 weeks, I've been wishing I had one for SAS string manipulation functions. I'm guessing such a thing doesn't exist, so maybe I have to make it myself. LMK if you have one.

#SAS #SASProgramming #ScottIdeas #ScottThoughts

I know some people fundamentally hate the idea, but I'd really love to see #Microsoft #Office365 + #OneDrive make it to the #XBox console platform. Supposedly the last 2 generations of XBox are based on PC architecture, so I'd think porting would be easier than the work they did to support Android and iOS. Both consoles already have mouse + keyboard support. In some households, an older XBox One might be the only computing resource available.

#ScottThoughts

Some folks are quite open about the fact that they don't care if the masses have a satisfying transition from birdsite to here. Cool. Just don't ever brag about how Mastodon is going to overtake melon husk's birdsite, because converting the masses is what it would take to do that.

In fairness with all of the above, I was active for 10+ years on birdsite. It may take longer than 6 months on Mastodon to get meet even my very low expectations of engagement.

2/2

#ScottThoughts

Some folks are quite open about the fact that they don't care if the masses have a satisfying transition from birdsite to here. Cool. Just don't ever brag about how Mastodon is going to destroy melon husk's birdsite, because converting the masses is what it would take to do that.

In fairness with all of the above, I was active for 10+ years on birdsite. It may take longer than 6 months on Mastodon to get meet even my very low expectations of engagement.

2/2

#ScottThoughts

I've seen one too many "helpful" statements similar to "if you don't enjoy Mastodon, it's because you didn't do X. Do X and with time, you'll love it."

On the plus side, I've seen a few people be honest about the fact that Mastodon can have a steep onramp for new users.

I've been on Mastodon just over 6 months. I've put effort into it & mostly discontinued with birdsite. The net result is I mostly feel like I'm screaming into the void on Mastodon.

1/2 #ScottThoughts

In a YT video comments section, some bigot said "why do you need marriage? If youre gay, you dont believe in God, so you dont believe in marriage. Doesnt make any sense."

There's lots of reasons why this is ridiculous nonsense, starting with the fact that marriage offers many legal benefits that even atheists and agnostics choose to participate in.

As I thought about this, I realized this person uses their personal religion as a cudgel to beat others they hate ⁠— sad. #ScottThoughts

To date, all humans who first took a breath of air more than 123 years ago have since died.

Applying the principle of post hoc, ergo propter hoc, we conclude that...

#ScottThoughts #ScottHumor #DryHumor

I'm drafting a new document based largely on text lifted from one written last year, and it's odd seeing two spaces after each sentence. I switched to one space about 15 years ago, and I felt like a late adopter then.

I've changed all the two spaces to a single space, and I wonder if anyone will notice. I'm pretty sure the previous author is on the committee that will review my draft tomorrow.

#ScottThoughts

I'm drafting a new document based largely on text lifted from one written last year, and it's odd seeing two spaces after each sentence. I switched about 15 years ago to one space, and I felt like a late adopter then.

I've changed all the two spaces to a single space, and I wonder if anyone will notice. I'm pretty sure the previous author is on the committee that will review my draft tomorrow.

#ScottThoughts

I'm drafting a new document based largely on text from an older one, and it's odd seeing two spaces after each sentence. I switched about 15 years ago to one space, and I felt like a late adopter then.

#ScottThoughts

When I was a full-time college student, I looked forward to having a big career and paycheck.

Now that I have the paycheck and career, I wish I could just be a full-time college student. I'm sure part of it is I've forgotten the strain of constant deadlines. A lot of it is that I now have the discipline and mental tools to be a very successful student, balancing fun with deadlines. A lot of it is that I truly enjoy the studying and the learning.

#ScottThoughts

I get that search on Mastodon is a topic that many people have Big Opinions on, and I don't want to go there. However, I just discovered / realized I can't even search my own Toots. I feel like this is a big let-down.

One of my main use cases for Twitter/Mastodon is as a journal. Do I have to meticulously tag every single Toot to have any chance to recall what I've written about a topic?

#ScottThoughts #MastodonThoughts #MastodonSearch