This is actually a really common scam these days. A scammer will call and use AI to replicate a family member’s voice and the family member will sound distressed and having an emergency so you don’t have time to think. Best thing to do is hang up and call that family member “back” to confirm.

If the writer’s eyes light up when asked, “why did the character do that?” then it’s real.

Is anyone surprised?

Worth taking a look! These notes are wonderful!

It was great seeing everyone this week at #agiletestingdays. Thank you for being such a wonderful crowd of folks. After this week, I feel ready for the next chapter, whatever that may be.

Posted on my substack all of the info I collected for my talk about the not-so-great side of LLMs/AI melthetechie.substack.com/p/the-cautio...

I miss the days when searches would ask if it got the right thing, or if it was even close. The assumptions LLMs keep making are missing the mark that even a simple search would have - with high probability - brought back correctly.

Will AI be the BlueRay of tech? Will Quantum computing remove the need for AI? (One can hope) www.msn.com/en-us/news/t...

Doing a little bathroom remodel that was originally supposed to be a 1.5 week job, that is now dragging into its third week. (Mostly for scheduling and materials reasons) Please tell me some of your remodeling woes. Mostly so I know I'm not alone in this.

💀💀💀

Excited to discuss "Software Testing with Generative AI" this week at our DevOps, AI, & Beyond Book club. This event will not be recorded and we're so grateful to author, Mark and @ministryoftesting.com community leader for coming live. Join us: bookclubs.com/clubs/25352/...

hi, cis folks! meet S.9. it's the senate sports ban for trans athletes—a big step to something making trump’s executive order federal law, which is much harder to undo. short call scripts for dem & GOP senators ⬇️. if you said you'd stand with trans folks, it's time.🧵 
legiscan.com/US/bill/SB9/...

Who's responsible for quality?

I'm a virtual speaker at #QSConf! Check out this conference and I'll be posting more about the date/time and the topic!

Prime example of picking a technical solution that isn't even viable yet over adaptive solutions/policies that could have an immediate impact.

I do :)

Ada Lovelace Day is Tues 8 Oct and around the world people will organise events to celebrate the achievements of women in STEM. Join us! Hold your own event, register it on our official map and we'll share details in our newsletters and on socials. https://findingada.com/events/c/add/

Since humanitarian aid can't get into Gaza, I've decided that for me, donating to enable people to get out of Gaza is the best way to help right now. I know it's hard to gauge if fundraisers are legit but I feel confident this one is. If you have some money to spare, consider checking it out.

I had a wonderful Pepe’s Bar featuring @melthetechie.bsky.social Please don’t miss out and get to know this wonderful person! @agiletdzone.bsky.social @trendigcomp.bsky.social

If you are working through the recent round of tech layoffs, and are an underrepresented folk, please reply to this post with your linkedin/website/github. If you are a tech person and happen across this post, please RT. Thanks! #jobsearch

We're still trying to close up the gap in digital subscriptions caused by Amazon shuttering their subscription program last year. If you are a former Amazon subscriber looking to sign back up or someone joining for the first time, your options can be found here: clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/

Israel guided 1.5 million Palestinians into Rafah. They moved the "safe zone" further and further south, until Rafah was all that was left. Now they're bombing Rafah, and people have nowhere to go, nowhere to flee. It's genocide.

Happy new year! How can we help under-represented groups to succeed in tech? I interviewed Charlene Hunter from Coding Black Females about how her org maximises the chances of Black women in the tech industry: www.madetech.com/podcast/epis... #CSudberyRecordings

Lesson for today: If you feel horrible and are about to make a decision, don't. Trust your gut, even after you think its too late, trust your gut/intuition. It's usually right, and if it was wrong, another opportunity will happen. That one wasn't right for you.

On vacation for the next two weeks. Thinking about 2024 with intention while wrapping up 2023. I have ideas bubbling. We'll see what sprouts! Stay tuned :)

Way too many of you need this advice on "what to do in the first two days after a layoff," right now. I'm sorry. www.businessinsider....

Gallagher’s shop sells lots of science- and sf-themed pins in LGBT colors. It’s currently closed so they can catch up on orders, but will be reopening in a couple weeks, and you can sign up to be notified when it reopens. www.jamiebgall.co.uk/shop 2/2

My goal for 2024 is to buy no more than one coffee a week. And preferably, that would be purchased at a local coffee shop. To that end, I'm buying an espresso maker/milk frother for my house. There are homemade mochas in my future! Look out!

OKAY - whoever greenlit a movie about astronauts going to war with each other because, in the movie, Russia and the US are at war with each other, I'm over it already. Just because their countries are banana pants doesn't mean scientists in a very fragile environment have to go full rambo.

I have turned 10 wooden fountain pens for a good cause. They sell for 75€ per pen. If you are interested, shoot me an email at patrick(at)prill(dot)net. More information also about the good cause can be found here. www.instagram.com/p/C0aGjNFIwZ...

My friend Jay-Allen Morris has created this free guide to help people who have been fired “I was laid of and I am not okay” www.jayallenmorris.com/freeguides

For a long time I’ve been thinking about why we are so terrified a child will regret a gender transition. This essay ended up being not just about gender but about all of our identities, how they shape us and, crucially, how we shape ourselves. www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/o...

As an experiment, I tried posting the same things to LinkedIn, Twitter and BlueSky. These were the results: 👇🧵

Let's spend hundreds of thousands to remove books from public and school libraries while children have to pay for lunches. WTaF people! www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...

It’s okay to fail, and the impact of the failure can be minimized by learning (and by slicing). Thanks, @heatherreiduff.bsky.social and #AgileTD!

Bafflegab - it's sometimes what happens to the words that come out of folks mouths after they reach a certain executive level.

If you haven't checked out my website/newsletter/blog thing yet. You can check it out at: https://melthetechie.substack.com

Reminder: During crisis events, uninformed and ill-informed “opinions” only exacerbate and perpetuate harm It’s best to (1) seek the insight of those with expertise, preferably gained through lived experience and (2) remain quiet because your ignorance is an unnecessary distraction

“I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them.” How an Archeologist changed KURT VONNEGUT’s life.

It seems strange that there are only three more months of this year. Wasn't just summer last week? I'd say I was looking forward to the start of a new year, but it's an election year - and I feel like - where the US is concerned - it will be an important one.

Are there any folks missing on my software testing on Bluesky list? Either reply or comment on the blog...

Hello #tech folks - if you are looking for an editor or proofreader for your next article or book, feel free to DM me. I'll be happy to help. #tech #editing #reading

Is anyone working on an approach with LLMs to enable "smart" infrastructure? If you are, I would love to chat with you!

If you haven't checked out my website/newsletter/blog thing yet. You can check it out at: https://melthetechie.substack.com

Hello! (wow this looks like a bird app clone) That's nostalgic. Here are some happy dogs!