“Suck who? I’m gonna do what you tell me.”

Man buys lemon from lemon store.

“Did I buy a lemon?”

It depends on how long you use it:

Year 1: Ok, this is kinda cool, but why does it keep fucking breaking?

Year 2: How is it still fucking breaking?

Year 3: I just don’t fucking care why it keeps breaking. I think I hate this program.

Year 4: I hate this program

Year 5: Let the hate flow through you, consume you. Feel the dark side flowing through your fingertips. Yes. Good. Why is it breaking? It’s the end users. Yes… they’ve been plotting against you from the beginning - hiding columns, erasing formulas and even…

merging cells

Que heavy breathing through a respirator.

Year 6: It’s a board meeting. They ask you if you can average all the moving averages of average sales per month and provide an exponential trendline to forecast growth on five million rows of data.

You say “sure, boss, I can knock that for you in Excel in about an hour or two.”

Your team leader interjects “I believe what he was trying to say was we’ll use Tableau and it will take about a month.”

You turn to him with a steely glare.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

Year 7: Your team leader is gone after you pointed out he fucked up one of your sheets that run the business by merging a cell. All data flows through you and the holy spreadsheet, and the board is terrified of firing you because no one knows how your sheets work but you and their entire inventory system would collapse if you leave.

But then the inevitable happens. Dissension in the ranks. The juniors talk of python, R, Tableau, Power BI - anything to release your dark hold upon the holy data. You could crush them all with a xlookup chain faster than they can type a SELECT statement. The Rebellion is coming, but you’re ready. You’ve discovered the Data Model, capable of building a relational database behind the hidden moons of Power Pivot, parsing tens of millions of rows - and your Death Star is almost complete.

You’re ready to unleash your dark fury when the fucking spreadsheet breaks again.

Year 8: New company. They ask if you know Excel. You just start cackling with a addictive gleam in your eye as tears start streaming down your face.

They hire you on the spot.

All they use is Excel. And Access.

You think, ok, this is kinda cool, but why does it keep fucking breaking?

Your points are valid, but I look at AI as an unavoidable trend in the tech space, which is why I experiment with local models. I’d rather understand how they work (and how to protect oneself from them) as I believe avoiding them isn’t really possible in my field.

Thus far, the local models I’ve worked with have gotten a C- on coding, but an A+ on bullshit. I think the tech still has a long way to go before it lives up to the hype, both negative and positive.

Ok, this part is pretty cool:

Thunderbird Assist will also be available. This experimental feature, developed in collaboration with Flower AI, offers optional artificial intelligence functionalities for users who want them while also addressing privacy concerns head-on. On devices robust enough to handle AI models locally, Thunderbird Assist processes everything on the user’s own machine.

However, for users on less powerful hardware, the development team has integrated NVIDIA’s confidential computing to keep any remote processing secure. Rest assured, those who prefer to skip AI services can continue using Thunderbird without these extras.

I’ve been unwilling to touch cloud based AI, much less expose my emails to it as there’s no guarantee of privacy, but being able to run a local model allows you the functionality without the risk. Haven’t used Thunderbird in years, but this is tempting me to give it another shot.

Lmao.

Dude, not even the English could keep the Quebecers from speaking French, and they tried for over 100 years after the Brits took the province in the Seven Years War.

Good luck with that one, Cheeto.

Hmm… the EV part is rough. You might be better off selling it and getting a hybrid for the trip (Civic hybrids run like a top imho - my 2006 has 240k and hasn’t had an issue yet). Charging infrastructure in the west isn’t great. You also have the option of storing more fuel on board if you don’t want to stop in hostile territory. You might even make money on the deal.

You’ll need money to flee, at least $10k on hand, likely more, to start the process for Canadian citizenship.

It will be easier to get to a blue state than it will across the border. Right now, all you need is transportation and considerably less seed money. It’s likely smarter to relocate to a blue state while you work out your international travel.

Since you’re in Ohio, the closest metro that will likely protect you is Chicago. That’s a good place to start if you’re looking to go further north.

If you can make it to the west coast, Oregon is likely the cheapest place to start, but be aware that eastern Oregon has its fair share of maga. Do not travel through or visit Idaho on your way (especially if you’re a person of color), and avoid Utah if at all possible. CO to NM to AZ is pretty safe if you’re looking to take the southern route to CA. You’ll probably be ok getting through Indiana as long as you keep to the freeway and don’t stop.

Same guy after reading all 11,200 comments on a reddit thread:

Someone’s doing the happy hunny dance…

I’m having a vision of this being further rednecked by using that cover over the bed as a launcher for DIY rockets made from MeeMaw’s oxygen tanks.