Ok - bear mode activated: I'll add 'The Star Bear' by Michael Swanwick, where a man's series of encounters with a bear in Paris echo his feelings about being a Russian emigre.

https://reactormag.com/the-star-bear-michael-swanwick/

You saying “bear mode activated” reminds me of Dicey Dungeons...

(For those who don't know, there's a place in the game where, with a moderate amount of luck, you can trigger an item that transforms you into a bear, which changes your stats and available equipment, and you remain that way for the entire rest of the dungeon)

I am in fact a bear at this very moment.

Similar to when someone said that the rule of thumb should not be DRY (don't repeat yourself) but WET (write everything twice) - that is, be happy to repeat similar code once or twice, and wait for the need for abstraction to become evident.

It's advice I like, as I'm prone to falling into design paralysis while trying to think of the One True Abstract Entity.

I'm pretty sure I've seen that one in a list, by a French person, of things they wish other people wouldn't say!

> I don’t believe it. There are just as many variables involved in writing a short story.

Surely you're not implying that writing a good short story is a solved problem for computers?

Or because they're shy and antisocial but it's nice to think that they're part of the gang - as the original article was all about.

It's understandable, but in no way nice. One side is going to bring their authentic shy and antisocial self, and stonewall the invitations, while the other side needs to keep smiling and send invitations no matter what. This sounds slightly lopsided, doesn't it?

If you would like the other side to do you a small favor every time, it's worth considering to do the same. At least respond to the invitation with gratitude and a hope to maybe do it next time.

> while the other side needs to keep smiling and send invitations no matter what.

No one is suggesting one needs to. It's a choice. And when you make it a choice, it is indeed nice.

People have different capacity for social "niceties". Sometimes I'm full of energy and am happy to be Alexei for someone, sometimes I am Anna.

You can overcome shyness to some extend. Not getting invited anymore can also be a sign that the shy person has to change something about their behavior, instead of all others just accepting that.

>the shy person has to change something about their behavior

This is like asking depressing people to stop being "depressing"

For me the followup was the most obviously AI bit of writing - it's exactly the tone you get when the AI admits it's been utterly wasting your time.

My ex boss read too much Ray Dalio and it ate his brain.

Yes! The number of lousy articles and blog posts I've seen that talk about "imperative, oo and functional programming"...

Oh a bug, surely. How is the quiz supposed to give you insights when it's unanswerable?

By forcing you to make a decision without context.

Similar to how when presented with the trolley problem some will ask many follow up questions about the individuals on each track, the train, etc.

That’s not the point.

But here, the context is relevant, and the analogy does not change this.

> By forcing you to make a decision without context.

Not the OP, but what would be the point to that? In any practical scenario there is always context, isnt it? I guess I don't quite get what we are trying to measure here.

Cron is definitely not the biggest problem in my life. I've never had a problem with its format. I think this is a solution to a problem I don't have - and I tend to find that "English like" formats don't do me any favours.