11 April 2023

The virus just knows.  Oregon OSHA issued a Workplace Advisory Memo, stating that it plans to rescind its rules governing COVID-19 Workplace Requirements for All Workplaces and Requirements for Employer-Provided Housing.  While Oregon OSHA has incrementally removed many requirements related to COVID-19 for general workplaces and employer-provided housing, until April 3, certain requirements were still in effect for exceptional risk workplaces such as healthcare settings.  While I can understand the fear, there was never anything like this for swine flu or other communicable diseases. 

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Oregon is dealt a blow.  People are leaving Oregon (especially Multnomah county) in droves.  Yes, homelessness and drug use are problems, but they are the effect, not the cause.  The cause is rampant lawlessness and unequal enforcement of the existing laws.  If you're a homeless bum, you can commit rape, murder, theft, vandalism, property trespass, assault, littering - basically whatever it is you want to do.  And you won't get prosecuted.  Whereas if you are conservative, you'd better obey the law, pay your taxes, register your guns and follow increasingly stricter gun control laws.  You'd better obey progressive manners and watch your pronoun usage and avoid microaggressing someone else.  Who can live in this world? 

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Coava Coffee is leaving Portland.   Miller Nash is leaving the Big Pink building downtown. 

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JetPens has their annual best pens review.  I can personally vouch for some of the recommendations, which seem to be largely the same as last year.

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We like to think of ancient voices as being the sources of timeless wisdom.  Sun Tzu's writings are venerated in the West that way.  But it was not always like that
Zhuge Liang wept bitterly when presented with Ma Su’s severed head. Since China’s famed strategist personally ordered the execution of Ma Su, one of his own subordinate commanders, this reaction puzzled some of Zhuge Liang’s advisors. “It is not for Ma Su that I weep,” he remonstrated. “I am thinking of the late Emperor, warning me not to use this man because his deeds would not match his boasts. The late king’s words have proved too true, leaving me now to rue my blindness. I weep to recall it."

What incongruous boast sealed the fate of the hapless Ma Su?
According to the Chinese historical novel, Three Kingdoms, his fatal mistake was slavish devotion to the military advice of Sun Tzu.
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I literally lost my biggest and best client to ChatGPT today. This client is my main source of income, he’s a marketer who outsources the majority of his copy and content writing to me. Today he emailed saying that although he knows AI’s work isn’t nearly as good as mine, he can’t ignore the profit margin.

I keep seeing people (myself included) saying things like, “it’s not a threat if you’re a GOOD writer.”

Yes, I am better than ChatGPT. But, and I will say this again and again, businesses/clients, beyond very high end brands, DO NOT CARE. They have to put profits first. Small businesses especially, but even corporations are always cutting corners.

Please do not think you are immune to this unless you are the top 1% of writers. I just signed up for Doordash as a driver. I really wish I was kidding.

Of course, some disagree.

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American's IQ scores are decreasing.  This jibes with what I'm seeing.  No, I don't think the explanation is that modern kids don't take tests as well.  The Flynn effect was still present as recently as 2008 - so it's not like we're comparing it to the early 1900s.  So it's not surprising that companies will turn to artificial intelligence if they can't get it in meatspace.

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Speaking of artificial intelligence, it looks like San Francisco's driverless cars need more of it.  What a mess.  I think driverless cars were a solution looking for a problem to solve.  Do we really need this now?

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Browsing the Web on a phone is different from browsing on the laptop/desktop. Smart Banners are an example of why that is, and why I limit what apps I place on my phone.  Everyone's after your identity.

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San Francisco is losing their flagship Whole Foods store.  Must be the racism and white supremacy. 🤨

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Legacy Health's credit rating is now "negative" according to Moody's.  Another casualty of Oregon's coronavirus mismanagement.  Don't get sick!

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