A salesperson trying to sell my boss 'managed services' said "nobody likes writing parsers" and I had to cut him off.

"I do."

I'm starting to wonder what the heck everyone imagines an engineer's job should be. Apparently I'm supposed to *want* to just sit back, go to meetings, shuffle reports, and ask vendors to do anything more technical than sort rows of spreadsheets?

I really hate how the algorithms on social media work.

I watch a lot of YouTube. Most of it is nerdy tech stuff or leftist content. I typically get a lot of that kind of stuff in my timeline. It's actually quite nice.

Then last week, I suddenly started getting all this weirdo 'regressive white man libertarian tech' stuff. Bald men who clearly get no pussy bitching about Xlibre or how the mainstream distros are 'too woke'. Grown men having passionate tantrums over things that no confident adult should have. That sort of thing.

What triggered this change in tone? I can't be sure, but I think it was because I watched ONE video from a right-wing political content creator, and the algorithm decided that the logical next step for me was to take my two interests and blast me with a right-wing flavored swirly of them.

Many cultures since the beginning of civilization have a 'great flood' myth. In the oldest one, the gods sent the flood not because of our wickedness, but because there were too many people making too much noise...

...and I feel that.

You're saying lunar flies are bi?

#lunarflyby

I was raised in an Armenian-American family. While Armenians are distinct from Iranians in many big ways, their proximity and the history of the region mean that there are a few cultural similarities. One of the similarities that might be lost on Westerners is how politeness, tact, and honor work in negotiations. It's compatible with Westerners, but works a bit differently (just watch how many YouTuber Westerners misunderstanding how the open-air markets work in Tehran or Yerevan, they think they're getting 'free stuff').

What we have done to Iran already has been... obscene. The behavior of an opponent who starts an attack 'ahead of the deadline', kills your messengers, and threatens to use their power in ways that blatantly violate the rules make it impossible to negotiate. An 'increasing show of strength/impossible situation' strategy might work in South America, Europe, or even Saudi Arabia, but it is fundamentally incompatible with how Persians negotiate.

I'm not sure if the USA is doing this out of ignorance or malice, but I'm guessing that Hegseth and Trump have chosen to ignore experienced staff on this matter in pursuit of their own objectives.