I see a lot of discussion here about over-hyped AI, and then I see the huge AI bubble at my workplace, in news, in PR statements, etc.

Are there folks who work at companies -- especially interested in those in tech -- that have a reasonable handle on AI's practical uses and its limitations?

Where I work, there's:

• a dashboard of AI usage by team and individual, which will definitely not affect performance review in any way
• a mandate to use one AI tool last month, and this month a new one to abandon that tool and adopt a different one
• quarterly goals where almost every one has some amount of "with AI" in it
• letters from the CEO asking which teams are using AI to implement features from ticket descriptions, or (inspired by the news) use flocks of agents, asking for positives without mention of asking for negatives
• a team creating a review pipeline for AI-generated output in our product, planning to review the quality of the output... using AI
• teammates are writing code and designs and sending them for review without ensuring functionality or pruning irrelevant portions, despite a statement that everyone is responsible for reviewing AI output

Is all the resistance to overuse of AI grassroots and is the pressure for rampant adoption uniform among executives/investors? Or are some companies or verticals not drinking the koolaid?

Following up on my previous post: finished with the miter saw. Sanded the handle and blade, jointed and sharpened the teeth, waxed the blade, BLO on the handle, polished the reinstalled the nuts.

Seems to cut well!

The blade has a nice marking on it, hard to photograph. It's not perfectly shiny, but I got the bulk of the rust off anyway.

Working on the handle for the 2nd one. Sanding those inside surfaces is a pain, tips welcome. It has some big cracks, so I'm filling those with sawdust+glue.

Also working on a plane.

Disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled the metal. Sharpening in progress. Looks like it's missing one piece, a little washer that sits on the lateral adjustment arm and fits into the slot in the iron. Both wooden handles were split, so I'm gluing them before refinishing.

• In your Gmail app, go to Settings.
• Select your Gmail address.
• Clear the Smart features checkbox.
• Go to Google Workspace smart features.
• Clear the checkboxes for: Smart features in Google Workspace, Smart features in other Google products
• If you have more Gmail accounts, repeat these steps for each one.
• Turning off Gemini in Gmail also disables basic, long-standing features like spellchecking, which predate AI assistants. This design choice discourages opting out and shows how valuable your AI-processed data is for Google.

This has finally gotten me to take steps to deGoogle my email, Fastmail trial underway.

The move came as dozens of immigrants arrested in Minneapolis were shipped to the Torrance County Detention Facility, which is run by private prison operator CoreCivic, in New Mexico. One of them, 33-year-old Jorge Cordoba, told Source NM he lived in Minneapolis for more than 20 years and was in the country legally under protected Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival status.

Residents who spoke during public comment were overwhelmingly in favor of the bill, though Otero County Attorney R.B. Nichols spoke during a virtual public comment period to oppose the bill. He said it would disproportionately harm economies in regions like Otero or Torrance counties that rely on detention centers for jobs.

The bill’s supporters, though, contend that it would not force these facilities to shut down. Many detention centers contract with other law enforcement agencies, such as the U.S. Marshals, and would still detain people accused of crimes.

“We’re disentangling ourselves from the immigration industry that’s been…a money-making, for-profit machine off the backs of our neighbors and families and friends,” Chávez, one of the bill’s sponsors, told Source NM. “I think that it sends a message to the rest of the country.”

Most of the nuts came out with minimal force, but the last one just spins in place. I tried rubber gloves, painter's tape, and duct tape to get a better grip. I'd rather not cut a slot in the domed nut if there's another good strategy.

The rest of the restoration underway:

$15 at an estate sale, I was definitely prepared to pay more. I've seen people finding such cool stuff at secondhand shops and had no luck myself, so I'm hoping I can get some life out of these.

Also got a plane (one of the adjustments doesn't work but otherwise looks decent) and a Heath Kit power supply.

I found this table on the curb a while back, less the leg hardware. No a relative could use it, and I'm wondering how to fix it up.

Cut a couple 2x4 sections to fill the truncated-triangular area and screw through them into all surfaces?

The legs have a hollow center drilled out, at the top, so I assume some metal piece with threaded holes fit there, and a metal plate anchored that to the skirt (?).

Another view:

Left is what I've picked so far, right is a batch off eBay. They're proving tricky so far. I'm trying top-of-the-keyway tension, getting a number of sets, but haven't gotten any open. Videos online show spool pins for the Master locks.

The third step, burnishing the edge, at a slight angle towards the face “turns the burr upwards”. The SEM clearly shows a blade-like bevel has been formed, perpendicular to the card face. However, rather than simply turning the burr, metal has been reformed, and the burr has buckled rather than rotating. Additionally, the burnishing rod has honed the side of the bevel, removing metal just as a honing rod removes metal to restore a knife edge.

I've been struggling to sharpen my card scraper, and was happily surprised to see that scienceofsharp.com has an article (from 2019) that helps visualize the burr structure.

I haven't gotten around to making a nice board with slots for each hone, and for some reason this setup wasn't obvious to me so I thought I'd share. Front is against a bench dog, back is pressed against the rubber foot of the edge of the bench. It is easy to swap in the different hones, and doesn't scoot around.

(Still figuring out how to put a burr on that card scraper though.)

Bondi alleged that a "wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs." She added that the DOJ "will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement."

When contacted by Ars, Facebook owner Meta said the group "was removed for violating our policies against coordinated harm." Meta didn't describe any specific violation but directed us to a policy against "coordinating harm and promoting crime," which includes a prohibition against "outing the undercover status of law enforcement, military, or security personnel."

The statement was sent by Francis Brennan, a former Trump campaign advisor who was hired by Meta in January.