Daily Tech News 27 January 2026

Top Story

Intel's new B390 integrated graphics, featured in certain Panther Lake laptop processors, are genuinely a huge leap forward. (Notebook Check)

Previously the best mainstream integrated graphics were found in AMD chips, like the 780M and 890M units that are included in a three nominal generations of processors. Intel's latest graphics unit runs rings around them - 50% faster or more.

AMD still holds a convincing lead with its Ryzen AI Max family, but those are not cheap or widespread.

The one major catch here is that the B390 is only available in laptops with soldered memory. No exceptions. If you need user-upgradable RAM you get graphics running at one third the speed, half the speed of comparable AMD systems.

Tech News

Television is one hundred years old today. (Diamond Geezer)

Happy birthday, television!
After two years of vibe coding, I'm back to writing everything by hand. (Atmoio)
It's not until I opened up the full codebase and read its latest state cover to cover that I began to see what we theorized and hoped was only a diminishing artifact of earlier models: slop.

It was pure, unadulterated slop. I was bewildered. Had I not reviewed every line of code before admitting it? Where did all this... gunk.. come from?
Technical debt as a service.
In retrospect, it made sense. Agents write units of changes that look good in isolation. They are consistent with themselves and your prompt. But respect for the whole, there is not. Respect for structural integrity there is not. Respect even for neighboring patterns there was not.
What there is, is code spam.
We have met the enemy and he is slop: A new digital divide? Coder worldviews, the "Slop economy," and democracy in the age of AI. (TandFOnline)

Okay, one moment.

Ctrl-F "democracy"

54 hits. Never once do they specify what they mean, but it readily becomes apparent:
On one side are the 'digital elites' - those with the means, skills, or institutional support to obtain high-quality information and online experiences. This group enjoys reliable news sources, can afford ad-free subscriptions or premium content, and benefits from platforms and regulations that attempt to uphold standards of accuracy, privacy, and democratic values. Their internet experience includes credible journalism (e.g., The New York Times, BBC), fact-checked content, and fewer mis/disinformation traps.
Stalin or Mao. Those are your only options, apparently.
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, creators and operators of Claude AI, is a fuckwit. (Dario Amodei)
A country of geniuses in a datacenter could divide their efforts among software design, cyber operations, R&D for physical technologies, relationship building, and statecraft.
Yeah, "geniuses in datacenters" have a remarkable track record on relationship building and statecraft.

Just... Remarkable.
It is clear that, if for some reason it chose to do so, this country would have a fairly good shot at taking over the world (either militarily or in terms of influence and control) and imposing its will on everyone else - or doing any number of other things that the rest of the world doesn't want and can't stop.
Everyone has a plan until they get a Hellfire missile to the face.
Dell's 52" 6K ultra-widescreen monitor is a... 52" 6K ultra-widescreen monitor. (Hot Hardware)

And it has a 120Hz refresh rate, which is a bit of a surprise.

And it only costs as much as a dozen 27" 4K monitors.
Google Gemini can now help you find the best meeting time for all attendees. (Digital Trends)

All it needs to know is the full schedules of all of everyone, and then it becomes an easy task.

Of course, it already was if everyone's schedule is in a computer, so I'm not sure what problem AI is pretending to solve here.
Google is set to pay $68 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it recorded private conversations. (BBC)

Oh, that problem. If no conversation is private, you can't sue Google for recording it.
The Trump administration is planning to use Google Gemini to draft transport regulations. (ProPublica)
The answer from the plan's boosters is simple: speed. Writing and revising complex federal regulations can take months, sometimes years. But, with DOT's version of Google Gemini, employees could generate a proposed rule in a matter of minutes or even seconds, two DOT staffers who attended the December demonstration remembered the presenter saying. In any case, most of what goes into the preambles of DOT regulatory documents is just "word salad," one staffer recalled the presenter saying. Google Gemini can do word salad.
Great. Now it's regulatory spam.

Musical Interlude

Disclaimer: I lost my hairspray in a freak hurricane accident.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Good morning. If that's your thing.

Posted by: spug bugman's milquetoast morning greetings at January 27, 2026 04:03 AM (AqM0I)

2 Morning!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 27, 2026 04:05 AM (BLOW1)

3 G'Day
Its Monday already, isn't it?

Posted by: Skip at January 27, 2026 04:05 AM (Ia/+0)

4 G'Day
Its Monday already, isn't it?
Posted by: Skip

Actually it's Tuesday but who's counting.

Posted by: Tuna at January 27, 2026 04:11 AM (lJ0H4)

5 Good morning! Gonna be another chilly day here in Cowtown. The grandkids spent the night so we'll need to figure out how to keep them busy since there's no school today.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at January 27, 2026 04:16 AM (3Ope8)

6 Guten morgen, horde A♠

Posted by: clarence at January 27, 2026 04:17 AM (jgwdN)

7 Mornin'

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 27, 2026 04:21 AM (sAmhv)

8 If its Tuesday its a Bonus

Posted by: Skip at January 27, 2026 04:25 AM (Ia/+0)

9 There are two wolves inside you. One has a structured settlement. The other needs cash now.

Posted by: Chief J.G. Wentworth
Big Wampum at January 27, 2026 04:34 AM (iu6Qe)

10 "Their internet experience includes credible journalism (e.g., The New York Times, BBC) ..."

Haha, no.

G'morning, Horde.

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 27, 2026 04:54 AM (O7YUW)

11 Wolves?

youtu.be/9NKsIQYc2zs

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 27, 2026 04:56 AM (sAmhv)

12 At least a fairly close job today

Posted by: Skip at January 27, 2026 04:58 AM (Ia/+0)

13 @FenelonSpoke/96(yesterday's tech news): "Do you speak in a Scottish accent too? How much snow did you get?"

No on the accent. About a foot to a foot and a half. The piles of snow from people snowblowing and shoveling it are getting to quite the height. (I'm going to have to be very careful to watch for kids playing on those and sliding down those as I approach their stops on the bus.)

Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 27, 2026 05:04 AM (O7YUW)

14 we'll need to figure out how to keep them busy since there's no school today.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at January 27, 2026 04:16 AM (3Ope

Shoveling snow!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 27, 2026 05:08 AM (Zv8bq)

15
g'mornin', 'rons

Posted by: AltonJackson at January 27, 2026 05:10 AM (tljrc)

16 Posted by: Grumpy and Recalcitrant at January 27, 2026 05:04 AM (O7YUW)

I think we got over a foot. I hadn't thought of being aware of kids sliding down the mountains of snow. I will tell spouse that. They have a two hour delay today.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026 05:12 AM (Nx5jP)

17 This afternoon I will continue to chip away at the mini glacier the condo's snow removal folks left in front of my parking spot. I'm effectively trapped. I've been using old golf clubs I haven't gotten rid of to chip the ice. Glad I procastinated getting rid of them. The shovel is very good at SNOW, not small glaciers.

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 27, 2026 05:13 AM (sAmhv)

18 As a teenager, made some extra money shoveling out driveways

Posted by: Skip at January 27, 2026 05:14 AM (Ia/+0)

19 Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 27, 2026 05:13 AM (sAmhv)

Sorry about that. Can you complain to your condo or they won't do anything?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026 05:17 AM (Nx5jP)

20 I shoveled yesterday, today we take to the streets

Posted by: TheCatAttackedMyFoot at January 27, 2026 05:19 AM (jrgJz)

21 Morning, 'rons and 'ronettes. 7 cold degrees here at Stately Poppins Manor.

About 2-3 feet of snow over Sunday and yesterday. I'm too old to do more than shovel out a path for the dogs, so I hired someone to do the front and side doors and the driveway for $100 bucks and a bottle of Bushmills. From a distance, it looks as if the weather is going to be a repeat of 2015, where we had snow every weekend through February.

I am so glad I transferred to working from home. I would have had to be up at 2sm yesterday in order to drive to work.

About 30-odd minutes of work ahead, so I will take care of that and see you on the Morning Report.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at January 27, 2026 05:23 AM (ufSfZ)

22 Neighbor’s kid got 150$ for shoveling about 400sqft of snow.

Posted by: Accomack at January 27, 2026 05:23 AM (T8bqm)

23 Psalm 117

1 Praise the Lord, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
2 For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026 05:24 AM (Nx5jP)

24 Owner is an older woman who lives in Jersey. He was out all Sunday and made bank.

Posted by: Accomack at January 27, 2026 05:24 AM (T8bqm)

25 Posted by: Accomack at January 27, 2026 05:24 AM (T8bqm)

Glad to hear some kids are still doing that.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026 05:26 AM (Nx5jP)

26 Morning, 'rons and 'ettes.

Posted by: olddog in mo at January 27, 2026 05:26 AM (bQ4nt)

27 Evening and morning on this Tiu's Day in a bitter January (or perhaps an overheated one, in the case of Pixy). I'm seeing 29 F. this morning. When I headed to bed last night, I turned the central heat down a bit too much. It was 60 inside when I got up!

Last night on the ONT, I see, you were talking about "borrowing a cat" to handle a mouse problem. I've never done that. But my mother did. When she was living in an apartment with her cat Sparky a few years before I was born, she told me, her upstairs neighbor was a portrait photographer. He had mice. So she loaned him Sparky, who cleaned the rodent problem up quite neatly.

In return she got an excellent portrait of Sparky: a black shorthair cat with a small tuft of white on his chest. She kept that framed pic on a shelf in the house until she passed away more than thirty-five years later. I wish I'd kept it when I cleaned her apartment out.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:27 AM (wzUl9)

28 Greetings from the Carolinas. Not the worst winter weather. Clear sky and bright sunshine for the rest of the week. Still cold.

I don’t pay much attention to the Moge on the Big Muddy. I have Walz derangement syndrome. Very detrimental to my quality of life.

Posted by: Going deep. Out. at January 27, 2026 05:28 AM (zqeQL)

29 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:27 AM (wzUl9)

Nice story. Thanks.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026 05:29 AM (Nx5jP)

30 19 Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 27, 2026 05:13 AM (sAmhv)

Sorry about that. Can you complain to your condo or they won't do anything?
Posted by: FenelonSpoke

My responsibility. They clear the roads within the community, the parking space is mine. The fact that in the process of clearing the roads, they blocked my spot with a mini glacier, well, bummer. I'll just chip away at it later, and shovel them over a hill. (shrugs)

Posted by: Puddleglum, cheer up for the worst is yet to come at January 27, 2026 05:31 AM (sAmhv)

31 Good Morning all. Hope everyone is safe and warm. 15 degrees here in western NC, may break 40 today. Still iced in and no relief in site. Be careful shoveling that snow.

Posted by: Rufus T. Firefly at January 27, 2026 05:31 AM (t7DqA)

32 Kindly people in Indiana crowdfund for a new truck for an elderly man with a broken down old truck:

https://tinyurl.com/43abkume

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026 05:32 AM (Nx5jP)

33 Heatwave here today. Expected high of 32. Currently 8.

Posted by: olddog in mo at January 27, 2026 05:34 AM (bQ4nt)

34 In low teens but still and clear
Have a great day horde

Posted by: Skip at January 27, 2026 05:35 AM (Ia/+0)

35 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026
*
Nice story. Thanks.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026

***
I had lots of family and "when I was in nursing school" stories from Mom, but almost none from my father. Many times I heard the tale of how as a boy he had his bike stolen outside the movie theatre downtown and had to walk several miles to get home, but not much beyond that. He was a . . . secretive . . . sort of person. I knew he was an accountant (really a bookkeeper), but I had no idea where he worked. Though he did complain about the commute out along Hwy. 90 East to get to the NASA Michoud facility when he worked there for a time in the early Sixties. But that was not his longtime job.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:35 AM (wzUl9)

36 Kindly people in Indiana crowdfund for a new truck for an elderly man with a broken down old truck:

https://tinyurl.com/43abkume
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026

***
That's the impression I got from Evansville area people when I was there, that they would do things like that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:36 AM (wzUl9)

37 Super belated BOING!

Too much shopping with Mrs. BD!

Partly cloudy and hazy in Jerusalem, comfortable at around 59F

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 27, 2026 05:38 AM (UUvzi)

38 Best tool I had for scraping and chipping ice was a floor scraper from HD.
NYC is a great place for people who work for money and can live cheaply or scammers looking for marks.
It is a jungle.

Posted by: Accomack at January 27, 2026 05:41 AM (T8bqm)

39 Partly cloudy and hazy in Jerusalem, comfortable at around 59F

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 27, 2026 05:38 AM (UUvzi)

And snowing and -20 in Gaza!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 27, 2026 05:42 AM (Zv8bq)

40 27 Evening and morning on this Tiu's Day in a bitter January (or perhaps an overheated one, in the case of Pixy).

Not so bad today. A scorcher yesterday though.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 27, 2026 05:44 AM (BLOW1)

41 Can't shovel ice here. Probably break out the weed torch though and clear the driveway to make it accessible for the kids to come pick up the grandkids.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at January 27, 2026 05:45 AM (3Ope8)

42 “ Praise the Lord.[a]
Praise the Lord, my soul.
I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Psalm 146:1-2

Posted by: Marcus T at January 27, 2026 05:45 AM (zfkPG)

43 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:36 AM (wzUl9

Is that where you are thinking of relocating to-Indiana?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026 05:46 AM (ix8EF)

44 High today is expected to be around 48 and sunny; freezing again tonight, then 50s as highs until Saturday. Maybe I can go work out tomorrow afternoon and Friday.

Today I need to venture out for some dry chow for the cats, and a few other things. Perhaps I'll be smart this time, buy the big bag (close to $20), then put about six scoops -- two meals' worth -- into a plastic bag as an emergency reserve.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:47 AM (wzUl9)

45 And snowing and -20 in Gaza!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 27, 2026 05:42 AM (Zv8bq)

You know, the circles actually do get colder the farther down you go.

Posted by: John Milton at January 27, 2026 05:49 AM (06Hmj)

46 Is that where you are thinking of relocating to-Indiana?
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026

***
Near there, Fen; possibly Owensboro, KY, which is a few miles west of it and on the southern bank of the Ohio river. Stories I was told indicate that IN's electricity rates have gotten ridiculously high thanks to a new power company. Owensboro people had no such complaints.

I expect houses in both places, and farther north in places like Terre Haute, are built to handle cold weather, unlike houses in Da Swamp.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:50 AM (wzUl9)

47 You know, the circles actually do get colder the farther down you go.
Posted by: John Milton at January 27, 2026

***
Better to reign in hell and all that, you know.
( -- A certain big-time fallen angel)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:52 AM (wzUl9)

48 Oops; Owensboro, KY, is a few miles *east* of Evansville. If you go west, you are in Illinois before you know it.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:53 AM (wzUl9)

49 Better to reign in hell and all that, you know.
( -- A certain big-time fallen angel)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:52 AM (wzUl9)

I didn't vote for 'im!

Posted by: Random Demon # 5,347,103 at January 27, 2026 05:54 AM (06Hmj)

50 Better to reign in hell and all that, you know.
( -- A certain big-time fallen angel)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026
*
I didn't vote for 'im!
Posted by: Random Demon # 5,347,103 at January 27, 2026

***
"Democracy"? What in all of my home is *that*?
( -- A certain big-time fallen angel)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:55 AM (wzUl9)

51 "Democracy"? What in all of my home is *that*?
( -- A certain big-time fallen angel)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 05:55 AM (wzUl9)

Democracy is Cerberus and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

Posted by: Larry Flint's Shade, regretting his fondness for certain vices at January 27, 2026 05:57 AM (06Hmj)

52 G'morning, all!

21.2 degrees out.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at January 27, 2026 05:59 AM (iMotb)

53 Lovely pictures and a very nice version of "Amazing Grace" sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir:

https://tinyurl.com/2btm8d5h

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026 06:00 AM (ix8EF)

54 And it's almost time to slop the feline hogs.

I hope the little gray shorthair who stops by my front door for handouts found a warm place to sleep. We suspect he has a human home, but he was out last night. I was low on the dry food I give my two -- so he got the good stuff, some Friskies canned.

I can't understand people who "put the cat out" at night. Maybe in a small community and in good weather, but here there are too many feral hoomans -- and coyotes have been seen too.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 06:01 AM (wzUl9)

55 "Writing and revising complex federal regulations can take months, sometimes years. But, with DOT's version of Google Gemini, employees could generate a proposed rule in a matter of minutes or even seconds, two DOT staffers who attended the December demonstration remembered the presenter saying."

My opinion about this shifts back and forth, but since I believe that a lot of Federal workers are biological LLMs, I don't think you can end up with something much worse than the status quo.

I'd offer the option of reducing the size, scope, and power of the federal government as a counter-balance where you might actually be able to obtain and only use the "best of the best of the best" (whatever that actually means in reality) to steer the federal ship, but I cannot perceive a reality where that could actually happen.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at January 27, 2026 06:03 AM (A/zT2)

56 Interesting conversation with a family friend up in B'More, yesterday.

It's very cold up there, and after Maryland shut down many electrical generation plants, folks are shocked to find out that their electric bills are going up.

Yup...nobody saw that coming.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at January 27, 2026 06:06 AM (iMotb)

57 It's interesting about the vibe coding.
Around here, we sometimes look at code we wrote 10 years ago and comment how horrible it is.
With AI we can get horrible unreadable code right now!

Posted by: QT3.14159 at January 27, 2026 06:06 AM (mPXLU)

58 It's not only the feral govt. which is infested with "biological LLMs." I've discovered when I call to order something or get in touch with tech support, if the call center is located in Lousy-ana or a lot of the Deep South states, I often get a mush-mouthed "Whatchoo want?" attitude. If I call some place in the Midwest or the northern plains, the staffers actually speak English, are pleasant to talk to, and know their jobs.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 06:07 AM (wzUl9)

59 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 06:01 AM (wzUl9)

Pynchon went out for possibly three seconds yesterday and got hit with snowflakes and came right back in. Today it's 7 degrees and he was out for a shorter time. He the peripatetic cat- in the evening moving around from our room, to son's room to arm of a chair downstairs.

Today we're supposed to feed fixed stray cats. I don't even know if that guy has cleaned out his driveway.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026 06:10 AM (ix8EF)

60 My current book about the private lives of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh is swiftly degenerating into trash. I'll stick with it until the Gone With the Wind anecdotes are over.

The publisher, Blood Moon, even announces at the back of the book that they are applying "today's tabloid standards to classic old-time Hollywood."

I was not aware that tabloids had standards.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 06:12 AM (wzUl9)

61 I bought one of those propane weed burners thinking it would be just the thing for melting small icy patches. It didn’t seem to do anything.. And I wasn’t impressed with its weed killer roasting abilities. Impressive flame, but a more useless tool I can’t think of.

Posted by: Common Tater at January 27, 2026 06:13 AM (tE2Wy)

62 Pynchon went out for possibly three seconds yesterday and got hit with snowflakes and came right back in. Today it's 7 degrees and he was out for a shorter time. He the peripatetic cat- in the evening moving around from our room, to son's room to arm of a chair downstairs.

Today we're supposed to feed fixed stray cats. I don't even know if that guy has cleaned out his driveway.
Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 27, 2026

***
This gray fellow, who knows us by sight and comes running for his handout, is not fixed as far as I can tell. His short coat makes it clear he's still equipped. He's not a big cat, so I hope he doesn't get into any fights with anything bigger and meaner than he is.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 06:15 AM (wzUl9)

63 Birdbath status?

Posted by: Just Wondering at January 27, 2026 06:26 AM (2Ez/1)

64 Vibe coding doesn't get out from having to deal with unanticipated edge-cases which are going to crop up whether you wrote it or the AI did. You're better off dealing with it in code you wrote and understand.

Posted by: Halfhand at January 27, 2026 06:28 AM (z0w8y)

65 "I've discovered when I call to order something or get in touch with tech support, if the call center is located in Lousy-ana or a lot of the Deep South states, I often get a mush-mouthed "Whatchoo want?" attitude."

A lot of that is a result of DEI hiring, IMO. (The feds have a lot of that as well, TBH, with similar results.) In the case of a company, they probably got some type of kickback from some governmental agency to hire disadvantaged people to provide the support they would like to provide in the cheapest possible manner because that ain't new sales.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at January 27, 2026 06:31 AM (A/zT2)

66 The local Fox outlet is warning us ice may be possible on your windshield this morning, and you should use the defroster plus an ice scraper. I don't think I've ever seen anybody here using an ice scraper except yours truly. Do Walmart or the auto parts stores here even carry them? Maybe Home Depot or Lowes would.

I bought mine years ago from a co-worker's spouse who handled Avon products. They actually had ice scrapers in their catalog.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 06:34 AM (wzUl9)

67 "I've discovered when I call to order something or get in touch with tech support, if the call center is located in Lousy-ana or a lot of the Deep South states, I often get a mush-mouthed "Whatchoo want?" attitude."

A lot of that is a result of DEI hiring, IMO. (The feds have a lot of that as well, TBH, with similar results.) In the case of a company, they probably got some type of kickback from some governmental agency to hire disadvantaged people to provide the support they would like to provide in the cheapest possible manner because that ain't new sales.
Posted by: Richard Cranium at January 27, 2026

***
True, RC. It also depends on the type of company. A product sales company often has the IQ-challenged (or at least English-challenged). An investment firm like Fidelity should do better, and in my experience they do.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 06:37 AM (wzUl9)

68 That’s the punchline of an old joke about deciding suitable locations for retirement “I’m gonna keep driving south to the point where nobody knows what that thing is”

Posted by: Common Tater at January 27, 2026 06:39 AM (ayI3s)

69 G'mornin' everyone!

Posted by: sock_rat_eez at January 27, 2026 06:40 AM (Cjt/F)

70 "It also depends on the type of company. A product sales company often has the IQ-challenged (or at least English-challenged). An investment firm like Fidelity should do better, and in my experience they do."

Well, investment firms skim off the top, so you hanging around is important.

A company that sells you a product doesn't view you as an income stream; it views you as something that could convince others to not buy their product.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at January 27, 2026 06:41 AM (A/zT2)

71 That’s the punchline of an old joke about deciding suitable locations for retirement “I’m gonna keep driving south to the point where nobody knows what that thing is”
Posted by: Common Tater at January 27, 2026

***
In my case, it'll be north until nobody knows what a crawfish is, or at least doesn't think they are worth fooling with as food.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 06:47 AM (wzUl9)

72 In my case, it'll be north until nobody knows what a crawfish is, or at least doesn't think they are worth fooling with as food.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026

***
Me: * Shows pic of crawfish *

Local: What the hell IS that thing?

Me: How are house prices around here?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 27, 2026 06:48 AM (wzUl9)

73 "In my case, it'll be north until nobody knows what a crawfish is, or at least doesn't think they are worth fooling with as food."

I pretty much grew up in Giles County, TN. The only reason I didn't think that crawfish were not worth fooling around with as food was that I couldn't get enough of them.

Frog legs and snapping turtles were a different story.

Posted by: Richard Cranium at January 27, 2026 06:51 AM (A/zT2)

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