OK, just tried it with one of those old forms. Added a text field overlay and a signature. Even flattens before saving. Works great. Awesome, thanks!

Sounds like he’s on-the-fence about it.

Went to look up what XFA forms were (https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/experience-manager-learn/forms/document-services/pdf-forms-and-documents).

Most of the non-fillable forms I encounter are what that document lists as “Traditional” PDF forms, likely generated using older tools from print streams. For example, a school athletics release form, or a membership application for a small organization. None of them have any fillable PDF fields. The original expectation might have been to download and print out the PDF, hand-fill it, then fax the result back.

I’ll dig up a form like that I had to fill a few weeks ago and give it a try.

He notes that LLM vendors have been training their models on Wikipedia content. But if the content contains incorrect information and citations, you get the sort of circular (incorrect) reference that leads to misinformation.

One irony, he says, is that LLM vendors are now willing to pay for training data unpolluted by the hallucinated output their own products generate.

This looks great!

Can you use it to overlay text fields and fill them?

Most of my uses are basic. Like filling out a PDF form that doesn’t have proper form entry fields. These are usually older government or bureaucratic/healthcare/school forms.

I end up adding text boxes and entering values, or adding an X on top of a checkbox, adding a signature PNG file and scaling it to fit the size. Sometimes I have to add a highlight overlay. Then I save it all as a single flattened PDF file.

Amazingly, this is hard to do in Acrobat and a lot of apps. I end up using a janky, 10-yo desktop app that is no longer supported.

When designing large, complex systems, you try to break things down into manageable chunks. For example, the bit that deals with user login or authentication. The payment bit. Something that needs to happen periodically. That sort of thing.

Before you know it, there are tens, or hundreds of chunks, each talking to each other or getting triggered when something happens. Problem is, how do these bits share data with each other. You can copy all the data between each chunk, but that’s not very time efficient. And if something goes wrong, you end up with a mess of inconsistent data everywhere.

So what bits of data do you keep in a shared place? What gets copied around from place to place? And what gets only used for that one function to get the job done? This is the job of software architects to sort out.

The author says the more copies of something you make, the more complexity and ‘state’ management you have to deal with. He’s right, but there are ways to mitigate the problem.

Where’s the Baclava? Or if truly culturally insensitive, the Balaclava?

The Catch: https://youtu.be/7bLt2xKaNH0

“It’s over, Anakin. I have the high ground.”

Actions designed to equip faculty and staff with AI resources for improving efficiency and productivity include the following examples and more:

• Adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot

• Ubuntu desktop - the whole shebang including office apps
• PiHole ad-blocker
• Jellyfin video server
• Minecraft server
• Local LLMs
• On-site VPN service
• Home Assistant smarthome controller

So many things, and much more…

This is outstanding!

Not being based on “rengagement” or “monetization” means it’s purely interest-based, with a touch of serendipity.

One of BSKY’s distinctive features was to have “pluggable” algorithms. Fediverse would do well to support it so people who are not into the technical weeds could choose how their feed is curated.

ripgrep

It’s to boost the volume during Power Ballads.

Viagra

Cardinal rule of branding. Exposure is the name of the game. The more eyeballs see your thing, the better. As long as it’s not adjacent to bad things.

This could end really well, or really, badly, extremely not.

🍿

(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Microsoft and Amazon execs at their PR team meeting.

“Yes, you’re absolutely correct. Here are some discounts on Frog Repellants. Would you like me to purchase one for you?”

The Inca architecture is an important part of pre-Columbian development in South America.