#how to send email with python

[fimbry]

This is going to be a long post, a mix of what happened and then what Charlie meant to me. TW pet death

Charlie has passed away after eating 2 bad rats from Big Cheese Rodent Factory. She regurgitated 3 days after feeding and died two days later. I have been purchasing f/t rats from Big Cheese for years, and if my friend hadn't been having these same problems with the same batch of jumbo rats I would have thought this could be a freak incident or a mistake on my part. However, my friend's snakes are also regurgitating and one has died after eating these jumbo rats, and we bought them during the same Mother's Day sale. Same batch. I'll be getting a necropsy on Charlie to see if that has any answers as to what was off with the rats.

Now I get it that sometimes food safety measures don't get carried out every time and most suppliers have some kind of scandal like this, but the company's callous response and refusal to even entertain that it could be their rats at fault is pretty fucked up and has me a bit heated. It's just a "coincidence" my friend's and my snakes are getting sick/dying after eating rats from the same batch. Eye roll. The money doesn't even matter to me at this point so I may not message them further about this, I'm just so upset over the cold response and the loss of Charlie.

The email response from them:

With that out of the way, I do want to share what Charlie meant to me. She was a very special animal, I thought of her as the "matriarch" of my collection as I have a good number of her kids and grandchildren still with me. Four of each actually if I'm counting, and I love them so very much.

When I got Charlie I was still pretty green in the hobby. Yes I'd had snakes for years, my cornsnake and then a couple ball pythons, and even a Sumatran short-tail, my beloved Svid, but these were all very "easy" snakes... I learned with them, but I was not challenged the way that Charlie challenged me. I got Charlie as a full adult, she was my first blood python and I had not even planned to get into bloods until I saw her. I was planning to focus on Sumatran short tails, but Charlie changed things.

Charlie came out of the shipping bag striking and bit me on the finger immediately. Now I'm not sure if anyone remembers this but that video of the two little brothers "Charlie bit my finger" is how Charlie got her name lol.

The first 4 months were... challenging. I could not even touch her directly. I was so afraid I'd made a mistake. Charlie was a 17lb adult blood python, far bigger than my other snakes, and she was TERRIFIED of me. She wanted me to go to hell, and would send me there herself if only she could. We spent a lot of time together, just me sitting near her open enclosure and her glaring at me. Over the months we went from no contact, to minimal contact, until finally I was able to at least clean her without too much trouble. She liked routine, liked to know what was going to happen next. Any deviation from the routine and the trust would be broken, she'd be full of fear again. It was a few years of doing things purely by her strict rules.

Around 2014, something clicked. She began to actually trust that I wasn't going to hurt her and didn't have bad intentions. We seemed to have an actual understanding where if something happened out of the norm, she wouldn't react badly. I could even take her out for pictures and she behaved! Soon I was able to pet her, touch her tail (which I was doing a lot about now since I was trying to figure out why my "male" was not breeding, ha), even pet her head. I was still a bit wary of her, but we were in a good place. As the years went on, our trust grew deeper and I knew she wouldn't bite me, and she knew I was a safe person.

She also showed me how intelligent these snakes could be. She could tell people apart which became obvious if she saw anyone besides me. While I had earned her trust, others had not, so I refrained from taking her out if others were around. While she was a big beautiful animal, I couldn't take her out to show guests. I respected her all the more for it, if I'm honest. She knew what she was about, and I didn't push that.

Over the years she ended up giving me three clutches of beautiful babies, she did such a good job. After her last clutch in 2021, she started showing her age. She was nearing 20 years old, if not over, and had begun getting wrinkled scales and grew a cataract in one eye. I decided to retire her from breeding and let her enjoy her golden years in peace. Pythons can live a very long time, so I expected to have another ~10 years with her.

I'm devastated that her retirement was cut short like this, devastated that I was robbed of more time together. We had both grown and changed a lot over the last 12 years together, and she really was a picture of "to be loved is to be changed." My sweet old lady who knew me, and I knew her. ♥

[pendraegon]

should i go to grad school?

joke answer: no

actual answer: i would say it depends! what is it that you want to do? is the job or position you want necessitate a masters or even a phd? are you interested in a masters? a phd? why? do you want to go into grad school because you like researching or because you want to be a professor bc those are two VERY different things. i would say if you are still in undergrad and are debating this — talk to your advisor, to professors, and to grad students around you! see if you can audit a graduate level course for a semester so you can see and have a feel for what is expected at a graduate level especially if you haven't had experience with writing a thesis. you can also audit a graduate level course even if you are not part of a university by emailing both the professor of a course you're interested in and academic services to see what amount you have to pay for the class and what not (i actually did this route at first! i took a graduate level course with a university online just to see if i would enjoy graduate level classes as it had been a long time since i had been in undergrad and i had no prior experience with graduate level work before applying to grad school). do you like research? do you know how to code — or rather, do you not mind coding because i am telling you right now you WILL have to code in grad school whether you like it or not (and in my experience, they will not teach you how to code, it's more of a "teach yourself" kinda moment if you don't know R or SPSS or Python or whatever program your department/field uses). i would say the more people you talk to the better and most important, talk to people WITHIN that department you're interested in. a big part of grad school that lots of people overlook (besides the whole lack of school/life/work balance and how much you will want to die) is that your grad school experience and your thesis/dissertation ultimately rests A LOT on your relationship with your advisor and whether or not your advisor is a good fit for YOU and YOU RESEARCH/INTERESTS!!! that's probably the biggest thing you should factor in if you're genuinely interested into grad school — whether or not the program you are interested in actually has professionals working there who are [1] interested in adjacent fields to your research or your research specifically and [2] are interested in what YOU have to offer as well and will actually give proper and timely feedback and care about your success. before you apply to grad schools, it's a good idea to send out emails to professors that you would like to work with.

also. if ur in the states, you WILL have to take the gre. know if you have to take only the general or a specific vers of the gre or both — and the test is NAWT cheap (nor are the applications TO grad school itself). make sure you keep in mind the financial costs of grad school as well as the fact that master students in the states do NOT get stipends.

[randamhajile]

Interview + Resume Guide from a Hiring Manager in Tech

Writing this because I am losing my MINDT at how BAD the entry level candidates I am getting are interviewing. I have done over 100 interviews over the last several years and this is just my experience, which is tailored for tech jobs, but most of these principles would apply to everything, I’d think. There are also some tips in there on how to make a good resume and cover letter + how to follow up on applications (yes you can do that and sometimes it DOES work… got me a job offer once!). Also if you are in the DC / Baltimore metro area, have reliable transportation, and want to break in to IT Systems Administration as a career, hmu lol

Contents:

Basic Do’s and Don’ts

Types of Interviewers

How to Control an Interview (Key Goals of an Interview)

Interview Follow-Ups (How to Write a Thank-You Email!)

Resume / Cover Letter Tips

1 - Basic Do’s and Don'ts

Do:

Be on time! 5-10 mins early is usually best for virtual interviews, 15 mins early for physical

If there are delays or issues, COMMUNICATE that to the recruiter

If virtual, test your audio / video equipment beforehand! 

Please dress professionally. Clean, UNWRINKLED clothes. No anime t-shirts!!! I once interviewed a guy in a Sasuke t-shirt on his living room couch from a handheld iPhone. He did not get the job

VISIBLY TAKE NOTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have questions for the interviewer!!!

Feel free to reference notes you may have pre-prepared! Make a show of it. It demonstrates you can record information efficiently and can self-structure, it’s NOT cheating, it’s GOOD! 

MAKE SURE YOU CAN TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING ON YOUR RESUME IN DETAIL! If it’s there, it’s there for a reason! 

Thank the interviewer for their time!

SEND A THANK-YOU EMAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my God like NOBODY does this anymore… super easy way to distinguish yourself here, seriously

Make sure you know the key requirements of the job description so you can talk about them and how you fit them!

Might be overkill, but never hurts to look up the interviewer on LinkedIn to understand their background

Research the company you are trying to work for! Don’t need an essay here, just a basic understanding of what they are about

If you have unemployment gaps, make sure you have a good story to explain them that shows you were doing something meaningful with that time

Don’t:

Don’t be late or unkempt! Please bathe… 

If virtual, don’t worry about taking an interview while working – If you have to take an interview from a break room or your car, you can always spin that positively – mention how you are taking the interview while on break, and how you are excited for the opportunity and did what you could to accommodate the interviewers. We know sometimes it just be like that

If virtual, don’t have a messy background!!!! [damn bitch you live like this meme]

DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT derail a question! If there’s one thing that is just AWFUL it’s when someone asks you a question you don’t know the answer to, and you derail it to something you DO know… incredibly annoying and you WILL end up rambling

Don’t say you don’t know something and just leave it at that! It’s always okay to not know something – admit it, and say how you will fix that knowledge gap

Don’t wildly guess answers to questions! If you have to guess, say that you are doing so. There are few things as damning as guessing incorrectly with confidence

DO NOT RAMBLE! Keep your responses short and to the point!!! Don’t talk for more than 1 minute, 2 minutes straight at MAX

With that, DON���T LIE ON YOUR RESUME!!!! DO NOT! LIE! ON YOUR RESUME! DON’T! You WILL end up looking a fool. Sure you can embellish a bit, but if you put down that you know Python and all you’ve done is one class project from 3 years ago, YOU DO NOT KNOW PYTHON!

Okay admittedly an addendum to that – if you ARE going to lie on your resume, don’t go in empty-handed!!! Make sure you are prepared to bullshit!!!!!!!! Seriously there have been soooo many times I’ve asked people about impressive, top-billed resume items and the answer is ‘uhhh yea I did that like once 5 years ago’ or ‘I once shadowed a guy who did this’

If you are going to lie about a key item on your resume, you better be prepared to put in the legwork ON YOUR OWN to get up to speed on it ASAP if you are hired. Do Not Fuck Up That Part. Otherwise you are just setting yourself up for stressful, miserable failure

2 - Types of Interviewers

Different people have different approaches. Some interviewers just want to see what vibes you give off, others have highly-structured interviews. Also in all honesty, a lot of interviewers might not know how to run an interview in a way that gets them the key info they need. It’s an art form. Once you understand the level of structure the interviewer is approaching the interview with, you can adapt.

You need to assess what kind of interviewer you have, and be prepared to control the interview in a way that works best with them. Have a few pre-prepared personal stories about your hobbies, working accomplishments, challenges you’ve overcome, etc. that you can easily launch in to while you’re figuring out what the interviewer is like.

3 - How to Control an Interview (Key Goals of an Interview)

Key Goals of an Interview:

Give off good vibes

Demonstrate how you fit the key requirements of the job description

Differentiate yourself from others

Do this all in a very limited amount of time

For 1, good vibes: you want to be attentive, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Ultimately a hiring manager will be looking for one HUGE thing – will you be EASY to manage? As in, do you have the skills, and the wisdom to use them, or learn them? This is why visibly taking notes is really great – shows initiative and organization. You don’t necessarily need to be a social butterfly either, but you have to at least attempt a friendly demeanor. If you are super nervous, it’s also okay to admit that! You can always spin it to say that it’s because you are just super excited about this opportunity, and want to make sure you have a good conversation that demonstrates the value you’ll bring to the role.

For 2, fitting the job: this is where knowing the job description and a background on the company helps. There are soooo many people I’ve interviewed who had essentially no plan for the interview – they are just rawdogging that call. You need to be able to toot your own horn – make sure you have talking points for the top-billed parts of the job description, and that you know what your best features are and how to explain them. 

For 3, differentiating yourself: this is like your Jeopardy post-commercial quirky story. You don’t need much, just maybe one or two things that make you unique. If you look up the interviewer’s LinkedIn beforehand, you can perhaps even specifically appeal to them. Standing out is a huge challenge, because the interviewers usually have onslaughts of applicants.

For 4, time control – this is where everyone fucks up lol. You usually have 30 minutes or an hour to plead your case, and that time will FLY BY. This is where understanding your interviewer is critical.

If your interviewer is UNSTRUCTURED: you will need to take a lot more control of the interview. Your interviewer might get sidetracked talking about personal stories or one specific job topic, and will miss hearing out about how you fit others. You will need to segue to other key points in the job description – you can also be totally honest, if you are going down one rabbit hole and missing another, you can straight up ask the interviewer if you can change subjects, because you want to make sure you talk about everything in the job description in your limited time. If you are polite about this, it’s fine! The interviewer will most likely appreciate your focus and direction. Make sure you also leave time at the end to ask the interviewer questions.  

If your interviewer is STRUCTURED: this is a bit easier. Follow the structure, but keep an eye on the clock – if you are nearing the final quarter of the interview and haven’t hit your key points that demonstrate why you fit the job description, it is also perfectly acceptable to ask the interviewer if you can speak about a few key things you feel are relevant to the job. Just say you want to respect their time, and would like to make sure you communicate what you can bring to the table. Don’t worry about being humble lol this is your time to shine. 

4 - Interview Follow-Ups and Thank-You Emails

SEND THANK YOU EMAILS!!! SEND THANK YOU EMAILS!!!!!! SEND THANK YOU EMAILS!!!! This is not a bootlicking thing this is a cool and sexy lifehack because seriously, no one does this anymore. You WILL stand out if you do so. Writing a thank-you email is exceptionally easy too. I always follow the motto “Too Short To Suck” – keep it very simple:

Subject Line: Include A Thank You and The Name of the Role

Hello [Interviewer(s)],

Thank them for their time and talking with you about the job. Include ONE sentence (okay, maybe two short ones) about why you are excited for this opportunity, because of XYZ thing you have that adds value to the role. Final sentence re-iterating your excitement for the role, and that you look forward to hearing back soon.

Signature

Example:

Subject: Thanks for Talking About The Tech Analyst Role at Company Inc.!

Hello Interviewer(s),

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today about the Tech Analyst Role with Company Inc! It was a pleasure talking, and after learning more about the job, I am quite excited for this opportunity, as I know my organizational skills and experience with Microsoft Azure will provide a good framework for me to grow and contribute to Company Inc’s success. I am looking forward to hearing back soon, and thanks in advance for your time and consideration.

Thank you,

Tumblr User Randam Hajile

FOR FOLLOW UPS: if a week goes by without hearing back, feel free to email the recruiters / interviewers again and politely ask for an update on your application. If they don’t respond after that, unless it’s a job you REALLY REALLY REALLY want and think you are a shoe-in for, it may not be worth it to bother them again. Give it another week or two and then send a second email for an update.

If several months+ have passed and it’s still a place you really would like to work for, you can also email those contacts again asking if any new roles have opened. You have to understand that these recruiters are going through massive piles of same-looking profiles in SmartRecruiters or something like that, so having anything to differentiate is helpful.

ALSO – HOT APPLICATION TIP !!!!!!! if you send out an application and hear NOTHING back, but it’s a place you really want to work for, here’s an awesome tip that actually legit led to me getting a job offer recently: crawl the company website to find a PR or HR email address, and send a polite email mentioning you applied for [specific role], and that you would like to know if they are still hiring for it or any similar roles, as you have not heard back and are still highly interested in working for the company. Chances are they can get in touch with Recruiting to forward your inquiry.

5 - Resume / Cover Letter Tips

RESUMES: For the love of God, put some effort in to your resume. Do NOT use the default resume that Indeed or LinkedIn pisses out for you… I hate that so much. Maybe that’s just a me-thing, but I honestly think those don’t present your information very well.

The secret to writing resumes is that there really isn’t a secret – there’s no MLA format or one-size-fits-all template that works. You need to put some thought in to it to understand what you are trying to communicate, and here are some tips to do so:

Save it as a PDF!!!! This way you can be 100% sure it formats correctly when opened by the recruiter / interviewer

Format it correctly!!! Make sure there are no sloppy mistakes

I can’t believe I have to say this, but please, please have a professional-looking email address. AnimeLover2005@hotmail.com won’t get you hired

Add some class with a nice template. Find something a little snappy looking – anything other than a wall of barebones Calibri font

If you are artistically inclined, have some fun with it. My resume and cover letter are obnoxiously 1970s themed as a statement piece about myself, plus it stands out in an ocean of samey-looking resumes lol. Where’s that Jack Sparrow meme where he’s like ‘but you HAVE heard of me’ – that’s my principle, people will either love it or hate it, but they WILL remember it

Include your LinkedIn URL at the top of the page with your basic contact info! Also, have a nice LinkedIn page!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don’t put your home address on it. You can just say like “DC Metro Area” or something like that

Unless you have impressive references, or are working in an industry like Security where you know you’re going to get background-checked, just say ‘references available upon request’ at the bottom, and have those at the ready just in case

It doesn’t have to be one page! It can be up to two – if printing it physically, you can have a nice two-sided cardstock resume, but make sure the most key things are on the first page

If a cover letter isn’t requested, you can use that second resume page to include more detailed info that a cover letter would have

Use nice paper to print the resume – sturdy cardstock, and have multiple copies available to give

Remember you are trying to communicate what you can do, so get creative with presenting that efficiently – as an example, when I was a Sys Admin, I broke up my resume Skills section in to a 2x2 table that lists “Knowledgeable in the Use Of” and “Advanced Knowledge Of”, that way I could include skills I had without lying about my proficiency and bungling questions about them

Unless you are fresh out of college, don’t list coursework in college or high school clubs on your resume. You’re 30 years old. It’s embarrassing to list your Computer Club experience from High School. That could be a fun talking point, not something that takes up precious resume space

Include a mission statement at the top underneath your contact info – something simple like “Results-Oriented Technician Seeking New Challenges”; just something to summarize your best vibes

If you really, really, really want a job at a certain place, you can try tweaking some phrasing in your Skills or Experience sections to match keywords in the job description – that way AI will be more likely to highlight your resume for the recruiter, if they are using AI tooling (ugh)

COVER LETTERS: honestly there are better guides out there than I can give here, but basically you can create a generic cover letter where you only need to change out a few sentences to cater to the employer you are applying to. Keep it one page, and try to include keywords / terms from the job description in it – a lot of these recruiters use AI to sort through resumes / cover letters and want to find ones that match the job description. Similarly to a lot of the prior advice, you need to make sure you hit your key points about your best traits, relevant experience, and work ethic, and why you are excited to work for whoever you are applying to, and how these traits relate to that. 

I’m honestly not sure how many recruiters even read cover letters these days and how many of them just use them as AI fodder to help sort candidates… the positions I typically hire for don’t require cover letters so my experience here is a bit limited, but as mentioned, there’s lots of guides online on how to create a good cover letter, so do some Googling. They worked for me, at least. 

Anyway… hope that helps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go forth and get hired…

[artsekey]

Companies I've Applied To

I figured that as I embark on my quest to Get Hired, I should probably document the process for both myself and for others who are trying to get their foot in the door for industry work.

For context (and for those of you who don't know), I have a Bachelor's of Fine Art in Emerging Media: Character Animation and an Master's of Fine Art in Animation and VFX. I graduated in spring of 2022 after completing a fully independent short film, and have been working as a "visiting lecturer" at my University ever since.

My Employment History

When you're looking to get hired, your past work experience matters... a lot. Because of how intense my Undergrad/Graduate programs were, I didn't have a lot of time to cultivate my portfolio or bolster my resume. Getting hired by the University right out of college was a huge relief, but it doesn't tick that pesky "2+ years of Industry Experience" or "At least 1 AAA Game Shipped" prerequisite on most job postings.

With that in mind, I'm doing my best to push for the "or equivalent experience" caveat.

What I Do:

I've mentioned this a few times on this blog, but my professional focus is in 3D character modeling, rigging, groom, and sim. In the art field, this is usually considered a technical job, and from what I understand the market for tech is usually a little less competitive than the market for modeling/animation.

So, with all that out of the way, let's get to it!

DreamWorks:

I sent in my application for Character Tech Anim about three days after the posting opened. They had their own hiring website through nbcUniversal. I'd gone through the process before with internships, so it was pretty painless! It's a remote position, which is huge, and the salary would be competitive with the one I have now as long as I can stay remote.

Biggest con in my application is that I'm still missing Python proficiency. I'm learning it right now, but god damn is it an in-demand skill!

It's a job I'd love to get, and I think my skills in rigging/groom/sim line up well.

Process Pros:

Easy to apply.

Clear (and reasonable!) qualifications listed for the job level.

Honest about expectations regarding overtime and hours.

Allowed PDF uploads of CV & Resume.

Sent a confirmation email after the application had been received.

Had a section for "Additional Comments", which was a great place for me to throw in that I'm learning some of the skills they want.

Process Cons:

Likely will not receive a rejection notice in the event they decide not to hire. This isn't a huge con; the studio is massive and sending out rejection notices would be a time sink for them.

Advertised working weekends and overtime in the listing... definitely something I'll ask about if I move forward in the process. Work/life balance is important!

Had to enter my resume information and upload my resume. :(

Result: Too Soon to Tell

Gearbox:

I sent in my application for Technical Animator (Character Rigger) about two weeks after the listing was posted. They had their own hiring website. This is a hybrid position, which wouldn't be ideal, but a friend of a friend works remotely for them, so maybe it's negotiable?

Biggest con in my application is, yet again, that I'm still missing Python proficiency and tool dev experience. Learning it now!

I was missing a lot of the credentials on this one, so it's more of a hail-Mary application.

Process Pros:

Easy to apply.

Clear (and reasonable!) qualifications listed for the job level.

Allowed PDF uploads of CV & Resume.

Sent a confirmation email after the application had been received. Seems to promise a prompt response, which means I can likely expect a notice of rejection if they choose not to hire.

Company culture seems extremely reasonable and employee health is a priority.

Process Cons:

May have to relocate if hired.

Result: Too Soon to Tell

Aquent:

Honestly... no idea what was happening here. It was for a character rigging position, but it seems like it might've been for a broader hiring agency?

Process Pros:

Allowed PDF upload of CV and Resume.

Process Cons:

Had to apply for the job and make a separate account on their website to set up the application.

Confusing website.

Had to upload resume and then type up the resume again.

No place for a CV for the specific role.

Honestly, I'm not sure what company this went to.

Result: Too Soon to Tell

Steamroller:

Local studio that I've seen a lot of people go into! Applied for a rigging position in their animation department. Hybrid and remote are both an option for me!

Process Pros:

Allowed PDF upload of CV and Resume.

Easy to apply!

Received a confirmation email.

Credentials were clear and well listed; I matched most of the requirements.

Competitive salary! :)

Flexible work methods.

Allowed me to link to my website AND upload a static portfolio, which I love.

Process Cons:

Likely will not receive a rejection notice should they choose not to hire.

Result: Rejected (03/21/2023)

BonusXP:

Can't speak about the process much on this one! They have a rolling, general application process which means I just send in an email and if a job comes up, they'll let me know. Feels straightforward and simple. :)

Result: Too Soon to Tell

[maximillion-megasus]

TOON WORLD 8/21 BABEY

my compsci class at my new school is so boring i can't believe im paying money to learn that you can't type (""") in Python and expect it to work. actually wasted money. its fine though cause that shits gonna be the freest (erm not free) easiest a imaginable. like im bad at programming but this shit aint helpful RAHHH. but idk an a is useful evidence in my brainspace that i can attend classes and not automatically fail them by sheer virtue of being a lazy loser fuck

habitat for humanity fell thru cause i got class on every day they have sessions. im looking into a local org that does similar tool-y things so i sent them an email so that should be alr

WRESTLING CLUB AT UNIVERSITY 150 dollar per season idgaf gonna go and spladle some 🥷🏿s (read: pass out during warmups because the most i run now is bc im late to church)

erm applyin to some jobs that are closer than two hours away. i enjoy my clothing job cause it's nice to be a gay mfer and recommend gay clothes to gay people but two hours aaaUGHH

I don't know how people stay on top of things. every moment I'm awake I feel like I'm forgetting something. The odds are such that I'm correct. I tried to implement GTD but the requirements to clear absolutely everything out was impossible for me. them bitches be talking about years of build up of shit idk man

but who's to say I couldn't do it now right? classes are piss easy and they won't be for long. maybe...

holy shit. I forgot to schedule an appointment to get meds. this is the shit I'm talking about bros. I'm forgetting stuff that is critically vitally important all the time. I'm never not forgetting. I will never not be blamed.

if I go to the gym three times a week for the next month, then I'm letting myself send an ask to my favorite blogger hoo hoo

[mitchipedia]

I have zero coding skills, but I was able to coax ChatGPT to write a JavaScript tool for blogging

My goal was simple but it eluded me for ten years.

I do a lot of linkblogging on mitchw.blog. I prefer to have links formatted like this:

How Many Steps Do You Really Need? That’s the Wrong Question. Walking is important, but challenging yourself to go faster and higher can improve your health even more. nytimes.com

It’s esthetically pleasing, and the reader can see which website they’re being directed to. It’s the way Dave Winer formats it on the links page of his Scripting News blog, which is where I got the idea. I like it.

However, formatting links that way is just fussy enough that it’s inconvenient, particularly when I’m reading and blogging from the iPad and iPhone. I looked for automated tools that would work with my existing blogging software to create those links. Currently, I’m blogging on Micro.blog; previously I used WordPress. But I couldn’t find anything that worked quite the way I wanted.

Then I thought: Why not let ChatGPT try? I’d heard ChatGPT made an excellent coding assistant. Why not see if ChatGPT could do the whole thing?

So I did. You can read a transcript of my conversation with ChatGPT here, complete with code snippets, or read on here and I’ll walk you through it.

Getting started

I started by asking ChatGPT4:

I’m looking for a tool that would automatically convert URLs for posting to the web, to strip off everything but the domain and then link to the URL from the domain. The output should be in Markdown format. For example:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/08/world/middleeast/gaza-aid-by-sea.html would become nytimes.com

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-set-finalize-rnc-takeover-051211725.html would become news.yahoo.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorgos_Lanthimos would become en.wikipedia.org

You can see an example of that style of linking on this page: http://scripting.com/?tab=links

ChatGPT replied with a Python script that would do the job. I would have to edit the script manually to change the URLs.

A good start, but not what I was looking for.

I thought about using Drafts, a utility for the Mac, iPad and iPhone designed to be the place “where text starts.” You type some text into Drafts and then send the text to email, messages, Slack, your task manager, WordPress, whatever. It’s extremely customizable; users can write automations, known as Actions, to manipulate text or send notes to other apps.

I told ChatGPT:

Write me a plugin for the Drafts app that does the same thing using a URL in a draft. Here is the Drafts app https://getdrafts.com

ChatGPT wrote a Drafts action, along with instructions how I could install it. I ran the plugin and got an error. So I sent the error message to ChatGPT, which explained the problem to me and rewrote the code.

And it worked. The whole process took just a few minutes.

But then I ran into a glitch. Here’s how I explained it to ChatGPT:

Please modify the JavaScript so that if the URL starts with www, the www is not included in the output. For example, if the input is this:

Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans https://www.kpbs.org/news/national/2024/03/08/immigrants-are-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-u-s-born-americans-studies-find

The output is currently this:

Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans www.kpbs.org

Instead, it should be this:

Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans kpbs.org

ChatGPT revised the code to check for the presence of www in the URL, and remove that string if present. I updated the Drafts Action yet again, and it worked.

How about link previews?

Next, I asked ChatGPT to write an action that would generate a link preview in a post, in the style of Facebook, Mastodon, Threads, etc. I got that idea from the recent kottke.org redesign.

ChatGPT told me it could do that partially, but couldn’t fetch the title of the web page automatically because Drafts can’t access the Internet.

I replied:

You are incorrect. Drafts can extract the title. See this action for example code. directory.getdrafts.com/a/13y You’ll want to use open graph to get the information for the preview. Try again please.

ChatGPT corrected itself and generated an action for me. I got error messages and passed them on to ChatGPT, which corrected the action. We went back and forth until we generated an action that worked successfully. However, the output was ugly and I lost interest. Maybe I’ll come back to it another day.

Back to plan A

I returned to the original problem and asked ChatGPT for a slight modification.

Me: Let’s go back to the “Convert URLs to markdown” Drafts action. Ready to do a little more work on that one?

ChatGPT: Of course! Let’s continue working on the “Convert URLs to Markdown” Drafts action. What adjustments or additions would you like to make?

Me: I’d like to modify that script so there are brackets surrounding the domain link, with the brackets inside the link.

I provided an example, which included an escape character, \, in front of the square brackets, because I thought that was necessary to render the text properly.

ChatGPT responded with the correct code—which did not include the escape character, because it’s unnecessary.

You can read my conversation with ChatGPT in its entirety here.

I’m pleased by this, and I have a couple of ideas for other Drafts actions ChatGPT can create for me to automate blog and social media formatting.

[softlyfiercely]

modern life is kafka meets monty python. absurd story under the cut

trying to get electricity turned on at the place i'm moving to soon. went to the pg&e website, filled out their form. then it asked me if the place has free standing heating units. i clicked 'not sure.' a little box popped up that said 'based on your answer to this question, you need to call us and can't start services online.'

so i tried clicking 'yes.' same box popped up. tried clicking 'no.' same box popped up. okay so the form is a placebo. put on my big kid boots and made the phone call.

dude says oh we can only turn on gas, not electric. for electric you have to get some other service. i say great well can you turn on the gas then. he says ok, runs me through some basic questions, then says ok im gonna transfer you then BAM

he transfers me to a woman who is clearly reading through a script. the script is about internet service. i do not need internet service. i try to ask her about my gas being turned on. she gets huffy and talks over me and insists on finishing her script. i have to ask her multiple times, beg her to just hold on and let me speak, at one point i legit have to shout hOLD ON, PLEASE, JUST HOLD ON.

i finally get a chance to say "I don't need internet service. I just need to know if my gas has been turned on, and whether I can end this call or if there's anything else i need to do to get my gas turned on."

she tells me yes my electricity has been turned on. then immediately returns to her script. I have to once again plead with her to stop talking about internet and clarify for me whether i am getting GAS or GAS AND ELECTRIC. she is confused and tells me she is trying to give me a deal on internet.

at this point i am pretty convinced that gas services are all set and this is just an upsell so i ask her, multiple times, whether i can end this call or there's still anything i need to do to get my GAS turned on. she finally says yes so i hang up.

then i go to get electricity from this other place. i go online and fill out the form requesting electricity services. it asks me ZERO questions about billing or anything just the address and the date i want it turned on. it does not have me make an account.

i fill out the form. nothing happens.

a few days later i get a very short and cryptic email from them saying my utilities are scheduled to be turned on at a date two weeks after my requested date. no information about payment, billing, if i have to be at the property to get it turned on, but it says if i have any questions or to view the status of my request, to click this link.

i click the link. it asks for login information for my utilities account. i do not have log in information for any account. so i click 'make an account.' it wants my account number. i do not have that. i click the little question mark next to the box to see where i might find this information. it says it will be on my bill.

i have no idea how i am supposed to "view the status" of a request to start a service IN THE FUTURE if i need to have information from a bill that will be sent to me AFTER THE SERVICE STARTS.

i also need to tell them that i was hoping to move sooner and that them assigning me a random later date for services isn't ideal. i genuinely don't know what's going on.

i try emailing their help address and get an automated reply asking for my social security number. given everything that has transpired i don't feel great about this. i reply asking if there is any way i can get help with this situation that does not involve sending my social security number via email (to a 'company' that has thus far been inscrutable and dysfunctional.)

i have not received an answer.

[sydmarch]

things that happen when you accidentally go to a crypto bar I guess:

- there will unexpectedly be stand up comedy where a millennial girl is dropping f slurs and r slurs

- a random software engineer will overhear you talking to your date about how many emails you send at work & bring his friend and fellow engineer over to talk about how there HAS to be a way you can automate that part of your job. what crm are you using?? and it doesn't let you upload an excel sheet?? you could run a zendesk plugin but you'd have you know how to write python code for that. but you could get chatgpt to write the code for you!

[preternatural-codes-by-minski]

100 Days of Code: Day 7-9

Didn't log these days. But here's what I did:

My progress for Day 7: 30/09/2023

Worked on email scripts in Python to send out customized mails to people. You can send out mails from your Gmail address by enabling 2FA (2-Factor Authentication)! This was for an event we're organizing. I found out about React Emails a bit too late. We'll use it next time. 📨

Read some interesting articles about LLMs [this one creeped me out] 📜

My progress for Day 8: 01/10/2023

Learnt how to use HTML in emails. ::before, ::after doesn't work and you can't work with external stylesheets but you can work with colors and `<div>` to design pretty layouts. 📨

Worked on a lab assignment for college. We had to work with some knowledge bases in SWI-Prolog. I couldn't understand how values are bound to variables in queries, or in what order are queries evaluated. I spent 6 hours understanding why ?- head_of(X, draco) and ?- head_of(snape, X) weren't working for the same knowledge base even though it should. 💻

My progress for Day 9: 02/10/2023

Not really proud of what I did, but I managed to speed run through 60% of the GCCF course material in 8 hours. I was so panicked that I blindly copied some of the challenge lab's solutions from YouTube. I know I should be focused on learning and not earning the completion badge but somehow I always get more obsessed with getting the validation rather than getting any actual benefit from these courses. ☁

[kajenitsu]

When she had first made his acquaintance in real life , she was forced to swallow a storm cloud of anxiety and disillusionment - there, after existing only to her for the longest part if her life, well, all of it…all if a susden he was arranged in beautiful shards of himself strewn across her living room couch.

“I told you I’d come get you.” He had said, after that night and the secret not-secret overstimulation play and wild (hard) fucking, his hand tenderly wrapping in a python-like grasp of her torso.

She looked away, then met his gaze and smiled: “i wish it wasnt like this. Ueurrgh, why does it have to be this way? “ she drags the joint, hard.

I want you, he interrupts, taking the lit cigarette from her hand with creepishly long, delicate fingers. Draco was someone she knew from a book. He was no certain chap to know- he wasnt easy to track down. Luckily, because she was a world-famous hacker with budding career deposit gials given in every abd any direction, also hacking beyond systems in iOS - he spent his time in the late 2000s stalking her blogs and sending her torturously short emails, indicating his luring interest and sturdy, unmistakable devotion, how…. He was a character in a magic book, rather a snide extra if you will, but hence, she was still receiving his emails every so often, promises and all.

But they were torn apart by space and time, forces only god could hope to control.

Ten years later

She wraps her tendrils of deep, dark green in a top bun, and then tears apart her appearancenin the mirror. Wearing only a scant pair of black shorts, and a light sleeveless hoodie, she dodges her eyes at her reflection.

He watches her with surprised affection. She hasnt been this cheerful in a long time. He wants her to stay here, to realize that her life isnt as complicated as it seems. He can only appear to her in magic forms because she isnt as safe as they’d like. He us her protector of magic, and nothing is as it seems to them. They are living separately, in hiding, to promote the protective spells cast upon her. God says its the only way.

She glances at his features as they hover in the glass mirror. She looks, well, beautiful.

[themetropolisborough]

i’m thinking headcanons about how The Metropolis chugs along because it’s basically this corporate conglomerate where everything’s super congested and there are too many things to go see/do than work allows so the memes have GOT to be hits:

• surveillance state agent jokes (“...” “Stop staring at me, Risingsmoke.” “How do you know I’m not an agent sent from The Administration sent to observe you?” “Because, if you were, I think they should give you the pink slip because you totally fell asleep on our last three shifts.” “Or I wanted you to think I was asleep. Didn’t think about that, huh?” “I wish Cheesecake still worked here.”)

• catfolk doing the hand gesture for I’m Keeping My Eye On You as a greeting for the start of a shared shift/goodbye at the end of a shared shift instead of a handshake because it’s faster OR for when you see your coworker outside of work and it’s too late now to pretend you didn’t because you’ve made eye contact

• work is the answer to any question you don’t know (“Hi, Echo! Sorry to bother ya, I know you’re wrapping up that quarterly report. But do you know where Python is?” Lavendar looks nonchalantly towarda the horizon of skyscrapers outside their office window, pausing to seemingly take in the view before shrugging. “Work, probably.”)

• messenger birds who also deliver emails. so, an entire flock at someone’s office? That’s Not Good

• jokingly debating what their currency will be called once they’re on the same level as Sol and Luna (“Starstone?” “Polisstone, investing on the groundfloor.” “For the last time, Garnish, no cat would vote for the second-half of the word Metropolis.” “Solstone, Sunstone. Lunastone, Moonstone. Metrostone, Citystone?” “Listen to you Chatty Catties, bickering over what should be an obvious answer!” “Oh yeah? And what are you vouching for, Rabbitfoot?” “Skystone. After our, you know, skyscrapers. A prominent architectural marvel we’re known for in all of Mewmoia.” “Huh.” “Sunstone, Moonstone, Skystone. Yeah, it works.” “I don’t know. Doesn’t hold a fruit basket to Polisstone.” “Garnish!”)

• catfolk sending pictures of near-workplace hazards in their group chats trying to one-up each other followed by all the cats searching for whatever The Metro equivalent of OSHA is for which violation code it is

• ridiculous, no-one-would-say-this/please-tell-me-no-one-would-say-this responses from workplace ettiquette and Borough-sensitivity training videos being quoted without missing a beat between coworkers (“hey. hey, Aphelion.” “hm?” “‘I am from Zenith and I am requesting time-off for the annual Festival of th—’” “‘A. I shout: No, I will not take your shift. Should’ve foretold that before you came to me, Cliff Climber!’” “Oh, Eye in the Sky, that one still cracks me up. Do you actually think they think we Zenith-born cats would talk like this?” “The real question is do you think they think we’d find an activity only a handful of us participate in used as an adjective as offensive.” “Beats me.” “They really got to update this thing.” “Yeah, I’ll bet Sunstones that it’s been around since the inception of Sunstones.”)

• something something “Overheard�� accounts where the anonymity of a conversation is rendered moot because some cat just aired out how you’d tell off customers who are still perusing the Luna silk garment section past the last closing call

• the latest PSAs from The Administration are immediately edited as the bass drop at parties

• the saying “an eye for an eye” exists but it’s used to remark on a new business deal or exhcnage being struck successfully (“So, what do you say, Felidae? Do we have ourselves a deal?” “An eye for an eye, Opal Gleam.” “Wonderful! This merge will make us both very, very satisfied.” “You won’t regret this.” “I know I won’t.”)

• and this:

[piinemarder]

Time to overshare and then delete later

01: Do you have a good relationship with your parents?

Yeah, we get along well enough, pretty different people though

02: Who did you last say “I love you” to?

My friend Tae

03: Do you regret anything?

Many things, who doesn't. Nothing comes to mind immediately that is something that was in my control.

04: Are you insecure?

Maybe? I'm very uncertain of myself but I wouldn't say it bothers me too much.

05: What is your relationship status?

🚬🪱

06: How do you want to die?

OD in the forest

07: What did you last eat?

Speculaas

08: Played any sports?

Tried tennis, field hockey, football (soccer), basketball, ultimate frisbee. Nothing got my attention. Planning to start horse riding soon.

09: Do you bite your nails?

Yes but purely for maintainance reasons, i only ever bite them if they're annoyingly long and i dont have a way to cut them at the very moment.

10: When was your last physical fight?

Play fighting, probably in the last year. Actual fight, probably a decade ago.

11: Do you like someone?

I like many people (hah). Romantically? idk if i'm entirely capable of that.

12: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours?

I think my max was a round 42, a decade ago. 30-40h waking periods were quite normal for me then, nowadays I usually dont let it go past 24h and drug myself.

13: Do you hate anyone at the moment?

Not sure i'm capable of true hate on a personal level. I do "hate" many people in the vague sense of they're shitty people doing shitty things (bigots, 'phobes, etc.) but in a more personal sense of people i actually know, not really, I dislike many folks but thats a me problem.

14: Do you miss someone?

yeah

15: Have any pets?

Yes, green cheek conure, jungle carpet python, rainbow stag beetle(? he's currently hibernating so idk if he's alive), multiple isopod colonies, aquatic snails, a single caridina shrimp, some kinda spider who just lives in my bathroom, currently caring for a moth pupae that was displaced while cleaning gutters.

16: How exactly are you feeling at the moment?

hopeless, anxious, dogshit

17: Ever made out in the bathroom?

probably

18: Are you scared of spiders?

somewhat, i can coexist with them just fine, but I'd prefer if they are arms length away from my face if they r moving.

19: Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?

For a little while, just to have more time with someone dear to me, but i feel i am more mentally stable now so I wouldn't want to linger. If i could retain my stability and go back i would in a heartbeat.

20: Where was the last place you snogged someone?

outside a hotel in Melbourne

21: What are your plans for this weekend?

send an email, survive

22: Do you want to have kids? How many?

absolutely not, I am not equipped to deal with them.

23: Do you have piercings? How many?

Yes, technically four but in my head its two because they're pairs. Snake bites and angel bites. Did have my bridge for almost a year but it kept flaring up due to a shitty pierce job, plan to get it redone next year.

24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)?

Before my mental state got too bad I was very good at math.

25: Do you miss anyone from your past?

Question 14

26: What are you craving right now?

watermelon jerky

27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart?

probably

28: Have you ever been cheated on?

probably, its not something i care about tbh

29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry?

yeah

30: What’s irritating you right now?

where i live

31: Does somebody love you?

no <3 (yes, probably)

32: What is your favourite color?

brown, green, red, yelloworange

33: Do you have trust issues?

yeah

34: Who/what was your last dream about?

i dont remember tbh

35: Who was the last person you cried in front of?

my piercer technically, but that was not emotional and just a side effect of being stabbed in the face y'know.

emotionally, my mother probably, idk if she saw though because i just kept it to myself

36: Do you give out second chances too easily?

nope

37: Is it easier to forgive or forget?

forget

38: Is this year the best year of your life?

i guess?

39: How old were you when you had your first kiss?

idk probably like 4 or some bs, but actual memorable, consenting kiss was 18

40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked?

not that im aware of

51: Favourite food?

watermelon

52: Do you believe everything happens for a reason?

nah

53: What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night?

i am in bed, and before this i did medical aftercare

54: Is cheating ever okay?

relationship-wise, no, unless there is a an agreement of allowance.

In anything else, yeah

55: Are you mean?

yeah

56: How many people have you fist fought?

many, cbf counting, back went i was pretty unstable

57: Do you believe in true love?

Not in a traditional sense

58: Favourite weather?

overcast, foggy, cold

59: Do you like the snow?

yes

60: Do you wanna get married?

not in a traditional sense, i dont care about it

61: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby?

i dont want a boy or girl to call me baby. I do enjoy my partner calling me baby though.

62: What makes you happy?

nature, my parrot, my warm bed, driving

63: Would you change your name?

i dont really have a set name

i have changed my legal name previously, but it is generic and i dont like it, but it keeps me safe being generic so i dont plan to change it

64: Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed?

65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?

uh nty, not interested in cis folks, thats the closest to "opposite sex" i have ig

saying that, I only have one cis friend and i would probably consider it so idk lmao, I can fix him, uncis him.

66: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can act your complete self around?

again, only one cis friend, and yea.

67: Who was the last person of the opposite sex you talked to?

please no more opposite sex questions, i cant just dox my one cis friend

68: Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

Probably Aaron, idk

69: Do you believe in soulmates?

not in a traditional sense, i believe you can bond with someone on a deep-soul level but i dont think its predetermined

70: Is there anyone you would die for?

yeah

70 horrible questions ... Fuck it

01: Do you have a good relationship with your parents? 02: Who did you last say “I love you” to? 03: Do you regret anything? 04: Are you insecure? 05: What is your relationship status? 06: How do you want to die? 07: What did you last eat? 08: Played any sports? 09: Do you bite your nails? 10: When was your last physical fight? 11: Do you like someone? 12: Have you ever stayed up 48 hours? 13: Do you hate anyone at the moment? 14: Do you miss someone? 15: Have any pets? 16: How exactly are you feeling at the moment? 17: Ever made out in the bathroom? 18: Are you scared of spiders? 19: Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? 20: Where was the last place you snogged someone? 21: What are your plans for this weekend? 22: Do you want to have kids? How many? 23: Do you have piercings? How many? 24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)? 25: Do you miss anyone from your past? 26: What are you craving right now? 27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart? 28: Have you ever been cheated on? 29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry? 30: What’s irritating you right now? 31: Does somebody love you? 32: What is your favourite color? 33: Do you have trust issues? 34: Who/what was your last dream about? 35: Who was the last person you cried in front of? 36: Do you give out second chances too easily? 37: Is it easier to forgive or forget? 38: Is this year the best year of your life? 39: How old were you when you had your first kiss? 40: Have you ever walked outside completely naked? 51: Favourite food? 52: Do you believe everything happens for a reason? 53: What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night? 54: Is cheating ever okay? 55: Are you mean? 56: How many people have you fist fought? 57: Do you believe in true love? 58: Favourite weather? 59: Do you like the snow? 60: Do you wanna get married? 61: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby? 62: What makes you happy? 63: Would you change your name? 64: Would it be hard to kiss the last person you kissed? 65: Your best friend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? 66: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex who you can act your complete self around? 67: Who was the last person of the opposite sex you talked to? 68: Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? 69: Do you believe in soulmates? 70: Is there anyone you would die for?

[codezup]

Automating Tasks with Python Scripts and Schedules

Introduction Automating tasks with Python scripts and schedules is a powerful technique for increasing productivity and efficiency in various industries. Whether it’s backing up data, sending emails, or performing complex data analysis, automating tasks with Python scripts and schedules can save you time and reduce errors. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create and schedule Python scripts…

[calyptuss]

Exciting Junior Software Engineer Roles at Calyptus

Are you a recent graduate or someone just starting in the tech world? Junior Software Engineer jobs at Calyptus might be the perfect fit for you. Let’s explore what these roles involve, why they’re a great opportunity, and how you can apply.

What Does a Junior Software Engineer Do?

As a Junior Software Engineer at Calyptus, your main job will be to help build and maintain software. This means you’ll write code, fix bugs, and make sure everything works smoothly. You’ll work with a team of more experienced engineers who will guide you and help you grow in your role.

Your daily tasks may include:

Writing Code: You’ll write code to create new features and improve existing ones. This code will be used in various applications and services.

Testing Software: You’ll test software to make sure it works correctly and fix any problems you find.

Learning: You’ll spend time learning new technologies and tools. This is important as technology changes quickly.

Collaborating: You’ll work with other team members to share ideas and solve problems together.

Why Work at Calyptus?

Calyptus is known for being a great place to start your career. Here’s why: Supportive Environment: Calyptus provides a friendly and supportive environment. You’ll have mentors who will help you learn and grow.

Career Growth: There are many opportunities to advance your career at Calyptus. You can take on more responsibilities and move up in the company.

Learning Opportunities: You’ll have access to training and resources to help you develop your skills.

Work-Life Balance: Calyptus values work-life balance, so you can enjoy your work and have time for other activities.

Skills You Need

To succeed as a Junior Software Engineer at Calyptus, you should have:

Basic Programming Skills: Knowing how to write code in popular programming languages like Java, Python, or JavaScript is important.

Problem-Solving Abilities: You should be good at solving problems and thinking logically.

Communication Skills: You need to be able to communicate clearly with your team and explain your ideas.

Willingness to Learn: Being eager to learn new things and improve your skills is key to growing in this role.

How to Apply If you’re interested in applying for a Junior Software Engineer job at Calyptus, follow these steps:

Prepare Your Resume: Highlight your education, any relevant projects, and any skills you have.

Write a Cover Letter: Explain why you’re interested in working at Calyptus and what you can bring to the team.

Submit Your Application: Send your resume and cover letter to Calyptus through their job application portal or email.

Prepare for the Interview: Be ready to talk about your skills, experiences, and why you want to work at Calyptus.

Conclusion

Junior Software Engineer jobs at Calyptus offer a fantastic start to your tech career. With a supportive team, opportunities for growth, and a focus on learning, you’ll have everything you need to succeed. If you have the right skills and a passion for technology, apply for a Junior Software Engineer position at Calyptus and start your exciting journey in the tech world.