That sounds less like “70-hour weeks” and more like admitting only ~30 of those hours matter - everything else is vibes and calendar theater. Which kind of proves the point: forced 996 optimizes for visible suffering, not actual output or upside.
i would disagree with your dismissal of it as theatre. it's not forced, and it would probably be worse if I skipped those meetings :). meeting customers is not the same mental load as focused coding but it's still work that needs to be done
I say this as someone who loves SF and deeply mourns its decline: I think the genre painted itself into a corner by focusing too much on "Hard SF." In my view, an obsession with technology has often been a crutch for weaker storytelling. The genre works best when it serves as a pretext to examine the human condition—like Vonnegut or P.K. Dick did.
By betraying the ideals of humanist writing in favor of technical accuracy, SF has been cannibalized by genres that actually focus on the inner lives of individuals, such as the booming "romantasy" sector.
"Hard SF" is the defining characteristic of the genre, though. Soft SF is just another name for fantasy/magical thinking. Which is fine on its own but not really what sci-fi is about.
I wouldn't blame the demographic shift on female readers; I’d blame the accountants.
The publishing industry hasn't been killed by women, but by risk aversion. Truly groundbreaking SF requires betting on bold, novel, and often weird ideas. Financial departments and algorithms inherently favor safe, repetitive patterns (like romantasy formulas). You can't simulate the next "Dune" or "Neuromancer" on a P&L sheet, so publishers stopped trying.
I’d argue that SF should never have "grown up." Look at the works considered classics today, like Heinlein, or even Star Trek. At the time of release, they were often dismissed as unserious (TOS famously had scientific blunders like planets at -290°C), yet they remain cultural touchstones because they prioritized vision over rigor.
SF used to excel at selling "dreams" to humanity. By trying too hard to be seen as "serious" or scientifically airtight, authors sacrificed the sense of wonder that allows for mainstream success. We traded mass appeal for academic validation.
Summary:
On Dec 29, 2025, a coordinated attack hit Polish renewable energy farms (Wind/PV) and a combined heat & power plant.
Key findings from the report:
Attribution: CERT Polska links the attack to Static Tundra (aka Berserk Bear/Dragonfly), a group associated with the Russian FSB.
Impact: OT communication disrupted using 'DynoWiper' malware; power generation was not stopped, but remote control was severed.
- Initial Access: Exploited FortiGate VPNs lacking MFA and default credentials on OT equipment (Hitachi/Mikronika/Moxa)
- Timeline: Attackers likely had access since March 2025 but executed the wiper attack in late December.
I though I will test this case with Gemini 3 pro and bam: it nailed it perfectly on the first attempt:
The string "alemwjsl" is a classic example of a keyboard input error specific to Korean users.
Here is the explanation:
The Hypothesis: The "Han/Yeong" (Korean/English) Toggle Error
In South Korea, keyboards are bilingual. Users frequently switch between the Korean script (Hangul) and English (QWERTY) using a toggle key.
If a user intends to type the Korean word for Midjourney (미드저니) but forgets to toggle the keyboard input from English to Korean, the output corresponds to the physical location of the keys on a standard QWERTY layout.
The Proof (Mapping the Keys)
Let’s break down the Korean word 미드저니 (Midjourney) key by key on a standard "2-Set" Korean keyboard:
미 (Mi)
ㅁ corresponds to the A key.
ㅣ corresponds to the L key.
Result: al
드 (Deu)
ㄷ corresponds to the E key.
ㅡ corresponds to the M key.
Result: em
저 (Jeo)
ㅈ corresponds to the W key.
ㅓ corresponds to the J key.
Result: wj
니 (Ni)
ㄴ corresponds to the S key.
ㅣ corresponds to the L key.
Result: sl
Put it all together:
al + em + wj + sl = alemwjsl
Why this happens and why they bid on it
Muscle Memory: Midjourney is a very popular search term in Korea (113K volume for the main keyword). Thousands of users type it quickly without looking at the screen. By the time they realize they are typing in English mode, they have already hit enter or the search bar has auto-suggested the "gibberish" term.
Smart SEO/SEM Strategy:
High Intent: Anyone typing "alemwjsl" is 100% looking for "Midjourney." There is no ambiguity.
Lower Cost: While "미드저니" might have high competition (CPC 0.31), "alemwjsl" often has lower competition because many advertisers overlook "gibberish" keywords, though in this specific case, the CPC is quite similar (0.28 vs 0.31), indicating the secret is out.
Capture All Traffic: By bidding on this, Midjourney ensures that even clumsy typists find their website immediately rather than being redirected by Google to a "Did you mean...?" page or a competitor.
Conclusion:
"alemwjsl" is simply 미드저니 typed with the keyboard set to English. It represents high-intent users making a very common technical mistake.
Not the first time ChatGPT being inferior in such tasks.
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