On occasion, we here do a thread of random positivity, where we start with a thematic prompt and talk about things that are enjoyable just for the fun of it. Past examples:

We have also had a couple threads of educational-resource recommendations. These are marginally more serious, since they’re about gathering actually good explanations of things that sneerable people like to pontificate ignorantly on. But I’ll list them here because learning is fun:

Feel free to comment in the old threads and/or suggest new ones in the comments here.

  • picklefactory@awful.systems
    5·
    1 day ago

    July 31st is Sysadmin Appreciation Day.

    Awful admins, I appreciate you and this. ( self | dgerard | blakestacey - I don’t know how to do usertags on lemmy!) Thank you.

  • YourNetworkIsHaunted@awful.systems
    12·
    24 days ago

    …almost two years to the day after getting laid off I have received and accepted an offer for a new IT job making more than I ever have and working with a client that I’m actually excited to help support.

    I’m somewhat in shock since the last two years have been so incredibly hard. Like, I might have to indulge in some public therapy and put together a more in-depth reflection on this experience for MoreWrite at some point to give me a chance to organize my thoughts and feelings properly. But for now: holy fucking shit we got there.

  • saucerwizard@awful.systems
    9·
    2 months ago

    Tires are actually more interesting than you would expect. I really love hearing customer opinions on how they perform in actual use.

    Also we get a real mix of vehicles at the shop. I’ve seen multiple Mercedes and even a Rivian!

    (I’m also the last seasonal employee left standing/got a month long extension as apparently I’m good at this?!?! I’m going to have like a year of unemployment to draw on for RMT school when this ends so I’m pretty happy. Not going to lie, its kinda stressful but I’m actually enjoying being challenged for once).

  • diz@awful.systemsEnglish
    9·
    3 months ago

    A guy I know because he invented a mechanism and I built an alternative implementation of the same behavior out of Lego and put on youtube, cited my thing in his doctoral thesis and will be defending on Monday, and I can watch that online. Can’t wait.

  • nfultz@awful.systems
    8·
    29 days ago

    As of July 1, 2026, the new minimum wage is $18.47 per hour. Take a moment to check your paycheck and make sure you’re being paid the right amount. This increase applies to all workers in unincorporated LA County, regardless of immigration status, the size of the employer, your employment status, or where you live. If you work outside of an unincorporated area of LA County, you must be paid either the California minimum wage or the minimum wage of the city you work in.

    automatically adjusted to inflation every fiscal, like it should be.

  • saucerwizard@awful.systems
    7·
    1 month ago

    Last day of work was yesterday and apparently I did so well that the manager told me to come back if I ever wanted to switch careers. I don’t get it either?

    My god guys that software was JANK.

  • saucerwizard@awful.systems
    7·
    2 months ago

    They’ve actually kept me on another month. I don’t get it either. They’re generally unhappy I’m leaving. And the software is so fucking jank you wouldn’t believe.

  • Soyweiser@awful.systems
    7·
    2 months ago

    I don’t have much to share (various positive stuff is a bit too personal to share, or just too banal (like how I got a new fan cheap while it was still freezing a few weeks before the heat wave)) but I do enjoy the thread. Thanks for making it.

  • saucerwizard@awful.systems
    6·
    13 days ago

    I drove up into the boreal forest as far as the paved road goes! My brother got sent to Uranium City for work, and I’m really jealous (airfare is like 2000 dollar one way range yeeesh).

    • saucerwizard@awful.systems
      6·
      13 days ago

      Thats the store. I suspect the hardening is for bears - they are a very serious hazard up there. When I was doing my work placement at a uranium mill (about like 600km north of where I was today) I was told of repeat incidents were bears breached the dormitories. In at least one case they had to construct barricades out of sofas.

      (I can actually elaborate on my time up there if anyone is interested. Theres even a infosec angle.)

      • rook@awful.systems
        6·
        13 days ago

        I can actually elaborate on my time up there if anyone is interested. Theres even a infosec angle.

        I don’t understand why this is a question. Why would you not elaborate?

        I have a weird urge to do those sorts of road trips, probably because I’ve seen a lot of video that only shows the most interesting bits and it’s not something I can easily do here… the northernmost roads of the uk are decidedly not very remote, and tend to be choked with campervans.