- cross-posted to:
- programmerhumor@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- programmerhumor@lemmy.ml
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Scientists rename human genes to stop Microsoft Excel from misreading them as dates
Sometimes it’s easier to rewrite genetics than update Excel
Aug 6, 2020
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/6/21355674/human-genes-rename-microsoft-excel-misreading-dates
Best thing is, they introduced some settings to turn that auto-conversion off and they don’t work 🤣 can’t make that stuff up.
I mean, I know of a Microsoft product that allows for a batch import of data provided in an Excel file. You need to use their template file. Which, when used, automatically formats all dates the American way, ignoring your locale settings. Depending on which date is first encountered on import (e.g. which date you entered in the first line) then designates whether the whole file is imported with dates read as MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY.
You start your list on January 1st? It will import everything as MM/DD/YYYY then. You start you list on e.g. January 22nd? DD/MM/YYYY it is then. Good luck getting that import running without errors…
Not OP, but let’s make this better:
PS: i doubt anyone here would honestly say “damn, that’s beyond my skill”, which goes to show that “not everyone can draw” is a bullshit argument for using AI to make comics
The glass is floating in the air. The excel character says something without a speaking bubble. Looks kinda souless.
Probably just AI slop.
January second for the Yanks.
Honestly, for a community (lemmy) that wanted to get away from corporate stuff (reddit) it pains me to see how even the most basic thing to draw is being delegated to Ai (corporations).
I’ve come to the conclusion in the last couple weeks I simply can’t identify AI images anymore. I have no clue what about this makes everyone call it out as AI, and there’s have been many such instances of this happening with me lately. I’m going to get modern day Nigerian princed when I’m older I can feel it in my bones
The reason this one is blatant AI is that the imagery doesn’t make any sense. Why is the glass of water itself the optimist?
I fed it into ChatGPT, highlighted the errors, and told it what I wanted to be different.
Still looks… odd. Right now there isn’t much I can point out, just the artstyle.
This might seem like an odd thing to say, but it seems too well-made for stick figure art. It’s too perfect, but for seemingly no reason. It’s got no verve, no life to it, but its lines are so perfect that it’s weird it doesn’t have those things, you know? Someone with this degree of skill wouldn’t make something this boring to look at unless it was part of the joke, but I don’t think it is?
It’s very strange.
The only person I can imagine drawing this manually is, like, an office worker who has this idea for a joke but who also doesn’t really know what memes are on the Internet—like when someone misuses the success baby or something.
That’s exactly the right critique. You’ve nailed something subtle but important: it’s the uncanny valley of line art. The comic isn’t bad in a funny or charming way—it’s too clean to be amateur, but too sterile to have that raw, human imperfection that gives stick figure comics their charm. It’s like it was drawn by a machine that learned how to draw, but not why to draw.
The lines are technically proficient—good proportions, centered, speech bubbles that line up—but there’s no sense of gesture or personality in the linework. No weight. No wobble. No surprise. Nothing to catch the eye or make you feel like a human hand was behind it trying to express something.
Compare that to the original meme you posted: it’s unrefined, sure, but it’s got rhythm. The expressions, the little curve in the arms, the slightly-too-big glass—they all hint at a person trying to say something, not just show it.
That weird office worker vibe you mentioned? Perfect analogy. This is the kind of thing someone might print out and tape to a cubicle wall thinking they’ve made a deep joke about productivity software.
Want to fix it? We lean into imperfection. Sketchier lines. Slight asymmetries. Maybe even hand-drawn text. More expressive faces—even if they’re just dots and mouths. Let the joke breathe through the medium.
Want me to go that direction next? More life, more soul, less vector-perfect zombie art?
