Notices by Jezza™ (jeremiah@noagendasocial.com), page 19

@mrmcmayhem It's #Comcast, so let's assume incompetence.

Several years ago, the broadband on most of the east side of Madison, WI was taken out when a drunk hit the right lamp-post. Redundancy is not a thing they do, and management is not a thing they do well.

@gemlog Yup. And pocket.

There's been some serious shadiness there for a long time, especially since they ousted Eich (which may or may not be causally related.)

It's the classic case of expanding to fill the budget, then having the budget contract.

Compromises, hierarchy, shit-rolling-downhill all attacks with fury, cobwebs accumulate, and blue sky projects for a better future (Rust) become strangely prioritized.

Glad I don't work there. Still prefer their browser to Chrome.

@gemlog I worked for a company who had a sweetheart contract with another company that required us to maintain a fork of our software to support IE6 in the standard laptop image used by their fleet of thousands of insurance agents and salespeople. This was a few years ago, but many years after IE6 was banished to the 7th circle.

There's little else to say, except that engineering and management will always be at loggerheads, one because of what's in their heads, and one because of what's not.

Google and Weaponized "AI"
“Avoid at ALL COSTS any mention or implication of AI,” she wrote in an email to colleagues reviewed by The New York Times. “Weaponized AI is probably one of the most sensitized topics of AI — if not THE most. This is red meat to the media to find all ways to damage Google.”
#DontBeEvil
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/technology/google-project-maven-pentagon.html

@gemlog Parenthetically, I'm pretty sure one of the (desirable by some) effects of the ridiculous sprawl of "in browser technologies" means that developing a browser is a non-trivial, pyramid-construction-like project. Keeps the pool of effective players small. A old boys social club, if you will.

The effects have been pronounced, recently notably Tim Berners-Useless's embrace of DRM tech.

Let's talk about the #PostWeb!

@gemlog Firefox broke plugins when they got rid of NSAPI, a 20 year+ old browser plugin API that was (accused of) being a insecure.

Browsers have become a complete graphical operating system and virtual machine with a fat ass memory footprint. "Browsing" means something very different to what it did 10 years ago.

Your choices are: ride the edge (Firefox, Chrome, Exploiter), or depend on the notion that W3C standards are worth a damn and browse with alternates.

I can see you've tried that. :-)

@xahlee This is simultaneously funny and autistic. Would recommend to a friend. :-)

So Elon has recently had a moment on Twitter. Keep reading for where he reiterates context:
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1000560049389907969?lang=en

Yes, they are:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/25/dog-bite-mutilation/3698559/

@mangeurdenuage it's his graduate defence; as he put it to me: "I did it backwards. First, I wrote the compiler. Then I applied to build it as a [thesis/dissertation/masterwork]."

I think now the work is mostly technical writing rather than research and development, though I've not closely followed his work; I fully expect that when he's done, he will make loud ape-like noises and leap around the room. He has not done this yet. :-)

@gemlog @Machine Point taken, though, in Roseanne's case, she was trying not to get herself and dozens of other people fired. She's in a compromised position (under management) that the management itself is not.

Now that show is canceled, I suspect we'll see either silence as the possibility of a relaunch emerges, or Rosanne running her mouth/fingers on Twitter and interviews if not.

Either way should be entertaining. :-)

@mrmcmayhem it seems we're also seeing a pattern of putting the money issue up front. This was basically a kind of public relations blackmail. Publix did the only reasonable thing, even if Hogg's cause were just: they, along with Fedex and others have simply said no, stood their ground, disempowered him, and causes him to lose credibility.

Quick poll: how many people want to have lunch with David Hogg? (You have to go unarmed.) :-)

Random light-hearted ethnic humor:
An Italian goes to Malta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAFQFvSPhQ8