TikTok Dance Moves
New Twitter Direction(s)
My money’s on bankification. He got rich off Paypal despite almost killing that one, so it’s a natural fit.
Cannabis Research
Federal prohibition was the long pole in the economic tent shielding the pharmas, alcohol, tobacco and paper/textile companies from Cannabis’ potentially huge contribution to human well-being and corresponding cut of their markets. Those potential contributions are now slated to happen on not just the health and socio-economic fronts, but also informing the environmental debacle we now find ourselves in. It’s a good crop.
Cannabis prohibition pretty much constitutes Federally-sponsored book-banning. There was little hope for anything coming out of the Mississippi ditch weed scientists were forced work with. That paper stock requirement Hearst had for his newspapers at the turn of the last century will be on the down-slope going forward, regardless.
Hardcore Twitter
I wonder if the logo gets updated? This thing’s probably got more backdoors than a high-traffic honkey-tonk by now.
“Nov 18 (Reuters) – Hundreds of Twitter Inc employees are estimated to have decided to quit the beleaguered social media company following a Thursday deadline from new owner Elon Musk that staffers sign up for “long hours at high intensity,” or leave.”
We Have Teeth
“This isn’t like a single web server is being taken offline,” he said, citing monitoring records that he shared with Reuters. “The network stress is so great their Domain Name System (DNS) servers have been taken offline and eventually the key routers allowing traffic in and out of the country entirely.”
JWST Update #17: How It Works
The title of the Scientific American article is “Are JWST images real?” Probably a fair question, coming from garden variety curiosity seekers. It’s a question leading to basic JWST infra-red tautology.
“Although the full-color images are captivating, many of the exciting discoveries show up one wavelength at a time.”
LATE UPDATE: OK Webb, JWST, whatever.
Artemis-1 is UP
The only thing shortsighted people see on this program is the cost.
“Still, regardless of any mixed feelings surrounding this rocket, successfully launching it may offer a sign that NASA is making progress towards once again having the moon as a real destination for humanity.”
Orion in space. NASA Highlights.
Don’t Use the Phone
…at least not any more than absolutely necessary. People should understand the simple fact that everything they do online gets recorded somewhere to some extent. Privacy controls are weak, and people of all colors scramble all day long every day to cash in on that data. From legitimate sellers trying to keep your pantry stocked to electronically-induced criminal thieves and everybody in between wants your money, one way or the other.
I’m not suggesting any sort of off-grid prepper extremes. Just be aware that you are being tracked everywhere you go online, and droves of people are vying to use that information for profit. Hell, depending on your Google Map™ settings, you are literally being tracked in meatspace. That may or may not be important to you, from a privacy perspective. Personally, I kinda like reviewing my whereabouts every month, and I’m not hiding from anyone.
Easy Internet-enabled money is hard to resist. Some types of online activity like social media and the entertainment stuff is designed specifically for marketing purposes – nothing else. Politics falls into that bucket. Ever wonder why the FAANGs aren’t doing more to protect their business?
RELATED CONTENT: I want My iTV.
“But look at that: Social media is now shot through with sketches and music videos made by rich personal brands and consumed by a passive audience that gets iron-skilleted with ads. The convergence I once cheered on has reinvented a medium that reminds me of something from my youth. It’s almost like network TV. Like the idiot box. Like a “vast wasteland,” as the FCC chair called American television, in 1961.”
Google pays nearly $392 million to settle sweeping location-tracking case.
The Real F-22 Development Story
Following this topic closely during that time we were stationed in Germany when the competition winner was announced, I remember being distinctly disappointed the 23 lost out to the 22. It was to me at least, the sleeker, more advanced-looking design.
“The real reason we (Northrop) lost the program was that Lockheed had no new fighter programs at that time…”
FAANG’s Comeuppance?
How long will it take for Linkedin, Youtube, TikTok and other social media monstrosities out there to join the implosion? What’s Apple and Amazon’s social media angle? Linkedin might be a legitimate niche, so we’ll see how they fare. Not sure where Youtube sits in the conspiracy/hate/scam game. Dorsey started it and Zuckerboy was quick to jump on the bandwagon. Was the Internet comms revolution really all it’s cracked up to be?
People don’t like being lied to, fooled and taken advantage of. It’s ingrained in politics and Internet business revenue. Meta lays off 11,000 employees.
Amazon 1st company to lose a $Trillion in stock value.
JWST Update #16: Manufacturing Tolerances
Looks like JWST might be suffering Ikonitis. It’s the satellite sickness that develops after a less-than-perfect moving part starts degrading in orbital activities. Let’s hope the workaround is viable and the mechanics trivial.
It’s been a couple months since the MIRI anomaly was announced back in September. Hope there’s no Chinese parts in that thing.
Dorsey the Drama Queen
“I realize many are angry with me. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that.”
No – what you did was fail to properly manage a burgeoning new communications paradigm shift to cash in on politics, hate and crime at the expense of common decency.
Fuck you and the binary bullshit you rode in on.
Told Ya this Guy is a Fuckass
Nazi spawn revels in his ability to influence things with the little cult following. Kitchen sink aside, this particular billionaire appears to be on a very interesting trajectory:
“In this case, the article recycled a baseless claim that the personal life of Paul Pelosi, the speaker’s husband, somehow played a role in an intruder’s attack last week in the couple’s San Francisco home, even though there is no evidence to support that claim.”
Seriously fucking brilliant(?) Maybe for a scorched earth takeover. Attempting to leverage the security and monetization angles simultaneously should effectively accelerate the implosion. He’s gonna kill Twitter. The ironic thing is, he’s trying to save it from a natural death as a MAGA and Corporate America life support device. If you thought social media was a crapshoot before, standby for further updates…
LATE UPDATE 20221031: Didn’t take long.
Skyborg is Here
The rise of the robots is upon us. Hope the right people stay in control.
Jim McDivitt, 1929-2022
“In 1962, McDivitt was selected by NASA to become an astronaut. He was chosen to pilot Gemini 4 — becoming the first-ever NASA rookie to command a mission.”
I can’t say much about Jim McDivitt, because I just don’t recall ever hearing or reading that much about him. Now I know why. He was one of those diligent masterminds working tirelessly in the background gluing it all together. They say the best-run crews are the ones that never miss a beat, even when the boss is not around.
NASA
Starlink
The birds are up, the hardware is sunk cost and the support tail is relatively minimal if the system is all it’s cracked up to be. So unless people are beating down the door to get on a capacity-strapped network which I haven’t heard about, Ukraine’s part of the bargain is small potatoes. How about a Twitter-style solicitation for system stats, say, used vs. available capacity, like real vs. fake accounts?
Beau made a couple other points. You should make it through a few more launch cycles, calling Ukraine a beta test. What about that, Elon?