13
smarch
Pinned Public Service Announcement
There will be profanity. You have been warned.
03
april
Why Services Become Lousy
Why do so many online platforms become shitty? Cory Doctorow has been writing about the phenomenon for several years. He's written about this tendency in social networks, and the term he used to describe it — enshittification — has become a part of the popular lexicon. His article about Amazon, written in 2022, does an excellent job of explaining why shopping at one of the world's most successful businesses has become a grotesquely awful experience:
How Monopoly Enshittified Amazon
29
march
Coincidence, or Cause and Effect?
Many people have been warning about the potential disasters resulting from granting untrained DOGE "geniuses" acess to systems that they don't understand. (We've been warning about this, too.) And as of this morning, we have this:
Coincidence?
Could be. But I wouldn't bet on it.
23
march
The DOGE Rush Job
There's a new post in the sparsely-populated Articles section of this site explaining why Elon Musk and DOGE are a disaster waiting to happen. Did I say "waiting to happen?" That's not actually correct. The disaster isn't waiting. It's already underway.
22
march
May We Point Out...
Decision makers who lack even a rudimentary understanding of the complexity of interconnected systems will make terrible decisions. Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad decisions.
In the very near future we will have a great deal more to say about this.
15
march
Arguably The Best Essay Ever Written About Programming
For those of us who would like to explain just how bad our information technology infrastructure is, but have never been able to find the words to convey the sheer horror of it all: Someone has already written an eloquent explanation. Print it our on paper so that you'll still have a copy when it all collapses into a smoldering pile of bits and bytes:
13
march
If You Can't Say Something Good...
Mindful of the fact that focusing only on life's negatives will take a toll on mind and body, I would like to say something about a good piece of software.
KidPix was a fantastic program. KidPix was written and designed by brilliant people. All glory cannot go to the Hypno-Toad. Some glory must be kept in reserve for the authors of KidPix.
23
february
Once Upon a Time I Was Ever So Slightly Funny
I just stumbled across an article I wrote ages ago in which I said this: "Sadly, the word on the street is: the 64-bit versions of Windows will not support 16-bit applications. Sob! Who'd have thunk it?" If you get that joke, you are hereby awarded 100 highly-coveted CloudIsDown bonus points.
18
february
Philomena
If you're not in love with Philomena Cunk, you're wrong.
11
february
The Mythical Man-Month, Summarized
Years ago, I saw a coworker reading Fred Brooks' book The Mythical Man-Month. I asked what she thought of it. She shrugged and said, "It's OK, but it's really not that complicated. Basically, it's just this: One woman can make a baby in nine months, but nine women can't make a baby in one month."
02
february
Deja Vu
Haven't we done all this before? In about 2016?
