Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

Why are government software systems so expensive?

Well, the agency publishes an RFI, and vendors respond saying how much they think the system should cost. Agencies take those responses, average them, and tell their legislature or a federal grant-maker “it’s gonna cost $50M.” So $50M is given to the agency—as a matter of public record—and the agency issues an RFP. The quotes are all going to be for real close to…$50M. And where did that price tag come from? The very vendors who are bidding.

😳

Google employees, many of them high profile, are showing up on the Fediverse.

@methode is a case in point.

His Mastodon bio describes him as "Chief of Sunshine and Happiness at Google".

Translation: webmaster trends analyst.

SEO folks are paying close attention.

I *know* that the Fediverse is on Google's corporate radar.

@fediversenews

Love it. Uber drivers in New Zealand are unionising.

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2302/S00139/nz-uber-drivers-initiate-bargaining-for-first-ever-collective-agreement.htm

Yes, geckos and skinks (the other family of NZ-native lizards) sacrifice their tails when attacked, but they don't grow back the same (no bones & not the same nerves for starters, so they're far less useful), and it takes a huge toll on their future fitness, so it's pretty messed up when it happens.

A remarkably small number of them are responsible for the majority of damage done to our planet in terms of 'externalities' like pollution, social division and inequity, wanton destruction of biodiversity, and the existential threats to the biosphere due to climate change, a canonical example of which Aotearoa is weathering as I write.. Their existence is incompatible with humanity's chance for a prosperous future (i.e. a future *without* growth).

3/3

Periodic reminder: public listed corporations are not our friend. They have a single directive: maximise returns for shareholders, and are legally bound to do anything they can get away with to achieve that. They exist to concentrate the means of the many in the hands of the few They are fundamentally 'engines of inequity'. Because of their single incentive, they are in a race to the ethical bottom. Their structure is that of an autocracy. A few of them are... 1/3

@lightweight @ByronCinNZ @alcinnz @downey @skyfaller FWIW, I don't feel that questioning my motives given my affiliation is an ad hominem attack.

If someone said I was morally corrupt for working at a company like Amazon (I don't think that was said), I might feel a bit different...

Imagine if the head of the Linux Foundation only used macOS.

(Oh, wait.)

Imagine if LibreOffice only produced presentations about its project by using Microsoft PowerPoint.

Super-qualified nominee for top health post in Arizona withdraws in face of malicious lies from Republicans. https://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/021423_cullen_adhs/cullen-scuttled-as-az-state-health-chief-as-republicans-blast-pimas-pandemic-measures/

It's not a coincidence that AZ has the highest covid death rate (per 100,000 residents) among the US states.

If he wasn't so dangerous, Musk's megalomania would be funny. Now, it seems, he's forcing his tweets down the throats of Twitter users who don't (as I did when I was using the site) block him. https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/13/23598514/twitter-algorithm-elon-musk-tweets

So they are arresting architects in Turkey for not following safety protocols for earthquakes and now videos of Turkish President Erdogan hailing the architects for skipping the steps and thereby increasing their profits have emerged. The whole world over there’s this deadly, ignorant Greed that is literally killing everyone.
#EatTheRich

Moreover, when that service eventually starts charging you, and/or goes out of business, or gets EOL'd by the supplier, you'll be screwed, because you'll need to get everyone who emails you to adopt your new email, which is a massive pain in the ass. Also, it'll break all your web accounts that use an email address. A huge disruption. If you had your own domain, you could switch its hosting provider transparently without affecting the email everyone uses to contact you. It's a no-brainer today.

Mini Popehat Signal: this is a long shot, but looking for a lawyer familiar with laws governing discipline of public school teachers in NC who might be able to offer some pro bono advice and guidance to a teacher there.

The artist revolt against AI-powered art generators is in full swing. Artists have filed a class-action lawsuit in California against Stability AI and Midjourney. They've raised money for a D.C. lobbyist. And soon they will have a technological countermeasure, a tool designed by U of Chicago computer scientists that will "cloak" art posted online so that it won't be "feeding this monster that becomes more and more like them." My latest: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/13/technology/ai-art-generator-lensa-stable-diffusion.html