Items I happen to view each day. Science, Technology, Management, Culture, and Writing
This is my day book for this week. It is a log of things I see on the Internet.
This week: 14-20 June, 2021
It is Monday and we have the usual slow news day.
Apple retail stores to soon drop mask requirements for some. We have yet to figure out how to discriminate masks/unmasks. That is good. This is a free country, right? We had violent protests last year over discrimination. Now we want to discriminate. This discrimination is good, huh? Sorry. Doesn't work.
A Microsoft executive opines about the abuse of power in criminal investigations.
Where the money is. Want your research paper published? Work some AI in there.
It seems that hackers who hold businesses for ransom don't do so with Russian businesses. The Russians seem to have other methods of dealing with ne'er-do-wells.
Various news items out of the G7 meeting includes a call for an investigation of China and the origin of COVID-19. I believe that war reparations are in order, but few agree with that harsh idea.
....Google opens its new Workspace to everyone.
The XKCD comic reminds us that you can state scientific fact and not mean anything.
Someone declared that vaccinations are "the way." Now we have bosses asking for voluntary medical information. While at it, "What's your body mass? What's your alcohol content? What drugs have you taken the last 24 hours?" We could continue in the name of public health.
Good news: Biden and Putin to discuss ransomware attacks. Such summits used to discuss nuclear annihilation. The Cold War era had far more serious and complex problems, lest we forget.
The strange path taken by deep fakes.
.....It looks like we are going to have an 11th National Holiday. Why not? The Senate passes this; the House will follow suit, and signing by the President is a matter of routine.
This week, Amazon will open a 25,000 square-foot Amazon Fresh grocery store with no cashiers. Whoosh, there goes a few tens of thousands of jobs.
We are making strides to build systems that can read lips. Abuse, as always, is possible, but there are many good applications.
For the first time in 75 weeks, all Apple retail stores in the US are open. It is about time. Some fear subsides.
A preview of Windows 11 is here. It looks like some Linux GUIs I have seen. We are supposed to be thrilled to have rounded corners. I am not a fan of all these "designs."
MacKenzie Scott gives away a few more billion $$$.
It's called "inflation." Gas prices rise due to more regulation. Ingredient prices rise. Cooked food prices rise. People hope their wages rise to keep up.
The year of the virus was great for the plexiglass industry. Sales tripled. There was no evidence of it doing anyone any good. This is "follow the science." A better name is "hygiene theater" or the gullibility of people.
.....We have the 10/99 Rule of Bitcoin wherein 10% of the people own 99% of the Bitcoins.
It's back... Ready for inflation? Get out the old textbooks.
Are remote workers more productive or simply working longer hours? I find myself more productive in that I work when I have the energy to work and there are no interruptions at home.
GM plans to raise spending on electric and autonomous vehicles 30% in the next few years. Recall Government Motors as the taxpayers bought the company and gave it to the United Auto Workers several Presidents ago.
Google opens it first retail store this week in New York City.
Facebook will launch its podcast service next week.
Google's latest AI effort attempts to teach foreign languages via Google search.
.....After last-minute Congressional and White House actions, today is our 11th Federal Holiday: Juneteenth or 19 June. Being a government contractor whose company had no time to prepare, I am losing some $1,000 in wages and benefits as I cannot be paid for working today.
Google puts money into improving the security of Linux systems. I find their efforts misguided as they are focusing on changing programming languages instead of actually improving security.
Oklahoma wins one as Canoo will put its factory to build electric vehicles in that state.
Here is an early review of Windows 11. It is from a preliminary leak of the software. Are there enough qualifying adjectives there?
Here is a better-informed opinion on why we have many job openings and high unemployment. Much of this comes from our reaction to a virus and how that widened disparity in many ways.
Here we have an example of gullibility in journalism. A company had a communications person who corresponded with the press for several years. The person never existed. The company's board made him up. Simple investigations would have revealed the fakery.
Perhaps one day I will tire of seeing these autonomous landings of rocket boosters. For now, here is yet another landing of a SpaceX booster on a pitching barge at sea.
.....The governors of California release a digital COVID vaccination passport (not called a passport) so that residents can prove vaccination. I trust security is built into the system.
Someone at the White House has release a new broadband map to justify more taxpayer dollars to spend. I doubt the map as it shows that I am sitting in a spot that doesn't have broadband while I am using broadband. Trust the terrain, not the map.
Booz Allen Hamilton grows bigger by acqui-hiring Liberty IT Solutions and its 600 employees.
We have an extensive expensive study that concludes (ready for this?) we grow old and die.
Excellent thoughts from Johanna Rothman on "back to normal."
We cross another frontier as TSMC is about to jump to 3nm process manufacturing.
.....Note from inside Starbucks. Lots of people in and out, in and out, almost no one sitting for a while. And NO ONE sitting and talking to others. Our reaction to the virus accomplished social distancing. We are distant from one another and have almost no community. Whose idea was that? Why did they want to accomplish that?
The story of Roku. How the little guy beat all the big guys and made billion$.
Note to communities: in addition to lots of electric power, data centers use lots of water.
Is the made-in-China vaccine just a shot of water or something?
There are many ways to "outline" a novel. This post describes eight of them.
"Write a story." Stories don't have to be on paper or the computer screen.
One writer's method of having a full-time job and writing during personal time.
"The Store" vs. the "word count." There are good and bad to both concepts. Use what works for you.
Thoughts on revising writings that have already been published.
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