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A Sign For Tapping
Ages ago when it was just Google Glass, I made a sign in case people might find it useful. Well, the world moves on and Google Glass is long-dead, but if there’s a true thing to be said about Silicon...
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Hyperrealist Datacenters And Potemkin McRibs
Strong title, I know. Buckle up. You’ve heard of Beaudrillard’s idea of the Hyperreal, right? Baudrillard‘s concept of hyperreality is closely linked to his idea of Simulacrum, which he defines as...
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Linked Pay Attention
When you’re looking for work, as I am these days, one of the indignities you need to deal with is LinkedIn. Specifically, the fact that there are only seven posts on that site. “My pre-literate child...
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Measuring Up
One number. That’s the tell. My dad came up through the Canadian public service in the 80s and 90s, when Deming’s ideas of total quality management were in vogue, having proven their worth...
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Differential
This isn’t complicated. Software is a collection of ideas and decisions that a person has turned into a machine. It is an expression of its creators’ understanding of the needs, priorities and context...
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Raised Shields
Once again – like so many people who host their own services or run their own tiny home servers – I find myself writing up the defensive measures I’ve had to stand up to keep the AI industry’s...
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The Government of Canada is taking a survey about “…define[ing] the next chapter of Canada’s AI leadership”. These were my answers. I’m sure they’re excitingly career-limiting, and who knows if they’ll...
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The New Whip
“There’s no trail here, turn back, you need to portage your canoe,” look at all this quitter talk. This bike started its young life as Canyon Stitched 360, a single speed jump bike that was a ton of...
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Historical Reasons
In 2011 after Dennis Ritchie died, I wondered if we should start retiring usernames on unix systems as an honorific, in the same way sports teams will retire the numbers of great players. I’d proposed...
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Dissent
If something has a lot of very bad externalities, and just the ones we know about are visibly, obviously causing major damage to important physical, social and informational ecosystems around us, then...
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