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Cake day: February 13th, 2024

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  • The USDA told Reuters that Mexican exports from the western state of Michoacán have not been blocked. Additionally, avocados and mangos already in transit wouldn’t be affected by the suspension of inspections, which would be paused “until further notice.”

    So we’re saying “if you beat up our people, we’ll stop enforcing our policies and still do business with you”

    Cool

    I’ll make a point to not buy Mexican avocados and mangos until this is fully resolved because who knows what’s happening with them if the people who are charged with ensuring their safety get beaten up.



  • Or, it’s because whoever is doing this hates freedom of information and historical evidence. There’s a long list of powerful people and governments who have the resources and will to carry out these attacks.

    Cyber warfare is real, and the Internet archive is a museum and library of culture and truth. It provides evidence and context to our past.

    As in conventional war, it is valuable to the amoral to destroy culture and truth in order to control it. Many would like to kill that to supplant it with their version of events that can’t be refuted with evidence.



  • Reddit did that and then instantly multiple serious competitors began to siphon off their power users both out of principle and practicality, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

    YouTube i think understands to not cross the line because if they no longer have a monopoly on mid to long form content their golden goose dies. People are already on edge after a long sequence of attacks against non-premium users.

    Personally, If they do do that, and at least some amount of the channels I care about move to a different platform, I’ll happily move with them and cancel my YouTube premium.






  • It starts with a staff shortage while scaling up, or a small project that current employees don’t have capacity for.

    The execs have a decision, find and hire a long term employee(s), train them up, make sure it’s a good culture fit, and pay their benefits and compensation

    or get a contractor firm to fill seats and pay the contract.

    It’s all downhill from there once they pick a contracting firm.

    The contracting firm is a Trojan horse for the short term philosophy, while also eroding away the skill pipeline of raising juniors to senior talent so the company eventually has to keep going back to firms.

    Instead of scaling up and building the knowledge pool as the company grows organically, they want to massively scale up and down and cycle through many people and skim the good contractors off the top. But this does not work.

    The bad contractors overflow the org with tech debt. Seniors don’t have juniors to train, nor do they work on the core stuff to keep their skills. The seniors and good contractors skimmed off the top turn into contractor babysitters. The juniors don’t exist. The seniors eventually turn into managers or leave for greener pastures where their original skills are wanted and respected and fostered.

    Eventually the company is left a husk of past talent and mountain of tech debt, and no in-house skill to turn things around, so the options are to stay with contracting indefinitely or start at ground 0.

    Combined with not increasing wages to match cost of living and inflation, not giving bonuses when there profits, and now you’ve got most of corporate America with their burnt out workforce skeleton crew.


  • Plants respond and react stressfully to being cut and chewed and digested.

    To ignore this is just as bad as ignoring the plight of animals.

    You don’t have to be thankful for the food that you eat and sacrifice for your life, but I will. If you are vegan then you are already aware of some of this plight of life, especially the cruelty of factory farm animals, but I ask you to expand your mind to the plight of all living things.

    I know that when I thank my food, especially fresh plants, that I can feel a warmth of gratefulness radiate from my stomach. I recommend you try it with your next salad and when you are at your garden.

    I want my animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, and all life that I interact with to live happy and fulfilling lives.

    The ones I eat to continue my happy and fulfilling life I am especially grateful for.

    It will be a constant struggle to ensure my food and all life I interact with is happy and fulfilled, and to reflect deeply on what I can change and improve when it is not.

    Humans are uniquely capable to manage and ensure quality of life for ecosystems . The water, the soil, the air, the plants, the fungi, the animals. We can choose the well trotted path to exploit, or we can choose the harder path to heal and maintain.

    My solution is to operate a homestead where I can ensure the food I eat and use have a quality happy fulfilling life, and a simple swift painless transfer of life to me and those I can provide for.



  • As of April 11, there were 65 Mercedes autonomous vehicles available for sale in California, Fortune has learned through an open records request submitted to the state’s DMV. One of those has since been sold, which marks the first sale of an autonomous Mercedes in California, according to the DMV. Mercedes would not confirm sales numbers. Select Mercedes dealerships in Nevada are also offering the cars with the new technology, known as “level 3” autonomous driving.

    Drivers can activate Mercedes’s technology, called Drive Pilot, when certain conditions are met, including in heavy traffic jams, during the daytime, on spec ific California and Nevada freeways, and when the car is traveling less than 40 mph. Drivers can focus on other activities until the vehicle alerts them to resume control. The technology does not work on roads that haven’t been pre-approved by Mercedes, including on freeways in other states.

    U.S. customers can buy a yearly subscription of Drive Pilot in 2024 EQS sedans and S-Class car models for $2,500.

    Mercedes is also working on developing level 4 capabilities. The automaker’s chief technology officer Markus Schäfer expects that level 4 autonomous technology will be available to consumers by 2030, Automotive News reported.






  • A while back ago, there was an abandoned mall, a company bought it and allowed anybody to rent a small space in the open mall as a small business shop. People would put up curtains as walls and rent was very cheap.

    The place was full of small vendors, more classy than a flea market, especially with the AC, but many artists selling all forms, and many odd widgets being sold. There was even a place that did custom glass blowing, etc etc. it was a real pleasure to be in and a community thrived there.

    Importantly it was open consistently each day, so you could just randomly pop in and see what’s up.

    From what I understand, the place was even making a profit, but apparently not enough. It was eventually sold and now it warehouses antique cars.

    I think all those artists and small vendors vanished or moved online.

    I miss it.

    It was good.

    I’d like more of those back, and to experience what community could develop from that.