Louis Ingenthron @LouisIngenthron@social.cleverlibre.org

(reposting from @ianbetteridge@writing.exchange instead of reblogging because mastodon don't feel great about quote reblogs)

Back in late 2021, when I was still working for Automattic, the Chief of Money Things presented the revenue goals for 2022+ his team decided based on a forecast they spent months working on. The goals were incredibly ambitious, because they were based in the growth the company had experienced during 2020 and 21.

Back in the day it didn't make any sense to me, basing the goals of the company on the results of a year where, because of COVID, all the online products were experiencing 2 or 3x more growth than any other year before seemed incredibly stupid. But I told myself "Javi, there may be a hundred different factors you don't see and these people do: it's not your field, this seems dumb , but trust those who know".

But time passed. People stopped being locked at home for 23 hours per day. And surprise surprise: online activity went back to normal levels. Who could have guessed uh? Well, not the C-suite of most tech companies. Not the C-suite of my company.

Flash forward to early 2023: we are told that it's clear we are "underperforming", so the company needs to go into "antifragile" mode (a term from one of those self-help for businessmen books the CEOs like so much): benefits start being cut down, salaries get frozen, the CEO tell us that working 40 hours/week is now considered below the bare minimum expectations, and the execs announce the hiring is frozen and the new goal is to make the company "lighter" by "managing people out". Mind you, the company was making more money than ever (except for 2020/21). The revenue was growing, handsomely. But it wasn't growing as much as the investors were promised, so we were underperforming.

Did the people responsible for setting stupid goals based on inane ideas admitted responsibility and suffered any consequences???

Of course not! They just blamed it on "execution issues". Because hey, admitting that they took some decisions so dumb that any average 13-year-old would find them laughable, would mean that maybe it's not justified for them to earn millions per year.

Every year it becomes more clear that success in the business world and being smart, or even competent in your job, are totally unrelated variables.

So yeah, there are a lot of not-too-bright but incredibly confident people in positions of power in the business world, taking absurd decisions that end fucking thousands of workers, and never suffering for and kind of repercussions themselves.

The system is entirely broken.

It breaks my heart to see people thinking that copyright is going to help them, and that making knowledge more accessible, universal, and shareable is going to hurt them.

This is more dystopian than most dark fiction i've read.

This is not funny ....

Tonight at 10pm PT, the California Science Center will start live streaming as they raise and install the External Fuel Tank onto Space Shuttle Endeavor!

This will be the only Space Shuttle on display in its launch (vertical) configuration with ET and side-boosters! #space #losangeles

https://youtu.be/XLTd1a-5j-4

Vehicles that make frequent stops (like school buses) are the sweet spot for battery-electric power. Regenerative braking recovers energy and makes the friction brakes last far longer.

It’s also safer and cleaner for everyone, especially kids.

Kudos to the Biden administration for investing in cleaner, greener school buses.

EPA awards $1B to 280 school districts to purchase clean school buses - Daily Energy Insider:
https://dailyenergyinsider.com/featured/42369-epa-awards-1b-to-280-school-districts-to-purchase-clean-school-buses/

“Independent contractors” have been used as a dodge for some employers for decades. It’s uncertain hours, no health insurance, no benefits, and the off chance they will be terminated for a little or no reason.

If you think society can be cohesive on gig working then you're living in the wrong century, as well as the wrong millennium.

Good step from the Biden administration.

New Biden rule on gig workers: What to know:
https://qz.com/gig-worker-rules-biden-department-of-labor-1851152373

#substack, by first refusing to ban nazis under the guise of being a "free speech" platform, and then turning around and saying "actually we'll ban some of the nazis", has taken the route that will piss off the most people possible

good work, boys

“The clearest example of plagiarism: uncredited ghostwriters, but we all accept that for some reason.” @Atrios https://www.eschatonblog.com/2024/01/plagiarism-feeding-frenzy.html

“men are hitting on my scheduling bot because it has a woman’s name — Ask a Manager”

"I will personally pay you thousands of dollars if changing the bot’s name to Wayne doesn’t put an immediate end to this." https://www.askamanager.org/2024/01/men-are-hitting-on-my-scheduling-bot-because-it-has-a-womans-name.html

Some people have seemed confused about what my Low Quality Facts account is, so I made this graph to help you all understand it.

The downside to using mirrors in telescopes is that we'll never see the space vampires coming.