Codex

I first heard of it from Joel Spolsky’s blog and wikipedia also credits that article with popularizing the concept. In it’s original formulation, it was based on remote procedure calls being hidden in APIs. Because a remote computer call has all these limits of latency, packet/info loss, and possible connection loss, it is impossible to make a perfect abstraction that allows the programmer to treat the remote call as though it were local. The reality the abstraction tries to hide “leaks” in those fundamental limits.

All of contemporary global society is such an abstraction; that’s one of the principles of post-modernism. When you buy clothes online an entire invisible work force of shippers, manufacturers, resource procurerers, and more lies beind each article of fabric.

Pressure from climate change, tariffs, global war, and more are straining the foundations of society and the comfortable abstraction is starting to crack.

The dip in usage comes just as Microsoft has been forcing full-screen ads onto the machines of customers running Windows 10 to encourage them to upgrade.

Yeah no shit! When my computer does full-screen, disruptive things that I didn’t tell it to do, I figure out how to remove that malware. I’ve been off Windows at home for about a month now, thanks Linux Mint! Getting some games to work has been challenging, but most things have just worked and quite a few work much better!

Performance is up overall, and my confidence that my computer isn’t running a bunch of secret ad and spy ware is way up. Hardware like my gamepad and microphone would randomly disconnect and have issues on Windows, all working perfectly now.

Unfortunately I’m still deep in MS land for work, but there’s almost a comedic quality to it. Everything’s very slow, everyone has constant issues with Teams, or Office online, or Dynamics, or copilot shoving it’s tendrils into everything. Watching businesses struggle to keep operating in the face of Microsoft’s inadequacy is like being a mechanic watching a motor grind to a halt because the owner/manufacturer replaced all the oil with syrup.

Like yes, it’s my problem to fix, but I’m just glad it’s not my car.

I had in some ways the opposite 23&Me experience and goals. My parents told me growing up that I had some small native ancestry. This is actually a common myth many Americans have either been told or somehow deluded themselves into believing.

So I did the DNA testing (which I now regret from all the obvious enshittification and privacy reasons) to prove that my ancestry was boring and predictable. Which it was, no indigenous ancestry, just the expected European countries that my great grandparents came from.

They also do a lot of nice health screening things and I think that’s probably the much more valuable aspect of it. It really is very American that people are so much more concerned with what DNA says about one’s race or ethnicity than about their health and wellbeing.

Every 5 minutes, at max volume:

YOUR CALL IS IMPORTANT TO US. ALL AVAILABLE OPERATORS ARE HELPING OTHER CUSTOMERS. PLEASE STAY ON THE LINE.

2 minutes later:

DID YOU KNOW <COMPANY> IS WORKING TO SAVE CUSTOMERS LIKE YOU MONEY? UPGRADE YOUR PLAN TO ULTIMATE TODAY AND SAVE! YOU CAN ADD BASIC CABLE TO YOUR INTERNET PLAN FOR FREE FOR 3 MONTHS. MAKE ANY SOUND AT ALL TO LEAVE THE SUPPORT QUEUE AND SPEAK WITH A NEW ACCOUNT SPECIALIST RIGHT AWAY.

returns to playing compressed elevator music through an old can

Sadly, the Hilbert Hotel is slated for demolition which is why it’s on Sisyphus’ path. After that whole “everyone moves to double their room number” debacle, Hilbert had to process a fraction of the infinite guests’ refunds because they didn’t feel like changing rooms to one several million hallways down. And a percentage of infinite guests refunds is still infinite, so Hilbert is in infinite debt now.

Theseus, meanwhile, has been trying to justify buying a new ship for ages but his crew is adamant about right to repair, so he’s looking for an easy exit.

Freudian autocorrect

Around here, vinyl records and local record stores are still doing alright. There’s at least 4 if them I know of, and they also sell some cds and tapes still. It is a little odd that no chain has tried to break into that space (or one of the megacorps like Time-WB trying to revitalize some deadmall brand like Sam Goodies.)

Plussy vs Zussy

The bartender is nonbinary

1 2 2 50

Ah! The Diorama Efect!

It must be because of the way the ground and the objects at back of table are blurred. The objects also have this… flatness to them, or maybe they’ve been slightly squashed by the tilt… Anyway, very interesting!

Nice photo too! I often call myself an anti-cat, when I see cups near edges like this I automatically push them back onto the table farther so they won’t spill!

Why does it look like doll house furniture to me?

I’ve often thought it would be funny to add more and more modern features to FreeDOS. Funny but like, also a lot of work for a “joke.”

Visit your nearest aquarium! They often have a petting tank where you can touch rays and small sharks. And if not, hey, at least the aquarium is still great!

Some alcohol cooks off when used this way, but not all. Be cautious when cooking for others to mention this so non-drinkers can make an informed choice.

It can be a delicious addition though: alcohol dissolves flavor and aromatic compounds that water and fat cannot, so you get a lot of unique flavors especially from barrel-aged drinks like whisky and wine.

https://youtu.be/LsAiCs66l40

Just think Peter Miles Gwen, there’s a whole infinite multiverse of Uncle Ben’s dying out there, and all of them your responsibility!

Diese Deutschenmaimais werden kompliziert!

Shouldn’t the red dots be more like red lines along the border? Can I get a ref from !cartographyanarchy@lemm.ee in here?

In the US system, you can receive various certifications, called “degrees” indicating how much education you have received. Most US teenagers attend “high school” until about 18 years old, which completes primary education. Then, some go on to secondary education, called university or college in the US.

Most universities offer several degree programs. Typically, a 2 year “Associates degree” for trade work, 4 year “Bachelors degree” programs for white collar work. And then longer “Masters” degrees for advanced topics and even longer “Doctorate/Doctoral” programs for getting into academic research.

An MBA is a Masters of Business Administration. Typically, a 2 year program on top of a 4 year Bachelors degree in some business field like accounting, finance, management of information systems (MIS), etc. The stated purpose of an MBA program is to educate a person in the many facets of successfully running and operating a business.

However, in the US, our education system is deeply stratified by loans, and also just broken. Each higher tier of education is almost exponentially more expensive than the previous, so only fairly well off people can afford the time and money to get an MBA. And/or they go deeply into debt on loans to finance the degree. In addition, universities (which are all now run as for-profit businesses) are seen less as institutions of learning and more like indoctrination centers for training up workers while also infusing them with American business values.

This is most prevalent in Economics, which is treated like a hard science of business but is nothing of the sort. It used to be Keynesian economics, which at least has grounding in statistics, but now actually teaches a very specific interpretation of economics called Modern Monetary Theory. In this way, almost all American middle managers are indoctrinated into this, who are by that point either in deep debt and thus beholden to the MMT system, or are already wealthy and thus defenders of that system.

This has created an economic crisis in the US where MBAs are taking over companies and then applying these theories to cut labor costs, over-leverage debt, sell off assets; all to boost short term profit. All of this is at the expense of the business’ long-term viability but MMT is all an elaborate con to ensure wealth (profit) is funneled to owners while systematically pushing the costs onto the public.