Davison online
The life and times of the world’s
most self-deluded online superstar
News & Commentary
Walmart automates 7,000 jobs out of existence
The chain said workers will be transitioned into other roles that involve interacting with customers, though they may get pay cuts.If your job can be automated, it will be. That is the history and the future of employment. It's also why a Guarenteed Basic Income will become increasingly important: There won't be enough jobs for most people to do.
Flippin’ terrifying
Canadian surgeons are urging people to throw out wire-bristled barbecue brushes, because none of them have figured out a surefire way of removing the wires when they get stuck in people's throats. - via CBC News
Apple owing $13 billion in Ireland
Most companies pay too little tax because of Ireland's laws. That should be changed. No fair doing this retroactively, though. If they change the rules going forward, that’s their prerogative. These companies have been complying with the Irish rules. Now a lot of them will have to re-evaluate their relationships with...
Google absorbs Nest
http://fortune.com/2016/08/30/google-nest-developers-alphabet/Paid $3.2 billion to run a promising company into the ground.
A well-meaning Colin Kaepernick starts a conversation that, sadly, seems headed nowhere
I disagree with a lot of this, but what’s spot on is that Kaepernick’s method of protest has greatly overshadowed what he was trying to say. There was little, if anything, said about poverty. Or education. Or housing discrimination. Or any of the variety of other factors that create the divisions in society Kaepernick wants to erase. Much of the...
Facebook recommended that this psychiatrist’s patients friend each other
Increasingly thinking it’s time to leave Facebook. This psychiatrist’s experience is just creepy.All these patients likely have Lisa’s number in their phones, so an algorithm analyzing this network of phone contacts might reasonably assume all these people are connected. A phone number alone can be quite a revealing bit of information, which is why...
Possibly the most dominant female gymnast ever
Simone Biles. Four gold and one bronze at Rio. Her routines are such that if she doesn't make a mistake no one can out score her.
Students learn more from attractive teachers
And it's not because the teacher was "hot":The researchers don’t think that sexual interest explains the results, which held up whether the teacher and students were of the same sex or not. This suggests, they write, that the improved student performance was “driven by processes independent from human sexual attraction, such as attention and...
Kaepernick refuses to stand for national anthem
Paid millions to play a game for a living. In a country with a Black president. Where saying things like this doesn't get you arrested or killed. "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color," Kaepernick told NFL Media.... "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on...
Bait-and-switch
Thing is, did anyone really expect anything else to happen? Facebook paid over $20 billion for an app with a huge user base and no revenue stream. “WhatsApp obtained one billion users by promising that it would protect user privacy. Both Facebook and WhatsApp made very public promises that the companies would maintain a separation. Those were the key...
Essays
Finley
Venturing into the cut-throat world of short story fiction, I subtly dis multi-level marketing and insult Leprechauns. All that glitters is not gold, but some people seem to think that maybe if we close our eyes and wish really hard, it will be. Nope. Truth is, Finley reminded me of a Leprechaun. It's probably because he had a beard without a mustache, and he always wore an impish little grin. Or maybe it was his bouncing manner, which seemed far too youthful for his years....
Investing Resources
Oh Lordy yes how I tried to help my fellow man through offering this free investing advice. Oh Lordy no how they did not want it. Questions! Yes, questions I invited them to ask. But did they? No sir, they did not. Languish, yes, languish my investing section did. Fed, yes fed I tell you, up to here I was. So moved it, I did. Put something else up instead. Happier now? Oh Lordy yes. [Legalese: I am not a financial planner, and I've never played one on TV. Nothing in...
One Tin Soldier
An interview with the interesting and elusive Ty Davison. Conducted by Ty Davison. Edited by Ty Davison. A blunt blow with a heavy object. A spiritual review of capitalism. Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike. Too much monkey business. An interview with Ty Davison This interview was conducted on April 21-22, 1998 under bizarre circumstances. For whatever reason, Davison felt compelled to veil our meetings in a cloud of secrecy, insisting that I double back on my...
Paula, Paula, Paula…
Keeping up with the Joneses. An open letter to the woman who, like Betsy Ross or Eleanor Roosevelt, has done so much for this country. With her court case now deservedly thrown out, she may not get rich, but she'll always have her reputation. April 17, 1998 Dear Paula: Thanks for your on-going political soap opera of the last few years. It's really been a hoot. Trailerpark entertainment at its best, up there with Jerry Springer and Monster Trucks, I assure you. Get a nose...