Month: August 2024

“Took its name from a pub on the nearby corner of Ladbroke Grove, the Admiral Blake, itself named for a man who, having been deemed “too short” to be an academic, became an MP and fought in the Civil War, notably saying he’d eat three of his four pairs of boots before surrendering Taunton to the Royalists. He was then put in charge of key bits of the Navy, introduced such innovations as ‘having tactics’ and ‘reliably winning battles’, and upon his death was buried in Westminster Abbey… for about three years, until the monarchy was restored and Charles II had his corpse booted back out again. Owned.”

https://buttondown.com/mewsletter/archive/1-i-am-just-going-outside-and-may-be-some-time/

“Its leaders did what they always do when threatened by a new regulation: They threw a temper tantrum, in this instance threatening to block all news content in the state of California were AB 886 to become law. But that threat didn’t derail the bill, which kept merrily chugging along after Google made it.

No, they seem to have simply gone over the legislature’s head to the governor, sowing enough fear and doubt that they won the day, flexing their power in the executive’s office with the guy who clearly styles himself a future presidential contender. They banked on Newsom not wanting to take on the major corporations that are synonymous with his state, and they were right”

https://boondoggle.substack.com/p/dear-politicians-dont-help-google

“Perhaps, for the smaller countries at these Games, the responsibility on each individual athlete weighs so much heavier. There are no second chances, no repechages, no other events. This, right here, on a breezy Friday morning in the Paris suburbs, is your window of opportunity, and if you miss it the pain can be unbearable”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/aug/02/these-are-the-slowest-fastest-women-on-earth-and-they-all-have-a-story-to-tell

“Still, if you want to predict what will last I think you should look to what has partisans among dedicated readers—scholars, critics, genre nerds, etc.—rather than what merely sells well with casual readers. Specialists not popularists. And then what work seems influential among younger artists, such as work that seems foundational in a certain style or subgenre. That’s might get you in the ballpark, even if you will strike out more with most swings”

https://countercraft.substack.com/p/what-lasts-and-mostly-doesnt-last

“Elections force candidates and parties to adopt campaign platforms and promote policies. They also reset the time horizon for officeholders, by eliminating it for lame-duck electoral losers, and pushing it maximally far off for freshly (re)elected officials.

And, perhaps most importantly, elections provides a strong signal to everyone involved about what public policy choices will likely succeed or fail in the public sphere going forward. As everyone struggles to understand the meaning of the blunt vote results, elected officials will consider their public policy opportunities. Will new ideas likely be accepted now? Is it the right time for a bold initiative? Are the conditions now right for me to run for Senate, or President?”

https://mattglassman.substack.com/p/so-whos-going-to-win-the-election

“The world of 2024 is not that of 1941. But you don’t have to look far among the extremely online today to come up with examples of people whose far right politics, one suspects, comes from a similar source: a broken personal life, or professional failure, or a baffled rage that money or success has not brought the popularity or respect they so crave. I could list a dozen of them; so, I imagine, could you. This is not a sufficient condition – many of us have managed to fail in one sphere or another, without feeling the need to avenge ourselves on an entire class of humanity – but nonetheless, one of the recurring themes amongst those who’ve spent the last few years sliding towards the far right is quite how disappointed they seem”

https://jonn.substack.com/p/the-lessons-of-history

“Since 2018, the chain has been using digital price labels that can change in real-time based on the mountains of data the store collects on shoppers. Kroger expanded this system to 500 of its 2,750 retail grocery stores in 2023.

Kroger has been working with Microsoft since 2018 to put cameras on its so-called EDGE (Enhanced Display for Grocery Environment) shelf displays. These let them do video analytics to enable “personalized offers” based on “customer demographics” — and certainly not price gouging based on age, sex, or color”

https://pivot-to-ai.com/2024/08/13/kroger-unveils-ai-powered-automatic-price-gouger/