Ifn you read your history, you will know that all fascist regimes throughout history were enabled by their partners in crime: big business.

When I rant about business being evil, I am not exaggerating.

Of course there are exceptions, but 1 the exceptions are basically just small companies. Under about 150-200 employees companies can be good. But to grow beyond that size requires investment capital, and that ALWAYS comes with strings attached. 2

I believe that business goals are always the same as user goals. That is, unless something perverted is happening. 1

https://twitter.com/bayuamus/status/1587964688939175936

When inequality is very high and businesses are not regulated, then something perverted is happening. 2

Okay, imma talk a little bit about "user experience." 1 The key idea every practitioner needs to grasp about "user experience" is a very simple one:

"User experience" is defined by the USER's experience. Not by the corporation's needs. 2

I built a new workbench for my electrical/electronics work, so I first have to clean off my old workbench. 1 I'm removing lots of old parts, components, books, papers, and dust. Lots of dust. But, also, there in all its gloriy is the first computer I ever owned: my IMSAI 8080. 2

I remember back in the early 1970s when Ross Perot's EDS came to San Francisco. They had all kinds of ridiculous rules straight out of southern white christian militaristic fantasies. 1 Employees were forbidden to wear anything other than white shirts and conservative ties (you could only remove your jacket when seated at your computer). No facial hair. No cohabitation (They investigated you). 2

I just finished reading a remarkable book called “The White War” by Mark Thompson. It’s a narrative history about what should be a boring, dry-as-dust historical chronicle of a military sideshow a hundred years ago, but it’s anything but boring. 1 Lately I’ve been reading a lot about Eastern European history and the origins of fascism and this book is surprisingly relevant. It tells the story of Italy’s involvement in World War One. 2

For the last few months I’ve been playing a computer war game. It’s very complicated and very realistic. It also has built-in chat. I never use chat, but it’s right there where I can see it in this game. OMFG. 1 When that whole G*m*rG*t* thing was happening, I believed that there were bad people saying bad things to innocents. But it turns out that my imagination was sorely lacking in picturing the depths of depravity of these awful people. 2

It’s Conway’s Law: "Any organization that designs a system will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure.” 1 The organizational structure of FOSS developers is anarchy. The result? You get the characteristic nature of FOSS software every time: Powerful, but inscrutable, chaotic, buggy, with unfortunate gaps in its otherwise awesome capabilities. Also, it’s always in geek realms. 2

Last year the drought was so extreme that we could no longer support our flock of sheep and we were forced to sell them. Nine years of breeding and familiarization with the land, the flora, and the weather down the tubes. 1 We miss the sheep so, and are currently working with Aaron, our favorite shepherd, on rebuilding our flock. The economics of sheep as a tool for regenerative soil restoration is laughably bad. Our out-of-pocket costs to raise a lamb are about 150% of their sale price. 2

Your business can be small and nimble or large and efficient. Small businesses can’t get the price breaks big ones do. Big businesses can’t change course the way little ones do. You can’t be both. 1 One side effect of small and nimble is that a company can be responsive to its customers and employees. One side effect of being big and efficient is you can force your customers and employees to give you more. More time, more money. You can’t be both. 2

Reluctantly, prodded by my wife, I watched Dune a couple nights ago. I liked it! I thought Villeneuve did a fine job translating the novel’s complex relationships to the big screen. 1 I devoured the book in my teens, reading it repeatedly throughout my formative years as a young adult. My love for the book made me very skeptical that any filmmaker could do it justice. 2

People born without a sense of empathy are sick, and we call them psychopaths. Corporations are organizations that, not being human, lack empathy. By definition, corporations are psychopathic. 1 The question one must ponder is, What qualities would make a person an exemplary leader of a psychopathic organization? 2

Creating good user interactions with technology is not a design problem. It’s a power struggle. 1 I’ve made this “power struggle” assertion for many years and it is more true today than ever before. 2

A couple of years ago my neighbor began work on his new house. The first thing he did was cut down a good-sized tree that was in the way. 1 The house was mainly in a natural clearing, so only the one tree had to come down. It was a California Bay Laurel, what the locals call Pepperwood. 2

A friend pointed out a few of the darkest days in United States history, when our country was unilaterally attacked by forces that wanted to destroy us. 1 He singled out these four days:

12Apr1861 when secessionists fired on Fort Sumpter South Carolina;

7Dec1941 when the Japanese Empire bombed Pearl Harbor; 2

Two things that computers do better than anything else:

1. Assign data names and places to live.
2. Remember those names and places.

1 Two things that humans really suck at:

1. Assigning data names and places to live.
2. Remembering those names and places.

2

If you want to Support Our Troops there are two important things to do: A) Reinstate the draft and make it undodgable, a volunteer army is a mercenary force hidden away from the citizenry, and 2) Don’t create wars for them to fight. 1 The reason why we revere American GIs in WWII is because they were a cross section of citizens, who gave everything, then came home and instituted social democracy. The reason why the Vietnam war was so divisive is because a cross section of citizens were forced to fight it. 2

.@McMasterCarr is by far and away the best online retailer. Their website delivers dense information about hundreds of thousands of SKUs without bullshit, and then delivers them faster than Amazon Prime. 1 @McMasterCarr The UPS truck just dropped off my most recent @McMasterCarr order. Two 7” long 3/8”-16, partially-threaded, 18-8 stainless steel hex head machine screws that I ordered on their site yesterday at around 3PM. Truly astonishing! 2

The remarkable thing about the furor over Critical Race Theory isn’t that it is not even taught in grade school, or that it does not teach shame to white kids, or that it just calls for teaching true history, or that it somehow is corrupting our youth. 1 Nope. The remarkable thing about CRT is how the right wingers have suddenly taken it up as a cause celebre. It’s remarkable that it all started at once, that all of their talking points across the country are the exact same, that their targets (school boards) are all the same. 2

Agile at its core is unknown and likely unknowable, as its precepts change with the weather and the whims of its practitioners and the fears of its managers. 1

https://twitter.com/talsolom/status/1416836525665529857

Agile's core is anything but clear. It was created to relieve contract programmers of the burden of doing the work that was clearly the responsibility of their clients. 2

Once a year, after all the lambs and kids have been born, the shepherds bring them to a temporary corral and “process" them.
1 “Processing” means counting the lambs, tagging their ears, docking their tails, and castrating the males. It’s an interesting—but uncomfortable—thing. Ah, but the moving part is much more interesting and less…fraught. 2