Mikeal was instrumental in helping me get established in the node community when it was super tiny. Being around him was a joy! He made those around him feel part of something special. He made me feel like I belonged.
I was a camp counselor at node camp three years in a row. He created such a magical experience that I cried when I got home, I wanted to live in nodecamp forever. I still do.
Seeing some of the folks posting in here makes it hurt worse. I have so many memories, like I remember all of us riding the bus back and forth to the camp, so much laughter and fucking around. Hanging at each others houses, going to meetups, and just being part of something special. Talking shit thru pull requests. Late night dorking around on meatspac.es etc etc etc I could go on for days.
Ex-cobol guy here, the work was a blast! I was working on the Lawson erp for a non-profit, mostly customizing the software for their specific use case. I loved it because the tools were crazy, the language limited, and the system itself was high value to the org. Debugging took forever but the fixes were often really small changes. I often had to go into the database (oracle) and clean up the data by hand. Such fun!
I crave novelty and have a love for bad technology. I was an early nodejs adopter and loved es4 but newer versions of the language is too easy to use lol!
It’s also possible to work on projects, or in languages, or on systems where resource consumption isn’t a high concern. I wrote cobol for sun and hpux and these big old systems had plenty to go around. Important software comes in all shapes and sizes, as do their developers.
I think there's a gap between an inspector turning in a report and the repairs being prioritized, funded, and executed. Out here in Oregon we had a tunnel collapse and kill the inspector (this was back in 1999). News reported that the tunnel was inspected twice the year before it collapsed.
I have to disagree as you have no evidence to support your position.
Based on the information provided, it seems highly unlikely to me that a guy who passed up an easy payday for a baseball would get an attorney friend to lie for what is likely going to be a very small claim. He still attended the game, and another game a couple days later, which likely rules out substantial suffering. So, given the low potential payout what would be his motivation? Simplest explanation is the guy just fell through an ill-maintained bridge. Could happen to anyone, really!
Seems so far the fines are just proposed for people posting about "illegal" rallies (lol), so we're maybe still two or three months out from just criminalizing questioning of the Covid dogma as such.
A few years back I purchased a deer rifle from a local sporting goods store and when I got home I realized they had forgotten to remove their trigger lock. It was about a 30min drive back to the store so I just picked the lock and tossed it aside. Naturally, the next day the store calls looking for their lock and they are very adamant I should return their equipment, but they were less inclined to actually drive over to my place and pick it up.
In Portland, OR we have 4-way intersections where the stop signs alternate every 2 blocks. Drivers still tend to stop at every intersection, even when they have no stop sign.
Ha, I don't come to a complete stop, but I'm guilty of slowing down at the intersections without stop signs because I've experienced enough instances of cross traffic blowing through their stop signs. In the city I think it would probably be better if all intersections were four-ways.
Human aspiration is built-in, we don't need help via advertising to desire more from life. Everyone seems to have adopted fire and the wheel without a marketing campaign, after all.
Advertising may not be inherently bad, but given the scope and scale of modern advertising, one has to admit that we've gone too far. Google tells me we see about 5,000 ads per day, do you consider this a good or a bad thing? As a representative of your industry I'm curious to hear your thoughts.
> do you consider this a good or a bad thing? As a representative of your industry I'm curious to hear your thoughts.
I wouldn't presume to speak for my industry, but here are my thoughts and I appreciate being asked the question (as opposed to simply being attacked).
1. 5000 ads seems like too much, but I'm really not sure how we could arrive at what would be considered the right amount. 100? 5? 0? And even if we could, how would that get regulated, exactly? If we restricted it, who would decide who gets to advertise and who doesn't? Some may balk at this, but I feel that would lead to a form of censorship that none of us would appreciate. So the right number seems to be either zero or unlimited.
2. That said, some places have put full on bans on certain types of advertising. I'm ok with that. People seem to like it.
3. Most advertising (there are very few exceptions) fund various types of media. With the exception of state-funded media, advertising is the reason we have TV, radio, newspapers, social media, online news, YouTube, etc. Generally speaking, no one is willing to pay the full cost of the media we all consume. It's paid for by advertising. (You're welcome.) (If anyone brings up Netflix, tell me when exactly they intend to turn a profit and become a sustainable business?)
So is it good or bad? I maintain that, like most things in life, this should be judged on a case by case basis. Blanket judgments don't work.
> Human aspiration is built-in, we don't need help via advertising to desire more from life.
Yes and no. I get it if you don't think advertising contributes a net positive to human aspirations. But do you condemn teachers, preachers, and parents for trying to get people to aspire to greater things? Maybe the assumption is that advertising only promotes things that don't need promoting. I disagree, but I won't argue. But I have a hard time believing that your position is that no one should ever try to persuade anyone of anything because we're born with all the motivation we'll ever need. If that were the case, why are we even having this conversation?
> 3. Most advertising (there are very few exceptions) fund various types of media. With the exception of state-funded media, advertising is the reason we have TV, radio, newspapers, social media, online news, YouTube, etc. Generally speaking, no one is willing to pay the full cost of the media we all consume. It's paid for by advertising. (You're welcome.) (If anyone brings up Netflix, tell me when exactly they intend to turn a profit and become a sustainable business?)
I would greatly appreciate if advertising stopped funding "news" networks like CNN and Fox News. I think I could live happily in a world where Anderson Cooper isn't making 12 million dollars a year for being a news caster in-between ads for various prescription drugs.
> I assure you their editorial departments would be overjoyed if you've discovered a new business model that works without advertising.
A radical take: not all businesses currently funded by advertisement should exist.
A less radical take: if the audience feels that CNN/Fox/MSNBC provide a valuable service to them, they will be willing to pay for it directly. If "the people" feel that a news service benefits society as a whole, it can be funded through taxes, like the BBC.
So in an American context... NPR and PBS exclusively then? Because people have proven for quite a long time that they are not willing to foot the bill.
(I'm from Canada so our equivalent would be CBC and TVO.)
My guess is that if advertising was banned, the news media would become even more reliant on billionaires to keep them going, and I can't imagine that's healthy for a democracy. I know advertisers have impacted editorial decisions as well (especially really big advertisers who threaten to pull their ads), but I think that would be many times worse if a paper or TV station was entirely dependant on one or two people to stay afloat.
> So in an American context... NPR and PBS exclusively then? Because people have proven for quite a long time that they are not willing to foot the bill.
New York Times, The Young Turks, etc. If people aren't willing to foot the bill, then that's fine. The market-niche will be freed up for another business to take a better and more sustainable approach.
> My guess is that if advertising was banned, the news media would become even more reliant on billionaires to keep them going, and I can't imagine that's healthy for a democracy. I know advertisers have impacted editorial decisions as well (especially really big advertisers who threaten to pull their ads), but I think that would be many times worse if a paper or TV station was entirely dependant on one or two people to stay afloat.
Billionaires are not healthy for a democracy. The fact that the news media has to exploit their credibility with the audience to compete with a few wealthy individuals is a testament to that.
> If people aren't willing to foot the bill, then that's fine. The market-niche will be freed up for another business to take a better and more sustainable approach.
There's nothing stopping other business models to take hold, unless of course those business models are insufficient to support the operation.
Also, NYT is supported by a $250 million loan from billionaire Carlos Slim.
So you are replacing state benevolence with the advertising industry's benevolence :).
If the news/media organizations cannot survive and profit without either help, then shouldn't they be allowed to wither ? Instead of imposing this garbage on everyone, young ones included. Or do we consider them an essential industry now ?
BTW, that news is important is also a "need" created by advertising, so that, .... they can show more ads :).
I was a camp counselor at node camp three years in a row. He created such a magical experience that I cried when I got home, I wanted to live in nodecamp forever. I still do.
Seeing some of the folks posting in here makes it hurt worse. I have so many memories, like I remember all of us riding the bus back and forth to the camp, so much laughter and fucking around. Hanging at each others houses, going to meetups, and just being part of something special. Talking shit thru pull requests. Late night dorking around on meatspac.es etc etc etc I could go on for days.
Thank you Mikeal for all the good times.