Sevoris

aral , 16 days ago to random

“‘If it’s hot outside, we can raise the price of water and ice cream. If there's something that’s close to the expiration date, we can lower the price — that’s the good news,’ said Phil Lempert, a grocery industry analyst.”

https://www.opb.org/article/2024/06/19/a-supermarket-trip-may-soon-look-different-thanks-to-electronic-shelf-labels/

Imagine saying the first bit and ending it with “that’s the good news.”

The Phil Lemperts of the world are the reason we can’t have nice things.

Via @BlackAzizAnansi

#capitalism

inthehands , 2 months ago to random

Half-formed thought: partially unseated from centralized, highly visible, near-monopoly market dominance of end user computing; made successful transition to less visible but equally pervasive tentacles-everywhere dominance of computational plumbing + services; now making a killing on rent-seeking from biz clients
⇒ Microsoft is the new IBM
https://www.wired.com/story/the-us-government-has-a-microsoft-problem/

randahl , 2 months ago to random

The Russian director Sergei Komarov of the construction company Spetsstroy which built the now collapsed Orsk dam in Russia, claims his one billion rouble dam was worth every cent, but unfortunately, rodents had chewed their way through the dam.

Rodents. That is what they are going with after 10,000 homes have been flooded.

I am truly grateful not to be living in the corrupt state of Russia.

alice , 2 months ago to random

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

cybeardjm , 3 months ago to random

Vets fret as private equity snaps up clinics, pet care companies

"As pet ownership soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, private equity followed close behind. The pandemic years of 2020-2022 were 'the peak years for private equity acquisitions of veterinary services and practices' [...]

https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/vets-fret-private-equity-snaps-clinics-pet-care-companies

#Pets #Veterinary #PrivateEquity #Dogs #Cats

Sevoris , 3 months ago to random

@pluralistic article from the 25th is a synthesis article of issues that, from what I could recognize, goes as far back as 2022, in some places further. (The writing I am aware of about the ad bubble goes back to the late 2000s/early 2010s?): https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/25/black-boxes/

From the criti-hype of the ad-tech and „AI“ industry to the regulatory capture of big business to the challenges of trust in technological artifacts and regulatory systems, conspiratorial thinking to political orientation.

Sevoris , 3 months ago to random

To be honest, I did not understand why @pluralistic is writing books like „The Bezzle“ until I got around to reading this article https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/17/the-steve-soul-caper/

For that matter, I had never reflected on what John Oliver’s format with #LastWeekTonight encapsulates, but this article made it quite succinct: you’re working on popping the jargon and obfuscation and presentation around the banality of (financial) evil with entertainment. Keep people’s attention up to understand what is happening.

ElleGray , 3 months ago to random

The boss has been pestering me to attend a leadership conference so I, completely jokingly, said, "A true leader would never sit in an audience being told what to do" and now half this office is in existential crisis

nyrath , 4 months ago to random

Rocket packs have drawbacks.

Jet packs carry chemical fuel but uses atmospheric oxidizer. About 10 minutes before the fuel is used up.

Rocket packs carry both fuel and oxidizer. About 30 SECONDS before the fuel is gone.

Hard to increase duration, short of nuclear energy.

Users typically fly with rocket packs at an altitude too low to use a parachute (below 30 meters) but too high to survive the fall (above 9 meters)

Sevoris , 4 months ago to random

Joking about „burger futures“ and stuff, but a bit more seriously - are we going to see „guerrilla apps“ like @pluralistic discussed them bing in use by delivery drivers, where people try to coordinate their fast food buys based on hunger and available time to outmaneuver surge pricing?

(Would that even work? I suspect less rather than more, including for device accessibility reasons, but this brain bug still seems worth sharing to me)