"I... was the primary author of Protocol Buffers version 2, which is the version that Google released open source. Cap’n Proto is the result of years of experience working on Protobufs, listening to user feedback, and thinking about how things could be done better."
"These works are simultaneously images and material records of their own making.
Field recordings of production sounds were made at each site, then transmuted into digital spectrogram images using a linguistic audio software. Color was assigned to the wave forms, then translated into a pattern by a weaving technician to create a Jacquard fabric."
"Grinding is a fantasy by which the change you desire can be achieved by continuing to do what you are already doing in small, comfortable increments. Grinding is the copium of liberal democracy: enough small instances of inoffensive protest and general decorum will gradually push society to Max Level. Is Metaphor: ReFantazio an allegory😉 for the Obama administration, some mildly progressive status-quo-ing aestheticized as radical change?" (by Todd Anderson) I disagree with this but it is usefully provocative haha
"Large increases in material output, we are assured, can save liberalism from the civilizational choice between socialism and barbarism. I disagree; refusing to be forthright about society’s structural antagonisms opens the door to demagogues who peddle false conflicts that still ring truer than the liberals’ false peace."
"An engineering problem is solved when the structure works: a bridge bears the weight. However, a bridge bearing weight does not confirm one's hypothesis that bridges possess an understanding of gravity."
"I am in a position to know and appreciate what a difference education makes to the quality of your life. The vastness of the world it opens up to you while simultaneously instilling in you the curiosity to explore it. The sense of perspective it offers, enabling you to view the events of your life, and the events of whatever historical moment it is yours to live through, in a much larger context, rather than being resigned to viewing them from a standpoint of uncomprehending ignorance, as if they were all happening for the first time and for no discernible reason."
"Le remplacement d’un smartphone est ainsi plus souvent motivé par la frustration liée à l’accumulation de dysfonctionnements matériels et logiciels sur l’appareil que par une réelle incapacité d’utilisation." (english: smartphone replacement is more often motivated by frustration linked to accumulating hardware and software problems, not by the phone being actually impossible to use) so... smartphone manufacturers are actually *incentivized* to ship and promote shitty software, because it drives sales of newer models. got it.
"[G]iven that the cost to use a larger, better capacitor is effectively nil in most cases, you can keep experiencing that exact same level of cognitive load avoidance by just using 1uF or 2.2uF instead, in the smallest capacitor package that is practical for the voltage and assembly constraints you have, and placing it right up against the power pins. It’s free real estate, or something."
"Digital marketing is a fundamental threat to human flourishing, cognitive autonomy, and democratic governance. The industry has normalized a state of perpetual surveillance and manipulation that would have been unthinkable just decades ago. Its methodologies have created a world where attention is constantly hijacked, emotions are continuously manipulated, and reality itself is customized in pursuit of extraction value."
"The fight you're in is about segregation. The government is forcing you to choose segregation -- the obstruction of non white people (and white women) -- as well as queer, trans, and disabled people -- from entering or advancing in your industry." honestly "DEI programs" should have been called "anti-segregation programs" since the beginning
"... the imperfections and bad decisions are what makes Gorton come alive. They don’t feel like a profound misunderstandings of typography, typesetting, or Gorton itself. They don’t feel like abuses or aberrations. No, they feel exactly how Gorton was supposed to be used – haphazardly, without much care, to solve a problem and walk away."