As You Should Surely Know By Now
Conrad likes Radiohead, whom he once described as a 'Pink Floyd for the Noughties', not the least for their deadpan lyrical wit. They garnered a little success with 'Pablo Honey', garnered a lot more with "The Bends" and really broke out with "OK Computer". Good for them. It took Pink Floyd eight years to hit it really big. Art!
The thing about computers is that they work on the GIGO principle: 'Garbage In, Garbage Out', meaning that if you want a genuine output of value, you can't skimp on the data you provide.
Since the Sixties, various entrepreneurs and businesses have got the £££ signs in their eyes when thinking about computers, because they see them as a way to get rich quick. This repellent mindset is very, very much with us today, thanks to the bumbletucks who think they can 'invest' in a crypto-currency and turn £8.37 into £5,000,000 in a week, because Magic Makes Money. Art!
The exemplar of GIGO
Okay, let us now skip lightly across the Atlantic and inspect the South Canadian media market, whereupon we find a company called "Red Ventures", whose intent is to purchase other, successful, media companies and then squeeze them like a money-conscious boa constrictor, all the better to get as much profit as possible. Art!
RV bought up the venerable IT media company CNET, appointing Connie Guglielmo as Editor. Her unacknowledged brief seems to have been 'maximise profits, minimise outlay' which led to 10% of the staff being sacked. That will certainly minimise outlay, not gonna argue with that one.
RV, via Guglielmo, pushed for making money instead of genuine articles, by ensuring content pushed Search Engine Optimisation instead of anything relevant. Anything that earned commission was prioritised. Art!
The temptation to use generative AI to produce content in lieu of actual Hom. Sap. meatbags was too much for Guglielmo, who allowed the discreet and unannounced use of 'Responsible AI Machine Partner". I mean, what can possibly go wrong?
Well things did go wrong, or we wouldn't have today's title or Intro.
Out of 77 stories created using RAMP, 44 turned out to be so full of factual errors that CNET had to issue corrections, frequently lengthy ones, too. Not only that, RAMP plagiarised other technical publications in order to create it's own debased content, which instantly reduced CNET's reputation and laid them open to potential litigation. Art!
Guggy
Guggy, being Editor, knew where the skeletons were buried, so she wasn't sacked, merely demoted to a lower position where her innovation and cost-cutting couldn't do nearly as much damage.
The upshot of this infernal meddling is that the remaining employees of CNET have now created their own media union, with over 100 members. Red Ventures might want to go away and read up about the Law Of Unintended Consequences, because they certainly didn't anticipate having to deal with shop stewards, work to rules or even <gasp!> strikes. Art!
Just imagine, this is AI not trying to be stupid or unhelpful. In the future, there will be ITerrorists who hack AI systems and implant commands to be eeeevil, or brutal, or neglectful, or to turn the engines off at 30,000 feet. Then you'll be sorry!
Conrad Is ANGRY!
Yes yes yes, I'm always angry. I'm angrier than usual thanks to DOG BUNS CODEWORDS! Your Humble Scribe has recommenced solving these word crosses after an hiatus, and now I remember why I was on hiatus.
NATATORY: No, I'd never heard of it, either. I had to check it three times before acknowledging that it was a real word. What does it mean? Inform us, O mighty Collins Concise! "Of, or relating to, swimming". It has a Latin root I can't be bothered to chase up. Art!
Hmm. Dull. Art - more excitement!
AGAMAS: Once again Conrad had to check this one to ensure it was a real solution and not a mistake. This time it's the plural of the AGAMA, which all of us recognise as a lizard that has cropped up as a solution before. Art!
No, it's not Ukrainian
BREVE: I guessed that this had a Latin root, and it does. It is a variety of diacritical mark placed over letters to inform how to pronounce them correctly. Art!
A bunch of breves. Art!
You can now breve in
Kyle's Isles
Yes, we are back to the list of interesting South Canadian islands Kyle drew up, just as an example that we do not post solely about contemporary conflicts nor Toxic Tangerine Toads. This is Number Two on the list and is -
BELLE ISLE, MICHIGAN
This is an island located in the Detroit River, on the Michigan side of the border with Canuckistan, and if Art will postpone sucking the contents out of that nuclear fuel rod -
It isn't clear from this map, but there is a bridge that links Belle Isle to the mainland, which perhaps annoys the Detroit Yacht Club, who have their home on the island (would you want to allow the commoners access to your exclusive club?). It also houses a Maritime Museum and is the venue for 'street racing', which sounds dangerous because that's how the "Fast and Furious" franchise began. Art!
For an island it encompasses an awful lot of water. Kyle doesn't mention any population so I'm guessing that there are no permanent residents, only employees and seasonal workers.
A Journey With Bernie
Bernie Wrightson, that is, the artistic genius sadly missed nowadays, as he's retired from doing illustrations, thanks to brain surgery. Art!
This is what you might call 'setting the scene', with a large and forbidding house set amidst a forest clearing; not in the middle of the wilderness, as you can see other houses in the background. Just far enough away from other human domiciles to be - unsettling.
There is no credits panel for this story, so we're unaware who wrote it, nor who did the lettering (a subtle art in itself), nor even if this is a colourised version of an original monochrome.
Pay attention to the detail in that splash panel; the tree branches, the architecture and the interplay of light and shadow. Talent at work!
The Birthday Boy Says "Ahoy!"
It may not have escaped you that Conrad celebrates 63 orbits around the sun today. Yah boo sucks to those who said I'd never get to 30. I credit my lifespan to healthy living and having loose shoes. Art!
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| From Deggsy |
Ignore the intrusive thumb! This bottle arrived today, and although August is supposed to be a dry month, I shall be delicately sampling this spirit later today. I mean, it would be rude not to, right?
Then, this afternoon, it was off to Orford, Warrington, to liaise with Darling Daughter and Quiet Tom. First of all, to see their new house filled with their impedimenta and the very low-profile radiators. Secondly, to visit the nearby Toby Carvery for a birthday lunch. Art!
Sal is quite tanned thanks to sitting outside in the garden whilst all the new radiators were installed. Tom's tonsure and beard look positively respectable, compared to the doormat-stapled-to-chin look some young men of today adopt.
And with that, we are done!
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