The Weekly Whatever: Ukraine-a-Lago Scandal edition
(Historical) quote of the week
For this type of reason and historical experience with other media, we expect that advertising funded search engines will be inherently biased towards the advertisers and away from the needs of the consumers. […] This type of bias is very difficult to detect but could still have a significant effect on the market. Furthermore, advertising income often provides an incentive to provide poor quality search results. […] [W]e believe the issue of advertising causes enough mixed incentives that it is crucial to have a competitive search engine that is transparent and in the academic realm.
— Sergey Brin and Larry Page, 1998
Woodpecker engineering
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The secret software fix to the Boeing 737 MAX that led to disaster when implemented in a culture of deregulation and cost-cutting.
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Inmates at an Ohio prison assemble two functioning computers, hide them in the ceiling, and connect them to the prison network so they can hack and browse porn.
Wait, what?
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When WeWork laid off 7% of staff, it treated laid-off workers to tequila shots and a performance by Darryl McDaniels of Run DMC.
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TiVo announces it will show extra ads before your recorded TV shows.
Dystopia technologica
- Real-time GPS traffic data is making traffic jams worse.
Threat Level Orange
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Customs and Border Protection reported that climate change and the resulting food scarcity was driving the migration of Guatemalans to the US; the Trump administration suspended foreign aid to Guatemala.
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Mackinac island has banned cars for more than a century; Gerald Ford visited by horse-drawn carriage. Mike Pence visited in an eight-vehicle motorcade.
That's some mighty fine police work there, Lou
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Six year old child arrested for tantrum, handcuffed and fingerprinted. School's Assistant Principal says she wants to press charges against the child.
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Police shoot an unarmed man seven times for entering his own back yard, after failing to identify themselves as police.
Well, fancy that!
- Self-help guru Jordan Peterson, who claimed that an all-meat diet would cure depression, has checked into rehab for Klonopin addiction.
We're fucked
- Climate change is still accelerating.
Sick, sad world
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Army exceeds its recruitment goals and credits the student loan debt crisis.
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Woman escapes from camel by biting its testicles.
Not The Onion
This should end well
- Facebook announces that anything politicians say is exempt from all of Facebook's rules about hate speech, incitement to violence, malicious spreading of falsehoods, and so on. YouTube follows suit. Trump campaign starts massive Facebook ad blitz, lying that prominent Democrats have made "pro-terrorist remarks".
Extreme awesome
- Creepy guy sends cute woman a dick pic, learns that she's transgender when she sends back a picture of her dick — which is bigger.
Schadenfreude Friday
- Leader of anti-Muslim hate group must pay $600,000 to Minnesota sheriff he punched.
Ukraine-a-Lago
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Trump told Russian officials he wasn't concerned about their interference in US elections.
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Trump meets with NRA leader LaPierre to ask if they'll bankroll his impeachment defense. NRA is revealed to have been a Russian asset since before 2016.
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Giuliani suddenly cancels a paid appearance at a Kremlin-backed conference.