Archive for June, 2019

Google:  Evil Or Vile?  An Indictment? (June 24, 2019)

Posted in Google, Technology on June 24, 2019 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Evil.”

J          “Vile.”

. . .

K          “Shuffle the letters.  I could live with vile.”

J          “I could live with evil.”

. . .

K          “Five years ago in response to a request to access ‘e-commentary’, Google provided ‘e-commentary’ on page five.  Three years ago in response to a request to access ‘e-commentary’, Google provided ‘e-commentary’ on page three.  One year ago, in response to a request to access ‘e-commentary’, Google provided ‘e-commentary’ on page one.  One week ago in response to a request to access ‘e-commentary’, Google did not provide ‘e-commentary’ even after scrolling through the first ten pages of responses.”

J          “Was that machinated by a machine or a man?”

. . .

K          “When you ask Google to deliver the specific and unique website https://e-commentary.org, Google should deliver the specific and unique website https://e-commentary.org without any analysis or delay.  However Google developed an algorithm that precludes the only possible response in our universe and instead provides links to Bible commentary and 30 raunchy photos of Melania that Trumpi does not want you to see.  Even going ten pages into the response, https://e-commentary.org is never even acknowledged.  Even after replicating the inquiry ten times during the day every day for the last ten days, Google does not redeem itself.”

J          “There is one and only one and no more than one response to an inquiry seeking the site https://e-commentary.org.  That response is https://e-commentary.org.  e-commentary is trademarked.  As an example of a search engine that works, merely type the trademarked ‘e-commentary’ in DuckDuckGo and https://e-commentary.org is the first response.  That is the only response.”

K          “That is ducky.  Merely type ‘e-commentary’ in Startpage and https://e-commentary.org is the fourth response.

J          “That is a good start.  Merely type ‘e-commentary’ in searX and https://e-commentary.org is the first response.”

K          “That is a searing indictment of Google.  Merely type ‘e-commentary’ in DISCONNECT Search and https://e-commentary.org is the first response.”

J          “There is no way to disconnect from the Google monster.  Merely type ‘e-commentary’ in MetaGer and https://e-commentary.org is the first response.”

K          “The Germans get it.  Merely type ‘e-commentary’ in Qwant and https://e-commentary.org is the second response.”

J          “That is quaint.”

. . .

K          “In a kleptocracy with many, many rules and many, many laws, but not the rule of law, one does not have any rights or recourse.”

J          “If you do not serve the Google interests, you do not exist.  But to its credit, ‘e-commentary’ quotes Captain Tony and Jerry Garcia among others.  Google should factor those facts into its factorials.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary three years ago at “The Great Google Wall (June 27, 2016)” and other e-commentary under the Categories “Google” and “Technology”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“If I’d written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people – including me – would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today.  Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.”  Hunter S. Thompson

“The more flak you get the closer you are to the target.”  World War Two bomber’s observation

Weather / Climate.  Oh, And Have A Happy Solstice! (June 17, 2019)

Posted in Climate, Environment, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Google, Solstice, Weather on June 17, 2019 by e-commentary.org

[After more than a dozen tries today, Google is not providing access to www.e-commentary.org when searching for www.e-commentary.org.]

. . .

Climate is what you expect.  Weather is what you get.

Weather is what you wear.  Climate is what’s in your closet.

Weather is the day-to-day state of the atmosphere and its short-term variation in minutes to days to weeks.  Folks regard weather as the combination of temperature, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, visibility, and wind.  Climate is the overall weather of a place averaged over a period of time such as 10 to 20 to 30 years.

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Solstice (June 21, 2010)”, “Another Solstice (June 20, 2011)” and “Darkness . . . And Light.  Oh, And Happy Winter Solstice! (December 17, 2018)”.]

 Bumper sticker of the week:

 “Everybody complains about the weather, but no one does anything about it.”  Mark Twain

[Don’t] Support Public Media? (June 10, 2019)

Posted in Boycott Series, Journalism, NPR, Press/Media, Radio on June 10, 2019 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Not really a boycott, rather a commitment to make a more specific allocation of resources.”

J          “No one cares.”

K          “I could not agree more.”

. . .

K          “Remember our conversation a year ago when I raised the question.  Now I have my answer.  I am supporting programs not stations.  I only contribute to stations in America that broadcast enlightened programs but am not contributing to my local station.  And then I listen to podcasts rather than the local station on my own time.  I will send money to ‘Alternative Radio’ and ‘Counterspin’ and ‘Democracy Now’ and ‘51 percent’.  That is the benchmark of commitment.”

J          “And the one you canonized as Saint Terry Gross.”

. . .

J          “No one cares.”

K          “I could not agree more.”

. . .

[The Raytheon Company and United Technologies Corporation are merging to create United Ray Guns Corporation.]

[See the e-commentary at “National People’s Radio?; National Public Radio?; National Petroleum Radio?; National Propaganda Radio? (June 11, 2018)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

No one cares.  I could not agree more.

Attempting to Care . . . Loading Please Wait

Mono-poly (June 3, 2019)

Posted in Monopoly on June 3, 2019 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “One – many.”

J          “One from many.”

. . .

K          “The pork industry in the heartland is in a few hands and the industry farming out government pork in the District of Swampville is concentrated in a few hands.”

J          “All the pig knuckles are in one hand.  T-Mobile and Sprint are merging.  The FCC is also in one hand – the telecommunications industry – and is not the protector of the public good or the common weal.  On the other hand, those who know remind us that the transition from four to three major wireless carriers will drive up prices and drive down quality.”

K          “Hands down.  Ma Bell’s daughters are assembling another coterie.”

. . .

K          “Office Depot and OfficeMax merged and may create ‘Office Heaven’ for all your office needs.”

J          “Or ‘Office Hell’ if they go the way of all monopolists in America.”

K          “Before the turn of the millennium, Dick Cabela and Cabela’s made some first rate jackets, pants, shirts and other gear and then with each passing year uniformly and consistently reduced the quality and durability of their products.  Bass Pro recently devoured the little fish Cabela’s.  ‘OutdoorsRUs’ will produce lower quality and higher priced products.”

J          “I was not shocked to find that Zareba joined ElectroBraid and Fi-Shock to form the largest manufacturer of electric fence systems in North America.”

. . .

J          “With the final demise of ‘Ma and Pa Businesses’ comes the death, spiritual and financial, of ma and pa and then the death of their community.” 

. . .  

[See “Monopoly Power Is Growing In Response To Sustainable Development” in “Technology News & Trends” by Patrick Wood dated April 4, 2019”, “Supreme Court Allows Antitrust Suit Against Apple to Proceed” in “The New York Times” by Adam Liptak dated May 13, 2019, “America’s monopoly problem, in one chart” in “Vox” by Emily Stewart dated November 26, 2018, “Big Companies Are Getting a Chokehold on the Economy” in “Bloomberg” by Noah Smith dated February 22, 2018”, “America Has a Monopoly Problem–and It’s Huge” in “The Nation” by Joseph E. Stiglitz dated October 23, 2017.]

[See the e-commentary at “Are ‘Prices’ A Language?  Are Antitrust Laws Grounded In The First Amendment?  How Do We Forestall The “Frightful Five” And Other Monopolies?  Oh, And Happy Halloween! (October 30, 2017)”, “The Great Google Wall (June 27, 2016)”, “Less Government Regulation Series:  Google (November 30, 2009)”, “Should You ‘Friend’ The Tech Beast And Behemoths? (October 23, 2017)” and “Restraining Google/Alphabet And Damming Amazon (July 17, 2017)”.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

“Today, four companies produce 84 percent of our beef.  Four companies control the world’s grain market.  Six corporations [GE, Disney, News Corp, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS] control 90 percent of the media.  Ten companies control everything you buy.  Three companies completely dominate the farm equipment market.  Fourteen companies control the entire global auto industry.  You get the idea.  This extends to many different industries where giant global corporations are gobbling up everything in sight.  How did we get to this point?”  Patrick Wood, “Monopoly Power Is Growing In Response To Sustainable Development