Linotype Pilgrim
@symbo1ics.bsky.social
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Reviews: "unhinged", "deluded", "incoherent" | Black Lives Matter | Vidas Indígenas Importam | Trans Lives Matter | politics, profanity, analog electronics, retrocomputing, coffee, typography | REMOVE DOUG FORD | Mastodon: https://timeloop.cafe/@symbo1ics
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symbo1ics.bsky.social
Paul Rand, "Thoughts on Design":

Folio: 9

Heading (in margin):
The Beautiful and the Useful

Text:
(laid out as free verse, while Rand is in poetic mode)

Graphic design—
which fulfills esthetic needs,
complies with the laws of form
and the exigencies of two-dimensional space;
which speaks in semiotics, sans-serifs,
and geometrics;
which abstracts, transforms, translates,
rotates, dilates, repeats, mirrors,
groups, and regroups—
is not good design
if it is irrelevant.

Graphic design—
which evokes the symmetria of Vitruvius,
the dynamic symmetry of Hambidge,
the asymmetry of Mondrian;
which is a good gestalt;
which is generated by intuition or by computer,
by invention or by a system of co-ordinates—
is not good design
if it does not co-operate
as an instrument
in the service of communication.

Visual communications of any kind, whether persuasive or informative, from billboards to birth announcements, should be seen as the embodiment of form and function: the integration of the beautiful and the useful. In an advertisement, copy, art, and typography are seen as a living entity; each element integrally related, in harmony with the whole, and essential to the execution of the idea. Like a juggler, the designer demonstrates his skills by manipulating these ingredients in a given space. Whether this space takes the form of advertisements, periodicals, books, printed forms, packages, industrial products, signs, or TV billboards, the criteria are the same.

That the separation of form and function, of concept and execution, is not likely to produce objects of esthetic value has been repeatedly demonstrated. Similarly, it has been shown that the system which regards esthetics as irrelevant, which separates the artist from his product, 

(continued in 2nd image)
which fragments the work of the individual, which creates by committee, and which makes mincemeat of the creative process will, in the long run, diminish not only the product but the maker as well.

John Dewey, commenting on the relationship between fine art and useful or technological art, says: “That many, perhaps most, of the articles and utensils made at present for use are not genuinely esthetic happens, unfortunately, to be true. But it is true for reasons that are foreign to the relation of the ‘beautiful’ and ‘useful’ as such. Wherever conditions are such as to prevent the act of production from being an experience in which the whole creature is alive and in which he possesses his living through enjoyment, the product will lack something of being esthetic. No matter how useful it is for special and limited ends, it will not be useful in the ultimate degree—that of contributing directly and liberally to an expanding and enriched life.”[1]

The esthetic requirements to which Dewey refers are, it seems to me, exemplified in the work of the Shakers. Their religious beliefs provided the fertile soil in which beauty and utility could flourish. Their spiritual needs found expression in the design of fabrics, furniture, and utensils of great esthetic value. These products are a document of the simple life of the people, their asceticism, their restraint, their devotion to fine craftsmanship, and their feeling for proportion, space, and order.

Ideally, beauty and utility are mutually generative. In the past, rarely was beauty an end in itself. The magnificent stained glass windows of Chartres were no less utilitarian than was the Parthenon or the Pyramid of Cheops. The function of the exterior decoration of the great Gothic cathedrals was to invite entry; the rose windows inside provided the spiritual mood. Interpreted in the light of our own experiences, this philosophy still prevails.

[1. John Dewey
Art as Experience, p. 26
Etherial Things] Emphasising the Dewey quote:


John Dewey, commenting on the relationship between fine art and useful or technological art, says: “That many, perhaps most, of the articles and utensils made at present for use are not genuinely esthetic happens, unfortunately, to be true. But it is true for reasons that are foreign to the relation of the ‘beautiful’ and ‘useful’ as such. Wherever conditions are such as to prevent the act of production from being an experience in which the whole creature is alive and in which he possesses his living through enjoyment, the product will lack something of being esthetic. No matter how useful it is for special and limited ends, it will not be useful in the ultimate degree—that of contributing directly and liberally to an expanding and enriched life.”[1]

[1. John Dewey
Art as Experience, p. 26
Etherial Things]
symbo1ics.bsky.social
the problem is that they seem to be just using imaginary numbers for all of this, just made-up money, as Ed has frequently warned. you can't run out of imaginary money apparently
Reposted by Linotype Pilgrim
symbo1ics.bsky.social
fuck Andreessen
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
ANDREESSEN: Even if AI ends up destroying all the jobs, “the result would be hyper-deflation of prices, which is the thing that people miss. .. Things that today cost a lot of money will all of a sudden be cheap or free.”

@fortune.com
fortune.com/2025/10/08/b...
Reposted by Linotype Pilgrim
anodynesix.bsky.social
"Advocates have urged immigrants, especially children, not to sign any documents that attempt to threaten or incentivize children to waive their rights without first seeking legal advice ... [I]n March, the administration cut a federally funded program that provided legal representation for minors."
harmscommitted.com
ICE "is beginning to target unaccompanied immigrant children, pressuring them to accept cash payment in exchange for agreeing to be deported."

"[C]hildren 14 years or older would receive $2,500."

"[C]onsidering lowering the range to children as young as 10."
#USA #Deportation #EthnicCleansing
ICE Targets Unaccompanied Immigrant Children, Offering Payment for Deportation
ICE confirmed its plan to pay unaccompanied immigrant children in exchange for their agreement to be deported.
theintercept.com
symbo1ics.bsky.social
Toronto when
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
I'm on the slowest bus line in the city with the slowest buses in the nation to talk to New Yorkers about what it would mean for their lives if we made them fast and free.
Zohran sits on a bus talking to a rider sitting behind him.
symbo1ics.bsky.social
it's amazing what people will type and then Send Skete
symbo1ics.bsky.social
more like scones and raspberry jam
symbo1ics.bsky.social
the very existence of this device doesn't make sense.

when you have no coherent mission or idea, but a room of poached apple designers, physical mockups embody a dead and empty aesthetic

the companies themselves throw investor cash at cute marketing &bespoke typefaces

pretty wrap for a scam
vaibhavsharma02.bsky.social
This is definitely going to flop like Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1.
Using a phone is still faster, more practical, and way more versatile.

These AI gadgets sound cool, but they are not at all practical, they keep overpromising and underdelivering — people just don’t need them yet.

#openai
symbo1ics.bsky.social
it's far below intern level and it ends the user's career progression, damaging their cognition

bsky.app/profile/symb...
symbo1ics.bsky.social
In conclusion, LinkedIn is a land of contrasts,

#aifraud
Screenshot of LinkedIn posts by Abdullah IjazAbdullah Ijaz
   • 3rd+Verified • 3rd+
Software Engineer | Yapping about dev and career wins/fails

3w •  3 weeks ago • Visible to anyone on or off LinkedIn

Claude Code has made me a dumber engineer.

In the race of "optimizing" productivity, AI tools have slowly impacted my critical thinking and confidence as a developer.

Last month, I was working on a personal project without access to Claude Code on my laptop.

Suddenly, I felt lost.

I'd pause after writing a function signature, expecting AI to fill in the implementation. 
Basic syntax that I knew by heart a year ago? I had to Google it.

The worst part wasn't the slower pace.
It was realizing how dependent I'd become.

I used to have this gut instinct about code. That feeling when something's architecturally wrong, or when a particular approach just "fits" better.

Years of debugging issues at 3 AM taught me to trust that intuition.

But AI has been quietly eroding that.

1/3 
Now I second-guess myself constantly. Instead of thinking through problems, I outsource decisions to Claude. 
It's easier, sure. But I'm losing the very skills that make experienced developers valuable.

Here's what worries me most:

Junior devs who are 90%+ dependent on AI these days - how exactly do you plan to vibe code your way to senior level?

What happens when you get that panicked Slack message: "Website works fine locally, but production is down. Nothing in the logs."

Will your response be "Sorry, Claude can't figure it out. I'll try different prompts tomorrow"?

I'm making a change.

From now on, I'm keeping AI completely separate from my editor. When I do use Claude, it's manual copy-paste only - after I actually understand the solution.

Yes, it's slower. Yes, it requires more effort.

But here's the thing - coding isn't just about shipping fast. 

It's about loving what you do and staying competent at it.

2/3 
My advice to junior developers:

Don't let AI do all the heavy lifting. 

Learn the fundamentals. 
Build that intuition through practice, not prompts.

If you can't code without AI, you simply can't code.
Your future senior self will thank you for putting in the real work now.

3/3
symbo1ics.bsky.social
I think it was Phil Schiller who did the trashcan Pro. Inexplicably, he kept his job.
Reposted by Linotype Pilgrim
screaming.party
this board of people the government has put together to foster the safe development of AI is like putting oil company executives in charge of providing guidance on environmental protection

www.dhs.gov/news/2024/04...
A list of people on the new government AI safety board. The list is long but here are a few of the names:

Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI; 
Dario Amodei, CEO and Co-Founder, Anthropic; 
Ed Bastian, CEO, Delta Air Lines; 
Rumman Chowdhury, Ph.D., CEO, Humane Intelligence; 
Alexandra Reeve Givens, President and CEO, Center for Democracy and Technology  
Bruce Harrell, Mayor of Seattle, Washington; Chair, Technology and Innovation Committee, United States Conference of Mayors; 
Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; 
Vicki Hollub, President and CEO, Occidental Petroleum; 
Jensen Huang, President and CEO, NVIDIA; 
Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO, IBM; 
Fei-Fei Li, Ph.D., Co-Director, Stanford Human-centered Artificial Intelligence Institute;  
Wes Moore, Governor of Maryland; 
Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft;
Reposted by Linotype Pilgrim
Reposted by Linotype Pilgrim
anodynesix.bsky.social
"Each time we say it can't become worse, it does."
truthout.org
In Gaza, another humanitarian crisis has emerged: the soaring displacement expenses — or, as many people in Gaza bitterly describe it, “The fees you pay to become homeless in the south.” Tents cost $1,000 and securing a patch of land to pitch it on can be almost as costly.
Israel’s “Safe Zones” in Gaza Offer No Safety. Many Can’t Afford to Flee Anyway.
Displacement costs, which many call “the fees you pay to become homeless in the south,” have reached nearly $5,000.
truthout.org
symbo1ics.bsky.social
yeah, whatever, we've all seen that movie
arstechnica.com
In its announcement of the acquisition, Qualcomm said that Arduino would "[retain] its brand and mission," including its "open source ethos" and "support for multiple silicon vendors."
Qualcomm is buying Arduino, releases new Raspberry Pi-esque Arduino board
Qualcomm claims Arduino will keep its own branding and “open source ethos.”…
arstechnica.com
symbo1ics.bsky.social
Meanwhile in Ontario

what level of anger are we supposed to have at the Doug Ford circus because the corruption and ruin is out of goddamn control
symbo1ics.bsky.social
yes. I was actually riffing on "sell WHEN [you are] [high / drunk]" but it doesn't matter
Reposted by Linotype Pilgrim
originalaurelia.bsky.social
Yes, because for MAiD to be a true choice, we have to pay for people to live well with dignity and pain free, until the moment they decide to use MAiD.
Offering only one is not a choice. #cdnpoli
Reposted by Linotype Pilgrim
edzitron.com
just an obscene lie, but because it's "will be" nothing happens. Oracle is posting razor-thin gross profit margins (which do not mean they're actually making a profit, by the way!). Oracle lost $100m in three months on renting out Blackwell GPUs.

www.theinformation.com/articles/int...
In the three months that ended in August, Oracle generated around $900 million from rentals of servers powered by Nvidia chips and recorded a gross profit of $125 million—equal to 14 cents for every $1 of sales, the documents show. That’s lower than the gross margins of many nontech retail businesses.

As sales from the business nearly tripled in the past year, the gross profit margin from those sales ranged between less than 10% and slightly over 20%, averaging around 16%, the documents show.

In some cases, Oracle is losing considerable sums on rentals of small quantities of both newer and older versions of Nvidia’s chips, the data show. A spokesperson for Oracle, which doesn’t publicly disclose the AI cloud server unit’s financials, did not have a comment on those figures.

The 14% gross margin figure appears to take into account the labor, power and other direct costs of running Oracle data centers, including depreciation expenses for some of the equipment. Other unspecified depreciation expenses would eat up another 7 percentage points of margin, the documents show. Equity analysts such as Gil Luria from D.A. Davidson say they tend to account for depreciation of chips and other data center equipment when calculating a cloud provider’s gross margin, as the equipment is a key cost of selling cloud services.

That dynamic seems to contradict Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s recent comment that the release of newer chips essentially wipes out demand for older ones.

Oracle’s margins are also affected by how many of its servers customers are actually using—and paying for. Utilization of Oracle’s GPU cloud servers ranges between 60% and 90%, depending on the type of Nvidia chip that powers them, according to internal documents.

In the three months that ended in August, Oracle lost nearly $100 million from rentals of Nvidia’s Blackwell chips, which arrived this year. That’s partly because there is a period between when Oracle gets its data centers ready for customers and when customers start using and paying for them, the documents show. It’s not clear what causes the gap or how Oracle plans to shorten it.
Reposted by Linotype Pilgrim
edzitron.com
To be clear, fracked gas is extremely expensive, dangerous *and* inefficient. Maybe some of the people who visited Abilene to see OpenAI could’ve asked about this, or known about it
Reposted by Linotype Pilgrim
veni.dev
“You’re not making art, you’re making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music, and then shoving them down someone else’s throat hoping they’ll give you a little thumbs up and like it. Gross."

www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oc...
Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda hits out at AI-generated videos of her dead father: ‘stop doing this to him’
Film-maker tells the public to stop sending her videos, saying: ‘You’re not making art, you’re making disgusting, over-processed hotdogs out of the lives of human beings’
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Linotype Pilgrim
karlbode.com
twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross
photo of Google News search results for Amazon Prime Day (the second this year)
Reposted by Linotype Pilgrim
astrotoya.bsky.social
Well… my bank has shutdown my checking account because I was $-1,144 and I couldn’t cover it. I want to cry.

If anyone can help, I need it and I’d be so grateful.

I was raped in July, lost a pregnancy and my job.

My v e n m o is : @astrotoya
My c a s h a p p : $astrotoya
or PayPal.me/toyamck