Wabewalker

The embedded clip in this story is hysterical: the Fox reporters use every possible euphemism for “stupid” without actually saying Sara Palin is. “Looking at 2012”? Riiiiiight.

It’s a bad time to be a Neo-Con.

I feel their pain: I supported Jerry Yang at the beginning; now I think he’s a coward. I’m willing to admit to bad judgement. Why can’t they?

(As usual, I do not speak for Yahoo!)

Sue Decker:

Yahoo! continually optimizes its algorithmic and sponsored search, and we have, in 2008 alone, developed and launched hundreds of improvements all designed to enhance search quality…

“Hundreds of improvements” is always a bad sign: it implies that: a) the original design was poor; or b) each improvement is a rapid response to a corner case, which in turn weakens the overall structure; or both. Painting over cracks does not eliminate the cracks; it only makes it more surprising when everything collapses.

Ultimately, this decision will be the end of Yahoo! as an independent entity. The Justice Department’s tacit anti-trust policy for the last eight years has been one of establishing lopsided duopolies. Internally, the JD assumed (incorrectly) that Microsoft was the only US business that could keep Google in check. As long as Ballmer remains in charge, Microsoft cannot even keep itself in check.

Selling to Microsoft is not the only option open to Jerry Yang et al. If he were really courageous, he could try to greenmail the Justice Department itself: simply state that if the government does not subsidize Yahoo!, Yahoo! will shut down its search operations and tell its users to go to Google. As I have said countless times before: Yahoo! is not in the business of competing with Google; Yahoo! is in the business of making money. Yang has to remind the Justice Department that it is their job, not his, to keep monopolies under control.

Bush, Cheney to skip GOP convention because of Gustav

Uh, no. You’re skipping the GOP convention because your approval rating is in the toilet. Using Hurricane Gustav as an excuse is pure chutzpah considering how you and your cronies mishandled Katrina.

A funny thing happened at work today. Funny as in “troubling.”

I work at Yahoo! (exclamation point mandatory, sorry), and unless you’ve been under a rock for the last two months, you are aware that Yahoo! is fending off the unwilling advances of Microsoft.

Well, this appeared on the internal boards this week:

There are photos of someone on the walls of Bld A 1st and 2nd floors
(break-room, stairs etc). Why and who is this?

The response was:

I heard he is a new employee that has been planted into Y! by Microsoft.
Watch out what you say around him.

This exchange immediately brought to mind the final exchange from that story by Rod Serling:

“Understand the procedure now? Just stop a few of their machines, their telephones, their lawnmowers, throw them into darkness for a few hours, and then sit back and watch the pattern.”

“This pattern is always the same?”

“With few variations. They pick the most dangerous enemy they can find.... and it’s themselves. All we need do is sit back and watch.”

Indeed. In the immortal words of Walt Kelly, “We have met the enemy, and it is us.”

Judge dismisses “potty-mouth” case

Iraqi Invasion: A Text Misadventure

(via SF Gate Culture Blog)

(via Screenhead)

The War on Terror as a Bourne Shell Script.

(via Tim Bray)

Come this Thursday, the War on Terrorism will have taken longer than WWII.

And yes, I know it’s satire. It’s still a good read, however.