This is so true! I imagine everyone accumulates a story that serves to make this point, but I'm afraid I can't resist sharing mine... 1/

Once, long ago, my manager came to me on a Friday afternoon: "Are you going to be here on Monday?" 2/
Now, this is the 1990s: to work from home, you needed a modem (!!) -- and at the time, I owned no computer so even that wasn't happening. So I was emphatically going to be there on Monday, if for no other reason that I had nowhere else to work. 3/
"Yes, of course I'm going to be here on Monday."
"Okay, we need to talk Monday."
"Is there something wrong? Can we talk now?"
"Let's talk Monday." 4/
My early-twentysomething self was (obviously?) very anxious, so I immediately went to the office of the senior engineer in the group (and my mentor), Jeff Bonwick to see if he knew of anything that I might have screwed up... 5/
Somewhat to my surprise, he was less interested in brainstorming ways in which I might be in trouble -- and much more dismayed at the clumsiness of our manager. "Wait here." He left. 6/
I heard him enter our manager's office several doors down. The walls were thin. I could hear that Bonwick was... emphatic. He was there for a few minutes, and returned: "Now go back to your office." 7/
I went back to my office, and my manager appeared, sheepishly. "Do you, um, have a second to talk now?" Of course I did! 8/
And as it turns out, it was... nothing. It was not that I had even upset anyone (which, um, happened), it was that he needed to ask me a purely technical question. He didn't want to ask me on Friday afternoon because he wanted to start his own weekend early! 9/
It highlighted a couple of things: first, never, ever do this. Do not ruin someone's weekend (or their evening or their morning) letting their minds run wild. If you need to telegraph a meeting like this (which you generally shouldn't!), ALWAYS provide enough context. 10/
This is especially important with engineers who, as worst-case thinkers by nature, are much more likely to run to worst-case outcomes! (And indeed, the best ones are most likely to be most creative this regard!) 11/
So if it's good news, TELL THEM. "Hey, let me know when you have a second; I've got some good news." (It will come as no surprise that those calls get returned very quickly!) 12/
If it's not bad news but rather just a needed conversation on some issue there should be -- as per Seth's comment and the blog entry that it references -- complete context. 13/
If it IS bad news, there should be no telegraphing it, ever: it should be done in person (or over video) -- especially if it's the exceptionally bad news. (Even when "it shouldn't be surprising", this news is always shocking at some level; telegraphing it doesn't help.) 14/
In my case, I was protected by a senior engineer who was willing to act as an advocate, saving me from the mediocre atrocities of poor management. I am deeply grateful for this, and have tried myself to be that senior engineer for others over my career. 15/
Empathy in communication is essential! Always communicate to others the way you yourself would want to be communicated with -- and if in a leadership position, you must be especially mindful of the extra weight that your words (or lack of them!) carry! 16/16

More from For later read

Wow, Morgan McSweeney again, Rachel Riley, SFFN, Center for Countering Digital Hate, Imran Ahmed, JLM, BoD, Angela Eagle, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Lisa Nandy, Steve Reed, Jon Cruddas, Trevor Chinn, Martin Taylor, Lord Ian Austin and Mark Lewis. #LabourLeaks #StarmerOut 24 tweet🧵

Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, launched the organisation that now runs SFFN.
The CEO Imran Ahmed worked closely with a number of Labour figures involved in the campaign to remove Jeremy as leader.

Rachel Riley is listed as patron.
https://t.co/nGY5QrwBD0


SFFN claims that it has been “a project of the Center For Countering Digital Hate” since 4 May 2020. The relationship between the two organisations, however, appears to date back far longer. And crucially, CCDH is linked to a number of figures on the Labour right. #LabourLeaks

Center for Countering Digital Hate registered at Companies House on 19 Oct 2018, the organisation’s only director was Morgan McSweeney – Labour leader Keir Starmer’s chief of staff. McSweeney was also the campaign manager for Liz Kendall’s leadership bid. #LabourLeaks #StarmerOut

Sir Keir - along with his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney - held his first meeting with the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM). Deliberately used the “anti-Semitism” crisis as a pretext to vilify and then expel a leading pro-Corbyn activist in Brighton and Hove
This response to my tweet is a common objection to targeted advertising.

@KevinCoates correct me if I'm wrong, but basic point seems to be that banning targeted ads will lower platform profits, but will mostly be beneficial for consumers.

Some counterpoints 👇


1) This assumes that consumers prefer contextual ads to targeted ones.

This does not seem self-evident to me


Research also finds that firms choose between ad. targeting vs. obtrusiveness 👇

If true, the right question is not whether consumers prefer contextual ads to targeted ones. But whether they prefer *more* contextual ads vs *fewer* targeted

2) True, many inframarginal platforms might simply shift to contextual ads.

But some might already be almost indifferent between direct & indirect monetization.

Hard to imagine that *none* of them will respond to reduced ad revenue with actual fees.

3) Policy debate seems to be moving from:

"Consumers are insufficiently informed to decide how they share their data."

To

"No one in their right mind would agree to highly targeted ads (e.g., those that mix data from multiple sources)."

IMO the latter statement is incorrect.

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The first ever world map was sketched thousands of years ago by Indian saint
“Ramanujacharya” who simply translated the following verse from Mahabharat and gave the world its real face

In Mahabharat,it is described how 'Maharishi Ved Vyasa' gave away his divine vision to Sanjay


Dhritarashtra's charioteer so that he could describe him the events of the upcoming war.

But, even before questions of war could begin, Dhritarashtra asked him to describe how the world looks like from space.

This is how he described the face of the world:

सुदर्शनं प्रवक्ष्यामि द्वीपं तु कुरुनन्दन। परिमण्डलो महाराज द्वीपोऽसौ चक्रसंस्थितः॥
यथा हि पुरुषः पश्येदादर्शे मुखमात्मनः। एवं सुदर्शनद्वीपो दृश्यते चन्द्रमण्डले॥ द्विरंशे पिप्पलस्तत्र द्विरंशे च शशो महान्।

—वेद व्यास, भीष्म पर्व, महाभारत


Meaning:-

हे कुरुनन्दन ! सुदर्शन नामक यह द्वीप चक्र की भाँति गोलाकार स्थित है, जैसे पुरुष दर्पण में अपना मुख देखता है, उसी प्रकार यह द्वीप चन्द्रमण्डल में दिखायी देता है। इसके दो अंशो मे पीपल और दो अंशो मे विशाल शश (खरगोश) दिखायी देता है।


Meaning: "Just like a man sees his face in the mirror, so does the Earth appears in the Universe. In the first part you see leaves of the Peepal Tree, and in the next part you see a Rabbit."

Based on this shloka, Saint Ramanujacharya sketched out the map, but the world laughed