BC TECH
Saved by @zmbnski

The first area to focus on is diversity. This has become a dogma in the tech world, and despite the fact that tech is one of the most meritocratic industries in the world, there are constant efforts to promote diversity at the expense of fairness, merit and competency. Examples:

 USC's Interactive Media & Games Division cancels all-star panel that included top-tier game developers who were invited to share their experiences with students. Why? Because there were no women on the panel.
https://t.co/6vXSMt6B9N
ElectronConf is a conf which chooses presenters based on blind auditions; the identity, gender, and race of the speaker is not known to the selection team. The results of that merit-based approach was an all-male panel. So they cancelled the conference. https://t.co/TVSQRbnfTP
Apple's head of diversity (a black woman) got in trouble for promoting a vision of diversity that is at odds with contemporary progressive dogma. (She left the company shortly after this incident.)
https://t.co/avEPxSGC3y
Also in the name of diversity, there is unabashed discrimination against men (especially white men) in tech, in both hiring policies and in other arenas. One such example is this, a developer workshop that specifically excluded men: https://t.co/N0SkH4hR35
The creator of the hit video game Assassin's Creed stated his position on hiring developers: "If the candidate has a dick, he’s not hired."
https://t.co/x0Cu1v9bQb
Of course, the biggest story showcasing SJW's influence in regards to the tech world is Google's firing of @JamesADamore, who shared a few scientifically based, reasonable ideas about how to improve diversity which disagreed with the progressive dogma. https://t.co/XkTYjsfPZQ
Another area that has seen inroads by SJWs is insistence on "Codes of Conduct" (CoC) rules in open source projects. While they sound fine in theory, the reality is that it lets certain activists police the kind of people who are involved in a project. https://t.co/UWOlb6AIiw
This CoC trend has disturbed so many people, it's even pushed some top developers to leave projects that they have been heavily involved with from the very beginning.
https://t.co/aCrZR20eac.
Here's a related controversy, where some Linux developers are threatening to pull their code from Linux due to objections to a CoC (scroll down to "The Controversy").
https://t.co/JrdVMPClSq
More on the Linux Code of Conduct controversy here: https://t.co/H4lNs8EYjc
A controversy over the Code of Conduct and accepting pull requests from people of color erupted on the Django project: https://t.co/u2MULvY7x9
An example of how Codes of Conduct are used to enforce ideology: GitHub removed a repository because the word "retard" was used: https://t.co/8KaLqMlhi3
SJWs have often tried to get people dismissed from speaking engagements at conferences. When that doesn't work, they try to get the whole conference shut down. Here's one example where they tried to get a speaker booted, labeling him a misogynist: https://t.co/rQWojetz4g
They also tried to shut down LambdaConf because they didn't approve of a speaker's politics (his talk wasn't going to be about politics, purely technical topics). When the conf organizers didn't agree to boot him, they went after the conference itself:
https://t.co/wwMVoNbxnB
They had actually succeeded the year before in doing the same thing to him at a different conference:
https://t.co/CmnyFVCv3g
Another area of influence is in how games are designed, with SJWs not approving of sexual imagery in games. A character in Overwatch had to be modified due to complaints that she was too sexualized:
https://t.co/EtKinifoTH
A trivial example, but still illustrative of how the tech world is so sensitive to SJ concerns: Google actually changed the name of a new file compression format - the .bro format (short for 'Brotli') - because of complaints that it was offensive:
https://t.co/c1sU6drpMn
Another trivial, but instructive example: Apple and Adobe come under heavy criticism for doing an image manipulation demo at a conference that changed a picture of a woman to have a smile. https://t.co/UzN5yHjSyu
A more serious example: Two developers at a conference sharing a private joke about "dongles" end up being fired after a woman overhears them and complains:
https://t.co/qMOiVzMaLm
Here's a story of a woman who faced the wrath of feminists for disagreeing about how best to help young girls who want to learn to code. She wanted to teach them programming, they wanted to teach the girls gender politics. https://t.co/LIhwWxLn0J
We can also see just how far reaching SJWs influence in tech are from the fact that high level decision making bodies are supporting their nonsense: https://t.co/CjOpCEZ20a
Another idiotic grant supporting SJW nonsense: https://t.co/EST1l4moE7
There is also the very concerning issue of social media companies censoring and demonetizing figures who are saying things that go against the progressive dogma. @joerogan discussed that here: https://t.co/QOb0SzQ8mr
Some more examples of tech companies blacklisting those who disagree with progressive ideas: https://t.co/czPmXjZKIp
An ad supporting a pro-life candidate was banned on Facebook: https://t.co/gfuOQaYbEH
Discussion with sex researcher demonetized: https://t.co/vnv0GPpWtA
Here's another noteworthy case: a leading Drupal developer was kicked out of that community due to people discovering that he has some weird sexual kinks, even though not a single person within the community ever reported any misconduct from him. https://t.co/9L4fXJSRRz
Underlying so much of this is the constant demonization of men in tech (it's actually an underlying thread within all SJ ideology, not just here). Here's a story of an active campaign to smear a tech luminary bec he doesn't conform to contemporary norms. https://t.co/88vzytWFdc
Regarding how social media companies have taken the side of SJWs in the culture war, @marcorandazza at @Popehat spelled this out very clearly 3 years ago. It's only gotten worse since, IMHO. https://t.co/JtanHbJSGQ
On a lighter note, check out this award granted to Google for all the resources they've put into promoting diversity. https://t.co/ap0cWJcgpl
Reader responded to this thread saying that hes now required 2 comment his code with gender neutral pronouns. Reminded me of this: tech reporter replaces industry standard term "man-in-the-middle attack" with more inclusive "person-in-the-middle". https://t.co/aimXB5Npd8
I'm reluctant to take anything related to emoji seriously, but even that topic shows the influence of social justice trends, as there are constant efforts to make emoji that are more diverse and inclusive. Consider the issue of skin colors in emoji: https://t.co/bRlLM8ZXC2
And then there's this effort at inclusivity, which may or may not be a joke. I'm really not sure. Poe's Law applies. https://t.co/ikvVYgcbWa
And apparently, some women are really upset that the women's shoe emoji, and others depicting women's clothes, are totally sexist. https://t.co/xhorAY60ID
Some more examples of anti-male sentiment openly expressed at a tech conference a few months ago: https://t.co/2NqCe8lUo5
Another blatant demonstration of anti-white/male prejudice expressed by a prominent software developer. https://t.co/eJTCU4bEfZ
That respected developer also railed against an author of a programming book because the subtitle of the book had the word "craftsman" in it. https://t.co/GSUR5LRjzF

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Robin Berjon
Robin Berjon
@robinberjon
Recently, the @CNIL issued a decision regarding the GDPR compliance of an unknown French adtech company named "Vectaury". It may seem like small fry, but the decision has potential wide-ranging impacts for Google, the IAB framework, and today's adtech. It's thread time! 👇

It's all in French, but if you're up for it you can read:
• Their blog post (lacks the most interesting details): https://t.co/PHkDcOT1hy
• Their high-level legal decision: https://t.co/hwpiEvjodt
• The full notification: https://t.co/QQB7rfynha

I've read it so you needn't!

Vectaury was collecting geolocation data in order to create profiles (eg. people who often go to this or that type of shop) so as to power ad targeting. They operate through embedded SDKs and ad bidding, making them invisible to users.

The @CNIL notes that profiling based off of geolocation presents particular risks since it reveals people's movements and habits. As risky, the processing requires consent — this will be the heart of their assessment.

Interesting point: they justify the decision in part because of how many people COULD be targeted in this way (rather than how many have — though they note that too). Because it's on a phone, and many have phones, it is considered large-scale processing no matter what.
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Kevin Roose
Kevin Roose
@kevinroose
On press call, Zuckerberg says FB users "naturally engage more with sensational content" that comes close to violating its rules. Compares it to cable TV and tabloids, and says, "This seems to be true regardless of where we set our policy lines."

Zuckerberg says FB is in the process of setting up a "new independent body" that users will be able to appeal content takedowns to. Sort of like the "Facebook Supreme Court" idea he previewed earlier this year.

Zuckerberg: "One of my biggest lessons from this year is that when you connect more than 2 billion people, you’re going to see the good and bad of humanity."

This is how Facebook says it's trying to change the engagement pattern on its services. https://t.co/3p0PGc912o


.@RebeccaJarvis asks Zuckerberg if anyone is going to lose their job over the revelations in the NYT story. He dodges, says that personnel issues aren't a public matter, and that employee performance is evaluated all the time.
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Zen Black
Zen Black
@z3nblack
1/ Thread: "A Silicon Valley Ponzi Scheme"

Thanks to @chamath for laying this out in Social Capital's 2018 annual letter.

I've always appreciated his outspokenness.

2/ The hardest thing for most startups today is the path to market: first finding product-market fit & a way to reach customers, then building a ruthless machine to acquire, monetize & retain them.

3/ Because of this, when the VC industry invests capital into fast growing startups today, the plurality (if not majority) of invested capital will go into user acquisition and ad spending, for better or worse— usually worse.

4/ Todays massive venture-backed advertising, sales, and user acquisition playbook has morphed into one that champions growth at any cost.

This is creating a big bill that will soon come due...

5/ Ad impressions and click-throughs are bid up to outrageous prices by startups flush with venture money, and prospective users demand more and more subsidized products to gain their initial attention.
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Zed A. Shaw, Writer
Zed A. Shaw, Writer
@lzsthw
When you complain about an open source project's management you'll get the reply, "Use something else if you don't like it!" That'd be true except for the tiny problem that *many* projects also strive for complete monopolistic dominance.

Let me tell you about Java in early 2k:

I was programming in Java since it's release, and all through the late 90s into the early 2000s. At first Java was very determined to unseat C++ and it used various propaganda tactics to turn C++ and malloc into a weird enemy for all of us to hate. This worked great!

Everything was fine though because there were plenty of jobs in tech because of the dot-com boom, and then suddenly there were not jobs because of the dot-com bomb.

Overnight it seemed as if the *only* way to get a job was at giant companies, and they *loved* Enterprise Java.

Now, this is the golden ticket for many open source projects and corporations. They all want to be the top dog #1 in the industry for their particular use, and once they gain that position they become abusive by ignoring user needs and extracting wealth from them.

With Java the dominance was so insane that *every* language had to copy Java's weirdness to survive. If you wonder why a language has some odd CamelCase things it's because early Python, Ruby, and others had to copy Java's semantics and style to even be considered "serious".
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Danny Weinbaum
Danny Weinbaum
@eastshade
A thread about Eastshade's bike mechanic!

When I originally thought of putting a bicycling in Eastshade, I was pretty sure it wasn't going to work, for the simple fact that if it was easy, we'd see a lot more rideable bikes in games. Well, I was wrong. It took a mere week.


Its essentially a first person controller with extra momentum, resulting in the the movement direction lagging behind your look direction. Then I used the angle between the look and the movement to dictate camera "bank" and handle bar rotation, and voila! Game changing feature!


The look of the bike was harder than the movement. Bicycles are fairly modern, so it was tricky to fit it to the setting. I took some artistic liberties and settled on a penny farthing (but wooden), ignoring how impossible that would be to ride on the rugged terrain in Eastshade.

Surprisingly, the hardest part was sound. It didn't feel like riding a bike until I found the right sounds and how to trigger them. For a while I was stuck thinking too realistically. A penny farthing is fixed gear, pedaling sounds nothing like a regular modern bike.

Finally I abandoned realism and went with sounds normal people would associate with biking. We're all so used to modern bikes that we strongly associate the distinct ticking of a freewheel mechanism (think of the sound when you stop pedaling and coast on a modern bike).
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SRI KUMARIAMMAN, KANYAKUMARI (TN)
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Created by Maharshi Parasurama and also one among the 108 Shakthi Peethas in the world. The name Kanyakumari stands for Kanya(Virgin) and Kumari(girl).
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