Category Archives: Bidness

A D.C. Office Price Tumble

Posted on April 4, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

From the Washington Business Journal, we learn that a D.C. office building purchased for $43.7 million in 2004 (around $72.2 million today) and which was recently assessed at $64.3 million sold for $26.65 million. That’s forty one percent of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, DC | 1 Comment

A Problem with Federalism and Governance: The Rural Internet Edition

Posted on February 28, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

Dana Milbank has a very good article on the trials and travails of bringing high-speed internet to his rural town. This is the part that’s frustrating (boldface mine): The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, for example, devoted $65 billion … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Conservatives | Comments Off on A Problem with Federalism and Governance: The Rural Internet Edition

The Crapification of Pillows: The Pillow Guy Edition

Posted on February 20, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

Note that I don’t mean enshittification sensu Cory Doctorow, which is a distinct economic phenomenon. No, I found this funny little bit about the Pillow Guy from Nick Hanauer, a businessman who has been fighting for significant economic reforms, including … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness | 3 Comments

The Washington Post Hides the Lede: The Food Prices Edition

Posted on February 5, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

In another story about high food prices, The Washington Post hides the lede in the fourth paragraph. See if you can find it! But there is no immediate fix for policymakers. Grocery prices remain elevated due to a mixture of … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Economics | 2 Comments

Reallocating Personnel from Silicon Valley

Posted on February 1, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

And I’m using ‘Silicon Valley’ as shorthand, not a geographic descriptor. Last week, a lot of people were really angry about this story which describes a tech startup that wants to put videoscreens on shopping carts so you can be … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness | 3 Comments

Who Will Administer the U.S., Judges or People Who Know What They’re Doing?

Posted on January 29, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

You might have heard about a recent court case that will likely overturn what is known as Chevron deference, which holds courts should defer to the interpretation of the executive branch and its regulatory agencies when determining the will of … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Conservatives, The Rule of Law | 1 Comment

So Much for Learning How to Code

Posted on January 22, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

Political funding dilettante and Open AI CEO Sam Altman on AI and coding–and note the last sentence (boldface mine): Anyone can ask ChatGPT to answer a question or perform a task. But the popular chatbot is particularly useful for workers … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Coding | 1 Comment

They Should Have Gone After Il Trumpe on Emoluments

Posted on January 5, 2024 by mikethemadbiologist

Throughout twice-impeached former President Donald’s Trump term, some asshole with a blog argued many, many–so many–times that the sure-fire impeachment case against Trump was his violation of the emoluments clause. Well, three fucking years too late, look at what the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Democrats, Fucking Morons | 1 Comment

Liberate the Toothpaste Aisle

Posted on December 12, 2023 by mikethemadbiologist

Last week, the National Retail Federation, which has been pushing the ‘organized retail crime’ nonsense admitted they were full of shit (boldface mine): The main lobbying group for U.S. retailers retracted its claim that “organized retail crime” accounted for nearly … Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness, Crime, DC | 1 Comment

AI, AMR, and Data Ownership: Blessed Are the Data Generators

Posted on November 14, 2023 by mikethemadbiologist

Our tech overlords are upset that they actually might have to pay people for their labor (boldface mine): Andreessen Horowitz is warning that billions of dollars in AI investments could be worth a lot less if companies developing the technology … Continue reading →

Posted in Antibiotics, Bidness, Genomics | 20 Comments