Twitter – Symphony

Washington is all excited because this week Mueller is scheduled to testify, again, about a report he already handed in. If the report had said enough on its own then there would be no need for him to testify, again. Democrats are all excited, but not as excited as Senator Graham, who plans to launch his own investigation investigation. While Washington is distracted with theatrics of Russians and the “fab four”, a much deeper problem is swelling, one which will not escape Trump’s tenure unchanged: social media.

Social media giants are out of control. One current argument on the table is to make Google’s “index” public.

This “index” is Google’s inside stockpile of information that a “Google search” queries. Right now, it’s on lockdown and no one can access it without going through Google. Making it public would allow anyone to use it—if they know the right code, which code monkeys could learn. And, that’s where the trouble is…

Publicizing Google’s search index would be difficult to prove because it would need a new computer language—or API—to access. What’s to keep Google from making that API language too difficult to use? And, what’s to ensure the same idiots in Washington who tried to ram SOPA & PIPA down everyone’s throats—or wondered if Hillary wiped her server “with a cloth”—would know whether Google is making the API too difficult to use?

It could be done. It would need oversight. It should apply to Yahoo, Microsoft, and any other publicly traded tech giant with a search index. And, it would be a game changer.

According to Bloomberg, Google gets over 90% of all search traffic; Microsoft’s Bing at second place gets under 3%. That’s a lot of power to be in just one place.

While the current thinkers have “thunk” up this as the way to regulate Google under laws governing “public utilities”, there’s another important argument to consider. Google’s search index isn’t an index about Google’s own intellectual property—Google’s search index is an index about private information owned by everyone. So, the real question is whether it should be legal to “index the public”, which is essentially what Google does. If it’s legal to “index the public”, then of course the public should have access to that index, duh.

In Encore

Encore of Revival: America, July 25, 2016

SymphonyJuly 25, 2016October 17, 2016

Americans got to know Trump a little better this week. Many young Democrats will also get to know him at the debates when they watch him unedited for the first time, as predicted here many times. Some people still think a losing third party is not just another tool of the two-party system.

Some people were not surprised by Trump “appearing more presidential” in his speech. Some people see smoke on the horizon before others; some people never see the smoke no matter how close they are. The stats of who blooms late and early will predict Trump’s election. You have read it here already many times because it was all predictable to those who understand the times.

After Monday’s failed coup on rules, Cruz permanently removed himself from politics Wednesday night. Cruz’s so-called “values” demonstrably include: If someone finds your secret pet peeve and pushes the button, then you are obligated to sabotage your own career and lose whatever you stood to gain for your loyal supporters. It’s better to know sooner than later: he probably won’t make it to the Supreme Court as he might have after all.

Why did Ailes leave Fox? Throw into the mix the main viewing audience’s political party’s nomination for president: consider parallel timing of events, factor enemies and allies, then it all makes plausible sense without explanation.

Islamic attacks are no longer worthy of headlines. How many people saw that coming?

Donald J Trump Jr’s. speech writer, FH Buckley, was accused of plagiarizing the speech he himself wrote from an article he himself wrote—before the critics knew he was a speech writer. How many people saw that coming?

Numbers don’t lie. Trends do indicate. Read the times. Know the signs of the seasons. And remember what the papa tomato said to the baby tomato while crossing the street: Ketchup.