The turbulent evolution of Twitter/X under Musk
Elon Musk’s takeover has damaged the platform’s brand and led to leadership upheavals, including CEO Linda Yaccarino’s recent exit.
Despite losses, the platform remains relevant for journalists and politicians, thanks to strong network effects that have staved off collapse despite staffing cuts.
User migration toward LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, and Threads signals shifting social media dynamics and audience fragmentation.
The content environment on X is increasingly toxic, dominated by spam and extremist voices, contrasting with the more diverse discourse on Threads.
Linda Yaccarino’s tenure is seen ambiguously: as either a figurehead who added little or a stabilizer for advertisers amid valuation drops.
Controversial hires like Nikita Bier reflect ongoing internal turmoil and inconsistent leadership.
Revisiting true REST: Fielding’s original architectural vision
REST is an architectural style focused on hypermedia-driven state transitions (HATEOAS), not merely CRUD-based HTTP APIs.
Most modern “RESTful” APIs neglect hypermedia controls, leading to tight client-server coupling and reduced evolvability.
Fielding’s six REST constraints insist on protocol independence, strict adherence to underlying protocols, and navigating via hypermedia links rather than fixed URIs.
Pragmatic trade-offs—like tooling limitations and developer experience—explain widespread departure from pure REST.
Developers should clearly distinguish “REST” style from RPC-style APIs and incorporate hypermedia when it benefits flexibility and loose coupling.
From side project to $1M ARR: Bootstrapping ProjectionLab
Kyle Nolan bootstrapped ProjectionLab to $1 million ARR over four years without external funding, balancing a day job and building nights and weekends.
Persistence amid emotional highs and lows was critical; “not giving up” emerged as the key entrepreneurial superpower.
Transition from solo developer to growing a complementary team—including a trusted marketing partner and user-community-based support staff—was essential for scaling.
Community engagement and personalized support prioritized over cost-cutting offshoring enhanced customer loyalty.
Advice: post-validation, incremental daily improvements compound into meaningful growth, akin to dollar-cost averaging in investing.
Origins of “call a function” traced to library science and early computing
The phrase “call a function” stems from the analogy of “calling for” a book by its call number in a library, predating phone or social call metaphors.
Early computing used subroutine libraries stored on magnetic tapes, invoking routines by referencing their “call numbers.”
Historical sources from the 1940s–1950s (e.g., Mauchly’s 1947 papers, MANIAC II assembly) document “call” as subroutine invocation terminology.
Fortran II (1958) formalized the CALL statement, embedding the term into programming language syntax and semantics.
Conceptual evolution moved from assembly transfer-of-control jargon toward intuitive “call” usage programmers know today.
Mapping Canadian English: The typology and methodology of DCHP-3
The Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles (DCHP-3) categorizes Canadian English into six types, from indigenous coinages to culturally significant terms like eh and parkade.
Entries contain time-stamped meanings, hyperlinked semantic relations, and sourced quotations from Canadian speakers, supporting detailed linguistic analysis.
Frequency charts normalize term prevalence internationally using reference words and Boolean operators to identify shifting usage patterns.
Over 55 domain labels cover diverse topics—Indigenous culture, climate, digital life, racism—reflecting Canadian English’s sociocultural breadth.
Regional and syntactic labels document geographical and grammatical variation within Canada.
While freely accessible online through UBC and Nelson Education cooperation, content reproduction requires permission, underscoring its scholarly value.
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