#Centralization

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Dinkclump Linkdump

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT in LA (Saturday night, with Adam Conover), Seattle (Monday, with Neal Stephenson), then Portland, Phoenix and more!

Some Saturday mornings, I look at the week's blogging and realize I have a lot more links saved up than I managed to write about this week, and then I do a linkdump. There've been 14 of these, and this is number 15:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

Attentive readers will note that this isn't Saturday. You're right. But I'm on a book tour and every day is shatterday, because damn, it's grueling and I'm not the spry manchild who took Little Brother on the road in 2008 – I'm a 52 year old with two artificial hips. Hence: an out-of-cycle linkdump. Come see me on tour and marvel at my verticality!

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/16/narrative-capitalism/#bezzle-tour

Best thing I read this week, hands down, was Ryan Broderick's Garbage Day piece, "AI search is a doomsday cult":

https://www.garbageday.email/p/ai-search-doomsday-cult

Broderick makes so many excellent points in this piece. First among them: AI search sucks, but that's OK, because no one is asking for AI search. This only got more true later in the week when everyone's favorite spicy autocomplete accidentally loaded the James Joyce module:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/02/chatgpt-alarms-users-by-spitting-out-shakespearean-nonsense-and-rambling/

(As Matt Webb noted, Chatbots have slid rapidly from Star Trek (computers give you useful information in a timely fashion) to Douglas Adams (computers spout hostile, impenetrable nonsense at you):

https://interconnected.org/home/2024/02/21/adams

But beyond the unsuitability of AI for search results and beyond the public's yawning indifference to AI-infused search, Broderick makes a more important point: AI search is about summarizing web results so you don't have to click links and read the pages yourself.

If that's the future of the web, who the fuck is going to write those pages that the summarizer summarizes? What is the incentive, the business-model, the rational explanation for predicting a world in which millions of us go on writing web-pages, when the gatekeepers to the web have promised to rig the game so that no one will ever visit those pages, or read what we've written there, or even know it was us who wrote the underlying material the summarizer just summarized?

If we stop writing the web, AIs will have to summarize each other, forming an inhuman centipede of botshit-ingestion. This is bad news, because there's pretty solid mathematical evidence that training a bot on botshit makes it absolutely useless. Or, as the authors of the paper – including the eminent cryptographer Ross Anderson – put it, "using model-generated content in training causes irreversible defects":

https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.17493

This is the mathematical evidence for Jathan Sadowski's "Hapsburg AI," or, as the mathematicians call it, "The Curse of Recursion" (new band-name just dropped).

But if you really have your heart set on living in a ruined dystopia dominated by hostile artificial life-forms, have no fear. As Hamilton Nolan writes in "Radical Capital," a rogues gallery of worker-maiming corporations have asked a court to rule that the NLRB can't punish them for violating labor law:

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/radical-capital

Trader Joe’s, Amazon, Starbucks and SpaceX have all made this argument to various courts. If they prevail, then there will be no one in charge of enforcing federal labor law. Yes, this will let these companies go on ruining their workers' lives, but more importantly, it will give carte blanche to every other employer in the land. At one end of this process is a boss who doesn't want to recognize a union – and at the other end are farmers dying of heat-stroke.

The right wing coalition that has put this demand before the court has all sorts of demands, from forced birth to (I kid you not), the end of recreational sex:

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/02/getting-rid-of-birth-control-is-a-key-gop-agenda-item-for-the-second-trump-term

That coalition is backed by ultra-rich monopolists who want wreck the nation that their rank-and-file useful idiots want to wreck your body. These are the monopoly cheerleaders who gave us the abomination that is the Pharmacy Benefit Manager – a useless intermediary that gets to screw patients and pharmacists – and then let PBMs consolidate and merge with pharmacy monopolists.

One such inbred colossus is Change Healthcare, a giant PBM that is, in turn, a mere tendril of United Healthcare, which merged the company with Optum. The resulting system – held together with spit and wishful thinking – has access to the health records of a third of Americans and processes 15 billion prescriptions per day.

Or rather, it did process that amount – until the all-your-eggs-in-one-badly-maintained basket strategy failed on Wednesday, and Change's systems went down due to an unspecified "cybersecurity incident." In the short term, this meant that tens of millions of Americans who tried to refill their prescriptions were told to either pay cash or come back later (if you don't die first). That was the first shoe dropping. The second shoe is the medical records of a third of the country.

Don't worry, I'm sure those records are fine. After all, nothing says security like "merging several disparate legacy IT systems together while simultaneously laying off half your IT staff as surplus to requirements and an impediment to extracting a special dividend for the private equity owners who are, of course, widely recognized as the world's greatest information security practitioners."

Look, not everything is terrible. Some computers are actually getting better. Framework's user-serviceable, super-rugged, easy-to-repair, powerful laptops are the most exciting computers I've ever owned – or broken:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/13/graceful-failure/#frame

Now you can get one for $500!

https://frame.work/blog/first-framework-laptop-16-shipments-and-a-499-framework

And the next generation is turning our surprisingly well, despite all our worst efforts. My kid – now 16! – and I just launched our latest joint project, "The Sushi Chronicles," a small website recording our idiosyncratic scores for nearly every sushi restaurant in Burbank, Glendale, Studio City and North Hollywood:

https://sushichronicles.org/

This is the record of two years' worth of Daughter-Daddy sushi nights that started as a way to get my picky eater to try new things and has turned into the highlight of my week. If you're in the area and looking for a nice piece of fish, give it a spin (also, we belatedly realized that we've never reviewed our favorite place, Kuru Kuru in the CVS Plaza on North Hollywood Way – we'll be rectifying that soon).

And yes, we have a lavishly corrupt Supreme Court, but at least now everyone knows it. Glenn Haumann's even set up a Gofundme to raise money to bribe Clarence Thomas (now deleted, alas):

https://www.gofundme.com/f/pzhj4q-the-clarence-thomas-signing-bonus-fund-give-now

The funds are intended as a "signing bonus" in the event that Thomas takes up John Oliver on his offer of a $2.4m luxury RV and $1m/year for life if he'll resign from the court:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE-VJrdHMug

This is truly one of Oliver's greatest bits, showcasing his mastery over the increasingly vital art of turning abstruse technical issues into entertainment that negates the performative complexity used by today's greatest villains to hide their misdeeds behind a Shield of Boringness (h/t Dana Clare).

The Bezzle is my contribution to turning abstruse scams into a high-impact technothriller that pierces that Shield of Boringness. The key to this is to master exposition, ignoring the (vastly overrated) rule that one must "show, not tell." Good exposition is hard to do, but when it works, it's amazing (as anyone who's read Neal Stephenson's 1,600-word explanation of how to eat Cap'n Crunch cereal in Cryptonomicon can attest). I wrote about this for Mary Robinette Kowal's "My Favorite Bit" this week:

https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-cory-doctorow-talks-about-the-bezzle/

Of course, an undisputed master of this form is Adam Conover, whose Adam Ruins Everything show helped invent it. Adam is joining me on stage in LA tomorrow night at Vroman's at 5:30PM, to host me in a book-tour event for my novel The Bezzle:

https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Cory-Doctorow-discusses-The-Bezzle

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/23/gazeteer/#out-of-cycle

Image: Peter Craven (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aggregate_output_%287637833962%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[airbrickwall]

[sillyguy-supreme]

white americans when you tell them that the idea of climate change as an impending disaster is a reductive first world perspective because it’s a tangible reality for many in the global south already:

[aditi2987]

Centralizing HR Policies for Easy Access

Introduction

In the dynamic landscape of modern business, organizations face the constant challenge of maintaining compliance, ensuring consistency, and providing clear communication of their human resources (HR) policies.

With the growing complexity of employment laws and the diverse needs of the workforce, centralizing HR policies has become a critical practice for many companies. This article explores the benefits of centralizing HR policies, the steps to effectively implement centralization, and how it can improve accessibility and efficiency within an organization.

Why Centralizing HR Policies Matters

HR policies are the backbone of any organization’s structure, outlining the rules, procedures, and standards that govern employee behavior and company operations. Centralizing these policies involves creating a single, accessible repository where all HR-related information is stored and managed. This practice is not only about keeping documents organized but also about ensuring that employees have easy access to the information they need, when they need it.

Benefits of Centralizing HR Policies

Improved Accessibility One of the primary advantages of centralizing HR policies is improved accessibility. Employees can easily find and reference policies without having to sift through multiple documents or platforms. This ease of access ensures that employees are well-informed about company policies, reducing confusion and potential misunderstandings.

Consistency Across the Organization Centralizing policies helps maintain consistency in how policies are communicated and enforced. When policies are housed in one location, there is less room for interpretation, and all employees receive the same information. This consistency is crucial for ensuring fair treatment and maintaining organizational integrity.

Enhanced Compliance and Risk Management By centralizing HR policies, organizations can ensure that they remain compliant with employment laws and regulations. Having a centralized system makes it easier to update policies in response to legal changes, reducing the risk of non-compliance. It also helps in maintaining accurate records of policy changes and employee acknowledgments.

Efficient Onboarding Process A centralized HR policy system streamlines the onboarding process for new employees. Instead of being overwhelmed with a stack of documents, new hires can access all necessary information in one place. This efficiency not only saves time but also provides new employees with a clear understanding of the company’s expectations from the start.

Improved Employee Engagement Easy access to HR policies fosters transparency and trust between employees and management. When employees feel informed and empowered, they are more likely to engage positively with the organization. A centralized system shows that the company values clear communication and supports its workforce.

Streamlined Policy Updates and Communication Centralizing HR policies makes it easier to update and communicate changes. Organizations can quickly disseminate new policies or updates through a single platform, ensuring that all employees are informed in real time. This agility is crucial in fast-paced business environments where policies may need to change rapidly.

Steps to Centralize HR Policies

Conduct a Policy Audit Begin by conducting a thorough audit of existing HR policies. Identify all policies, procedures, and guidelines currently in use. Evaluate their relevance, accuracy, and compliance with current laws and regulations. This audit will provide a clear picture of what needs to be centralized and updated.

Choose the Right Platform Selecting the right platform for centralizing HR policies is critical. Consider using a digital HR management system or an intranet solution that allows for easy storage, access, and updating of documents. The platform should be user-friendly, secure, and accessible to all employees.

Standardize Policy Formats Consistency is key when centralizing policies. Standardize the format and language used in all HR documents to ensure clarity and uniformity. This includes using consistent headers, footers, fonts, and layout styles. Clear and standardized documents are easier for employees to read and understand.

Digitize and Upload Policies Once policies are standardized, digitize all documents and upload them to the chosen platform. Ensure that all files are properly named and categorized for easy navigation. Use tags or keywords to help employees quickly find the policies they need.

Communicate the Centralization Initiative Inform employees about the centralization initiative and how it will benefit them. Provide clear instructions on how to access the centralized policy repository and where to find specific documents. Encourage employees to review the policies and provide feedback.

Train Employees on the New System Conduct training sessions to familiarize employees with the new centralized system. Demonstrate how to navigate the platform, search for policies, and access important documents. Provide ongoing support to address any questions or issues that may arise.

Implement Regular Policy Reviews and Updates Centralizing policies is not a one-time task; it requires ongoing maintenance. Establish a schedule for regular policy reviews to ensure that all documents remain up-to-date and compliant. Assign responsibility for monitoring legal changes and updating policies as needed.

Challenges in Centralizing HR Policies

Resistance to Change Employees may resist the change to a centralized system, especially if they are accustomed to the old ways of accessing information. Clear communication, training, and support can help ease this transition and encourage adoption.

Ensuring Accessibility for All Employees It’s important to ensure that the centralized system is accessible to all employees, including those who may have limited digital skills or access. Consider providing alternative formats or support for those who may need additional assistance.

Data Security and Privacy Concerns Storing sensitive HR information in a centralized system raises concerns about data security and privacy. Implement robust security measures to protect employee information and ensure compliance with data protection regulations.

Best Practices for Maintaining a Centralized HR Policy System

Keep the System User-Friendly The success of a centralized HR policy system depends on its usability. Design the platform with the user experience in mind. Ensure that navigation is intuitive, search functions are efficient, and documents are easy to access and read.

Encourage Employee Feedback Encourage employees to provide feedback on the centralized system and policies. Regular feedback can help identify areas for improvement and ensure that the system meets the needs of all employees.

Monitor and Track Usage Use analytics to monitor how employees are using the centralized system. Track which policies are accessed most frequently and identify any patterns in usage. This information can help improve the system and ensure that it remains relevant and effective.

Regularly Update Employees on Changes Keep employees informed about any changes to policies or the system itself. Regular updates help maintain transparency and ensure that employees always have the most current information.

Conclusion

Centralizing HR policies for easy access is a strategic move that can significantly enhance efficiency, compliance, and employee engagement within an organization. By creating a centralized, user-friendly system, companies can ensure that their HR policies are clear, consistent, and accessible to all employees.

This approach not only simplifies the management of HR policies but also supports a more informed and empowered workforce. In an era where clear communication and transparency are key to success, centralizing HR policies is a smart step towards building a more effective and cohesive organization.

[kiwinatorwaffles]

[cozylittleartblog]

cant tell you how bad it feels to constantly tell other artists to come to tumblr, because its the last good website that isn't fucked up by spoonfeeding algorithms and AI bullshit and isn't based around meaningless likes

just to watch that all fall apart in the last year or so and especially the last two weeks

there's nowhere good to go anymore for artists.

edit - a lot of people are saying the tags are important so actually, you'll look at my tags.

#please dont delete your accounts because of the AI crap. your art deserves more than being lost like that #if you have a good PC please glaze or nightshade it. if you dont or it doesnt work with your style (like mine) please start watermarking #use a plain-ish font. make it your username. if people can't google what your watermark says and find ur account its not a good watermark #it needs to be central in the image - NOT on the canvas edges - and put it in multiple places if you are compelled #please dont stop posting your art because of this shit. we just have to hope regulations will come slamming down on these shitheads#in the next year or two and you want to have accounts to come back to. the world Needs real art #if we all leave that just makes more room for these scam artists to fill in with their soulless recycled garbage #improvise adapt overcome. it sucks but it is what it is for the moment. safeguard yourself as best you can without making #years of art from thousands of artists lost media. the digital world and art is too temporary to hastily click a Delete button out of spite

[procurement-insights]

Exposing the myth of centralization versus decentralization in procurement

Why is centralization and decentralization in procurement a black hole?

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is my response to Laura Barrett’s very good post about SRM and centralization versus decentralization. To start, here is an excerpt of a post I wrote in Sept. 2007 – https://bit.ly/3SUWxml “Process understanding starts and ends with the premise of centralized visibility and departmental empowerment. “It is my position that a true centralization of procurement…

[herpsandbirds]

Yellow Sea Snake (Hydrophis platurus xanthos), family Elapidae, Costa Rica

Venomous.

This is an all yellow subspecies of the Yellow-bellied or Pelagic Sea Snake.

photograph by Alejandro Solórzano

[jovialbasementbouquetblr]

2024: A Decade of Media Integration in China

One main theme of Xi Jinping’s ten-plus years as Chinese Communist Party General Secretary has been centralizing a very decentralized country. China doesn’t just have one Big Brother in Beijing; it has had a loosely connected network of Little Brothers (Little but locally Big) of local party secretaries who preside over the party committees at each level of government. Government organizations at…

[lonelyroommp3]

okay i have spent an embarrassing amount of my week cramming on sporcle until i could get 100% on this thing. now it's your turn but i'm only giving you one attempt because i don't play fair here 😈

take this quiz 🌍

[sharkspez]

Tumblr Biography: Napoleon 🇫🇷

As the First Consul of the 🇫🇷 French administration, Napoleon brought about 📜 sweeping reforms. However, his greatest ⚔️ challenges were yet to come...

[adropofhumanity]

[emeryleewho]

People on here are always like "fuck capitalism, why can't things be weird anymore" and then write up a whole dissertation about how the biggest IPs need to change to be weirder.

Like, you are so close. You are so close to getting the point. "Big" IPs *can only exist because they are normal*. They will *never* be weird. They will *never* do what you want. Go find some smaller IPs. Bring back discovery. Bring back never having heard of a book before you buy it. Bring back watching obscure anime online that none of your friends know about. Bring back trying new things, even if they're bad or cheaply made. That is how you get *weird*.

[kingsoftheblock]

Understanding Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs): A Comprehensive Overview

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) have emerged as a focal point in the evolving landscape of digital finance. As nations explore the potential of digital currencies issued by central banks, it’s crucial to comprehend the concept, implications, and potential impact on the financial ecosystem. Here’s a comprehensive overview to help demystify CBDCs. Defining CBDCs:CBDCs are digital forms of…

[sayruq]

Joe Biden has called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, telling Benjamin Netanyahu that future US support for Israel will depend on it taking concrete action to protect civilians and aid workers. As the two leaders held their first phone call since Israeli airstrikes killed seven employees of the international food charity World Central Kitchen (WCK), Biden issued the strongest US rebuke toward Israel since the start of the conflict. In Thursday’s call, which lasted less than 30 minutes, the US president “made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers”, the White House said in a statement.

[baradragon]

give me the state if you're comfy and what languages were offered