Linkage

• How IBM 7094 Gave NASA Computing Superiority in the 1960s (Fed Tech) The predecessor to the IBM 360, packing a whopping with a whopping 150K of RAM.  Helped put men on the moon.
• Parliament renovation could take 76 years and cost £22bn, report says | House of Commons | The Guardian Only 12-20 years and £7-£13bn if the MPs find an alternate workplace for the duration. WTF?
• The US Copyright Office says an AI can’t copyright its art (The Verge) Thank God.
• BOFH: All hail the job cuts consultant (The Register) This may be best BOFH episode ever.
• Amazon's $31b "ad business" isn't (Pluralistic/Cory Doctorow) It turns out that Amazon is basically extorting vendors who use its services.  Break them up now.
• Food Riots and the Arab Spring. The Economics behind an uprising. (Something About Everything) From 2019.  It notes that rising food prices lead to unrest.  Given that about 25% of grain exports come from Russia and the Ukraine, the current war may destabilize governments across the world.
• Understanding World War III (Contraspin) Makes the argument that WWII actually started with the enabling acts in Germany in 1933, and the British and French declarations of war were just a public acknowledgement of this fact.  Also compares the Patriot Act of 2001 as being a similar start of a world war, with the US as the aggressor.  Intriguing read.
• How the National Restaurant Association and COVID killed small restaurants (Slate) Small business pandemic aid programs were relentlessly corrupt.
  

Here is a nice roundup of the advantages and disadvantages of the longbow as versus a shorter recurve: