<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/">
  <channel>
    <title>funny &amp;mdash; Erik I</title>
    <link>https://erik.itland.no/tag:funny</link>
    <description>My public writing. You can reach me at @eitland@mstdn.io </description>
    <pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:23:06 +0000</pubDate>
    <item>
      <title>Fun with Amazons AI / Machine Learning</title>
      <link>https://erik.itland.no/fun-with-amazons-ai-machine-learning?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[In the past I’ve shared some screenshots of Googles automated systems missing the mark, like: &#xA;http://erik.itland.no/more-fun-with-google-mixing-images-from-different-sources&#xA;and http://erik.itland.no/google-now-really-hasnt-had-a-great-day&#xA;&#xA;Here are a some from Amazon:&#xA;In the middle: Humor &amp; Entertainment Books according to Amazon!--more--&#xA;&#xA;A manifest against Logic, Facts and Reason sounds just like my kind of humor :-)&#xA;&#xA;Amazons idea of Engineering books and Law Books.&#xA;&#xA;If this holds up I might be halfway to a Law degree without knowing because I’ve studied a fair amount of programming, both textbooks and case law :-)&#xA;&#xA;Filed under #funny #fails #aifails  and #amazon]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In the past I’ve shared some screenshots of Googles automated systems missing the mark, like:
– <a href="http://erik.itland.no/more-fun-with-google-mixing-images-from-different-sources">http://erik.itland.no/more-fun-with-google-mixing-images-from-different-sources</a>
– and <a href="http://erik.itland.no/google-now-really-hasnt-had-a-great-day">http://erik.itland.no/google-now-really-hasnt-had-a-great-day</a></p>

<p>Here are a some from Amazon:
<img src="https://i.snap.as/OUJ5q5g.png" alt="In the middle: Humor &amp; Entertainment Books according to Amazon"/></p>

<p>A manifest against Logic, Facts and Reason sounds just like my kind of humor :–)</p>

<p><img src="https://i.snap.as/jfRplL5.jpeg" alt="Amazons idea of Engineering books and Law Books."/></p>

<p>If this holds up I might be halfway to a Law degree without knowing because I’ve studied a fair amount of programming, both textbooks and case law :–)</p>

<p>Filed under <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:funny" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">funny</span></a> <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:fails" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">fails</span></a> <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:aifails" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">aifails</span></a>  and <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:amazon" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">amazon</span></a></p>
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      <guid>https://erik.itland.no/fun-with-amazons-ai-machine-learning</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 28 Jun 2019 09:41:00 +0000</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>More fun with Google mixing images from different sources</title>
      <link>https://erik.itland.no/more-fun-with-google-mixing-images-from-different-sources?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[A while ago I posted this: https://erik.itland.no/google-now-really-hasnt-had-a-great-day&#xA;&#xA;Today I came across this:&#xA;&#xA;A feature about mat-table from Angular Material, complete with images of tables with mat on.&#xA;&#xA;Filed under: #funny #fails #aifails #google #googlefails]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A while ago I posted this: <a href="https://erik.itland.no/google-now-really-hasnt-had-a-great-day">https://erik.itland.no/google-now-really-hasnt-had-a-great-day</a></p>

<p>Today I came across this:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.snap.as/YyDbAH1.png" alt="A feature about mat-table from Angular Material, complete with images of tables with mat on."/></p>

<p>Filed under: <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:funny" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">funny</span></a> <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:fails" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">fails</span></a> <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:aifails" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">aifails</span></a> <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:google" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">google</span></a> <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:googlefails" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">googlefails</span></a></p>
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      <guid>https://erik.itland.no/more-fun-with-google-mixing-images-from-different-sources</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 24 May 2019 14:55:24 +0000</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Courses I&#39;d like to teach </title>
      <link>https://erik.itland.no/courses-id-like-to-teach?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[... but no one asks me to teach : )&#xA;&#xA;Filed under: #funny, #bigtech, #ux&#xA;&#xA;See below the table for an explanation.&#xA;!--more--&#xA;table class=&#34;minimalistBlack&#34;&#xA;    thead&#xA;        tr&#xA;            thTopic/th&#xA;            thTitle/th&#xA;            thIntended audience/th&#xA;        /tr&#xA;    /thead&#xA;    tbody&#xA;        tr&#xA;            tdCommon sense 101/td&#xA;            tdh3Why you shouldn&#39;t annoy power users (for no good reason.)/td&#xA;            tdA certain ad delivery company with an attached search engine that keeps getting worse./td&#xA;        /tr&#xA;        tr&#xA;            tdUX/td&#xA;            tdh3Have your cake and eat it too /h3pHow to please all your customers at once - Combining sensible defaults with the forgotten art of making your software configurable. /td&#xA;            tdAnyone working with UX at more or less any modern software company./td&#xA;        /tr&#xA;        tr&#xA;            tdAmazing insights / UX: /td&#xA;            td h3 Most customers aren&#39;t braindead /h3p Your customers might not be as smart as you but most of them aren&#39;t braindead - and other amazing facts from the field. /td&#xA;            tdUX-ers, SysAdmins and programmers./td&#xA;        /tr&#xA;        tr&#xA;            tdCommon sense 101/td&#xA;            td h3 The business case for not destroying your own software /h3p Continue to have the best product - by not nerfing your almost-perfect product./td&#xA;            tdAnyone working with UX at more or less any modern software company./td&#xA;        /tr&#xA;        tr&#xA;            tdCommon sense 101/td&#xA;            td h3 Get off the GDPR hook /h3p A guide to not storing data you don&#39;t need to serve your users - a practical guide to not getting fined by EU while also getting rid of dumb disclaimers that won&#39;t help you anyway when regulators get fed up./td&#xA;            tdEveryone who has a GDPR popup with default opt in to one (or more likely more than 100 different trackers)./td&#xA;        /tr&#xA;        tr&#xA;            tdAmazing insights/td&#xA;            td h3 Why you often cannot sell the same product twice /h3p Why customers who have already bought a dishwasher won&#39;t buy a new one however much you advertise for them the rest of the month (and other great secrets from marketing 101). /td&#xA;            tdMost adtech companies and ad buyers./td&#xA;        /tr&#xA;        tr&#xA;            tdCommon sense 101/td&#xA;            td h3 A business case for not insulting your users /h3p The long-term benefits of serving ads that actually provides value - or why you&#39;d want to sell some ads to other companies than scammy dating sites even if they are currently the easiest ones to fleece by showing expensive ads to customers who aren&#39;t interested at all./td&#xA;            tdAd-tech companies, and that big one with the attached search engine in particular./td&#xA;        /tr&#xA;    /tbody&#xA;/table&#xA;&#xA;This was born out of my frustration earlier this year that tech products seems to be moving backwards and have been so for a decade.&#xA;&#xA;I&#39;d summarize it in three points, all being just my opinions: &#xA;&#xA;Somewhere along the lines ux went from the good idea that &#xA;&#xA;  many of the products we create aren&#39;t as easy to use as they should be &#xA;&#xA;to the bad idea that&#xA;&#xA;  users are stupid and must be prevented from going off the script or customizing anything.&#xA;&#xA;At some point a lot of people decided that it was OK to &#34;move fast and break things&#34;.&#xA;&#xA;Ads, that for a limited time was a somewhat understandable solution to monetize free content went from bad (hit the monkey-scams for those who are old enough to remember) to kind-of-ok (adwords, plain text ads with a single link, no moving parts, no sound) to the current mess.&#xA;  the current mess includes the hundred or so trackers (I haven&#39;t counted, but I have looked through the lists a few times and I suspect I might just as well underestimate rather than exaggerate here.)&#xA;&#xA;Based on this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19263653&#xA;&#xA;]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2 id="but-no-one-asks-me-to-teach" id="but-no-one-asks-me-to-teach">... but no one asks me to teach : )</h2>

<p>Filed under: <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:funny" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">funny</span></a>, <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:bigtech" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">bigtech</span></a>, <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:ux" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">ux</span></a></p>

<p>See below the table for an explanation.

<table class="minimalistBlack">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>Topic</th>
            <th>Title</th>
            <th>Intended audience</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        <tr>
            <td>Common sense 101</td>
            <td><h3>Why you shouldn&#39;t annoy power users (for no good reason.)</td>
            <td>A certain ad delivery company with an attached search engine that keeps getting worse.</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>UX</td>
            <td><h3>Have your cake and eat it too </h3><p>How to please all your customers at once – Combining sensible defaults with the forgotten art of making your software configurable. </td>
            <td>Anyone working with UX at more or less any modern software company.</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Amazing insights / UX: </td>
            <td> <h3> Most customers aren&#39;t braindead </h3><p> Your customers might not be as smart as you but most of them aren&#39;t braindead – and other amazing facts from the field. </td>
            <td>UX-ers, SysAdmins and programmers.</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Common sense 101</td>
            <td> <h3> The business case for not destroying your own software </h3><p> Continue to have the best product – by not nerfing your almost-perfect product.</td>
            <td>Anyone working with UX at more or less any modern software company.</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Common sense 101</td>
            <td> <h3> Get off the GDPR hook </h3><p> A guide to not storing data you don&#39;t need to serve your users – a practical guide to not getting fined by EU while also getting rid of dumb disclaimers that won&#39;t help you anyway when regulators get fed up.</td>
            <td>Everyone who has a GDPR popup with default opt in to one (or more likely more than 100 different trackers).</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Amazing insights</td>
            <td> <h3> Why you often cannot sell the same product twice </h3><p> Why customers who have already bought a dishwasher won&#39;t buy a new one however much you advertise for them the rest of the month (and other great secrets from marketing 101). </td>
            <td>Most adtech companies and ad buyers.</td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
            <td>Common sense 101</td>
            <td> <h3> A business case for not insulting your users </h3><p> The long-term benefits of serving ads that actually provides value – or why you&#39;d want to sell some ads to other companies than scammy dating sites even if they are currently the easiest ones to fleece by showing expensive ads to customers who aren&#39;t interested at all.</td>
            <td>Ad-tech companies, and that big one with the attached search engine in particular.</td>
        </tr>
    </tbody>
</table></p>

<p>This was born out of my frustration earlier this year that tech products seems to be moving backwards and have been so for a decade.</p>

<p>I&#39;d summarize it in three points, all being just my opinions:</p>
<ul><li>Somewhere along the lines ux went from the good idea that</li></ul>

<blockquote><p>many of the products we create aren&#39;t as easy to use as they should be</p></blockquote>

<p>to the bad idea that</p>

<blockquote><p>users are stupid and must be prevented from going off the script or customizing anything.</p></blockquote>
<ul><li><p>At some point a lot of people decided that it was OK to “move fast and break things”.</p></li>

<li><p>Ads, that for a limited time was a <em>somewhat</em> understandable solution to monetize free content went from bad (hit the monkey-scams for those who are old enough to remember) to kind-of-ok (adwords, plain text ads with a single link, no moving parts, no sound) to the current mess.</p>
<ul><li>the current mess includes the hundred or so trackers (I haven&#39;t counted, but I have looked through the lists a few times and I suspect I might just as well underestimate rather than exaggerate here.)</li></ul></li></ul>

<p>Based on this comment: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19263653">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19263653</a></p>
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      <guid>https://erik.itland.no/courses-id-like-to-teach</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 01 Apr 2019 14:33:05 +0000</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Google Now really hasn&#39;t had a great day</title>
      <link>https://erik.itland.no/google-now-really-hasnt-had-a-great-day?pk_campaign=rss-feed</link>
      <description>&lt;![CDATA[Here&#39;s one from yesterday: &#xA;&#xA;Considering this man was supposedly found in a fishing net in the water behind a fishing vessel he looks surprisingly healthy to me:&#xA;&#xA;&#34;Man found stuck in a net behind a fishing vessel&#34;&#xA;!--more--&#xA;Also a number of news articles in Polish that I forgot to screenshot, and what seems to me like either Italian (maybe it got it confused with my last name :-P) and Portugese (no idea why that would be relevant):&#xA;&#xA;Google overestimating my language skills (and my interest for crypto currencies), Portugese edition&#xA;&#xA;Google confusing Itland with Italian.&#xA;&#xA;Hope you guys have a nice day at work and don&#39;t mess up a big ai and/or machine learning project.&#xA;&#xA;Filed under: #funny #fails #aifails #google #googlefails #googlenow ]]&gt;</description>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here&#39;s one from yesterday:</p>

<p>Considering this man was supposedly found in a fishing net in the water behind a fishing vessel he looks surprisingly healthy to me:</p>

<p><img src="https://i.snap.as/5iHuwjQ.png" alt="&#34;Man found stuck in a net behind a fishing vessel&#34;"/>

Also a number of news articles in Polish that I forgot to screenshot, and what seems to me like either Italian (maybe it got it confused with my last name :-P) and Portugese (no idea why <em>that</em> would be relevant):</p>

<p><img src="https://i.snap.as/JlG49NV.png" alt="Google overestimating my language skills (and my interest for crypto currencies), Portugese edition"/></p>

<p><img src="https://i.snap.as/RjvyabZ.png" alt="Google confusing Itland with Italian."/></p>

<p>Hope you guys have a nice day at work and don&#39;t mess up a big ai and/or machine learning project.</p>

<p>Filed under: <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:funny" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">funny</span></a> <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:fails" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">fails</span></a> <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:aifails" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">aifails</span></a> <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:google" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">google</span></a> <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:googlefails" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">googlefails</span></a> <a href="https://erik.itland.no/tag:googlenow" class="hashtag"><span>#</span><span class="p-category">googlenow</span></a></p>
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      <guid>https://erik.itland.no/google-now-really-hasnt-had-a-great-day</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 27 Feb 2019 05:16:31 +0000</pubDate>
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