Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- VDH on Who is "Destroying Democracy in Darkness?" Keep earing Roger Daltrey of The Who singing "Won't get fooled again" when I read this.
- Glenn Reynolds on Health Moms following RFK Jr. to Trump's team.
- Zuckerberg admits that Facebook faced government censorship from the Biden Administration. It also seems to be coming apart of the Biden family.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share,
- Tucker Carlson Episode 70 with Russell Brand.
- The rise of techno-authoritarianism.
- Jeff Hafley leaves BC football for the Packers. College ball has become more about raising money than about football.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- The GOP had their first Presidential debate last night and The Free Press does a review. Their analysis is the Vivek surged but the real winner was Donald Trump who wasn't even there. Admit that I watched neither the debate nor Trump's appearance on Tucker Carlson. Played pitch and watched the Red Sox instead.
- Jonathan Turley on how Joe Biden's story on Ukraine is falling apart.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Steven Pressfield on Wilderness = Individuation. What is holding you back?
- CA legislators reverse course on child trafficking sentencing. Still not signed into law - just saying.
- In a move that surprises nobody - Tucker Carlson will be forming new media company.
- Marc Andreessen on pankration (aka the original MMA) and the proposed Zuckerberg / Musk fight.
First off, any argument that makes the case that the "cool kids" no longer just toss off one-liner Tweets is a bad argument. The moral standing of "cool kid" experts has been a dumpster fire for a while now. No fault of Twitter or Social Media at all.
Next I would disagree that Twitter is in decline. When Elon Musk rate-limited users (verified accounts could read up to 6,000 Tweets a day while unverified accounts could read up to 600) - I did not see any degradation what so-ever. Perhaps it is just that I'm not Social Media or Twitter addicted or that I have a life. Perhaps because I thought Musk's stance on Free Speech was worth supporting and am a verified account - those 6,000 Tweets per day were plenty (maybe a reason to fork over that $8 per month - remember if a service is free that you're the product).
Finally, I would not be using Mark Zuckerberg's Threads of any evidence supporting my argument, You cannot be on Threads unless you're already on Instagram and just attaching things to a popular platform is the quickest way to ruin that platform. I'm tempted to see if Noah Smith was also arguing that Meta was the next big thing because that clearly was a huge misplay by Zuckerberg too.
More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Peter Attia on the importance of taking charge of your own health. Take the message to heart.
- Interesting - Northwestern said to be considering reconsidering penalty on Pat Fitzgerald after new hazing info emerges. There's no place for sexual hazing in sports.
- Cluster Bombs are illegal yet the Biden White House insists on using them in Ukraine. Most illegal White House of my life.
Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.
- Government is a primary reason NYC's economy is a mess. Let's not forget that woke politicians like AOC also helped chase away 21,000 jobs Amazon was going to bring to the Bronx.
- Mark Zuckerberg warned his staff about unknown dangers about mRNA vaccines. Remember these social media moguls also don't let their own kids use their platforms because they know how bad they are for kids.
- A sitting President, an incoming President, and two future Presidents. And the last inauguration where people wore top hats.
Facebook/Meta to lay off 11,000 (13% of their workforce). Stock has dropped "more than 71% since the beginning of the year and the stock now trades at levels last seen in 2015." In a prepared statement Mark Zuckerberg admitted, "Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected." Ya think?
Don't feel too bad for the laid off employees as they "will receive 16 weeks of base pay, plus two additional weeks for every year with the company." In addition they will receive 6 months of paid health insurance and compensation for any unused PTO. Not a bad deal.
Two additional notes; found it interesting that the AP article referred to Elon Musk as "billionaire Elon Musk" but did not apply the same adjective to Zuckerberg. Second, we should remember that a year ago about this time Zuckerberg declared that Facebook was "going to war" with Apple over Apple's new privacy policies. Guess it's now clear who won that war.
No HR expert but firing people supposedly "at random" based upon an algorithm seems like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. May have worked in the past at smaller tech firms but Meta's, formerly Facebook, deep pockets are bound to attract some cash hungry attorneys. Woe to Meta if the algorithm isn't truly random but uses weighted measures a jury may find biased.
Also amused that Meta blames the War in Ukraine for reduced revenue. The two things killing Meta is Mark Zuckerberg's insistence on going all in on VR when the market is still 5-years away and Apple's privacy stance which has greatly hampered Meta's ability to harvest personal data from users like in the past.
This is hilarious. I don't think Meta's going to be a big success. Someone should have asked the chatbot about Meta's stock.
Also reminded of the quote of when someone tells you who they are - believe them. The chatbot may have just told the world what Meta (and Mark Zuckerberg) really are. I believe the chatbot.
HT Digg
When Mark Zuckerberg is shoveling $10 billion into a product he can't accurately describe - you do have to think scam. Saying, "Oh I'll just trust Mark Zuckerberg" is probably not a good position to take (on the Metaverse or anything).
Reading the article I kept wondering if the Metaverse is based on an Underwear Gnomes business model.
Inside Facebook's strategy to bring war to Apple.
Interesting - is Facebook really betting the company on Occulus and VR because of Apple? It should be noted that the above article was posted a week prior to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announcing the name change to Meta.
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Pretty sure Mark Zuckerberg's endgame is to run for President. That's what the flag waving, wake boarding 4th of July video was all about. Think of it as a trial balloon... Growing up this is what a manly man looked like. I have no idea what kids consider manly these days but pretty sure Charles Bronson could kick their ass... 75-years ago the pinnacle of science was the splitting of the atom. Perhaps 75-years hence the pinnacle will be the splitting of the electron... My fear is when Mark Zuckerberg learns via an aborted run for President that he's perhaps the least liked person in the USA that he becomes a real-life Bond villain. The odds are so much greater that he becomes a Bond villain than the President... From now on when I want anyone to shut up I'm going to say, "Thank you. THANK YOU!" like the chair during the Wimbledon's men's final on Sunday. Conversation you're not interested in having, "Thank you. THANK YOU!" Girlfriend complaining about your driving, "Thank you. THANK YOU!" It actually works great...
Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.
Always thought it was ironic that Teddy Roosevelt is next to Thomas Jefferson on Mount Rushmore. Roosevelt hated Jefferson and thought he was the worst President in US history... No amount of cooling will freeze helium into a solid. And no amount of money or PR will turn Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg into likable human beings... Dan Jenkins' rules for sports writing... The old robber barons at least used to fund institutions of higher learning - think Stanford, Vanderbuilt and CalTech. What are the modern day tech robber barons leaving for future generations?... (Supposedly) the top 25 beaches in the US. Haven't been to Hawaii but have been to 7 of these beaches and I can say for sure #7 isn't even the best beach in New England... Think matching Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Chia Pets would make great Christmas gifts for almost anyone on your naughty and nice list. They already have a Donald Trump version...
