Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The Paris Delusion: The touted achievements of global climate initiatives aren't rooted in reality. How dare they!

- UAB football player arrested after stabbing two teammates. This is a sad story all around.

- Tyler Cowen's best non-fiction books of 2025. Wish he'd rank them but as it is I added a couple in subjects that interest me.

- Court Filings allege Meta downplayed risks to children and misled children. Why anyone is on Meta (Facebook) is beyond me.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Sen Josh Hawley on Meta (Facebook) and China.

- VDH with 10 Tariff Questions Never Asked. He's not wrong.

- German editor sentenced and fined for satirical picture of Interior Minister. The people who sentenced him were only following orders,

- From the archive: Navigating within your circle of competence.

Censorship is Not Over

And Google is equally bad as Meta. If you find your sources for news are lying to you - get a new source. 

Meta Afraid of Missing Out on the Hot Thing (Again)

Via

Linky Links

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.

- Interesting look at how "fact checkers" are used to censor critics in Australia with a focus on Mark Zuckerberg and Meta.

- A little East Coast humor

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Sam Altman on How to be Successful. Long but impactful read that should be taken to heart. (HT Tim Ferriss)

-  A look at the post Frank Beamer struggles at Virginia Tech. Interesting read that subconsciously makes the case for relegation in college football.

- Dan Wetzel on how state governments are using NIL to juice in-state recruiting.

- Reminder - the more you use something like Facebook/Meta the worse you feel

Quotes for Today

 Some quotes I hope may resonate with you.

"It's impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows." - Epictetus

"The man at the top of the mountain didn't fall there." - Vince Lombardi

"It's funny how everyone agrees that Facebook is called Meta now, but nobody really believes Google is Alphabet." - Noah Smith

"In a better world we'd get to hear what Michael Crichton and Christopher Hitchens had to say about the WEF." - Joel Engel

Facebook/Meta to Lay Off 11,000

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. 

So True!

Via

Meta Now Firing People Based Upon an Algorithm

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.  

Meta's Chatbot Says the Company 'Exploits People'

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

Is the Metaverse a Scam?

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.

Three Reasons Why FaceBook May Be in Trouble

Interesting look at why FaceBook may be in trouble.

It should also be noted that the pivot to VR and rebranding as Meta may not work. You don't always want to be first in a market - Apple wasn't the first company to come out with a smartphone for example. Meta may find themselves becoming the MySpace of virtual reality with the real market leader in that space yet to even be founded. 

We Need to Have This Knife Fight

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.