Brazilian courts wanted seven accounts suspended and for X to pay fines. Instead of doing that, Musk publicly fought with the country’s supreme court, got the app banned, and allowed thousands of users to set up accounts on competitors Threads and Bluesky only to end up suspending the accounts originally flagged, paying the fines, and also is now paying even more fines. It’s invigorating to watch a true genius at work.
The LAPD is being sued by a medical facility claiming that a cop trashed an expensive MRI machine by bringing a rifle into the room, ignoring a sign warning against bringing in metal objects. Police reportedly raided the facility based on a false claim it was being used for marijuana cultivation. “The whole operation was nothing short of a disorganized circus, with no apparent rules, procedures, or even a hint of coordination,” the complaint says.
jwz is the nom de internet of Jamie Zawinski, a software developer who worked on Netscape and other projects, and who is now proprietor of DNA Lounge, a San Francisco nightclub and live music venue.
The FTC has documented in detail how big tech companies flagrantly violate user privacy. Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr comments:
I understand the reflex to greet a report like this with cheap cynicism, but that’s a mistake. There’s a difference between “everybody knows” that tech is screwing us on privacy, and “a federal agency has concluded” that this is true. These market studies make a difference – if you doubt it, consider for a moment that Cigna is suing the FTC for releasing a landmark market study showing how its Express Scripts division has used its monopoly power to jack up the price of prescription drugs:
Big business is shit-scared of this kind of research by federal agencies – if they think this threatens their power, why shouldn’t we take them at their word?
— “Tech monopolists use their market power to invade your privacy”
I'm giving Capacities a try as a possible Obsidian replacement
I downloaded Capacities previously, watched some videos, and read some documentation, but I never actually did anything with it. And now I have — created a few documents, which Capacities called “Objects.”
It feels like Capacities is Obsidian 2.0. It does less than Obsidian, but it seems to do all the things I want it to do and perhaps all the things most Obsidian users need. Capacities is not easy to figure out, but Obsidian seems to require programming skills to make the most of it, and Capacities does not require those kinds of skills.
In the past, when I’ve switched to new productivity software, I attempt to build an organizational system early on, but this time my rule is to wait until it’s hard for me to find something or do something, and then add the bare minimum organization to fix that problem. I’ve got a couple of dozen documents in Obsidian now; I’m not going to sit here and attempt to figure out a system that will scale up to hundreds or tens of thousands of documents.
I like Capacities. It seems to do all the things I do in Obsidian, but easier. Like moving from a command line to a GUI. On the downside, it uses a block editor. I do not like a block editor. We’ll see if I can adjust.
Question for those of you who are familiar with both applications: What do I need to know about changing my Obsidian methods and workflows to suit Capacities? I write research reports and articles, each requiring days or months to research and write.
ME: [Closes MacBook, looking guilty, as Julie enters room]
JULIE: “What were you looking at?”
ME: “Nothing! I was just sitting.”
JULIE:
ME: “I was looking at home repair tips!”
JULIE:
ME: “I was shopping for a gift for you!”
JULIE:
ME: “Fine! I admit it! I was looking at porn! Nasty, filthy, disgusting, kinky, perverted porn!”
JULIE: “Don’t give me that! You were looking at productivity videos on YouTube again!”
ME: [ashamed] “Yes. Yes I was.”
Something I saw while walking the dog: Neighbors set up this sprawling little toy village on the front lawn of a condo complex. There is a lot going on!
When I migrated from mastododon.social to Micro.blog yesterday, I thought I might set up a read-only Mastodon account for accounts I want to keep up with. Then I thought nah. Simplify. One fewer social platform.
Also, I’ve switched off automatically syndicating posts from Micro.blog to Tumblr. For the few posts I want in both places, I’ll just cut-and-paste ‘em there manually.
Simplifying!
