I’ve been annoyed by Facebook as software for at least six years. The software makes it hard to post the kinds of things I like to post in the manner I like to post them, and also makes it hard to zero in on reading just what I want to read when I want to read it. I see that trend continuing.
Zuckerberg’s announcement this week was just the last straw for me. TIme to pull off the Band-Aid.
I’m still not 100% sure I made the right choice. And I haven’t decided I will actually cancel my account. I may keep it in case something comes up. And I will likely stealthily check notifications, at least for a while.
LA fires are a good reminder that the only difference between me and any refugee is luck.
Yesterday's Meta announcement finally pushed me to quit those services
I have been thinking about quitting Meta for at least six years, but I finally did it yesterday.
Yesterday’s bullshit was one step too far. It isn’t just that they are throwing in the towel on fact-checking, but also that they explicitly say that some anti-LGBTQ and ethnic hate speech is ok. You want to say LGBTQ people are deranged or that Chinese people spread Covid? That’s fine with Zuck!
I also hate that Zuck was blinged out like an 18th Century French monarch when making these proclamations. I liked my billionaires better when they pretended in public to be middle class.
I’m also quitting Insta and Threads. But I hardly used those before.
I haven’t canceled the accounts yet. I want to leave them up for a bit so people can see that I’m going, and where I’ve gone.
Critics of Idaho’s proposed same-sex marriage ban say it’s a “sad distraction” from real issues.
You bet it is. All this Republican culture war bullshit is just to keep you from noticing that Trump & Co. are robbing you.
Mitchellaneous: The man under Cousin Itt's costume
The man under Cousin Itt’s costume
The end of the Great Wall of China
From the comments: “It’s like he’s crying because they tried something new and it got weird”
Thanks, Tom!
I’ve been followed by Charlize Theron and Scarlett Johannsen on Bluesky this week.
I believe, in fact, these accounts may not be authentic.
That was fast: After reading this coverage from Casey Newton, I can’t in good conscience stay on Facebook or any Meta property any longer. I’ll leave my accounts active for now, but I’m not looking at them anymore.
I’ve been fed up with Facebook for a long time, and today’s news does not make me love it more. However, there are people I want to stay in touch with on Facebook. Neither quitting nor staying is satisfactory.
The Heritage Foundation plans to “identify and target” Wikipedia editors whom the groups believes to be anti-Semitic. This is a vigilante campaign disguised as an attempt to protect Jews. This Jew does not need or welcome that kind of protection.
Trump wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico and use the military to claim Greenland from Demark, a NATO ally.
It’s going to be a fun four years.
It’s wild to me that Theodore Levine, the actor who played the demonic Buffalo Bill in “Silence of the Lambs” also played the kind, long-suffering Chief Stottlemeyer on “Monk.”
My hands are so dry, cracked and painful this week that I’ve started using hand lotion, which I have never done before. It’s really very nice.
How long do I have to use the lotion before my brain stops saying the “Silence of the Lambs” thing?
I’m disappointed by Zuck’s latest decisions to cave in to Trump’s threats, but I can’t say I’m surprised. Billioinaires gotta billionaire.
These events further cement my decision to consolidate more of my social media activity on mitchw.blog, with automatic syndication using Micro.blog to Mastodon, BlueSky and Tumblr.
Mitchellaneous: Nude Interracial Love Dance
It Was the Day of the Robot by Frank Belknap Long
Coney Island, 1961, Diane Arbus
Nude Interracial Love Dance. via
After reading this explanation of Hookmark, I am thinking of giving the app another try. I like the idea of being able to easily access all documents related to whatever document I’m looking at or working on. “Documents,” in this context, refers to any object on my Mac — documents, web pages, emails, etc.
I’m glad to see Rusty Foster is back writing “Today in Tabs” and I hope it doesn’t consume him.
It turns out that if you look at social media for a few minutes a couple times a day you don’t miss anything and it doesn’t destroy your soul. No one’s gonna do that, I know, I’m just saying.
Simon Wiilson: “You should start a blog. Having your own little corner of the internet is good for the soul!" Two relatively low-effort categories of things to write about on your blog: “write about things you’ve learned, and write about things you’ve built!” And a third: Write about things you found aka linkblogging.
"The evidence is not flawless." Scientists investigate claims of life after death
The University of Virginia school of medicine’s Division of Perceptual Studies (DOPS) searches for scientific evidence of reincarnation or other life after death. They do a lot of interviews of small children who seem to have memories of past lives.
Former DOPS founder Dr. Ian Stevenson devised a simple test: He closed a padlock and put it in a box in the researchers' office. Only he knew the combination. He died in 2007.
Do You Believe in Life After Death? These Scientists Study It. By Saskia Solomon at the New York Times.
I’m a skeptic, but I love that groups like DOPS exist, studying low-probability but revolutionary phenomena like life after death, reincarnation, magic, time travel, UFOs, etc.
This article reminds me of one of my favorite novels: “Summerland,” by Hannu Rajamieni. The premise is that scientists discovered definitive proof of life after death in the late 19th Century and invented a device to communicate with the dead. The novel’s action takes place in the 1930s, among British spies fighting the Cold War against the Soviet Union in both this life and the next.
“I have been saying ‘What?’ every single sentence.” Rereading “Encycopedia Brown” as an adult is bonkers..