atomicpoet
Chris Trottier

Putting the sauce in awesome

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Last Notes

2026-01-20 20:48:47 UTC

“Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.”
–Mark Carney
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-davos-speech-9.7052725

2025-04-11 23:22:16 UTC

Trump may have written *The Art of the Deal*.
But a Chinese man wrote *The Art of War*.

2025-04-03 00:48:48 UTC

So are Americans rich yet?

2025-03-26 21:59:35 UTC

25% tariffs on auto imports is brutal.
This is going to kill so many jobs in Canada—unless the government does something drastic.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/trumps-tariffs/article/trump-announces-25-tariff-on-all-cars-not-made-in-us/

2025-03-26 21:32:34 UTC

Looks like British Columbia’s tolls on U.S.-bound traffic between Alaska and the Lower 48 is working.
Republicans-dominated Alaska is now begging Trump to cool down the U.S.-Canada trade dispute.
https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/alaska-house-asks-for-cooldown-in-trump-triggered-us-canada-trade-dispute/

2025-03-26 16:35:09 UTC

Pierre Poilievre must be furious at Danielle Smith for wrecking his campaign.
But he could disavow her. The fact he doesn’t speaks volumes.
https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/criticism-premier-danielle-smith-attend-united-states-fundraiser

2025-03-26 03:59:07 UTC

C’est donc ben une drôle de pub électorale.
Pierre Poilievre admet que son ton fatiguant tape sur les nerfs, mais c’est supposé être une bonne chose parce que… Trump?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wGqMMjf42c

2025-03-26 03:36:34 UTC

China is open to free trade with Canada.
In another time, I’d be against this. But since we’re now dealing with American tariffs, the Canadian economy needs to diversify.
Of course, free trade with China would also mean they don’t own our critical resources.
https://financialpost.com/news/economy/beijing-envoy-trade-canada-china-trade-war-continues

2025-03-25 21:38:32 UTC

The Liberals are now putting Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s comments to Breitbart in an election ad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mATtf3jivg

2025-03-25 17:23:22 UTC

Fox News is now begging Canadians to elect Pierre Poilievre. 😆
https://youtu.be/NHr6RxeGKWs

2025-03-25 00:45:01 UTC

I’m impressed you could buy the bones of Saint Nicholas on eBay.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/canada-returns-saint-nicholas-relics-italy-1.7491170

2025-03-24 18:21:28 UTC

When the Calgary Herald comes out against Danielle Smith, you know she screwed up.
She’s really hurt Conservatives’ chances right out of the gate.
https://calgaryherald.com/news/braid-smiths-cosy-ties-in-u-s-wrecked-poilievre-campaign-opening

2025-03-24 01:04:43 UTC

Was at the grocery store today, and these tariffs are being treated *very* seriously.
Canadian goods are being labelled very prominently to the point where it’s implied that your duty is to buy Canadian whenever the opportunity arises.
Haven’t seen this kind of awareness of a crisis since COVID.

2025-03-22 01:55:17 UTC

Donald Trump wants the USA to join the Commonwealth of Nations.
And who is the nominal head of the Commonwealth? King Charles III.
I thought the whole deal with the USA was the “no monarchy” thing.
https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-i-love-king-charles-membership-british-commonwealth/

2025-03-21 17:24:21 UTC

Canada potentially getting nuclear weapons—I’m not celebrating that. 😟
https://archive.is/2025.03.21-134310/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-canada-needs-to-develop-its-own-nuclear-program/

2025-03-21 08:13:58 UTC

Watched the first 15 minutes of The Electric State—then shut it off.
Don’t know what it is about Netflix, but no matter what they spend—this time, $320M—their movies are always Netflix-y.

2025-03-21 03:41:27 UTC

Premier Smith is either drunk or so deluded that she’s living in a fantasy world.
You have no control over trade, Danielle. That’s federal jurisdiction.
And I’m sorry, but Trump didn’t give a damn about your blonde highlights during that Mar-a-Lago visit.
https://www.todayville.com/premier-smith-presents-prime-minister-carney-with-list-of-alberta-demands/

2025-03-20 01:01:21 UTC

Steve Forbes talking about how disastrous annexing Canada would be.
It’s funny to hear people talk about the Revolutionary War again.
But it’s all true. Canada fought on the side of the British, and we still have a King.
https://youtu.be/OhdDzJTmybw

2025-03-19 05:03:55 UTC

I like New York City but not the version populated by rich people who believe they define culture.

2025-03-19 03:34:25 UTC

Ouch! Canadians are even staying away from Canadian-owned businesses that have American branding.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/tariff-war-has-canadian-restaurants-with-american-names-caught-in-the-middle/

2025-03-19 01:22:21 UTC

Many believe we are in the era of late-stage capitalism, but the truth is far more ominous. We are not witnessing late-stage capitalism—we are entering a new world of state capitalism.
Late-stage capitalism is marked by extreme wealth inequality and market distortions, but the real transformation lies in the growing fusion of government and corporate power. This blurs the lines between public and private interests, and it’s a trend spreading across the globe.
To understand why this is happening, we must first define state capitalism. It is an economic system where the state plays a dominant role in markets, often owning or controlling key enterprises while still allowing some market competition. This model has long been favored by authoritarian countries like China and Russia, but it is also emerging in nominally democratic nations like Hungary—and gaining prominence in the United States, once a bastion of free enterprise.
Why has state capitalism emerged? It is a response to financial crises and geopolitical competition. Ironically, it did not originate from capitalism but from state socialism in China.
When the Chinese Communist Party took over in 1949, it pursued full-scale socialism. The Great Leap Forward was a radical socialist initiative, but when Mao’s policies became unsustainable, Deng Xiaoping introduced market reforms in the 1980s. These reforms embraced market mechanisms, allowing competition while maintaining strong state control over strategic industries.
Today, China’s economy is a clear example of the merger between state and corporate power. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) control 25–30% of China’s GDP, dominating sectors like energy, telecommunications, and finance. Beneath them, the “state-guided” private sector includes giants like Alibaba and Tencent, which appear independent but operate under heavy government oversight, with the state exerting influence over leadership and data.
Investment in China is not driven by venture capital but by massive state funding into AI, semiconductors, and green energy—often outcompeting Western firms that function under supposedly laissez-faire conditions. For instance, BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle company, recently announced five-minute charging technology that Tesla has yet to achieve. How did they fund this breakthrough? Through direct state investment.
The broader picture is clear: China has built a powerful economy that blends market elements with top-down control. Whether the West likes it or not, this proves state capitalism is a viable alternative to Western neoliberalism.
How has the “free world” responded? By mirroring China’s approach. Though more fragmented, Western nations—especially the U.S.—have begun copying China’s model.
Several trends highlight this shift. Government-corporate partnerships are expanding across the U.S. and Europe, with the state becoming a key market player. Policies like the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act reflect direct industrial planning, government-backed investments, and strategic subsidies—closely resembling China’s playbook.
Perhaps more striking is the permanence of the bailout economy. Since the 2008 financial crisis, Western governments have repeatedly intervened in the so-called free market to prop up failing banks and corporations—at an increasingly alarming rate. Quantitative easing and corporate bailouts blur the lines between public and private wealth, undermining free-market principles.
Big Tech understands this, which is why companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Tesla have deepened their ties with government agencies, particularly in defense and intelligence. Palantir, for example, is now embedded within the U.S. security state, reinforcing the reality of government-corporate fusion.
The result? War economies dependent on state intervention. Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have led to massive state investments in arms manufacturing and energy policy. This level of industrial planning hasn’t been seen since the Cold War.
We are caught in a feedback loop: state socialism fosters state capitalism, which in turn strengthens state socialism—repeating endlessly.
None of this would be happening if state socialism had not proven to be economically successful. China’s model has outperformed neoliberal markets in strategic industries, forcing Western countries to adapt. Faced with economic decline and China’s rise, the U.S. and Europe have chosen state intervention over free-market solutions.
You might expect corporations to resist this shift, but while small businesses may object, monopolies do not. Instead, they embrace government power, seeing the state as a reliable patron.
This is why corporations now lobby for AI regulation and government intervention—because it strengthens their market position. The more dependent corporations become on state support, the weaker market competition grows, reinforcing state capitalism.
So, are we in late-stage capitalism or something new? While wealth concentration, monopolization, and corruption resemble late-stage capitalism, the reality is more complex.
What we are witnessing is not capitalism’s decline, but its transformation into a hybrid model—a consolidation of corporate and state power that transcends traditional capitalism-versus-socialism debates.
Whatever you call this system, its effects are profound. Classical free markets are dying, as competition is now dictated by state priorities rather than market forces. Technocratic control is expanding, with governments and corporations using AI, surveillance, and data not just to control economies but to engineer them in ways that previous systems could not.
This is far more alarming than late-stage capitalism. What is emerging is a permanent crisis economy—where pandemics, wars, and financial instability (often manufactured by the state itself) justify never-ending government intervention.
The result is a world where state capitalism, not late-stage capitalism, defines the 21st-century economic order.
Ironically, this evolution stems from China’s state socialist roots, leading to a global model that fuses government power with corporate wealth.
Whether this system can sustain itself or will collapse under its own contradictions remains uncertain.
But one thing is clear: the classical free market is dead, and what we have now is state capitalism.

2025-03-18 23:43:01 UTC

There’s a Season 1 X-Files episode called “Ghost in the Machine” about artificial intelligence.
It’s pretty damn relevant considering that what was once science fiction is now reality.

2025-03-18 22:06:59 UTC

USA can’t outcompete China simply through tariffs.
Because if BYD really can charge an electric car within 5 minutes, Tesla is in trouble.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/18/ev-maker-byd-batteries-charge-shares-elon-musk-tesla

2025-03-15 05:06:14 UTC

Kevin Rose and Alexis Ohanian just bought Digg.
I didn’t see that coming.
Are we going to see Delicious and StumbleUpon make a comeback too?
https://archive.is/2025.03.06-091247/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/technology/digg-alexis-ohanian-kevin-rose.html

2025-03-14 18:46:58 UTC

I watched Mark Carney’s first speech as Canada’s new Prime Minister.
And for the first time in my lifetime, a Canadian Prime Minister has voiced aspirations about transforming Canada into a superpower.
Not “middle” power. Superpower.
https://youtu.be/2a5EUGjobwc

2025-03-14 17:40:59 UTC

For the past two weeks, I’ve done nothing except watch the situation with tariffs unfold. And to say it’s been stressful is an understatement.
But the other truth: there’s extreme fear.
And fear creates a terrible bias. People are bound to sell everything they own if they believe their house is burning down.

2025-03-14 15:56:31 UTC

This, right here, might not be much but it’s vastly improved messaging compared to what the U.S. has been saying to Canada for months.
Therefore, it’s an improvement—even if modest.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11081772/u-s-trade-tariffs-lutnick-canada/

2025-03-13 19:31:22 UTC

Brits make a lot of B movie trash.
But what makes these movies so funny is that they employ trained theatre actors for this B movie trash.

2025-03-13 06:14:02 UTC

You all need to understand that Trump is literally threatening war with Canada.
He’s not trolling. He’s talking about invasion.
https://youtu.be/x2fgN01mra0

2025-03-13 03:35:43 UTC

Thing is, I’ve learned to be skeptical about an economic apocalypse.
Yes, even now.
But that’s not to say I don’t watch things closely and assess.
The USA has a lot of debt—with a deficit that’s 7.2% of GDP. It should be 3% of GDP. This is why the drastic tariffs make sense—Trump needs taxes, but he can’t call them taxes.
However, theres two things that keep me from completely buying into doom: February inflation only grew 0.2%, and the demand for junk bonds is huge.
For how long? I don’t know. Once prices drastically go up and people abandon junk bonds, that’s when I know disaster is truly coming.

2025-03-12 21:24:36 UTC

Canada restricting oil to the U.S. would be more disastrous than restricting electricity.
American refineries are only equipped to process crude oil. And the U.S. only has two options for crude: Canada or Venezuela.
“But what about American shale?”
Yeah, the U.S. has some of that but no refineries to process it. The choice really is between Canada or Venezuela.
And as bad as things are with Canada right now, relations between the U.S. and Venezuela are worse.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/article/canada-could-restrict-its-oil-exports-to-us-if-trump-trade-war-escalates/

2025-03-12 21:01:06 UTC

First Trump says the U.S. doesn’t need anything from Canada—not even our energy.
Now he’s butthurt because, in fact, the U.S. actually needs Canada. Without it, millions of Americans can’t power their homes.
Well, Americans now know what’s on the table. Things can get worse.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/politics/queens-park/article/trump-says-ontario-shouldnt-be-playing-with-electricity-ahead-of-fords-meeting-in-washington/

2025-03-12 04:05:21 UTC

Bum Farto lived a legendary life that was fitting of his name.
https://youtu.be/QbuizFv4jZA

2025-03-11 21:32:16 UTC

You think corporate America is happy with Trump?
$4T of value has been already wiped away since this trade war with Canada. And that’s only for now.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/11/trump-business-roundtable-ceos-stock-market.html

2025-03-11 20:59:35 UTC

Look at that.
Trump “respects” Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Calls him a “very strong man.”
And he’s only saying this because millions of Americans were on the precipice of real harm.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/alberta-government-says-premier-in-talks-with-potential-overseas-heavy-oil-buyer/ https://image.nostr.build/86b9577b3fb170bb685497afbaebdddde7e842eb1dc5bff0e27f0a441ef90eb6.jpg

2025-03-11 19:48:35 UTC

Now that Doug Ford is meeting with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to negotiate, Ontario is suspending the electricity surcharge.
What have we learned from this? Trump only respects force.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11076308/doug-ford-donald-trump-tariff-hike/

2025-03-10 22:31:54 UTC

South Korea is already pitching itself to Canada as a military supplier.
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/submarine-deal-south-korea-canada-us-relations

2025-03-10 21:41:06 UTC

Here in Vancouver, all American beer and alcohol is now banned—removed from store shelves.
These tariffs on Canada still aren’t top of mind to Americans, but they will be once it hits their pocketbook.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-bans-all-u-s-alcohol-at-government-stores-in-response-to-trump-tariffs-1.7479629

2025-03-10 19:53:18 UTC

North America’s oldest company—formed in 1670—is on the verge of bankruptcy.
If Hudson’s Bay Company dies, an important piece of history does too.
https://vancouversun.com/news/canada-hudsons-bay-creditor-protection

2025-03-10 19:20:24 UTC

I asked my very conservative mom if she still likes Trump.
She told me, “Nope, he’s downright evil.”
“Why?” I asked her.
“Because he wants to destroy Canada,” she answered, “And make us American.”

2025-03-10 03:27:55 UTC

Three months ago, I said the Liberals had zero chance of staying in power.
Then Trump happened.
And now Mark Carney is the new Liberal leader. This guy not only steered us through the 2008 recession, he helped the UK through Brexit. So I think he can help us through Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/09/americas/canada-liberal-party-chooses-carney-leader-intl-latam/index.html

2025-03-04 04:58:06 UTC

Once people stop buying junk bonds, that’s when I’ll start worrying.
Because that means there’s zero appetite for risking, and everyone is fleeing towards safety.

2025-02-25 17:31:14 UTC

$TSLA should fall into a crater because it has a P/E ratio of 147.63, and that’s even after a 25% decline over the past month.
The only reason it hasn’t yet is because Tesla is a cult.
But money doesn’t give a damn about your warm feelings for Elon.

2025-02-25 16:58:57 UTC

I’m the exact opposite of Gordon Gekko.
Gordon Gekko says, “Greed is good.”
Nah, fear—for lack of a better word—is good.
Fear, my friends, fear... it's the breakfast of champions. You think I make decisions based on sunshine and lollipops? On warm, fuzzy feelings?
Please. Fear is the great motivator. It's the cold, hard slap in the face that wakes you from your complacent slumber.

2025-02-25 16:48:31 UTC

Stock market sentiment is now “extreme fear”.
I like extreme fear. 😃
Yes, Trump, tariffs, inflation. I get it. But the net effect is that fear is fear—and fear (not greed) is good.

2025-02-19 08:32:28 UTC

This article was shared on Lemmy, saying that BlackRock is predicting a recession “unlike any other”.
But that article was written in December 2022, literally at the *bottom* of a stock market downturn.
Since then, the market has gone up drastically. And we’re now at an all-time-high. BlackRock was sure wrong, weren’t they?
In fact, the “experts” are wrong all the time. At least, in terms of what they publicly say. 😉
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/blackrock-recession-warning-stock-market-analysis-2023-economic-outlook-2022-12?op=1

2025-02-19 05:18:45 UTC

#DeepSeek popped the #AI bubble! It's triggering the collapse of the #StockMarket!
At least, that's what everyone else was telling me.
But look at the stock market today. The NASDAQ Composite is close to it's all time high. And what's more, nobody noticed!
What's going on? Simple: people always pay attention to bad news.
In fact, the rich want you to pay attention to bad news: the more you buy into gloom and doom, the more likely you are to sell your assets so they can buy it up at a pittance. https://image.nostr.build/0402da7c602f442d60fb9408f54fee6b836e1f18da396821aa0a229a53946b69.jpg

2025-02-19 00:26:47 UTC

If you’re anti-immigrant, it stands to reason that you’d also be misogynist, anti-abortion and anti-LGBT.
Without immigrants, a nation state would need more reproduction. That is, if they want access to cheap labour.
So how to get cheap labour without immigration?

2025-02-19 00:16:54 UTC

Just bought these Sony MDR-EX15LP in-ear headphones.
They’re not amazing, but for $10—decent. They fit well in the ear. And as far as treble is concerned, they’re all right.
However, the bass leaves a lot to be desired. That said, they don’t sound tinny, and at least there’s bass. https://image.nostr.build/eab8dfb77f479038184996da1c3457ea6dda2a7d60c5c42591b205928a644c85.jpg

2025-02-18 18:21:38 UTC

#Elgg is getting an #ActivityPub plugin!
Now if you’re not familiar with Elgg, it’s one of the first ever open source social media platforms. It launched all the way back in 2004 and was founded by Ben Werdmuller and Dave Tosh.
I remember installing Elgg 15 years ago, playing around with it for a bit, and not doing much with it because there wasn’t anyone I knew who used it. So ActivityPub will definitely extend its network effect.
https://github.com/RiverVanRain/activitypub/wiki/Welcome#groups

2025-02-18 07:14:19 UTC

So I’ve been thinking about this.
If Mark Carney wins the Liberal leadership, I will vote Liberal for the first time in my life.
What Canada needs now is an economist. Someone who can out-business Trump. Who can broker trade deals with Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

2025-02-18 06:52:30 UTC

Well, I went to the gym today.
It’s the second day in a row that I went to the gym. I hadn’t been to the gym in at least a week. In my defence, I had a minor head cold. But I was in the gym today—and I plan on going to the gym again this week.

2025-02-18 02:28:59 UTC

Sister Sledge - He’s the Greatest Dancer / Somebody Loves Me (1979)
The disco era had a lot of great bass, but I’d say “He’s the Greatest Dancer” is one of the best—probably tied with “Good Times”. And funny enough, Nile Rodgers wrote both songs. “He’s the Greatest Dancer” was supposed to be a Chic song. The B-side is a nice too. https://image.nostr.build/e78a2f13069142af867ed8ce8c7f223c10ad281174a3d4e416b7694b5cb533d3.jpg

2025-02-18 02:09:02 UTC

Shonen Knife - Rock Animals (1993)
One of the most punk rock bands to ever exist—precisely because they’re a bunch of Japanese girls singing about cute boys, kitties high on catnip, and delicious mushrooms.
Also one of my favourite bands ever. https://image.nostr.build/c30ccf698e6a100c387410c502ee77e198f8d4ba5306e1a11d88765881c8c2ba.jpg

2025-02-17 05:09:26 UTC

A split 7” single of Fire-Toolz and R23X.
Oddly, I bought this as a retro game convention. And it’s an intriguing mix of synthwave and death metal. Shouldn’t work but it does. https://image.nostr.build/4b302aacdf67f9f0582323fb4d55af10a24d2217bcc323710628214ca54107a5.jpg https://image.nostr.build/2112ec39e3d4c3f340ba5a98e093d94382117b10366d1d6f4f9f5b8385dc203d.jpg

2025-02-17 04:28:33 UTC

This series, Noochie’s Live from the Front Porch, is damn cool.
For a year, I lived in Brooklyn. And the first time I encountered a block party, that was when hip hop became real to me because we don’t have anything like that in Vancouver.
And these performances, that’s what real hip hop is like.
https://youtu.be/f2Acl7TJfQ0

2025-02-17 03:54:44 UTC

Infinity Song is reviving soft rock. And I mean that as a compliment.
Because this band is the successor to the Beach Boys and Fleetwood Mac.
Seriously, this song slays.
https://youtu.be/TNyr9xPgMRM

2025-02-16 09:26:38 UTC

Live performance of The Laughing Dogs playing their song I Need a Million.
And the guy with the beard later on did most of the voices for Team Rocket in Pokémon.
https://youtu.be/kqceZjbFVXo

2025-02-16 09:19:41 UTC

Today, I was listening to The Laughing Dogs, the 1970s New York punk band that was popular at CBGBs and toured with Blondie and Patti Smith.
As I was looking at who the band members, I saw that Carter Cathcart played keyboards.
Wait… the famous anime voice actor?!
Yes, the very same Carter Cathcart who did the voices of Gary Oak, James, Meowth, and Professor Oak in Pokémon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laughing_Dogs

2025-02-15 04:23:22 UTC

Kate Bush - Never For Ever (1980)
Her 3rd album, and worth it alone for Babushka, but every track is a killer. What an amazing musician. Kate Bush truly is a rock goddess. https://image.nostr.build/c6a108ab9148403b0d126c60f8edbf7c03e79cb568461bb71f4ad1fc781c80d6.jpg

2025-02-14 18:58:16 UTC

Someone just said that nerds can’t be DJs.
Okay, what? DJing is the most nerdy thing you can do in music.
It literally requires you to have arcane music knowledge so you can mix disparate tracks. It’s the musical equivalent of playing Dungeons & Dragons.

2025-02-14 18:34:31 UTC

TechCrunch is now covering #Mastodon’s addition of quote posts.
But there’s one thing @Sarahp@mastodon.social might want to change: we know when quote posts are coming.
The display of quote posts is coming with Mastodon 4.4. You will be able to see quote posts if they come from other services.
But authoring of quote posts, that is the ability to make them in Mastodon, is coming with Mastodon 4.5.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/14/mastodon-is-working-to-add-the-controversial-quote-posts-feature/

2025-02-14 18:27:10 UTC

Here’s #Mastodon’s specification for quote posts. And they provide examples too.
The great news is that this will not break compatibility with platforms that have already implemented this feature. Thank God!
https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/e232/fep-e232.md

2025-02-14 18:18:30 UTC

#Mastodon is being more blatant—it will add quote posts.
This will piss some people off but frankly, this has been in the works for years.
To those who believe quote posts are abusive, there is no data whatsoever that shows any correlation between quote posts and abuse.
And actually, platforms like #Misskey, #Akkoma, and #Friendica have had that feature for years, and hardly anyone using those platforms has ever complained.
In fact, I use quote posts every day. No one’s complained to me about my use of quote posts.
Nevertheless, Mastodon is doing the right thing—and it takes serious courage to tell the Fedi Gatekeepers that this will happen. There will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth. But it’s a change that needed to happen.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/02/bringing-quote-posts-to-mastodon/

2025-02-14 17:24:07 UTC

#Reddit is planning on paywalling some subreddits.
If true, this is the biggest gift they’ve ever given to the #SocialWeb because I guarantee a whole lot of people will want that stuff for free.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/reddit-plans-to-lock-some-content-behind-a-paywall-this-year-ceo-says/

2025-02-14 09:40:30 UTC

Can’t believe this song is 15 year old.
Time moves too fast.
https://youtu.be/kVDNcN9Dg_U

2025-02-14 09:34:11 UTC

Classical music is exhausting. 😮‍💨
I like it but can only hear it occasionally because the dynamic range wipes me out.

2025-02-14 01:59:44 UTC

Have we finally discovered Jack the Ripper’s true identity?
If true, one of the world’s oldest cold cases may have just been solved.
https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/jack-the-ripper-identity-revealed-dna/

2025-02-13 21:25:49 UTC

TIP: Use #Voyager to do keyword filtering on ”Trump” and “Musk”, and #Lemmy becomes much more usable.

2025-02-13 21:12:42 UTC

Eventually, these AI girlfriends and boyfriends will require a subscription.
Unless, of course, if they’re running on your own hardware.
And what kind of relationship is it if you can just uninstall your romantic companion?
https://theconversation.com/teenagers-turning-to-ai-companions-are-redefining-love-as-easy-unconditional-and-always-there-242185

2025-02-12 23:06:19 UTC

This reverse Turing Test, where AIs try to figure out who the human is, offers an interesting glimpse into how to conduct a modern Turing test.
That said, I don’t think the fellow doing this test tried to pretend he was an AI.
https://youtu.be/MxTWLm9vT_o?si=eUe78-RtOqs8jtPl

2025-02-12 22:30:07 UTC

Whenever someone tells me Genesis is bland and milquetoast, I send them this video.
Because this is a circus.
https://youtu.be/WjYEyENr6c8

2025-02-12 18:01:56 UTC

Micro Social, a new iOS app for micro.blog, has just launched! It features:
* Customisable Feed
* Photos-Only Timeline
* Books Integration
* Seamless Conversations
* Minimalist Design
The release notes can be found here:
https://gregmorris.co.uk/2025/02/12/micro-social-the-launch.html
You can download the app here:
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/micro-social/id6741072380

2025-02-12 10:35:40 UTC

#Mastodon plans to add the display of quote posts with Mastodon 4.4, and then to support authoring with Mastodon 4.5.
I hope the dev team has the courage to follow through with this plan because, amongst some Mastodon users (but not most), this will be the worst thing ever—despite Mastodon clients supporting quote posts, and software like Akkoma, Sharkey, and Friendica doing the same.
Ultimately, quote posts are a must. More people want them than don’t.
https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/02/trunk-tidbits-january-2025/ https://image.nostr.build/841950564aa73139dd9b3e1d91e3241ca61bea3ad1b91501eccc23eab0b1ff9e.jpg

2025-02-12 08:03:42 UTC

I can’t stop laughing at this.
I mean, it sucks to lose out on $780M. If I lost that kind of money, yeah, my life would be filled with regret.
But the idea of buying a landfill, searching through every bit of garbage, hoping the hard drive is still intact—that is incredibly hilarious.
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cryptocurrency/landfill-concealing-8-000-bitcoins-valued-at-usd780m-to-transform-into-a-solar-farm-but-man-now-wishes-to-buy-the-site

2025-02-12 05:03:01 UTC

Well, I’ll be. Looks like the Liberals are gaining support.
What’s the reason? Not only is Justin Trudeau stepping down as leader, but Donald Trump’s tariffs have made Canadians re-visit our priorities.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/nanos/article/conservatives-still-frontrunners-but-hemorrhaging-support-to-liberals-nanos-survey/

2025-02-11 21:38:20 UTC

Something to understand about the HOA is that they pretty much only exist on #Mastodon.
They’re completely invisible on #Lemmy, #Pixelfed, and #WordPress.

2025-02-11 21:35:53 UTC

Very cool! You can use #NodeBB to post to #Lemmy. Here’s a demo:
https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/30246381

2025-02-11 21:26:11 UTC

A well known #Lemmy server full of tankies just lost its domain name and it’s up for sale.
https://www.sav.com/auctions/details/7073489/hexbear.net
Watching the admins talk about this is wild.
https://hexbear.net/post/4468531

2025-02-11 21:18:25 UTC

Looks like #Tumblr will finally join the #SocialWeb once migration to #WordPress is complete.
And because it’s migrating to WordPress, it will be using #ActivityPub for WordPress to do this.
What’s interesting is that people are already demanding #ATProto so Tumblr will connect to #Bluesky. But from a business perspective, that’s a bad idea unless Automattic plans to run its on firehose—which can be quite expensive.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/11/tumblr-to-join-the-fediverse-after-wordpress-migration-completes/

2025-02-11 21:12:13 UTC

Generally, I think it’s better for devs to build #SocialWeb services that enable #ActivityPub than it is to “build for the Fediverse”.
If HOA-types say, “This is not how the Fediverse works” the natural response is to say, “I’m building for the Social Web with an open protocol backed by the W3C, and I’ve chosen this because it’s a web standard.”

2025-02-11 21:07:05 UTC

I prefer #SocialWeb to #Fediverse because these imply two entirely different things.
Fediverse implies an enclosed space for which you’re either “in” or “out”. Which is why the Fediverse attracts to many HOA-type people.
In contrast, Social Web presents an effort to supplement a space that already exists, and for which everyone is already included.

2025-02-11 20:29:23 UTC

Remember StumbleUpon?
Someone should create an ActivityPub-enabled version of that.
That could probably be very easy to build.

2025-02-11 20:24:26 UTC

You can now broadcast events across the #SocialWeb via #ActivityPub for #WordPress using Event Bridge for WordPress!
That feature alone is pretty nifty, but I’m also loving this modular approach towards building new Social Web services.
https://codeberg.org/Event-Federation/wordpress-event-bridge-for-activitypub

2025-02-11 20:13:44 UTC

Absolutely fantastic news! Love to see the Social Web Foundation’s closer relationship with the W3C, and gives me so much hope for a much more open future for social media.
https://socialwebfoundation.org/2025/02/11/the-social-web-foundation-announces-its-membership-in-the-world-wide-web-consortium/

2025-02-11 20:05:11 UTC

- reply

What certain people want is to hang out in a biker bar.

2025-02-11 20:03:04 UTC

Buzzfeed is now creating their own social media platform called “Island”.
And it’s completely dead in the water if it’s centralized and therefore not a part of the social web.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/island/manifesto

2025-02-11 19:02:51 UTC

How long do you think it will take Google to rename Greenland to Red White and Blueland on maps?

2025-02-11 07:35:49 UTC

Just played Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure on a 62” 4K flat panel display—with a gamepad—and it feels like sacrilege.

2025-02-11 06:26:28 UTC

David Lynch almost directed Return of the Jedi.
https://youtu.be/EJQ4vCu-S0U

2025-02-11 03:54:55 UTC

Holy crap! This is a terrible idea!
Not only has Jeep introduced ads on your car dashboard, they appear every time it stops!
https://techstory.in/stellantis-introduces-pop-up-ads-in-vehicles-sparking-outrage-among-owners/

2025-02-11 00:50:13 UTC

This is hilarious.
That said, as a straight man, I have no desire for bone boobs whatsoever. https://image.nostr.build/8a3883d0f299a2c536718ea85c0d6e14350f8fd4664ec44ae8bf1b8cde28071e.jpg

2025-02-11 00:24:29 UTC

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I don’t really care about the money aspect. This is just another form of decentralized social media.

2025-02-11 00:20:11 UTC

It’s interesting to watch alt-right folks try to hijack the #Fediverse like they did with #Reddit. They follow the same strategy:
1. Pose as a progressive with an interest in certain pet causes (e.g., veganism, atheism, etc.)
2. Declare free speech as an absolute right
3. Push the idea that all viewpoints have equivalence
This strategy, though, only works if they have power over communities and there’s no escape hatch.
Which is why building *redundant* communities on multiple servers (and software) is so important.
For example, there should be no default video game community.

2025-02-10 20:01:50 UTC

The #Fediverse can almost replace Big Social. There’s a few services that need to be built. Specifically:
* Pinterest alternative
* Snapchat alternative
* Yelp alternative
#PeerTube also needs a generalist English language server that’s easy to join. This might be asking a lot, but I have ideas.

2025-02-10 19:14:05 UTC

#Voyager for #Lemmy is wildly great.
It’s actually better than #Reddit.
One of the best #Fediverse apps today—perhaps the best. Its UI/UX is top tier.
https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/voyager-for-lemmy/id6451429762 https://image.nostr.build/a1a1272166a135f3adf9b335ee1ccaa7ad4f12c71566ee69b5b566d2679651a5.jpg

2025-02-09 22:17:54 UTC

People who make nihilism their whole personality, no one thinks you’re clever or interesting.
Doom is so incredibly boring.

2025-02-09 21:59:29 UTC

To be blunt, I don’t believe for a moment we’re all doomed.
The world is run by old men, and these old men will eventually pass on.
And time is always undefeated.

2025-02-09 19:19:17 UTC

It annoys me that The Carpenters are pegged as a soft rock group. That’s not accurate.
In reality, they’re a jazz-rock fusion group.
And the specific jazz in question is cool jazz.

2025-02-09 19:05:24 UTC

In the movie Anger Management, there’s a scene where Jack Nicholson tells Adam Sandler to get rid of all his angry music, and the first thing he gets rid of are his Carpenters albums.
The funny thing is, yeah, I’d say the Carpenters actually did make angry music.