Social Media – Page 5 – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

Some Things We Just Know On The Merry-Go-Round We Call Life Today

On the merry-go-round of life some things we just know. Some things we just know but find that others want to pretend something different. Here are some things we just know.

Donald Trump is a criminal, a rapist, an insurrectionist, a scumbag, a loser, a lousy liar, and more beyond redemption than most of the evil people in recorded history. He’d love to top even that list. He wants to dismantle the US Constitution and any other aspect of governance as long as he can stay out of a prison jump suit that might clash with the color of his makeup while grifting his way to the grave.

The Republican Party is the largest collecton of cowards and liars ever gathered under the guise of a political party, afraid of any shadow with a hint of orange in it, and terrified of the ignorant constiutents they represent and claim to love. They deserve whatever comes from their cowardice and lying. The rest of us don’t.

Elon Musk is a drug-addled fool who just happens to control a few companies, somehow has a national security clearance, a hoard of wealth, and could care less about anything other than for whatever is in his brain at the moment. Or the next.

Too many American voters don’t know which way to turn because either fork in the road seems like a tortured path. Too many American voters need to pay better attention, because if they are not careful they’ll lose the ability to make choose how severe the torture is going forward.

Big Tech isn’t Big Tech anymore. Big tech, like most other human endeavors, is in the Big “Let’s Make All The Money We Can before the merry-go-round stops” game. The merry-go-round always stops.

Artificial Intelligence can be both a boon and a bust. It will be both. You don’t have to be intelligent or real to see that coming.

Social Media can be fun. Social Media can be harmful. In either case, only if you let it.

Wars are destructive, foolish expressions of ego and and desire. Rules and Laws of War are silly made up sing-songs to allow men to destroy each other and anyone in their way in service to those egos.

The Media is a mess of its own making in covering any of the above, and seems to enjoy swimming in its own slop with its mouth agape. Anyone in their right minds would have stopped the bleeding by now. Unless they just enjoy self-harm. But if it bleeds it leads. Even it’s draining the lifeblood out of you.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Sunday Morning Reading

Happy Christmas Eve! Sitting here away from and missing home, waiting for the clock to run out on my COVID quarantine (so far a very mild case). Life hits. You take the punch. You move on. So moving on, here’s some Christmas Eve Sunday Morning Reading to share.

Kicking off with a couple of pieces from one of my favorite writers, David Todd McCarty. First up for those into the holiday gift giving thing he offers The Ol’ Bowling Ball Bag Gift.

Following that with another holiday themed piece about how small moments with a family can turn into life long touchstones in We’re All Tired, Dear.

Keeping in the holiday vein, Megan Angelo gives us My Selfish Christmas Tradition—And How You Can Do It Too.

Christmas is a time for new smartphones. NatashaMH takes on what happens if you lose your new precious in A Slave to The Machine.

Stepping away from the holidays for a bit, David Pierce has an excellent piece on The Fediverse entitled 2023 in Social Media: The Case for the Fediverse.

And just to keep things real amidst the holiday hoopla, Rogé Karma takes on Private Equity, one of the several unseen dangers lurking in our midst in The Secretive Industry Devouring the U.S. Economy.

To close out back to the holidays spotllighting an Icelandic folk tale of Jólakötturinn, The Yule Cat that eats children who don’t wear the new clothes they received on Christmas. Guess you better don those new socks tomorrow morning.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Sunday Morning Reading

Some culture, some politics, some tech, and some fun to share in this week’s Sunday Morning Reading. There’s also a bit of Picasso tossed into the mix. I’m in Memphis starting rehearsals for The Lehman Trilogy at Playhouse on the Square so life’s rhythms are a bit fractured currently, but life’s slower on the Mississippi.

Kicking it off, David Todd McCarty in We Could Be Heroes asks what do we do when mystery no longer sustains us after we’ve moved past enlightenment? I’m thinking the answer is either drink more or drink less. Pick your poison. Also check out his weekday daily columns here.

Susan B. Glaser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos explain How The American Right Came to Love Putin. My $.02? It’s simple. It’s not about Left and Right in the traditional sense. It’s about take what you can because the good guys have proven they can’t really stop you.

Ray Naler in Time Magazine has an excellent piece on Artificial Intelligence called AI and The Rise of Mediocrity. We’ve been rising/sinking to that level for awhile now. The pace is quickening.

Speaking of quickening, what was Twitter continues to quickly plunge into past tense. The Verge has an excellent and fun piece called Elon Musk Killed Twitter from a team of writers.

More and more journalism these days seems to be telling us what we already suspected, already surmised, or already knew. Jodi Kantor and Adam Lipton fill in a few blanks on how the disaster that was the Roe v Wade decision came down in Behind the Scenes at the Dismantling of Roe v Wade.

Jason Snell makes a case for Apple to develop its own clipboard manger for macOS. He’s right.

NatashaMH in The Madness of Pablo takes a walk into the wildside with Pablo Picasso.

Continuing on the art beat to wrap things up this week, have you ever asked What’s With Those Hilarious Medieval Portrayals of Animals? Well Elaine Velie did and wrote all about it.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Sunday Morning Reading

It’s the Sunday after Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and also the Sunday after Black Friday which seems to have been going on since the 4th of July. To help you recover from the hustle and bustle, both behind and ahead, here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share. There’s not a deal to be had. Just some interesting reads and good thinking.

Kicking it off David Todd McCarty wonders just What Are We All Really Thankful For? There are times when my response would be “You got me.”

Chauncey Devega strings together a list of comments from a few pundits as they headed into Thanksgiving on the dangers they see ahead culturally and politically in Democracy’s Last Thanksgiving: Experts Imagine America in a Year if Trump Wins The 2024 Election.

Denny Henke (BeardyStarStuff) tackles the deepening political and social crisis we’re facing in this post with the looming threat of losing Democracy as we think we’ve come to know it. Here’s a quote: “It has been eroded to a thin veneer with little substance because the substance of democracy is the people. And the majority of people of the US stopped caring decades ago.”

State of play? State of Mind? With 2023 heading to a close that means 2024 beckons and so too does another presidential election in the US. But this one seems a bit, well, let’s just call it divisive. There’s certainly tumult ahead. Some are picking up and moving to safer places. Do those exist? Timothy Noah takes a look at The Red State Brain Drain Isn’t Coming. It’s Happening Right Now.

The bigger they are the harder they fall. But these days it just means they’re landing in a cushion of money. Douglass Rushkoff takes a look at the move fast and break things bunch in ‘We will coup whoever we want!’; The Unbearable Hubris of Musk and the Billiionaire Tech Bros.

Speaking of broken things, what’s going on in the world of Artificial Intelligence after last week’s craziness with OpenAI and Sam Altman? No AI engine could possibly figure it out, much less a human. But Christopher Mims seems to think that ‘Acclerationists’ Come Out Ahead with Sam Altman’s Return to OpenAI.

Apple doesn’t like to admit mistakes and makes us live with some of them far too long. *Cough* *iCloud* *Cough*. Jason Snell lays out A History of Apple’s Mistakes and Failures—and How It Hates To Fix Them.

And from the world of entertainment John Carreyrou takes a look at another episode of not admitting costly mistakes in The Strange $55 Million Saga Of A Netflix Saga You’ll Never See.

Just for fun, here’s another entertainment industry piece, Caity Weaver takes a look at the career of Flo. You know Flo. She sells insurance. But do you know the actress who plays her? Check out Everybody Knows Flo From Progressive. Who is Stephanie Courtney?

And since you’ve read all of this on some screen or the other, take a look at this piece from Scott-Ryan Abt as he wonders What Happened to the Man on the Train? Here’s quote: “Maybe there was a time when people didn’t stare at their screens, but those days are forgotten. Maybe there was a time when you’d have a shared human experience on a train, at an airport, at a coffee shop, or on the street. Screens have changed that.”

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Thermonuclear It Ain’t. But Musk’s Lawsuit is More Than a Sneak Preview of What’s to Come

Another failed launch. Elon Musk continues mucking up all things that used to be Twitter and most anything else he casts his gaze on. After ripping off his thinly veiled disguise as a free speech advocate, he’s now enlisting fellow right wing crazies in his “thermonuclear” legal response to advertisers suspending or pausing their ad spends on the cesspit that remains of what Twitter once was before he X’d it into a bad SNL parody.

Thermonuclear it ain’t. As TechCrunch writer Devin Coldewey points out the defmation lawsuit actually confirms that the legal filing actually turns in on itself and reveals the behavior it is supposedly being defamed for. It would be entertaining if not for the fact that it reveals exactly where we’re headed politically.

Texas’ criminal-in-chief, Attorney General Ken Paxton, is once again leading the charge. You might remember him for his many legal screwups, cheating on his wife, trying to declare elections in other states as illegal, and how he managed to recently avoid impeachment. But he’s just a player with plays to make if Donald Trump somehow manages to get re-elected. Paxton proves that those like him, Trump, and Musk can’t wait to use whatever mechanisms of government they don’t dismantle to screw the rest of us over.

This is supposedly a battle over Free Speech. But that’s bullshit. “Free Speech” has become the new shield to wield supplanting “States Rights” and “Religious Freedom” to bash stupefied opponents into inaction. These folks are going to use the laws they like as blunt instruments because they don’t need sharp-edged weapons or the precision they require.

We’ve been warned. We aren’t paying attention.

Sunday Morning Reading

Chili was on the menu last night and it’s a chlly Autumn Sunday morning. So it’s time to share some Sunday Morning Reading featuring a little poetry, some politics, some not so intelligent moves in the Artificial Intelligence world (is it a world?) and just some damn good writing worth your time.

Let’s start with the poetry. One of my favorite new writing discoveries is NatashaMH on Medium. She popped out a piece of poetry, Pereginations, the other day on Ellemeno and this morning she’s got a terrific piece called The Day I Learned Poetry. Good stuff. Good times. Good fun. Nothing artifcial about the intelligence happening there.

Speaking of AI, it was and still is quite a weekend on that front. OpenAI’s board surprisingly fired poster boy CEO Sam Altman, now he may come back after lots of hueing and crying. Or he may not. Who knows. Om Malik has a great piece called Foundational Risks of OpenAI looking at the story but rightly hitting the bullseye that this is more than about corporate chaos and investment returns. I’m not sure AI, or its champions, is built for looking back with a long view.

Our politics here in the U.S is still a mess with no foreseable correction in the cards. Dan Balz, Clara Ence Morse and Nick Mourtoupalas take a look at some of the foundational biases in the U.S. Senate that, in my belief, need to change before any next card can be revealed. Check out The Hidden Biases at Play in the U.S. Senate.

Sometimes an outside view is needed for perspective. In this case not so much. Even so, The Economist weighing in with Donald Trump Poses The Biggest Danger to the World in 2024 offers good context in its global round up.

Like it or not, much of our life on the Internet is changing. Social Media is a crazy free-for-all and so is the world of entertainment. In How Social Media Is Turning Into Old-Fashioned Broadcast Media, Christopher Mims takes a look at the stew that’s stewing.

And where would we be without critics? Probably better off, but that’s not necessarily the point of Siskel, Ebert, and the Secret of Criticism by Richard Brody. Here’s a quote:

Criticism is a fraught profession because it’s parasitical. It depends on the work of artists, without which criticism couldn’t exist. A critic who acknowledges and accepts the fact of this dependence is trying to salvage the dignity of the activity; critics who don’t are just trying to salvage their own dignity.

David Todd McCarty is starting a daily column entitled A Bit Dodgy. I recommend subscribing, following, but most of all reading. I’m sure it will be quite a ride.

And in case you’re wondering, worried, or concerned about all of the insanity happening in the world that makes it feel like we’re approaching the End Times, Jeannie Ortega Law tells us that Left Behind author, Jerry Jenkins thinks that all of those End Times prophecies have been fulfilled. So check that off your list.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Why and How I Use Mastodon

We’ve just marked the anniversary of Elon Musk purchasing Twitter. You could call it the beginning of the end. Many see it as a dark day. I’m just the opposite. Musk buying Twitter and then selfishly and sadistically delighting in destroying it will probably go down in history as one of the best things that could have happened to and on the Internet. And perhaps civilization. Maybe not. Regardless, Musk jolted folks out of complacency and into a self-reexamination that in my opinion tilts the scale of humanity to the better side.

We’re a year into whatever this moment is or will be and it’s been a bumpy ride. Like many of those who saw what was coming I began looking for a new social media home. I’ve tried out most of the social media alternatives that have sprung up. Currently I’m on Mastodon , Bluesky and Threads. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram and a few other places. Regardless of the digs, my shingle is my real name. But where I feel the most comfortable, most informed, most entertained, and most aligned is Mastodon.

Welcome to the land where Mastodons roam. Here’s why and here’s how I use Mastodon.

Of the many things I’m interested in I like to keep current with events. I like to discover new things. News, yes, but not just news. Every day I learn something new is a good day is not only my mantra but it’s why my two great passions in life, making theatre and playing with technology, keep me going. I also love to share discoveries. I’m a theatre director. I share stories that others write. I write the occasional one myself. So, yes I’m a storyteller but also a story sharer. Combine all of that into a mix and I think that’s why the Internet should exist. And for me, that’s why social media as a construct works. Here’s the bio I use on social media websites:

Gadfly. Flying through life as a gadget geek and theatre artist…commenting along the way. Every day I learn something new is a good day. Boosts offered without endorsement. Comments on the other hand…

When it comes to comments and opinions I’m an opinionated SOB. I’ve got enough mileage on me to not give a damn if you disagree with mine, but to respect that you have one. Even if you’re wrong. I find humor and sadness to be two sides of the same coin. Pain and joy the same. I wish we lived on the edge of those coins more than we’re able or comfortable with. Because the highs and lows of life really are on the edges. Not on flat surfaces lying on flat surfaces held down by gravity.

Mastodon was and is a reaction to the evolution and destruction of Twitter. I first opened a Mastodon account long before Musk mucked up his new joint. But I didn’t really start using it until I was a part of the first big wave of Twitter refugees looking for a new place to do the things social media does for me. Mastodon, a year into regular usage does that.

Now let me be clear. In my view the success or lack thereof of any congregation depends on the users and those who own or control it working in tandem. Users are like having employees. The minute you have one employee you have an employee problem. Given Mastodon’s place in the larger Fediverse and the large number of federated servers, many with different rules of the road, I’m amazed things seem to have settled in they way they feel to me. There have been some hiccups, and moments of angst, but the folks I’m following and who follow me seem to be the sort of characters I’d like to hang out with in a bar. I’m constantly exposed to new thoughts, new things, new people and I feel like what I share is generally welcomed, agreed with or not. There are very few days when I feel I haven’t learned something new.

Is it a place just for like-minds? Maybe. Time will tell. But I think not exclusively. Witness the discussions currently as the world is experiecing the trauma in the Middle East. There’s tension. And it’s real. There’s divergent views. How could there not be? If there’s common ground it’s one that feels grounded somewhat in respect. I could be wrong, that could change, but that’s how I feel it at the moment.

Do I think that will last forever? Not on your life. As far as Internet gathering places, and I’ve gathered at a bunch from BBS’s to forums to chatrooms to where we are today, they always end up changing. Typically for the worse. Users and waves of users come and go. Things change. Such is life.

So that’s the WHY. Here’s the HOW.

The key for me is Lists. I follow a ton of folks and interests. Trying to keep up in my Home feed is almost, but not quite impossible so I rely on separating areas of interests into Lists. I break my key Lists down this way:
Favorites: People and interests I want to keep up with in general
VIP: Folks I want to see every thing they toot.
Apple: Apple (and other) tech journalists, geeks, and developers I want to keep an eye on what they’re working or reporting on.
Chicago: Folks and topics from where I live.
Old People of Mastodon: Folks like myself that have accumulated some mileage. That list is generated via a hashtag.
Lisa Melton: This prolific booster has her own list and it’s through her generous sharing I discover so many new folks and ideas. I can’t imagine Mastodon without her.
Laffy: The best person to follow for up to date poltiical news, especially during our current lifetime of legal linguini. If I need a quck catch up on the day I can without fail catch up by viewing this List of her toots.

I also have lists for Science, Photography, Theatre, and the Arts. These I follow as hashtags. I create others as I discover things of interest I want to follow.

Within that VIP List I have a select few folks I’ve set up Notifications for. Meaning if they toot I’m going to see it on my iPhone or my Apple Watch.

On the Mac via the web I use the Advanced Web Interface mostly because it constantly updates the number of columns I’ve chosen. Occasionally I’ll use Ivory. I’d use it more if it updated continuosly. (Can you tell I miss Tweetdeck?)

On iPhones and iPads I’m using a combination of the apps Ivory, IceCubes and Mona. I like to vary things up a bit. Ivory is my go to on the iPhone but there are things I like about IceCubes and Mona as well. Mona is my go to on the iPad. I like its handling of columns the best on that device. With Ivory on any of those devices I can also keep track of and post to my acounts on Bluesky and Pixelfed.

I have an older Android phone for testing some things out and I use the app Trunks on that device.

On my Apple Watch I use the excellent app Stomp. I don’t spend much time with it (or any app for that matter) on the Apple Watch, but if I’m out and about and I get a notification from someone on my VIP list, it’s a handy way to quickly glance at what they’re tooting about.

I use Hashtags a lot and find them handy if I need to search for something. Being able to follow a Hashtag and pin it to a column in the Advanced Web Interface is a real plus. I also use Favorites and Bookmarks to keep track of toots I may want to refer back to. Favorites is also a great way to acknowledge someone else’s toot. I try to do a #FollowFriday toot each week sharing new folks I stumble across.

And yes I refer to what people put on Mastodon as a “toot.” I understand some despise the use of “toot.” Get over yourselves and welcome some whimsy into your life. (Told you I was opinionated.)

So there it is. The Why and How of why I enjoy Mastodon and spend the overwhelmingly majority of my social media life on that website. As I said, I’m also on Bluesky and Threads. I’m not sure Bluesky knows what it wants to be any longer, which is probably why I can’t figure it out either. I’ve still got some invites for Bluesky if you want to try and figure it out. And Threads is having a bit of of a social media moment, currently gaining traction among a new wave of refugees from Musk’s mayhem. What’s funny to have witnessed on both sites is the exact same series of new user reactions as I witnessed on Mastodon.

Here’s the script:

This place feels so much nicer.

There’s no nazis here.

Where is this feature?

I’m having a hard time getting my followers to move here.

I miss my “whatever number of followers” from Twitter but the engagement is better here.

Block liberally. We don’t want this here.

I’ve replaced Twitter with this app on my Home Screen.

I’m not contributing on Twitter any more except to tell my followers I’m here.

I’m not contributing on Twitter any more except to check in now and then. Boy has it gotten worse.

I’m not contributing to Twitter any more and I’m thinking of deleting my acount.

This is why I deleted my account on Twitter.

Which in the end points out that the only thing that separates social media interaction from the local bar or diner, the church recreation hall, or any place humans gather is use of the Internet. To each his/her own. At the moment I feel like Mastodon is the place I want to hang out for a few drinks and enjoy some fellowship. I’ll continue to visit others and participate there as well. Because you never know when someone’s going to come in and wreck the joint.

Oh, and you can find me at Mastodon here.

Sunday Morning Reading

Back home after a two-week road trip supporting my wife teaching her summer acting camp. Needless to say we’re pooped. The kids were amazing. Regardless, here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share.

Movies are big news this summer because of a couple of big original ones (Barbie and Oppenheimer), but also because the unions for writers and actors are on strike. James Surowiecki in The Atlantic lands a take on the strike and says Netflix opened the door for this upheaval in A Strike Scripted by Netflix.

One of my favorite writers I’ve recentlly discovered, Natasha MH, pens an incredible review of Barbie entitled The One About Barbie.

And while I’m raving about Natasha MH, take a look at this incredible piece of hers, The Need to Write and The Will to Heal From Our Traumatic Experiences. Excellent.

And since it’s Sunday, I think this piece by Jake Meador called The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church is a worthy read. I’m not so sure it’s so misunderstood.

George Dillard in Rome Magazine tackles the orange guy racking up indictments like bowling pins in Trump’s Defense: I’m a Stupid Liar.

I rarely link to pieces I find ridiculous in Sunday Morning Reading. But this one is rarely ridiculous in how the logic turns in on itself and defeats the entire point. David Brooks takes on the what’s happening in American politics and wonders What If We’re The Bad Guys Here? Think of it as comedy.

And to close out this week, here’s an excellent piece by Elizabeth Lopatto in The Verge, What Would The Internet Of People Look Like Now? Hits to how we got to where we are today in this crazy thing called “online.”

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.