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The problem is that Bluesky is also connected with the paypal mafia.
Taking back power from tech oligarchs
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SUMMARY
The forum discussion centers on the need to reclaim power from tech oligarchs such as Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Musk through personal boycotts of their platforms and products. Participants emphasize that individual actions, like deleting accounts from Facebook and Amazon, can contribute to a larger movement against these entities. Additionally, the conversation touches on the upcoming special elections in Florida, which could shift the balance of power in Congress. The discussion highlights the importance of both individual boycotts and collective action to challenge the influence of billionaires in society.
PREREQUISITES- Understanding of social media dynamics and their impact on society
- Knowledge of current political events, particularly U.S. elections
- Familiarity with the concept of principled consumption and boycotts
- Awareness of the influence of billionaires on politics and public policy
- Research the impact of social media boycotts on corporate behavior
- Explore the role of grassroots movements in political change, using examples like Vida Além do Trabalho
- Investigate the implications of the upcoming Florida special elections on national politics
- Learn about the mechanisms of popular pressure and how they can influence legislative outcomes
This discussion is beneficial for activists, political enthusiasts, and consumers interested in understanding the dynamics of power held by tech oligarchs and the potential for collective action to effect change.
Although it's not clear that lack of votes is going to prevent a third term for this sociopathic turd.
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Greg Bernhardt
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Here is a great site that identifies big tech opportunities to unsubscribe from
www.resistandunsubscribe.com
Resist and Unsubscribe
www.resistandunsubscribe.com
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Does anyone remember Max Headroom? I already thought back then that this was a realistic scenario. And here we are.
It is a bit like the comment about George Orwell's 1984 that I have read these days, ever so often:
"1984" was meant as a warning, not as a script!
It is a bit like the comment about George Orwell's 1984 that I have read these days, ever so often:
"1984" was meant as a warning, not as a script!
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The problem is that we would go back to the caves...Here is a great site that identifies big tech opportunities to unsubscribe from
Resist and Unsubscribe
What about developing nonprofit apps to REPLACE the existing oligarch dominated ones?
A fair point - here is the author's own concession to need vs non-participation -
"Hey, we'd boycott Instagram too if we could, but we need it to get this message to you. "
I think his bigger omission is saying to stop YouTube premium but say nothing about YouTube ad-based, which is where they get the majority of revenue anyway. I can only imagine he doesn't care to shoot his own livliehood in the head, which I can understand. I'm not going to be holier-than-though with him when I myself have every intention of watching PBS SpaceTime and Sabine H on YouTube in just a few minutes!
Some apps on his list have substitutes, I guess, but mostly smaller for-profit ones. We can brainstorm alternates, but its a bit thin as I look at his list.
Kindle - Kobo, Open Library, Bookshare
MS Office - Apache OpenOffice
The Amazon retail shopping services pretty much by definition can't have a NFP alternative - who is going to contemplate a NFP retail platform?
The others are pure for-profit media subscriptions that give one access to for-profit licensed content, also doesn't make sense to think there will be a NFP alternative. Best one might do is consume the media on smaller ad-based platforms. Or, like Apple fitness, they are luxury services that one can simply choose to do without - not all meat-based dishes have vegetarian counterparts, after all.
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My first thought was that neither Linux nor Open (Libre) Office became the dominant systems, and they have been around for quite a while now. Plus, the internet led to significantly restructured city centers. I can find almost everything on Amazon, but far less in my real neighborhood.
You've seen both, I think (US and Europe) over the years - how much more extreme is the US transformation than the European transformation?
If you'd asked me, I'd have said I think Europe has been largely spared what we call "The death of mainstreet" here in the US, but maybe not?
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Probably not. We call it "the death of city centers". Where there were once shops, there are now empty storefronts, small bars, or internet cafes. But try finding a suit, a 5-Ohm resistor, or a bookstore.
I thought the USA would be suffering less, as there are still the big malls, which we have far fewer of over here. I remember that when I returned from the US, my shopping habits changed: I decided where to shop based on the availability of parking space.
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Greg Bernhardt
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For web services Linux is dominant. Libre just needs a cloud service and I'll adopt.
Due to everyone going to amazon where people are shipping common household products via long supply chains when they can go to their local store. Always default to buying local. Give money back to your community vs Uncle Jeff.
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My wife just switched from Spotify to https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/discover and we notice no difference and its the same price.
Indeed - instead of the mall going extinct, we seem to insist on re-inventing it to try and keep it fresh and entertaining.
The carcasses of defunct malls (called 'ghost malls') are as appealing as marine mammal carcasses on a beach.
It can make for some very impactful / artful imagery, though - Ozymandias writ-small, perhaps.
Gallery Archive | Seph Lawless
sephlawless.com
In general, not an option where I live, except on the extremes - boutique / expensive items and bodega-vibe very low-value items. Other than that, its a big-chain grocers or big-box retailers (Tom Thumb / WalMart / CVS / Costco etc).
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Yes, but most people have a client system, not a server system, and 2003 wasn't that bad. I still remember the traumatizing command lines for a compilation under Linux, or the vi. Maybe it has become more user-friendly in the meantime, though.
I have good experiences with both OpenOffice and LibreOffice. There are a few examples where people have chosen the worse over the better, since Beta versus VHS.
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It can make for some very impactful / artful imagery, though - Ozymandias writ-small, perhaps.
Gallery Archive | Seph Lawless
Looks like an episode of "Lost Places".
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Let me give a simple example. I like a certain Hungarian paprika paste. It is nothing special and can be found in any grocery store in Hungary, I assume. However, it is difficult to get to where I live. I have driven through half of Berlin to buy it when I was there, or visited a restaurant during a longer journey to meet a guy who sold it. Now I get it from someone in Germany, 300 km from here, via Amazon. I ordered a larger quantity last time, so it will be some time before I need to restock. I guess I will do it with a phone call next time - if I can find the business card. This is a trivial case, but it demonstrates the convenience of doing it while sipping a coffee.
NFP is an aim not a must, for example if the Spanish government can provide us with universal health care, fire fighting services, police, etc using our taxes...
Why not a WhatsApp-like communication service?
Am I dreaming and this is impossible?
I already have renegated against Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and won't come near Tik Tok but to stop using Amazon Shopping or WhatsApp would be to go back to the "caves".
For the love of everything that is dear to me I do not understand how people do not use voice-to-text services on the germinal... typing with two fingers it's like using a tam tam to communicate.
For the Spanish administration of official paperwork it is almost silly now to go in person to present papers... everybody can have a digital ID certificate online that allows one to do all paperwork on a computer.
And who gets utility invoices on paper anymore?
Just saying!
Exactly the same! Eros Pisto from Univers... Csipos!
Another not trivial example: hardware stores cannot possibly have every single type of a screw that you could need, the amount of money sunk in inventory is prohibitive for a local store, on the other hand or one single "national/european" store it is perfectly viable and ... Cheaper! (because they don't need to pay for the immobilized inventory)
Do not ask me why they do not sell on catalog (like they do with books {1 week wait} or pharmacy products {24 hours} I have no idea why, but they simply don't.
Will pass it along to my wife.
I'm a dinosaur! After tumbling for decades all over the world, with lots of boxes of books and CDs I now keep all my music and books digitized in 2 mirrowed massive disks.
Still love the paper and vinil though but reduced to my most cherished media.
Our government is also fighting back... And I am very proud of it. Even if the fight is extremely uneven.Here is a great site that identifies big tech opportunities to unsubscribe from
Resist and Unsubscribe
Spain's Sanchez: we won't be swayed by tech oligarchs on social media ban
Tech companies will not sway the will of the Spanish government as it intends to ban young people from social media platforms, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday, accusing "tech oligarchs" of spreading lies about Spain.
www.reuters.com
Fabian Aerts I think you mean? Very cool!
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It's "Lost Places" here on tv. Around 100 episodes or so. It's on two channels that broadcast news during the day and documentaries in the evening and at night. It is all about abandoned places, many in Europe, some in the USA, or Asia; former military facilities, old palaces, ruins of bridges, and things like that. It has no moderator, only a narrator, who is a German voice here.
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It is more like about the hundreds of abandoned bunkers in Albania, the mine fire in Centralia (PA), or the engineering error at the Kinzua bridge (PA). This is an example:
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My VPN doesn't have any international servers - sadly, I can't view this. Screenshot below.
View attachment 1057
I know this problem from US videos not being available here. I'm surprised it also happens the other way around. Unfortunately, I can't know in advance whether a video from B is available for users at A.
I found out that it is a German production, despite its title.
Maybe this link works: https://www.joyn.de/play/serien/galileo-lost-places/1-1-lost-places
It is difficult for me to decide whether a production has been bought somewhere or a German media concern has produced it, in particular if it has an English title. I guess, in this case, it was just catchier to name it in English since the available words in German were too specific (Plätze = town squares, Orte = villages, Stellen = places or numerical digits, Lokationen = too stiff). Places is wonderfully unspecific.
It is somehow ironic that we discuss globalization, big tech companies operating globally, and the consequences of it, but still have restricted access to the servers at different locations.
A t-shirt travels once or twice around the planet (from cotton, to weaving, colouring, stitching, retail), but what's public in A doesn't need to be public in B. We had touched on the discussion about regulations. This is another example of how regulations are behind what is long reality.
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Ich auch...My VPN doesn't have any international servers - sadly, I can't view this. Screenshot below.
View attachment 1057
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Oops, I did it again.
The remote control of my satellite receiver is broken. It had fallen too often, and the rubber abrasion blocked some keys. No way I would get a replacement locally. I was about to buy a new receiver. My universal remote controls do not list its frequency code. While looking for a new one, I figured out that I could buy a way cheaper remote control instead. I don't like big tech very much either, and even less so, Uncle Jeff, but they are sometimes just cheaper - and faster.
The remote control of my satellite receiver is broken. It had fallen too often, and the rubber abrasion blocked some keys. No way I would get a replacement locally. I was about to buy a new receiver. My universal remote controls do not list its frequency code. While looking for a new one, I figured out that I could buy a way cheaper remote control instead. I don't like big tech very much either, and even less so, Uncle Jeff, but they are sometimes just cheaper - and faster.
On his Raging Moderates podcast, Galloway pointed out that the idea is to cut back and make these companies feel economic pain for their choices. It doesn't mean you have to go cold turkey, but you don't really need to be subscribed to Paramount, Apple TV, Netflix, etc. all at the same time. Just decide which ones you absolutely want to keep and get rid of the rest.
Yes, it's impossible. The government would absolutely insist the system must allow law enforcement to eavesdrop when necessary. That means no end-to-end encryption.
Awhile back, I decided to stop buying on Amazon because I liked being able to see products before I bought them. I needed to support local retail stores even though I could order the same thing with a few clicks on Amazon.
Then the news stories started coming out about how Amazon treated its workers, the counterfeit products on Amazon, etc., and I was happy that I did minimal business with the company. In these past two years, we've all seen how Bezos is so frickin' greedy that he's willing to sell out the country to make more money.
I still occasionally buy on Amazon, but it's only stuff I need and not just want and only stuff I can't find elsewhere.