alex-esc's old account @alexesc@librem.one

He tried to read an elementary economics text; it bored him past endurance, it was like listening to somebody interminably recounting a long and stupid dream. He could not force himself to understand how banks functioned and so forth, because all the operations of capitalism were as meaningless to him as the rites of a primitive religion, as barbaric, as elaborate, and as unnecessary. In a human sacrifice to deity there might at least be a mistaken and terrible beauty; in the rites of the money-changers, where greed, laziness, and envy were assumed to move all men’s acts, even the terrible became banal. —Ursula K. Le Guin

One of the problems I have with self-selected #RMS supporters, in the aftermath of his MIT and FSF resignations, is they seem to think denying everything and blindly supporting Stallman is helpful.

I mean, it sort of is, in the same way that it's "helpful" to regularly bring your alcoholic friend a big bottle of vodka. I'm sure he appreciates it.

But it's not going to help him get his job back.

Hello Fediworld 👋

most of the #switchingsocial website is restored - have a look:

https://switching.software
(or https://swiso.org for short)

I want to thank @gemlog for preparing the web-archive version and @LuKaRo for extracting the missing pages from the Google Cache. Would have taken so much longer without you two 🙂

What Do We Do When Bad People Make Good Art?

"While singular pieces or art, like books of symphonies or paintings are made by one person who may or may not have been terrible, most of the mass media we engage with is made by a lot of people."

https://www.themarysue.com/when-bad-people-make-good-art/

Quality of the design of a Web page can be roughly estimated as (number of words of main body content) / (number of network requests)

#Photography from inside the #Edmonton art museum.
The last great architectural design by Randall Stout before his passing.

Mattel’s #Gender Neutral Dolls Are a Huge Step in Creating More #Inclusive Toys for Everyone

"Set to launch today, Mattel has carefully put together a doll that has no obvious gender: “The lips are not too full, the eyelashes not too long and fluttery, the jaw not too wide. There are no Barbie-like breasts or broad, Ken-like shoulders.”"

https://www.themarysue.com/mattels-gender-neutral-dolls-are-here/

Switching.social disappearing was wild and it's extra wild now that the loosely affiliated international sites are also gone??

The person running the masto account got into some odd conversations once in awhile but overall it was pretty innocuous from what I could tell. Hoping they're alright? Disappearance of international accounts makes MW think they had some kind of harassment issue but who knows!!

right to the point

A sunset in Edmonton, taken before the Stantec tower was built. #Film #Photography #Edmonton

"The disconnect between people’s stated desire for online privacy and their incautious online behavior has become known as the 'privacy paradox.'... it’s hard to draw conclusions about people’s values ...because their choices are shaped by all kinds of factors...

But when the question was flipped — asking how much money companies would have to pay an individual to receive full access to their personal data — the average answer was a hefty $80 per month."

https://onezero.medium.com/how-much-is-your-privacy-really-worth-421796dd9220

A ferry in Vancouver. #Photography

Please let this take off 😃 #BernieOnMastodon

Give a person a program and frustrate them for a day.

Teach a person to program and frustrate them for a lifetime.

I dont think I have ever enjoyed an NBC news article before
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/how-do-you-text-unpacking-battle-between-raindrop-waterfall-texters-ncna1057411