The Web began dying in 2014. André Staltz writes about how and why. In a nutshell, traffic from mobile and tablet devices now surpasses that from regular desktop computers and of that traffic the overwhelming majority goes to either Faecebook or Google. Amazon is also in there. None of them have any interest in defending the open Web any more. Rather the situation is the opposite, they are aiming to carve out a section and establish very isolated walled gardens. Net Neutrality, or the lack thereof, lie at the heart of their plans based on the direction they have moved since 2014.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Arik on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:07AM (18 children)
I thought it was the industries way of saying 'fuck you, humanity.' But I guess I can see how you read it that way too.
Gargle took the linux kernel and managed to build an OS that was even less Free than Windows using it, while touting a supposed corporate motto of "don't be evil." The *chutzpah* was breathtaking. And Apple? Wow. Stole the name from Cisco and the important stuff from BSD (ok, not stole, the hippies gave it to them for Free, granted) and made a system that was EVEN MORE consumer hostile. With better marketing. People, by and large, love it. Even after you point out how it spies on them day and night and doesn't actually recognize them as owner, despite the expensive purchase.
You want to kill the monsters? You have to convince your fellow people, who aren't always the most far-thinking, to quit feeding them. At one level, it really is as simple as that.
Unfortunately, at this point, they've managed to make themselves so integral to such a large portion of our effective technology, that 'quit feeding them' is virtually impossible. They've reached a sort of apex-predator position, where even if you go around and deliberately patronize new and disruptive companies that compete directly against them, all that happens is those companies get absorbed and you find yourself holding stock in gargle.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:27AM (6 children)
They licensed it
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:51AM (5 children)
I've looked for a licensing agreement or even announcement a few times and not found it.
The lack of a lawsuit was still a fair reason to suspect it.
Still, the mental gymnastics are incredible. 'Yes, I know I agreed to an insanely one-sided arrangement where I pay for the hardware but they still own it, they'll probably give me service but this is entirely at their discretion, they'll spy on me in every way imaginable and sell my info to anyone that will pay for it, and this is all contributing to the ultimate destruction of our society and doubtless untold human suffering. But I need to do 'x' and I'm in a hurry.'
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday November 04 2017, @03:12AM (4 children)
As there are no longer any barbers, I get my hair cut at hair salons.
During one such haircutting session, the hairdresser realized I had an iPhone 4, and begged me to sell it to her. It's not like she couldn't get one at the mall. No she had to have mine and RIGHT NOW.
I contemplated offering it in return for a blowjob, but decided that would be uncouth.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1) by Arik on Saturday November 04 2017, @03:18AM (1 child)
You should move back to America, we still have barbers here.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday November 05 2017, @01:31AM
He had a few playboys on a table in the weighting area. There is a barber in Portland, but I don't go there much as it charges twice as much as the salon near my apartment. But the barber in Portland also has playboys.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Saturday November 04 2017, @01:32PM (1 child)
Barbers are a dying breed... there are a few left but not many.
I took a different solution... I started shaving my head.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday November 04 2017, @11:43PM
I don't know what you guys are even talking about. I never have a problem finding a barber. I have noticed though that the trade seems to have been handed off from the Italians to the Azerbaijanis.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:09AM (8 children)
The next best thing, feed them garbage in large amounts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:24AM (7 children)
And thus our Greco-tragic hero Aristarchus is fighting the good fight.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday November 04 2017, @03:13AM (6 children)
His battle may be honourable, I... don't know why, but I just have this nagging feeling the battlefield is wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday November 04 2017, @07:19PM (5 children)
孙子兵法:
有死地, c0lo, 有死地!!
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday November 05 2017, @08:54AM (4 children)
Beyond the time I have available to find the translation, magister.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Sunday November 05 2017, @09:25AM (3 children)
When you find yourself in the cultural orbit of an ancient civilization that is not one of the roots of your own, it behooves you to become at least moderately literate? I, myself, have learned English, much to my Dismay, and Latin, before that. So you cannot look up Sunzi, Art of War, chapter nine? Oh, you tire me, c0lo!
One of the earlier translations, thus out of copyright [mit.edu]:
We are interested in the Last. The Roman strategist Vegetius, in his work De re militari [wikipedia.org], which you may be familiar with, suggested that you always should offer your opponent an easy way out, a "golden bridge", as it were. What you never wanted to do was to back you enemy into a corner, from which they had no way out but to fight. And on the contrary, if you had no other choice, to put your own troops into the "death ground", literally, 有死地, they would have no other way out but to fight their way to victory. This is where we are, my dear c0lo, at the end of the world, with no way out but to continue to punch Nazis in the face, lest they send us to the ovens. I am very clear about this, and I hope some difficulty in languages Nem jut el az úton.
Oh, if you are still too lazy to use the resources of the internets, that last part, in English, is:
Wow, Giles can be wordy in his translation! But I suppose you get my drift. This is the battlefield. If we lose here, we lose everywhere. I am glad to have you as my comrade in arms, and appreciate you misgivings. But this is it. It starts here, with 6000 Soylentils. And once we prevail, the world will be saved.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday November 05 2017, @11:59AM (2 children)
Hooves or behoovs, I found many of them, oh magister, but translations are plenty and not all absolutely convergent.
And no, I don't have enough life in me to learn mandarin, or cantonese, or even pinyin, at least not enough to understand Sun-zi in original.
I'll remain a barbarian, come to that, the best I can is to handle the chop-sticks but not the brush.
I doubt it, magister. You jumped too far into the script, are you sure you tried all you could on the line of "Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."?
Are you even sure you identified the generals of the enemy's army and not consume yourself in a useless skirmish?
I mean, look, you are fighting for some years already. May I remind you of "In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns."?
Doesn't it sound strange, like you've been played into this position, so that you waste yourself?
---
This (to cite a future planet of fighters or an old religious order based on mysticism) is Ghafla [wikia.com] - there may be more than one reason I was asking you to be more (westerny) specific, why did you assumed that one?
It it wise to recognize Ghafla and acquire the discipline to reject it - it should be much easier than Sun-zi, as it is something that may grown in you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Sunday November 05 2017, @12:13PM (1 child)
Ah, but c0lo, what did you think "death ground" could possibly mean? And yes, even Sun-zi was well aware of this. The only winning move, is not to play? Or, one might think, to play a different game than your enemy/partner thinks they are playing? We will carry on, will we not?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday November 05 2017, @12:52PM
Oh, magister, really... do you even need to ask?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by Yaa101 on Saturday November 04 2017, @02:26AM
Smartphone==Heroïne so good luck trying to keep people from using...
No comment...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 04 2017, @06:08PM
ai will probably have to decide what is best(rank who the experts really are instead of who has money?) then the herd wont be dependent on whoever happened to have used/stole/whored his way to the top. right now the ignorant herd just listens to whoever is on top whipping them. it would be nice if the boss was at least a fellow cow or sheep instead of a laughing wolf.