HipPriest

joined 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the info - was not aware of this before. Yet more wonderful business practices from the world of big tech...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

Sorry for that, but I don't actually understand what you mean...

EDIT OK I've googled it and it seems to be a page that is sponsored by Google but I use Firefox and it worked fine with that - so is the problem that it doesn't work with certain browsers?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm not from the US, and have no real interest in defending their history on military matters, but your talking about their entertainment industry not their education system. The article is about how Russia is going to use its education system to get their kids to be good soldiers in the future, not about how they're going to make more action films

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Tbh, I think the first two books are the best and it finishes perfectly for me there. It feels like that's where he was on a roll creatively and his heart was really still into it. That might not actually be true, but that's how it feels.

Douglas Adams himself didn't like the third book although I still like bits of it. The fourth and fifth I don't enjoy much - they're not bad books, just not very funny.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, I just think he's very bad at reining in an extremely impulsive and volatile personality which leads to him making rash decisions. Also he is always wanting to make sweeping changes rather than gradual ones which may have worked with Tesla and Space but doesn't suit Twitter.

And lastly, I don't think he really cares that much either way - as others have said, he had to be forced to buy Twitter remember. He's got this albatross around his neck which is losing him money every day. He probably resents it a bit, has probably nearly hit the truth that the only way you could make a social media company profitable is to make everyone pay - except for the fact that almost everyone then leaves.

I think he's too much of a wild card for anyone to involve in their cunning plan. I mean regardless of politics would you recruit him for your masterplan?

[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean this isn't miles away from what the writer's strike is about. Certainly I think the technology is great but after the last round of tech companies turning out to be fuckwits (Facebook, Google etc) it's only natural that people are going to want to make sure this stuff is properly regulated and run fairly (not at the expense of human creatives).

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been using a VPN, blockers, all sorts in the UK to disguise some of my online activity from Google and other companies so if I'm just doing the same thing to avoid the government there's not much difference.

The fact that I still use Google products is a lapse and due to laziness on my part...

Of course it could be a vote winner for Starmer at the next election to say he'll repeal it on free speech grounds of he played it right. But then the opposition could spin it as him not wanting to protect children online so he probably won't have the guts to risk it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

WhatsApp certainly won't, they own the UK chat app market and it's not like they genuinely give a shit about privacy.

The others - remains to be seen.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago (10 children)

VPN subscriptions in the UK will be a lucrative market then for people wanting access to, let's see, Wikipedia...

I'm interested to know what the Signal President meant when she said she's much more optimistic about working with the government than she originally was.

The thing is it obviously does come from good intentions, and it's very rare you'll find me saying that about something to do with the Tories. But it's so obviously the wrong approach and yet here we are. Thanks for nothing. Yet again.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm shocked I tell you. Shocked.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No sorry, this is an extremely trivial thing to send death threats over. The PR for this achieves the impossible and gains sympathy for Unity

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'll join you there - I loved Pratchett's writing already from his Johnny series I read at school and read those first two all in one go during a summer holiday in my early teens. Great fantasy comedies.

But - I can see the argument that they're not representative of the series as a whole as it developed... not that I think Terry was probably setting out to write a massive series at the time he was writing those books. Anyway they'll always have a place in my heart.

However, it's a series that ran for decades ago I compare it to something like Doctor Who on TV where people have favourite eras or favourite stories from different era's, and those books are like the first few William Hartnell stories which are great but still have some moments that jar with what came later...

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