Gregory's Server
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8 posts total
Christopher Mims
A few days ago a stranger on Mastodon told me about something that has changed my life in a subtle but important way. @antiquedigital told me that he switched his phone to grayscale to make it less appealing and keep himself from wasting time on it. And HOLY SHIT has this ever worked for me. Severed my last remaining connection to time-wasters on my phone. If you want to try this yourself: https://www.theverge.com/23637672/grayscale-iphone-android-pixel-samsung-galaxy-how-to 
Jeff Noxon
@mimsical Trying this now. Being able to toggle it on and off easily is great. I don’t think I’d want this on while using the camera. Thanks!
Christopher Mims
bluesky is fun, threads is fun, but I don't think I'll ever forget the lesson of Twitter: if you don't control your own social graph, someone else controls an increasingly important part of your life
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Rodion Borisov
Every time someone signs up at these conspiring platforms, that someone makes identity theft look more convincing. In parallel to living being's blog entries, under scrutiny, we can observe other covert actions. Shadowbanning on YouTube, Twitter, etc. Reddit doesn't even hide it.
Eric MacKnight
@mimsical IOW: If it's free, it isn't free. Choose #noalgorithm, #nodatamining, and support your local Mastodon instance with whatever you can afford.
Christopher Mims
my preliminary review of BlueSky is that it is just literally and precisely pre-musk twitter even the vibes are similar it's even the same cast of characters / early adopters!
Christopher Mims
the brand reputation boost Musk is giving Meta/Facebook/Instagram is incalculable just being the least-objectionable social medium left standing is, suddenly, somehow a major accomplishment
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Laurens Hof
@mimsical@mastodon.social including TikTok in the list is amazing. Just the idea that NPR is saying that theyd rather be a platform that has bipartisan support to get banned entirely than being on Twitter is incredible. 
Orca🌻 | 🏴🏳️⚧️
@mimsical@mastodon.social Bad news. It doesn't seem like NPR will join the fediverse anytime soon.🤔 
Brian Dear
@mimsical I think Facebook already destroyed their reputation in 2016; Twitter's just catching up.
Christopher Mims
An enduring mystery with profound consequences for the sad state and sluggish pace of building public infrastructure in America has been resolved: The reason it costs so much to build new public works projects is that states outsource their management to armies of consultants, rather than hiring and retaining the staff required for governments themselves to do it. https://slate.com/business/2023/02/subway-costs-us-europe-public-transit-funds.html
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BenMonreal
@mimsical I wonder whether one solution would be for the federal government to build up a really big body of design and management experts it can hire out (or loan or grant) to municipal projects. Sort of a mashup of the White House Digital Office, the Army Corps of Engineers, and an agricultural extension office.  |
@mimsical
In modern, developed nations, cars are entirely optional.
@mimsical @WarnerCrocker
Peachtree City. Gee, I dunno, what do YOU want to name this place.
How about Peachtree? That’s popular around here.
But how do you know which peachtree is which?
It’s decided then. Peachtree it is!
@mimsical A different kind of inflation?
Cars have scaled up with America's self-image, and the need to display it, as well as the mutual mistrust it spawns.
America is not a land of sharing and harmony, but of opportunity, driven by vicious competition; of conflict and waste; of winners and losers; of injury, death, and despair. The cost is borne by the victims of past conflicts, and their heirs.
Is there a way to have one without the other? America as it is would have to die.