“However, I did make it with a hot alien babe. And in the end, is that not what man has dreamt of since first he looked up at the stars?”

I wonder how much this will come back to hurt the company. Musk & co. want to play dumb games? Enjoy watching all the potential Xitter users in Brazil flock to Bluesky and other platforms while your site remains in the dark.

Xitter isn’t special. People will find ways to socialize online with or without it. And the longer people go without it, the more momentum other sites will gain. Whether this stalling is deliberate or unintented doesn’t matter, the fact is they’re only hurting their own bottom line when an entire country is disengaged from their platform.

In other words, keep it up, Elon. It’s fun to see some natural consequences arise from your stupid behavior.

I don’t have a stake in this argument, as this is my first time learning about Doctorow. I just want to add that a good phrase to express the situation you described is “potential conflict of interest.”

Thank goodness for mute buttons.

My usage of Youtube slowed down considerably when the algorithm stopped giving me anything new. I’d end up asking friends and people on social media about their own favorite videos and channels, just to get something interesting.

Whoever is designing these algorithms seems to be forgetting that our brains crave novelty. If we’re not getting it, we’re going to feel bored and start looking elsewhere.

You’re friend wasn’t the first to make such a mistake. There’s a poem from 1841 by Robert Browning, called Pippa Passes, in which he misunderstands the meaning of the word “twat.” Apparently he thought it was the name for part of a nun’s outfit.

But at night, brother howlet, over the woods,
Toll the world to thy chantry;
Sing to the bats’ sleek sisterhoods
Full complines with gallantry:
Then, owls and bats,
Cowls and twats,
Monks and nuns, in a cloister’s moods,
Adjourn to the oak-stump pantry!