Update on the giant 16 cm #rose bloom. She opened her petals back on the 20th of April, so she's getting a little long in the bloom now and some of her petals are wrinkled, but she hasn't dropped any yet. I caught her looking her best this morning, with the dew still on her.
I also took a wider shot showing how her younger siblings are coming along. A couple are starting to open, and one shows promise of also being a giant.
Massive thunderstorm here rn. Was working with my laptop, but a brilliant flash overhead with instantaneous bang persuaded me that surge protectors or no, the better part of valour was to unplug it and find something else to do for a while.
@pluralistic "our 2x2 surveillance/control grid needs to get a lot bigger to accommodate TikTok, because it’s so far off to the top right that I’ve had to put it on the top right corner of the inside back cover of this book to get the scale right … go ahead and check!"
<Presses [End] in epub, Shakes head. Opens PDF in Firefox, presses [End]. Tears hair.>
My copies must be defective. They don't appear to have an inside back cover! 😜
@pluralistic I'd like to say I've now read it cover to cover, but as you know, that is literally impossible with the ebook. I have, however read every page.
It's a daunting manifesto. We're currently fighting just to be able to change our phone batteries! (My first mobile phone had replaceable batteries.)
I like the Interoperator's Defense. We've seen how anti-SLAPP short-circuits SLAPP suits and Section 230 short-circuits other nonsense. Too far out? I don't think so.
"The irony is that the workers AI is best situated to replace are the execs who are pumping up the hype bubble. ... After all, 'confident liar that doesn’t know when it’s lying' is a significant fitness factor for tech’s most successful executives."