Raven's View

Seriously?

Canadian judge rules thumbs-up emoji can represent contract agreement

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/06/canada-judge-thumbs-up-emoji-sign-contract

I don't like either of these execs but this is still amusing.

Twitter threatens to sue Meta over rival Threads app
In a letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a lawyer for the Elon Musk-owned app said Meta had unlawfully misappropriated trade secrets

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jul/06/twitter-meta-lawsuit-threads-app-musk-zuckerberg

Comment - Eden Mabee

Canadian news is starting to vanish from Instagram.

This specific news is not that relevant to me, as I didn't even realize that I could get CBC news on Instagram.
I'm not a big Instagram fan - I decided to try it but all I see are pics from people I follow on Facebook. Or that Instagram has decided will make more ad money if I see them. It's the monetizing algorithm yet again.
OK, this is an article by a CBC reporter, about his network disappearing from Instagram, so maybe a bit biased, but he does list all the other ways followers can access CBC news if they want to work at it.
Ditto for other news sources, as well as consumers of news via Google - who are due to block access by December.
But do people really want to work at it? For my news I subscribe to some newsletters, have notifications from various site, listen to podcasts, and tend to follow links down down some torturous but interesting ratholes.
But I think I'm not the norm, as far as that is concerned. Many are too busy for more than a smattering of news. so if it's not easily served to them they may just find something else to interest them. And Meta, Google, etc will just find another way to get viewers.
I did hear a comment that the thought from media was that all these links would drive people to their sites, so they could nudge them with ads as they browsed around. But that in reality the media sites weren't keeping people there, either from poor site design or too many in-your-face ads. People would read the one article, then leave. Rather than fix this issue, the media are appealing to the government to help them. Interesting idea.
Will this issue still matter enough for either side to want to work out a deal so that journalists and their organizations get paid? Or will all the 'good' sites just fade away into the New Media, serving up dis/mis-information in return for eyeballs and clicks and dollars, via major channels like Fox and CNN, and a myriad of clamouring little personal web sites?
Or will we see new news organizations, such as Village Media - digital only and willing to work with Google and Facebook. https://www.villagemedia.ca/

https://www.cbc.ca/news/editorsblog/cbc-online-news-act-1.6897060

Things I posted, recaptured here. 

A viral left-wing Twitter account may have been fake all along

The Erica Marsh account shows how ‘rage baiting’ remains a powerful way to win attention and score political points

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/04/twitter-erica-marsh-suspended/

Einstein Vindicated: Quasar “Clocks” Show Universe Was 5x Slower Soon After the Big Bang

https://scitechdaily.com/einstein-vindicated-quasar-clocks-show-universe-was-5x-slower-soon-after-the-big-bang/?

Pickle Problems

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/04/grillos-pickles-lawsuit-whole-foods/

 

 

 

Repost from Feb 6/23

Too much freedom

 - Are more structures and constraints a good thing?

I need to try sketching again. My son and I got into it last summer, using just the basic pen and ink and paper. He kept going and is still enjoying it. I didn't. Fear of failure? A general lack of ambition? I don’t know. Not that I haven’t been busy, as there is no shortage of sparkly things to grasp at. Still, it feels lately that I’ve been wasting my days doing fun but less challenging things - like playing games or watching videos or reading fantasy books or surfing the interwebs. Yes, I am retired and I can do anything I want, so maybe it really isn’t wasting, but still . . .