After a tweet heard ‘round the globe Romanian Police intervene
This week saw an epic Twitter battle that led to a fairytale tale conclusion nearly too perfect to imagine.
It started with an attempt at a burn by Andrew Tate, bragging about his pollution and GHG spewing 33 unit car collection. He thought she’d be an easy target for his misogynistic drivel. Mistake.
yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com https://t.co/V8geeVvEvg
After she quietly hit back with the trashing of the century he went so far as to shoot a video trying to get the upper hand.
This led, to the immense satisfaction of most of the planet, to some elementary sleuthing by Romanian police – using the pizza boxes from the video to ascertain his current location (at the time).
This led to his arrest for a host of offenses related to human trafficking and rape.
Greta Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist who rose to prominence in August 2018, when at the age of 15 she began protesting outside of the Swedish parliament to demand action on climate change. Her protests, which consisted of her sitting alone with a sign that read “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (School strike for climate), quickly gained attention and inspired other students around the world to join in.
Thunberg was born on January 3, 2003, in Stockholm, Sweden. She is the daughter of actor Svante Thunberg and opera singer Malena Ernman. Thunberg has Asperger syndrome, and has spoken about her struggles with depression and anxiety.
Thunberg first became interested in the environment at the age of eight, after learning about the devastating effects of climate change in a documentary. However, it wasn’t until she learned about the 2015 Paris Agreement, a global agreement to combat climate change, that she became determined to take action. Despite the agreement, Thunberg saw little progress being made in addressing the issue, and so she decided to take matters into her own hands.
In August 2018, Thunberg began protesting outside of the Swedish parliament every Friday, refusing to attend school until the Swedish government took action on climate change. Her protests quickly gained attention and inspired other students around the world to join in. The movement, known as Fridays for Future, has since grown into a global phenomenon, with students in over 100 countries participating in strikes and protests to demand action on climate change.
Thunberg has become a leading voice in the fight against climate change, and has given numerous speeches at international conferences and events. In December 2018, she was invited to speak at the United Nations climate conference in Poland, where she delivered a powerful speech that gained widespread attention. In the speech, Thunberg condemned world leaders for their lack of action on climate change, saying “You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.”
In 2019, Thunberg was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. She also became the youngest person to be named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and was invited to address the United Nations General Assembly in September of that year.
Thunberg has continued to speak out about the need for urgent action on climate change, and has inspired millions of people around the world to join the fight. She has been praised for her courage and determination, and has become a role model for young people everywhere. Despite facing criticism and backlash from some quarters, Thunberg remains undaunted in her mission to bring about change, and continues to inspire others to join the fight for a better future.
According to Romanian newspaper Libertatea Andrew Tate has been arrested in Romania by anti-terrorism authorities. Tate was reportedly detained together with his brother, Tristan, on suspicion of forming an organized crime group that exploits girls for adult videos.
The report states that they are being taken to DIICOT (Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism) for questioning. Separately, DIICOT has confirmed the arrests in a statement which did not name any suspects. The Attorney for the brothers, according to Reuters, confirmed they had been detained.
This news is particularly bizarre coming on the heels of a twitter exchange that went viral between Tate and and Greta Thunberg:
yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com https://t.co/V8geeVvEvg
Stories that reported on the exchange have been searched over 2 million times according to trend.google.com, as of Thursday night in the Pacific time zone.
The Twitter feud between world renown activist Greta Thunberg and Tate began when he tagged her tweet with boasts about his 33 gas guzzling car collection, looking to brag about how little interest he has in anything other than his own infantile pleasures. Her comeback was monumental and caused a tsunami of praise and viral retweets.
Andrew Tate is a British kickboxer and entrepreneur. He is known for his successful career in kickboxing, as well as for his business ventures and media appearances.
Tate began kickboxing at a young age and quickly made a name for himself in the sport. He has won numerous titles and tournaments, including the WAKO World Championships and the ISKA World Championships.
In addition to his kickboxing career, Tate has also pursued a number of business ventures, including a fitness company and a property development company.
In recent years, Tate has gained additional notoriety for his media appearances, including on reality TV shows such as Celebrity Big Brother and Love Island. He is also known for his controversial social media presence and for making controversial statements on a variety of topics.
Despite his success in kickboxing and business, Tate has faced legal and personal issues, including allegations of domestic abuse and assault, which he has denied.
Vivienne Westwood was a British fashion designer who has made a name for herself with her unconventional and rebellious designs. She was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in Glossop, Derbyshire, England on April 8, 1941. Westwood attended secondary school in Derbyshire and later studied fashion and design at the University of Westminster in London.
In the 1970s, Westwood became involved in the punk movement in London and opened a shop called “SEX,” which sold clothing and accessories that she designed. She quickly gained a reputation for her bold and unconventional styles, which often featured unusual materials and prints. Westwood’s designs were heavily influenced by historical and cultural references, and she became known for her ability to blend different styles and periods together in unexpected ways.
The cause of her death was not given in the press release from her company today.
In the 1980s, Westwood began to focus more on traditional fashion design and gained international recognition for her work. She has designed for a number of high-profile clients, including Princess Diana, and has received numerous awards for her contributions to the fashion industry. In 1992, she was awarded an Order of the British Empire for her services to fashion.
Throughout her career, Westwood has remained true to her rebellious roots and has continued to push the boundaries of traditional fashion design. She has been a vocal advocate for sustainability in the fashion industry and has worked to promote ethical fashion practices. In 2010, she launched a campaign called “Climate Revolution” to raise awareness about climate change and the role of the fashion industry in contributing to it.
In addition to her work in fashion, Westwood is also known for her activism on a range of social and political issues. She has been a vocal supporter of human rights and has worked to raise awareness about a variety of causes, including animal rights, the environment, and the refugee crisis.
Despite her success in the fashion world, Westwood has remained humble and down-to-earth, and has continued to inspire others with her creativity and dedication to her craft. She has been a role model for many aspiring designers and has helped to shape the direction of fashion for decades. Today, she is widely regarded as one of the most influential and innovative fashion designers of all time.
“A virtual power plant (VPP) is a system that uses a network of decentralized energy resources, such as solar panels, wind turbines, and energy storage systems, to generate electricity.
These resources are connected and controlled through a central management system, which allows them to operate as a single, coordinated entity.
The goal of a VPP is to provide a reliable and cost-effective source of electricity by leveraging the collective output of the connected energy resources.
VPPs can be used to provide electricity to a specific location, such as a neighborhood or a campus, or they can be connected to the grid and used to generate electricity for a larger area.
They can also be used to support the integration of renewable energy sources into the grid, by providing a flexible and responsive source of electricity that can be dispatched as needed to meet changing demand.
VPPs can be beneficial in a number of ways. They can help to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, which can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change.
They can also help to lower energy costs by using locally-generated renewable energy, and they can help to improve the reliability of the electricity supply by providing a distributed source of electricity that is not reliant on a single power plant or transmission line.”
As a random test this is not bad
The language is better than many low quality human writers, and, while the information has a “generic” feel to it, the amount of effort saved compared to a human composing a similar essay is impressive.
The attention the AI bot has generated since launch is understandable- given the speed and quality of the results.
In yet another mad twist Elon Musk posted the tweet below, asking in a poll if he should step down as head of Twitter. Then, he says in a subsequent tweet that he will abide by the results!?
Apparently, a lot of people are looking for his resignation with a clear majority voting yes. With 6.2 million votes already and a bit under 10 hours to go, 58% are choosing to give him the boot.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
It’s been a wild ride recently with journalists suspended, reinstated, and chaos galore. Then today another bombshell dropped when links to external social media sites were banned, with sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon, specifically listed. The Mastodon Twitter account was also suspended.
With a bit less than 10 hours remaining: Almost 60% yes!
After deliberating for less than 24 hours a New York jury came back with the guilty verdict on Tuesday afternoon. The announcement was made in court around 3pm Wednesday.
The trial which was related to two Trump Organization firms, both the Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation, started with an indictment in July (2022). Allen Weisselberg, long standing Trump finance chief, was also accused of crimes for various tax schemes, including reducing payroll liabilities from top executive salaries via various tricks, as well as luxury freebies and untaxed bonus payments. The amounts in total were in the millions of dollars.
Testimony from Weisselberg, after he pleaded guilty in August, appears to have been key. The cooperation deal he made with the prosecution is likely to get him a relatively light 5-month sentence, pending.
Former president Trump did not face charges directly in the case, but there remains an ongoing investigation into the matter.
This news comes even as a slew of cases, including the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation, and also various possible crimes stemming from his attempts to overturn the election that he lost in 2020 and building steam.
For many observers it only seems odd that convictions, such as the one that came down today in this case, were so long in coming. Once the Trump “empire” started to unravel after January 6th 2021, it was only a matter of time, it would seem, before many, such as former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and now Allen Weisselberg would choose to testify and save themselves from taking the full weight of charges by shielding their former boss.
Another upcoming trial, currently scheduled to begin in October of 2023, involves charges alleging that the Trump Org and Trump and three children named directly, perpetrated a related multi-year fraud spree, using manipulated property values and also similar techniques to those for which the companies were found guilty today.
Ultimately this story, while perhaps a final note in this specific case and its charges, is likely the only beginning of a coming avalanche of verdicts and decisions related to the former president’s now crumbling empire and his actions to attempt to regain presidential power.
In a bizarre twist Elon tweets a “threat” to sell phones if Apple or Google ban Twitter from App stores
This article is the third in a series that was never intended to be one. The question of why, other than lack of impulse control and way too much money, Elon Musk would buy Twitter and take it over himself is still unknown. Our first two articles chronicled two possible motivations, each put forth by someone claiming to have inside information. This story is based on Elon Musk’s direct reply to a tweet.
With Twitter getting more dangerous daily, if you are an advertiser or stake your reputation on the content not being toxic (good luck!), and now speculation is mounting that Apple and/or Google might ban downloads for the app.
Elon Musk actually responded to these thoughts with a tweet saying, “…yes, if there there’s no other choice, I will make an alternative phone.”
I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone
Oddly, this idea has been around a long time as a sort of fake news thread – various YouTubers have a continuous output of made-up stories about Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX. One of the most circulated is one claiming that there is already a solar-powered, Starlink connected phone from Tesla, which some claim is called the “Model Pi”.
Spoofs that become real?
There are many, many reasons, beyond the fact that the whole thing was a spoof, that make it very unlikely that this could ever happen. It’s true that the various capabilities that would be needed to make an iPhone like product are generally within the scope of what Tesla already does.
Manufacturing, supply chains, software, all of these are within the general scope of what Tesla has done very well up until now. It is, on the other hand, more than a bit crazy to think that, literally overnight, a new product could overtake or even compete with the incredibly mature capabilities of the iPhone or a top Android unit.
The iPhone has been evolving for fifteen years and the resources that Apple brings to bear in improving it are not small. The spoof version invents a few bombshell features such as built in crypto mining (presumably where the name “Pi” comes from ), Solar charging, Starlink internet, and others to ad believability to the joke.
Even if these features were available (crypto less of a incentive now lol) it’s extremely unlikely that a large number of people would jump on the trend with so many other features delayed (Cybertruck, anyone?).
The genius is that people think that Elon Musk can make the impossible happen
Getting away from the negative, what Tesla has accomplished in changing perception of EVs from a dead on the shelf product, to one that has forced the entire automotive industry to adopt a similar path is amazing.
And, even at Twitter, it is possible that, after a lot of pain and tumult there could be a new Twitter that is no worse that the pre-Musk version. It could even be bigger and, eventually, not a cesspool.
One thing that is abundantly clear, however, is that the ongoing drama will continue and maybe even accelerate. Watch this space for the next chapter.
In an incredible coincidence, Lewis had access before and during the drama
Michael Lewis book on Sam Bankman-Fried & FTX is near a deal with Apple. With competition from Amazon and Netflix – the film of the book on the fiasco is likely to be an Apple Feature film exclusive.
The fast moving story of the collapse of the one-time crypto billionaire wunderkind is about to go into overdrive. Apparently, as per a story in Deadline, Michael Lewis, of “The Big Short” and “MoneyBall” fame spent nearly six months with Bankman-Fried, ostensibly writing a very different story, one that has morphed into the scoop of the century as he watched the collapse of FTX and its founder’s world up close, pen in hand.
Rumors have it that Adam McKay, director of “The Big Short” and “Don’t Look Up” will eventually be attached, but for now, it appears that Apple has outbid both Amazon and Netflix for the feature film rights to the story.
A shocking and riveting story takes yet another twist
The story is of Sam Bankman-Fried & FTX’s rise and fall, with his personal estimated net worth crashing from a short lived peak at over twenty billion, to his current situation with zero and facing possible charges after resigning as CEO as FTX filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The unfolding drama has been hot and the details spewing out in the media and TikTok with a ferocious fervor, and now, with the author who has shown himself to be particularly adept at telling complicated financial stories and making them human and understandable on board, whew, it just got bigger.
The incredibly fortuitous coincidence that the book was six Months in the writing already as the historic collapse unfolded is likely to make for a once in a lifetime cinematic event.
Many have already called the FTX collapse “bigger than Madoff” or the greatest company collapse in history, and now the larger than life rise and fall will be chronicled both in an upcoming guaranteed bestseller, and in the, likely to be, Apple branded feature film.
Ok. So it will be what you make of it. There’s not going to be a seamless leap from a heavy web2 monstrosity like what Twitter has become to a clean alternative overnight.
It makes sense, though. A platform that’s built to monetize your life, and does so on a massive scale, can’t be replaced easily by an entirely different beast.
Mastodon is not based on blockchain, for a social platform that is blockchain based, check out Lens Protocol, but does have an open source, ad-free structure that is controlled by users. It is also a microblogging network based on a UX that somewhat resembles Twitter.
As a “Federated” network system, Mastodon has various servers, each of which run by users, and differentiated, for the most part, by affinity.
Basically, rather than having a centralized corporate entity controlling and monetizing your account and data, you trust a peer who has set up a server. You can choose and join a group (server) based on the theme, rules and configuration of that server / moderator. In some cases you will need to be invited or prove worthiness, but such stipulations are set by the moderator and group.
Are we, ex-Twits, sophisticated enough to take on digital self-determination?
The challenge lies in the trade off that is built into the systems, one vs. the other. On a highly commercialized, slick, UX optimized platform like twitter there are lots of addictive, albeit shallow, reasons to participate. And the downsides can be seen everywhere – massive bot harassment, constant DMs from unwanted scammers, hate and ugliness, you get the picture.
A user controlled, open source platform, on the other hand, requires more real engagement from everyone for it to work. This is a double-edged sword – all that extra effort can seem overwhelming, but the benefits, particularly longer term can be magical.
Imagine a place where you are free to communicate with others that share your interests, and those that may not, but without an algorithm to force you to see whatever it wants you to see, or to shadow-block you from being seen, only because you didn’t pay or play its preferred game.
Losing the algorithm that serves the centralized commercial platform’s agenda is, ultimately, the only way forward, but not an easy place to get to.
In the end it is a question of realizing the potential of the internet (web2, 3 or 4) for deeper and more effective communication, not just to create a hellscape of fluff and vitriol that benefits a Zuckerberg and now, potentially, Elon Musk.
By now the shortcomings of Facebook (Meta), Twitter and the various Google services are glaringly obvious and, for the most part, agreed on nearly as much as global warming. However, just like the solutions to that other soon-to-be hellscape, the possibility of millions or even billions of people (in the case of Facebook) spontaneously migrating to a new platform or platforms is slim.
Ultimately, it will take a change in the people that comprise the network itself, not a top down makeover or feature-set rollout.
That is the most interesting point that can be gleaned from the current Mastodon moment; those that have pre-migrated before the current Twitter melt-down era seem to be acutely aware of the challenges, but also of the potential benefits, of growing into the new experiences that are only available there.
This underscores the potential irony of the current Twitter meltdown, intentional or not. Is Elon Musk doing the world a favor by pushing many of the best and brightest communicators out of the nest at the precise moment that it might be possible for another platform to gain a foothold?
Or will this be more akin to the moment that Clubhouse had which was seemingly diluted and washed away by copycat offerings (like the audio services Twitter added) and demoted to near irrelevance?
As has been the case in the past, even with the initial adoption of Facebook and Twitter by the masses, it is user sophistication and need that drives huge new platforms and activities.
Whenever a new platform for online communication is able to meet the moment and the new needs of a critical mass of users, that will be the place and time for the past to fade and something, hopefully better, to emerge.
And, perhaps, learning how to better interact with one-another online, even at the cost of taking more responsibility for learning and co-managing the platform itself, will begin with Mastodon and the Twitter devolution phase.
The following excerpt from TheMarkup.Org, from an interview by Julia Angwin of Adam Davidson gives a bit of a view into what some might find worthwhile at Mastodon:
Angwin: What would you say your biggest takeaway from this experience has been so far?
Davidson: I would say the screaming headline for me is, “Wow, this was awesome. This was amazing.” The Mastodon community was amazing. The journalism community was amazing. It’s really one of the best professional experiences of my life. I just love it.
What I’m finding most satisfying about Mastodon, and I’m seeing a lot of other journalists feel this, is that it actually forces you to ask and confront some of these questions and to make active choices. Even if Mastodon were to remain Twitter’s very tiny stepbrother, I would still like to be part of a Mastodon journalist community because I think we got lazy as a field, and we let Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, and, god help us, Elon Musk and their staff decide all these major journalistic questions. I don’t know for how many people that’s a good siren call to join Mastodon, but for me that’s been pretty exciting.
Straight from a follower named “Spam Bot” the real reason…
Yesterday we published a story featuring a theory floated by a lady who, apparently, worked for Tesla for a decade, who believes that Elon is a “humanist” and wants to save the planet and needs Twitter to help him better communicate his ideas and solutions. No, not reinstating Trump, but she claimed it was all about global warming.
Not long after that article hit the airwaves, “Spam Bot”, reacted and posted a message (see photo below) where he (or she? or they?) outlined what’s really goin’ on:
Here’s the posted text in its entirety:
“Elon’s plan will soon be clear. Setting aside the fact the guy is an Alien (he literally admitted it) the ultimate plan is frightening. Twitter is key.
He needed to get rid of the engineers to rewrite the app.
After the re-engineering Twitter will be re-coded to subliminally force everyone to either buy a Tesla, Cybertruck or generate an uncontrollable urge to get into a Boring company pod.
Then, using the vast Starlink constellation a signal will be sent and all the Teslas, trucks and Boring pods will suddenly lock trapping the passengers inside.
The controls will freeze and they will autonomously head to the nearest Starbase launch site where flamethrower bearing a highly advanced version of the recently previewed ‘Musk clone robots will force NeuraLink implants deep into each persons cerebral cortex and then send them, like lame zombie sheep into waiting Starships for the journey to Mars.
Controlling everyone via NeuraLink, humanity will quickly devolve into a slave species, serving the Mars overlords for all of eternity. (Except for brunette Goth virgins. Virgins will be celebrated as honored guests and taken to a great feast within the Martian temple.
Afterwards they will be stripped naked, tied up and boiled alive to be consumed by the festive Martians).
Earth will be plundered for its remaining natural resources and die off becoming just another sphere of lifeless space rock eventually breaking apart into smaller and smaller pieces until turning to dust, scattering, and finally leaving the galaxy to drift into the abyss. It’s all so clear – you just need to put the pieces together.”
If anyone is offended (or frightened ) by that, apologies on behalf of Lynxotic. As a writer it is important to always have something to say. This, text, this outpouring of strung together amalgamation of brand names and alien motivations has rendered this scribe… almost speechless…
To unpack this, in spite of being dumbfounded, the first thing that comes to mind is that “Spam Bot” gives Elon too much credit. Sure, he has admitted to being an alien, yes he is the wealthiest person on the planet, sure, his companies do all seem to fit together in a neat little puzzle that could enable exactly such a scenario…. But, no, it is not likely (hahaha) that this scenario is true, at least not all of it.
Actually, the idea that it was Elon’s intention all along to fire nearly all of Twitter and the mass exodus was what he wanted all along, does kind of make sense. If he really does want to rebuild it from the ground up, what better way to get rid of nearly all the employees than to find a clever (?) way to get everyone to quit (without looking really bad for firing everyone just before the holidays) .
And it will be quite entertaining to see how this plays out. For example, as we note in a new article coming today, Mastodon is growing fast and there’s an interesting possibility that a migration en mass over there could be a major upgrade.
After a poll of internationals and bots the Twitter Clown is back
Ok, there should be a question mark on that heading – because it is as yet unclear if the former guy will actually resume tweeting. Since he has his own failing social media site, he has always maintained that he would not resume tweeting, even if reinstated. melon Musk’s tweet which implies that the poll he launched earlier today is definitive – also added, in Latin no less: Vox Populi, Vox Dei : “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
which is obvious nonsense – anyone in the world could vote and, naturally, millions of bots or other elements, elements that Musk himself claimed were running rampant – at a time when he needed an excuse to back out of the deal to buy Twitter.
According to her LinkedIn page Kyrstin Munson worked at Tesla for over 10 years. In her twitter feed she lays out her (obviously unauthorized) idea of the “real” reason Elon Musk bought Twitter.
With all the political and random madness surrounding the short time since Musk took over the bird, this explanation, is in a strange way perhaps the least crazy of all.
Perhaps (probably?) she is projecting the Tesla philosophy, one that has been extremely successful, onto this new seemingly spontaneous endeavor, but as odd as it sounds, it could very well be the thinking behind it all.
Buying Twitter to try to improve communication, and in particular, communication around climate change and how we can overcome its massive challenges, but couched in a format that is “disguised … as something awesome and way more fun”, does seem like something a guy hoping to “die on mars” might do.
Crazy like a Shiba Inu
This bizarre take on his motives is perhaps just crazy enough to make some kind of sense. Only thing is with polls measuring how many bots want Trump’s account re-instated and various other insane actions and ultimatums, it’s harder than ever to picture any kind of real communication going on, “awesome and way more fun” or not!
The full extremely long series of tweets (twenty tweets and self-replies) can be seen at her account @ThisisKyrstin and, it does ramble on with little to offer other than a sort of pro Elon take on the whole debacle. Accordingly, the replies to her tweet barrage were mostly mildly negative, if not out and out slams. Some, very positive, and all in all another oddball ride into the current chaos on the platform.
Blink 2 times if Musk is holding you hostage and made you type this.
While you all are crying over Twitter’s death, maybe I can help reframe for you all whats happening and why. I worked with Elon for 10+ years at Tesla & here’s my take. 1/20 #RIPTwitter
After decades as the top Democrat leader in the House Nancy Pelosi announced today that she will not return as Speaker. This news comes one day after it was clear that the Republicans will be in control of the chamber going forward.
The Democrat who is currently second in line, Rep. Steny Hoyer, will also not return. From all appearances a new trio will look to wield influence in the body going forward. Representitives Kathrine Clark of Massachusetts, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and Pete Aguilar of California are likely to seek the top three positions among Democrats in the House.
The whole text of her speech:
NANCY PELOSI: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, as we gather here, we stand on sacred ground: the chamber of the United States House of Representatives, the heart of American democracy. I will never forget the first time I saw the Capitol. It was on a cold January day when I was 6 years old. My father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., was about to be sworn in for his fifth term in Congress representing our beloved hometown of Baltimore.
I was riding in the car with my brothers, and they were thrilled and jumping up and down and saying to me, “Nancy, look, there’s the Capitol.” And I keep — every time I’d say: “I don’t see any capital. Is it a capital A, a capital B or a capital C?”
And finally, I saw it. A stunning white building with a magnificent dome.
I believed then, as I believe today, this is the most beautiful building in the world because of what it represents. The Capitol is a temple of our democracy, of our Constitution, of our highest ideals.
On that day — on that day, I stood with my father on this floor as he took the sacred oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. All of us who have served in this House have taken the hallowed oath of office. And it is the oath that stitches us together in a long and storied heritage. Colleagues who served before us are all our colleagues. Colleagues like Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Webster, Shirley Chisholm, Patsy Mink and our beloved John Lewis.
Personally, it binds me as a colleague to my father, a proud New Deal congressman and one of the earliest Italian Americans to serve in the Congress. And this is an oath we are duty bound to keep, and it links us with the highest aspirations of the ages.
In this room, our colleagues across history have abolished slavery; granted women the right to vote; established Social Security and Medicare; offered a hand to the weak, care to the sick, education to the young and hope to the many.
Indeed, it is here, under the gaze of our patriarch, George Washington, in the people’s House, that we have done the people’s work.
My colleagues, I stand before you as speaker of the House, as a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a devout Catholic, a proud Democrat and a patriotic American, a citizen of the greatest republic in the history of the world — which President Lincoln called the last best hope on Earth. Indeed, in the words attributed to another of our colleagues, the legendary Daniel Webster, he said: “Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution of your country and the government established under it. Miracles do not cluster. That which has happened but once in 6,000 years cannot be expected to happen often.”
Indeed, American democracy is majestic. But it is fragile. Many of us here have witnessed its fragility firsthand, tragically in this chamber. And so democracy must be forever defended from forces that wish it harm.
Last week, the American people spoke, and their voices were raised in defense of liberty, of the rule of law and of democracy itself.
With these elections, the people stood in the breach and repelled the assault on democracy. They resoundingly rejected violence and insurrection, and in doing so gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
And now we owe to the American people our very best, to deliver on their faith. To forever reach for the more perfect union — the glorious horizon that our founders promised.
The questions before this Congress and at this moment are urgent. Questions about the ideals that this House is charged by the Constitution to preserve and protect. Establish justice. Ensure domestic tranquillity. Provide for the common defense. Promote the general welfare. And secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Our posterity. Our children. Babies born today will live into the next century. And our decisions will determine their future for generations to come.
While we will have our disagreements on policy, we must remain fully committed to our shared fundamental mission, to hold strong to our most treasured democratic ideals, to cherish the spark of divinity in each and every one of us, and to always put our country first.
In their infinite wisdom, our founders gave us their guidance. E pluribus unum. From the many, one. They could not have imagined how large our country would become or how different we would be from one other. But they knew we had to be united as one. We the people. One country. One destiny.
It’s been with great pride in my 35 years in the House I have seen this body grow more reflective of our great nation, our beautiful nation.
When I came to the Congress in 1987, there were 12 Democratic women. Now there are over 90. And we want more.
The new members of our Democratic caucus will be about 75 percent women, people of color and L.G.B.T.Q. And we have brought more voices to the decision-making table. When I entered leadership in 2002, there were eight of us. Today, there are 17 members of the leadership. When I first came to the floor at 6 years old, never would I have thought that someday I would go from homemaker to House speaker.
In fact, I never — in fact, I never intended to run for public office. Mommy and Daddy taught us through their example that public service is a noble calling and that we all have a responsibility to help others. In our family, my brother Tommy then became mayor of Baltimore also. But it’s been my privilege to play a part in forging extraordinary progress for the American people.
I have enjoyed working with three presidents, achieving historic investments in clean energy with President George Bush; transformative health care reform with President Barack Obama; and forging — and forging the future from infrastructure to health care to climate action with President Joe Biden.
Now we must move boldly into the future, grounded by the principles that have propelled us this far and open to fresh possibilities for the future.
Scripture teaches us that for everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. My friends, no matter what title you all, my colleagues, have bestowed upon me — speaker, leader, whip — there is no greater official honor for me than to stand on this floor and to speak for the people of San Francisco. This I will continue to do as a member of the House, speaking for the people of San Francisco, serving the great state of California and defending our Constitution.
And with great confidence in our caucus, I will not seek re-election to Democratic leadership in the next Congress. For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect. And I am grateful that so many are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility.
Madam Speaker, standing here today, I’m endlessly grateful for all of life’s blessings, for my Democratic colleagues, whose courage and commitment, with the support of your families, have made many of these accomplishments possible. In fact, could not have been done without you.
For my dear husband, Paul, who has been my beloved partner in life and my pillar of support, thank you. We’re all grateful for all the prayers and well wishes as he continues his recovery. Thank you so much.
For our darling children, Nancy Corinne, Christine, Jacqueline, Paul and Alexandra, and our grandchildren, Alexander and Madeleine; Liam, Sean and Ryan; Paul and Thomas; Bella and Octavio. They are the joys of our lives for whom we — and we are so very, very proud of them and a comfort to us at this time.
And for my brilliant, dedicated and patriotic staff, under the leadership of Terri McCullough, together, working together, the finest group of public servants the House has ever known. Thank you all so much.
And again, for those who sent me here, for the people of San Francisco, for entrusting me with the high honor of being their voice in Congress. In this continued work, I will strive to honor the call of the patron saint of our city, St. Francis. Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
In this House, we begin each day with a prayer and a pledge to the flag. And every day I am in awe of the majestic miracle that is American democracy. As we participate in a hallmark of our republic, the peaceful orderly transition from one Congress to the next, let us consider the words of, again, President Lincoln, spoken during one of America’s darkest hours. He called upon us to come together, to swell the chorus of the union, when once again touched as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature. That again is the task at hand.
A new day is dawning on the horizon, and I look forward, always forward, to the unfolding story of our nation, a story of light and love, of patriotism and progress, of many becoming one. And always an unfinished mission to make the dreams of today the reality of tomorrow.
Thank you all. May God bless you and your families. And may God bless — continue to bless our veterans and the United States of America. Thank you all so much.
”America’s Comeback starts Right Now” is his new slogan
Donald Trump’s much trumpeted “very important announcement” was, as expected, a speech that recounted the “triumphs” hopes to own, and use for his upcoming 2024 campaign, which he officially announced.
“The ocean will rise 2/10ths of an inch in 200-300 years they say” was one of the absurdities launched during his unhinged speech rattling off his imagined greatness and power.
Deja Vu all over again? Is this for real? Apparently so.
A lot of speculation has been circulating that this announcement, and the timing of it, were motivated by the legal problems Trump faces. Since the announcement was incredibly early, the earliest in history for a non-incumbent, many believe that he hopes to use his status as an active candidate to somehow avoid looming indictments. The logic behind this is that an indictment of a likely nominee would be perceived as a “witch hunt” and A.G. Merrick Garland will find itmore difficult to proceed. With the first primary still fourteen months away, however, there will be plenty of time for the various cases to play out.
BREAKING: Donald Trump, who tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election and inspired a deadly riot at the Capitol in a desperate attempt to keep himself in power, has filed to run for president again in 2024. https://t.co/iqIcaN3SZA
“If we are finally going to start taking the IPCC’s findings seriously, it follows that we must begin advancing far more aggressive climate stabilization solutions than anything that has been undertaken thus far,” writes Robert Pollin.
In the wake of a United Nations report that activists said showed the “bleak and brutal truth” about the climate emergency, a leading economist on Friday highlighted a step that supporters argue could be incredibly effective at combating the global crisis: nationalizing the U.S. fossil fuel industry.
“With at least ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips under public control, the necessary phaseout of fossil fuels as an energy source could advance in an orderly fashion.”
Writing for The American Prospect, Robert Pollin, an economics professor and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, noted the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and high gas prices exacerbated by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“If we are finally going to start taking the IPCC’s findings seriously,” Pollin wrote, “it follows that we must begin advancing far more aggressive climate stabilization solutions than anything that has been undertaken thus far, both within the U.S. and globally. Within the U.S., such measures should include at least putting on the table the idea of nationalizing the U.S. fossil fuel industry.”
“With at least ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips under public control, the necessary phaseout of fossil fuels as an energy source could advance in an orderly fashion”
Asserting that “at least in the U.S., the private oil companies stand as the single greatest obstacle to successfully implementing” a viable climate stabilization program, Pollin made the case that fossil fuel giants should not make any more money from wrecking the planet, nationalization would not be an unprecedented move in the United States, and doing so could help build clean energy infrastructure at the pace that scientists warn is necessary.
The expert proposed starting with “the federal government purchasing controlling ownership of at least the three dominant U.S. oil and gas corporations: ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips.”
“They are far larger and more powerful than all the U.S. coal companies combined, as well as all of the smaller U.S. oil and gas companies,” he wrote. “The cost to the government to purchase majority ownership of these three oil giants would be about $420 billion at current stock market prices.
Today at @TheProspect, Robert Pollin takes a big swing and explains how and why to nationalize the nation's fossil fuel companies, protecting consumer wallets while transitioning to renewables:https://t.co/h4nfEiwz0A
Emphasizing that the aim of private firms “is precisely to make profits from selling oil, coal, and natural gas, no matter the consequences for the planet and regardless of how the companies may present themselves in various high-gloss, soft-focus PR campaigns,” Pollin posited that “with at least ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips under public control, the necessary phaseout of fossil fuels as an energy source could advance in an orderly fashion.”
“The government could determine fossil fuel energy production levels and prices to reflect both the needs of consumers and the requirements of the clean-energy transition,” he explained. “This transition could also be structured to provide maximum support for the workers and communities that are presently dependent on fossil fuel companies for their well-being.”
Pollin pointed out that some members of Congress are pushing for a windfall profits tax on Big Oil companies using various global crises—from Russia’s war to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic—to price gouge working people at the gas pump. The proposal, he wrote, “raises a more basic question: Should the fossil fuel companies be permitted to profit at all through selling products that we know are destroying the planet? The logical answer has to be no. That is exactly why nationalizing at least the largest U.S. oil companies is the most appropriate action we can take now, in light of the climate emergency.”
The economist highlighted the long history of nationalizing in the United States, pointing out that “it was only 13 years ago, in the depths of the 2007–09 financial crisis and Great Recession, that the Obama administration nationalized two of the three U.S. auto companies.”
In addition to enabling the government to put the nationalized firms’ profits toward a just transition to renewables, Pollin wrote, “with nationalization, the political obstacles that fossil fuel companies now throw up against public financing for clean energy investments would be eliminated.”
Nationalization “is not a panacea,” Pollin acknowledged. Noting that “publicly owned companies already control approximately 90% of the world’s fossil fuel reserves,” he cautioned against assuming such a move in the U.S. “will provide favorable conditions for fighting climate change, any more than public ownership has done so already in Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, or Iran,” without an administration dedicated to tackling the global crisis.
Pollin is far from alone in proposing nationalization. Writing for Jacobin last month, People’s Policy Project founder Matt Bruenig argued that “an industry that is absolutely essential to maintain in the short term and absolutely essential to eliminate in the long term is an industry that really should be managed publicly.”
“Private owners and investors are not in the business of temporarily propping up dying industries, which means that they will either work to keep the industry from dying, which is bad for the climate, or that they will refuse to temporarily prop it up, which will cause economic chaos,” he wrote. “A public owner is best positioned to pursue managed decline in a responsible way.”
In a piece for The New Republic published in the early stage of the pandemic a few years ago, climate journalist Kate Aronoff—like Pollin on Friday—pointed out that nationalization “has a long and proud tradition of navigating America through times of crisis, from World War II to 9/11.”
As Aronoff—who interviewed New College of Florida economist Mark Paul—reported in March 2020:
In a way, nationalization would merely involve the government correcting for nearly a century of its own market intervention. All manner of government hands on the scales have kept money flowing into fossil fuels, including the roughly $26 billion worth of state and federal subsidies handed out to them each year. A holistic transition toward a low-carbon economy would reorient that array of market signals away from failing sectors and toward growing ones that can put millions to work right away retrofitting existing buildings to be energy efficient and building out a fleet of electric vehicles, for instance, including in the places that might otherwise be worst impacted by a fossil fuel bust and recession. Renewables have taken a serious hit amid the Covid-19 slowdown, too, as factories shut down in China. So besides direct government investments in green technology, additional policy directives from the federal level, Paul added, would be key to providing certainty for investors that renewables are worth their while: for example, low-hanging fruit like the extension of the renewable tax credits, now on track to be phased out by 2022.
While Pollin, Bruenig, and Aronoff’s writing focused on the United States, campaigners are also making similar cases around the world.
In a June 2021 opinion piece for The Guardian, Johanna Bozuwa, co-manager of the Climate & Energy Program at the Democracy Collaborative, and Georgetown University philosophy professor Olúfẹ́mi O Táíwò took aim at Royal Dutch Shell on the heels of a historic court ruling, declaring that “like all private oil companies, Shell should not exist.”
“Governments like the Netherlands could better follow through on mandates to reduce emissions if they held control over oil companies themselves,” the pair added. “It is time to nationalize Big Oil.”
“What is happening in this country in terms of banning books in schools is unparalleled in its frequency, intensity, and success,” said the director of PEN America’s Free Expression and Education program.
A report published Thursday by the free expression group PEN America details an “alarming” and unprecedented surge in book banning across the United States, with 86 school districts in 26 states prohibiting more than 1,100 titles in classrooms and libraries over just the past eight months.
“Book challenges in American schools are nothing new, but this type of data has never been tallied and quite frankly the results are shocking.”
Titled Banned in the USA, the report finds that districts representing 2,899 schools with a combined enrollment of more than 2 million students banned 1,145 unique book titles by 874 different authors, 198 illustrators, and nine translators between July 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022.
In total, the new report documents 1,586 instances of individual books being banned as a right-wing censorship campaign and broader war on public education sweeps the country, prompting pushback from libraries, students, and local residents. Some book bans have been reversed in recent months thanks to student resistance.
The top three banned titles, according to PEN America’s analysis, are “centered on LGBTQ+ individuals or touch on the topic of same-sex relationships: Gender Queer: A Memoirby Maia Kobabe banned in 30 districts, All Boys Aren’t Blueby George M. Johnson, banned in 21 districts, and Lawn Boyby Jonathan Evison, banned in 16 districts.”
“Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez, a love story between a Black teenage boy and a Mexican-American girl set in 1930s Texas, was also banned in 16 districts,” the report notes. “The Bluest Eye by the late Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison is the fifth most banned book, in 12 districts.”
PEN compiled a list of the books subject to bans here.
Jonathan Friedman, director of PEN America’s Free Expression and Education program and lead author of the report, said in a statement Thursday that “book challenges in American schools are nothing new, but this type of data has never been tallied and quite frankly the results are shocking.”
“Challenges to books, specifically books by non-white male authors, are happening at the highest rates we’ve ever seen,” said Friedman. “What is happening in this country in terms of banning books in schools is unparalleled in its frequency, intensity, and success.”
“Because of the tactics of censors and the politicization of books we are seeing the same books removed across state lines: books about race, gender, LGBTQ+ identities, and sex most often,” Friedman continued. “This is an orchestrated attack on books whose subjects only recently gained a foothold on school library shelves and in classrooms. We are witnessing the erasure of topics that only recently represented progress toward inclusion.”
According to PEN America, Texas—where the state legislature is dominated by Republicans—leads the country with the most documented book bans at 713. Pennsylvania ranks second with 456 bans, followed by Florida with 204.
“A probing look at the surge in book bans across the country exposes an alarming pattern of mounting restrictions targeting specific stories and ideas and the widespread abandonment of established procedures aimed to safeguard the First Amendment in public education,” said Suzanne Nossel, PEN America’s CEO.
“By short-circuiting rights-protective review processes,” Nossel added, “these bans raise serious concerns in terms of constitutionality, and represent an affront to the role of our public schools as vital training grounds for democratic citizenship that instill a commitment to freedom of speech and thought.”
PEN’s report also raises concern over state legislators’ increasing introduction and approval of “educational gag orders to censor teachers, proposals to track and monitor teachers, and mechanisms to facilitate book banning in school districts.”
The group notes that 175 educational gag order bills have been introduced in 40 U.S. states and 15 such measures have become law in 13 states.
“Parents and community members deserve a voice in shaping what is taught in our schools,” Nossel said Thursday. “But the embrace of book bans as a weapon to ward off narratives that are seen as threatening represents a troubling retreat from America’s historic commitment to the First Amendment rights of students.”
Originally published on Common Dreams by JAKE JOHNSON and republished under Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Apple is now in the business of giving it’s customers what they actually want, as has often been pointed out by my colleagues since the Apple March event earlier this week. The show, unveiled under the moniker “peek performance”, was highlighted by the unveiling of the new Apple Studio Display along with the Mac Studio (Desktop), in both M1 Max and M1 Ultra configurations.
Other new products announced were the new iPhone SE 3, iPad Air 5. The demise of the iMac 27” (2020) was also quietly acknowledged.
The very big news was the apple silicon powered desktop duo. Most remarkable is the pattern that seems to be emerging at Apple. Instead of forging ahead with features and formats that are either out of reach of the masses, or just not what we have most devoutly wished for, they appear to be in full-on genie-mode and are granting wishes at an industrial clip.
Suddenly, the much maligned slogan for the iPhone 13 Pro, Oh So Pro, does not seem ludicrous anymore. Armed with an Iphone 13 Pro Max, a MacBook Pro 16 and the new Mac Studio ensemble, anyone would identify with that somewhat haughty designation; your motto could truthfully be Oh. So. Pro.
The Mac Studio Desktop M1 Max and Studio Desktop M1 Ultra versions are a case in point.
The biggest wish fulfillment dream come true is that this machine can be configured at the low end as an amazingly affordable stand-alone workstation, which with the addition of a non-apple monitor (that you may already have, for example) puts you into a pro-performance class at under $2000.
This is nothing less than the holy grail of what many pro and semi-pro mac aficionados have been pining for for nearly decades. The entry level Mac Studio vs Mac Mini (with any monitor if on a budget), The Mac Studio vs iMac 27” (now discontinued as per above), Hell, even the The Mac Studio vs the MacBook Pro 16” with M1Max, these are all a huge win for the Studio Desktop if you factor in price and performance.
At the other end of the spectrum, if you have the cash, the full Mac Studio, including the Apple Studio Display is a Mac Pro killer in price and performance. Naturally there have already been rumors that the Mac Pro update is near at hand and even that a new monitor with similar features to the 32-inch Retina 6K Pro Display XDR ($6k) but at a price point well below that lofty sum.
By making the monitor optional this blows apart the tacit strategy that has been followed for decades – want the newest top performing machine ? Then you either buy an iMac Pro, the top of the line MacBook Pro (with integral screen costs) or win the lottery first to attain the cash for the Mac Pro / Pro Display XDR combo.
No more. At under Two Thousand smackers you can improvise a display which you compute your way to the cash needed to purchase the Apple Studio Display. Once you get there you will be able to luxuriate in the unbelievable sound system built in, featuring a three-microphone array as well as a six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio support. You’ll also get your screen debut using the 12mp integrated “web-cam” with Center Stage enhancement, all provided courtesy of the built-in A13 Bionic chip.
This not-so-subtle shift is also made evident by the plethora of ports and configuration options that make the system, how ever you choose to build it, very user friendly in terms of matching the budget to the tasks you plan to undertake with your prize.
The even bigger picture is the way that the entire product line from Apple is benefitting from the unique “whole-widget-strategy” first laid out by Steve Jobs. Since the introduction of Apple Silicon, first in iOS devices and now across the entire Apple ecosystem, there has been a massive acceleration of improved performance (peek performance indeed). Expect this trend to intensify as the migration continues alongside the eventual total integration of iOS and MacOS software.
Are Hardware Subscriptions a Bad idea? Perhaps, but it might be perfect for power users
There has been, over the last few years, a gradual push within Apple (and, god knows the world at large) for more subscriptions and more bundling of products across the entire ecosystem.
This is also, in my view, part of a larger planned convergence of all products and services into a giant Apple universe of products that ‘just work. The rumors are based on the new report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman where he claims to have knowledge of the matter and says he expects this concept to launch in late 2022 or early 2023.
There is already an iPhone upgrade program which allows you to pay as you go and get a new iPhone yearly, however this is no a true subscription model. A closer analog would be the Apple One bundle, an all-in-one subscription program for up to six apple services.
They include Apple Music, Apple TV +, Apple Arcade, iCloud+, Apple News +and Apple Fitness +. The monthly charge for Apple One ‘Premier’ which as it sound is the full package is only a little more than half of what the cost would be for the individual items.
And since an iCloud storage upgrade to 2 TB is included, the actual cost benefit is even higher for users that wold be upgrading to that level of iCloud storage anyway.
The fact is that many so called ‘power users’ upgrade often at full price and get a new Apple device yearly, or even buy multiple new devices at least every other year.
Good for Apple, of course, how about the rest of us?
While many industries and companies are working hard to make a transition to monthly subscription services that include hardware, for everything from web sites trying to re-imagine the auto-leasing program parameters in a way that is permanent with the ability to upgrade periodically, to a hardware subscription service like the software plus hardware bundle from Peloton Interactive inc.
Although this relentless drive to create a new subscription service for hardware products in addition to the already nearly ubiquitous presence of subscriptions in digital services, which is, generally, a set fee per month is standard for a plethora of software and web based products.
With Apple products becoming more integrated into the ecosystem of software, hardware and services that interact and even synergistically support each other, it only makes sense that this has the potential, again, to make the most sense for the most avid users of Apple hardware.
From the perspective of tech giants like Apple Inc., having a large percentage of recurring sales guaranteed through monthly payments, would enable the financing of the inevitable new yearly iterations of new versions of its major devices, and could be seen as a new way, perhaps a better way, to capitalize for the research and development those many new hardware deices require.
Having long since committed to a schedule that guarantees new models for nearly all it’s hardware every year, which often include a reduction in the price of the device, free upgrades (mostly for software), a hardware subscription program such as the one we could imagine (based on the Apple One example above but for hardware) would be a hot topic, if not Apple’s biggest push internally.
A hardware subscription bundle, by any other name…
Naturally there are many ways this could play out. How the cost of an iPhone (based on a one to two year upgrade cycle) would jive with the cost of the phone divided by twelve or even twenty four is one possible configuration.
There’s also the question of current installment plans and how they would be handled for presumed upgraders, if various perks such as fresh hardware, free Apple Care, the freedom to move to the iPhone of their choice, all, however, with lack of true device ownership. Or perhaps even the merger of Apple One services such as the Apple Music Subscription into a huge ‘bundle of bundles’.
Bottom line? Make it juicy and they will come…
Of course, those like myself (and maybe you?) who might be potential users of the program are waiting to hear… drumroll please…. a specific price, a date, either this year or next year, and the hardware lineup included.
Would this be just iPhone or also iPad or Apple Watch, even Mac? Or a truly massive new program that would be the biggest of all monthly installment programs in the world today, and would include everything from fitness content, to a menu of hardware and software, to a magical calculation of your Apple Worth Rank that would allow you to get more devices, software and services the higher that the cost of devices would be.
And all of the above, or whatever actually comes to pass, divided by a second magic number between 12-18 and then calculated to be a little more than half (oh Apple is so clever at this) of the full original prices and then charged to Apple Card users at a slight discount and the rest of us on a normal monthly basis.
If your head is spinning but you are still reading this, you might actually be one of the few that would embrace the upcoming service and would be happier with a determined monthly fee for the plethora of Apple products that you know you will consume anyway for the rest of your life.
By the same token, if you are insanely upset at even the notion, let us know in comments below.
Reducing fossil fuel use is important, but it’s more important to increase zero carbon energy production
Increasing sustainable energy production is possibly the most important goal for the world today. This idea is mostly couched, however, in negative terms, the idea that without a shift to clean, green sustainable sources climate change will destroy the future.
This is an important and essentially true statement.
However the automatic association of sustainable energy as being inevitably connected to less energy availability is a false premise. One that can be proven wrong with positive action towards building clean energy infrastructure, not as a defensive, desperate survival goal, but as a natural expansion of more energy and power that could lead to increased prosperity for the human race.
Deeply embedded thought patterns prevent us, perhaps, from imagining a world where more energy is not associated with more pollution, eventual depletion of a finite and limited resource and ultimately death, destruction and a CO2 induced climate catastrophe.
Optimism and abundance are linked with hope and a dream of a better standard of living for all. That dream is possible not with less energy use, but rather, more and cheaper energy availability that can be created by building a global, sustainable, renewable energy infrastructure.
A change in thought and perspective is necessary and could be more powerful than the sun
Utopia is a word that will get you laughed at, while oblivion is becoming the expected outcome of our century. Predicted by R. Buckminster Fuller in his book ‘Utopia or Oblivion‘, the choice we face in this century is not oblivion and catastrophic suffering or ‘business as usual’, it is not survival vs extinction, it is survival by unleashing utopian potential or total annihilation.
The paradox of sustainable energy is that, without it becoming the primary energy production system for the planet, combined with reduced consumption of fossil fuels until 100% sustainability is reached, oblivion or at least massive pain is assured; while at the same time, achieving 100% carbon free, clean energy from sustainable sources like solar, wind and geothermal, can create virtually unlimited increases in beneficial uses of energy, leading to an almost utopian potential for quality of life.
Thinking is the Difference Between Utopia or Oblivion
The clarity of realizing that clean sustainable energy ubiquity means unlimited energy consumption is non-destructive, and can end the malthusian nightmare of finite resources, that so many have fought over and even died for, is truly mind altering.
More is less, is another way to say it. Or at least more consumption and benefits, but none of the negative costs to the environment that we have come to see as inextricably linked to fossil fuel energy production and use.
At the same time it also harkens back to Elon Musk and Tesla’s mission statement. Tesla has had a vision for sustainable energy that is S3XY; more luxury, more beauty, more fun.
That mind-set, a mind set of abundant clean unlimited energy from sustainable sources, used to power beautiful powerful EVs, has made the company the enormous success that it is and ushered in an era EV production as job #1 throughout the entire auto industry.
The genius of this perspective centers on the idea that humans, when striving toward a positive goal, are always more powerful and successful than they are when simply trying to avoid a negative outcome.
Interestingly, the dream of reaching Mars, Musk’s other stated goal, is both positive and negative, since one reason for the urgent need to establish colonies there could be the destruction of earth due to climate disaster, caused by a failure to create a sustainable clean energy infrastructure in time.
It is the power and dream of much more abundant energy that can remove the idea from our minds that energy consumption is inherently bad, just because it does have negative ramifications galore when the source for that energy is dirty fossil fuels.
The Utopian Mindset must begin to permeate our consciousness if we are to overcome the challenges of 2000-2050 and beyond
Energy abundance is not the only type of abundance that our minds must learn to accept as possible for our species if we hope to turn things around. Bitcoin, for example, is currently being scapegoated in the media generally and is having endless disinformation hurled at its proof of work mining system based on the premise that it uses “too much” energy and too much of that energy is sourced from fossil fuels at this time.
But why not focus on the real problem? Why not see that a monumental and heroic effort to rid the world of dependence on “bad” and ultimately finite and limited sources of energy from fossil fuels and shift, ultimately, 100% of production to clean and renewable sources, needs to be job #1 for team earth?
Again, in an all-or-nothing scenario there is no option to equivocate. The negative reasons that fossil fuels must be phased out as soon as possible (‘the stick’ as per Cleo Abram in her video below) become more inevitable each minute and are already threatening everything humans have accomplished to date.
The positive motivation is less obvious for most at this point (‘the carrot’) and yet is ultimately more powerful (S3XY!) since it carries with it the hope that we can not only avert disaster, death and destruction, but can build a clean, abundant and infinitely expandable energy supply that could be used to build the first tentative steps toward a utopian dream.
Why go pro? Well, anyone who uses an iPhone in a work or business context can clearly benefit from the power under the hood (A15), and the new, better ways to communicate (messages, FaceTime, email improvements, etc) and manage information exchanges (notes upgrade, photo searching, live text, etc.).
And, let’s be honest, who that uses an iPhone for business doesn’t always want the newest and best? And who actually does have the funds to pay the lofty prices? On the face of it the slogan and the superficial idea it proposes is a simple extension of the demographics of Apple’s customer base.
The motto iPhone 13 has received is just the newest in a venerable pantheon of slogans created for some of the most successful and forward thinking ad campaigns. There are even those that feel that steve jobs had even more talent for choosing a marketing strategy than for anything else. Starting with the now historic super bowl ad for the original mac, which to this day is heralded as one of the best one-minute commercials ever Apple has ever since been known as a cult-like company that took an unfamiliar product, at a time when desk-top computers were virtually non-existent and sold them as something that could magically bestow a better life, and even contribute to the building of a better world.
The ad told the story of the apple home computer as the next big thing, and cast the macintosh product line as a true hero that would stand up to a projected story of corporate tyranny, embodied in IMB, Apple’s rival at the time. This was potentially the first tv commercial to sell a corporate identity, the Apple story as a cultural story, rather than as the first low cost microcomputer system.
Based on George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984 the ground breaking ad had one of the most unusual business mottos as the closing credit; “On January 24th Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’ “
Though the commercial has been considered a huge success ever since, the rest of the story is that the general population was not quite ready for apple’s iconic game-changer at the time, and the high price of the first product version was, responsible for poor sales ultimately a commercial disaster.
Nevertheless, the technical revolution of the product, including the first graphic command interface, would eventually create millions of Apple fans, imbue the public with a sense of identification with the company as underdog, and the commercial would gain its rightful place as the best marketing tool of that era.
Decades later the legacy would be part of the road that Apple took to becoming a profitable company and eventually one of the world’s most powerful global enterprises.
The second, and possibly even more influential and best marketing campaigns would be ‘think different’ slogan, launched on August 8th, 1997.
This motto and the ad campaign that famously followed represented a whole new vision for not only how to promote the brand and increase sales without featuring a single Apple product, but also served to introduce apple fans to the idea of a different kind of change.
It signaled a new direction, both internally with the return of ad agency TBWA Chiat/Day after a ten year hiatus, but also making clear reference to the break from the downward trajectory that company had faced in the absence of Steve Jobs between 1985 and 1997, both leaving and returning on the same day, September 16.
This eternally iconic campaign with it’s clever yet engaging slogan, emphasized the concept of iconic misfits, and how they, as the “crazy ones” would embrace new ideas and change the world.
‘Think different’ ultimately became the most successful and famous tagline in the history of Apple. The text from one of the first commercials in the campaign had a brilliant script, read by Richard Dreyfuss;
“Here’s to the crazy ones,” Dreyfuss intoned. “The misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers — the round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.”
Among the 17 great historical icons whose images were used in the first one minute ad, meant to link Apple innovation to the worlds all time great 20th century thinkers and doers, were; Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Martin Luther King, Bob Dylan, Amelia Earhart, Mahatma Gandhi, Maria Callas, Richard Branson, Muhammad Ali, Jim Henson (and Kermit the Frog), Ted Turner, Thomas Edison, Martha Graham, Frank Lloyd Wright and John Lennon (with Yoko Ono).
Subsequent to the launch other tv ads as well as print, posters and billboards featured a variety of these plus additional icons.
Here’s what Apple says about the A15 Bionic chip in the iPhone 13 Pro:
With 5-nanometer technology, A15 Bionic — the fastest chip in a smartphone — features a new 5-core GPU in the Pro lineup that brings the fastest graphics performance in any smartphone, up to 50 percent faster than the leading competition, ideal for video apps, high-performance gaming, and the slate of new camera features.
On the surface then, it’s all good, the three terse words evoke the natural and logical, it’s a simple, clever slogan that targets the upper “Pro” demographic with an expensive but really cool device.
Lurking beneath is a mountain of meaning that connects to decades of research and innovation at Apple
But, wait, all the new iPhone 13s, along with any that use iOS 15, share many of the same “Pro” features, and thus we must all adapt to the embarrassment of riches, on some level.
Many questions arise; with “Pro” cameras (3x +) and software that leverages advanced chips, the neural engine, machine learning to extend our senses further in multiple directions at once, is there more going on here than meets the (camera’s) eye?
neural
Here’s more from Apple about the A15 Bionic chip in the iPhone 13 Pro:
A faster Neural Engine in A15 Bionic, new ISP, and advancements in computational photography power the all-new camera features on iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. Photographic Styles allows users to bring their personal photo preferences to every image while still benefitting from Apple’s multiframe image processing.
If we are all aspiring toward a Pro iPhone for our Pro digital lives are there trade-offs and lurking benefits that are not as obvious as better photos, videos and more digital eye candy? If we are all destined to be Pro then is Pro destined to be just “normal”?
The evolution from analog to digital to a pre-metaverse life
Work from Home has now been dubbed “Fully Distributed Workforce”, meaning work from anywhere. This is conceivable due to the accelerated transition to an economy where everything is digital, computerized and removed from atoms (other than robot assisted tasks like building Teslas, etc).
Less than total, but more and more pervasive, the lives we lead are not enhanced by our cyborg extensions (previously known as “smart phones”) but rather the life itself takes place in this soon to be enhanced alternate reality.
The new 6-core CPU with two new high-performance cores and four new high-efficiency cores, is up to 50 percent faster than the competition and handles demanding tasks smoothly and efficiently. A new 16-core Neural Engine capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second enables even faster machine learning computations for third-party app experiences, as well as features like Live Text in Camera with iOS 15. And major advancements to the next-generation ISP provide improved noise reduction and tone mapping.
Long before a video-game-like AR and VR metaverse emerges, we are already experiencing a large part of our waking hours, both for work and “leisure” through the portal of our devices and the internet.
In many ways, this is so obvious as to need no mention, and yet, what is a Pro life in this digital universe worth compared to a “non-Pro” version of the same life?
The new Apple silicon hardware / software and all eco-system transition – already long underway and projected to converge into an early stage Kurzweilian Singularity of Apple in around 2024, is what will determine the nature of existence for the rest of the decade.
With software, hardware, and now AI and machine learning, all having a continuous and presumably infinite upgrade cycle, isn’t that like a kind of eternal life, at least for our digital selves, if not for our biological baggage?
Enter the iPhone 13 Pro; suddenly the experiences we wear as we take part in the fully distributed workforce sparkle and dazzle and become more effective and pleasurable to navigate.
The human link in the chain, absorbing, adapting, learning, digesting all these upgrades and improvements and how they change our work and play is a game of catch-up that will never end.
At this moment, the new “memories” feature in photos, combined with the new cameras in the iPhone 13 Pro Max are going to change how I view my immediate past (as reflected in the “memories” created by AI and machine learning forays into my ever growing photo library).
And that will make my ancient iPhone 5 photos seem as antiquated as a polaroid from 1984. And how will the current, insanely crisp, macos lensed food snaps look next to my “only great” iPhone 12 Pro portrait mode plates?
Not that these are weighty problems or even musings, but when your world is in the pre-metaverse of the Apple ecosystem in 2021, these thoughts do arise.
Are we all heading to a life where everything is Pro?
While, on the one hand, the goal of eternally enhanced digital communication is a very useful and important one, a possibly essential upgrade to our species just in time to prevent a climate apocalypse, on the other hand, how will the fully distributed workforce look once we are all Pro.
The transition from brink & mortar, skin, sinew and gray matter to a digitally enhanced cyborg communication center in our pocket is at a very early stage, to be sure.
At the same time things, including the relentless Apple upgrade cycle are going very, very fast, indeed.
If we are all destined to measure our contributions to work and society based on enlarged, enhanced communication capabilities, that enhancement will include what was once called “multi-media”. Hi resolution photos and videos, video calls with portrait mode, hell, feature films we shoot on the weekend, all the bells and whistles that once seems like a “hobby” for pleasure and in a rare case profit, all will now be central to our very existence.
Starting now, we are all Pro. The brightest and best will be more, they will be Oh. So. Pro.
The future of Ethereum, DAOs, Defi and Web3 set to become mainstream with movie tracing its history
Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free Productions, is slated to produce a feature film based the book, which tells the story of Ethereum, ‘The Infinite Machine‘ written by cryptocurrency crusader and journalist Camila Russo, and has Shyam Madiraju attached as director. Tom Moran, Vera Meyer, and Alejandro Miranda are also onboard, according to Deadline.
With Ridley Stott’s credits running the gamut from ‘Blade Runner‘, to ‘The Last Duel’, to Alien, to Gladiator, and too many more to count, plus production credits for Scott Free that are no less impressive, the upcoming films appears set to be big.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin will play prominently in the story, showing the early and incredible initial launch, inspired by the self-taught 19 year-old, into what is now the world’s second largest cryptocurrency (Ether) and, according to Ethereum.org is a technology that’s home to digital money, global payments, and applications. The current ‘market cap’ for Ethereum is nearly $400 billion.
The story up to the present day is fascinating enough, with the meteoric rise of Ethereum from the founding in 2015 to the announcement of this project. Particularly noteworthy is the connection between the Ethereum blockchain technology and the invention of NFTs (Non-fungible tokens), DeFi (decentralized finance), D.A.O.s (Decentralized autonomous organizations) and more.
Camila Russo, author of “The Infinite Machine”, also founded TheDefiant( thedefiant.io ) which “curates, digests, and analyzes all the major developments in decentralized finance, so that you can stay informed and smart about the most cutting-edge and fastest-changing corner of crypto and finance” according to the site itself.
The film project has already started to make waves and accomplish meaningful buzz in a deep layered, totally coherent approach to its creation. Namely, the fact that part of the fundraising for the film is taking place via NFT collections. This bold move has been incredibly well timed and successful, with the first @ETHMovie collection selling out completely within 28 hours and raising $670,000 in the process.
The @ETHMovie Collection’s first mint of 2,100 NFTs at 0.08 ETH sold out in 28 hours, raising $670K. The movie is based on @CamiRusso's book on the story of Ethereum. The raise will go towards funding the movie.
This funding, along with subsequent NFT collections offered are being managed via The Infinite Machine DAO community treasury, along with traditional film financing techniques. The DAO is, itself, the executive producer of the movie.
According to the official site for the film, the NFT collection sales will be equally distributed amongst the 36 intervening artist which will receive 22.5% of the budget. 10% will be sent to a community treasury pool to fund the DAO, and the 67.5% will be used for the movie.
‘It’s incredibly exciting to have Ridley Scott and the crew at Scott Free produce the movie of The Infinite Machine alongside us. I can’t imagine a better team to turn the riveting story about the people behind the most revolutionary technology since the internet into a feature film that will capture the hearts of our generation.‘
Camila Russo as per ‘DeaDline’
This groundbreaking funding mechanism, in this case for a movie that is intended to “become a blockbuster movie for the mainstream”, is part and parcel of the radical yet optimistic and hopeful changes that DAOs, NFTs, DeFi all were created to achieve, within the greater context of Web3 and the Ethereum blockchain itself. In other words, making this film is itself proof that the subject matter is alive, kicking and becoming more real (and dangerous, to some) in real time.
Traditional funding and monetary distribution channels, from the creative genesis of an idea (in this case the book) to a fully formed commercially released product and its proceeds, are by comparison, woefully inadequate and generally corrupt and unfair, according to many artists and creators super-pumped for the transition to these new methods made possible by Ethereum, blockchain, and soon, Web3.
So from the story, in both book and movie, to the NFT collections, the the DAO created to executive produce and partially fund the film, there is a thread of real-life proof-of-concept running throughout.
That proof is that, far from being a far flung, possible flash-in-the-pan, the entire saga, beginning with 19-year-old Vitalik Buterin’s idea to expand the potential of block chain, is destined to come to spectacular fruition, and sooner than you might believe.
Culminating the relatively short history of the last 7 years, all the way to the present day explosion of work, massive capital investments and development of Ethereum, along with its various applications and use-cases, we could be inexorably headed toward a moment in the near-future when the film will crash head-on into the realization of the very dream scenario it depicts. Oh boy howdy.
Below, the breakdown of the The Infinite Machine DAO funding plan:
Before the Movie Budget is Covered
Distribution of primary and secondary sales:
22.5% in an equal basis amongst the 36 intervening artists
10.0% to a community treasury pool used to seed The Infinite Machine DAO
67.5% to cover the movie budget up to $16M. That number may be reduced depending on the amount of funds raised via traditional means.
After the Movie budget is covered
Distribution of secondary trading fees and any other revenues from all collections:
22.5% will be received by the artists in this collection
25.0% will be received by the NFT Collection core team and contributors
52.5% will be used to fund a community pool to seed The Infinite Machine DAO
Camila Russo spent eight years at Bloomberg covering the Argentine market (bonds, stocks, FX) for 4+ years based in Buenos Aires; she wrote about European stocks with a focus on Southern Europe in Madrid; analyzed macro emerging markets moves for the Markets Live blog in New York; and was one of the most prolific and dedicated cryptocurrency reporters.
news is out!!
🎬🎬 The GOAT Ridley Scott and his production company Scott Free, the makers of
🔥 Gladiator 🔥 Alien 🔥 Blade Runner 🔥 House of Gucci 🏆 Nominated for 80 Academy Awards
🚀🚀 Will produce @ETHMovie The Infinite Machine movie!!!
