Strava, but for doing nothing.

RE: https://me.ns.ci/@hnbot/117434390579044772

This is a depressing discussion thread.

He discovered radio, and then he discovered television, and then he became accepted by people and he became their folk hero, and then he started to manipulate them, and tell them how to think, and they would do what he said do, and then he began to realize how much power he really had, and he started to influence the politicians, and he was about to launch this real loser into political office, when the country discovered him by a means of Patricia Neal - who played a role called Marsha - she left the audio switch open at the end of the end of a show, at the end of a program, and the people actually heard what he said. He called them sheep, and he told them that they would do exactly what he what he said do, and how dumb and stupid they were, then they turned him off when he took that.

Yeah that was strong. Who was that man?

3/3

Transcript:

It was the story of a man who was an Entertainer who had some power, who had access to the media, to the television, who parlayed that into a political situation.

Yeah he became, I guess people at that time didn't think it could happen. It can happen, and has happened at times. It might be happening now, who knows, but this was a regular, just an interesting energetic guy at the beginning, a free kind of a man. Gaining power and influence.

2/3

#AndyGriffith, in an interview with Morning Exchange in 1972, talks about his role in the #film, "A Face In The Crowd." He plays a character named Lonesome Rhodes, who is eerily similar to Donald #Trump.

https://youtu.be/Z_m3vdPLQ68

1/3

"But there is here a basic and recurrent process. It comes with rising prices, whether of stocks, real estate, works of art or anything else. This increase attracts attention and buyers, which produces the further effect of even higher prices. Expectations are thus justified by the very action that sends prices up. The process continues; optimism with its market effect is the order of the day. Prices go up even more. Then, for reasons that will endlessly be debated, comes the end. The descent is always more sudden than the increase; a balloon that has been punctured does not deflate in an orderly way."

- John Kenneth Galbraith, The Great Crash 1929

Stocks Reach New High as Investors Look Past Rising Rates

The S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent on Tuesday, exceeding its previous peak set in August and taking its gain this year to more than 14 percent.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/06/business/stock-market-record.html

Personal trivia: I helped him, over the phone, recover his notes when his hard drive crashed, in my first tech job, doing tech support for Broderbund software. That voice is unmistakable.

2/2

Is #AI Profitable Yet?
https://isaiprofitable.com/

What exactly is the point of boosting on #pixelfed? I can boost all I want from my pixelfed account @Morgan@pixey.org, but anyone on a pixelfed server (?) with the pixelfed app (?) will only see posts from the people they follow, correct? Is the value for people on /other/ activitypub platforms, like mastodon, who follow my pixelfed user?

Also, I have verified that boosts on the Android pixelfed app are NOOPs, in my case. If I browse to the server, login, I can successfully boost pixelfed posts - the boost count increments, and I see the boosts in my mastodon feed, from this, my mastodon account. Boosting on the pixelfed android app does nothing.

@PixelfedHelp
@FediTips

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75417557/executive

#earthquake
#Oakland
#sfbayarea

'Brian Ferraro stepped through the front door at Bicycle Heaven and stopped in his tracks.

The Rochester, New York resident scanned the endless sea of bicycles hanging from the ceiling, mounted on walls and covering nearly every square foot of floor space. His eyes darted from one familiar childhood memory to another.

“It’s like a dream come true," Ferraro, 53, said. “I have a lifelong love of bicycles. Just from the front door I see so many bikes I’ve never seen before. I already see the banana bike seats with the big ape-hanger handle bars that I grew up with. I see some mag wheels from the BMX bikes that I used to race as a kid.”

Ferraro had heard about Bicycle Heaven for years. His son had visited several times, sending photos and even called via FaceTime from inside the museum. On Thursday, Farrell finally made the pilgrimage himself while on a business trip to Pittsburgh.'

https://www.post-gazette.com/business/pittsburgh-company-news/2026/08/03/bicycle-heaven-museum-pittsburgh/stories/202608020066

Using Reader mode on Safari let me read it.

#BikeTooter
#Pittsburgh
#BicycleHeaven

@NorcalGma2 see this?

https://www.savetheredwoods.org/our-work/initiatives/o-rew-redwoods-gateway/

People here really like video games.

This is another, really interesting blog post from Andrew Alden about the #geological history of #Sonoma, of #Oakland, of #California.

"A few weeks ago I managed to get on the list for a field trip with the Northern California Geological Society (where I serve as webmaster/social media chief). We visited four memorable spots on the Sonoma coast. The first one was Bodega Head, where I’d been once a long time ago. The second was Shell Beach, my third visit. The third was Goat Rock, which I’d photographed long ago but where I’d never actually stood. And the last one, which had seemed like an afterthought, was an illuminating surprise.

..."

https://oaklandgeology.com/2026/07/06/an-oakland-conglomerate-sibling/#like-10367

#geology
#cascadia

The Golden Age of Literature Is Now: Some New Books (and Some Schadenfreude)

"There's a golden age of literature – for us, not for them. That is, extraordinary work is being done in all genres of writing and the mashups inbetween them; extraordinary poets and prophets are at large in the land; magnificent books tumble forth at a rate I can't keep up with. But all of the great stuff leans toward care for the earth, universal human rights, equality, inclusion, the voices of indigenous and nonwhite and non-male people, questioning and broadening traditions, and many of the strong voices are not straight or white or male or US born.

That makes the right mad, but their fury does not move them toward great art. They just come up empty again and again – I mean how many times can Kid Rock represent culture for the MAGA audience? ..."

https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/the-golden-age-of-literature-is-now-some-new-books-and-some-schadenfreude/

#RebeccaSolnit
#Bookstodon
@bookstodon

@Recta_Pete another Fletcher. Our Fletchers came from Birmingham, UK to Rhode Island, USA.

Mastodon Plus

RE: https://social.lol/@cote/116633706675975876

This is a really insightful take on #AI, from someone in shoes like mine. It's with a read.

https://www.simplermachines.com/notes-from-o11ycon-2026/

Maybe if we didn't have the Internet we wouldn't have to read about Trump.

It's getting biblical. The business of #AI is really what five very human billionaires want, and fear.

Former OpenAI board member says Elon Musk offered her sperm donations
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c33243j44p8o

#openai
#musk
#altman