while I still can’t think of a need for the announced Apple VR/AR headset, one thing I haven’t seen many people talk about is Apple adding the Pro Tag to the product name. Usually Apple ads the Pro tag after several iterations of a product, here it’s in version one. This makes me wonder what the non Pro version will look like. My number one guess would be the outward facing screen will be gone in a plain/regular version. But beyond that I have a hard time to think of ways to cut cost while keeping it justify a price premium over Oculus headsets … in a way a non Pro version would have to be in the $999 price range I think to make it become close to competitive and be a success for Apple.

Like so many things the right-wing media, Twittersphere, and podcastspehere likes to propagate, the whole issue of wokeism is a non-issue. It is just a bunch of snowflakes bitching that someone is pushing back against their entitled and outdated worldviews, and I guess they never had to deal with people that challenged their opinions. This interview with Graham Norton nails it:

www.youtube.com/watch

we endlessly debate abortion rights, but are unwilling to protect life once it is born. it is sickening that shootings like today’s keep happening. unless one assumes Americans are just more violent by nature (which I don’t think is true) then all the data from around the world, clearly shows this is a solvable problem. no need for thoughts and prayers, solutions exist. these events are a manifestation of our (specifically of Republicans) unwillingness to act.

This is what Musk tweeted recently. The problem with this though is that it provides a highly inaccurate view of the world … in a way one should say that Musk is rather blind on this right eye.

But that shouldn’t be a surprise, because I would say he already gets the starting point wrong. Musk thinks he is left of center at the start (2008), though I would say that he, like his PayPal pals are not liberal, but rather libertarians … and libertarians I would say are anything but liberal (at least, liberal in the US view), libertarians are conservative, highly egocentric, and I would argue they call themselves libertarians because they don’t want to be seen for what they are … conservatives. They think libertarians are more hip. So the starting point should already be:

But, the main problem with this graphic is that it completely ignores what happened to the right. All the “action” here is about the left moving further to the left … the only example for that is wokeism (in case that is a word). But the graphic forgets:

• Republicans embrace of racism (“they send rapists…” and “they won’t replace us”.
• Republicans embraced Putin and other strongmen … ultimately embracing fascist dictators over democratic values.
• Republicans embraced view that the press spreads “fake news”, right out of the Nazi’s playbook.
• Republicans embraced book banning as seen in Texas and Florida
• Republicans have embraced one conspiracy theory after the other
• Republicans embraced anti democratic views of not accepting election results despite overwhelming evidence that there was no foul play
• Republicans found no issue with an insurrection on Jan 6

There are many other examples of conservatives moving further and further to the right and toward embracing white supremacy. All of these further moves to the right would position Musk (who with his silence on them seems to embrace them) much farther to the right compared to where the conservative stickman is in that graphic.

Oh and note, that graphic is not by Musk but by a guy called Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) … who I guess, like Musk is a right wing apologist.

As there are more signs for a peace treaty in the Ukrain war, I hope that won’t mean going back to a pre war state for Western Democracies. Sanctions need to stay in place until there has been a regime change in Russia. Also, Europe needs to fast track cutting itself off from dependency on Russian gas and oil. Russia needs to be treated as what it is, and that is a anti western, anti democracy, anti human pariah. If the West can’t stand firm on that, if money and greed trump our ideals again, well then we might as well give up those ideals and join Russia and China in their autocratic models.

I think it is important to recognize how well Biden has handled the whole Putin agressions. The West (and beyond) is unified, and acted swiftly. Biden’s actions are at the heart of it. With Trump in power this would have been a disaster. Let’s hope the American people recognize how well Biden and his administration navigated this situation.

The Khashoggi murder already showed it, but the Russian “sanction” make it even clearer, the problem is that the West has no values. We like to claim we have values but when we have to choose between those values and money we always choose money. Putin, MBS, China … they all are fully aware of that and that means that at the end of the day they can and do get away with murder. Until the West actually puts values ahead of money events like Ukraine will repeat themselves.

Didn’t they say bitcoin is an inflation and a global risk hedge? Well, so we have high inflation, a war starting, a likely increased energy bottlenecks due to said war further negatively impacting inflation. And gold reacts pretty much how you would an inflation and risk hedge to react (by going up). Bitcoin on the other hand seems to at most move sideways.

after Bitcoin, crypto, and NFTs, Web 3.0 has become the new new thing to talk about. It’s what 2022 will be all about. No more centralization, here comes decentralization (again) … or does it?

Two great pieces, both sharing same ideas, one a bit longer, and the shorter also referencing the longer article. But both ultimately providing a much needed skeptical look at Web 3.

My first impressions of web3

Nobody Cares About Decentralization - They Just Want To Get Rich

my two main takeaways are:

1. ease of use wins over privacy and security (at least from a user preference point)
2. crypto is just another ponzi scheme

I think one could make an argument that too much money drives poor decisions … just look at the world economy, look at the venture capital space, look at Softbank’s “vision” fund. Too much money, chasing too few good investments, turns even the smartest money into dumb money.

And I think the same is true for news and podcasts. The more there is, the more time needs to be filled, the more stupidity will ensue. Look at Josh Rogan. Yes, it’s good to spend a lot of time on a topic and go deep, but only if you have done the research, and once you need to fill and hour or two each day research will be cut, and rather than insightful conversations the result is stupid click bait. Same is true for CNN and Fox News and most other 24/7 news channels … there is just not enough that needs to be said to justify 24;7 programming.

It is the end of the year — a time to reflect on, and celebrate past successes. Something we all should do, especially after 2021. But celebrating success reminds me of this quote from Michael Lewis’s 2012 commencement speech:

“People really don’t like to hear success explained away as luck, especially successful people. As they age, and succeed, people feel their success was somehow inevitable. They don’t want to acknowledge the role played by accident in their lives. There is a reason for this: the world does not want to acknowledge it either. … don’t be deceived by life’s outcomes. Life’s outcomes, while not entirely random, have a huge amount of luck baked into them. Above all, recognize that if you have had success, you have also had luck, and with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt, and not just to your Gods. You owe a debt to the unlucky.” Michael Lewis, 2012 Princeton Commencement Speech

As we celebrate success we should be aware of all the individuals that helped make the success happen (because success doesn’t happen in a vacuum.) And be thankful for the success — I think by being thankful for success, one realizes that this is not a given, it is not something one should take for granted. But that while it required a ton of work, a lot of support, it also involved luck — all things to be thankful for.

With that, I am thankful for everyone that helped me get through 2021 successfully. And I will admit a lot of luck was involved.

If anyone needed evidence of the inherent racism in the US justice system, they only need to look at the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict. Flip races of killer and killed and the verdict would be different. To call this justice is a joke. You don’t get to claim self-defense when you actively look for trouble.

why hasn’t Biden visited the border? right wing talking heads can’t stop asking this question. the most recent example is this Reaction to Joe Biden NEVER Having Visited the US/Mexico Border idiot podcaster Patrick Bet-David who looks like he wants to be the next Joe Rogan. ok, so my question is, have you, Patrick Bet-David been to the border? to be honest, I doubt it, because if he had been to the border he would know that the border isn’t a monolithic space, but rather a fairly deverse space. Brownsville and east of it is very different from McAllen, which again is totally different from the Big Bend area, which again is a different planet from the El Paso area, which again is totally different from the Nogals border, which by itself couldn’t be more different from the area just east of Calexico, and which by itself couldn’t be any more different from the border just south of San Diego at Tijuana. how do i know? well i drove along the border from the Gulf to the Pacific, and if that trip tought me one thing, it was that there are many borders across the southern border. well, the trip also tought me that anyone who makes it across that border must be desperate and should be treated with dignity and compassion rather than with the disgusting racism Rogan, Bet-David, and their Fox News friends treat them. if you want to see the many facets of the border feel free to take a look at them here: Along the Southern Boreder now the more important question though is why does it matter? Biden would not be able to make any smarter decision on this issue by having been there. but if Bet-David, Rogan, and the like think it is so important to have been to the border in order to understand it, well considering all the time they spend spreading ignorance around topics like Covid, shouldn’t they have been to an ICU? after all how are they able to talk about this without having been to an ICU? have they seen one of the make shift morgues in person? if not, they should shut their mouths and stop talking about Covid. at the end of the day people like Rogan or Bet-David don’t care about the issues, they care about clicks and making money and they know that by catering to idiots they can make a quick buck.

Anytime some expert on TV presents depressing data or other findings (think global warming or health of the economy, health of democracy …) they always end their comment with something along the lines of “but I am an optimist and we will find a way.” … at what point are we going to stop being optimists? When will we have to face the music and realize that the data is right and optimism doesn’t cut it.

Ok, so some of the root causes for today’s political climate in the US can likely be traced to post 9/11, but let’s assume 9/11 didn’t happen in 2001, but instead in 2021 with today’s political climate. How would the US have reacted to this event that let’s be honest impacted blue states (cities) more so than red states.

• Fox News would argue some laser eyes blasted the Twin Towers to ashes.
• Hannety and Fox and Friends would question 9/11 ever happened. What you saw on TV or in person was just made up by some Hollywood liberals.
• Florida would block any travelers from New York out of fear to bring terrorist into the Sunshine state.
• Q would drop some vague tweets arguing that there was a basement full of kidnapped babies under the Twin Towers and Soros blew up the Towers to get rid of the evidence of those baby torture chambers.
• TV pastors would argue the US brought this on themselves for all their sins (oh, wait, I think this actually happened back in 2001).
• Republicans would waive Blue Lives Matter flag, and then vote against funding to pay for first responders ongoing medical bills (oh, crap, that also happened).
• Ted Cruz would have flown to Cancun.
• Mitch McConnell would argue that there isn’t a need for a 9/11 commission since “we saw it all on TV.”
• Demands to increase airport security would be met with fierce protest, demanding “our freedoms back.”