I see US tech jounalists on Mastodon, once again, charging against the EU for "damaging european users" by forcing companies to deliver "a subpar experience". So let me paste something I wrote over there a few weeks ago:
------
I keep seeing very important US tech journalist here talking about how Threads not launching in the EU is: - somehow shameful and a sign of how "you can't innovate in the EU" - a problem for the EU, which will led us to creative interpretations of the GDPR to finally allow Meta to launch here.
And I think folks from the US tech scene really, really don't understand several things:
1) how incredibly hostile the EU (and a good chunk of the European political parties) are to "big tech". 2) how surprisingly immune to lobbying the EU Parliament appears to be. 3) how actually popular it's that the politicians take a hard stance against macrocorps. Every time the European Commission has gone against big tech most the press and the people have cheered them as our champions against evil.
And I can't even start describing how IMPORTANT for the future could be that people started being able to turn off YouTube algorithmic recommendations. I think YouTube shares with meta, pretty much 50/50, the responsibility for the global resurgence of fascism we have seen in the last decade.
“Here is what the sea smells like.
It is more texture than scent, because the sea is primarily made of two substances that have no smell of their own: water and salt. Salt has no smell, but makes the air sting, and so all of the other smells of the sea are layered upon the pang of salt. Water has no smell but instead a comfort. We feel moisture as life and so the smells of the ocean are layered upon the contentment of the water. Salt is treble and water is bass. I don’t know how I know this is true, but I know it is true.
The sea smells like old wood and wet leaves. Like cold mud and warm stone. Like every creature who has ever lived in it, a churning graveyard and nursery. Like winds from the inland carrying the hot circulation of life and winds from the ocean carrying the distant froth of waves against ships and islands. Like gray, only more so. Like blue, only less so.”
— The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home, Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
British artist Jason Anderson creates colorful abstract paintings composed of pixelated swatches of pastel-toned oil paint. Up-close, the artist’s paintings look like blocky layers of shapes and color; but, from afar, his scenes—featuring cityscapes, roads, trains, and marinas—are revealed.
Anderson began his career as a stained glass apprentice, where he worked on restoring the windows of cathedrals. He soon progressed onto designing the glass murals himself, where he learned how to break down subject matter into “jigsaws” of colored sections. This approach still shines through in his paintings today—complex scenes are brought to life with simple shapes and careful consideration to hue and tone.
datshitrandom
coffeeorderwrites
jv
melsephant
theliteraryluggage
animateglee-archived
expressions-of-nature
esilher
nonrussian
20th-century-man
archatlas
moosefrog
leatherleaves