Twitter C/D

"i don’t know who Ackman is or what he’s upset about, and i don’t care. if he’s a billionaire, then he deserves the guillotine— that’s about all i know or think of it."

Absolutely had no knowledge of him whatsoever but what twitter has been good for is as an insight into the mindset of the people who run things, their contempt for us, but also -- in main character mode -- how flakey and easily disposable they could be were the tide to turn. It could be a billionaire like Ackman, it could be someone from the professional classes like an academic or lawyer, or a politician (but we knew what contempt pols had for ppl, by and large)

xp

it's a very temporary and (materially speaking) misleading levelling, but (elon's confused, inpet and malfunctioning tweaks nothing withstanding) it really is a leveling: everyone reduced to an avatar, a screen name and 280* words

*obviously stripping this limit out has been one of his stupid tweaks, but to use table's adaptable formula, "hardly anyone" ever clicks on "show more" for the next 4720 words, and many treat it as a bagde of shame and humiliation (do the fkn intellectual work and unleash an old-school thread 🧵) (BUCKLE UP!)

of course ppl can and do game the numbers in all kinds of ways -- this is how politics mutates to adapt to the situation at hand -- so yr always peering to interpret a by-design chaotic and in-conclusion disgusting and exhausting scrim of information (good and bad) fused with opinion (also good and bad)

i only read the first lrb piece (at least so far) but my reaction was much the same as the lone comment there-- the phrase which leapt out to me dealt with "usefulness to journalists" or some such. and well, is the (dis)organizational structure now at xitter, which has distinctly moved into the promotion of fash shit-- are journalists so smart that, with their superior knowledge, it is worth enabling the other effects shitter is _actively_ seeking to achieve? which effects are racist pro-oligarchy right wing tech clown horseshit?

or is the fact that important pro-left, or marginalized groups, use remnant tidal-pools of communication within xwitter (i presume until they can be snuffed out, though maybe i'm wrong) worth it to everyone?

i guess pre-lon xitter was grate, tho not really to me i am neither that clever nor amuse-able, but uh, i hope y'all find a substitute.

it isn’t in the news— no coverage that i can see on WaPo, the Times, Politico, etc.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/05/us/plagiarism-bill-ackman-neri-oxman-claudine-gay-harvard.html

Not sure if Bean Dad got much coverage in Politico

It is in the news though idk if the Ackman angle would've been picked up as much if he wasn't having a meltdown on twitter.

mit media lab is a scam institution, thread re oxman wife of ackman, btw lol oxman and ackman

I didn't use any special plagiarism software, and I wasn't even particularly looking for it, I was just putzing around. But sometimes the writing style would abruptly would take a 90 degree turn, so I'd google and find the original source immediately. Twice in five minutes.

— Deeply Credentialed Yuga (@MelancholyYuga) January 11, 2024

The real issue, which is harder to appreciate let alone concisely relate without a technical background, is that there appears to be no original technical content.

— Deeply Credentialed Yuga (@MelancholyYuga) January 11, 2024

btw lol oxman and ackman

I've been wracking my brain trying to come up with a reasonably funny Cathy comic strip reference wrt "Ackman", but so far have failed. But I can't help but think of her every time I encounter his surname.

ack, man

yeah i mean to be fair, nothing in that thread it out of the norms of what is produced by the media lab. it's all garbage.

Deeply Credentialed Sokal @MelancholySokal

I've been assuming someone will say "I don't know who he is but sounds like he's huge" but in a funnier way

Sorry to this Ackman

Weird flex, bro

i thought you approved of things that hardly anyone reads! (don't worry i'm teasing)

Resistance Twitter is still rockin

i know this isn’t meant to be funny but I’m crying pic.twitter.com/cosskP1Kwf

— oatmeal influencer (@acechhh) January 12, 2024

wont someone think of the lanes

felt a huge happy surge of near-parental pride when elon described gawker as “evil to the core”

(i know only a few gawker-folk actually learnt their battle techniques at ilx but i like to think it was an important few: when musk finally goes down i want him to be mumbling "all noise dude summertime fun board and pickle bar", like instead of rosebud)

I hadn't seen that, it's glorious

bad to the bone

the fruits of a poisoned pickle bar

The Chancellor of the Exchequer personally responding to someone called "Globe Emoji Žižek Capital" is why this website is so unique https://t.co/TWMiVIPz85

— Ell Folan 🇵🇸🏳️‍⚧️ (they/them) (@EllStats) January 13, 2024

I love you https://t.co/Gth9TCAbdG

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) January 14, 2024

This is fine? Though I've never done it myself

Sunday Sauce with Mom. There are raisins in those meatballs. IYKYK pic.twitter.com/mFgudcwCq0

— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) January 14, 2024

I've never heard of it in meatballs, but I've made lots of Sicilian type sauces with tomato, raisins, capers, pine nuts, lots of pepperoncini, etc. Sicilian has a spicy/sweet/savory thing from the Arab influence.

I had never had it and then some friends made them later year— was rather good!

I had some over the holidays when a friend made proper ragu with a second course of stuffed brisket which had been cooked with the sauce (after browning the outside ofc).

Great sauce with a white fish as well.

I had a thought this morning

Musk’s fortunes would change and accountability for one’s Twitter feed would vastly increase if they charged you $1000 to delete a tweet

lol ackman

https://bsky.app/profile/donmoyn.bsky.social/post/3kj43jsjzmd2q

jesus

guess that's why he's writing unreadable screeds about endorsing Dean Phillips

if ackman wasn’t worth a zillion dollars he’d be one of the many posters constantly making excuses about why they can’t be normal

i like neri oxman's art.

on chapo they said she makes "yarn art for rich people" and i don't think that is true at all.

i understand there is a broader ideological battle here where oxman and her husband are on the wrong side. this is just sort of a separate point.

agreed, her stuff has much more of a giant paper weight for rich people aesthetic

like Chihuly and any number of others, Oxman and her fans have mistaken “design” and “decor” for “art.”

That isn’t a value judgment on decor and design— we need quality stuff in those realms too!

the vast chihuly hanging piece in the entrance hall to the V&A is tbf p striking (and of course the V&A is a museum of design and decor) but these days when you view it from the nearby balcony it is often also p strikingly *dusty*: evidently they are afraid of taking feather brooms to it too often in case it comes crashing down on the reception desk below

Like that piano that used to hang suspended in the entrance to the Tate

one percent inspiration, forty-nine percent perspiration, fifty percent considering the logistics of keeping it spick and span after you've gone

I’ve always loathed Chihuly for looking like stoner wax art gentrified for the world’s most boring liberals.

(i mean i make fun of this stuff all the time, i was just trying to not be a dick)

(i don’t think Chihuly or Oxman are good designers or decorators)

https://i.imgur.com/2p6b6Xi.png

so there is no way to get rid of this ad?

close the tab

that worked

My sense of Chihuly is that his work always impresses people, but this is due to it being colorful and obviously requiring plenty of technical skill to make. But being impressed by it should not be mistaken for enjoying it. I don't enjoy it.

I think his stuff is just ugly.

The only time I found any enjoyment in Chihuly's work was touring his exhibit by the Space Needle, where it was like enveloping yourself in the stoned alien landscape and less about a kind of ugly "focal" point in another context.