Category: Microposts
You are viewing all posts from this category, beginning with the most recent.
I’m making a few changes to my digital home.
- english.umerez.eu will host my thoughts in English;
- esteban.umerez.eu will be my personal site in Spanish;
- legal.umerez.eu will be the place for stuff about the Law, in Spanish also;
- umerez.eu will be the a static page with links to all three.
Microsoft employee disrupts 50th anniversary and calls AI boss ‘war profiteer’ | The Verge
A Microsoft employee disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary event to protest its use of AI.
“Shame on you,” said Microsoft employee Ibtihal Aboussad, speaking directly to Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman. “You are a war profiteer. Stop using AI for genocide. Stop using AI for genocide in our region. You have blood on your hands. All of Microsoft has blood on its hands. How dare you all celebrate when Microsoft is killing children. Shame on you all.”
This is making me think about pacifist activism and whether it is still a thing in times like this. Not that this woman represents pacifism. I don’t think she does. But I’m pondering a few ideas I want to write about. I have the title for the post: Si vis pacem, para bellum.
I wanted to try something. I joined Truth Social. I said Trump is Truth. I now have the honor to announce that I just been appointed US Ambassador to Spain. Party tomorrow. Exact location TBA. Invitations via Signal only.
Can someone tell the YouTube algorithm to stop force feeding me Will Smith’s comeback videos? He’s the one guy that I want to see forever cancelled. The guy who used violence on a comedian for a joke. He deserves no respect from me. I don’t want to see any of it.
I think some major political actors in these days (Trump’s MAGA, China, Russia) have one path in common: they see that the post IIWW world order might be ending and they want to win the battle for the new order, one they can have power over and benefit from. Right wing oligarchs everywhere and nostalgic fascists are more than willing to help. I see no other way forward but total war.
Some bug caught me yesterday and brought me down to my knees. I know, I like to sound dramatic. I’ve been in bed for the most part of the last 24 hours and now I feel pretty good.
I have to stop watching Swiss Army Knife videos on YouTube AND/OR ordering Swiss Army Knives in Amazon.
🔗
The intake began with slaps. One young man sobbed when a guard pushed him to the floor. He said, “I’m not a gang member. I’m gay. I’m a barber.” I believed him. But maybe it’s only because he didn’t look like what I had expected—he wasn’t a tattooed monster.
The men were pulled from the buses so fast the guards couldn’t keep pace. Chained at their ankles and wrists, they stumbled and fell, some guards falling to the ground with them. With each fall came a kick, a slap, a shove. The guards grabbed necks and pushed bodies into the sides of the buses as they forced the detainees forward. There was no blood, but the violence had rhythm, like a theater of fear.
It will happen to us soon. To you and me. Have no doubt about it. Unless you fight for democracy, rule of law and due process.
So I’m going back to basics. I’ve been living an analog life lately and, if I ever come back to blogging, I want to have a single place. No more estebantxo.com, social.estebantxo.com or blog.estebantxo.com. One single place, my old faithful umerez.eu
Suddenly, cutting ties with Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads and other social media is starting to make sense. Micro.blog is nice and cozy and social enough for me.
I managed to customize my home page like I have wanted for a long time. Only one single post, the latest one, and a few buttons for people to navigate around, if they so wish to do.
The pressure of having to be on the web, curating a digital presence for marketing purposes. I’m finding great pleasure on taking the opposite route, going back to my blog and taking care of my own garden, enjoying my small little world, not needing to be someone in the public space. #eng
I’m going to make lunch now, while I continue to think about the post I’m writing for this month’s IndieWeb Carnival. Spaghetti said the family, so spaghetti will be.
The sound of the noon chimes from the clock bells of the central nave of Bordeaux Cathedral.
#eng
#niceSo we came to Bordeaux for the weekend, to celebrate my wife’s birthday, and last night my son and I decided to take a couple of drinks after dinner. I don’t go out anymore, just the occasional dinner with friends. Bordeaux is full of life and wonderful bars, restaurants and terraces where you can see hundreds of people enjoy good food and drinks and the company of friends. One thing crossed my mind and it’s still nagging me this morning. I’m about to turn fifty and I fear my midlife crisis is going to be wild. The reason: everybody looked young and beautiful to me, I was just mesmerized looking at the people in the streets of Bordeaux, I felt somewhat envious and old and self-conscious of my declining age. This is gonna cost me when I turn 50, I can feel it.
I went back to Penn & Teller Fool US after a while and found out that they have replaced Alyson Hannigan for Brooke Burke and I don’t like it.
Have I told you lately that I love Cush Jumbo?
Cush Jumbo and Peter Capaldi in a scene from Criminal Records.
Watching House, pilot episode, for the first time. I’d never thought I’d go inside Agent Lisbon’s nostrils. #eng
Director: Wim Wenders Main actor: Koji Yakusho
Leire and I went to the movie theatre without having read much about this movie. We both liked it. It’s nice, gentle and insightful. It’s been a very joyful couple of hours.
Watching Fargo, Season 5, Episode 6. I really, really hope that the golf player is one of those who, out of respect of, the story has been told exactly as it occurred.
#eng
Well, this thing about the Vision Pro did impress me
Watching MKBHD play ping pong with the Vision Pro on has impressed me. The instantaneous rendering of the real world inside the headset is really astonishing. Watch it at the 11:30 mark. #tech
{{< youtube gHgQWuxBgz2ZEnZ1 >}}