Twitter has gotten so ugly lately. Seven years ago it was a fun, quirky, relaxed environment where you could trade droll non sequiturs with a small group of internet friends. But that wasn't making anyone any money so it needed to be constantly, incrementally "improved." Now it's jammed with text, autoplay ads, and ceaseless admonitions to grow your followers (what, like houseplants?). Statistics cling to every utterance: your droll non sequitur now has a statistical analysis of the number of "Impressions," "Total engagements," "Detail expands," "Profile clicks," and "Favorites" it has received. This is beyond pathological: no one needs that much information for "me right now" or "all roads lead to your boy." On the sidebar you had "trends" (100% uninteresting); now each trend has a line of descriptive text. Text and numbers grow on other text and numbers, like proliferating fractal barnacles. This doesn't even cover the mass echo chamber effects, where any jejune thought can be amplified through the faving and retweeting of the like-minded.
Day: July 6, 2015
pedantic reminder about freedom
A local park had a "Freedom & Fireworks Festival" on July 4. Many food trucks were allowed to park on the grass. Near the bandshell a portable LED sign announced in blinking capitals:
BAGS COOLERS SUBJECT TO POLICE SEARCH.
The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution says that:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Missing is the part about cops being able to rifle through your cooler whenever they feel like it. The July 4th event should have been called "Police State & Fireworks Festival." So I celebrated freedom (the part that includes the Fourth Amendment) -- elsewhere.