Well, Facebook is aiming to replace Twitter with Threads, and while I haven't been using it, it has become more useful. There's now a web client, the lack of which was holding me back, but now it's there and it's good, well-designed, attractive, all the things that Twitter isn't now that Elon Musk as renamed it X and effectively turned off API access. Mastodon is still a maze of federation, which some users still seem to think is a positive thing, but honestly, Facebook (they call themselves Meta now) has a better product, all the federation michegas on Masto makes it a mess. Facebook will replace Twitter if all the web can muster as an alternative is Masto. Oh but the FB folk say don't worry, we're going to support ActivityPub. The way this works is they can hold off the fear by just saying they'll do something, without explaining how or when it'll work. And they could change their mind, or somehow never get around to shipping. I've been in tech since the 70s, and I've seen this movie a few times. It's like the Godfather, which always ends exactly the same way. If we want to have a social media web that is not dominated by Facebook, it's time to face reality now and get into motion on working together. Otherwise there will be nothing to celebrate as we face the new boss, as they say, same as the old boss. #
This is prime sports time on TV. Last night I switched back and forth between the first Knicks game with Walt Frazier and Mike Breen and the first game of the World Series between Texas and Arizona, a match-up I didn't think I'd care about but to my surprise, it was really good baseball. Both events were like coming home. The Friday Night Knicks theme is something I forget every year, and then remember right around this time, remember how comfortable it is to watch the Knicks, even in years when the team sucks, as long as my friends Clyde and Mike are talking us through the game. Movin and groovin, dishin and swishin, so nice we showed it twice and all the other familiar slogans. But this year the Knicks don't suck. The games will be good. And this year the World Series is exciting. Last night's game was won with a walk-off 11th inning home run by a formerly unknown star who has already set the record for the most postseason RBIs, and the series is just getting started. They play 162 games in a baseball season so each game doesn't mean that much, until the end of the season when every game matters, at this point, every inning matters and sometimes every at-bat. I've never been much of a football fan except for the years when I lived in the Valley and the Niners were rising. Not my sport. But I've loved both baseball and basketball my whole life, there are real family roots here, and traditions old and new. And tonight there's another World Series game and the Knicks are in New Orleans playing the Pelicans. Good times! 😄#
Last update: Sunday October 29, 2023; 11:12 AM EDT.
You know those obnoxious sites that pop up dialogs when they think you're about to leave, asking you to subscribe to their email newsletter? Well that won't do for Scripting News readers who are a discerning lot, very loyal, but that wouldn't last long if I did rude stuff like that. So here I am at the bottom of the page quietly encouraging you to sign up for the nightly email. It's got everything from the previous day on Scripting, plus the contents of the linkblog and who knows what else we'll get in there. People really love it. I wish I had done it sooner. And every email has an unsub link so if you want to get out, you can, easily -- no questions asked, and no follow-ups. Go ahead and do it, you won't be sorry! :-)