One of the things we can do to preserve freedom, is to resume using the open internet to communicate instead of the silos of Zuck and Musk et al. When you use the web instead of a silo you are helping build community outside, where free speech is the default. The more of us who communicate outside, the more people will be attracted. Your participation helps draw people out, where independent developers can create new tools for you without waiting for permission of big companies who own the network you're using. It's like voting. The more people do it, the stronger we all are. I've spent the last 31 years insisting on that freedom for myself as a writer and developer and sharing it with others. As people flocked to Twitter and Facebook, etc, you thought I was gone, finished, a loser. I know they think that about me. But honestly, I also knew the open internet would come back, because I knew its value, and I knew eventually the silos would reveal their real cost. They may appear free, but there's a price to pay. I hope you'll consider using the tools. If you want to get started, create a free site on wordpress.com. Just create it. That will be your home on the open social web. And btw, you don't have to agree with my politics to be part of it. That's kind of the whole point. ;-)#- Normal hats don't fit. Not even close.#
- So I buy my caps from BigHatStore.com.#
- In prep for my trip to Ottawa later this month for WordCamp Canada, my first trip out of the country in a long time, I wanted to get a new hat. #
- They don't have a big selection of NBA hats, so there's no Knicks hat that fits my head.#
- And they didn't have any Mets hats for some reason. #
- I thought -- I'll get a Wisconsin hat! I went to grad school in Madison and loved it there. You know Fuck em Bucky! But they didn't have any Wisconsin hats either. #
- I was dejected, but noticed they did have Harvard hats. #
- So I got one. #
- Which reminds me of a joke a famous VC told when we were walking around on the Stanford campus in 2004. #
- It goes like this...#
- How can you tell someone went to Harvard?#
- Pause.#
- I give up.#
- They tell you!#
- Haha. #
- Or they wear a Harvard baseball cap. #
- I plan to tell that joke a few times, while wearing the cap. :-)#
- I don’t like the Democratic leaders in Congress, but that doesn’t matter. People say what they’re doing won’t work. I agree.#
- But the elected Democrats swore an oath, to uphold the Constitution. With that constraint there isn’t much they can do other than try to force the Repubs to do the same, and that isn't likely to work. It hasn't so far, but it's all they can do without breaking the Constitution themselves. Think about it. All these minds, and we haven't come up with anything.#
- What brought this home was a comment by a Democratic congressperson saying on CNN last night no matter what they do Trump won’t obey if he doesn’t want to. It’s true. They could get Repubs in Congress to fund Obamacare, but Trump could ignore it. That’s reality. What do the pundits think they should do?#
- Here's the unvarnished truth. Whatever the answer is it can't come from the Democratic Party. #