Welcome to Litsy!

#tuesdaytunes

I've been finding comfort this week in revisiting 80s/90s country: Doug Stone, Collin Raye, Lonestar, Sawyer Brown, Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Clint Black's D'lectrified was a childhood favorite, and, listening this morning, I couldn't remember for sure whether The Galaxy Song was from Monty Python (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkkjzmuEBbo) or Animaniacs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BphgKX-DZE), and that made me smile 😊

Very insightful look at the tech oligarchs. An intelligent, creative, but largely an emotionally immature lot. She follows their careers and social rise from the earliest Silicon Valley days to present day. I was left with great respect for some and loathing resignation for others. A valuable read for the time we are in.

#TodayILearned more about Spyware😡🤢

I haven‘t read Ronan Farrow‘s reporting on Pegasus, but this 61 minute documentary on HBO Max gives a great overview.

Tagged the book that‘s lauded as the best owner‘s manual on going off the digital grid. We‘ve got the book and someday I‘ll read it. Just doesn‘t seem like there‘s much you can do to minimize intrusions unless you‘re truly willing to give up connected tech. I‘m not there, yet.

Cory Doctorow‘s entertaining treatise on interoperability. 💻 🛜 🆓

We have made a lot of changes in recent years to move our family away from Tech dependence in centrality. This book very practical advice on how to do that in all areas of life, and most importantly, it gives the heart and why underneath it all. It‘s not about a fear of some thing, but a desire not to miss and gain the greatest things.

Page-turner examination of the corrupting influence of extreme wealth and blind faith in technology. This won‘t be the last book I read by Douglas Rushkoff. A true visionary!

The blurb made me think I was the target audience for this book but I‘m really not. I was interested by the geopolitical and global economic influence of chip technology, and although this was a thread which ran through the book, for much of the book this is bogged down in highly detailed discussion of the mechanics of chip technology. I was not smart enough to penetrate this and I got bored. On reflection I should have quit while I was ahead.

I‘m interested in what other disabled people have to say about the world we face today. Shew is a cancer survivor with an amputated leg and Crohn‘s. I like that she narrowed down the book to amputees and those with autism and looked at ways advancing science and “miracle” cures (like bionic limbs and sketchy autism cures) actually hinders progress for those with disabilities. Really interesting if you‘re disabled or into disability rights.

I give this two stars because its subject is interesting. A book about the narcissist of the tech industry. What‘s not enjoyable is the author is as narcissistic as the people she‘s writing about. The book seems to be a tribute to the wonderfulness of Kara Swisher who is always right. She seems to have the impression that she has some influence over the decisions the tech giants make. lost count of the “me‘s” and “I‘s”. All hail Kara Swisher.

Swisher recounts her professional journalism career reporting on tech and tech giants that matches the swagger that is needed to go ego to ego in covering them. Mostly recaps of events and interviews. Jobs is painted well; Musk is taken down. Interesting points on tech.