Extreme example of income inequality

In the midst of global climate change protests and calls to action, we have this…the biggest collection of super yachts ever, at the annual Monaco Yacht Show. Massive resources devoted to nothing more than part time play things of those with more money than they know what to do with. Over four billion dollars worth of these behemoths. Machines consuming vast natural resources in their construction and operation.

Fixing climate change means our lifestyles will have to change….and I can’t think of any example as stark as this one.

How do we dig our way out of this one?

Treehugger posted a story saying that all is lost, using the sales stats of the Ford F series trucks as an argument…and am admittedly compelling one, as they sell one every 4.5 seconds! It just adds to a similar train of thought in my life lately though..how do we dig ourselves out of this pit we’ve created for ourselves…how do we transition to a sustainable society? The Global Footprint Network attempts to calculate the difference between how much natural resources we use, and how fast nature can replenish that. If you hadn’t figured it out already, that date falls on August 2nd this year, and has been getting worse every year (follow this link for more on that). We’re on a dead-end path here, robbing from future generations so we may live lives of luxury.

So what’s the solution? There’s is insufficient public willpower to effect change, sadly. Change of the magnitude needed will only happen if there is a sizable natural disaster of global proportions…otherwise these days will go down in history as the peak of this civilization and perhaps even of this species. If anyone is left to record this history, that is. This frustrates me…I feel we have the technology and the ability to change the course we’re on…but how to reach people, that’s the challenge…

How to regain a bit of privacy on Facebook

Facebook has been in the news a lot lately, not for what they did directly, but for what they allowed Cambridge Analytica to do…namely, harvest private information of the Facebook friends of people who had opted to take a quiz (and opted to share their info by doing so).  Around fifty million users were affected…and the fine per violation is up to $40,000!  So yeah, it’s kinda a big deal, especially as this data was used for political gain by the Trump campaign, and a good reason why the stock has plummeted (potential trillion dollar fine, not to mention loss of users and trust).

Many people are quitting Facebook as a result, as they’ve realized what a massive amount of data has been compiled on them.  Their likes, travel, interests, their whole life is sometimes documented on Facebook for companies to profit from.  There’s another option though…delete your history.  Facebook is a fun way to keep in touch with friends, but do you really need an archive of what you posted several years ago?

To delete old posts, likes, and other activity, go to the ‘activity log’ of your profile page, then you delete items one by one.  LOL.  I mean yeah, you CAN do it, but if you’re a heavy user, that’s crazy!  Naturally, technology provides us with a better option. 🙂 Install Google Chrome, then install the ‘Social Book Post Manager’ extension.  This will allow you to perform actions on a bulk level…either delete, or hide, based on year/month or even keywords (painful relationship history?  Erase all mention of your ex from your life! 🙂 ).  You can choose how far back to maintain your data…and use FB as a ‘current events’ record instead!

I’ll admit it though…deleting old posts was scary!  The extension does give you a preview of what it’s going to delete, but you’re looking for tiny checkmarks, it’s not a great user interface as the extension has to work with with Facebook provides for this.  Then when you do have a chance to confirm, there was a ‘select all’ option (avoid that and choose ‘confirm’ instead!), and the Facebook UI threw up various confirmation windows that you need to ignore until the extension is done, then hit cancel on those windows that won’t go away.  So, clunky approach…but it DOES give you a tool to regain a bit of privacy on Facebook without abandoning it entirely.

REI dividends are here!

It’s dividend season, yay!  A time when we celebrate(?) how much money we’re spending on *stuff*.  Hopefully though, it’s at least stuff that has facilitated life experiences, which are the real treasure in life!  Last year I picked up a couple new kayaks, and a mountain bike for my kid, so my dividend this year is going towards a better backpacking tent.  I can’t wait for warmer weather!

The Instagramification of photos

Instagramification…ok, so I made that one up.  But…that’s what I want to talk about, making stuff up. My Instagram feed seems full of pictures that seem otherworldly…brilliant, vibrant colors, sureal lighting…if you use Instagram, I think you know what I mean!  I had a traditionalist mentality for a long time, but am now appreciating the beauty and artistic expression that results.

So my pondering these days is focused on…deception?  If I tweak my photos a ton, it’s obvuously unreal and art.  But if I do so only mildly, like the picture here…is that being deceptive?  I think it does a good job of expressing how the scene appeared to me…even if it’s not completely accurate.

btw follow me on Instagram as @espressomatt

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