[News] The Internet Was a Mistake

A thread for updates on the various ways the internet is destroying everything and the undying hellsites of social media. Let's all laugh at the abyss.

Back to the manga point.

I once read things on PC (heck, printed manga is a luxury) but phones, whilst things are a little small, it's doable.

I subbed to the Shounen Jump app (it's called Viz I believe in the US) for over a year. The bank card it was tied to got compromised thus payment was suspended and the account later shut. I didn't bother to re-subscribe simply because I wasn't reading enough to justify having it around. Call it the curse of finally growing out of it.

Still, if you haven't read it yet, Ishida Sui's Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul: re are some of the best literature I've read in the past 5 years and for $3 to $4 a month you get access to the Jump stuff (then there's Demon Slayer, One Piece and all the other Jump staples).

Webtoons can be good (Noblesse, Solo Levelling and The Breaker are some good ones, there's heaps more than that of course). It's not as much my style as much of the work is coloured (not B/W) and the art style is less on sketched detail accordingly. There's also, uh, lots of whatever you call the Korean equivalent of Japanese hentai. I wonder if that's counted as part of the size of the webtoon/manhwa market.

For me, I think it's a total generational disconnect. I'd rather read something physical than read it on my desktop and then desktop over phone.

I read things on my phone to pass time while I'm bored commuting, I would never willfully choose to read something there rather than on my computer.

That said, I am a dinosaur and I do think there's a good argument to be made that, for people 25 and under, mobile-first is the way they engage with the entire world and not adapting to that is hamstringing yourself quite a bit.

I’m solidly Gen-X and can’t imagine reading anything on desktop. I will read comics/manga/books on my phone during breaks or slow periods at work, but otherwise I prefer tablets for comics/manga and ereaders for books. I got rid of most of my physical media 11 years ago when I moved across the country and the only physical media that I read now is rare stuff that I can’t get digitally (with the exception of table-top rpg source books).

Prederick wrote:

Looking at his response to today's obviously-cribbed-from-the-Babylon-Bee joke he told, again, I think it's just insanely obvious that this is a grudge stemming from the fact that he blames the "Marxists" for his daughter turning out to be trans and hating his guts.

Grimes dating Chelsea Manning probably didn't help.

It’s 100% this. I’m usually loathe to find simple solutions to complex problems but Musk’s descent into right wing demagoguery isn’t a complex problem. Kanye has Nick Fuentes to play Grima Wormtongue, and Elon has Twitter.

Dave Chappelle brought Elmo on stage at his show in San Francisco last night and Elmo got booed.

Chappelle immediately flipped over into his best Tucker "Millionaire Defending Billionaires" Carlson impression and said all the booing came from the "terrible seats" in the balcony that "last-minute, non-planning" people had gotten (aka, his fans who paid hard cash money for those tickets).

The video began spreading on Twitter late last night and following his principles of free speech absolutism Elmo immediately banned any account that shared it.

Dave Chappell is intent on becoming the next Bill Maher. And given that quip of owning the first comedy club not on earth, we can probably call him Bill Mars.

I should point out that I’ve watched a lot of Chappell and I’ve NEVER seen him lose control of his audience so completely as he does here.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/8hygYtw.png)

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/sF12tjM.png)

But, sure, blame the boos on the many "unhinged leftists" that supposedly paid money to see a comedian they all stopped watching/supporting a couple of Netflix specials ago.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/6r9qzHs.jpg)

@Manga and Manhwa

I still read stuff on my PC. I should probably use my phone more. I gave my niece a Viz subscription and I really don't try new manga as much anymore so that pretty much scratches the itch. Berserk is picking up steam (RIP Miura), but it won't ever be on Viz, so I must still go far afield for that.

That said, the third season of The Breaker went webtoon format. I don't think it is a drop in quality, though. My issues are with the story, not the art. The fact it was in color was a weird adjustment, but one easily made. The webtoon format isn't going anywhere, I think.

Also The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor and Weak Hero are really good.

My iPad has probably become my preferred medium for reading comics, mostly thanks to Marvel Unlimited, and being able to get Image books through Libby and Hoopla. I just started switching to a Kindle for novels and I'm liking it so far but even the newest kindle feels like it could be a little zippier.

OG_slinger wrote:

The video began spreading on Twitter late last night and following his principles of free speech absolutism Elmo immediately banned any account that shared it.

FREE SPEECH ABSOLUTISM

NO MORE BANS

"Oh, they got this all wrong."

FREE SPEECH ABSOLUTISM?

NO, MORE BANS!

This is going to go well...

The former CEO of the failed cryptocurrency firm FTX will testify before a Congressional committee Tuesday, his first appearance under oath since FTX filed for bankruptcy roughly a month ago.

Sam Bankman-Fried is scheduled to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee, along with the company’s current CEO, John Ray III. Bankman-Fried has done several media interviews since his firm collapsed but has not publicly testified about what happened. He is expected to appear remotely from the Bahamas.

Interesting! Spoke too soon too! Get out of jail card (aka appearing in front of congress) by going to jail…

New York
CNN

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed crypto exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday after US prosecutors filed criminal charges against him, according to a statement from the government of the Bahamas.

The Southern District of New York, which is investigating Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX, confirmed his arrest on Twitter.

“Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY,” wrote US attorney Damian Williams. “We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”

hbi2k wrote:
OG_slinger wrote:

The video began spreading on Twitter late last night and following his principles of free speech absolutism Elmo immediately banned any account that shared it.

FREE SPEECH ABSOLUTISM

NO MORE BANS

"Oh, they got this all wrong."

FREE SPEECH ABSOLUTISM?

NO, MORE BANS!

I've been savoring my schadenfreude towards Musk and to a lesser extent Chappelle, but now I can't help but wondering... what the F was Musk going to do on stage? Did he prepare a bit? Was Chappelle going to interview him? Was it just going to be a wave and bye? Inquiring minds need to know!

They were probably going to bash pronouns and/or trans people again, as they both like to do

Rich dudes need a reason for what they do?

You underestimate their egos.

A short list of thoughtful, considered, low-ego moves:

Posts pics of bedside table.

Does standup routine drunk.

Insults people with less money with zero fear of retribution.

Wastes tens of billions on a vanity project.

Constantly finds ways to punch down to feel better about oneself.

Stele wrote:

They were probably going to bash pronouns and/or trans people again, as they both like to do

Good point. I've since read (caveat: on Reddit) that Chappelle has developed a habit of inviting guest stars on stage, appearing drunk, chatting with the front rows, etc.

I'm repeating myself, but I'm loving this frustration-free schadenfreude trip!

It's hard to enjoy Musk's fall from grace knowing he's accelerating hate speech, upending so many lives at Twitter, and bringing down a platform for minority voices. I don't even know where to begin with Chappelle, a brilliant and groundbreaking comedian but a raging bigot towards any other minority.

For once, just once though, the only collateral damage are the jerks themselves.

dejanzie wrote:

I've been savoring my schadenfreude towards Musk and to a lesser extent Chappelle, but now I can't help but wondering... what the F was Musk going to do on stage? Did he prepare a bit? Was Chappelle going to interview him? Was it just going to be a wave and bye? Inquiring minds need to know!

He probably thought he was just going to be able to do a victory lap on stage and get huge applause that he could meme on twitter. Dude is surrounded by sycophants and enablers in his daily life and the only time he interacts with people other than his fanboys online is when he thinks he can dunk on someone so I doubt he realizes what a laughingstock he’s becoming.
He’s coping hard over getting booed though and has been banning accounts that share videos of the event.

They also probably didn't think there was a chance that former Twitter employees and/or people who don't approve of how Musk's family made their fortunes in apartheid South Africa would be in the audience.

Wanna buy stuff from the wreckage of Twitter? Musk is liquidating it at auction. No more espresso for Twitter employees!

Lol. A pizza oven? Commercial ovens? Under-counter freezer?

Did Jack not know you can lease stuff? Or buy pizza from Domino's?

I also love that Egon is reduced to a garage sale like some Boomer who overpaid for a timeshare in Scottsdale.

I want one of those Humanscale monitor arms, those things are like $400.

If I can get 199 other people to help me buy the lot, we can get a great deal!

*Legion* wrote:

I want one of those Humanscale monitor arms, those things are like $400.

If I can get 199 other people to help me buy the lot, we can get a great deal!

I'm in for 3 or 4.

You gotta be local, right? Part of me hopes Egon's crew f*cked up and they're on the hook for shipping commercial kitchen equipment to a bakery in Saskatchewan.

OSINT's going to take a huge hit thanks to this.

He actually reinstated the account for much of the day but seems to have re-suspended it tonight.

Also banned the guy's personal account and his other public traffic tracking accounts.

Are we sure he knows what he's doing?

Like, is he Dr Evil with a ban lever that he just forgets to use, or uses inadvertently or is this an automated process that triggers on something like Alexa on his phone that misinterprets his intent when he says the word "ban"?

Garbage Day Newsletter wrote:

On Monday, well-known tech reporter Kara Swisher put forward a theory as to why the Elon Musk of 2022 feels so different from the Elon Musk of, say, 2012: What if Musk wants to turn Twitter into a Fox News competitor? I actually think this is plausible! But at this point, I also think Musk is just a being of pure impulse. He’s essentially a flatworm with a rocket company. A naked central nervous system of raw urges wandering the halls of Twitter, asking people if they know good QAnon memes to tweet out.