Week Note Three - National Lampoon's Vaccine
Hum hum...
Sometimes in this lockdown, we have to look beyond the usual front row seat of the Internet and delve further to see what great secrets we can find. We all know @doggface208 posted his longboard lipsync to Fleetwood Mac's Dreams which was a much needed happiness in this pandemic.
What about sea shanties songs? No doubt you have heard Wellerman by The Longest Johns that has been sailing the seven seas of the web (no puns intended!). The original was created by Nathan Evans - TikTok, for the full lowdown, the i news put together a decent article about it all.
You're going to be humming this for days...
The latest grumbling online is now positioned behind WhatsApp and how we all should accept the latest terms and conditions on 8th February 2021. If you do not accept it, expect your account to be deleted immediately. We all this was coming at some point because the app is owned by Facebook - acquired in 2014 for $19.3 billion (what's a billion nowadays?) and the first warning was fired by the original owner of the app saying "Delete your Facebook account".
This part about Brian Acton got my attention:
In September 2017, Acton left WhatsApp. Acton told Forbes that he left over a dispute with Facebook regarding monetization of WhatsApp, and voluntarily left $850 million in unvested options on the table by leaving a few months before vesting was completed. He also noted that he was coached by Facebook executives to mislead European regulators regarding Facebook's intention to merge Facebook and WhatsApp user data.
(Source: Wikipedia entry on Brian Acton
Now WhatsApp has replied with a FAQ about WhatsApp's Privacy Policy which does not settle the matters.
The best alternative is to use Signal which is founded by Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton. It is going to be tricky for the average crowd to switch to secure messaging app. It is cited as the prisoner dilemma yet the choice is ultimately yours.
This site of mine...
I have to admit that it hasn't changed since having launched it back in January 2020, apart from some colouring in, it was all weeknotes and two pages. The long form posts I have wrote are stuck in my drafts folder for months. The procrastination lingers with tinge of anxiety and thoughts of others "Will they like what I have wrote? Am I writing into the black hole of the Internet?" and the constant reminder I tell myself daily "Write for yourself, publish it online, forget about it." Who really cares? Write, draw, explain, whatever it is, put it on your site and move on!
It seems that I'm writing to my conscious at this rate :-D
And finally...
The vaccine is being handed out in the United Kingdom with an ambitious goal. It seems that we could beat this pandemic. The only way forward is that people needs to start developing better awareness that we need this devastating virus to be squashed. There are talks of 'returning to normal' and I don't want to return to that. Gone are the idea of going to the office, travelling, school routines, everything. In are working from home on flexible basis, quality family times, home cooking at an all time high, who knows what is next?
The world has a good shaking down and out fell the real troublemakers that refuses to let go of the old ways.
Stay safe, stay warm.