The thought that comes to mind for me is that all of the tech companies are in a heavy cycle of stock/investor profit mode. It seems like every major company is just pumping the bottom line for stock gains.
I know that can lead to R&D money and advances, but I'm only really seeing that with M$ buying (I mean partnering) ChatGPT for their CoPilot to be the next big thing for Office/Microsoft 365.
What has Apple done new lately? iPhones just get better specs right?
Google, being the subject of the article, they do seem like they're getting their butts kicked trying to compete with OpenAI.
Broadcom buys VMware (which wasn't really doing anything wildly new IMO lately), openly plans to milk it for profit, and has been pretty honest about not giving a shit about customers, until their latest post where they are trying to speak against the obvious aforementioned 'not-giving-a-shit'
Who else?
Any major innovations lately not coming to my mind, or all just bottom line pumping?
I'd have to agree with you, and appreciate the thought regarding not over generalizing Christians, but I understand why people tend to.
Example: Remember cake lady from Indiana? She was a bigot. It pissed me off when she tried to use the excuse of 'religious beliefs'. Since she specifically claimed Christianity, I call total BS on the grounds that Jesus NEVER treated anyone like shit (aside from the other religious people, which following that thought, means she would have gotten called out). Jesus always gave people grace, and then offered advise (specific to Christianity). I would so much rather people be honest and say they don't like ____, instead of some BS hiding behind their own distorted version of faith. I don't have to agree with their opinion, just don't lie about it.
Also, I've never had any person who's gay try to 'convert' me, ever. You could get a bunch of comedy bits out of that one though. I have had mormons and jo's witnesses come by. They were nice, but if I wanted to waste a bunch of time talking, I would definitely ask them to explain views on dancing, sexuality, etc.
The only pro gay conversion I've ever been exposed to was movies/TV shows advocating for it being a 'normal' thing. I suppose that's because in the US, it's still considered 'weird' or wrong, and writers are trying to back it for what I imagine are civil rights reasons.
I'm not sure why it's so hard to stop caring about stuff that doesn't matter (to me). I have never cared about a person's orientation.
I don't understand why a treatment or jail program wouldn't be desirable.
Cost? Wasn't it potentially offset by cannabis taxes?
Capacity? Didn't addicts already get locked up? Or maybe now there's no capacity because the low level addicts have not been locked up and adjustments were made?
That's probably a matter of perception on my part. In the US, I don't see them that way. They still get called to the carpet by Congress and fined. Sometimes I think the fines are low enough they consider it just a cost of doing business.
I don't think small nations have that same feeling, especially when dealing with a US based company, or a national customer base that's large enough to make them feel it if they were lost.
data selling and privacy
Well, at least the EU is fighting on those fronts. Props to them.
set companies = {"only_care_about":"money"}