Charlie Warzel, writing for The Atlantic, has the story on Mark Zuckerberg and Meta’s right-ward shift regarding “free expression.”

The social-media hall monitors have been so restrictive on “topics of immigration and gender that they’re out of touch with mainstream discourse,” Zuckerberg said with the zeal of an activist. He spoke about “a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech” following “nonstop” concerns about misinformation from the “legacy media” and four years of the United States government “pushing for censorship.” It is clear from Zuckerberg’s announcement that he views establishment powers as having tried and failed to solve political problems by suppressing his users. That message is sure to delight Donald Trump and the incoming administration. But there’s one tiny hitch. Zuckerberg is talking about himself and his own policies. The establishment? That’s him.

The changes to Meta’s properties, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, are being framed by the CEO as a return “to our roots around free expression.” This bit of framing is key, painting him as having been right all along. It also conveniently elides nearly a decade of decisions made by Zuckerberg, who not only is Meta’s founder but also holds a majority of voting power in the company, meaning the board cannot vote him out. He is Meta’s unimpeachable king. […]

Zuckerberg’s personal politics have always been inextricably linked to his company’s political and financial interests. Above all else, the Facebook founder seems compelled by any ideology that allows the company to grow rapidly and make money without having to take too much responsibility for what happens on its platforms. Zuckerberg knows which way the political wind is blowing and appears to be trying to ride it while, simultaneously, being at least a little bit afraid of it.

Sigh. Slower than I should, I’ll be using Facebook, Instagram, and Threads even less than I already do now.

Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada and leader of the Liberal Party there, today announced his resignation after nearly a decade in the job.

This feels like the passing of a torch, but I’m afraid the torch is going to set a bunch of things on fire.

Seth Godin –

An artifact is an object that holds or signifies an idea.

A book on paper is an artifact: it’s the object plus the words. Now that you can get the words in many other ways, the value of the book is changed.

A wedding ring is an artifact. If lost, it has sentimental value far greater than what you could buy a similar replacement for.

Sometimes, the value of an idea fades away, which is why many old books are worthless. Garage sales are filled with previously valuable items that hold ideas that people aren’t attracted to.

And sometimes, the value of the object fades away, but the idea remains important. That’s what happens when you upgrade your laptop.

When the world shifts, the artifacts around us change in value

On his blog, Spyglass, M.G. Siegler has thoughts on all these tech bros, especially Tim Cook, dropping a cool million to Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Oh, I’m sorry, did I say “fealty”? I meant “unity”, which is the rationale Cook is apparently giving for the donation, “sources” told Axios' Mike Allen. That’s speaking to the unity of the country, which, fair enough, I guess. But really, the most interesting element is the unity amongst these CEOs in all somehow deciding to give the exact same amount of money. Clearly, there was either direct coordination here – a sort of, “how much money do you think we should all give so this isn’t some sort of bidding war?“2 – or indirect by way of the first such donation from Mark Zuckerberg at Meta.

But token amount of money aside – and, to be clear, this is essentially couch cushion money for both the companies and CEOs involved here – this donation is not some sort of “great American tradition” as Cook is said to be trying to frame it. Certainly not for Apple itself. And while other tech companies have given money to other inaugurations in the past, notably to President Biden’s day four years ago, these $1M checks are above and beyond anything done historically from these companies.4

Look, there are many reasons why I’m not the CEO of a trillion-dollar company. But certainly on that list would be that I don’t think I could make such a donation. Easy for me to say not being anywhere close to that position and decision, of course. But still, if you take a step back and take into account all we know, or at least think we know about these individuals and companies, do we really believe any of them are truly comfortable with these donations? Perhaps a couple of them are, but I would not put Tim Cook on that list.5 Come on, obviously most of these companies and individuals as proxies are writing these checks because they feel like they have to. In the name of unity, yes. Unity in that they’re all in the same bad predicament.

Trump has been soliciting bribes in the most mob-like, obvious way. He’s saying, “Yo Tim Apple, that’s a nice company you got there. It would be a shame if anything untoward would come upon it.” And Tim Cook decided to play the game.

It’s also important to note that $1M is literally peanuts to all of these tech bro billionaires, but it’s likely enough to keep Trump from looking their way during the next excruciating four years.

Charlie Sykes in his newsletter, To the Contrary, outlines the continued uselessness of the Washington Post.

To fully absorb the profound stupidity of the Wapo’s decision, consider the alternative timeline in which the paper published Telnaes’s sketch. If the Wapo had published it, both the paper and Bezos would have looked… better. The paper would have reasserted a modicum of independence and integrity; and even Bezos would have benefited.

Instead of looking like a thin-skinned, craven autocrat, he would have looked like someone big enough to tolerate criticism.

The Streisand Effect is in full effect here. Just weak management, poor decisions, and complete all around stupidity. Of course, the cartoon can be seen everywhere.

The annual Death List has been posted for 2025. What famous people will probably drop in the coming year?

I’d wager a buck or two that Dick Van Dyke and Eve Maria Saint likely won’t make it through the year. I hope Mel Brooks and Clint Eastwood last a while longer. I would love it if Rupert Murdoch would slither off this mortal coil and put Fox News in jeopardy. One can only hope.

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Global Data created a rather thorough 3D animation that compares the size of common items, land animals, sea creatures, flying creatures, historical monuments, skyscrapers, air and land vehicles, universe objects, planets and constellations within our entire universe.

Spend 20 minutes and go from infinitesimally small to infinitely large.

The New York Times asked Colson Whitehead what he hoped to see in 2025, and he replied with this bleak statement:

“I have no hopes for 2025. Humanity is disappointing. We killed the Earth. Villains triumph and the innocents suffer. I imagine these trends will continue.”

Feels that way, doesn’t it?

I must say it is interesting that the fall of the SEC’s dominance, the fall of Alabama, and Georgia coming back to normal all happened as soon as every team could start legally paying players.

— Brandon Walker (@BFW) January 2, 2025

In just the past three days:

Illinois football beat an SEC football team for the first time in history.

Illinois basketball posted the largest road win over a Top 10 basketball team in the history of the game.

That's quite a week.

— Dave Wischnowsky (@wischlist) January 3, 2025

Wayne Osmond, the fourth oldest child of the Osmond family and second oldest Osmond Brother, died at the age of 73. The New York Times reports that his daughter Amy Cook confirmed he died at the University of Utah Hospital from complications from a recent stroke.

He wrote one of the all-time best rock riffs and solo with “Crazy Horses.”

John Scalzi posted some resolutions for 2025 that I really liked.

1. Renew my commitment to my own personal health and fitness, because the next few years will not be ones in which to rely on the US heath care system;

2. Spend more time on friendships and community, and both be looking out for friends, and letting friends look out for me;

3. Cut back on new spending to focus on enjoying what I already have. So, as just one example, I’m not buying any additional guitars in 2025. I have enough, and 2025 will be a fine year to use the ones I have in recordings;

4. Somewhat related, prioritize enrichment over doomscrolling, because I think in the next few years I would rather read a book or write a song than “entertain” myself with social media’s outrage du jour;

5. Engage with the fights that need fighting in ways that work for me now. There are lots of topics I care about and ever more limited time and energy to engage with them, and in 2025, in addition to my own projects, we’re going to be working to get Scalzi Enterprises up to speed. How to engage in important things and still have time and energy for all the things I want and need to do? Turns out, in my particular case, there’s a solution: I have money! In 2024, I argued less and donated more, and it turns out that is a combination that’s working for me. I plan to do more of that in 2025, both personally and via the Scalzi Family Foundation.

Outrageous Predictions 2025 [Saxo Bank]
PS Commentators' Predictions for 2025 [Project Syndicate]
12 Predictions for Life in 2025 [NY Times]
End Times: Legendary oracle Baba Vanga’s scary predictions for 2025 [Euronews]
10 AI Predictions For 2025 [Forbes]
The Ultimate 2025 Horoscope Prediction Guide, According to a Celebrity Astrologer [People]
15 predictions for 2025 [Platformer]
The World Ahead 2025 [The Economist]

HT: Metafilter

Jimmy Carter, former president of the United States, died Sunday at 100. He was the longest-living president in US history.

His 1977–1981 term in office saw a landmark Egypt-Israel peace accord, economic struggles, and a failed Iran hostage rescue. After his presidency, he championed peace, human rights, and the environment, earning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

One of the most remarkable one-term presidents of my lifetime. We will never see the likes of him again. He was a phenomenal person. By far the most impactful former president in US history and, too rarely, a good and honorable man.

President Carter was the first president that I remember being president. An incredible loss to our nation.

Heather Cox Richardson has the best piece on the life of President Carter.

If you are tired of reading about the man, you might want to listen to him speak. Here is Jimmy Carter himself on the Fresh Air podcast.

This pretty well covers all the bases of what people voting for DJT in the 2024 election really meant/means 🎯👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/CR8hAC7Q58

— armand~ (@AreMond2) December 30, 2024

Longtime sports broadcaster Greg Gumbel died at the age of 78 on Friday, December 27, reports CBS News.

Dan McQuade, writing at Defector, has a smart retrospective on Gumbel’s career.

Frank Landymore, writing in futurism.com, talks about “brain rot.”

…a growing body of scientific evidence over the past decade suggests that consuming mind-numbing content, from sources ranging from algorithmically driven social media junk to sensationalist news, can literally reduce the physical gray matter in our brains. That’s along with wreaking other pernicious effects like shortened attention spans and weakened memory.

So maybe put the phone down and touch some grass or feel the sunshine on your face. It can only help.

From The Atlantic Science Desk, 77 Facts That Blew Our Minds in 2024. My faves:

3. A group of butterflies flew across the Atlantic Ocean without stopping. It took them only about eight days.

7. Early space capsules lacked handholds and footholds on the outside, and some spacewalking astronauts really struggled to make it back on board.

20. You can buy a fitness tracker for your pet.

27. AI image generators have a penchant for rendering hot people.

37. When our writer ran his own dissertation through the plagiarism-detection software that was likely used to help bring down Harvard President Claudine Gay, it initially claimed that his work was 74 percent copied. The correct number was zero.

52. Dogs may be entering a new wave of domestication.

71. The 10,000-steps-a-day goal doesn’t originate from clinical science. Instead, it comes from a 1965 marketing campaign by a Japanese company that was selling pedometers.