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The New York Times ,  November 29, 2017... "The five most valuable American companies — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft — control much of the online infrastructure, from app stores to operating systems to cloud storage to nearly all of the online ad business. A handful of broadband companies...provide virtually all the internet connections to American homes and smartphones....Together these giants have carved the internet into a historically profitable system of fiefs." Hey, but don't worry. You're in charge. It says so everywhere - " the consumer is in charge ." Of all the idiotic utopian nonsense about the web, there is probably nothing to rival this stupidity. They have all the power but we're in charge. Right. Here's how in charge we are: Staggering Variety of Clandestine Trackers Found in Popular Android Apps Researchers at Yale...have documented the proliferation of tracking software on smartphones, finding that weather, flashlig...

Today I am repeating my annual Thanksgiving post which I have run for many years. And, yes, that Trump line was there years before anyone could have known... Thanksgiving is my kind of holiday. It doesn't require gods or miracles or tragedies or victories or angels or kings or winners or losers or flags or gifts.  All you need is some pumpkin pie, a big-ass flat screen, and a comfortable sofa to drool on. Oh, and a little gratitude. 
Gratitude, by the way, is a commodity in very short supply. Regrettably, we seem to have mountains of expectation but not much in the way of appreciation. It's a socially transmitted disease. 
So this Thanksgiving let's put aside harsh judgments for a day or two. Thank a fireman. Give a bum a buck. Kiss an in-law. 
I don't like Puritans of any stripe. But I like the idea of them having the Indians over for dinner. I know the detente didn't last too long, but any day you're eating sweet potatoes instead of shooting off muskets ...

In this clip, from over 35 years ago, a young, dumb Steve Jobs debates an older, wiser David Burnham , writer for The New York Times (and breaker of the " Serpico " scandal) about the potential dangers of computer spying. This clip took place long before the idea of " surveillance marketing " even occurred to anyone. Hat tip to the great Douglas Burdett