Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

Let there be snark.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Let me file that under fuck it.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

You cannot love your country only when you win.

How stupid are these people?

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

People are complicated. Love is not.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Late Night Open Thread: Zuck Taunts ‘the Walrus’

Late Night Open Thread: Zuck Taunts ‘the Walrus’

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The mid-life crisis hits some harder than others. One man may choose to ‘get fighting fit’; another may use what he perceives as his personal strengths to start throwing big talk about his huge stacks. From NYMag, “What We Know About Musk and Zuck’s Stupid (and Probably Pretend) Fight”:

Zuckerberg says he is ready, but Musk is wavering
After a good bit of trash talk and social media stunts in June, the fight prospect cooled off in July. But the matter was revived the first weekend in August when Musk tweeted that he was “preparing for the fight” and that all proceeds from the event, which would be live-streamed on Twitter, would go to charity for veterans…

Why is Elon Musk doing this?
For years now, Mark Zuckerberg has wanted to buy Twitter, even offering a bid for the nascent social media platform back in 2008. In recent days, he has been saying Twitter isn’t living up to its potential, telling MIT researcher and podcaster Lex Fridman on June 10 that “I always thought Twitter should have a billion people using it.” The day before, The Verge reported on the Meta app Project 92. Meta’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, called it “our response to Twitter,” which would allow their many users to sign up for a “sanely run” alternative to the app Musk seems fixed on tanking…

Why is Mark Zuckerberg doing this?
If you haven’t paid attention to the Facebook founder’s wellness journey, Mark Zuckerberg has spent the past few years getting extremely jacked and learning kickboxing. It’s a classic move for billionaires. What better way is there to invest than in yourself? (It also might help him avoid a Batman’s dad type situation.) Newly minted as a jock, the 39-year-old CEO appears to be ready to do jock things like beating up a really annoying guy in his orbit…

So if it actually happens, who would win?
Musk is purportedly six-foot-one, while Zuckerberg is five-seven, giving Musk the clear height advantage. Musk also has more than a few pounds on Zuck, though that might only be an advantage for what he calls his signature move:

Late Night Open Thread: Zuck Taunts 'the Walrus'

The betting odds would be on the CEO who is younger and can do 100 pull-ups. But the real answer: the haters. The haters would win if these two chose to embarrass themselves like this.

ETA: Oh, Lord Murphy the Trickster God…


(… but how will we even know the difference?)

Reader Interactions

78Comments

  4. 4.

    CaseyL

    How long has it been since the billionaire MotU CEO of OceanGate got himself killed thinking he was smarter than everyone else?

    Maybe it planted a tiny little seed. A metavirus, if you will, that makes billionaires want to risk their actual physical well-being because they live in such rarified levels of abstraction they want to experience something “real.”

    As metaviruses go, I’m all for this one spreading.

  6. 6.

    mrmoshpotato

    I’m all for these two assclown manchildren fighting each other – on the surface of the Sun.

  7. 7.

    piratedan

    shame that we can’t direct this adolescent dick measuring to something positive, you know, like maybe culling garbage from the ocean and whoever gets the largest amount in volume/tonnage “wins” or even something under their control, like an app that does the least amount of private data scraping….

  9. 9.

    BellyCat

    To resolve a dispute in Roman Times, slaves of each party would fight.

    In Internet Times, the parties, themselves, must fight.

    SOCIAL (media) PROGRESS!

  10. 10.

    Origuy

    @rachel: Musk is the one who needs a haircut, Zuckerman is the one who regrets his last haircut, and Bezos is the one who just needs some polish and a quick shine.

  12. 12.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Hmmmm the magat’s keep claiming the indictments are distractions from a laptop…given projection, this fight bs is the distraction from the indictments.

  14. 14.

    Balconesfault

    Anyone else thinking that if he’s scheduling surgery, he’s right now looking for a team to turn him in Steve Austin.

  17. 17.

    WereBear

    @Balconesfault: Yes, the thought occurred.

    Because they really do think their money translates into power, and seem to be spectacularly bad at figuring out when that is true… and when it is not.

    Using it to feed one’s denial process supercharges the subsequent madness. We’ve seen how a surgeon can be bribed.

    They do think they can WILL things into being. Good luck with that.

  18. 18.

    Nukular Biskits

    I have both a Facebook account and a Twitter (sorry, not calling it “X”). Both I use to primarily harangue elected officials.

    I almost never use the FB account, mostly due to the hard right leanings of most of the folks who reply there.  The Twitter account I use daily, more for its quick updates on news from the MS Todday and MS Free Press.

    I’d prefer to not use either, particularly since Twitter is run by a master troll.

  19. 19.

    The Thin Black Duke

    No matter how much money these creepy sociopaths got, Zucko and Muskrat still can’t buy admittance into the Kool Kidz Klub, and this dumb-ass PR stunt won’t give either of them the satisfaction they’re looking for.

    Good.

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    @Nukular Biskits: I miss haranguing officials on Twitter, but I’m pretty sure Musk’s dumb antics and idiotic monetization schemes have ruined the platform as a communication utility and go-to breaking news platform, though it will take a while for the death spiral to conclude.

    Meanwhile, I’m waiting to see how successor options shake out. Threads seems to be evolving into a general interest site while Bluesky appears more politics-focused. At least that’s how my feeds on those platforms look. Have you checked them out? (I previously gave Mastodon a shot but it didn’t stick.)

    I deleted my (not frequently used) personal Facebook page after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but I do maintain a page under a fake name that I don’t post on but use to access the marketplace function and local business pages. In my neck of the woods, a lot of businesses use Facebook as their primary site, and if you don’t have an account, you can’t reach them online.

  24. 24.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: True. Read an interview the other day with the Meta point guy for that project, and he teased coming upgrades. But the window of opportunity is slamming shut fast. I personally like the Bluesky interface best, but it’s still a beta situation.

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: I don’t post much on Bluesky yet, but I’m starting to see more Twitter mutuals migrating there. I probably have invitation codes to spare if you’re interested.

  28. 28.

    Nukular Biskits

    @Betty Cracker:

    Originally, I had signed up on FB for the sole purpose of interacting (such as it is) with elected officials, albeit most of the interacting consists of one-way propaganda on their part and unacknowledged responses on the part of everyone else.

    As you noted, unfortunately, a LOT of businesses and organizations (such as the HOA where I currently am residing) choose to put their info on FB instead of running a website.  In a way, I can’t blame them but it sucks to have to go to FB to find out basic info.

    I will say this for FB, though:  Their moderation may not be the best in the world but it does exist.  I was kicked off the platform several times for refusing to provide proof of identity when someone reported my posts that were critical or mocking of our “conservative, super-duper Christian” politicians.

    When I grudgingly turn to FB now, I use a Protonmail email account and go private (AND VPN).  Yeah, it probably doesn’t take Zuck much to figure out who/where I am but I’m not gonna just hand him my info. LOL!

    As for Twitter, despite its descent into 4chan madness, I do find it a valuable source of info (again, I would have never come across the MS Free Press had it not been for Twitter).  Having said that, however, I now have a stalker who is impersonating me.  When I reported him (and it’s almost always a “he”), Twitter demanded my proof of my identity and then, when I supplied it, came back and said it wasn’t a problem.  Jackasses.

    Finally, I also spun up a Mastodon account about the same time as Baud but have done absolutely nothing with it.

  30. 30.

    JWR

    @Nukular Biskits:

    (sorry, not calling it “X”).

    Me neither. On it’s website, NBC has been using “formerly known as”, as in “X, the company formerly known as”, or, “X, the social media app formerly known as”, whenever Twitter comes up.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    David Pepper
    @DavidPepper
    “Never in the history of Ohio has the Ohio Legislature put an issue of such grave importance on an August special.”
    The most corrupt statehouse in America is trying to sneak a power grab past the voters.

    When we win tonight it should be another example of how the (now fashionable) anti-woke, misogynist and anti trans campaign tactics, while very popular with far Right elites, the Washington Post, New York Times and pundits, are a big flop with midwestern voters.

    The YES on 1 people ran an anti woke, anti womens autonomy and anti trans campaign and they POURED money into it. They dumped double digit millions in the last 2 weeks. This was the Christopher Rufo ideology.

    So, Ohians, you’re not just beating an authoritarian and corrupt power grab, you’re beating douchebags like Rufo and Richard Hanania and all the Left, centrist and mainstream white middle aged male ninnies who fell for (and will fall for, always) their bullshit.

  39. 39.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    They’re really fired up locally. It has been fun. We have a watch party so I’ll be at that. It’s all “the old ladeeeeeez” as my daughter says :)

  40. 40.

    Betty Cracker

    @Nukular Biskits: Bluesky is the most like pre-Musk Twitter, so it’s really simple to use — love that about it. You can post photos but not video at this point. I’m told there will eventually be a video function. It’s mobile only right now, but I’m told there will eventually be a desktop version. If they’d build those functions out and create an embed feature that works across multiple platforms, maybe they could eat Musk’s lunch.

  41. 41.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Fingers crossed! Connie Schultz was on Maddow’s show last night, and she seemed optimistic.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    I had a facetime with my grandaughter in Denmark yesterday. She is talking- some words and phrases- she’s two. She speaks both Engish and Danish which has been hard for me to get used to but is also fascinating to listen to, because she switches back and forth effortlessly. So she and I were singing “itsy bitsy spider” (in English) but Danes sing that too at her daycare so she switched over to Danish and I tried to go along in Danish – spider is “edderkop”, really all I caught.  She stops COLD, stares at me, and loudly enunciates “edderkop” – Danish has a soft, blurry “d” sound that I can’t replicate  – I got it wrong. She’s a fierce  little thing!

  45. 45.

    satby

    @Betty Cracker: I also like Blue Sky much better. Haven’t even bothered to go back to mastodon to delete my account there. My feed on Twitter is heavily curated, so still not as bad as the general site is, but almost all my follows from there have moved to the sky, so I’m close to flipping completely over to it.

  46. 46.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Kids are always hyper vigilant about what they know. They learned it themselves 5 seconds earlier and they can’t wait to correct people. They’re show offs!

  48. 48.

    satby

    @Kay: thanks to exchange students from Denmark and Japan, my youngest son used to be able to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider in both languages when he was four. He’s 37 now and doesn’t remember any more.

  49. 49.

    eversor

    I’m not sure Zuck is having a mid life crisis though I am sure Elon sure is.

    MMA is just really popular with millenials and zoomers.  The big sports are MMA, soccer, and basketball.  If you talk to anyone at your office, that’s what they are going to be watching and doing.  Probably along with the odd crossfitter.  WWE is popular as well, though there are crossovers from that to MMA.  This is partly how we all grew up.  Our parents were all aware of the issues around football and baseball.   So we all did martial arts, soccer, and basketball.  These all also happen to be coed sports where in some cases (soccer) the womens division is better than the mens, in the case of MMA the womens side produces some great fights and in cases gets as much hype as the mens.  Basketball is the odd duck here.  It’s not shocking that we all grew up to watch these sports.

    Not all of these personalities are toxic either, even in WWE and MMA  Dave Bautista competed in both before becoming an actor.  He covered up a tatoo associated Manny Paciqua over the laters homophobic remarks.  He’s a dedicated democrat who after supporting Sanders in the primary went all in for Biden in the general and did his best to get the vote out.  He’s a pescatarian that while flirted with veganism never went down that route but has advocated people eat less meat.  From what everyone says about him, he’s a nice guy.  Or Sarah McMann.  Sarah’s not only a top tier MMA fighter she’s an Olympic silver medalist!  Lost her brother and spouse in a tragedy, bounced back, became a mental health specialst and has gone on to advocate for it.

  52. 52.

    Nukular Biskits

    @eversor:

    I use Linux … in fact, I’m teleworking today doing some development work for an application that gathers configuration data.

    Having said that, Mastodon still appears alien to me.

  53. 53.

    Kay

    @satby:

    It made me sad initially because she’s so far away and I don’t see her nearly as much as the NY grandaughter but now it’s just so interesting to watch. Her mother speaks Danish (and lots of other languages) but my son really doesn’t – although his employer requires Danish courses and he’s been taking them for two years.  She navigates between her parents effortlessly.

  55. 55.

    satby

    @Kay: Since her mom will still speak it to her other family once they move here, your granddaughter at least won’t lose it after they come and she’s immersed in English. And my sons’ early exposures to other languages allowed them to learn and converse passably in Spanish when they took it in school, so they’re way ahead of me at least. It really puts kids ahead.

  56. 56.

    Ken

    @JWR: NBC has been using “formerly known as”, as in “X, the company formerly known as”

    As many have pointed out, there are a lot of online services named “X something” out there, so it’s important to clarify. NBC wouldn’t want someone suing them because they went to the wrong site and saw something offensive. They’ll get enough of that at X.

  57. 57.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: I’ve come to despise Rufo almost as much as I loathe DeSantis. It makes me sick to hear that smirking fraud harangue students and scholars in Florida. The fucking nerve of that creep, who lives in the Pacific Northwest, parachuting into a state on the opposite corner of the continent to tell people far more qualified than he is how to run things.

  61. 61.

    sab

    @satby: My Chinese brother in law thinks Shanghai does so much better than Beijing in international business because they were forced to be multilingual. They learned Wu dialect (Shanghainese) at home, then had to learn Mandarin at age six when they started school. So learning new languages is normal to them. He is upset that the regional dialects seem to be dying out under the current Chinese government.

  63. 63.

    RevRick

    @Betty Cracker: I use both FB and Xcretion regularly. I find your concern about privacy both charming and quaint. There is no such thing on the internet. My security program on my phone periodically informs me of all the websites that have been hacked, and the question is, “what hasn’t?”
    On Facebook, I use it to keep in touch with family, friends and colleagues. I’m also on several interest groups, including a private one of like-minded politically. On X, I support those who support the Democratic agenda, and get my kicks calling GOP pols God-damned fascists.

  65. 65.

    eversor

    @Betty Cracker:

    If you’d like to hate him more Rufo was also beamed into PA to push intelligent design.  He’s an old hat at this.  He does tend to lose the issue in the end but he gets the votes while he is there.

  66. 66.

    WereBear

    @Baud: I follow certain hashtags and comment and get into conversations that never happened, or not for very long, on Twitter.

    It’s a little neighborhood and it’s easy to meet people.

  68. 68.

    Another Scott

    @WereBear: +1 That’s my impression as well.

    I’ve not posted anything, but watching https://mastodon.social/explore a couple of times a day seems to be an easy way to find new stuff there.

    I’ve got an account on counter.social as well, but haven’t posted anything there either (and don’t even skim it much).

    Transitions are always hard and take a long time. Choice is good!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  69. 69.

    WereBear

    Maybe it’s just that pet people are usually easy to get along with :)

    But Twitter grew into what we mourn now. I gave up a follow from a famous person! That’s a lot, these days, she said with a smile. Though I always remind myself that it’s likely the person’s media manager…

    But I know a lot of people aren’t used to using accessibility features which Mastodon insists upon. And the part where one thought about their server dropped a lot of people.

    I think it’s all about the navigation and learning the ropes. I picked up quickly but someone who doesn’t will find the whole experience too frustrating. Which applies to every platform.

    I stay off FB and leave that to Mr WayofCats, who has friends and communities there. When I use it, they changed everything and it’s confusing and I go away and come back and it’s worse, and I never can get my Instagram password working, though I can post through my media manager, and I just don’t LIKE it.

    There’s enough of them that it will wind up self-sorting.

  70. 70.

    sdhays

    @Baud: I’m frankly stunned that they haven’t been rolling out new features ever couple of weeks. Do they just have a couple of interns working on it?

    Not that I’m complaining. Any Meta success is bad for the world.

  71. 71.

    AM in NC

    And to think that for all my life (more than half a century) I’ve been given the cultural message that women shouldn’t be in charge of anything because of our hormones.

    Testosterone is a helluva drug.

    Jesus Christ.

  73. 73.

    Kay

    @evodevo:

    My son is not impressed with the Danish education system- high school and higher ed. He thinks our engineers are better than their engineers, across the board, no matter where they went to college. I was surprised by that because you never hear it. After time in Dublin, Berlin and now Copenhagen working with people from everywhere, he thinks Americans take their higher ed system for granted and don’t appreciate how strong it is, especially the big state schools. So they’ll return for her schooling at some point- it’s important to them.

  75. 75.

    Hamlet of Melnibone

    Does anyone remember the Friends episodes where Monica’s millionaire boyfriend ( played by Jon Favreau ) wants to become the Ultimate Fighting Champion?

    Parody is dead.

  77. 77.

    bluefoot

    @Kay: ​
      That’s cool re Danish for spider. I had wondered where Tolkien had gotten the word “attercop” in The Hobbit. I eventually learned it was old English and present in one of the Scots dialects. Coming from the Norse makes sense.

    I wonder what other nursery rhymes are common across cultures.

  78. 78.

    satby

    @WereBear: I think it’s all about the navigation and learning the ropes. I picked up quickly but someone who doesn’t will find the whole experience too frustrating. Which applies to every platform.

    Yes, it does. But… Different approaches also matter. I wish people wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that the people who don’t enjoy using mastodon are somehow “uptake impaired” or can’t pick it up quickly, to use your phrase. Quite a few of us picked it up, and put it right back down. Because the interface doesn’t appeal.

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