No one really cares

That’s the one thing you can reliably count on. The masses simply don’t care enough about anything to ever take action unless they are starving. Techcrunch explains why so few people quit Facebook and Google… and by extension, Amazon and Twitter.

Privacy advocates will tell you that the lack of a wide boycott against Google  and particularly Facebook is symptomatic of a lack of information: if people really understood what was happening with their data, they would galvanize immediately for other platforms. Indeed, this is the very foundation for the GDPR policy in Europe: users should have a choice about how their data is used, and be fully-informed on its uses in order to make the right decision for them.

I don’t believe more information would help, and I reject the mentality behind it. It’s reminiscent of the political policy expert who says that if only voters had more information — if they just understood the issue — they would change their mind about something where they are clearly in the “wrong.” It’s incredibly condescending, and obscures a far more fundamental fact about consumers: people know what they value, they understand it, and they are making an economic choice when they stick with Google or Facebook .

Alternatives exist for every feature and app offered by these companies, and they are not hard to find. You can use Signal for chatting, DuckDuckGo for search, FastMail for email, 500px or Flickr for photos, and on and on. Far from being shameless clones of their competitors, in many cases these products are even superior to their originals, with better designs and novel features.

And yet. When consumers start to think about the costs, they balk. There’s sometimes the costs of the products themselves (FastMail is $30/year minimum, but really $50 a year or more if you want reasonable storage), but more importantly are the switching costs that come with using a new product. I have 2,000 contacts on Facebook Messenger — am I just supposed to text them all to use Signal from now on? Am I supposed to completely relearn a new photos app, when I am habituated to the taps required from years of practice on Instagram?

Surveillance capitalism has been in the news the past few weeks thanks to Shoshana Zuboff’s 704-page tome of a book “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism.” But surveillance capitalism isn’t a totalizing system: consumers do have choices here, at least when it comes to consumer apps (credit scores and the reporting bureaus are a whole other beast). There are companies that have even made privacy their distinguishing feature. And consumers respond pretty consistently: I will take free with surveillance over paid with privacy.

One of the lessons I have learned — perhaps the most important you can learn about consumer products — is just how much people are willing to give up for free things. They are willing to give up privacy for free email. They are willing to allow their stock broker to help others actively trade against them for a free stock brokerage account with free trading. People love free stuff, particularly when the harms are difficult to perceive.

As a general rule, if your plan involves “waking people up with the truth”, it’s going to fail. If you consider that even Jesus Christ himself could not change a petty regional power structure with the truth, you probably shouldn’t count on anything else changing on that basis either.

Suing the SPLC

Gavin McInnes is striking back at the left-wing organization that has weaponized defamation:

Talk show host Gavin McInnes has filed suit against the hyperpartisan Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) this week. The 61-page complaint was electronically filed early Monday morning in the Middle District of Alabama outlining defamation and other tortious acts resulting in reputational and economic damages.

The Canadian-immigrant talk show host is demanding an apology from the left-wing SPLC for purposefully misrepresenting his beliefs in a defamatory manner and the defamatory mischaracterization of a fraternal club he founded, Proud Boys.

McInnes is being represented by noted First Amendment attorney Ron D. Coleman of Mandelbaum Salsburg P.C. and Baron Coleman of the Baron Coleman Law Firm.

This is exactly the right thing to do. None of the whiners who cry about deplatforming but fail to pursue legal action are ever going to accomplish anything, because the Left knows no shame and could not care less about being called hypocritical.

If more people would do the same, Big Social would be considerably less inclined to think it could get away with actions that blatantly violate their own terms and policies.

The next neocon target

It’s an interesting confession of neocon weakness in the aftermath of the Syrian debacle that they are presently targeting Venezuela instead of another Middle Eastern state. But, as the Saker points out, Russia is not in a position to help defend the Venezuelans as they defended the Syrians from imperial aggression:

I am getting a lot of emails suggesting that Russia might do in Venezuela what she did in Syria. Let me immediately tell you that this is not going to happen. Yes, there are a lot of Russians in Venezuela, but the “Russians are not coming”. For one thing, I will never cease to repeat that the Russian intervention in Syria was a very small one, and that even if this small force proved formidable, it was really acting primarily as a force multiplier for the Iranians, Hezbollah and the Syrian government forces. And yet, even the deployment of this very small force necessitated a huge logistics effort from Russia whose military (being a purely defensive one) is simply not structured for long-distance power projection. Syria is about 1000km from Russia. Venezuela is about 10 times (!) further. Yes, I know,a few Tu-160 visited the country twice now and there are Russian advisors in the country and the Venezuelans have a few pretty good Russian weapons systems. But here, again, this is a game of numbers. Limited numbers of Russian-made combat aircraft (fixed and rotary wing), air defense missiles or even large numbers of advanced MANPADs or assault rifles won’t do the trick against a determined US-Colombian invasion. Finally, there is no Venezuelan equivalent to Iran or Hezbollah (an outside ally and friend) which would be capable and willing to deploy real combat forces for actual, sustained combat against the invader.

I can’t help but suspect that Trump has something up his sleeve here. Is he throwing the neocons into a tar baby, perhaps? Is there anyone, anywhere, who is buying the inept imperial rhetoric about the democratic legitimacy of an unelected foreign puppet?

And it is bizarre that the USA is posturing as if it is going to fix a third-world failed state when it is rapidly transforming into one itself. Apparently the plan is for a second New American Century, albeit in South America now that the Middle East plan has failed.

The opposite of boring

I have no idea why people thought last night’s Super Bowl was boring. To the contrary, it was one of the most exciting, cerebral games in the history of the sport.

The Rams’ defensive coordinator, Wade Phillips, had matched McDaniels’ calls all night. Mostly, the Patriots could do nothing against the Los Angeles sub defenses. Because the Rams’ front was so formidable with pile-pushers Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh, they could afford to play one or two extra men in the back end and limit Tom Brady’s passing options with three strong corners. So McDaniels told his men they were just going jumbo, which would force Phillips out of his sub packages and put linebackers on receivers the Patriots trusted could beat them.

McDaniels would keep only one small player on the field—Julian Edelman. And on the next series, he’d play two tight ends (the lightly used Allen and Rob Gronkowki), a fullback (James Devlin), a big back (Rex Burkhead) and Edelman.

“It was a pretty amazing thing,’’ said Allen, one of the beneficiaries of McDaniels’ invention. “Hats off to the Rams. They really knew us. They played us great. But football’s about in-game adjustments. Josh told us on the sideline, ‘We did not practice this at all coming into this game, and I realize that, but this is going off in my head, and it’s something I think we need to do.’ “

The Patriots had averaged 4.9 yards per play in the first 50 minutes of the game. On this drive, they averaged 13.8. New England played what it considers its athletic big offense, and it worked. Gronkowski beat linebacker Samson Ebukam up the right flank for 18 on first down, then hit Edelman on linebacker Cory Littleton for 13, then Burkhead in the left flat for seven, then Gronkowski between Littleton and Mark Barron down the left seam for 29. Sony Michel subbed in for a two-yard touchdown run. Five plays, 69 yards, TD. Pats, 10-3.

Afterward, Bill Belichick praised McDaniels as much as I’d heard him praise any of his coaches. Belichick called the McDaniels change a “real key breakthrough,” and said McDaniels “made a great adjustment,” and called his play-calling “outstanding, as usual.”

One of the things the more casual fans of the game don’t understand is that a team’s ability to “make adjustments” is very limited by the fact that they have to have practiced the plays to which they are going to switch, that’s what it means to have a game plan. A game plan is essentially a book of plays that the team has repeatedly practiced that week, and there may not be another team in the league with an offensive roster capable of switching completely to formations and plays that are not in that week’s game plan.

Part of that is because New England makes such drastic changes in its game plans from week to week. Even if the jumbo package wasn’t a part of the Super Bowl game plan, there were times this season when it was a major part of the weekly game plan so the players were at least familiar with the plays involved. A second part is that New England has the smartest roster in the league, so the players are able to make the necessary changes without being confused or out of position or mixing up their assignments even when running plays they haven’t practiced. And the third part is that McDaniels has the confidence and courage to make such a high-risk call, one that most head coaches, let alone offensive coordinators, would never, ever make.

Remember, most coaches won’t even go for it on fourth down for fear of criticism. Imagine how much flak both McDaniels and Belichick would have taken for abandoning the game plan in a tie game in the fourth quarter deep in their own territory if something had gone awry.

As for the commercials and the halftime show, who cares? That’s all nonsense for the non-fans. I didn’t see any of that stuff.

Italy imposes sanity

Italy has the sanest government in the West:

Rome has effectively derailed an EU statement meant to recognize Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim leader if President Nicolas Maduro fails to set up snap elections, a Five Star Movement source confirmed to RT. Italy announced the veto at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers that started on January 31 in Romania, the source said. The statement, which was supposed to be delivered by EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini recognized Guaido as interim president if snap elections were not held.

It’s amazing to see 5 Stars aggressively following the nationalist tone being set by La Lega’s Salvini. Or Santo Matteo, as he is increasingly being called.

And while the EU is at it, perhaps it should note that Macron is a less legitimate national leader than Maduro.

Chuck Dixon’s Avalon trilogy at Arkhaven

The first three issues of Chuck Dixon’s Avalon are now available in high-quality, DRM-free CBZ format on the Arkhaven store. A Kindle-format edition is also included with each digital edition sale, in case you happen to prefer that format. Each issue retails for $2.99.

Meanwhile, Ben is understandably getting impatient:

When the hell is the next book coming out? You’re turning into rrrr Martin.

It’s an understandable comparison, though I don’t believe it is a fair one. I would remind Ben and others who are impatiently waiting for more epic fantasy that I have an obligation to those who are so generously supporting my other projects. And those projects, in order of the level of their support, are as follows:

  1. Arkhaven (specifically AH and AH:Q, but also including Swan Knight Saga) 
  2. Infogalactic
  3. Darkstream/Voxiversity

Now, I very much enjoy working on The Arts of Dark and Light. It is a literal labor of love. It is the best thing I have yet written. But how can I justify taking so much time away from actual commitments that it hinders my ability to deliver on them, especially when I’m late on several of them as it is?

Furthermore, there is an important principle of reinforcing success and abandoning failure that must always be kept in mind. Non-fiction works such as SJWAL and Jordanetics each sell 6x more copies than novels like A Throne of Bones or Quantum Mortis, and they take CONSIDERABLY less time to write. I have a family to support, and as the Darkstream viewers know, considerable vet bills to pay. Selenoth is very far from a failure, but neither is it a commercial success on the scale of Arkhaven or even the Darkstream. So, I simply can’t justify spending very much time on indulging myself by working on the epic fantasy saga.

Readers also demanded more Quantum Mortis and I managed to find a way to deliver a lot more without taking up too much of my time. We will be announcing at least one new, and very large, Quantum Mortis project this year about which QM fans will be extremely excited, particularly those who have enjoyed the Wardogs Inc. trilogy. It’s going to be awesome. But that’s not an option for TAODAL. I can’t simply do an outline and bring in a co-author or two to crank out three or more volumes.

Here is the primary problem with the “Vox RR Day” meme: whereas George Martin is rather spectacularly failing to deliver on what pays his bills, I’m actually delivering on what pays mine. That’s why Corporate Cancer will come out before the extended version of A Sea of Skulls, and that’s why the next two big announcements we make will not be related to Selenoth in any way. And, of course, it doesn’t help me finish ASOS sooner when I’m having to spend so much time on things like Indiegogo and Amazon, to say nothing of building an alternative print/ebook/audio distribution channel, even though I’m very, very glad that we have done so and that so many of you have enthusiastically opted for it.

All that being said, I very much appreciate the continued passion for, and the interest in, TAODAL. Remember, I love it too. I continue to work on A Sea of Skulls and I am very pleased with the way it is progressing, though not the rate at which it progresses, and there will be a happy, though not entirely unanticipated, surprise for Selenoth fans this week.

TECH NOTE: for those having trouble with MP4 audiobook format, please read this guide to using it on the various platforms.

Houston, we have a stalker

It was interesting to see Camestros Felapton was stalking my profile on LinkedIn yesterday. It looks like he created a profile just for that purpose. Meanwhile, another File 770 denizen, ex-Amazon Principle Research Scientist Greg Hullender, is instructing SJWs on how they can attempt to interfere with Castalia House and other publishers who sell through Amazon in the future.

Greg Hullender on February 1, 2019 at 4:59 pm said:

I was a senior manager at Amazon in the division that managed the catalog. I can guarantee you that no one outside that team can really delete anything from the catalog. The programs that others run only mark things deleted, but they don’t really go away.

Likewise, accounts don’t really get erased. They get frozen and the money put on hold until someone can figure out whom it really belongs to. (This was an IP theft accusation, if you believe VD’s account, so of course they held the money.)

Once it was straightened out, they quickly put everything back the way it was. (Considering that the database had over 2 billion records in it when I left the company 5 years ago, it’s pretty impressive how well it works, if I do say so myself.)

He may be telling the truth about what was told to him. It’s possible he got someone who just didn’t know how to reinstate a deleted account. (Or someone without the privilege to do so.) Someone new enough to simply not know that whatever was done can be undone. (With just a few caveats.)

As I think about it, if you wanted to make this happen to him again, the way to do it (assuming he created another “misleading” book like this) is as follows:

1. Purchase the book yourself.
2. A few days later, submit a return request to Amazon, alleging that you received a counterfeit. (I forget the exact code, but it’s a checkbox that indicates you got something other than what you thought you ordered.)
3. In the comments, mention the book you wanted to get and include a link to VD’s own words explaining what he did. Make it clear that “this was a deliberate fraud. Amazon shouldn’t tolerate this.”

Any customer service rep would refund you at once and kick it straight up to Fraud. Fraud would look at the info, see that the account has been suspended repeatedly, and instantly suspend it pending further investigation. Or so I believe, since I’ve seen the same thing happen to other merchants who skirted the line a lot. (E.g. gray-market sellers whose ads make it look too much like the original product. Or refurbished-product sellers who aren’t clear enough it’s not new.)

It’s fascinating to observe such an influential ex-Amazon employee providing instructions on monkey-wrenching Amazon’s core business. Needless to say, we’ve archived this post and forwarded screenshots of Mr. Hullender’s advice to our contacts at Amazon so they are aware that Mr. Hullender and his associates may attempt to interfere with Amazon’s attempts to sell books to their customers in the future.

CBS rejects “Just Stand” ad

Deplatforming doesn’t happen because you are a bad individual with evil ideas. It happens because those with the ability to silence you fear the power of your message:

A veteran-owned apparel company’s pro-flag Super Bowl TV ad that punches back at Nike’s promotion of Colin Kaepernick and his national anthem protests has been rejected by CBS.

According to the firm, Nine Line Apparel, CBS was apparently not satisfied the firm could pay for the 45-second ad, despite having annual revenues of $25 million. A spokesman for Nine Line charged that CBS didn’t like the ad’s content.

The ad features soldiers, first responders, and images of military graves decorated with American flags and gives credit to them for protecting the rights of those like Kaepernick to protest.

Remember, Free Speech was always a fake principle. The Enlightenment was not merely a fake philosophy, it was a complete lie designed to undermine Christian society.