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Wednesday, May 06, 2026

What if we're becoming the cable company of countries?

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snip...

A few years back Cory Doctorow proposed the theory of "enshittification" to describe how Amazon had become significantly worse:
In Bezos's original plan, the company called "Amazon" was called "Relentless," due to its ambition to be "Earth's most customer-centric company." Today, Amazon is an enshittified endless scroll of paid results, where winning depends on ad budgets, not quality. . . .

Search Amazon for "cat beds" and the entire first screen is ads. One of them is an ad for a dog carrier, which Amazon itself manufactures and sells, competing with the other sellers who bought that placement.

Scroll down one screen and you get some "organic" results - that is, results that represent Amazon's best guess at the best products for your query. Scroll once more and yup, another entire screen of ads, these ones labeled "Highly rated." One more scroll, and another screenful of ads, one for a dog product.

Keep scrolling, you'll keep seeing ads, including ads you've already scrolled past. "On these first five screens, more than 50 percent of the space was dedicated to ads and Amazon touting its own products." . . .

How did we get here?

The answer, Doctorow proposed, was that Amazon had built a $31 billion ad business inside its own retail platform. The incentives for Amazon went from "give customers the most helpful results so they'll buy the most stuff" to "sell as many ads against products as customers will tolerate so that:

[ad sales profits] > [retail sales losses from abandoned searches]

#1 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-05-06 10:13 PM | Reply

And speaking of Amazon ... here's Jeff Bezos and his personal floatation device:

#2 | Posted by A_Friend at 2026-05-06 10:20 PM | Reply | Funny: 2

Billionaires have zero right to exist

#3 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-05-06 10:46 PM | Reply

Pulled up alongside a blue Bently convertible today and saw some Mar a Lago faced freak show driving it.

Why is it that the people with more money than they know what to do with always turn out to look like grotesque clowns or they marry one? I think the fastest way for me to develop ED would be for that thing to get naked in my presence. Blech.

#4 | Posted by jpw at 2026-05-06 10:51 PM | Reply

Pulled up alongside a blue Bently convertible today and saw some Mar a Lago faced freak show driving it.

Why is it that the people with more money than they know what to do with always turn out to look like grotesque clowns or they marry one? I think the fastest way for me to develop ED would be for that thing to get naked in my presence. Blech.

#4 | Posted by jpw

The "Mar-a-Lago face" is a trending, highly stylized aesthetic among American conservatives, characterized by intense, "camera-ready" cosmetic procedures like high cheekbone fillers, lip augmentation, Botox, and bright veneers. It often features a polished, "overdone" look with tanned, taut skin and heavy eye makeup, signaling wealth, high-status, and alignment with Trumpism.


#5 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-05-07 12:19 AM | Reply

What's the HTML code for inserting pictures?

#6 | Posted by jpw at 2026-05-07 12:49 AM | Reply

What's the HTML code for inserting pictures?

#6 | Posted by jpw

< img src="(your image URL here w/ no parenthesis)" height="xxx" (in pixels) width="xxx" (close with:) >

No space between < and img or " and >

Best not to make height or width greater than 400 for this site.

#7 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-05-07 01:18 AM | Reply

PS - I always resize height and width or they'll take up more than a page's width

Again, best not to make height or width greater than 400 for DR.

Copy the HTML you typed before hitting preview in case you need to adjust. Go back, paste, change, and preview before PUBLISH.

#8 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-05-07 01:21 AM | Reply

PSS - the first step is to right mouse click on the image you want to post, then Copy Image Link

That's the link you'll insert after < img src = " (with no spaces)

Trial and error are your friends. Copy your completed HTML with image link, height, width, etc. in Preview because if it doesn't come out correctly, you'll want to be able to edit by going to another blank text box to preview before publishing.

#9 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-05-07 01:30 AM | Reply

Thank you!

#10 | Posted by jpw at 2026-05-07 01:30 AM | Reply

< img src="(your image URL here w/ no parenthesis)" height="xxx" width="xxx">

#11 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-05-07 01:31 AM | Reply

Thank you!

#10 | Posted by jpw

My pleasure :-)

#12 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-05-07 01:34 AM | Reply

BTW, for comparison, the image I posted HERE is 300 H x 300 W

200 x 200 would have worked just fine. I do a little bigger if there's smaller text embedded in an image.

#13 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-05-07 01:40 AM | Reply

< img src="(your image URL here w/ no parenthesis)" height="xxx" width="xxx">

#14 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-05-07 01:40 AM | Reply

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