Trying to move instances has made me realize how communication is controlled by fediverse instance admins, not users, to the users's detriment.

This is frustrating as picking an instance that some admins start to disagree with means that communication is cut off between users without them having a say.

Currently octodon.social and mastodon.technology block my main instance.

Email had its problems, but it is rare for admins there to decide who you can & can't email wholesale.

Rethinking holiday gifts seems to be a growing trend:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/giftless-christmas-1.5395822

Enlightening look at the power of location data that almost everyone's phone is giving up constantly. Claims of anonymity debunked in chilling way:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/19/opinion/location-tracking-cell-phone.html

I'm with the economists. Wishlists seem like a reasonable compromise.

https://www.npr.org/2019/12/16/788587668/the-efficient-christmas-why-economists-hate-gifts

"Repeated enough times, lies become a 'truth' that people believe."
-- Max Eisen, "By Chance Alone"

"Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth" - a law of propaganda often attributed to the Nazi Joseph Goebbels

I grew up on Pop Shoppe, but http://www.thepopshoppe.com/faq/ is disappointing:

"5. Can you still return The Pop Shoppe Bottles?

Times have changed and refillable has become recyclable, meaning you’ll recycle our bottles just as you do any other bottles and cans. You do recycle, don’t you? Good!"

Except... not good. Most recycling programs will just trash the glass since it's cheaper to make fresh glass than use the energy to break down old glass.

Refillable is not recyclable. First one is way better