Afternoon Tea 10.6.21 - Shortage of Tenders

Leaks, Raids, Scams.

October 06, 2021

4chan dumped gigantic amounts of Twitch payout data, AT&T created OAN, fascists got raided, meditations on Facebook, NFTs for fun and profit, and a lack of tenders. It’s Wednesday, October 6th 2021, and this is your Tea. Today’s vibe is a forceful, driving Synthwave remix of the Squid Game theme.

Twitch source code and creator payouts part of massive leak (The Verge) Every platform of any reasonable size needs to include 4chan, Anonymous, and Goon Squad on their threat modeling system. You’re a sitting duck otherwise.

Leader of NYPD Sergeants Union Quits After FBI Raids (NY Times) & Austrian prosecutors target Kurz in bribery investigation (Reuters) As our pre-pandemic global flirtation with fascists continues to flicker & sputter, these kinds of raids will come with more frequency. A lot of shady stuff was done in a dozen countries over the last 5 years, well within the statutes of limitations when the gov’t doesn’t have their back.

What Happened When Facebook Became Boomerbook (The Atlantic) & Facebook Political Problems (Stratechery) The first take is one that Millennials and older might revile, as it is their social media platform of choice. But they do need to admit if you’re under 25, you’re not on the platform and have no plans to join. The second, from Ben Thompson, is the soberest assessment of FB’s strengths and weaknesses I’ve seen in months. Long as hell, but here’s a good tidbit:

Sure, you can make the case that had Facebook not pursued growth at all costs there would be another social network in its place — and frankly, I believe that Twitter gets off far too easy in discussions about deleterious impacts on society — but the reality is that Facebook did win, and just because some of its spoils are rotten doesn’t absolve the company of responsibility. If you are going to onboard all of humanity, you are going to get all of humanity’s problems. (Emphasis ours)

We have no theory of inflation (Value Added) Read it again. Any time some talking head bloviates about things causing inflation, know they are making it up. All of it.

Investors Spent Millions on ‘Evolved Apes’ NFTs. Then They Got Scammed. (Motherboard) & Some Axie Infinity players amassed fortunes - now the Philippine government wants a cut (RestOfWorld) It’s not just that the NFT market is still wild west’y as hell, it’s that some governments will hip check you and take your profits if you make it too quickly.

I Collect Cashflows (Reformed Broker) & The fractionalization of everything (Vox) However, what’s the difference between the belief system backing the stock market & futures contracts and the NFT/Crypto system? Time, size, and underlying regulatory bodies. But those regulatory bodies can be just as unreliable, as this hilarious UK send up of financial churn and crimes presented on their version of Shark Tank, illustrates.

The Fentanyl Crisis And The Fight For Harm Reduction In New York (Resident Advisor) & The truth about crime in America (Popular Info) Fantastic reporting from Resident Advisor & Judd Legum on the reality of trying to live vs. the narratives we’re about to be bombarded with until the polls are closed Election Day 2022.

Why Science Can’t Settle Political Disputes (MIT Press Reader) Long, but quite interesting when it comes to truly accepting why you can’t just yell facts at people to get them to agree with you.

No chicken tenders for lunch? School cafeterias squeezed by supply chain delays (Buffalo News) For shame. Get these children their tenders.

Poem of the Tea: When I Say That We Are All Teen Girls by Olivia Gatwood. Spectacular spoken word, every one true.

Hot? Cold? Tense? Let yourself relax, even if only for a moment.

Yours,