It’s been a pretty spectacular autumn here in North Alabama. I was worried at first because it started rather rapidly, suggesting I was starting my annual photography near the peak. I believe the peak at higher elevations occurred just shy of Halloween. In the valley, the leaves remain very bright and colorful in isolated spots. This gallery is a collection of some of my better images from this fall.
HATE is a four-letter word I reserve for things I truly despise. In recent years, Facebook has sadly joined that club.
Facebook has experienced so much negative press attention that they recently rebranded as “Meta” in the sort of old PR move that disguises something to confuse users by giving it a new name. Most recently, they’ve started running ad spots meant to create the perception that they actually welcome government regulation and value user privacy. Give me a break.
I’ve been around social media since the early days and helped launch a competitive platform on a similar timeline to Facebook. When I watch the movie “The Social Network,” it brings back fond memories of a time when young tech-savvy guys fueled by beer and testosterone didn’t even know where our efforts would lead or whether we’d ever be able to monetize it, we just knew it was cool and fun.
In hindsight, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg found ways to make an obscene amount of money exploiting the human need for connection and the information we share to do that. Our society is worse off for it because of the ethical shortcuts taken along the way.