Clash of the Tech Titans

Me, on a Friday night.

I wrote this on that weird day in between Thanksgiving (US version) and Small Business Saturday known as Bleak Black Friday.

This is just frickin' funny. Or sad.

Let's just jump right in.

Mark Zuckerberg met on Wednesday with President-elect Donald J. Trump in a rare face-to-face encounter, the latest lamest attempt by the Meta chief executive to establish a positive rapport with Mr. Trump.

I just did a little bit of light editing. 🙂

This opening sentence also raised an interesting question.

Is it even possible to establish a "positive rapport" with Mr. Trump?

That's not a rhetorical question. I really want to know.

Mr. Trump, who has long maintained that Meta has unfairly restrained him and other conservatives across its social media apps, has lobbed broadsides against Mr. Zuckerberg on social media and during stump speeches.

I'm so glad I've pretty much put my hands over my ears and said "nah-nah-nah-nah-nah" stopped reading the online news. I can see I have no FOMO. Not all that much has changed about social media.

Now, it's just being done at a much greater level. By billionaires. Or pretend billionaires.

“It’s an important time for the future of American innovation,” a Meta representative said in a statement. “Mark was grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner and the opportunity to meet with members of his team about the incoming administration.”

No matter how unqualified they might be for their positions.

But Mr. Zuckerberg’s overtures come as the chief executive seeks to insulate Meta — which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — from any potential blowback from the incoming administration. Meta has long been a target of conservatives in Washington; some in Congress have called for reining in what they see as censorship of conservative viewpoints. And Mr. Trump has personally called for Mr. Zuckerberg to be jailed in retaliation for “plotting against” him during the 2020 election.

Words that mean so much coming from a convicted criminal.

Mr. Zuckerberg had at least two private phone calls with Mr. Trump over the course of the summer, according to two people with knowledge of the talks, one of which saw the tech executive wishing Mr. Trump well and “praying” for him after the assassination attempt on his life.

“Private phone calls” as opposed to “public phone calls”? 🙂

And why the quotes around "praying"? Was he fake praying?

And in an interview over the summer, Mr. Zuckerberg said Mr. Trump looked like a “badass” after pumping his fist to the crowd when he was shot at by a would-be assassin during a rally in Pennsylvania.

Um ... okay. Did he or did he not actually look like a badass? Or were the quotes meant to suggest otherwise? Or when he said "badass," did he just mean "jackass"?

And then there's Elon Musk.

Mr. Musk and Mr. Zuckerberg have developed such a tense relationship that the two spent 2023 challenging one another to a physical fight.

Because Mr. Musk looked at him funny, Mr. Zuckerberg challenged him to duke it out after school. But Mr. Musk was so busy making cars that spontaneously combust, he couldn't be bothered. So they ended up in a tweet duel or an X-duel. Whatever.

Omigosh! Here's someone I'd like to talk to.

PS: We do, in fact, have choices. 🙂 From the Bezos paper Washington Post, no less.

Me, with a Kobo in 2011 or 2012 or so! I was an early adopter. 🙂

PPS: What a Difference a Cat Makes.

PPPS: Kudos to Tipping My Fedora!

Yep! They have a blog!

PPPPS: I couldn’t resist! 🙂

Started on Friday, ended on Saturday … 🙂