Google 'Fixes' AMP URL 'Sharing Problem'

The Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project, spearheaded and supported by Google as well as dozens of web companies and online publishers, encourages publishers to create special, 'lightweight' format content pages that can be cached and quickly loaded on mobile devices (https://goo.gl/zjNgxN). It competes with Facebook's proprietary Instant Articles.

While users and publishers have had numerous complaints about the format, the biggest and most common complaint is that, when an AMP article is shared, its URL appears as the URL of the cache version, often a Google URL. This is more confusing than a serious problem per se, but Google has been under pressure to fix it.

They've now taken the first step in this direction. AMP pages will now make it easy to view and share the original URL from the page header. While this seems less a solution than a hack or workaround (since the browser address bar will still display the cache URL), it is at least a passable solution for people who care about it.

#Google #AMP

We will never forget... because there's nothing to remember.

#AlternativeFacts #BowlingGreenMassacre

“If you can cultivate the right attitude, your enemies are your best spiritual teachers because their presence provides you with the opportunity to enhance and develop tolerance, patience and understanding.” - H.H. Dalai Lama

I'm not going to be one of those people who says, "Please go back to posting cat pics and knock off the politics!" Forget the fact that I would come off as an entitled white, straight male whose rights and interests are least threatened of any group in America or, well, the whole world for the past many centuries. Worse than that, it would be like shouting, "Hey, people of social media, you are trained monkeys here for my entertainment, so get back to work!"

That said... just try focusing on something else, just a while. Pick two or three days on a calendar, if you're so worried that not constantly being on top of things will cause/allow things to happen that you might otherwise have the power to prevent, or catch you by surprise when you might otherwise have prepared. Surely the odds are low of a Death Camp order being signed on the two or three days you pick. And for those two or three days, focus on other things; ignore politics entirely, and watch some videos, read some books, spend time with loved ones, work on a hobby, etc...

You may just discover, as I have, that even in a world teetering on the brink, life is still better when you're not consumed with fear, rage, etc... a large portion of the time. And you'll probably find that it was unnecessary to be Atlas, that the world will carry on without your constant attention to it, and probably isn't waiting for you to briefly let your guard down to hit you below the belt.

Give it a try.

You're Probably Not Living In A Hologram

The news media is buzzing with news that, supposedly, scientists 'proved' we are living in a hologram.

As usual, these sensational headlines aren't quite right. For one thing, nothing was 'proven'; they just showed that a particular holographic model wasn't inconsistent with the data they compared it with. Nor did they show that it works better than alternative models.

The real killer, though, is that the model refers to the early universe, i.e. 'Big Bang' stuff. It suggests that the universe once was, in a sense, 2-Dimensional, i.e. a hologram... but isn't so now. So maybe, possibly, we came from a hologram, but the model doesn't suggest we are one now.

Another one bites the dust.

#BlindMeWithScience #Science #BigBang

Facebook Adds Support for FIDO USB Security Keys

If you're worried about keeping your Facebook account secure, and you should be, good news: Facebook now supports FIDO USB Security Keys for 2-Factor Authentication (which you should be using, seriously, like yesterday).

#Security

Julian Assange Immediately Reneges On Pledge To Accept Extradition (Surprising No One)

#NewsFlash #Breaking #Wikileaks

Google Announces Major Update To Google Voice

In an official blog post, Google has announced the first significant redesign of the Google Voice apps and websites in half a decade, and some new features, including some previously only available if you used Voice with Hangouts.

(Allegedly you won't need to switch over if you use Voice with Hangouts, but it seems plausible that will change given the decreased emphasis on that service recently.)

The announcement also implies that Voice will be getting more frequent updates in the future, which will be very welcomed if true.

#GoogleVoice

Contemplations On The 'Five Smooth Stones' of Religious Liberalism
 
Continuing a discussion begun over the past two weeks of Sunday Sermons by the Rev. Susan Smith of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Lauderdale, I offer some personal commentary and observation on the meanings, challenges, and potential pitfalls of the 'Five Smooth Stones of Liberalism' described by Unitarian icon the Rev. James Luther Adams.  An understanding of these is invaluable in the practice and organization of our Living Tradition and of liberal religion in general.
 
#MySoCalledUULife #UnitarianUniversalism #UUFaith #21stUUFaith