I believe Microsoft bought LinkedIn especially so they could have x-ray vision into all their competitors' sales processes

I think one implication is that ad-driven tech companies are at great risk. In a political system where National Champion businesses are selected/assisted on the basis of bribery, advertising becomes irrelevant. Why spend money advertising Widget X when this widget is already the only one that's officially sanctioned?

You can brew your tea extremely strong, and get a hallucinogenic prisoner's drink called "Chifir"

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Wait, you're saying y'all aren't browsing the web through a small sliver of screen under dozens and dozens of rows of browser tabs?

Keep at it! You'll be astounded at what you can accomplish in a year by making small and steady additions. (From another dad with a day job).

Creative writing: a young influencer creates a religion for the modern age. (Done the first draft) After that, a post with methods for honest/effortful communication in the age of LLMs. My actual opinions, but set in the same fictional universe as the above writing. I think HN will like that one.

No, Meta doesn't get a pass on this one after "Jedi Blue" and faking video viewing metrics. These guys are criminals.

Generally, media buyers/advertisers are clueless when it comes to ad fraud. The big platforms have made a lot of money by abusing this fact. (I have over 15 years of experience in online marketing, on the advertiser, publisher and ad-network side. )

I'm working on a short story that explores this! Different organizations producing fake videos about a real person/event, to nudge you in their desired direction.

It's a creative outlet where I can try out silly/unusual writing. Its a way to record useful how-tos so that I can refer to the steps in the future & help others. And it lowers the "activation enery" on getting curious/exploring: I am more likely to indulge in a deep-dive on a topic if I know at the end I'll "surface" from the dive with useful insights for others to read.