Now, THIS is what I call an avatar!
[Note to readers unfamiliar with Stearns: he’s the Wetmachanic who blogs under the “Inventing the Future” rubric, usually about avatars of some damn kind or other.][That’s a joke, son.]
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Good news for consumers! @JRosenworcelFCC announced she's circulating the cable/satellite "anti-junk fee" item for a vote this meeting. Hopefully we can get 5-0 on honest billing!
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-398618A1.pdfWhen we speak of successful U.S. industrial policy, my first answer is the 1956 AT&T antitrust consent decree, which spurred American general computing (eg, IBM) AND more or less created a US semiconductor industry. My second pushing the IBM unbundling of software.
The @FCC took action to help survivors of domestic abuse separate from shared phone plans. As @NicholasPGarcia explains, "One of the horrors of abuse is isolation... these rules help ensure that our comms services work to protect & empower survivors." đź“°:
Today we take a necessary step forward in protecting our nation’s survivors. By creating connections through Lifeline and providing an opportunity to reach out for help without being tracked, we are extending critical assistance during a time when help is most needed.
All items adopted unanimously. So what's behind the curtain Johnny?
Is he big in Japan?
The early ’80’s spoof “Spinal Tap” used being “big in Japan” as a way for people (or ideas) to have some traction when they weren’t getting popular in the US.
I think that’s the way a lot of people and ideas work now in virtual worlds, or more generally in virtual Internet identities.
But it’s a cool video, ain’t it? Kind of makes me wish we could have a Ron Paul/Max Headroom simulated animatron for president. Can you imagine him (it?) giving the State of the Union address?