Billionaires, Backlash, and Bike Lanes: Bullying the Bad Guys

Perhaps it’s time to bring back bullying. It’s merely a matter of whom to target. My opinion: It’s justified when addressing anti-consumer companies, cars, or fascist billionaires. Without further ado:

Adobe Tries to Make Friends on Bluesky, Gets Uninstalled by Public Opinion

So, did you hear about Adobe getting bullied off of Bluesky? Let’s talk about it—the company that basically invented the PDF and made Photoshop the gold standard for anything digitally creative was the hero of the digital age. Now? They’re the digital landlords, and we’re all stuck paying rent.

First, the PDFs. Ever tried editing one without Adobe? It’s like trying to carve a statue with a spoon. They designed it that way. Sure, there are other editors, but most are clunky, limited, or just don’t work properly. Adobe has such a stranglehold on the format that if you want to do anything serious—edit, sign, secure—you’re back in their ecosystem, paying for the privilege. And speaking of paying, remember when you could just buy Photoshop or Acrobat and own it? Those days are gone. Now it’s all subscriptions, all the time. You want to use Photoshop? That’ll be a monthly fee, forever. Try to cancel, and suddenly you’re hit with hidden fees and a complicated process. The US government is suing Adobe for “trapping” customers with hidden early termination fees, making it nearly impossible to cancel. One executive even compared those fees to heroin—addictive for Adobe, impossible to quit for you.

But wait, it gets even better when discussing—you guessed it—AI. Adobe rolled out its Firefly AI and started quietly updating its terms of service. Suddenly, you get a pop-up: “We may access your content through manual and automated methods.” Translation: anything you create, even stuff under NDA or not meant for public eyes, could be analysed or used to “improve” their AI. Artists and professionals freaked out—imagine working on confidential client material and being told you must let Adobe’s bots peek at it, or you can’t use the software you paid for. Adobe claims they don’t train its AI on your private files, but the language is so vague that nobody trusts it anymore. And the cherry on top? Their so-called “ethical” AI was caught training on images generated by competitors’ AIs, not just their own stock library.

So, when Adobe tried to join Bluesky last week, hoping to cosy up to artists and designers, the community absolutely roasted them. They showed up with a cheery "Hey, we're Adobe!”—and the crowd turned on them faster than you can say ‘monthly subscription fee.’ Their post got ratioed to oblivion: thousands of angry replies, barely any likes, and a comment section that read like a greatest hits of creative industry grievances. People weren’t shy. They dragged Adobe for everything: the endless subscription model, the ever-increasing prices, the AI mess, and the privacy nightmares.

Adobe’s social media team, probably thinking they’d get a warm welcome, ended up deleting their posts in embarrassment. The Photoshop account got the same treatment. Users were so gleeful about the whole thing that they started sharing screenshots and memes, celebrating Adobe’s digital walk of shame.

When Adobe tried to make friends on Bluesky, the community—already fed up with years of what they see as corporate greed and disregard for artists—let them have it. The posts are gone, but the Schadenfreude lives on. If you ever needed proof that a brand can be too out of touch for its own good, Adobe’s Bluesky debacle is it. In short: Adobe went from creative hero to digital landlord, locking you in, charging you rent, and rifling through your stuff for “research.” And when they tried to make friends online, the internet told them exactly where to stick it.

AI in the Playroom

Here’s a depressing number: 40 % of children between the ages of 5 and 8 already interact with AI. My question is, how many of them truly understand what AI is? I don’t want to dwell on the negative aspects of AI, because it does have many valuable applications, as we discussed in last week’s newsletter. However, when I think of a random 6-year-old, I wouldn’t want them interacting with AI. There should be a test to determine if you truly understand what you’re engaging with before being allowed to use Chatgpt. While we’re at it, let’s implement the same test for adults as well.

Elon Musk Ragequits Livestream After Gamers Prove He Can’t Dodge Trolls or Bosses

Let’s set the scene: Elon Musk decides to livestream himself playing Path of Exile 2. But not just from his living room—no, he’s in his private jet, showcasing his Starlink Wi-Fi for the world to see. The guy has been boasting for ages about being one of the top players in the game, even though it turns out he actually paid people to boost his account. Classic Musk move. He fires up the stream, jumps into the hardest mode, and immediately it’s a disaster. He can’t even get past the tutorial. He’s dying repeatedly, and you can see the frustration building. 

But the real carnage? That’s happening in the chat. The second he goes live, the trolls come out swinging. People are spamming messages like, “You have no friends and will die alone,” “You ruined the country just like you ruined all your marriages,” and “Why is your Tesla company falling apart?” Someone even pretends to be his ex, demanding child support in the chat. Musk just sits there, stone-faced, barely saying a word, blasting Grimes’ music—yeah, his ex—while the chat absolutely roasts him. A few people try to help, telling him how to mute the chat, but it’s like trying to put out a dumpster fire with a water pistol. He manages to mute a couple of the loudest trolls, but for the most part, he just takes it.

After about an hour and a half of this digital beatdown, Musk finally snaps. He claims he “lost connection” and abruptly ends the stream. But everyone watching knows what really happened: the world’s richest man just rage-quit, live, in front of millions, because he couldn’t handle the game—or the internet’s relentless savagery. To top it off, he deletes the whole video from his account as if it never happened. Honestly, it was like watching a billionaire speed-run the five stages of grief, all while getting dunked on by a bunch of gamers. Cheers to the internet—undefeated, as always.

Paris Kicks Cars to the Curb, and the Air Finally Smells Like Freedom

Alright, picture this: Paris, the city of lights, romance, and… a lot fewer cars. Over the last twenty years, Paris has told car owners, “Merci, but non merci.” They've removed 50,000 parking spaces, transformed car lanes into bike highways, and added so much greenery that even the pigeons probably breathe easier. If you're a car owner in Paris these days, you're essentially an endangered species. Want to park your SUV? Hope you brought your gold bars, because it's €18 an hour, or a jaw-dropping €225 for six hours. And that's if you can even find a spot—most have been converted into playgrounds, bike racks, or little urban jungles. The city's message is clear: “If your car is bigger than a baguette, you're paying for it.” Meanwhile, the rest of Paris is living its best life. The air? Cleaner than it's been in decades—air pollution has dropped by more than half since 2005. Nitrogen dioxide and fine particles, the stuff that makes your lungs feel like you've licked a tailpipe, are down 50-55%. The Seine's riverbanks, once choked with traffic, are now filled with picnics, joggers, and people who don't have to shout over honking horns.

And the bike lanes? They're everywhere. Rue de Rivoli, once a car-clogged artery, is now a cyclist's paradise. Paris even has more than 120,000 new bike parking spots, many of them in places where cars used to squat. The city's basically a Tour de France warm-up lap every day. If you're still driving, you're likely stuck behind a peloton of happy commuters, wondering where it all went wrong. The best part? Parisians actually voted for this. They keep approving referendums to convert even more streets into pedestrian zones and green spaces. The only people grumbling are suburbanites who still cling to their cars like security blankets, and even they are beginning to realise that public transit is faster and less stressful than circling for parking like a vulture.

The Creepy Side of Billionaire Breeding

I haven’t made fun of Elon Musk enough for one day. That creep is building a “legion” of kids, with at least 14 children from four women; he aims for more, as he is worried about a declining birthrate. As the Wall Street Journal reports in a wild story, he has a system to manage all the moms discreetly. His family officer oversees behind-the-scenes operations, ensuring strict confidentiality agreements, sorting payments, and maintaining secrecy. Moms who cooperate receive good compensation, but those who spill or create drama lose support and face legal consequences. For instance, Ashley St. Clair, who had a child with Elon, didn't sign a non-disclosure agreement for a payout, leading to a legal dispute after he cut her monthly payments. She called it “harem drama”. Besides her, Elon has kids with Grimes (his ex), his first wife, Justine, and Shivon Zilis, an executive at Neuralink. He has considered surrogacy to have more children “before the apocalypse,” highlighting his urgency regarding population decline. He downplays it publicly as gossip, but behind closed doors, it involves a complex blend of family, business, and politics.

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