BEST Social Networks 2025

On By Rick McIn blogs, ethics, Facebook, friends, gymnastics, hiking, human rights, internet, media, things getting worse, TwitterLeave a comment

For most people, Instagram and TikTok are the most entertaining. I don’t much look at either.

If you want to avoid POLITICS, Meta (Instagram, Facebook, Threads) has definitely reduced the emphasis on political arguments. In Canada, a bonus for using Facebook is that news links are banned.

I haven’t quit Twitter — surprisingly — as my own feeds focused on Gymnastics and Hiking are still good. If I click on Following and avoid For You, the stream is valuable. Of course I quickly block anything I don’t like.

I post today as many of the people online I trust and respect are migrating to Bluesky.

Looking more for VIDEO than anything else, these are the sites I use most:

I hate advertising. Facebook doesn’t offer paid ad-free feeds, so I use ad blockers.

I hate Elon Musk and refuse to send him even one penny. So use ad blockers.

I use WhatsApp only for small group communication. It’s excellent. Messenger, as well, only for communication with very few people.

I’ll check Reddit once in a while if I’m looking for something specific.

Mastodon could be my favourite, but it’s not caught on with the people I want to follow.

LinkedIn should be best of all. But I’ve never seen much value for my purposes.

I never signed up for Snapchat. Hikers are mostly on Instagram. Gymnastics coaches mostly on Twitter.

I’ll try Bluesky. But I’m worried it will never grow big enough.

If desperate, I’ll create a browser bookmark folder and open all these social media sites simultaneously to check the latest news in Gymnastics and Hiking. OR … could I use an A.I. client to do that for me?

Brainstorming … 😀

An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

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The writing is quite simplistic. But the story never drags.

Lapena was one of the first psychological thriller authors to really catch my attention.

At first glance, her 2018 book is cliche Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None“ plot.

Amazon – An Unwanted Guest

Strangers trapped during an ice storm in the Catskills start dying, one by one.

The blizzard cuts off phone, electricity–and all contact with the outside world.

We learn a number of suspects might have a motive.

Whodunnit?

The FUN of murder mysteries is detecting clues and trying to guess who is the killer.

I did not guess because the clues were pretty much non-existent.

In fact, this is the weakest murder mystery plot I can recall.

There’s only one tiny twist at the end I found at all entertaining.

Has Shari Lapena become a worse writer?

Or was she not all that great all along?

… choppy, repetitive prose and an uninspiring reveal.

Dame Agatha did it much, much better.

Kirkus review

The Diplomat – season 2

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Though I’m no particular fan of palace drama … I do recommend this TV series.

Season 1 is entertaining.

Season 2 centers on Kate Wyler, the new United States ambassador to the United Kingdom, as she helps to defuse an international crisis, forges strategic alliances and adjusts to her new place in the spotlight.

She also manages her deteriorating marriage to fellow career diplomat Hal Wyler.

The plot is interesting. A British aircraft carrier is attacked in the Persian Gulf, killing 41 sailors?

Who is responsible?

Was it Russia?

Or the Prime Minister?

More twists and turns than typical American television.

GREAT cast.

Best is Rory Kinnear as Nicol Trowbridge, UK prime minister.

Rufus Sewell as Hal Wyler, Kate’s husband and former US ambassador to Lebanon is excellent, too.

Allison Janney as Grace Penn, Vice President of the United States. Always terrific.

There’s enough humour to keep me amused.

Too much time is spent on the dysfunctional relationships IMHO.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

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Little Brother is the common man fighting against Big Brother.

You might have heard of ‘enshittification‘.

Writer Cory Doctorow coined the neologism “enshittification” in November 2022, though he was not the first to describe and label the concept.

The American Dialect Society selected it as its 2023 Word of the Year. …

enshittification is a pattern in which online products and services decline in quality.

Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to users and business customers to maximize profits for shareholders.

Córy Doctorow might just be the smartest tech pundit. And he’s incredibly well spoken.

I went back to read his 2008 book Little Brother.

The novel is about four teenagers in San Francisco who, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and BART system, defend themselves against the Department of Homeland Security‘s attacks on the Bill of Rights. …

The Hollywood Reporter remarked, “The book tackles many themes, including civil liberties and social activism”.

… addressing “issues of political authority, social order, individual freedom and electronic security.

Though the technology is a bit dated in 2024, the themes are as important as ever.

Democracies must vote for those politicians who support the level of privacy and online security they want.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I started the sequel — Homeland (2013) — but only made it about 30% through the audiobook.

The start at the Burning Man festival was entertaining. But I found it increasingly too geeky. The decision whether or not to release leaked data was not a compelling enough plot to keep me going.

Only Murders in the Building – seasons 3 & 4

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I loved the first 2 seasons, BUT the novelty begins to wear off as the plots get more complex in seasons 3 and 4.

Season 3

This one starts with Oliver’s murder mystery play Death Rattle.

Ben Glenroy, in the lead role, is pronounced dead by the authorities after collapsing on stage.

Turns out his clinical death was due to food poisoning. BUT he’s later murdered in the building.

Meryl Streep as Loretta Durkin was probably the highlight for me.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Season 4

The cliffhanger from season 3 is a main plot thread. Charles’ good friend and former stunt double — Jane Lynch as Sazz Pataki — seemed to have been killed in Charles’ apartment. What happened?

Oddly, Hollywood is interested in making a feature film about the podcast murders.

Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep return to the cast.   Zach Galifianakis, Eugene Levy, and Eva Longoria are brought in to star as our trio.

The cameos and pop references kept me going, but this was probably the weakest of the seasons, so far.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Season 5 is in the works.

My Golf HOLE IN ONE ?? 😀

On By Rick McIn health & fitness, humour, sport - amateurLeave a comment

8th hole at Gleneagles in Vancouver, hosted by Rockin’ Ronnie.

I can neither confirm nor deny whether this is video editing trickery.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Survivor Song by Paul G. Tremblay

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Not recommended.

It’s a variation of the dystopian zombie / vampire / pandemic genre.

If you like those — you MIGHT like this one, as well.

Personally, I feel it was poorly done.

Set over about 4 hours, it’s plodding.

Nats is annoying and not a believable character. To suspend disbelief, you must attribute her weird actions to the virus.

Survivor Song is a 2020 horror novel by American author Paul G. Tremblay. …

… centers upon people struggling to survive while a highly infectious virus decimates Massachusetts.

… hospitals are ill-equipped to deal with both virus victims and their regular capacity.

People are terrified and it is only a matter of time before the emergency protocols become inadequate.

The novel follows Natalie, a pregnant woman, and her friend Ramola “Rams” Sherman, a pediatrician, as they try to fight their way to the hospital to obtain the rabies vaccine.

Natalie has been bitten by an infected neighbor while unsuccessfully trying to defend her husband, who was (killed).

It was written before COVID-19. Published July 7, 2020.

I’m thinking the author did some late edits, reflecting what was going on with our real pandemic.

Fatal Intrusion by Deaver & Maldonado

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Jeffery Deaver is probably my favourite author these days.

Especially his Lincoln Rhyme series, a quadriplegic detective, and NYPD Detective Amelia Sachs.

This 2024 book is NOT Lincoln Rhyme. It’s intended to launch a new series featuring Carmen Sanchez, a tough Homeland Security agent and Professor Jake Heron, a brilliant and quirky private security expert.

The two have a troubled past, but he owes her a favour — and she drags him into investigating  a series of murders across Southern California.

Deaver Fans like it. But, for me, this book was inferior to his usual work.

There are some plot holes.

And a lack of fact checking. One character is a Rhythmic gymnast on scholarship in the NCAA. There are no scholarships for Rhythmic gymnasts.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Invisible by Patterson & David Ellis

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Surprisingly good.

Invisible was published 2014.

A sequel — Unsolved — published 2019.

Emmy Dockery is an FBI research analyst on leave.

She has been obsessed with a large number of fires in which a single person always died, including one involving her sister.

Local authorities, finding no foul play, ruled all these fires were accidental. …

… a preliminary investigation is launched by the FBI …

The New York Journal of Books provided a positive review, saying, “Invisible is a difficult book to read because of the sheer horror and mayhem, but it’s even tougher to put down.”

Unsolved, the sequel, is equally good.

Twists and turns.

The weird and impossible relationship between Emmy and her ex-fiancé Books continues. Somehow.