Last June, fans of Comedy Central – the long-running channel behind beloved programmes such as The Daily Show and South Park – received an unwelcome surprise. Paramount Global, Comedy Central’s parent company, unceremoniously purged the vast repository of video content on the channel’s website, which dated back to the late 1990s.

Every Daily Show episode since Jon Stewart took over as host in 1999? Disappeared. The historic remains of The Colbert Report? Disappeared. Presumably, one hopes, those materials remain archived internally somewhere, but for the general masses, they’re kaput. Instead, the links redirect visitors to Paramount+, a streaming service whose offerings pale in comparison. (The service offers recent seasons of the Daily Show to paying subscribers, but only a fraction of the prior archive.)

Such digital demolitions are becoming routine. For fans and scholars of pop culture, 2024 may go down as the year the internet shrank. Despite the immense archiving capabilities of the internet, we’re living through an age of mass deletion, a moment when entertainment and media corporations see themselves not as custodians of valuable cultural history, once freely available, but as ruthless maximisers of profit. Those of us who believe in the historical value of accessing media from the past are paying the price.

Caught this gem on the news the other day.

Surprise surprise. And of course, the usual casual dismissal of corruption:

"We take note of the audit," responded the cabinet of Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo). "We will read the additional report of the Court of Audit with great attention. Since 2018, many improvements have already been made in terms of procurement policy at Ypto."

Als de Britse chemiereus Ineos vraagt, dan draait de Vlaamse Regering. Interne documenten die Apache kon inkijken, tonen hoe de regering-Jambon op vraag van Ineos-topman Jim Ratcliffe de eigen financiële principes in de weegschaal legt.

Nog nooit stonden zoveel strandbars aan de Belgische kust. De regels zijn tien jaar oud en kustburgemeesters lobbyen vandaag voor een verdere versoepeling, al raken ze het onderling niet eens. Verschillende badplaatsen zoeken alleszins de grens op van wat mag. Volgens de natuur- en milieubeweging zit het strand echt wel vol.

I'm full on de-googling. I have set up ProtonMail as my main, a selfhosted NextCloud to store my calendar, drive and photos, I'm even erasing all my maps reviews by hand. The only thing I'm still unsure about: how should I replace my chromecast? Besides the amazon, apple or roku devices, which do you use? Which device do you recommend?