David Marcus wants to talk about class. Or, specifically, the lack thereof he sees in a wealthy man taking a principled stand against the conglomerate that so long buttered his bread. 

The Facebook head of blockchain published a clearly frustrated screed today, blasting WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton’s decision to go on the record about his departure from Facebook, and his stated belief that in selling his messaging company to the Menlo Park behemoth he betrayed his users in the process. 

SEE ALSO: WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton: ‘I sold my users’ privacy’

“I sold my users’ privacy to a larger benefit,” Acton told Forbes. “I made a choice and a compromise. And I live with that every day.”

Well, Marcus doesn’t care for that bit of soul searching at all. Not one bit. 

In a fiery Facebook post Wednesday morning, the very much still-employed-by-Facebook executive blasted the Forbes interview and talked trash on Acton specifically.

“Lastly — call me old fashioned,” he wrote. “But I find attacking the people and company that made you a billionaire, and went to an unprecedented extent to shield and accommodate you for years, low-class. It’s actually a whole new standard of low-class.”

But Marcus — who insisted he “just had to” write this — wasn’t done. His rejoinder continued with a defense of Facebook surely meant to stirring.

“And Facebook is truly the only company that’s singularly about people. Not about selling devices,” he wrote — apparently forgetting about the Facebook Oculus entertainment device literally being pitched to press when he hit submit on his post. “Not about delivering goods with less friction, Not about entertaining you. Not about helping you find information. Just about people.”

And sure, Facebook is “about” people. Just as a leech is “about” the person it’s latched to, Facebook needs its users to survive. However, to confuse that with being “for” people is one hell of a mistake to make. 

Perhaps one day, maybe after he too leaves Facebook behind, Marcus will come to the same conclusions as Acton. Or maybe not. 

After all, it would be ever so classless of him. 

The ocean is equally as beautiful as it is terrifying. This couldn’t have been captured anymore perfectly than in this timelapse video by YouTuber JeffHK. 

In the video, JeffHK documents his 30 day journey from the Red Sea to Hong Kong on a shipping barge. During his adventure, he travels through eight different bodies of water, and stops at ports in Sri Lanka and Singapore.

The traveling sessions in between stops are the best parts of the video. It’s in these sections where you get to see how gorgeous the stars are, and how chilling thunderstorms can be when you’re surrounded by nothing but water.

Lightning storms aside, the video would make anyone want to go onto a boat, and just zone out for a bit.

On Wednesday, representatives from some of the country’s biggest tech and communications companies appeared before Congress to testify on consumer privacy. The industry’s stance is clear: these tech companies support regulation, so long as it’s governed on the federal level, and so long as they have a say in the contents of the laws.

Executives from AT&T, Amazon, Google, Twitter, Apple, and Charter Communications provided testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Technology in a hearing called Examining Safeguards for Consumer Data Privacy. 

SEE ALSO: Why you should care about GDPR, even if you don’t live in Europe

During his opening statement, Committee Chairman Senator John Thune (R-SD) said that the hearing was not intended to be combative, but rather an exploratory panel to learn about companies’ approach to the possibility of federal legislation. He also stressed that the committee would be holding similar hearings to discuss a potential consumer data protection law with advocates and businesses, not just companies.

“The question is no longer whether we need a law for consumer data privacy, the question is what shape these laws will take,” Rep. Thune said in his opening remarks.

The two biggest issues at play were questions of jurisdiction and enforcement. Other specifics discussed were whether privacy policies should be legally mandated as opt-in or opt-out, the ability to download data, withdraw consent for data collection, whether ad-based business models can truly protect customer’s information, how privacy policies translate to companies’ work overseas (particularly in China), and other issues. 

It may come as a surprise to some that all of the companies represented are supportive of federal regulation. But the story is a little more complicated than the gung-ho approach may appear.

In recent months, Europe and California passed strong laws governing online privacy and data. Experts view these laws as some of the most stringent and comprehensive protections possible. And, particularly in California, many tech companies lobbied against the laws. 

Some senators acknowledged that these recent laws were a part of the reason that the Congressional hearing was taking place. That’s because it may be in the tech industry’s interest to have a federal law, instead of multiple state laws. And not just a federal law — a law that “preempts,” or, trumps, any state laws.

Most of the tech companies support preemptive federal regulation because the California law — and potentially other laws down the line — are so strong (or, burdensome, as Google and AT&T characterized the GDPR). With a federal law, tech companies would have the opportunity to weigh in on the contents of the law, as the hearing demonstrated.

In noted contrast, Apple’s representative said that it supported preemption as long as that didn’t mean weaker laws, and that it “meets the bar of protecting consumers meaningfully.” Charter Communication’s representative echoed that sentiment; Charter Communications was also, surprisingly, the only tech company that fully supported opt-in, rather than opt-out, privacy and data agreements. Okay, Charter. We see you.

There is a good argument for governing online privacy at the federal rather than state level. Federal commerce laws address inter-state commerce, and online information and business flows between states. Many tech companies expressed concern about the “patchwork of laws” that state legislation could result in. But AT&T’s representative did not mince words about why a federal law would be beneficial when he said that, if state law prevailed over federal law, “Industry will be forced to comply with the most restrictive aspects of each state’s law.”

“Your holy grail is ‘preemption,’” Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) said. “And we’re not going to replace a strong California law with a weaker federal one.”

The second biggest issue was enforcement. Multiple senators asked the tech companies whether they believed enforcement for consumer data protection should rest with the FTC. As well as whether the FTC’s power to enforce laws should be expanded. Currently, the FTC’s ability to levy fines relies on a complex order of operations, that involves tech companies agreeing that they have done something wrong, before the FTC can enforce anything. The tech companies’ reactions were mixed. 

“Voluntary rules have proved insufficient to protect privacy,” Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said.

Overall the Congressional hearing reenforced the idea that the tech industry has resigned itself to the fact that privacy regulation is coming. And, that given that certainty, these companies would rather have a seat at the table and a say in the regulation, than oppose it outright.

This post is part of Hard Refresh, a soothing weekly column where we try to cleanse your brain of whatever terrible thing you just witnessed on Twitter. 

I’m the type of person who loves to have music playing in the background whenever I’m reading, writing, or doing something that requires mental energy. But I also get easily distracted. Songs that are too fast or have lyrics can make it hard to concentrate. 

At the same time, ambient noise isn’t my favorite thing, so I was really happy when I discovered the YouTube channel ChilledCow, which broadcasts lo-fi hip-hop music 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

The music itself always manages to relax and keep me focused. Most of the songs have a repetitive melody and a slow rhythm that work together to put my mind at ease.

SEE ALSO: Meet your new hero: The musician who twerks while playing the flute

With an ever-growing playlist, this channel has attracted the ears of almost two million listeners. 

To get a better understanding of the relaxing power of this genre, check out “Flowers” by hip-hop producer The Deli. The song samples a piano melody from McCoy Tyner’s “When Sunny Get Blue,” and it plays throughout the entire song over a steady rhythm. 

I first heard it on ChilledCow.

While most lo-fi hip-hop music is based around instrumentals, songs with vocals are pretty popular too. Sophie Meiers, an 18-year-old SoundCloud artist, adds her own blues-y vocals over lo-fi beats. 

A song that pretty much captures the gorgeous, melancholy essence of Meiers is “Wish You Felt This Way,” in which she collaborated with producer 90sFlav. Take a listen:

If you’re also someone who’s nostalgic, a lot of tracks also sample sound files from classic video games from the ’90s, as well as lines from shows like 7th Heaven, Samurai Champloo, and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. 

Other channels on YouTube have created lo-fi hip-hop radio stations of their own, but personally, I have a major soft spot for ChilledCow. The playlist is updated fairly frequently, and there’s always a solid mix of old and new tracks. 

Next time you’re trying to find the perfect kind of music to give your mind a much needed massage, give it a try.

‘Tis the season to be upset I guess, because mac and cheese candy canes are something you can buy now.

The savory yellow-and-white striped Christmas candies created by Archie McPhee are available online for the very low price of $4.95, which truthfully is still too much to pay for cheese-flavored candy.

The website says that the “comfort food-flavored” candy canes “taste like your childhood favorite.”

“Macaroni and cheese has become a holiday family tradition in many parts of the country, so why not let our holiday candy reflect that?” the website asks.

SEE ALSO: Cheese lovers will obsess over these solar-powered products

It’s hard to imagine how the hot, cheesy, gooey classic would translate in candy form, but Instagram junk food reviewer junkfoodmom swears they’re not as bad as they seem.

“This one isn’t bad,” she writes. “Smells like cheese and tastes like Mac n cheese but the sweetness overpowers the flavor eventually so it’s doable.”

Sweet and savory can be a wonderful combination — think chicken and waffles or kettle corn — so maybe junkfoodmom is onto something. Still, I doubt I’ll be picking these up this holiday season.

And, before you get too worked up about the existence of mac-and-cheese candy canes, you might want to channel your anger toward some of Archie McPhee’s more perplexing flavors, like their pickle candy canes, or better yet, their gray clam-flavored candy canes.