So are lots of Americans. Their military also torture, violate and abuse human rights in other countries. They even have a special place in Cuba just for this.

I do that too but only because it’s much easier to help my relatives with Linux than those with Windows.

I even “convert” some people because Llinux is easier for them if I just manage it. I had a neighbor that was using Window on a very old computer, it was slow and choking under the weight of simple updates. Plus, she was always asking me why her computer kept rebooting by itself while it was obviously Windows update. So I installed Mint and all the problems went away.

Anyway I don’t want to have to deal with Microsoft accounts, licenses, office365, the general bloat, the ads, the new versions of Windows… I have enough at work, so if I am going to help on my free time, it has to be on the OS I find easier to deal with.

Le singe est sur la branche.

I don’t really have a choice as heat is provided by my building, and they just keep it on at all times. So in winter it’s pretty much always around 26/27C except when it gets really cold outside and it “drops” a bit. I do like the heat but it’s a bit too much. Sometimes I have to open a window. 24C would suffice.

They even keep the heat on in summer so it can rise up to 35C during sunny days, but I have a portable AC to fight the building’s system and bring it back down to a “cool” 24/25C.

As long as the tech or the software doesn’t become obsolete, or the company doesn’t go bankrupt.

You know about the blind people that were able to see for a while but the company making their implants went bankrupt, leaving them blind once more, as their their implants will eventually all stop working?

Yet in 2020, Byland had to find out secondhand that the company had abandoned the technology and was on the verge of going bankrupt. While his two-implant system is still working, he doesn’t know how long that will be the case. “As long as nothing goes wrong, I’m fine,” he says. “But if something does go wrong with it, well, I’m screwed. Because there’s no way of getting it fixed.”

https://spectrum.ieee.org/bionic-eye-obsolete

It’s obviously understandable to want to try something, anything, to help with a disability, but relying on private for profit companies for experimental medical devices is far from ideal.

Addendum: Also, disabled people are unfortunately often used as an excuse to push agendas. “We can’t have a bike lane there! Think about handicapped people using their car!” Or like "Tesla’s FSD will help disabled people get around No need to fund dirty dangerous public transit!! " Or again “Neuralink is going to help disabled people so they must have good intentions and obviously not plan on selling these to the general public eventuality. It’s purely for the embiggening of society!”

FSD is soooo full self driving that blind people can’t use it as it requires constant babysitting, and more importantly, a driver’s license and thr ability to drive a car… for a car that’s supposed to drive itself.

Anything coming from Musk is obviously a scam. He’s a con artist. He will say anything to convince people. He keeps promising his shit is always just on the verge of revolution but it’s mainly just empty words for hype.

Helping the disabled is probably just an afterthought for Neuralink. People are so desperate, they will try anything, and Neuralink will be the creep profiting off them.

I was 15 during the 1998 ice storm.

It’s obviously not as dangerous as a tornado or an earthquake or a flood, but it’s still a natural disaster, and disrupted society in the region for weeks and months.

At first it was difficult to realize the size of the catastrophe but then millions went without power, the infrastructure crumbled under the ice and roads became impracticable. The magnitude of the disaster became apparent when the army had to come and help.

Luckily I lived in a rural area at the time and we relied on a wood furnace for heat and hot water. We also shared a generator with other family members so I had power a few hours a day. Compared to people without heat water, food or electricity, it went ok for my family.

It took about 10 days for my region to have power back, while others had to wait for up to 30 days.

This left its mark on me and now I try to be prepared, have batteries charged, solar panels, water reserves, food for a few days, a camping stove, ways to keep warm, etc., just in case.

You can also start an orgy instead of killing, but I guess the sex can also happen while slaughtering.

Instead of just announcing and promising high speed rail every few years, can’t the federal government help or do something about the “sharing” issues?

Like, force the CN in some ways, or in buying or building routes that VIA would own. Wouldn’t it be needed for high speed trains anyway?

It’s both sad and frustrating to see VIA struggle like this, and have the federal government not really helping in any other ways than empty announcements.

I’ve been using MATE since Gnome 3. I really liked the simplicity of Gnome 2 and was unable to adapt to their “new” way so I switched to MATE and it just clicked. I tried Gnome 3 a few times again but I just can’t.

As for why MATE instead of XFCE or others? Because I already used and tried XFCE in the past and prefered Gnome 2’s look and feel. In fact, I have been going out of my way for years to keep every app using GTK2 and my favourite theme because I like how it looks and feel, and Gnome 3 and GTK3 broke this. So MATE it was. They switched to GTK3 too eventually but it gave my time to adjust.

My only “complaints” about it are the file manager Caja, and the way you can list windows, which both feel very basic. I would like those two to get better.

I try and use different DE from time to time, from Fluxbox to E17, but I just go back to MATE. My favorite DE of all time was E16 but it took waaay too long for E17 to be functional and I ended up keeping MATE.

This reminds me of the efforts made against tobacco and for cleaner air in certain areas, but it also reminds me how we do this for other things too.

Radium toothpaste, lead paint and asbestos curtains.

So, as someone that sees cars as a significant source of pollution, from exhausts, brake pads and tires, I find it ironic that some places are banning outdoor smoking in public areas while it’s perfectly acceptable to drive a gas guzzler around and among those places.

Like, I’m so grateful nobody can smoke around me on that restaurant’s terrace, this way I can fully enjoy breathing the pollution from the thousand of cars around.

I can’t tell for BlueSky because I have not joined yet, but I did create a Mastodon account months ago and I’m not sure what to do with it or how to interact with others. I find it confusing.

On Twitter I was mostly following a bunch of like minded people, liking their stuff, and I could see what they liked too. But on Mastodon there’s uuh, boosts and favorites?! I’m not sure of how it works or what I’m doing. I can’t just “like” posts? I have to boost them?! I found the people I liked that were on Twitter, but on Mastodon I feel like there’s nothing I can do aside from seeing posts and it’s just not attractive.

I can’t stand ads. It’s even worse on TV when they yell them at you. So I actually stopped watching TV in 2009 because I couldn’t stop the ads, and I was tired to have the TV trying to convince me to buy a car every 15 minutes.

If I want to watch something that was on TV, I download it from… * the internet *.

My parents still watch TV and just let the ads blast in the background, and we need to yell over them to talk. I hate it. Then they’re like “oh it’s just like in the ad”. I don’t know how they can tolerate this. I did when I was younger but when I realized that the TV was trying to sell me twice a car in 15 minutes, or about 8 times an hour, I couldn’t help but notice and it’s just really annoying.

Then you can stay on forums that needs to be refreshed, or uuuh… isn’t there a proprietary IRC like thing for young people, something like Disco? Or Discom. Or Discord? Apparently it’s much like IRC but without the freedom.

I use TheLounge which saves and display history for me.

Convos also does that.

I am still on IRC, have my own server, and use TheLounge as a client. We can paste mp3s, mp4s and images on the channels. It just works fine for us.

What? It’s hard to hear anything with all that noise.

IRC still exists. There’s nothing stopping anyone from joining a server and a few channels.

Meanwhile I’ve always been the one that takes the smallest possible meal at McDonald’s, and would think that 5 nuggets with fries and drinks is just enough. In fact I hate going to restaurants in general because portions are always much too big for me. I can’t usually take doggy bags, and I feel like I’m wasting most of what I’m served. I can’t recall even finishing a plate in a (real) restaurant; there’s always too much. I’m always like “oh it was really tasty but I can’t eat much more!”

The slow death of the American empire. It may push the rest of the world to a geopolitical realignment that excludes the US. This could allow international organizations to proceed without having the US veto human rights, actions against climate change, or things like that.

Yes, same for me.

I’ve been working nights for about 20 years and it was easier when I was younger. Now that I am in my early 40ies I find it more difficult to just go to bed and sleep.

Some weeks I can keep a steady schedule, sleep during the day and feel well rested, but other weeks I can’t get more than a few hours during the day and feel miserable when I work.

However it’s also changing with seasons and things I do during the weekend. I tend to sleep less in summer because of the heat and the light. Also I go camping during the weekends and have to sleep during the night, then switch back to day sleeping during the week. It’s much easier in winter because it’s always cold and dark and I just stay home.

So, it varies a lot for me.

Yeah pretty often. It goes even further, as in, I don’t want to participate in society, or forced capitalism, in general. I’m aware I’m part of it but I always tried to not be a part of that shitty system. I’m not buying a house, no car, no gas to buy, no superior education, no certifications or high paying job. I just wasted my “potential” and will continue to do so.

To me it looks like a big chuck of people have some sort of Stockholm syndrome towards capitalism and how our society makes us think this is some sort of meritocracy.

That being said, my behaviour can also be linked to my spicy brain. I’m probably neurodivergent but the health system where I live doesn’t help adults with that.

In short, I’m disappointed by what I see around me and I don’t want to join the game. I don’t want to join the competition of poors against poors