Bring back your Advocacy division. Lower the pay for your CEO. Secure funding from other entities so that you are no longer dependent on Google. Focus more on implementing better security measures on Linux and Android, specifically within the domain of sandboxing your open processes. Keep about:config and manifest v2 options available.

Fair enough. To be clear, I am saying I would not like any of these aspects of humankind, not that they are necessarily in any way equivalent. Nor am I trying to necessarily relate them to each other. On their own, I dislike them.

I have been struggling with this lately. I am staunchly anti violence and anti war, and yet, I am conflicted on how far I truly would be willing to go to cull classism, fascism, racism, transphobia , homophobia, misogyny, and pedophilia from the world.

These things are abhorrent to me, and I wonder how much of my humanity I’d be willing to sacrifice in exchange for even one of these to no longer being in existence amongst the ranks of humanity.

How much good does pacifism give to the world in promoting the better angels of our nature? How much harm does it do when those same principles allow the worst among us to march down our roads and drag away our loved ones in the night?

Two scenes from media I consume have lately continually resurfaced in my mind. One is this scene from Vinland Saga, where the main character’s father confronts him when he finds his sword. The father is about to go off to war, and somberly asks his son who he wants to kill with his father’s sword. This culminates with the father, who again, is about to go off to war, emphatically declaring to his son that he has no enemies, that there is no such thing as enemies.

The other is this scene from Star Wars Andor, in which a high level spy of a burgeoning Rebellion is asked by a compatriot (who wishes to quit fighting the Empire due to possibly being found out), asks what he sacrifices for the fight against the Empire. The monologue he delivers is chilling, acknowledging he sacrifices all things that make him human, he becomes like his enemy in order to defeat them. When he reflects on the question, and asks, “So what do I sacrifice? Everything!”

That…is what I believe I will have to give up in order for there to be a sunrise for the people I love tomorrow. I’ll have to give up my humanity, everything. And I am afraid. I am selfish. I don’t want to. But I don’t know any other way.

The feelings that scene stir up in me resonate because that is how I feel when I think on the fascist cancer that has once again metastasized in America. Having no enemies… if only. Truly. Having enemies robs me of my humanity, because in fighting them I must bury my humanity. And I know that once I do that, there’s no going back. There will be no redemption.

The thing I am struggling with is… am I the one who makes them my enemies? Or are they? And if the only thing we can agree on is that we are enemies…then what choice do we have when they come for me and those I claim as my kin?

There’s a lot of reasons people still eat fast food. Others have pointed out though that fast food these days isn’t all that cheap and in some cases isn’t even all that fast/convenient when compared to other alternatives.

I can’t speak to that as it’s been decades since I’ve stepped inside a fast food restaurant save to use the bathroom while traveling, but I can guess that it also has to do with nostalgia. Some people grew up eating that shit and it provides them with a sense of comfort and familiarity. While I’m not going to hold my breath, it is my hope that the predominance of fast food will die alongside cable news when the younger generations come of age.

Great work. They haven’t commented on this matter for some time now and its good to see an updated comment on this issue.

I use Graphene OS, but do use Mull. I also use Vanadium and base Chromium. Each for different uses. Mull for general browsing (I have many extensions, but I feel a bit more secure by running NoScript).

Vanadium is for when I need more functionality, and raw Chromium for inspecting responsive design of my own sites.

The GrapheneOS community is a great asset to the Android ecosystem, and their mentality has always seemed to be security above all else (even above privacy), which is a voice that is needed in any organization.

Again, thanks for doing this investigation.

I’ll push back a bit on this, though I generally agree with you. I’ve only worked for a small startup as my career in tech is still in its infancy, but in previous roles I’ve had in other industries, this cult like aspect of corporatism pervades to varying degrees.

That said, when I first started socializing and networking with those involved in the tech sector, I noticed that there definitely is a subsection of the tech industry predominated by those who, in my view, took the concept of "There’s God In The Machine” thing way too far.

This subsection seems to be mainly populated by those who have only a passing understanding of the tech itself and don’t actually write the code or architect the software. This subsection also seems to be populated by those who can code and do architect the software, but appear to me to have a selfish and shortsighted mindset reminiscent of stock traders and crypto bros, communities for which I personally have a particular disdain.

This obsession and claim that tech can do anything from save the world to destroy the planet is very dangerous as it is a perceived pseudo reality that many people, both with power and not, seem to be desperately trying to make real (mainly fueld by a fear of the future and a desire to have some semblence of control over it through power mongering and vacuuming up influence in the present).

And this problem of progress for its own sake with some ambiguous “tech will save us” mindset is only recently exacerbated by the claim that these chatbots are AI (IMHO making a mockery of the term, intelligence).

Additionally, among this subsection, there seems to be an almost ravenous push for AGI, which, whether a boon or blight on future generations of humanity, they tend to argue is an inevitable outcome because technological and economic progress can never be nor should be slowed or halted.

I have definitely encountered this sort of “progress at all cost” mindset in other industries, but never have I seen it so vehemently defended among a not insignificant subsection of an entire economic sector (tech). And I’d imagine it is particularly pronounced in the major FAANG companies.

If you follow Ed Zitron’s other work, his recent articles and podcast episodes highlight a sort of “Villain of The Week” format, and so I don’t think it’s lost on him that this problem is not solely the purview of Microsoft, but rather is an indicator of a larger societal problem.

Indeed the issue Zitron is highlighting here is simply the newest incarnation of the strange cultish mantle that the Tech Industry can and has taken on in recent memory. The topic of Tech Work as Religion/Cult is thoroughly explored in the 2022 book, Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley, by Carolyn Chen.

It’s in it’s user profile.

https://mstdn.social/@remindme

Example:

@remindme 1 day

Edit: "@remindme 1 hour”

Perhaps a better analogy would be Usenet, IRC, or XMPP?

Well, they produced Oxenfree 2 which was a welcome sequel that I enjoyed. But other than that, I didn’t really hear about anything else from them.

To be fair. I get where they’re coming from. Some people simply don’t want to take the time to learn the Linux command line nor learn how to utilize the tool, balena etcher.

That said, if one says “Is there a way to simply install a Linux OS”, I usually assume said person has at least a passing familiarity with burning an ISO as that is the bare minimum knowledge for starting the Linux installation process.

Hence my assumption that they were familiar with said tools when they asked the question.

I meant a workstation OS. Or any Linux OS that’s not locked to a corporate account and probably filled with spyware.

Yes, though I have not tried to utilize this:

https://github.com/Quill-OS/quill

I don’t even understand the first sentence of these instructions. “Mount the device” followed by a bunch of seemingly random letters and characters. Mount it on what? What do I do with these?

These instructions require a very basic understanding of the Linux command line and file system. As does installing a Linux OS without a GUI helper.

The Kobo EReader is already a Linux machine.

As far as bypassing the sign up, here are my quick notes on how to do so step by step.

1. Buy a Kobo EReader.

2. Hack the EReader so you don’t have to sign up with Walmart.

3. Install Calibre on your PC.

4. Install Kobo Driver Extension for Calibre.

5. Use a VPN (I prefer Mullvad), and go to your favorite Book piracy website for epubs.

6. Download epub books.

7. Connect Kobo device to your PC via USB.

8. Use Calibre to upload epub books to Kobo.

9. Disconnect Kobo from PC.

10. Profit.

Librewolf and Duckduckgo Lite.

Your quadriceps are the largest muscles in your body (the second largest being your lattisimus dorsi). That’s why squats are often considered to be the most effective exercise you can do for weight loss and muscle building.

It’s understandable that working the largest muscles in your body would cause you to potentially sweat more profusely than working your other muscles, though the amount you sweat is the result of a myriad of factors like genetics and overall health.

Yes DDG Bangs are a great fast way of getting around the web. Works really well with LibRedirect. Here’s a Full List of DDG Bangs.

IIRC, other Cloud providers like Digital Ocean and Linode provide S3 storage solutions that have a flat fee for a certain GB amount of storage.

Yep. I’ve had mine for 6 years and it’s still incredible. Luckily compatible sealing rings are still available from 3rd party vendors. Makes great Greek Yogurt, Chicken Soup, and Steel Cut Oats. And of course , it can make so much more.

It sucks that when you make something this good, you’re destined to put yourself out of business, meanwhile planned obsolescence works…

Oh yeah, here’s Some More News on that.

Yes, the brackets were just there to emphasize it was a search query. Apologies if that was confusing.