I will do that! It might be a while, who knows.

Do you have anything specific you have started, or have started eyeing up?

100% this, my friend.

And if more people could get their heads to that healthy state, the world would be a better place.

I am as disgusted with consumer marketing and advertising as anybody, but sometimes the logo or the brand on something CAN be a positive sign if it indicates the product comes from a company that has earned the trust they have.

I don’t have a Steam Deck and probably never will. However, I am glad to see it being popular if for no other reason than what Valve and the Deck have contributed to gaming on Linux.

I will probably get their VR headset though, whenever that comes out.

Yeah!

I have lamented in comments before that it seems like society treats technology and “success” as things that mean you don’t have to put in any effort to do things or learn things.

Admittedly, I’m an engineer and enjoy learning about the world and creating things starting with the basic building blocks, so I probably enjoy the learning and doing more than most. But I also recognize how engaging with the world around us is good for us, and my experiences keep reinforcing that.

Some parts of it, especially my pond, are an area where I’ve done a ton of DIY and learning and designing from first principles or close to it, and where other hobbyists often need help. So I’ve taken photos along the way and have pondered making videos at simmer point.

That might actually happen, but my number of projects in flight right now is kind of ridiculous, lol.

Usenet is hosted by companies dedicated to it, not individuals. So generally you can use an encrypted connection and max out your bandwidth.

It’s not just new stuff either.

I’m in the best shape I’ve been in about 2 decades, and you know what my hobbies have been since spring of last year?

Amateur farmer, construction worker, and landscaper. And I guess mechanic too, to a lesser extent.

I live in a pretty standard suburban US neighborhood of single family homes, but my little fenced-in back yard is an active construction zone rather than a patch of grass.

My oasis is coming along pretty well. I can’t wait to share it with those around me once it’s more presentable.

If AI hasn’t actually, really, been here for even a single fiscal year then it explains away everything. Suddenly the fact that it’s made zero impact on productivity, that no one is making any profit on it, all of that becomes justified. “It’s still early.”

I think you’ve nailed it.

I clearly remember 2023 being the year where AI and ChatGPT hit the mainstream. Looking back, nvidia’s stock price had already doubled in the first half of 2023.

On one hand, fuck that guy and what he’s trying to do to the world.

On the other hand, he’s saying the CEOs are lazy and want to look smart. Can’t argue with that point, even if it’s a small piece of a larger stream of bullshit.

That is a badass projection method! I don’t think I’ve seen it before.

Windows has had a “fast startup” thing for a while where it hibernates just some parts of the OS.

I used to always disable it because I’ve run into situations where having it off prevented issues that appeared with it on.

Fortunately I don’t have to use any Windows machines on a regular basis now, so it doesn’t matter.

That is my right now at the midpoint of this three day weekend.

Worth it now that I’ve stumbled upon your comment and this whole damn post!

Thank goodness that isn’t their default state. First officer Jean-Luc T. Lincoln over there world be incapable of leaving any women (or men) for the restv of us.

Will [____] make us less caring? …NO

I love how well most of this has aged, but that line there feels very pre-2016 to me, unfortunately.

And that’s not even just hinting at politics and world events, but also about how much more we know about those empty experiences from the last line, and how they are meticulously engineered to fuck with people’s brains for juuuust a bit more engagement.

Sounds like her issue is their otherness, not their medical history.

Racists and xenophobes are capable of believing some really stupid, easily disproven shit.

You would THINK that of all people on the planet, CEOs should understand the enshittification strategy.

…Or the board of directors, or the major investors, etc.

If you outsource the entire value chain of your $million/billion business to the $trillions guys, how do you think that will go? What would YOU do in their place knowing you have all the leverage and none of the risk (re: the smaller companies being bled dry and left to rot)?

It’s funny to see it happen to other predatory tech companies like uber though.

I love being able to post this yet again:

I have a lifetime Plex pass I got during a big sale like a decade ago, at 1/10 the price they are raising it to. I haven’t used it in about 6 months and never plan to even log into it again. Jellyfin 4 life!

I mean, I also have a whole bunch of windows keys from old MSDN accounts and stuff, but I am sure as shit not going to install Windows on my machines just because I can!

Yeah sure, give me whatever cookies aren’t already blocked. I love cookies. Is that all of them?

(closes LibreWolf, which nukes everything except whitelisted sites)

…pathetic.

I have the fun privilege at work these days of being the guy who sometimes makes things work just by walking in the room.

It feels like a tale as old as time. I’m one of the few software engineers working on the embedded code in our new product, and occasionally a technician or V&V tester or different discipline engineer will ask me to look at something acting funny. And I fully believe them, not just because they have no reason to lie but because “acting funny” is exactly the lifestyle our system is living!

Sometimes I get to lean on my experience with the code, then glare at something on the screen and say I don’t trust it, and that leads us to the fix. But about half the time, just sensing that somebody called daddy into the room makes it stand up straight and stop fucking around, lol.

Wow, you really DO have abnormally good insurance, to only pay a grand in a year.

For anybody else confused by this because you live in a civilized country, let me translate: The standard offering from employers nowadays is called a high deductible health plan. The deductible is the amount you have to pay* for healthcare before your insurance pays anything, and it is typically several thousand dollars.

(* There are a few preventive services that are 100% covered, so if you have no health issues whatsoever you can still get a yearly checkup and a flu shot without paying extra)