I don't use Windows or Adobe and things like that (I use Linux and before that I was running a Mac), but for VSCode you may consider using VSCodium instead which is the exact same app (the same source code, running the same extensions) just without MS telemetry.
Libb
joined 6 months ago
Thx for the clarification, very much appreciated.
Dude, that was merely a pun (sorry, not sure about the english word here: a wink at the printed version of those 'fairy tales' that have been legally shared through books for centuries). But whatever you say, have fun with your 'shrooms'.
There is quite a lot of choice & variety.
To only mention a handful of public domain classics: Grimm's Fairy Tales are an obvious choice (think Sbnow White, Cincerella, Hansel & Gretel and so, so many more (quite hardcore to be honest), Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Barry's Peter Pan or even things like Ovid's Metamorphosis (hard to beat, imho, even if many won't like it being categorized as a fairy tale and would prefer 'mythology'). Talking mythology, one coudl also consider reading some Norse mythology (the 'Edda', and sagas), and so on.
No need for mushrooms, one can easily (and legally, at least for the time being) open a book ;)
I’ve heard various rumors,
There is also information
I don’t know what to do, I’m scared.
- Don't listen to rumors.
- Cross reference all info you think is worth your attention.
- Panic is not an answer, or it most certainly is the worst one. Instead, make a clear list of what you consider a threat to you (yur privacy, family, whatever)... for that you will need 1 & 2 to be sorted out. Then, for each threat consider your options and decide for you next action—not in a general sense 'I should find a way to fight against that phone spying on me' but the exact next/first step you need to do in order to solve a specific issue.
For example, unless we need them (which seldom happens) we do not keep our phones with us at home all the time, they're stored in a small closed box, that is stored in the laundry room (whose door is also closed and which is also the remotest room from our living spaces and bedroom in our apartment, it's also the noisiest room when we do laundry.)
My phone has gaffer over the front facing cam. No idea if that phone can record through gaffer (I doubt it can, but I don't know for sure) but at the very least the gaffer is a barrier between that phone and my privacy.
I store almost no personal data (as little as possible) on that phone, almost no apps (and no games or social). They, whoever they happen to be, can scan through that phone as much as they fancy, be my guest. And, yes, that also means I'm not doing a lot of the stuff I could easily do. So be it, that's a price I'm willing to pay.
Not related to bots but more about account deletion, something I've been wishing for a long time is to make a separation between a user being able to delete their account if they fancy so and their content actually being removed. Content could just be anonymized or, at least, if the content is to actually be removed, a placeholder should be put in its place because when they delete their account not only do they delete their own posts but they also delete all comments made by other participants which is unfair and can also be a real loss as some comments are really interesting.
Many years ago, we decided we did not want to cut trees anymore for the purpose of decorating our place, and since we also did not want to use a plastic one I did what I had to do by... painting a small one on top recycled cardboard that I cut to shape.
It's really small (the fat red-bearded dude doesn't overwhelm us under gifts either, maybe it's because he hates our tree?). It looks like a kid's version of a Xmas tree, some people would call it ugly as fuck, I say it is unique. We can easily (dis)assemble it & store it (takes no space at all), it never shed, we never lose or break a decoration, and setting it up with all it's decorations is just a matter of sliding one piece of cardboard into another, for its trunk/foot ;)
Despite it being made out of cardboard and being painted with gouache it's sturdy, only needing a touch of fresh paint every now and then. The previous one lasted something like 11 years before I had to make a new one, this year.
Sorry for that, I will edit my post to remove that now useless affiliate/bonus part ;)
Those people who died centuries (millennia) ago that were kind enough to putdown their ideas and thoughts onto paper (or some other kind of support) just to make sure that I (ok, I and a few other persons too ;)) would be able to read them and benefit from it. I appreciate that. A lot. As their writings helped a lot in becoming the person I am. Which is also why it makes me so sad to realize more and more people will never read a book, they just don't know what they're missing.
On a more mundane level, people being polite is one thing I appreciate a lot too and that I think is really helpful. It's not a big thing, it's saying 'hi', or just being nice to one another, not acting entitled and so on, but to me it means there is still an alternative way of life to this constant and quickly rising hate and anger that is becoming our new normal. Giving me some hope we're not that badly screwed.
I seldom use it:
- I barely ever downvote and only stuff that is very hateful or really too angry and that somehow managed to pass through my filters.
- I may upvote content I find really useful/enriching in a discussion.
- I do not use up/downvote as a way to show I agree or disagree with whatever I vote on. If I disagree with a content and think it's worth saying it, I will write a comment.
- Related: I also don't care about being downvoted unless there is a comment accompanying it to explain the motivation/reasoning behind it. People are more than welcome to disagree with whatever I say and even to dislike me as a person, I'm fine with that, but if they really want to help me realize (and maybe admit) that there was an issue in what I said, a mere downvote won't cut it. They will need to put in some more work ;)
Nope. Quite the contrary.
But it may be worth mentioning I'm getting old (nearing my 60s) and I have been educated in a now remote time where the idea that being confronted with hardship and with failure is what would help us learn to overcome them. Not being shielded from them.
Confront shit ideas with better ideas. The rest, any form of censorship or control, never works, never did and I doubt will ever.
Heck, aged 16 my best friend and I decided to read Mein Kampf in order to understand how that 'Nazi' stuff managed to seduce so many people. While we were reading it, as seriously as we would have read any other book, we just discussed it freely meaning without fear of being judged ('being cancelled' one may say nowadays): we would point out stupid shit as well as things that seemed not, to young us at least, not that stupid trying to confront them through a free and open discussion. Decades later, I can safely say it was one of the best cure against me ever risking getting 'seduced' by those shit ideas and the hate they thrive(d) on.