A 50-something French dude that’s old enough to think blogs are still cool, if not cooler than ever. I also like to write and to sketch.
Thx, that’s nice of you to say, but don’t worry too much about that.
As far as I’m concerned downvotes only start being meaningful the moment a downvoter takes to time to explain their motivation, if they’re too lazy to even do that, well, why should I worry what they may think, or like or dislike? ;)
I would not rate it. My childhood, like myself, is not a product or a service, it’s not even a homework, waiting to be rated ;)
100%. Also true for any craft/DIY/manual hobby activity, art (music, sketching, painting), and so on.
France comes from the ‘franks’ which was both a kingdom and its population, the franks or francs, in French. The word is is supposed to mean ‘free man’ (one of the meanings, at least)
Yep.
It’s not compatible with the real older browsers but since it’s for my personal blog I don’t think it’s a big deal.
AVIF. It’s a video format but it works great for photos too and offers much better compression than jepg or even webp without much noticeable loss. I use it on my blog to make the few images I use as light as possible.
I’m not surprised at all since I use them every single day, but the pen and paper have yet to be rivaled by anything digital. At the very least, in regards to:
Yeah, I think it’s kinda obvious I do like my cheap notebook and pen, a lot more than I will ever like that corporate and government spyware that disguises itself as a smartphone and that I’m expected to be using and carrying with me everywhere I go ;)
We don’t. Our simple kettle with its whistle is working great, despite its age. And its much nicer to look at than a microwave too ;)
First, I take a breath. More often than not, I will take more than one.
No matter what I’m doing I will always make some room to breathe. At the very least, I will go out for a long walk every single day of the year. Just walk. No distractions, no social noise, no music, no podcast, no nothing but me, my head, and that tiny thing called ‘the world outside’ ;)
Even better, when whatever it is I’m doing is stressing me out, I will make it multiple times a day because I don’t work well when I’m stressed, so it’s not a waste of time. And it also helps me stay in shape so it’s even less a waste in that regard.
Last but not least, I learned to work less. It’s not how hard you work or how tired you end up being that should matter, it’s what you have done and much you like it ;)
I would set it back to the early to mid-90s, when I first experienced it…
Am I one of those old fart trying to say it was better in the good old times? Yes, and no.
Back then the Internet was limited, it was hacked together and there was no professionally designed website with pretty animations, security was… not much, there was no mobile web and, as a matter of fact, no ‘app’ at all since smartphones were not yet a thing. There was not even script languages like Javascript or PHP to develop all those shit… amazing dynamic features we’re now surrounded with. So, yeah, it was limited. But…
There also was also no social media, no monetizing, no tracking, no corporate mafia-like CEOs trying to took us hostage or to milk us to death, and hands in hands with their politicians friends, trying their worst at transforming our free societies into some fascist dystopia that if they succeed (and it looks like they could) will make look all the XX century monstrosities mere child-play.
There were already evil corporations and assholes politicians back then, sure, but for the most part the Internet was people, not businesses. And it was not populated by those armies of braindead, tantrum-obsessed and hysterical morons we now consider the normal ‘user’.
Trolls were already a thing, obviously, but there were not millions of them waiting to be mobilized through social media like a good army of haters ready to go stampede into oblivion anything nice or daring anyone could be willing to do. It was ok to not be nice, to not be liked, and to take risks.
I mean, it was actual people with their qualities and flaws, people that were willing to share content they were interested in and to discuss it. People that were not expecting to make a fucking cent out of every single fart they would make online. Nor to gain any Likes…
So, yeah it was rougher, so much more limited and a lot less cool. It was also a lot less polite. But it was so much more free and less full of shit.
(end of that old fart rant, promise)
I don’t understand why this matters that much
Maybe because some apps will only work on certain phones (say on iOS or Android) and maybe because depending the phone you are using maybe someone could suggested another solution than switch app? ;)
Spend less time online, do less digital activities.
I do more IRL, in-person, activities. Any kind of activity most of us somehow forget we used to do well before Internet and digital was a thing can still be done without the Internet and without a computer of any kind.
In-persons is intimidating but it also helps keep away the armies of online trolls and haters that online thrive to hurt other people. Provided one behaves like a decent human being, it’s very rare people IRL will hate on anyone for goofing up or for not agreeing with them. It’s ok.
I also do as much as I can the analog way, without anything digital. It helps. Be it to write or sketch, or do stuff with my hands. Heck, even me using a paper agenda instead my phone will regularly trigger surprised/interested questions from people that otherwise would probably never have talked with me to begin with ;)
Nice :)
I bought a ready to assemble one myself (so it was just a matter of following the instructions to assemble it). It was not cheap but that was almost 10 years ago and it’s still working great. Imho, the second best money I ever spent—quality shoes being the first one.
I would encourage anyone to also spend money on a quality standing mat as it will help the legs, feet and back not getting tired too quickly.
And, yeah, I used to use one like that.
A pencil (edit: less than 1 dollar most of the time)
How would he live or what would he do in life? More importantly, what should be done with him to make him useful or at least neutral rather than being a negative on the society?
Are you a tool, or an object yourself? Can I throw you away because you’re broken, or because a newer version of yourself has been released, or because I don’t like the way you age?
Probably not because, at least in your own eyes, you don’t consider yourself a tool or an object. You’re not something, right?
Why is that? Because you’re a person. You’re a human being.
Well, good for you and, also, nice to meet you my dear fellow human being.
The thing is that with or without skill, we all are human beings too. We’re persons, we’re not tools at the disposal of some ‘owner’ who is free to break it and throw it away when not needed.
Given that, one realize that the fact of being alive is not about being ‘employable’ or ‘useful’. It never was. Believers would say it’s a miracle or a gift, I’m not a believer myself but I kinda understand that idea: it’s… so much more than all we can understand.
Sure, each of us may need to be able to get food and shelter, true that, but then your question instantly stops being about ‘what should we do with unemployable people’ to become the, imho, much more interesting ‘why is that civil society (aka, all of us) is allowing a handful of its own members, the billionaires and corporations, to decide they have the right to destroy the way society works for all of us and to render a lot of us unable to earn their living, just so that handful of billionaires and corporations can make more money? And why is that we should not object to their decision?’
Now, since I answered your question, allow me to ask you mine.
Why do you think people should be categorized by their ‘usefulness’? And, if we were to accept your premise (which I obviously don’t want to), would you happen to consider yourself one of those ‘useful’ that would still deserve a place in that new AI and robotic-powered society?
edit: typos + my usual poor English
Have you had your health checked recently? If there is nothing wrong, maybe you’re like me: I was getting bald at a relatively young age and then my hair started greying out.
Instead of fighting it, I decided to assume it and make it simpler to live with for me. I shaved myhead and have not looked back since then ;)
Easy: destroying the world out of sheer stupidity and greed.
Writing things down, using the pen and paper I always carry with me. Doing so, I don’t try to make literature or to sound smart, I just write things down as they come. Later on I’ll read them back, that’s quick, and decide if they’re worth using or if I strike them out and forget about them.
I would not be able to work as efficiently without the simple but so powerful pen and paper.
It’s probably my English that is lacking (sorry for that) but I though I just wrote ‘people should not do that, they’re not a products’. Could it be that me using the first person is the main issue, here? Or did I really phrase anything that makes you think I feel ‘special’ (can’t see what)?
If so, I will try to keep that in mind next time.