Our demographics don’t support uncertainty. Most of us are here because we are certain distributed is better than centralized, community run is better than corporate run, FOSS is better than proprietary, etc. The sign-up process discourages casual users, so most users have made up their minds to be here.

For better or worse, we’re highly opinionated, and we’ve decided some things are bad and others are good. Very few topics are open to discussion because we’ve already decided.

And if we haven’t decided on something, it’s usually because we’ve decided it doesn’t matter, so we’ll ignore it.

It isn’t a sustainable community, but I fit in, so I’m still here.

https://lemmy.ca/post/15125231 has results of a demographic poll for lemmy.ca.

Yeah, bull sessions were (and still are) part of my experience. I’m a similar age, and had a similar university experience.

Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to watch Three’s Company.

you only get one body so may as well look after it

That’s a really good way of putting it.

this is the only thing I’ve found that allows me to escape my mind and be in the moment

That’s what I really like about snowboarding and inline skating - if I’m not focusing on the activity, I take a tumble, so I have to pay attention. I don’t know if either of those are something you’d enjoy, but maybe give them a shot?

I’m really sorry that’s how things ended up for you. Best of luck.

I have a sedentary job as a software developer so it’s good to be more active.

…

would you continue this hobby even though it’s wrecking my hands

As a software developer who also has fucked up hands, no. This is your meal ticket. Don’t mess with it. Being depressed with a job is way better than being depressed without a job and a disability.

I’ve actively avoided activities that use my hands because I don’t want to mess them up more. It sucks, but that’s where we’re at.

I don’t know what activity to recommend. I do leg-centric stuff: swimming, inline skating, snowboarding, and soccer. I don’t know if those would be good for you.

Edit: sorry. That came across as hostile. My hand situation is managed, but it still gets to me. I’m trying to say that you should take care of yourself and your hands. The short-term gain of an activity that messes you up isn’t worth it.

Exercise feels great, and I hope you find something that works for your mind and your body.

Yeah, I’d like to use the network, but the reviews are pretty bad. That and the lack of UWB makes it seem pretty weak.

Agreed - traditional media and online commentary both suffer from this problem.

We need a way for beat reporters to get paid for their work. Sadly that doesn’t really exist right now.

We need experts that are knowledgeable on issues who can put them in context for lay readers.

In the past, those were often beat reporters, but academics can fit that role too.

With the collapse of traditional media hegemonies companies we’ve lost beat reporters, so we have to rely on third party experts. Of course, there are problems with that: if they’re owned by bad actors, then they can spread misleading narratives.

I’m not sure who fills that role now. Whoever can tweet the most convincingly at journalists? Whoever makes the sexiest YouTube explainer?

😂^(we’re screwed)

Environmental/political activism. I used to be pretty active in local groups. When I had kids, I bowed out to help my spouse. Now that I have time again, I feel unmotivated - news is just so damn depressing.

How do you market an encryption platform exclusively to criminals?

Apparently through word of mouth and suggestions by undercover agents.

innocents that downloaded this as a secure messaging system

The app wasn’t made available for download. The FBI bought a few thousand Pixels, flashed a custom ROM onto them, and then installed the messaging apps. In theory they cost thousands of dollars to buy.

It’s entirely possible some innocents used the system, but it’s unclear how selling rooted hardware to alleged criminals would induce them to commit crime.

See https://www.npr.org/2024/05/31/1197959218/fbi-phone-company-anom

Entrapment techniques like that make me sick.

What was the entrapment? The FBI sold phones to suspected criminals and monitored the conversations, didn’t they?

Huh, they have manuals going back to the 5a.

Just burn it down, rabbit.

Burn.

It.

Down.

I aspire to #7

I’m guessing you’re talking about debit cards. From the Canadian Government: yes.

In detail:

Payment terminals can also be built to feed into a retailer’s “customer relationship management” database so that a retailer can track your purchases and tie those to other information about you, such as your email address, if you have given it to them. Financial institutions and payment card network operators could also profile you based on your purchase information.

This purchase information could potentially be shared and linked with information held by loyalty card companies, data brokers, or marketers.

If it’s possible, then it’s a revenue stream, so I assume it’d be done.

I got a Breville Dual-Temp for $350 CAD on sale, but you can spend less. You can always spend more if you want, but that’s where I top out.

I’m not sure about ROI. I guess I’ve had it three years, so that’s like $.33/day, but I don’t track what I spend on consumables.

Espresso machines rock. I got one to cut costs, and I’m really happy with being able to make an Americano in a minute or two.

no one at Microsoft gives a single fuck about their users anymore

I don’t think they ever did.

A place for teenagers to go on dates.