Still happily using Linux.

I did switch the DE to kde plasma because the cosmic desktop was giving games a lot of trouble. Opening in weird window sizes, mostly. I did some light trouble shooting but decided I didn’t care that much about the desktop environment, so I installed the 2nd one.

Violence isn’t the answer. It’s the question. Right now the answer seems to be “poor people and minorities”. We should change that answer.

I am confident that many people would choose to be doctors.

If people felt connected to their community, many would also do the unpleasant jobs needed to run it.

Very cool. Could be a Album cover. Or Dark Souls denizen

It’s all emotions and desperately attempting to hold onto the belief that they’re a “good person”

I’m really not sure why they don’t just hire the contractors full time, since they’re keeping them for years anyway. The staffing company is taking a cut, and that can’t be that much cheaper than just giving regular benefits.

It probably works out via cruel economics to do it this way, somehow.

There was a meme like 15 years ago that was like “I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care about other people”

Some people just … don’t. If I had a magic wand I’d just send them off to their own private pocket planes, but alas.

The place I work (a multinational company but not one you’ve probably heard of) has been hiring almost exclusively “contractors” for a while.

They hire someone to be a software developer or qualify assurance engineer or whatever, but via a third party staffing company. Then that person acts exactly like a full time employee - goes to meetings, does work, reports to a boss - except they don’t get the same benefits as full timers.

This seems like it shouldn’t be legal, but most people are too worried about losing their job to push much about it.

Well, yes, “why don’t you care about things?” is a timeless problem. People don’t like to see beyond the immediate. Probably because in pre-history, the creatures that focused on right now did better than the ones who went “but if we keep cutting down the trees, eventually it’s going to cause problems.”

Well, now we have many problems, and our brains have not advanced.

It’s one of those self fueling problems. Businesses post on Instagram because people go there, and people go there in part because that’s where they found out about businesses doing stuff.

Better options are possible, but the big money is backing this hell. Less money to be made from RSS feeds , web rings, and email newsletters.

I don’t use any social media other than this. I find out about bands I like playing from their email lists or bandsintown. I’m on a couple “things happening in the city” email newsletters. It doesn’t demand my attention.

I really would like to somehow convince more people to adopt the idea that, like, Facebook and friends are run by bad people and you can choose not to use their products. Just stop. Find another way. Be uncomfortable for a little while.

But people aren’t up to the challenge.

Every conservative accusation is a confession

I use nano for quick edits. I don’t know more than the basics of vim, and don’t do a lot of editing on the terminal so I haven’t needed to.

Still on Linux. Updated to the new pop!_os LTS. It’s been pretty good. The new desktop environment has had a few quirks where I had to fuss with hitting alt+enter to get some games appropriately full screen, but generally it’s been good.

Worth it to be free of microslop

Many people take the idea that “everyone is entitled to their opinion” too far, and it turns into “everyone is entitled to their facts”

Humans are feelings driven, so they’re more likely to go with what their friend says than some mean scientist who makes them feel bad. The inability of people to put aside their feelings is part of why we’re in this mess.

Instead of a grid of apps on your home screen that you tap to open, and then tap and swipe and tap some more, you’d simply tell an AI agent to do something, and then it’d do it for you.

I don’t understand why you would want an “Agent” to do stuff for you. This whole thing is just built on the assumption that people are helpless idiots. Which, maybe has some truth to it, but I’d rather spend billions on education than this slop.

The “all authority is illegitimate” might generate some friction with some people who might overwise be an ally. They might stop listening and lose any nuance.

Ars is weirdly pro-windows sometimes , in the comments. I don’t read them as much as I used to.

Honestly that’s much more respectable. Someone who says “Yeah, I had a hamburger at the bbq. I know eating meat is bad for lots of reasons, but it was already there, and I can’t always live my ideals” is so, so, so much better than “No fuck you meat is good for the environment actually I’m a good person shut up”

So, to clarify, veganism was a separate example of things that cause a strong emotional reaction.

Second of all, I don’t really believe you but I don’t especially care.