The algorithms killed the platforms. They’ve become vapid, empty holes that only attract people addicted to them like junkies.

The internet can be fun, but you’re not going to find it on the platforms. You’re only going to find fun in places where people talk to each other. And even then, if you’re thin skinned you’re going to wind up in an outrage filled circlejerk. If you loosen up and go where the algorithms don’t exist you can have a good time.

While I’d say altruism is not a virtue the way it is defined in our culture, I will say that who we are is about 50% nature and 50% nurture, and inside we are very different beings for one reason or other. A born sociopath is only human the same as you in visible form, the being is nothing like you. A person who was badly abused and tattoos his face and perpetuates abuse on those around him is completely different from you both. A monk in a monestsry and an Instagram influencer are completely different beings inside, besides some basic neurology that makes them both human. If you could see the being inside every human they’d look as different as Pokémon. That’s my philosophical insight.

I use Koreader. It’s a bit heavy because it has basically any option you can think of, it works on a wide multitude of platforms, and can have weird bugs sometimes but hardly ever. But the way I read, I need some settings that aren’t in very many readers and it has them. Try it out.

I drop usernames without a second thought if it suits me. I use different ones I think up on the fly most of the time. The only one that matters to me is one attached to my development activities in the FOSS community, and I might share opinions using it but primarily I use it to engage in discussion related to development so that people who know me in those circles know who they’re talking to.

Traffic… That’s a sticking point for some people. Closures, I find OSM is more up to date than google on that front these days.

I don’t need traffic data. I live somewhere without bad traffic, deliberately. Traffic is one of the top criteria for me when choosing where to live.

Osmand+ doesn’t suck.

torrents-csv

Open a link in any browser i like. Say “no” to updates. Have a main menu that doesn’t look like a kiosk at the mall. Have my habits on my computer kept to myself. Install applications from outside an application store. Not need an antivirus software.

Absolutely not.

He was a very high profile criminal.

Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is way better and super underrated.

Burn After Reading.

The OP is irritated for some reason, I guess they really wanted that insight.

Well, this is what you wanted isn’t it? Your government is protecting you, anyone who can’t comply can’t serve you.

Just change your user agent. Fuckers have no business knowing.

They’re the same picture.

Yeah I understand that, but I don’t think it’s a good rule even generally speaking. It doesn’t actually prevent abuse, all it does is disempower people from being autonomous via social stigmatization as a mechanism rather than penalty of law.

Personally, I think the number is arbitrary and there are 20 year olds incapable of making responsible decisions, and 15 year olds that are. But that’s the world we live in, it’s a compromise we make with our community to prevent abuse of little kids, and a way to set expectations of people, “by this age you need to be capable of looking out for yourself or you’re going to have a hard time”. I’m OK with this particular compromise, arbitrary though it may be. I don’t know that there is a smarter alternative, and half your age plus seven is most definitely further from the goal than a set age when someone is expected to be able to navigate the world on their own. In older times (and in some less developed cultures even today), people were expected to be capable at puberty, in others it was when their fathers said they could, and we don’t do that anymore because those systems almost always lead to fathers selling their children. So I’m happy with the current rule.

I said food was made from carbon dioxide and water, and repeatedly explained the process I was referring to. I never once said carbon dioxide was “in” food, although even if I did I don’t think it is this easy to misunderstand what I’m saying.

100% OK with it, yes. We either respect someone’s decisions or we don’t. If we decide “someone is free to do what they want when they’re 18” then that’s that. If that’s what they choose to do then it’s none of my business.

There are plenty of abusive, coercive and controlling relationships between people of the same age range. There are plenty of 40 year old women getting mistreated in new relationships. If a 19 year old is with a 70 year old, I doubt there’s some power dynamic there, most likely the woman is selling herself in a situation like that for a big payday, which is her choice. There are way less 70 year olds controlling their 18 year old girlfriends than there are 32 year olds doing it to their 30 year old girlfriends. It would seem age is not a good heuristic when trying to determine whether abuse is occurring, when it comes to adults at least.