Been playing a lot ofDeadlock still, finally getting a grasp of how to play it feels like. Took a while to understand priorities and what to focus on and how to execute builds. Still held back a bit by my aim, but found enough ability-based heroes to still be able to perform. It’s a very fun game! I can’t play too many games in a row because it gets intense and stressful, but I’m really enjoying it.
I’ve also been playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the first time as something more relaxing and story based. It’s been alright so far. Don’t think it’s been hitting the heights of the original Deus Ex so far, but it’s enjoyable enough.
Countries used to think that invading others and getting more land and more people to rule over would make them more powerful. Some still think so.
But modern countries increase their influence through trade and their economy.
European countries used to control huge parts of Africa, and all it did was cost them money. Also, generally, people don’t like being ruled by a foreign power. For a dictatorship that’s OK. But for a democracy, having lots of people in your country that don’t want to be governed by you is a big problem.
It’s because Apple has refused to adopt new messaging standards like RCS (not that Google is doing that much of a better job), but it’s purposefully broken interoperability to force people into buying into product ecosystems (iPhone vs. Android) to make you stick with one and get stuck on it.
It’s stupid anti-competitive and I freakin’ hate it.
Literally doesn’t have to be this way, it’s a choice (mostly by Apple, but once again doesn’t mean Google is better).
Apple was largely forced to support RCS in response to the mounting pressure from global regulators and competing companies. That may help explain the somewhat disgruntled approach to announcing its rollout in iOS 18.
A lot of RCS is using Google Jibe, it’s one of the ways they were able to roll it out so fast not necessarily with carrier support. I can’t fault them too much for not immediately embracing it. Based on the Toms Hardware link it looks like they are depending on carrier hubs. For me that means I may not get support for a long time as an MVNO user.
The Google proprietary extensions in their implementation of RCS is honestly pretty crappy imho as well. Neither of these companies are “good guys” in terms of RCS standards.
Eh, no one else is doing anything to provide support apart from Google either. Anyone else could do their own thing, no one is prevented from their own support. But very few companies and carriers even began to develop support for RCS, even after the Universal Profile. That is why Google developed their own support and built that support into the native app.
Verizon had their own RCS support via a proprietary carrier-specific app that never worked with anyone outside Verizon as far as I remember, and they dropped it in favor of Google’s option as soon as that was available. Samsung had their own RCS support in their proprietary Messaging app, also dropped because Google provides the same support on all of their products and Samsung doesn’t have to do anything or support it in any way. Google now provides an option for all Android devices specifically because almost no one was adding support on their own.
Anyone can, no one else will, because they have no reason to. The average user doesn’t care whether it’s Google, their carrier, or the manufacturer providing support for sending high quality photos to their friend’s phone number as long as it works.
Apple has indicated that it’s implementing standard RCS. That means no encryption and no weird additions.
They’re trying to get end to end encryption into the RCS standard, but the committees making that standard also have a lot of people from law enforcement agencies, so that’s never going to happen. If it does, assume there’s a backdoor in the standard.
Don’t forget to add in the primary reason they don’t want to implement it is exactly because of comment’s like OPs, because it makes it look like Android phones are the problem. Most people assume that it’s because it’s an android it doesn’t work right, and so everyone should just have iPhones. Why fix what is already great marketing for them, even if it is a complete lie?
RCS is quite terrible. Very few carriers still host RCS services. The only reason it works is because Google decided “fuck it, if you guys won’t provide RCS, we’ll just set up our own server for everyone to use”.
My country has a total of 0 carriers that run RCS servers. Only Vodafone had them, and they shut them down, because nobody used them. Everyone who uses RCS here uses Google’s servers. Wikipedia still lists carriers that have shut down RCS services so even the limited list of RCS capable carriers looks bigger than it is in reality.
I don’t know how Apple will implement RCS, but if they use carrier services (which, by the way, often are rented from Google as well), there’s a good chance RCS still won’t work. The only reliable way for Apple to add RCS is to copy what Google did and host an RCS server themselves.
I’m glad Apple is finally adding support, but I don’t blame them given how absolutely terrible the uptake among carriers was.
Honestly, I’d rather have Apple open up iMessage than for them to enable RCS, but regulatory pressure from China has made them include RCS anyway, so they might as well support it in the rest of the world.
To be fair, this is only a problem in countries where texting never died. In a lot of countries, apps like WhatsApp have taken over the role of the standard messenger over a decade ago, and everyone has one or more messaging apps they actually use.
The funny thing about RCS is that it’s not encrypted, and is designed to be run in carrier networks, where law enforcement agencies can read every message sent back and forth. If RCS had been taken up rather than WhatsApp or Line or any other competitor, our privacy situation would actually be much worse. In a way, I’m kind of thankful for RCS being so terrible.
Google will also try to block you from their RCS servers if they detect you’re rooted, causing your messages to be silently downgraded. It’s pretty bad.
It sounds as you want to evaluate different Linux Distributions.
DE/GUI is a good one, terminal commands is a bit useless since the vast majority of Linux systems use Bash as default.
This is what I would look into on a new distro:
UI - What DE or WM is it using, what is the default config like, and try to learn from that. How is the terminal prompt configured (the default Ubuntu and Debian prompts are terrible, I allways change them)
Package Manager - how does it work, what software is available?
Unique software - Does the distribution include some tools, applications or games I haven’t heard about? If so, what do they do, and how do they work.
This gives me a feel for the distribution and how to use it.
You are technically correct (I know) but I would argue that distros that come with a certain DE usually have their experience built into it. Sure you can install gnome in kde neon but don’t expect anything to work, if it does it’s mostly by accident.
This is true for distros that cater to “simple” users that want to install and be productive of course, not for those like Debian or arch which cater to users who want to build their own experience.
@ccdfa
My $0.02 worth. I run Kubuntu (Debian) and Manjaro (Arch) both with KDE Plasma. KDE has done such a great job. I often forget which distro I'm running. It's usually me inadvertently running apt commands on the Manjaro box and saying to myself, oh yeah that's right @stoy@kalvo
@ccdfa
I like it quite a bit. I've been using it for about 2 years; one machine as a every day work station that I use for everything and a laptop with a cracked screen that I use as my Jellyfin server. I have no issues at all with the repos but that is the one area I know the least about. Since you mentioned it, I think I do some learning this week.
As well as the package manager (and release type/schedule as mentioned in a different reply) you might want to look at the overall structure.
Does the distro use selinux or app armor (you probably want at least one)? Does it follow traditional distro structure like Ubuntu/Debian or is it weird like atomic (ex Silverblue) or declarative (ex Nixos) distro? Is it a minimalist distro (Arch is the big modern one) it maximalist (Suse)? Those kinds of things can also be informative.
Godel, Escher, Bach Infinite Jest The Lord of the Rings The Demon-Haunted World The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Slaughterhouse-Five Small Gods Master and Commander
and everything else written by those authors.
The first two or three on that list might take several fits and starts to get through, YMMV, but they are WELL worth the effort, and you will come out the other side changed by the experience. The others are all pretty easily digestible, but no less transformative.
Christ I know so many people who love this book, but I can never make it past the first few pages. Something about the giddy tone that the author uses to tell you exactly how you should feel at any given time just feels hard to stomach. Just present the facts and their connections in a concise manner, and let me feel my own sense of awe. Don’t rob me of my own excitement by trying to imprint yours onto mine.
Thanks for the suggestions! I gotta make a list when I get home. I haven’t heard of a few of these so that should be exciting.
The first two or three on that list might take several fits and starts to get through, YMMV, but they are WELL worth the effort, and you will come out the other side changed by the experience.
I’m anticipating this, not too worried. I have trouble comprehending thick prose, but part of why I’m asking for recs is because I won’t improve if I don’t try.
I loved having LOTR read to me as a kid so maybe it’s time to revisit it.
having differently sized ram sounded like something so trivial and inconsequential of a thing it didnt exactly cross my mind that it would problems to begin with
and some games do work so it isnt consistent enough of a thing to be noticed to me
Am I the only one who likes to write comments when I find code that took me a while to understand even when I didn’t write the code? It helps me when I go back to that place and it helps other devs that have to do the same figuring things out as me. Idk if I’m just weird but I really like writing documentations and commenting my code
I think comments are good in a first resort, along with the other points you mentioned. To me reading a single line summary and or explainer will always be faster than reading 15 lines of code even if it’s very well made and self documenting
Smart blinds can also serve a similar function. My bedroom catches some light from passing headlights and there’s enough light pollution to affect my sleep. However, my SO really struggles to wake up if it’s dark. Smart blinds have been a great solution for us. The biggest drawback is noise. Affordable blinds are not silent.
I’d be interested in examples of what he watchs, it’s hard to know how to respond otherwise.
I think you’re probably worrying too much though, I watch all sorts of junk on YouTube largely because I enjoy finding out how other people think more than it constanrly changing my opinion - sure he’s young and doesn’t have the same level of awareness as an adult but also nothing in his life will actually matter for about 5 more years so a few bad opinions aren’t the end of the world.
When he says ‘I don’t know’ maybe you should believe that’s how he really feels, feed into it a bit and as painful as this might be for you admit that you don’t know either - life is full of confusing shit and honesty half the stuff I see I don’t even know how I feel about it or if it’s true, sane, or sensible. I’m sure he knows loads of interesting things going on in the world that you’re totally unaware of so let him tell you about it, be interested and accepting while in a non-dogmatic way rasising doubts where appropriate or simply tell a story from your own life that explains your doubts - not like ‘I’m old and know better’ but more friendly and demonstrating it’s normal to not know who to trust or what’s valid.
Positive reinforcement of doubt and distrust is important, demonstrate that you understand he’s learning about the world and its absurdities and complexities, laugh about some of it WITH him rather than making him feel like you’re saying ‘the stuff you watch is dumb and you’re dumb for watching it’ because understanding others is FAR more important in life than knowing the truth about obscure subjects, hard pill to swallow maybe but it’s true.
Your seven points you worry about are well and good but media doesn’t do that, politicians don’t do that, corporations don’t do that, life partners and lovers don’t do that, friends don’t do that, I bet YOU don’t do that… To live in this world we’ve got to learn how to take the important bits and leave the rest, we’ve got to learn why people do the things they do and that’s only possible with a big messy database in our heads of all the different types of people out there.
It sounds from the way you speak like you’ve given him a good grounding in logical, sensible, and scientifically literate discourse which is great but now his brain yearns to understand more of the world - why is everything so crazy and weird? why do people who seem nice sometimes do crazy and hurtful things? Why does this girl say such odd things, does she like me or hate me? These are questions you can only start to answer by understanding people and things you don’t believe in.
I listened to endless craziness like Alex Jones, 5Live, loveline, all sorts of brain rot shit - never once did I think Adam Carolla was anything but [string of words now forbidden] though he was funny, it was fun to listen to and entertaining, I learnt a lot about the world from callers and even Adam though he certainly never did a single one of your seven virtues.
Yes maybe the entertainment is more important than the content of their arguments, being able to know the truth is useful but being able to entertain friends, girlfriends, bosses and authority figures is what can turn a hard life into a great and easy one.
This could certainly be true, but I prefer to think of it more as a prophylactic approach to critical thinking. These videos show viewers that it’s okay to form volatile opinions absent fact, critical thinking, reason, context, or application. I don’t want my child be trained to think like a Republican or a Christian.
When he says ‘I don’t know’ maybe you should believe that’s how he really feels,
If that’s how they really feel, then I want to encourage deeper thought into something before forming opinions on it. I want to train them to sort through their feelings on something and be able to come to a rational conclusion. If that’s not how they feel and this is just a cop-out to not have to discuss something with a parent (I’d bet my mortgage on this), then I want to discourage the notion that an excuse can be used for everything and the concept that nobody can be held accountable for their stances on something.
Your seven points you worry about are well and good but media doesn’t do that, politicians don’t do that, corporations don’t do that,
These are not excuses or explanations, these are problems.
life partners and lovers don’t do that, friends don’t do that,
Which may be the cause for much strive in social interactions.
I bet YOU don’t do that…
I do do that. I am a scientist and a philosopher. I believe in reason, rationalization, context, applicability, utility, and equality/equity.
we’ve got to learn why people do the things they do
People do things because they either 1) Have a rationalized reason for doing so (someone who has critical thinking capabilities), 2) they have an irrational reason for doing so (someone absent reason and logic), or 3) they have no reason for doing so (someone absent sanity or care/investment).
I listened to endless craziness like
It sounds like all these sources did nothing but build up their own disrepute, and you knew it. Entertainment factor, sure, but the only value you get from listening to this stuff is to understand their motivations. They don’t contribute any new information, and justifiable hypotheses, any authoritative conclusions; they only instruct their listeners in how to copy their behavior. Which is exactly why I don’t want my child exposed to such garbage until they’re capable of the critical thought necessary to spot the fallacies.
Yes maybe the entertainment is more important than the content of their arguments, being able to know the truth is useful but being able to entertain friends, girlfriends, bosses and authority figures is what can turn a hard life into a great and easy one.
I can see the point you’re trying to make but I have to disagree. I’d much rather be able to form a cogent argument that fosters profitable discourse than post an adequately funny meme without understanding why the joke is inappropriate.
kbin.life
Active