Messaging apps curse is exactly that… No matter how good they are, if nobody is using it… In WhatsApp I have +100 of my contacts, in Telegram, 20. In Signal, less than 10, so…
I’ve never used it, and I never intend to. I know SMS isn’t ideal for privacy, but at least I can use FOSS apps to interact with it, and it doesn’t mandate intrusive features like “reactions” or read receipts
I’m not sure what’s intrusive about reactions but you can turn off read receipts. Yeah it isn’t ideal either but video calls, sending media/files, group chats (do NOT suggest MMS. Never MMS.) and so on. Lots of features, secure, but yeah privacy is dogshit. Signal is great but I’ve only managed to convert a few people to it.
I’d welcome the chance to use something more privacy based than Signal
I just never like reactions in an app used for general messaging. They make sense on a more memey plaything like Discord, but not in a messaging app that I’m supposed to take seriously as my primary way to communicate. In fact, simple text only without any other formatting would be ideal. That’s kinda what I like about this place, with the exception of upvotes/downvotes, which could be removed for all I care.
I’ve got a group chat going in SMS with several family members, and I always cringe when I get the message “[brother] laughed at an image,” and I don’t even know what fucking image it was because I don’t have an iPhone.
Reactions just seem like something that should have never been implemented in a place where they’re not universally supported. Maybe I’d feel different with Signal, since I could simply not pay any attention to them. But if someone can’t simply have the time to say “I like that,” then why even react at all? I don’t need to know that you lived, laughed, loved at my image.
I think it’s less annoying with a large group chat to have people react to an image than 20 identical messages. I’ve seen some do group votes through that (👍 vs 👎) which seems like a good use case. Tbh I haven’t seen people use reactions much so probably partly because of that they don’t bother me.
I guess it would be preferable to getting all the disembodied “x laughed at an image” or “x loved an image” messages without even knowing which image it refers to. One could simply ignore the feature if it were less intrusive.
Yeah, I guess I’m not sure about the actual statistics. I do know it was the point when I realized I wouldn’t personally use Signal because everyone I know uses SMS, SMS federates with email, and if I tried switching to a non-SMS app, I’d be screaming into a void.
The only other message apps people around here use are Snapchat, FB Messenger, and WhatsApp, and I’d rather cut people off than use any of those.
I’ve been using Beeper a month or two. They had a long waiting list, and initially it was subscription only, but they are working on smashing through the waiting list and have changed to a freemium model where you get it for free and (eventually) they will have extra features for subscribers.
Basically, it’s one chat app that connects to lots of different chat services.
If you’re technical, the app is a fork of Element, and the service uses matrix bridges to connect to different chat services, but it’s all presented in a (somewhat) polished way. The wait list is because they are still struggling with scaling and quirks but if you’re on Lemmy you’re probably already well familiar with putting up with this.
It covers heaps of chat networks. Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Signal, Telegram, and more. It also will let you SMS (unlike Signal 😬).
You can also connect to Matrix rooms but you don’t seem to be able to connect to an existing Matrix account (it uses a Beeper matrix account to connect).
It doesn’t do video/audio calls so they recommend you leave the original app installed and disable message notifications (but leave on call notifications) if you use this.
Yep. But if you’re keen on this stuff, you can self host matrix and the bridges and do it yourself. Their bridges are open source, just not their apps whose features are their business model.
Nice. Looking into this one. Although in reality I use about 95% whatsapp just because everyone else does. Wish we could all just switch to Signal or even Telegram but nah… Whatsapp is so engrained everywhere that it is not going to go away anytime soon.
Well, that’s super neat and very useful for my circumstances. I’m moving outside of the US soon to a place where WhatsApp is dominant, but I still want to use SMS/MMS with family and friends in the US since I doubt they’ll make the switch. I’ve been using WhatsApp for about a year now while coordinating stuff for my soon-to-be home and I’ve come to the conclusion that WhatsApp is complete garbage.
I literally installed Telegram/Signal on my families devices, synced their contacts with the app, and said “if you want timely responses, message me here”
I just searched for some of the bigger servers, opened the communities tab and subbed every community I found remotely interesting. Was about 2-3h of work.
90s: corporations make everything plastic and disposable while people are told to recycle
It’s worse than that: the plastics industry tells us to recycle – even going so far as to plagiarize the recycling symbol into the resin identification codes – despite knowing from the beginning that recycling plastic was mostly never going to be a viable thing. They did this purely to shift blame to consumers because the only way their business model worked was to not be held accountable for their waste.
Recycling was actively brought forward as a solution by the oil companies to push the blame of plastic use onto consumers.
So while recycling rare metals is always valuable, plastic is definitely not. Almost all plastic gets buried in landfills, and the only way to make this not happen is to not make products with plastics.
By creating and marketing plastic recycling as a solution that the consumers must take onto themselves, it allowed them to rake in profits by moving everything to cheap plastic alternatives.
We are now literally made of microplastics as a result.
What I don’t understand is why burning plastic waste and using the generated heat (for example for district heating) is not discussed more often. I think recycling offers very little benefit over simple burning of plastics due to the amount of oil still being burned everywhere compared to the amount of oil used for plastic production.
I guess I’m surprised we don’t do it but we all know that burning plastic is gonna end up directly in the lungs of some poor people who have to live by the pollution factory
If you don’t need to, don’t produce something. Chocolates don’t need to be all individually wrapped inside of yet another wrapper. Transport should be mostly by public and active transport (though we also need better city planning to help enable this), and private motor vehicles can, at this point, mostly be converted to the less-polluting EVs. That kind of thing.
If it’s been produced, rather than throwing it away, find ways to reuse it. Coke should be taking in glass bottles, washing them, and putting more coke back in it, rather than producing new bottles all the time.
If something has been produced and cannot be reused, we should try to find ways to recycle it. You’re right that recycling is bad, but that’s mainly true of plastics. Glass and paper are far more easy to recycle, if collected effectively. Which is also why the move from glass and paper products to plastic is such an environmental disaster, brought on because companies don’t want to spend the larger cost of producing those products, or collecting them in to effectively recycle the glass.
This is absolutely right. It’s reductive of me to say that recycling is bad for the environment; intentionally reductive.
People generally have a very hard time absorbing the fact that plastic recycling is a scam, so it’s hard to start nuanced to actually get the point across.
But you definitely nailed it. I would argue that if it was reduce, reuse, revolt, the environment would be in a much better place.
To be fair, if you don’t know about how gravity works, you would just hold up a rock, drop it, and say obviously things can move without someone moving it.
And that objects in motion will stay in motion, but our experience with friction tells us otherwise. Ask any kid and they’ll say from intuition that the object will stop
i never preorder, and i don’t think i could justify jt even if i did. buying a game for 70 bucks when you don’t even know if it’s any good just sounds stupid to me.
Preordering made sense when games came in nice boxes, and you wanted to be sure to play it on the day of release instead of waiting for restocking. With digital downloads now which are not limited in quantity it is just stupid.
This, 100%. The only value of preordering is guaranteeing stock of a physical item that threatens to be out of stock if you were to buy it walk-in. In the modern digital age where downloading tens of gigabytes that take up no space, ship near-instantly on demand, and have theoretically infinite supply, preordering is pointless if the actual game itself is all you care about.
Early Access is a problem when big publishers try to do it. It makes sense that indies do it so they have cash flow at all. Big outlets have funding on hand, but are trying to leverage it, anyway.
alright, never heard of him. everyone on this thread seems to love his channel. Blindly subscribed so I’ll watch the dishwasher video later, I’m intrigued now.
That was good, not in the US and my bosch dishwasher only has one dispenser I already moved from tablets to powder a while ago, now I’m going to experiment with a sprinkle of powder in the main compartment, to help with the pre wash.
Had a lamp in the garage I was planning to donate when I could. It had been sitting there for 4 years unused because it was incompatible with a lamp shade and too damn bright no matter what bulb I used.
Saw the technology conextras (his second channel) video on DIY milk glass, now that lamp is the only light I use in the office, I love it!
Or, and hear me out, I can rent a truck for the one time a year I need one. 20 bucks for a few hours from uhaul vs… 20,000 more for a big truck over a commuter car.
That’s what I keep thinking about. Like sometimes I would love an older, smaller styled truck. It could be really useful, but it sucks they aren’t really an option anymore.
But then I think about it, and how often would I use it? I just bought a TV and had to have it delivered because it wouldn’t fit in our car. We recently moved, and it would have been great.
But other than that, I honestly can’t think of any time recently I’ve needed it.
I’ve thought that too. If they made a tiny truck, like an old style 90s ranger or tacoma but as an EV? I’d buy that tomorrow. Literally tomorrow I’d go buy it. But of course they don’t, they’re all these monstrously sized bohemoths that I have no interest in driving.
Until they make my dream tiny truck I’ll just go rent one.
In Asia they sell thousands of those Japanese and Korean mini trucks and vans, but they are designed for roads 80kmh and below. In Australia we have the Hilux 2wd utes which are small and bare bones. But for every one of those, Toyota sell 20 HiAce vans.
The Ranger was actually the one I was picturing. One of my friends in high school had one, and we all thought it was so cool. This was in a small town in Texas, so we could all ride in the back, which looking back… yeah, not the best idea. I’ve heard stories of people getting hurt. So I wouldn’t do it anymore. But it was always just a cool truck and I was always a little jealous of her.
It absolutely depends on how often you use it. But if you leave it, I can almost guarantee that you will get a lower price for it, even if you only used it once. I agree that, if you are using it regularly, you need to be honest about it
20k just for the cost of the vehicle, probably MORE, plus extra insurance, gas tax cost all to save 50$ once in a while on a truck rental.
Not to mention that a pickup is basically half a completely useless car. You can’t sit in the back, you can’t really use it for hauling delicate stuff… It’s just such a bizzare concept for non farmers.
For real I had a 2003 Hyundai Tiburon a while back. Went to a tool consignment store. Saw a full sized tablesaw with stand. Owner told me he’d give me $25 off if I could fit the whole thing in my Tiburon…and I did. And it wasn’t even hard.
Fr; I have a tiny CRZ coupe, but when I fold the back buckets down I can fit a tremendous amount of stuff in my car, even awkward and unwieldy-shaped things
I fold the seats down in my 12 year old BMW and have moved twice with that car! I even fit my mountain bike in the back many times (until I got a hitch rack because it was annoying lol).
A section of the A24 was limited to 130 kmph for 20 years to reduce accidents. Because the reduction the speed limit was lifted early this year. Now there are 8% more accidents with injury and 42% more injured. Politicians call now to make it possible to limit the section again.
It’s not actually. It’s quite an old network so it was built before cars could go as fast as they can go now. There are surprisingly sharp corners and very short off ramps. If it were built from scratch today it would be even safer. Speed limits are bs outside of particularly tricky areas.
Ah yep my bad, I was speaking generally. The image in the article is only a short section of highway but it does look like one of the 2 lane sections that are usually quite old. If they were more modern and built for higher speeds they’d have an even shallower curve and would probably be 3 lanes with a hard shoulder. If you drive on the Autobahn you’ll have a few moments where you notice the difference in road layout from those which more modern highways implement - the on and off ramps in particular can be a bit scary.
For highway lowering the speed may be effective but lowering the speed limit from 50 to 30 won’t stop drivers from going 50 unless the road is designed for lower speeds. So long as lanes are wide and there are little obstructions for drivers to worry about hitting, such as bumpouts, boulevards, etc., they will go as fast as they feel comfortable unless there is a cop behind them.
Edit: 50kmh to 30kmh I don’t know what that is in freedom miles
In Germany the speed limit in Cities is 50km/h and in residential zones 30km/h, strong controlled with a lot of radar traps. If you exceed this they screw up your life, in case of hitting a pedestrian even possible with jail time. It cannot be confused by the lack of speed limit on some highway sections, that traffic regulations are very strict and controlled in Germany and any violation can be very expensive.
Well, respect radar control, it depends also in which city or village you are of the local administration, in some are existing only few and in others on every corner. Often also mobile radarstations in “civil” parking police cars.
That is the problem, people with high end cars have enough money to pay an expensive fuel. Apart with an industry which mostly expensive high end E-cars, the high fuel prices only affect the people wich don’t have money for such cars.
Speed limits absolutely do work if there are cameras and consequences. Unfortunately everyone seems to have decided that suspending licences and siezing cars is a human rights violation.
Speed limits do work, but the road should be designed with the speed limit in mind. Just slapping a new sign up and reducing the speed limit is going to lead to non-compliance - even if the speed limit is enforced by police.
The UK recently released figures on speed limit compliance. For 20mph roads (30-35kph) they primarily measured roads that didn’t have traffic calming measures recommended for 20mph roads (ie the roads don’t “feel” like 20mph roads), and they found 85% of drivers exceeded the speed limit.
Houston and NY are both large american cities and are complete opposites when it comes to planning. Thing is, most American cities are closer to Houston on the spectrum than to New York, for every Philly theres 2 Kansas Cities if you get what I mean
They’re referring to jobs where you have overarching goals and deliverables but aren’t logging actions to the event, or to the hour.
I’ve had jobs like yours and steady, dependable, maintainable pace is the way to get through the week. Don’t over promise, don’t look available for random new tasks.
At my current gig I have tasks issued at the 2 week level, and aside from very rare requests for assistance or discussion, I’m left to my to-do list, and my predetermined commitments. If I consistently meet my commitments, and show up for scheduled meetings, no one gives a shit when I actually work. It’s great but requires the right environment.
It is. You should try to move to a career where you sell the results of your labor, not the time it takes to achieve them. Easier said than done, I know. Good luck!
Until recent times, I’ve always thought a govt job was a good thing to have.
Still is, but the constant threat of government shutdowns, in the US at least, as of late, make me feel you need to live below your means and keep a decent chunk of 3 to 6 months pay, because you could suddenly be without pay for a good chunk of time because some idiots think they score political points, or will get their way, by hurting citizens.
That’s a very good point… it seems like every time the national budget is up for renewal, those Republican clowns threaten to fuck everyone over. Bastards, the lot of them!
People should check again. After I decided to avoid Amazon, I’m surprised by how many things are cheaper and/or better quality at my local stores. I think Amazons reputation for lowest prices is less true every year.
Yes, sometimes Amazon is cheaper. But one reason I quit amazon was because, even when it’s cheaper, I got so much counterfeit and super low quality disposable junk.
Seriously, take another look at your local stores. I suspect many people aren’t and are just making assumptions. I was surprised to find my local pet store offers free delivery, and literally everything at my local mom and pop hardware store is cheaper and better quality.
Local hardware stores are a must. And if you find a good one where they know what they’re talking about you can get a lot of great advice depending on the project you’re working on.
Did they ever have a reputation for lowest price? I assumed I was paying more for the convenience of not having to go to 5 different dollar stores to find the thing I need.
Try using them as a reference guide instead of buying from them. I find what I’m looking for rhen loom up the products own website. A couple extra steps but it’s not like I’m out hunting and gathering, I’m in air conditioning and chair or taking a huge dump.
I’m sure most people here don’t remember when power strips and HDMI cables were $40 and coin batteries were like $15 each pre inflation because stores wanted to make money on them. We could only read, listen to, and watch what our local stores decided to stock and most things didn’t have reviews. If we needed a new power adapter for that one device with a special shaped connector, too bad. It’s literally impossible to buy it.
Why curate your Steam store when you can allow utter garbage into it that just effectively steals people’s money?
What’s the solution here?
They used to curate everything heavily, but new studios and indies had a tough time getting their games reviewed and added. So they implemented Greenlight, their user-curation platform so users could tell them what they wanted to see. It just became a huge popularity contest, and getting your game on Steam became about how much marketing you could afford to buy. Now, they let anyone with $100 in, and it’s very easy for an indie studio to get their game on Steam, but it’s also easy for all of the garbage to get onto Steam.
What solution would you propose, that both lets legitimate indie studios get their games on Steam, especially studios producing games in less popular / niche genres, and also edges out the objective garbage, while not incurring huge costs on developers or using a bunch of Valve employee time to personally curate every submission?
Edit: For that matter…
Why have a sensible customer service when you can blame customers themselves and offer no refunds, you know, despite the fact the refund wouldn’t be necessary if you curated your store?
Steam’s refund system is one of the most generous, if not the most generous, in the industry. What are your complaints with it? I’m legitimately curious.
Why do anything people are asking for when you can nickle and dime them with dumb shit like trading cards?
I’m not going to defend trading cards, because they’re stupid as hell, but how many have you ever been forced to buy?
Gabe is just as bad as every other CEO. Arguably he’s worse.
You know what Valve hasn’t done? Gone public. It would make them - and Gabe personally - an incredible amount of short-term money, but they haven’t done it, and thank fuck for that, because it’d be the beginning of the end of the PC gaming industry as we know it.
Edit #2: If you’re one of the people downvoting and not commenting, you’re a coward.
Plus, in the age of fighting for the right to repair our devices, the Steam Deck is a breath of fresh air. They could have locked it down with a proprietary OS like the Switch and pretty much every other console, but didn't.
A… game from two decades ago? I appreciate them for keeping the game up for this long, dude. The hats are still in my inventory, and the good matches still to be had. I wouldn’t think Blizzard is a bad company if they had let SC:BW go, or SOE if they said no more everquest. I think being mad about a game that old is demanding something more than even a good company should be expected to provide.
Counter Strike as a franchise is old as well. They keept making new games and most recently moved CS into Source 2. Why can’t they do that to TF2? Oh that’s right, the game makes 0 billons of dollars.
Reminder that as much as I am not a Nestlé fan, he never said that.
He said :
“Water is, of course, the most important raw material we have today in the world. It’s a question of whether we should privatize the normal water supply for the population. And there are two different opinions on the matter. The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs, who bang on about declaring water a public right. That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution. The other view says that water is a foodstuff like any other, and like any other foodstuff it should have a market value. Personally, I believe it’s better to give a foodstuff a value so that we’re all aware it has its price, and then that one should take specific measures for the part of the population that has no access to this water, and there are many different possibilities there.”
Also, the whole “raahaahaha Nestlé is evil” was propulsed by Coca-Cola and Pepsico because they hated that a non-US company had rights on water in the US. (Water that they wanted to sell in the first place.) Nestlé is no more evil than any food company that is bigger than your local ethnic market. They just suck like every company. Don’t buy the propaganda and think that you are better from buying that brand rather than that one. Just say “fuck all of them”.
Yes but… you got it. That was in the sense of, I can say fuck you all and take as much water as I want for my pool and to clean my car and it would be OK because I have an inconditional right to it…
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