He knows. He knows it’s bullshit. He doesn’t care that it’s bullshit. It gives him and people like him more power, and that’s all he cares about.

I had intended the ‘Carry on’ as a sort of friendly valediction, but this was a fun bonus.

Well, that’s certainly a unique approach to dealing with a national crisis. Carry on.

And I suppose you’re the only one of those around, right? So why tear into people about the state of the US if, by your own admission, it’s probably a lost cause? There have to be better ways for you to kill time until the end.

Now who’s being defeatist?

Not that I don’t agree with you, but do you really think the elderly edgelord forum warrior shtick is the best play? Taking a point from your own posts, is it really a good idea to post content online that might alienate potential allies? Food for thought.

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Seconded.

I’ve got a pair of Skullcandy Mods. The sound quality is decent but not stellar, battery life is good, charge time is good and they feel pretty solidly made. Pretty good deal for $40 on Amazon.

I previously had some of their ANC overears that while not spectacular, were much better than I expected given the price point.

This. I just want to write something I’m somewhat satisfied with and have people appreciate it.

That’s pretty much it.

There are plenty of user friendly Linux distros out there and a bunch of them can serve as a daily driver for general computing. What’s more, the learning curve isn’t that steep and you can find tons of solid guides and tutorials out on the Internet.

But if Windows is working and you don’t care about the privacy issues, ads, and it’s general downward direction in user experience, there’s no motivation to switch.

Sadly, the whole “Linux is only for power users and nerds” misconception is going to stick around until Windows becomes all but unusable for most people.

I switched in 2021 and I thought the same then.

I have a few servers that I’ve put together, both towers and rack mount, that are fairly old in IT terms but would still sell for thousands used.

I pulled most of the parts out of the trash.

This may honestly be it for me.

I quit playing games because of all the greed and hype, I went back to piracy when streaming started to fracture and greed set in, I left non-federated social media because of the enshittifaction and invasiveness, and I go to fairly extensive lengths to block ads and protect my privacy as much as possible…

And instead of moving to any number of fair, non-exploitive business models, they’re just going to force ads down my throat like that episode of black mirror.

If this goes through I’ll be sorely tempted to wipe everything I can and start over as best I can. Only interact with the Internet when I need to.

You’ll find me paying cash at the local used bookstore, at least until all the major publishers make that illegal.

EDIT: It’s honestly depressing, I genuinely enjoy technology and the internet, but when companies like Google are able to force garbage like this it just sucks all the joy out of it for me.

It’s like everying is becoming a shitty mobile game. Do the toolsheds that develop Candy Crush clones not think we can understand why in app currencies are sold in bundles of 100 but every thing we purchase with them requires amounts that end with a five? Does Google not think we know the real motivation behind a system that strives to prove ads were delivered to your browser either?

I know a lot of people may not see the real driver here, but I’m tired of being underestimated and infantalized by a bunch of dorks trapped in a corporate echo chamber. I think I’d prefer it if they just straight up said they’re going to sacrifice our privacy and user experience for a quick bump in stock value.