BladeFederation
@BladeFederation@piefed.social
- Comment on Big if true 🚨 2 hours ago:
Ned Leeds from Spider-Man Brand New Day.
- Comment on pro-self language 1 day ago:
MAGA Starter Pack™️
- Comment on Which Pipes to choose (Newpipe, Pipepipe, Piped Invidious...etc)? 1 week ago:
NewPipe: original. no sponsor block or dislikes
Tubular: NewPipe but with sponsor block, dislikes. Relies on upstream updates from NewPipe, so takes slightly longer to fix whenever Google routinely breaks something.
PipePipe: same features as Tubular, and additional accounts/sources such as PeerTube. it is also a harder fork from NewPipe that doesn’t rely on upstream updates as much and will likely change more over time. also that bug where it stops playback due tk an error and you have to close the video and reopen it happens less often on PipePipe, and can sometimes be fixed just by pressing at again. I use this one as of right now.
Invidious and Piped are both websites that proxy YouTube traffic. they aren’t separate apps, but some apps can use them as a source instead of scraping YouTube directly. Materialous is one that uses Invidious.
There are other apps in FDroid tk choose from too. I also use Metro List for YouTube Music specifically.
- Comment on Samsung is shutting down messages — alternative to Google's messenger? 1 week ago:
Do you often get charged per call in Europe still? If so that’s really too bad. Most of the VoIP services I’m familiar with is NA only but I know others exist, you’ll just have to do your own vetting.
- Comment on Samsung is shutting down messages — alternative to Google's messenger? 1 week ago:
Nobody said you shouldn’t use SMS ever. When you can avoid it though, do.
- Comment on Samsung is shutting down messages — alternative to Google's messenger? 1 week ago:
RCS and iMessage are essentially just separate internet based messaging apps like Signal or WhatsApp. iMessage doesn’t even require a phone number if you’re only messaging other iMessage users. The only difference being, they CAN message phone numbers, but if it isn’t “their” app, they’ll fall back to using SMS. iMessage has implemented RCS if messaging someone using Google Messages, but it is not encrypted, so essentially the same thing as SMS from a privacy and security perspective.
As far as understanding it, both carriers and Google/Apple need to pay for infrastructure. For carriers it is cell towers, for internet based stuff it is servers. Carriers need you to pay for the infrastructure because they offer a single service (kind of, all 3 sell your data). Google & Apple make all kinds of money off of you in many ways, and getting high adoption for their apps makes them more powerful.
- Comment on Samsung is shutting down messages — alternative to Google's messenger? 1 week ago:
And alternate apps exist, but combining them confuses people into thinking SMS is secure.
- Comment on Samsung is shutting down messages — alternative to Google's messenger? 1 week ago:
Might I suggest a VoIP provider? It costs money, yes, but since you are using your real number on VoIP, you can routinely switch carriers to get new customer deals. For example, I pay $15/month for unlimited data and $5/month to JMP.chat. JMP gives me unlimited text, 2 hours of voice, and voice is less than a cent/min after that is used. I was paying $40/month before for unlimited (still capped after 10 GB). JMP doesn’t require personal information (though they will know if you port an outside number and your phone number is public no matter what, so…). You can lie about your name and address to Mint (though I recommend putting a hotel address near you to comply with regional taxes for your payment plan. They’ll know your approximate location anyway).
But why would you REALLY do this? Decoupling the phone number you actually use from your SIM card/eSIM is powerful. Everyone who wants to know your phone number can, especially if you live in the US. People search sites are crazy. Even barring that, you give it to the government, job applications, credit card companies, banks, random restaurants, tech companies (even if you are privacy conscious now you probably gave it to Google, Apple, and Microsoft at one point). Your SIM shows your approximate location, which can be legally pulled by the government. Stalkers, PIs, and bounty hunters can and do bribe carriers for this info as well. Unless you have a degoogled phone, your texts are likely being scanned by Google or Apple (look into the way they are blurring nude photos in texts unless your age is verified and asking you if you’re sure you want to send or open them).
VoIP protects you from this, and also prevents targeted SIM swaps.
Downsides: some websites won’t accept VoIP numbers. One government website even wouldn’t allow me to verify with my number that was previously not VoIP, but was the only number I had used, and therefore the inky way to verify. If you talk on the phone a lot it can get pricey. But you should really be using something like Signal for anyone who you frequently talk to. SMS, RCS, and even iMessage are all terrible for privacy & security, and should essentially be treated as a public social media post that you can’t delete.
- Comment on Basic geography 2 weeks ago:
- Comment on Super Meat Boy 3D | Launch Trailer 2 weeks ago:
I hope the amount of content is…meaty
- Comment on What’s the difference between anarchy and libertarianism? 2 weeks ago:
The “explain like I’m 5” version: Anarchist is Libertarian Left, Libertarian is Libertarian right. The political compass is wildly imperfect but it is a useful thought experiment. Certainly better than “left vs right except actually it’s right vs right” that politics have become.
- Comment on Sources: Nintendo is planning a new Star Fox and a major Zelda remake this year, but no 3D Mario | VGC 2 weeks ago:
Not a Mario game
- Comment on Why do some people (i.e. white conservatives) think all Spanish speakers (especially native Spanish speakers) are Mexican? 3 weeks ago:
- Comment on Sources: Nintendo is planning a new Star Fox and a major Zelda remake this year, but no 3D Mario | VGC 3 weeks ago:
I hear you and I’ll take (finally) a classic3D DK over yet another Mario. But it’s still weird.
- Comment on Should I use a "proper" password manager instead of Firefox? 3 weeks ago:
Yes. Running it in browser is far better than not using one at all. But third party is significantly safer, since your browser is trusted with a LOT already.
- Comment on Sources: Nintendo is planning a new Star Fox and a major Zelda remake this year, but no 3D Mario | VGC 3 weeks ago:
I mean it’ll have been 10 years soon for a flagship 3D title. Obviously they’re going hard on the spinoffs but it’s never been this long for main titles.
- Comment on Forza Horizon 6 requirements are out 3 weeks ago:
Yes they do, which I said above.
Yes they are more optimized, that’s how they are able to keep up as well as they do. A 3070 completely blows away the current console gen specs wise. Due to optimizations, it is a lot closer than it looks on paper but 3070 is still ahead by a sizeable margin.
- Comment on Forza Horizon 6 requirements are out 3 weeks ago:
It’s literally still above the requirements for high graphics at over 60 FPS. I assume this is not even considering DLSS or frame gen, which would double performance.
Consoles are the base experience. Horizon 5, which is 5 years old, runs at the equivalent of medium graphics settings at best, with resolution scaling. Performance mode for a constant 60 makes even more compromises. Horizon 6 will likely be worse.
3070 is crushing that, you’re good. For a while in fact. And that’s just assuming you’re playing only brand new games.
- Comment on Forza Horizon 6 requirements are out 3 weeks ago:
The graphics are better, new & more cars, some new event types. It’s released infrequently enough that it allows the game to breathe and make you want more. Yeah it’s pretty similar, but like where do you go with the open world concept to evolve, I really don’t know. Add more of a story?
- Comment on Osk‽ Pfffft 3 weeks ago:
A trusted streaming box without ads. It will stream far better and not monitor you.
- Comment on Le boo hoo 4 weeks ago:
On your last note, I agree with you that empathy is important. I do give a shit what other people think and feel, but not when they are clearly line stepping, judgmental, and disrespectful. It’s literally impossible to people please because people have wildly varying and opposite opinions.
- Comment on Le boo hoo 4 weeks ago:
It’s usually pretty subtle. People will quietly lose respect for you and shut you out over time.
That being said, I dont give a shit about people’s perception of my manliness or sexuality. I’m straight, trained in martial arts and boxing, can shoot well, can fix things around the house decently well, moderately know my way around a car. But I’ll be sensitive and open with my feelings if I want to, which is frequent. I cry at weddings, funerals, sad movies, and even when I think about how lucky I am to have my wife. I joke about kissing the homes goodnight, and flirt back with gay dudes that hit in me (without leading them on).
I’m often DISAPPOINTED in people for how they react and judge sometimes, but always happier when those people remove themselves from my life. I never let it affect who I am.
- Comment on Why am I not Irish 5 weeks ago:
Oh my God, you can’t just ask someone why they’re not white
- Comment on [question] help me pick a game 5 weeks ago:
Sorry to say that I don’t have much of a preference unless you’re in a specific mood. They’re all good games but do different things narratively and I dont know if gameplay or cut scenes make you want tk really dig into it more.
- Comment on If Tyler Perry is a billionaire with his own successful movie studio then why are his films so bad? 5 weeks ago:
There is an extremely thorough (and long) video on this topic. I didn’t think I’d finish it or even watch half when I clicked it, but this guy is very informative and presents the info in a straightforward yet engaging way:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpgqWZyAJtM
If you still noped out on that runtime, here is my less professional summary:
Ultimately it is about the race to the bottom of enshittification that we are experiencing in all aspects of life, and “art” transforming into “content” is chief among them. Perry’s built in audience is huge, yet one that is practically never pandered to: conservative black women. He’s not even particularly good at this and the way he does it is problematic, but it’s enough that he is attempting at all. His rise to being ridiculously OP and successful is propped up by black excellence truthers even though they may or may not actually like his content. He has spun his truly impressive success into deals with streaming services and deteriorated from mediocre to literal slop that rapidly produces enough episodes to get into syndication immediately, because the deals are signed for 100 episodes. Since he writes, directs, produces, and often acts in all these projects, and because the unknown actors do not grt a chance over several years of popularity to renegotiate their contracts even if thr show gets popular, he takes the lion’s share of the profits. 2 lion’s shares really.
He also makes some fascinating points about how he…kinda CAN’T get more deep with it. To start looking deeper about the topics he discusses would entail stripping away the patriarchy of the black Christian church, or to point a finger towards the societal problems and cycles of abuse that cause the villains of his stories (usually black men) to act the way they do. And as a true believer in capitalism, he can’t do that. Making his characters deeper may requirw addressing the ways that he’s a queer man one way or another, whether he’s gay, gender fluid, or both, which he can’t do as the church has a don’t ask don’t tell policy. So he’s stuck in a pretend world of bootstraps, one dimensional villains, and not just forgiving the cycles of abuse, but buying into it as a strength.
If even that is Tl; Dr: it’s the story of every other billionaire, really. He makes his money off of exploiting others. Usually young black people who are hungry for success. Just sucks that he can’t have empathy since he literally started from the bottom like the people he manipulates, unlike every other billionaire.
- Comment on Is there a game that combines Civ with Sims? 5 weeks ago:
The progression system sucks
- Comment on Attention! 1 month ago:
Technically correct…
