4grams
@4grams@awful.systems
- Comment on Being poor is expensive 3 days ago:
It really is time we figure out how to level the playing field.
- Comment on Lomg Sleeve T-Shirt 3 days ago:
This and flannel was me in the 90’s; and everyone else. I loved the thermal under a t-shirt look, let me stay both casual and warm!
- Comment on Saving 3 days ago:
I’m convinced this has been the plan for some time. My kids don’t see the point of computers when they have their phones and school iPads. They dont understand the concept of data ownership and everything is temporary to them, whatever is fed by the algorithm.
They are better off that most, my hard core nerdiness has rubbed off so they at least know how to use a computer, have built one each themselves. I just hope it continues to be possible going forward, but I’ll be willing to bet, on the other side of the age verification crap, is even more restrictions. They plan a death by a thousand cuts, until it’s no longer feasible, then. No longer legal to run your own compute.
- Comment on Saving 3 days ago:
F’ing suck, used to be available to the masses. I hope it will again, but even a raspberry pi is a luxury good these days.
I have failing hard drives in my NAS but they are nearly 4x the price from when I bought them, so I’m struggling to save for replacements. I’m so pissed off that even used enterprise stuff that used to be cheap, is now also luxury goods priced. I will be paying 259.99 for a drive I used to pay 69.99 for.
- Comment on Saving 3 days ago:
I agree that the functionality is sometimes nice, but I would never keep data in just the cloud, at least anything sensitive or valuable. Beyond not trusting someone else with the integrity of my data, I also do not want to be subject to control of it or access to it. Lastly, my data is mine, and in most cloud providers, my data will also be used for AI training.
So, I enjoy using the cloud for some things, I still keep my primary data under my control, in my own known and backed up locations.
As for the forcefulness, there are a lot of us who care deeply about ownership and privacy, and there are a lot of those that dismiss our concerns as invalid or unimportant. Not that you are by any means, just that is what I see frequently.
- Comment on How has Apple tricked so many people into believing that they "just need to get another Apple product"? 1 week ago:
Most of the time it does work, which is why it’s so goddamned hard to undo. Time working on de-appleing, I’ve nearly completely de-Amazoned and am also working on de-googling. But these damn providers make it so difficult, they get in so deep. It’s not even me that makes it hard, I’m willing to make a little extra effort for a more privacy focused platform I control. No, it’s the family and friends they all are perfectly comfortable handing control of their data and frankly lives (everything is in these fucking things, schedule, contacts, financial stuff, all digital communication, photos, videos, etc…).
As long as you keep spending a lot of money, and upgrading to the newest devices, you will have a decent experience. As soon as you try to extend the life, find alternatives, look for ways to control your own data, then it gets real hard.
To be fair, it’s not just Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, any of the big players are the same. They all manage to make it easy, so long as you are comfortable being captured.
- Comment on 1 week ago:
Yeah, I got your incredible wordplay, clearly mine sailed over your head (unsurprisingly).
- Comment on 1 week ago:
I can tell this is how you see the world.
Dude, I don’t get why you are so very interested in carrying water for billionaires. I’m truly baffled in these conversations why people just insist on defending people who will never know they exist.
- Comment on 1 week ago:
lol, good for those in power maybe.
You are walking away with the opinion that there are good billionaires who have your best interests in mind. I meant that’s an opinion, just a really stupid one.
I’ll be fine here in the actual world.
- Comment on 1 week ago:
Sigh, steam has zero support, like actually none and it’s well known in the industry. It’s 100% a drm platform, you must have an internet connection and a valid account to play your games that you purchased. You only have access to any of them because they allow it.
Again, I don’t care about your opinion because it’s wrong, and I will judge it the same as I judge people who have other similarly bad opinions. I do wish you would realize that your idea of a good billionaire is bullshit, but that’s to protect you from falling for the shit they are peddling. No skin off my nose if you choose to continue to suck up to them.
I will stand by my original statement that there is no such thing as a good billionaire.
- Comment on 1 week ago:
No, but I definitely have knowledge of what you don’t.
Look, suck up all you want, but there just is no good billionaires. There are ones where the goals are temporarily aligned, but to think that any of them do what they do for the benefit of others is just a moronic take. Some probably started that way but ALL billionaires alive do what they do for themselves, their own power and control. Gabe is better than most, but he’s still on the list and has done many terrible things. Valve is better than most gaming companies, but it’s still a DRM platform that has no customer support and dictates how the industry has to bend to their will.
I can tell you haven’t done your research because there are many stories of valve fucking people over, and again, valve is arguably a net negative for gaming in general due to how it’s completely destroyed the idea of ownership. We all only have access to our shit due to their good graces. I personally hate having thousands of dollars of things I’ve paid for, controlled by one single company (I too used to assume they were the good ones).
- Comment on 1 week ago:
Because you don’t do much research outside of the ways that it’s impacted you.
- Comment on 1 week ago:
There is factually no such thing as a good billionaire, and to pretend it’s an opinion based thing is just yet more lickspittle behavior.
There are less bad ones, but you cannot become a billionaire without hurting a shitload of people. It’s arguable that valve has been a terrible thing for pc gaming since it’s led to the death of ownership. But this is one of quite literally thousands of things that can be litigated in his case.
- Comment on 1 week ago:
There is no sick thing as a gold billionaire and to say otherwise is just lickspittle behavior. Gabe does not care about you.
- Comment on I am someone who works out daily and sweats a lot. Just doing laundry doesn't seem to adequately clean the underarms of my shirts. What are some ways to clean these areas of my clothing better? 1 week ago:
I’m a big fat guy who sweats a lot. I’ve never cared about the sweat though only the smell. So my whole life I’ve used nothing but deodorant, NEVER antiperspirant.
I’ve never had problems with either pit stains, nor lingering odor. I’m pretty convinced that antiperspirant leads to more smell; I’m not saying I’m fresh as a daisy at all times, but even at my worst, my odor isn’t that bad, while drier people often stink to high heaven.
- Comment on 1 week ago:
There are no good billionaires, period.
- Comment on This Apple Lie at the grocery store 1 week ago:
This shit drives me up a wall. I try to only buy peanut butter made out of peanuts, so for years now I’ve been buying “natural” peanut butter. I recently noticed however that 100% “natural” doesn’t mean shit as all the natural brands are loaded with palm oil. I honestly might have to start making my own.
It sucks because my family treats me like an insane person when I look at the ingredients and nutrition of the food stuff we buy. Food culture in the US is awful, just awful.
- Comment on Sony erases digital content from libraries; we're reminded we don’t own what we buy 2 weeks ago:
It came to me last night, how all this AI and the difficulties obtaining hardware. This is all them trying to end the idea of ownership, at least of your data. They want to control all the data, so everything you do, every picture you take, every game you play, every essay you write, will be only available in the cloud. We are getting close to the point where are must pay for every bit of our own data that we access.
This is the inevitable result. I’m very glad I’ve spent years building my own library of content. I just hope I can continue getting replacement hardware to keep it alive.
- Comment on We found their kryptonite! 2 weeks ago:
In this insane world, I’m not so sure.
- Comment on We found their kryptonite! 2 weeks ago:
I mean, so do datacenters…
- Comment on 📡📡📡 3 weeks ago:
I mean, the boys was meant as biting social commentary so not sure where we are in the cart/horse equation here.
- Comment on upgrades 1 month ago:
I swear, that is the hotel room I stayed at in CA. Looks like the Huntington Beach Springhill Suites.
- Comment on 1 month ago:
Yeah, I’m sure my normal is not regular normal, I’m an old graybeard so my perspective is a bit off.
But a pihole is super easy. Mine runs in a VM in Proxmox now, but I’ve run it on a raspberry pi and as a docker container as well. Well worth a shot.
- Comment on 1 month ago:
I honestly don’t know what I’m doing right, just typical stuff I’d think.
I have a pihole as my dns/dhcp. I use Firefox with enhanced tracking protection turned on, ublock origin and privacy badger.
On my phone I have AdGuard (paid one time license fee).
I still am seeing YouTube without ads. I occasionally have to reload a video, but no showstoppers yet. Only posting my setup in case it help anyone else. Hopefully it’s not instructions for them on what to attack next…
- Comment on All in one 1 month ago:
Yep, I use Dr. Bronners for everything, especially when camping when it’s: hair, face & body, toothpaste, shaving cream, dish detergent, bug repellant, emergency lubricant (stuck stoves, tentpole, etc), laundry soap, and anything else I can find to use it for.
- Comment on Rare, slightly used 1 month ago:
- Comment on Mint 1 month ago:
Already done. It was actually a freebie supermarket plant my son picked up. The local store has a section where the ugly and dying plants are free. So we picked up a chocolate mint, and are trying to bring it back to life.
I had it nearly there, so I gently moved it to a bigger pot, with fresh new soil, and it promptly died. There was one single stem that was left that had gotten buried when I replanted it. Everything behind it died, but it must be trying to put some roots down at a buried node or something. It was floppy and I thought dead, but then decided to come back to life and is growing new leaves. Fingers crossed, I’m too afraid to touch them t right now, so I’m just keeping it watered and sunny and hoping it comes back.
I can always go get some from the yard :).
- Comment on Mint 1 month ago:
I have a mint plant in my house, in a pot, that I simply cannot seem keep alive. It has a single stem left that’s trying its hardest to die every moment. I’ve taken it as a personal challenge to nurse it back to health (I need an easy win these days)
Last time I mowed, I noticed a new weed in the yard, popping up all over; this one smelled different, pleasant even. Fuck me, I’ve got a yard full of mint that showed up on its own, I’m guessing to mock my black thumb.
- Comment on 🫡🫡🫡 1 month ago:
I’m waiting for the inevitable hantavirus parties. Gotta make sure little Timmy earns his immunity!
- Comment on Some people really lack civic sense 2 months ago:
I sat next to a lady on an international flight, who took off her shoes and clipped her toenails mid-flight. Dude on the other side of me was too drunk to notice.
