Gn #nostr
I find it odd that my best engagement probably ever came from a rant about cell phones, something I am far from an expert on, and generally dislike thinking about.
I was thinking about a Venn diagram of my current interests. As i visualize it, it would have a central circle of Human Action/ Philosophy, with overlapping circles above it in a ring - Economics, Health/Diet, Psychology/Sociology/Anthropology, Religions; then a small circle completely separate off to the side with Technology, and a slightly larger few circles off to the side, Automotive Mechanics, Carpentry, Construction/Fabrication, Motorcycles.
Yet I work in Technology, and that is where most of my formal education and experience is. This doesn't seem to fit well at all.
Anyway, I'm free to discuss any of those other topics at length. But tech is the last thing I normally want to write about.
#grownostr I guess.
Stella needs more 🍷.
I use things because my expectation is that by using the thing, my overall experience and outcome will be better than than if I did not use the thing.
Sometimes, proximity has something to do with it, as would familiarity. And as I've pointed out, there are reasons I use a cell phone that might mean it is physically with me - so since it is with me, why wouldn't I use it for other things as well, even if it weren't the perfect thing to use, since I already have it with me?
Think of it like going camping. Are you going to bring every pot, pan, whisk, spatula in your kitchen, because those are what you would use to cook a small feast at home? Nope, you are going to only bring the fewest things you need to get the job done. That might be a tin cup and a fork. Are those the best tools for everything you plan to do with them? Nope, but they will keep you fed and hydrated.
How specialized we get with our tools is a reflection of our means and circumstance, as well as the attention and focus we bring to the task. If I live in luxury but don't have any interest in working on cars, I won't have an extensive specialized tool collection.
While some of what I stated was self-inflicted and rectifiable, once you start digging into solutions, it immediately becomes apparent that you are moving contrary to convenience, and suggesting specialized solutions that would require additional attention and focus, as well as perhaps the luxury of time to figure them all out.
I think most of that, for most people, is cope. but if it works for you, great. This last bit is nonsense, unless maybe you are saying that OSS isn't built with the intent to enslave and addict, and arguably other code is.
I like OSS too, but I think its strength is in its contributor group and the diversity it represents, and not every OSS project has a large diverse contributor group. For something like an operating system, you would hope that would attract many contributors - but for simple tools, perhaps not.
The other thing about Open Source that I like is even more philosophical - in that I don't think intellectual property should be a thing. Thoughts and ideas should be freely shared, rather than hoarded and protected and hidden. But on the flipside, I think the opposite about physical property. And source code is somewhat there in the middle. It is an idea that has been implemented into something, and someone did work to produce that product. So I would say my mind on this aspect of open source isn't entirely made up at this point; I could be convinced to see this a different way.
At the end of the day, I think I want convenience and utility. These are tools, we expect them to do something for us to improve upon the experience of doing similar tasks without. Often OSS is not the best of these things. Linux is inconvenient in how long it takes to learn, set up to your liking, etc. Other OSS tools are developed to optimize a specific utility, while a more general closed-source tool has broader utility (more features). I've found this especially true with map software. There is a convenience to working with one software, or one software company, across a broad suite of tasks, instead of having separately developed and packaged tools for each use case. Like for my automotive repair, I tend to buy tools from one supplier, and perhaps in larger kits. I haven't acquired each socket and wrench independently, although I definitely have some specialty tools. I might start with Craftsman, or a store brand like Kobalt, and then specialize into DeWalt or Snap-On.
Corporate closed source software tends to have a lot of utility and convenience because they are looking to attract the broadest market of people, so they add value by adding features for everyone. OSS doesn't tend to do this, and rather focuses narrowly on features, because the incentive to sell to broad markets isn't there, in most cases.
Ultimately I don't need the best tool for each use case, just something that gets the job done easily enough with the least amount of bother, and unfortunately, OSS isn't really aligned with this, at least not today.
Ooh me too. Got plenty of ancient astronaut theories, and I'll even agree with others if I must.
Gn #nostr.
I shitposted enough today already.
Only because I'm intentionally slowing down at the fiat mine. I've been far too productive there lately.
Who the fuck buys that? Obviously this guy. But really? I can't think of one person, alive or dead, that I would want a fucking statue of on my bookcase, or anywhere else. Tool.
GN.
There is nothing silent about the surf.
Ugh. This feels like programming. When faced with a confusing and mentally taxing situation, we look to see if anyone else has solved it for us. And then, especially in the bitcoin/nostr world, I think we've been programmed to hope that the solution is open source, like any one of us is going to go and read the fucking code, or make changes to it. It's a virtue signal. If I say I want an open source solution to problem xyz, then the bitcoinbros will like me, and the nostrgirls will think I am a dev.
Dude, this really isn't personally aimed toward you, I promise. Just something that sparked a fucking short circuit in my brainwaves.
Fuck this. I hope someone has the solution, and kept it themselves, and wants me to pay for it, and doesn't want to share at all. Then I can tell them to fuck off, and go about my day figuring out my best path forward, which probably isn't a solution to my SMS problem, that I don't even have!
Fair, but why?
As you mention, the cellphone for you is essentially a second laptop. There are certainly reasons why having the utility of a laptop in a smaller form factor is a good thing - mostly portability. I actually rarely use a laptop, and never really got used to using a tablet, although I tried one for a little bit. For me, I can either use my desktop, or use my cell phone. My wife has managed to skip the home laptop/desktop altogether, and ONLY uses her phone. This works for her 99% of the time.
So why not ditch the laptop and keep the phone? Or fuck it, keep both? Maybe ditch the carrier service? It's really tricky, once you start actually thinking it through. We apparently are still expected, as human adults in America, to be able to provide a ten-digit number where we can be notified. This is stupid, but true. Ditching the carrier service means paying someone else for a 10 digit number. Yes, you can get them for free, but when you do, what are you giving up? Also, I have had my 10 digit number for 25 years. I'm a little attached to it, because that means that 25 years worth of personal and professional contacts have associated those 10 digits with me. Maybe I don't want to disappear from them, should they want to reach out.
All worth considering though. I wouldn't tell anyone here what to do, because my use cases, preferences, experiences, etc. are not anyone else's. The only thing I believe we should be doing is actually considering these kinds of things more carefully.
SMS is garbage, agreed. Err - actually not. SMS actually has some great use cases, but privacy isn't one of them. The best use case I've found is getting a message out to a monitoring party when I am in very poor coverage areas. SMS has usually done a good job of trying to send out whenever the phone detects even its most basic carrier connection. I think this has actually gotten worse, because now I see messages come back as "not sent", and I have to manually try and resend them.
Most messaging isn't very private. That doesn't mean it can't be anonymous. But relying on SMS - well, you'd have to be more precise on what you're relying on SMS to do.
"Does its simple job" - which is what?
Normalization.
Oh those silly ..., how silly of them. Of course that is so silly, because it didn't happen that way.
The reality - reinforced message to comply, comply, comply. Oh look, the state can take over your digital collar at any time! Comply! Listen to your state!
Serious psyop shit, but nothing new. State me harder, FEMA!
So that sounds like good advice, dunnit? But what exactly is a starter phone? And what of the use cases I outlined would that really work for? And what about the annoyance of potentially having two phones to maintain, keep charged, etc. for different purposes? Whenever I really start digging in to the realities involved, it starts to feel like digging in quicksand, and I don't get very far.
At one point, I mentally walked through the steps needed to actually get a proper burner phone, as an early part of a larger exercise to create a full second "burner" identity (probably not a legal one, granted). It was a huge mess, and just creating enough geographic separation was going to take a lot of time (and gas money). It would also either piss off or alarm the wife, or both. In practical steps, I got as far as having a couple prepaid visa cards sitting around, that might not be easily traced back to me.
Actually an annoyance that has come out of the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices and their tracking abilities is 2FA.
There are definitely 2FA maximalists out there. Also those that will tell you to never use SMS text as a 2FA option. Unfortunately, many services require some form of 2FA, and the worst of them require some interaction with a phone (unless you go to great lengths to subvert them). I'm lucky, I guess - I obtained a YubiKey, and I have a password manager that includes a TOTP authenticator that will run as a browser extension. Between those things and email, I can manage to find 2FA options that don't require my cell phone to be on or present.
Got tickets for Ministry and Front Line Assembly in Seattle in March. I wanna party like its 1990.
I'm more of an 80/20 BTC to Sats maximalist, but I see your point. Your risk profile is just a little different than mine!
