Probably for the best, the radio waves probably aren't great for you to experience right before bed 🤔

It's almost like REAL ID was useless for anything except surveillance, and full of security issues. Who would've guessed? 🤪

Incidentally, you're the only one of those that I follow. I don't know anything about them but seeing their posts, I doubt I'd get along with them since I'm also very Christian and don't care for the new age mystical energy approach.

The only part of it that's hard is getting it without KYC. Unless you know someone in person or are willing to use risky payment methods for a DEX, it's a real challenge.

Well said. The modern web is an absolute wreck thanks to out of control bots and the intrusive ways that sites defend against them. It's actually one of the reasons why I don't use a VPN nearly as much as I used to: it just turns the modern web into a nightmare to use.

Thankfully, if you're worried about privacy, VPNs are actually less necessary these days. Switching to encrypted DNS with a privacy-respecting resolver (I recommend Quad9) virtually eliminates any actionable data that your ISP can sell. They still see the raw IPs but that sort of data is harder to market to data brokers and it's also less effective because of how so many sites run on massive CDNs, meaning they'd only be seeing your connection to the CDN's nearest datacenters.

Granted, that doesn't prevent the CDNs from selling traffic data, and it doesn't prevent individual sites from knowing your IP, so there's still a use case for VPNs but it all depends on threat model. For me, I only really use a VPN for evading geoblocks and for when I visit an unfamiliar site that I don't want having my real IP. Everything else in my threat model is largely covered by using encrypted DNS with Quad9.

But that doesn't really work if you're in a more rural area.

Well said. I've been raising similar concerns. "Bitcoin is unstoppable" but it really isn't when KYC removes the sovereignty and onramps could be cut off in an instant.

There are also the folks who underestimate the threat KYC poses. If BTC is all about self-sovereignty and ownership of your money, then how on earth is that compatible with KYC and similar regulations? If you have to ask permission to exchange your fiat for BTC, it really doesn't free you the way they claim.

It also doesn't help that all supposedly 'no KYC' methods still have KYC somewhere in the pipeline. Unless you have trustworthy friends who can trade fiat for BTC, or unless you're willing to take a risk on cash-by-mail or gift card trades, you're inevitably KYCing through the payment processor you use.

The bit on the metadata was incorrect. While Signal doesn't protect metadata like a more anonymous messenger (a la Session, SimpleX), it DOES protect metadata. Most of it is encrypted (profile pics, for example) and Sealed Sender requires any MITM to be simultaneously observing both the sender and the recipient in order to know whom you're chatting with.

Personally, there are only two types of internet bans I'm okay with: this sort (no social media under 16) and porn. The latter is far more important to ban, however, because the 16+ social media thing is difficult to ban without implementing required ID verification for all users (which is something I'm very much AGAINST). Again, porn sites SHOULD require ID verification at the very least, if we can't ban it outright, but regular social media should not.

I'm a traditionalist but even I use AI. People seem to think it's impossible to use that tech without relying on it for everything. It's entirely possible to use AI without letting it replace entire swaths of your life and skillset.

I'm always down for badges, I'd love one!

The Catholic view on Mary is my number 1 gripe with them. It's objectively idolatry.

I don't think there's any 4D chess but I'm firmly against blackpill cynicism. It serves absolutely no purpose.

In and of itself, the country of origin thing isn't a huge deal, but it's a concerning development and it also concerns me more that so many comments are asking for region blocks, VPN bans, publically available previous usernames, etc.

I already took issue with X but this convinced me to significantly reduce my time there because it's really only a matter of time until they go too far with their privacy invasions.

Meh, I feel like one of the few conservatives who is glad she's going. She really lost it these past few months. I'm not a fan of female politicians anyways.

They're not, it's a classic case of a Potemkin village. Just a facade, propaganda to make them look good. Not quite as dictatorial as North Korea, but still far from a free country. As an admirer of Chinese history and culture, it pains me, seeing the people oppressed like they are.

And meanwhile, they're looking at Candace as the clown (she is) to try to wrap any America-first individuals into the 'hateful nutcase antisemitic' archetype.

Not a good comparison, Mr. President. FDR was an American disaster the likes of which we still haven't recovered from. Him, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon and Barack Obama are all complicit in destroying the American economy and the decentralization of power.

Be like McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt, not those clowns.

I voted for him and still largely support him (second favorite president after Teddy Roosevelt) but this isn't a good sign. FDR was one of our worst presidents, possibly second only to Wilson, and putting people into further debt instead of fixing the economy is not the way to go about things.

Or Asia, for that matter. Sydney Sweeney is attractive but not the goddess guys pretend she is. I respect her for what she's been up to, though.

And when you find the right woman, she will choose you over the world and prove her loyalty, to which the man of God will respond with provision, protection and leadership.

It's incredibly frustrating to have to fix weird or complex issues, especially if money is tight, but there's also some real satisfaction when you're able to fix it. Good work!

🖐️

Gen X annoys me. They're just Boomer Lite. Not quite as bad but they have their problems and pretend like they don't, while all the following generations are the 'worst' in their eyes.

The degradation of the English language has always perturbed me. I may be a writer who tends to be overly verbose but still, hearing things like Gen Z slang bothers me for this very reason.

I've officially migrated all of my most important apps over to Obtainium and marked them as ignored in F-Droid. Previously I had used F-Droid for the majority of my apps (Aurora Store for everything else), but following some recent controversies regarding them misclassifying the sacred text of my Christisn faith as "not safe for work" and "pornographic", I decided that it was time to start moving away from them and just start grabbing apps from source directly.

This was also inspired in part by nostr:nprofile1qqsyvrp9u6p0mfur9dfdru3d853tx9mdjuhkphxuxgfwmryja7zsvhqpzamhxue69uhhv6t5daezumn0wd68yvfwvdhk6tcpz9mhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejj7qgswaehxw309ahx7um5wghx6mmd9u2mk7fe. In a conversation, he mentioned that something like F-Droid centralizes all authority to one group of people, whereas Obtainium allows you to be fully in charge of what apps you use and when you download them. F-Droid compiles apps themselves, based on the original source code. Meanwhile, Obtainium allows you to grab the apps direct from their repositories, without any middle men.

There's still a place for F-Droid. Because of the fact that they do compile things themselves, that means you're less likely to download a malicious app if it's something you never used before. But if you know the app and it's important to you, you should just download through Obtanium directly.

#decentralization #obtaining #opensource

I'm very conservative and traditionalist but he's just a tool. Only ignorant edgelords follow him.

I understand some of the arguments for why people use Gnome, XFCE and other #Linux desktop environments but I don't know... I feel like there are a lot of objective reasons why Plasma is just superior. The level of customization alone places it above the others. #FOSS #opensource

I do post things I'm interested in, but it definitely takes more than one man doing that haha. I agree with your take on the #GrowNostr tag, though!

One of the major complaints I see is similar to complaints over the Fediverse: that it's an echo chamber. Unfortunately, I'd have to agree to some extent. It's hard to find content variety here. Unless you're hardcore into Bitcoin and libertarian philosophies, you're going to struggle to find people to interact with. I respect Bitcoin (and would love to get into it, if I could) and I have a few libertarian beliefs, but even I end up finding more conflict than I'd like.

If we want Nostr to succeed, we need more people posting with a lot more variety.

Yep, you can also mix herbs into the tea to supetcharge it. I'm mostly a loose leaf guy but I find that the combo in Bigelow Constant Comment really kicks a sinus infection or cold before it gets worse. You can also drink hibiscus if you have a headache or sore throat.

Worth a watch! Don from Mei Leaf covers herbs from Traditional Chinese Medicine and how you can mix them in with tea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NXwtCmlNMY

The amount of "both sides" or deflection over this issue is absolutely absurd. It's just as despicable as the people celebrating. There are people who are CLEARLY responsible (even if potentially indirectly) for this and it's time to stop pretending otherwise.

I speak from a skeptical but interested position: the theory is Tartaria. According to the belief, there have been segments of a global, technologically advanced empire that held major chunks of the planet until major mud floods wiped them out.

Its an interesting theory, and I do believe there has been some major toying with our history (Phantom Time theory is another good one), but I also do think that major aspects of the theories ARE a bit far fetched. Interesting, great material that I aim to use as inspiration for some of my own fiction but still, far fetched.

Do you enjoy ambient music, such as post-rock, shoegaze and post-metal?

Consider joining The Reverb Corner, my MeWe group dedicated to sharing, discussing and philosophizing over all of it. Let's unwind together!

https://mewe.com/join/thereverbcorner

#postrock #postmetal #shoegaze #ambientmusic #musicchain #music

So far, I have around $6's worth. Not too much but hey, I'll take what I can get haha

I mean, I was a big fan of his until the war too. Now, I think both sides have gone way too far and the war needs to end.

Beat me to it lol

It really is! I joined back in January of 2021 due to the political situation in the US at the time, originally just meant to be a backup in case I got banned from FB/Twitter. I started putting a lot of time into it in 2022, however, and really came to realize how nice of a place it is. Some really fun communities to hang out in within the Groups feature, and they just got a new CEO who is very personal (replies to PMs and regularly discusses with the community) and his ideas are very promising.

Let me know if you want to know more or get an invite code!

And everything nowadays requires Bluetooth. Makes one think.

Good thing I already hated Bluetooth since it never works right. I use it only when I have to, otherwise it's all analog.

Genocide all mosquitos. Been saying that for years now.

It's easy to fall into the habit of pleasantries with it, but I agree. The only benefit it has is that AI-powered robots & androids down the road will have more training data that implies the necessity of pleasantries, but that can be coded into their LLM if necessary.

Lol not when you live in a rural small town whose populace is overwhelmingly elderly people and farming families. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to spare on going to meetups even if there were any nearby (there aren't). As I've said in the past, I believe in the tech behind Bitcoin and I believe in its goals, but it just doesn't work for me, personally. Not at this point in my life, at least. I'd love for that to change, however.

Germany is going to end up repeating history once its citizens lose all their freedoms and their privacy. Eliminating privacy and drastically reducing freedoms is REAL fascism, unlike the buzzword people have turned it into. #privacy #surveillance #freedom

https://reclaimthenet.org/germanys-mass-surveillance-plan

Consider checking Odysee if you haven't. Has that old YT spirit. That said, if I want a quick vid for when I'm eating, I usually go for a reaction channel or retro tech channel like LGR or The 8-Bit Guy.

I mean, like I said, buying via a DEX also requires KYC upstream due to payment apps unless you're the wild sort that's willing to send cash by mail or something like that.

Are there any desktop clients that work well with Plasma? I'm switching away from Windows on my main PC this October so it'd be interesting to know if there are any.

He was cheated out of 2020 by proven fraud so I'd be down for a one-time exception in this case. Only reason we have the limit is because FDR abused the presidency so hard.