You can throw Warner Brothers Discovery in there while you are at it (HBO now stupidly referred to as "Max")

I used Shreddit to delete all my posts at Reddit, cancelled my premium sub there, and deleted my account. I was there for over 8 years - paying the entire time, as I believed in trying to support the space.

Walking away did not make me feel "powerless" but rather glad to take my time, support, and interests somewhere else that is (hopefully...) healthier. I know of at least 15 people who have done the same, so if you multiply my story by many others I am pretty sure that such walkouts will be felt eventually - especially from those of us who were paying monthly.

When I left, I landed on Kbin first, something I now am kind of not too sure I will continue for reasons I won't get into....

but thankfully, I discovered Beehaw here is just more my speed, which makes me happy 🐝☺️

Not only wacky but hideous? I mean if you are going to re-logo (forget that it be for idiotic reasons...) the least you could do is make the design look decent.... this?? 😂

Hehe. ES6 may become the longest/farthest postponed game since Beyond Good and Evil 2, the later now saying it will be released in 2025... maybe 😂

Statements like this really need to be more clear

Not going to get into an argument about Hamas vs Isreali tactics, but you should be aware that it is far, far from the case that Palestinians inside of Israel let alone in OPT have the rights you think they do:

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2022/02/israels-system-of-apartheid/

I can remember the first time I thought there was something seriously wrong with all the social media habits people were getting sucked into; that was probably like in 2008 or so, when some of my colleagues and I used to joke about how we could never get through any kind of interaction with another colleague of ours without her constantly scrolling her phone like 25 times a minute. It only got worse from there...

The biggest sigh of relief I have had in a long, long time was deleting my Google apps and account. I also deleted Facebook, Twitter, and lastly Reddit account over the summer. The only "social accounts" I have today are this one and my new e-mail account. I now use Startpage for searching if I need it, so no more "googling" things. I haven't subbed to cable since 2010, but I do sub to HBO (er... "Max" now ffs... I am considering dumping that too...), and The Criterion Channel which is still awesome. Rest of the time, I work, game, hike, or swim.

Getting rid of Google is sort of like trying to get all the fish out of the sea. They are everywhere, hooked into everything, and they constantly nag you. I had to give them another e-mail address before I could even delete the one I had with them, which really annoyed me. None of their business where I got off to... except it is. According to them. So, I had to trash that email account too afterwards just so I could stop getting stupid Google spam.

Anyway, it is definitely possible to unplug just takes some effort. The internet is a lot more pleasant without all that nonsense. :)

I've done a lot of reading since I joined here, and not much replying or posting. What I have noticed is that there does seem to be a certain number of people replying in different threads with similar arguments which end up getting people riled up. I am starting to recognize some of the user names, and I confess that when I see one now I tend to just drop the thread and stop reading.

I am not suggesting that what you are noticing in only due to that, since obviously there are a ton of people coming and going, but there are definitely "regular players" who seem to not know how to engage in a positive way - no matter what the topic. In some ways, I also think it's likely to always be an inevitable issue here specifically since Beehaw has made its goals as a site quite clear. I think it just urks some people coming here that this site strives to be a positive, welcoming space and so the idea of compromising that is likely part of the appeal for the behaviour.

Last time I checked, the Democrats didn't put forth a candidate for office who they were busy planning to hold a vote for in Congress to erase their prior impeachments, and none who received two federal indictments with a third pending criminal charges... SMH

Truly, it boggles the mind that there are people in this world who think this is someone who is going to do good for the country when aside from the above, there are literally decades of legal and personal disasters that continue to follow him around. He is the Midas touch in reverse.

Honestly, I think it's best that we stay the way we are here and not re-federate.

My experience after leaving all the toxicity of Reddit behind was that it was really a blessing to find a community where moderation actually mattered and made a difference in the culture of site. I did a lot of lurking on Lemmy even before leaving Reddit, enough to know it was not a place for me. I tried Kbin when I did finally leave Reddit, but did not like the experience there much, so eventually landed here.

While I can appreciate people's concerns about the defederation, and in particular some of the stresses for the admins which are certainly really challenging, I think it would all be far more negative if at this stage the decision were to be reversed. Not every community needs to be "the biggest, baddest, baddy in the room" so to speak. I just get the impression the vision for Lemmy is something along those lines. No one seems to care about that here (that I can tell), they just care about having civil and open discussions which, more than anything else, feel safe. It's why I stay and am glad to support it. If that changed, I would most likely move on and not return.

Hi. No worries, it's nice to be asked. 🙂

I mean, I have only been singed up there a week so I am not an expert on what is happening; I don't have anything against Kbin per say? but I just get this sense that maybe the real goal of the space is a little too much leaning towards a recreation of Reddit practices and features. I also noticed some threads encouraging people to move on to other instances already, which seemed sort of odd to me since again, they are just getting going.

Meanwhile here, things feel more relaxed. I really appreciate the transparency with the vision for Beehaw, and feel that it is well reflected in practice by the mods/admins posts and their interactions, not just posted on the sidebar. The posts from community members also seem way more friendly and positive, so it just seems a much better fit for my comfort zone.

Aside from the endangerment of honey bees, this is the next best indicator of climate change and the impact of human destruction of vital environments for healthy support of animal species. I keep a small hive in my back yard, and have planted hummingbird attracting flowers to make a little haven in my own space. Not significant in the grand scheme of all the ones missing I know, but at least an effort on a tiny level to help sustain life around me. Beauty as added bonus 😊

Hi.
I have been seeing you post quite a few threads of late. I am truly sorry they are giving you such a hard time. I think it is critical you get some kind of support, as in counseling. It might seem like people online might be able to help but there are limits to what can be accomplished and you deserve to have someone in your corner who can work with you on these issues. There are a number of places online that you can connect with counseling, specifically for lgbtq+ teens as well, if you care to look. l linked one that I know because they have done really great work for some of my friends' families, but there are others. Hang in there.🌺

I do get what you mean, but I would prefer that people do talk about it here where they believe it's a safer environment to discuss views than being exposed to a bunch of toxicity about it elsewhere as they try to make sense of how they feel about what is happening.

I have been reading a lot the last few days. I have seen a lot of pretty ignorant and awful comments, but also a great many that are spot on and some just brilliant. I think all things considered, the admins are doing a great job of allowing people to discuss this without just ban-hammering at first sight anything that is a bit tricky. (Creating the megathread is good move though, so thanks for that by the way...).

For my part, as someone who is now 58 yrs old, the situation in Israel feels like more of history repeating itself over and over. I have spent my entire life watching this kind of news play out. I have also lost many close friends from university who were Israeli and who were Palestinian; many of those had lost their entire families in either the war in Syria or in Lebanon. I had a lot of friends at AUB for example who never came back; During the Gulf War, I was still overseas and had armed soldiers on my campus escorting Israeli faculty for fear they might be attacked since we had received bomb threats at our campus for being "Jew lovers".... I share all that to say that I have some very, very strong opinions on what is happening.

But so do a lot of people here. How can you not?

I still think we are capable of having civil discussions and helping each other through living this moment in time. We have a far easier task doing that bit than anyone else directly experiencing the war and all which that implies.

I'll take some...😂

It's always baffled me why violence is such a seemingly acceptable subject in comparison, what with gangster shows galore, gun nuts, etc., yet god forbid a naked breast is seen on national TV for 5 milliseconds and people lose their freakin' minds - let alone bring up the subject of sex education in schools. I apologize if I offend by saying this, but it's just I didn't grow up here and it's frankly always bugged me how hung up about sex people are in the US vs anywhere else I have lived.

I don't know that looking at games as a release is necessarily a great vantage point, but they can certainly be seen as a haven for fun if you approach them with an open mind.

For me it was more of a switch from how I played vs what I played. I got into online MMOs some years ago and (like a lot of things I do in my life...) I threw myself into them for a while like a loony. I found I was investing far too much time and energy organizing events, raids, builds, spreadsheets, people, personalities, drama, ugh. It was like going to work for heaven's sake! 😂

Eventually I got burned out and stopped completely. When COVID hit, of course going out wasn't an option so I got back into playing more again but realized that I could still have fun without the whole hardcore approach. I became, for lack of a better description, part of the "filthy casuals" lol - something I have never for a minute regretted. My time is my own, I chase what I like, meet others in game, and just plain have fun now.

It can't be too "wild" out there, if you are able to pop into Beehaw...? 😂

I would love someplace totally off the grid.

As young people I think it is really easy to feel like our time now is the worst ever, the most difficult that's ever been, etc. because it's all we see or expose ourselves to seeing. The truth is far more complex than that and any glance back at world history can tell you that we are experiencing challenges which happened before in history. While it's true that things like technology make awareness of these issues more easily accessible, the issues themselves are always the same: racism, intolerance, wars, corruption, abuses, injustice, on and on. The fact that this country is still in its infancy as a world power compared to European nations for example, also makes these issues here even more poignant but, humans being what we are, also clearly inevitable. It is sad, but it is also indicative of opportunities we always have right in front of us every day to try and make things better when and where we can.

One of the things that helps me maintain this view is my work with older adults (which I have now been doing for decades). When you sit down for example and have a candid, genuine discussion about life, politics in particular, or world views with a person in their 90s who lived through so much of what we only now read about - it puts a lot of this in perspective very, very fast. It is a shame that in this country we often just set aside our elders and completely devalue them (unless we are talking about Native Americans, who most definitely do NOT do that in my experience), because having access to perspectives outside our own generational bubble is really important.

I live in the San Francisco Bay area, proverbial tech heaven, and would have to agree here. I mean maybe it is different in other parts of the country, but here your tech degrees as well as experience make massive difference in opportunities and salary offers as it's an extremely competitive market here. I personally am not tech but have a wide social circle of friends who are and they discuss this often whenever talking about opportunities. Degrees and certification matter.

I get that some people feel much safer in segregated company and if folks are enjoying that good for them, but to be honest I find the entire concept outdated at this point; these spaces just feel like not really living freely imho.

There is no better example of this that I can think of than the clothes sold under the Ralph Lauren labels. If you browse through their website you will see a plethora of labels all meant to cater to a certain price point, from Collection level down to retail store. A former work colleague who has enough money to buy collection wear, told me this year that after dropping over 5K on a supposedly 100% cashmere sweater and vest set (labeled as such on the site) when they received it they discovered blended materials listed on the inner tag of the garments, let alone that they began to pill and unravel after one wear. One.

Mind you I would never spend that kind of money on clothes so I don't have too much sympathy, but share the story to say that Lauren is typical of a ton of "designer" labels now, throwing out tons of promotion for their supposedly high quality garments that are all just as crappy construction as Walmart clothes seem to be. It's insane.

As a kid, my family always went to tailors for our clothes. We bought fabrics we liked, they measured us, made the garments, done deal. Same with knits. Suits always fit exactly, dressed were a snap, pants all flattered in all the right places. This was not considered "chique" or whatever. Everyone we knew did this. We did not pay a fortune. Buying clothes at department stores was considered far more expensive and a somewhat strange thing to do at the time.

I wish that the idea of supporting and nurturing real artisanship at the local level in all communities were more of a thing. Where I do find them, there seems to be way too much hipster/exploitation vibes around it which is completely counter to the idea of honing a craft and sharing that skill for not just a living but the betterment of people around you.

Maybe some effort at finding where these people still exist and supporting them would be a good way to turn some of the fast fashion (trash fashion) mindset and practices around.

Tzatziki! 😆

Thinking in another language is the hallmark of true fluency, vs having to auto-translate in your head how to say something before you say it. So the entire argument around people employing "more careful and deliberative thinking when using their foreign language," tells me the sample people were not likely fluent speakers of another language.

They may have studied for years and gained strong proficiency - but that is not the same thing as fluency. Once you reach the state of true fluency you are not second guessing yourself all day long about how to say what you want to say -- you just say it. You can switch thinking from one language to another, and it's fairly unconscious.

People who speak several languages fluently also tend to have a strong awareness of cultural norms associated with speakers of those languages. When you straddle different cultures, you start seeing and thinking about a lot of things differently.

If the studies were meant to augment already established science on the impact of foreign language study and acquisition in adults, they should be clarifying at what level of acquisition the sample rests.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Anyone reading anything about San Francisco, especially in the last 10 years, knows that we have a massive problem with homelessness here so I won't bore people with the details...

That said, my view is simple: when asked, if I have, I give. End of story. It's not up to me to determine what, when, where, or how a homeless individual will spend money they obtain. There are literally entire legislative projects and tons of programs to help tackle those questions.

What I know is that for me as a human being, if I don't give help when help is requested, however small, I am not doing my part. So, when I pass someone asking if I can give them something, I do. I have also worked in social service non-profits for years, so contributing in different ways is just in my wheelhouse. No matter how awkward it feels, I remind myself that this person asking could be me at the slightest twist of fate.

I mean, they are a bit late to the party covering this, but o.k. It's been in major news outlets here for years. Anytime that land get snapped up people take notice. Including eyes at Travis, which they didn't even get into in the article. Between the litigation around purchase costs, regulations which are in place already to protect the interests and security of Travis, to the general development regulations of the state, they are in for a rude awakening if they believe in any pipe dreams on the site. They likely won't happen as they think they might anyway.... There is enough red tape in California real estate development alone to wrap the planet. The only "company" that so far has managed to come even close to building "new city" type agreements has been Google - the only ones who, for obvious reasons, have not even batted an eye at coughing up to date $1B in land investment around the Bay Area with it's vision for mixed use space within existing city limits in Mountain View and San Jose, and support of more housing development.

I haven't read the full thread stickied but am curious, are you all having this issue while logged IN to Google/YouTube account? Because since I dumped Google and no longer have one, I have not gotten any of these pop ups. I use uBlock Origin on FireFox and have not once seen this yet.

Those names read like some characters in a bad novel....

For my fellow space lovers: 2003

EvE + Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

You are welcome 😄

Stuck in the middle of a drama at work I would rather not know about; leadership fired a manager for apparently personal/favoritism reasons, and now their team left behind is upset - with good reason. As a manager myself, I was pretty shocked that the decision and action was taken in this way, so I am having to deal with the fallout since the staff in that department is coming into mine to seek support they feel they no longer have... I love my own team and what I do, but am starting to really question if I want to be part of a place that treats people like this. For all I know, my own neck could be on the chopping block too and I don't know about it, any more than the manager they fired knew that was in store for them. Why are people such asshats sometimes, is beyond me.

Aquaria is one probably not too many people played to make it a cult classic, but it has a dedicated following of people that love it. Was pretty popular as a 2d indie adventure. I never thought I would like it, but was glad I gave it a try. 😊

Maybe they should consider showing support for Sudan instead; though I suspect some of the admins at Harvard could not point out Sudan let alone Darfur on a map if their lives depended on it... they would probably not be as offended since... you know, brown people in Africa don't wrack up business contracts in the us.

Sorry. Really irritated with some of these stories. My cynicism is getting hard to contain.

The only comment that did not surprise me from this list was the one from Macy Gray. I loved her music a lot when her first album dropped; then made the mistake of going to one of her shows. I was pretty disappointed by her behaviour on stage due to some of her comments, which let's just say were less than kind for some people in the audience.

They also bought out ZeniMax in the same deal, which means they also have ESO under their rap sheet.

The only thing that effectively changed in ESO since the acquisition in 2020 is that they added the endeavor system to the game, so there was an excuse to sustain loot crates and give people a means to get the loot crate items in the game... though that system is frankly still BS since the amount of endeavor and gems needed for that fluff is in real world dollars ridiculous. As is, I dumped ESO completely after High Isle and went back to only playing GW2 (I have been in both games since beta), since the nonsense happening in ESO was enough for me to see that Microsoft running into the ground was not an issue - ZoS already managed that themselves...

I imagine it will be the same for WoW. Zero sum game.

Eirich and any firms like his doing this, along with "Ms Child" (as her surname Baird ironically means...) should take a decidedly long walk off a very short peer. This entire venture on both their parts is obviously motivated by nothing other than financial gain. It's exploitative and harmful to everyone involved. They should be sued by all the families involved if you ask me.

Western media could start by grounding their information in less Islamophobic rhetoric for one.

I mean, I am certainly not a scholar of Islam, but I do know enough about it to understand that at least for Sunni Muslims, the actions taken by terrorists like Hamas are not condoned or supported. Too much misinformation in the West about mainstream Islam's position on "Jihad" is also severely missing, and in the end we end up with extreme interpretations being touted as part of the central tenets of the religion and nothing but assumptions that ALL Muslims are anti-everything-not-Muslim and ready to kill us all at any moment. This is categorically false.

For another, not ALL Palestinians are Muslim. Christian Palestinians have been systematically victimized by Israel's policies every bit as much as their Muslim brothers. For decades now, thousands of them have seen themselves forced to flee Gaza and the West Bank to other countries just survive. So it does get really irritating when you see arguments in Western media squarely blaming Islam or anti-Christian hate for the extremism of terrorist groups like Hamas when clearly, there have been (and continue to be) Israeli governmental pressure and policies in place to discriminate and displace any Palestinian, regardless of them being Muslim or not.

But you know, to talk about any of these facts means you are anti-Semitic so.... it doesn't happen anywhere outside of academia basically. Infrequently at that.

As long as it doesn't have crown molding for any Hereditary film-type of ghost drops from the ceiling when I walk by, I'm good! 😂

Sometimes when jelly or jams go bad there is a white mold that can grow pretty quickly if the seal on the jar was imperfect, jars used were not sterilized, or if there was too little sugar used in process. If that is in fact mold, you need to toss it.

I don't see choosing to handwrite inefficient or pretentious. I see it as something familiar that I enjoy because I have had a journal since my teens.

As a trained professional working with older adults, I also know that keeping up writing can help promote brain health. There has been plenty of research published on this, including that regular practice of reading and writing can help staff off onset of of dementia in older adults, so it's basically brain exercise.

That said, I write grants for work, narratives for our contracts and so forth, so I also appreciate that when under a time crunch I can bang out something fast on my keyboard after I have spent a little time drafting out initial ideas.

At the end of the day, I think a lot of this just depends on your views about writing in general (regardless of the tools you use); some people hate it no matter what they have to do on. Meanwhile, there are old gits like me that you have pry out of bookstores with a crowbar because after my scanning of the SciFi section, I get busy having too much fun snooping through the isles displaying leather journals and pots of fountain pen ink in goofy colours, and packs of stationary with cute designs. 😂

Pen or keyboard, it's all good.

Some time ago, I basically relegated Amazon to nothing but a search engine.

Let's say I want to buy a certain item; I do a general search online for what I want; inevitably the first 5-10 search results are a listing on Amazon. I go ahead and read reviews. I notice specs and branding info. That's it.

From there, if the store isn't near me physically (so I just go in person), I just go to the actual brand vendor and purchase directly from them instead.

1. Prices are literally either the same or cheaper direct from the brand.
2. the product is the real thing.
3. returns if needed, and customer service is always easier/better.
4. Amazon does not get my money.... (actually maybe this should be number one)

May seem convoluted but I have been burned so many times with fake items, with used items when they were supposed to be new, with no real savings, constant shipping problems, etc. that Amazon as a vendor has become basically nothing but junk to me, compared to how they operated even 10 years ago.

Meantime, I spend some of my happy time back in brick and mortar bookstores, record shops, etc. and enjoy getting undamaged items to my heart's desire. 😊

Will add one more link here, just to give you something else to consider in this music of definitions, lol https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/legumes-pulses/

As a "Mediterranean" person myself, our home has always included meals with beans of one type or another on a regular basis so they are natural to my diet. As soon as the weather gets cold, I especially love the excuse to eat them more often since they are not only yummy, but feel like a comfort cozy time food. My favourite hands down are lentils, since they can be cooked in so many ways that appeal to me. At the moment one of my favourite ways to make them is super simple: slow cooked in veggie broth with some garlic cloves and chopped leeks (the latter are browned first in a little bit of olive oil), cooked until tender, with saffron, white pepper, and a pinch of salt. Serve with lemon juice and chopped fresh coriander leaf. Cheers! 👩‍🍳 🥰