TikTok!? Who gives a shit? How about save Palestine first?

Unlimited full fibre here in the rural nothern Highlands of Scotland for £35 per month.

Your internet seems similar to your politicians: useless and expensive.

In all honesty and without any sarcasm that was obviously present in my previous comment, looking in at the US as an outsider, I don't hold out much hope for America. It's not just Team Trump, it's the whole system. The previous lot weren't much better (and often sometimes worse). Everything seems extremely polarised which will never pan out well. Big corporations seem to control everything (from internet and food to finance and pharma), there's no free health care (a human right considered by many countries but viewed as communism by America). I could go on and on, but I would only sound unnecessarily negative. A good idea would be to get out and get off an obvious sinking ship. This is probably easier said than done, but there's always a way. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect elsewhere, but I think once the US collapses it'll be a wake-up call for a lot of countries who will also have to adjust having relied so heavily on America through trade as well as culturally. If too big to fail was a real thing, then we wouldn't have history books full of empires collapsing. With all sincerity, good luck.

So glad I recently removed Windows from my former dual boot system completely. Was sick of getting errors during Linux boot up after running Windows for that one piece of software I couldn't get to work in Wine or Bottles. The culprit I assumed was Windows updates, which I attempted to disable through the registry on several occasions. It would work for a short period and then Microsoft, in all their wisdom, would just reenable updates because clearly they know better than I what I want my system to do. The last time it happened was the final straw for me when I wanted to boot into Windows briefly only to be left waiting half an hour for Windows to apply updates on shutdown. Pissed me off so much I killed the power mid-update, booted up a live partition tool and wiped Windows off my system completely (updating the grub to remove dual boot). That's when I discovered that not properly shutting down Windows would mark my other drives dirty and make them read only. To fix this I ended up having to insert Windows installation media and pretend like I wanted to reinstall Windows 10 again. Once it got to the stage when it was about to write to the drive I cancelled the installation and rebooted back into Linux. Voilà! Could write to my drives again. To hell with Windows. I'd rather live without that one piece of software and have my system do what I want it to do rather than it second guess me and disregard my instructions. This whole automatic update thing really boiled my piss. At least with Linux I can choose to apply updates when it's convenient for me to do so.

Weird looking bastard, isn't he?

So, these “far-left activists” according to Truss “intimidate people and suppress free speech”. By doing what exactly? Speaking freely? Isn't activism such as this an example of free speech? No surprise there that she supports Donald Trump. Just another smug, privileged little shit that lives in the Upside-Down. 45 days to crash the economy is pretty impressive. And despite such a piss-poor performance, she is entitled to all the financial perks that come with being a former Prime Minister (perks that are quite substantial incidentally). The sheer bare-faced audacity of this turd utterly astounds me.

What? Israel's using Microsoft "technology" in its military? Hah! They are definately fucked then.

And why the fuck are they in the Europa league? Last I checked Israel was nowhere near Europe. Aren't they Semitic and from the Middle East? At least they love to use that definition when they shout "antisemitism" at anyone who criticises them. And why are they in the European Song Contest? Anyway, no sympathy. They clearly like violence so let them have it.

They did. And they're called Zionists. The idea? Gaza: a more fenced off open air concentration camp approach, where you can ban world media coverage and commit genocide without anyone really knowing the full extent of the horror.

Elon's fuckery of 'The platform formely known as Twitter' is the gift that keeps giving.

Here's my suggestion for a new company motto:

"X: It's Twitter but it's Shitter."

Similar to yourself, I switched to Mint about 9 months ago - initially on dual boot before ditching Windows altogether (the Windows updates kept fucking everything up). For the one piece of software that I missed on Windows 10 (Fugawi Digital Maps) I simply created a Windows 7 VM, that doesn't connect to the internet, and installed it on there. In fact, it has made me realise just how crap 10 was in comparison to 7. Linux has been a pleasure. Not only has it made computers interesting to me again, but I've learned a shitload along the way. It's nice to have a computer do what I want it to, rather than the other way around.

AI this and AI that. Yawn! All of it is a crock of over-hyped shit.

The extension is called Firefox.

It only needs to work once.

Once again, the US and its spoilt brat Israel revealling how they are the biggest threat to any form of world peace. Land of the free? More like land of the ZioNazi lobby.

I like it better broken. It's more abstract.

Correct. The whole settler state of Israel is like a spoilt brat that throws the toys out the pram and cries "antisemitism!" every time anyone criticises their evil, sick and twisted behaviour. They can only ride on the back of WWII Holocaust guilt for so long before it gets old. Call me an antisemite all you want, I no longer give a fuck. It makes no sense anyway. "Semitic people" is an obsolete term for people who originate from that part of the world which includes Arabs, Jews, Akkadians, and Phoenicians. Most Jews in Israel today are either of American or European descent. Personally, I hate all religions, but Judaism has got to be the most fucked up and genocidal out of all the monotheistic belief systems. I loved how after Oct 7th 2023 Israel started with the rhetoric "we want our Holocaust survivors back". Holy smokes! There can't be many of those left, the Holocaust happened 80 years ago and I doubt many of the survivors would be attending a drug fuelled rave (I mean "music festival"). I don't like cruelty of any kind, the Holocaust was an appalling event in human history, but it's not Holocaust surviving Jews that are acting like Nazis. So fuck Israel, fuck Zionism and quite frankly fuck Judaism in general along with all the other monotheistic brainwashing religions that separate us rather than unite us. "We're all Jock Tamson's bairns" as we say in Scotland.

Correct. I've disabled and replaced every Google app on my phone with a free open souce version. Now what I need to do is figure out how to shutdown and replace Google Play Services which screams at me every time it's disabled. Bloody thing updates weekly without the slightest change log. Fuck knows what it's doing.

Don't know if this fits your criteria, but I've been using Gruble a lot recently. You can personalise the look and language in the settings, plus it's open source.

Gaffer tape will sort it. Trust me, I've fixed all kinds of shit with gaffer tape.

Well, looks like it's not safe for them to play against European teams now too. What a shame.

It works for the Klingons.

Is it Wonder Man?

I don't get it either. I think that's exactly what will happen in the end and that this is a story about nothing that the media has latched onto (I've seen this reported elsewhere). I guess they've got to try and find as much content as they can to try and detract from reporting on the genocide in Gaza.

Try Foxclone. I prefer it over Clonezilla.

https://foxclone.org/

It's an interesting take on it for sure, but I think .io will remain. While geopolitics can be a huge factor, there's too many top level domains tied up in it. In the end, money talks and bullshit walks.

I find the UI pretty slick. No confusion over what needs to be done. All the tools are there plus I had to rely on it recently to get one of my machines back up and running. It worked flawlessly and restored everything from the backup images like my system had never been down.

Aye, people criticise the Scottish government but they have short memories. They forget what it was like before devolution and particularly prior to SNP rule. Labour and the Tories never gave a fuck about Scotland. They still don't. The only sadness is that we never got full independence. Whilst there is indeed a lot to criticise with the SNP there's also much that they have given us and making sure rural communities get decent internet access is just one of those things. Hell, my broadband is better up here than it was when I lived in the central belt. The National Health Service works better up here too, and free health with free prescriptions has got to be a good thing. Down in England they still have to pay for prescriptions. Honestly, I don't understand why 55% voted to stay in the UK back in 2014. I guess it's like people voting Trump - there's just a lot of fucking dummies out there.

VirtualBox.

And I would suggest that there's plenty of evidence in the religious belief itself for followers to justify cruelty. The so-called "chosen people" think they're entitled to the land since it's promised to them in the Torah. Even taking into account Zionist misinterpretation, this highlights the problem with belief systems in general. People interpret it the way that suits their agenda. I have no time for any of it.

I've been thinking about doing just that for my next phone.

Weather's shit a lot of the time here in Scotland.

Recently Highland & Lothian Broadband rolled out full fibre here in the Northern Highlands - the installation of which was government funded. I'm pretty rural so I grabbed the basic package at £35 per month (about $45) and it's more than enough for my needs. However the top package 2000Mbps (up & down) will set you back £54.99 per month (approx' $71), although that's an introductory offer and goes up to £89.99 (approx' $116) after 24 months. I can't fault the service. No caps, no limits, router is modern with WiFi 6 although I ethernet most things using my old router as a switch. I also don't seem to be blocked from any websites. My previous provider, BT Broadband, blocked me from The Pirate Bay requiring me to use a VPN. Not so with Highland Broadband. Straight in, no problems.

I know a guy that heats his house with those tubular heaters for greenhouses. One for each room and the place is always comfortably warm without being too expensive.

Then we'll have to agree to disagree. Religious belief has been dominant throughout human history, so has killing each other. It's more to do with human behaviour and religion is simply a reflection of human behaviour. Class systems are also a reflection of human behaviour and religion was/is invented by ruling classes as a form of control. The stories in religious texts are merely a mythology to administer that control.

Without Judaism there would be no Zionism. If I look at the Old Testament and see it as a genocidal and elitist mythology, what chance to believers have when they adopt it as an ideology? I guess it's fortunate that some don't take the Torah literally. I'm only approaching it from a non-materialist perspective because I am a non-materialst.

What Adam Smith has to do with iPhones and Ancient Eygpt is a mystery to me. But we could argue here indefinately and get nowhere. Perhaps Xitter would be a more appropriate place for you to practice your contrarianism?

I think it's possibly more of a feedback loop. Beliefs through interpretation can empower people to behave appallingly. The more they act on their beliefs the more they adjust their interpretation to justify their behaviour. Whilst I agree that not all Jews support the attrocities of Israel, I think it'd be interesting to get a percentage breakdown of just how many globally do. If the percentage is high, then you can safely assume that there's a fundamental flaw in the belief system. Let me be clear, I am no racist. I consider every human being equal. I just object to the term antisemitic being used when Judaism is not a race but a belief system. I think there is a reluctance to criticise Judaism out of fear of being labelled antisemitic. This is a term that gets brandished about too often and fuels Israel's abhorrent behaviour. You don't get the same reaction if you criticise other religious ideologies, however Judaism seems to be off the cards, mainly due to the Holocaust but mostly because it's been weaponised by Zionists to counteract criticism. People are complex and beliefs are dangerous since they stifle critical thinking. Just to be clear, I'm no atheist either as that is also a faith based ideology. The correct stance, in my own opinion, is to be honest and humble enough to admit we know very little about the nature of reality and existence and reject absolutism wherever it rears it's ugly head.

Scotland stayed in the UK because people bought into the fear-mongering being spread by the UK government. There were several fronts the UK targeted us with. Pensions was one (which scared all the old folks), currency was another (even though there was no real reason we couldn't continue to use the pound). The economy was also targeted under the argument that we were too small a country to sustain ourselves, despite having a similar population size to Norway who survive extremely well as an independent nation. Between oil, tourism, gaming/tech industry, and whisky exports we could have not only survived but thrived. One other argument was that we'd have to reapply for entry into the EU and that staying in the UK guaranteed we'd remain in Europe, only for English voters to vote the UK out of the EU several years later. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU but it didn't matter as it was a UK wide election, so basically we were told to shut the fuck up and put up. This should have been a significant change in circumstances that would trigger another independence referendum, but such referendums require UK parliament approval and the Tory scum wouldn't let us hold one. Personally I would have been inclined to declare independence unilaterally, but given how 55% of the population were chicken-shits in 2014, it would be unlikely to happen. There's also the cultural aspect that stops Scotland becoming independent. A large part of the population are Protestant and have been brainwashed through generations to believe in the laughable antiquated concept of King & Country. Basically Scotland has a long history of being kicked in the teeth by the English ruling class. So much so that many people have absolutely no confidence in self-determination or belief in their own ability to thrive and succeed. If only these people who feel that they need to be looked after would fuck off to the England they love so much, Scotland could move forward into the 21st century as a progressive, forward-thinking nation. Independence supporters always get labelled as rascist and anti-English, but the opposite is the truth. We're welcoming to everyone who wants to make their home here and contribute to making the country a success - English, African, American, Chinese, whatever.

The only thing Biden could push is a zimmer frame.

X: It's like Twitter, but it's shitter.

I don't think the platform will last long enough to care. In a year or two it'll be "X, formely known an Twitter, currently remembered as Elon's clusterfuck."