Facts

Thanks! I'm new to this so still finding my way. I appreciate the clarification.

Maybe it’s the original? I don’t know. Doesn’t really matter. The Fediverse means all these Lemmy instances are networked, meaning if one kicks you off it you decide you don’t like it, you can join another, as opposed to Reddit, where if you say something one group doesn’t like, they can kick you off the whole platform.

Sorry about the late reply. I'm new to Lemmy, and looking for AC/ACNH communities to join, and share with.

I've used TIs (Treasure Islands) from these people, and if you have Amazon Prime, you can also donate a Twitch sub. Prime gives you one a month at no extra fee, but you do need to have Prime. You can get a trial if you want to use the TIs for a month for free.

People leaving silently (via the minus button) is something I think a couple people do intentionally. They will wait until someone joins an island. Sometimes they follow you around, grabbing the stuff you're interested in. Sometimes they just hang back a bit. After you get a bunch of stuff, sometimes when you go to leave, they quietly leave so you lose all progress. Unfortunately the people who run the TIs really don't care all that much. You can report them (you can see who they are and keep tabs on them, so if they request a Dodo code, you can finish up and leave before they get their Dodo code put in) but it won't do much good. I think it's a game to them, like hunting. I bet they figure if fewer people use the TIs, it's fewer load times for those who are willing to deal with the occasional griefer.

Also, helps if you go during non-peak hours. TIs typically run 24/7.

Disco Elysium is the kind of game I'd love to sit down with the developers/producers and try to play it, and ask them questions about it.

I own it on Steam, but I can't remember if I bought it because it was on Mac, or if I bought it before I switched. Either way, I've tried to start it a few times and I just don't get anywhere. It's the kind of game I should like, but I don't have the patience to learn it.

Some people say you can use a de-Googled Chromium browser to enjoy the fruits of Chrome without supporting Google's ad business. I say just use Firefox.

By the same token, when some people say to buy an Android phone and deal with CFW, I say just get an iPhone.

I mean either way, Google gets your money and you contribute to Google's market share by buying one. Not using Google Play Services as an individual does not hurt them nearly as much as their efforts to keep you from doing so implies it does.

Of course, switching phones can be costly, but if you're in the market for a new one, I would say if you're going to pay roughly the same price, let it be the more private one, albeit the one that is further from open source. I mean it runs iOS, which is a stripped down version of macOS, which is UNIX certified, but you can't run a few apps that Apple doesn't approve of. Fortnite is back and emulators are back though, so a lot of bases are covered.

That said... the keyboard sucks. Sometimes if I'm gonna be typing (e.g. using Lemmy), I'll actually turn on my old Galaxy S10, just to use Gboard (which is on iOS but sucks there). I like my 16PM for a lot of things, but typing isn't one of them.

So yes. You can stop rewarding Google's bad behavior by not buying their phones. Draw a hard line between your personal data and their servers. But in doing so, consider getting in bed with a different monster rather than "the devil you know." It's not an easy decision. And, as a guy who's been mainly on iPhone for almost 10 years... I kinda want a Pixel. Maybe not the newest one, but I mean, I'm using a 6-year-old Galaxy phone and it's fine. I like both platforms. Both have their strengths. But I personally trust Apple more than Google. To each their own though.

Dexter technically hasn't ended, unless you mean the series Dexter.

There have been two spinoffs, and the second one hasn't ended yet. So for the people who say Dexter should have died/been exposed/caught/shamed at the end... well... it hasn't ended yet.

Also, the books are wilder. In the last one I read, the little boy and girl of Rita's were getting into killing. The little girl says "I don't kill because I'm a girl, so I'm just the lookout for my brother." The brother kills animals, the girl watches out, distracts anyone who might come around, basically runs interference for him. IIRC they're twins and maybe the book tried the whole "psychic twin connection" stuff? It's been a while. The book just gave creepier vibes than the previous ones and I quit there.

The problem with the LOST ending was, it wasn't planned. They wrote themselves into a corner.

I'm good with the ending, too. I'm also good with people roasting them for it. And I'm also good with situations like in FROM where Harold Perrineau said he wouldn't work with them (same people) if they didn't have the ending pre-planned in advance. They even poke fun at the LOST ending in one of the early episodes, implying it won't go that way.

Wow. I cannot see Adam Scott as David Fisher. I could see him as Nate Fisher, though.

People listen to the audiobook of Stephen King's Pet Sematary and think they're listening to Dexter narrate it (it's narrated by Michael C. Hall). No, that's David Fisher narrating it. But everyone knows Hall as Dexter Morgan, and that's fine.

Six Feet Under is still legendary and still relevant, and it still has the best ending on television, bar absolutely none. I was borderline pissed off when Luther tried to use that song ("Breathe Me," by Sia) near the end of the first series. I did have to look up to see which show did it first — it was absolutely 6FU.

I just replaced my dying Windows machines (a laptop and later, a desktop) with Macs. Still closed source, but they're UNIX certified. I know FOSS folks love to hate on macOS, but even being smart enough to use Linux, and having used it off and on for 20-25 years, I just didn't want to. I did get away from Microsoft stuff, at least at home, except for Xbox. That was my wife's choice and we have a bunch of games for it. I'm more of a PlayStation guy, but I kinda got outvoted on that one. These days I mostly just game on the Switch anyway. And the cool thing about new Macs? They can basically run Switch games, with a bit of help (but same-ish architecture). And a lot of games going to Switch(/2) can also go to Mac (e.g. Cyberpunk).

It's a great time to get away from Microsoft. Their browser hasn't been good enough in decades. Their office suite is probably their biggest strength, followed by Xbox. Their cloud would be third, I'd say — OneDrive is underrated. I use iWork on my Macs and it's fine. And it can read/write the docx formats. For cloud I guess iCloud is fine on the Mac side, I just wish the pricing were more competitive. Don't really have a good answer for cloud. And for gaming... if you were starting from zero, I'd say look at the Steam Deck, Steam sales are unbeatable, the thing runs Linux, it emulates PC games pretty well (there's a whole certification thing), and you can do GeForce Now as well if you're near their CDN. Microsoft is arguably the easiest of the big three (vs Apple and Google) to drop.

I don't even need to know why people are going against Microsoft all of a sudden. I have my reasons. I don't hate them, and I would have stuck with Office + OneDrive (MS 365) if they didn't double the price to add AI to Office with no way to stick with the old product. They were getting $60 a year from me, now they're not getting anything.

Here's why it's okay to block ads in pretty simple terms:

Ads can contain ransomware; that is to say, a seemingly innocent ad can deliver a payload which will run on your computer, lock your files, and demand you pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars anonymously.

Now if you go to the website that served the ad and tell them, "I allowed ads on your site because I support your right to monetise your content, and now I have to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars, will you help me pay that" or "will you pay that for me since your site served the ransomware," you know what they will tell you, every single time, without fail? Whether they actually answer you, or more likely, just delete your email. They're telling you that it's your problem. That you should have secured your computer better.

So secure your computer better now. Block all the ads.

Getting a little more technical, use Firefox or a fork of it. Use Linux if you can. Use a Mac if you can't. If you really must use Windows, know how to secure it. I use Windows 11 at work, I'd never use it at home, but I had a talk with the IT guy, and he let me do a few things to it. I know more than he does, but he's the one with the job, so I told him what I'd do before I did it, I did exactly what I said I was going to do, nothing more nothing less, and I still think my home computer is more secure, but I'm a lot less worried about using the work machine. I think it's wild that so many companies just use Windows. I'm not trying to hate on Windows. It's good for gaming and it's accessible. I'd love to see more companies roll their own *nix or just use Macs (which run macOS which is UNIX certified).

I feel like more people should know what’s going on. Facebook has done some scummy stuff in the past. Now Zuck is openly defending his AI grooming children. In and of itself it doesn’t make a lot of sense — what’s the upshot for Meta here? But outside the bubble of logic, it sets kids up to be groomed by real predators. It’s unacceptable.

People say the problem is that all the people they know are on Facebook. Two issues: most of those people would forget you exist if you leave Facebook. Also, you’re the reason they’re there. The second reason is that you are literally the product. You being on Facebook is part of the reason those people are, too, so be the change you want to see in the world.