legrande

Been using CleanLinks[0] on Firefox for a while now. Nice to know I have the same feature in Brave now. Sometimes I manually remove query params from URLs when sharing them. I really need to automate that though!

[0] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/clean-links-w...

> the future of social media will be more private

The terms 'Social' & 'Private' are not compatible. Even if the service markets itself as privacy-centric or privacy-aware, users will expose details about themselves in some way. The platform might reduce the amount of PII but the users themselves will reveal stuff they wish they hadn't.

I like to know what's going on in the world. Not reading the news is not an option for me. Knowing what's going on, even at just a cursory level is vital as it adds context to how I operate in the world.

> I really need to be able to control which software runs on MY devices

Well if you're running an Intel powered device, there is the Intel Management Engine[0], which is a minus ring zero backdoor with unfettered access to everything. It even runs MINIX! It's not really your computer.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Management_Engine

> If there's a backdoor it's naive to think that only the "good guys" will use it.

This is the thinking behind NSA's 'Nobody But Us' saying. If you hoard 0day, assume someone else will discover it given enough time.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOBUS

I have TwisterOS[0] installed on my Pi 4. It comes with loads of retro gaming tools out of the box.

[0] https://twisteros.com/

> it’s become an annually refreshed collection of fun fashionable clip art instead of an impartial repository of humankind’s symbols

Constraints are sometimes good. It's great to see how something like the Eggplant & Peach emoji got hijacked and used as a sexual reference.

Or just an advanced civilization harvesting exotic matter to power their spacecraft.

If you need to know where we are in the hype cycle, check out this curated list of every AI project currently active:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hwBf_TnSxwhkfnJTVpUNAJWS...

It's mind blowing that we have something blossoming out of nowhere that has real-world use-cases and is genuinely improving people's lives.

I have tools to write the perfect e-mail, remove the background from photos, write copy for my clients' websites, and tools to help me code faster. It's all very brilliant stuff.

We still have choice of jurisdiction for cryptography projects. Look at Liberland[0]. So the UK is fast becoming a mini-china. Just don't do crypto projects there then.

[0] https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgdj9k/inside-liberland-a-cr...

We all started off enthused about cryptocurrency and then the Wolf of Wall Street types co-opted it and ruined it for everyone pulling off the most sophisticated Ponzi schemes in history.

The only use-case for it now is for the criminal underworld (who have to somehow convert to fiat privately using novel techniques, and that gets harder with regulation and sanctions and outright banning of tumbler systems).

> Pop-sci pieces tend to portray the universe as just a bunch of particles interacting in odd/spooky ways

'Spooky action at a distance'[0]

[0] https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2015/11/nist-team-prov...

HN is probably just a single basement dweller with 100,000 accounts auto posting stuff using a mix of GPT and comments stolen from Reddit

What's your thoughts on Matrix?

https://matrix.org/clients/

> Even Tumblr is getting on the bandwagon

First I heard of this. I was reluctant to use Tumblr after the NSFW permabanning fiasco that happened not so long ago. Some people claiming their 'erotica' was art and shouldn't be censored. But then what if Tumblr decides it can arbitrarily ban other forms of art? See the slippery slope situation here?

Anecdotal and not guaranteed to work for everyone: I have found holding my breath for as long as possible stops hiccups. And you can't cheat with this, you literally have to hold your breath until you think you're going to die. Most people don't like unpleasant situations like that, so when I suggest it, they scoff, but for me it works most of the time.

I think the reason it works, is it dampens the power the spasms have, by doing a pattern interrupt. 'Oh looks like we can't do spasms anymore, this person is running out of oxygen, let's re-allocate resources to things like breathing properly'.

In other news: 'Reducing the complexity of everyday life has benefits'.

I don't know at what point we are in the hype cycle. Going here[0] may help you gauge that.

[0] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hwBf_TnSxwhkfnJTVpUNAJWS...

If `old.reddit.com` goes down forever I will be very disappoint. New Reddit doesn't work with JS disabled, and I enjoy surfing with JS disabled because I enjoy the privacy benefits.

The whole world is held together by nukes. Hiroshima & Nagasaki were outliers though. If we do use them, it has long been a prediction that 'intelligent' lifeforms eventually wipe themselves out, rather than being star-faring and preserving the species on other planets (Mars as Plan B). This is a test of how enlightened we are as a species.

You can always have a vanilla Debian or vanilla Arch install and add things on an as-needed basis and build the OS from scratch, minimizing complexity and have them as single-duty OSes.

GoDaddy is a very complex thing. And bugs lurk in complexity. No wonder.

Rather than building from scratch and fighting CSS, I use Semplice[0]

[0] https://www.semplice.com/

Much easier to take screenshots now, without users getting notified that a screenshot took place.

Handy: https://rockiger.com/en/akiee/

You could always setup a catch-all for `bobsmith.com` and then you can read every e-mail sent to that address, regardless of what username is used.

> and the only real solution is to disconnect from everything you can

Yes. Offline is the new peace of mind. Trouble is, the mind needs something to work at/solve and it's forever trying to solve some puzzle. People regard reading as switching off, but reading, for me, is an active pursuit, rather than passive. I read to become a better version of myself, so yeah: the only real solution to burnout is literally to meditate in a cave sans smartphone or book.