NoblePath's recent activity
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Comment on Clothes shopping as a short & fat (trans) guy with narrow shoulders in ~life.style
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Comment on All the good email clients go to hell in ~tech
NoblePath LinkThere have been a couple runs at good alternatives. There was a pretty awesome app that got bought by google, can’t remember the name. It went the way of dejanews. There was another, edison maybe?...There have been a couple runs at good alternatives. There was a pretty awesome app that got bought by google, can’t remember the name. It went the way of dejanews.
There was another, edison maybe? That hinted at promise.
I agree with her wholeheartedly, RIP eudora. Also ya-newswatcher and soundjam.
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Comment on All the good email clients go to hell in ~tech
NoblePath Link ParentTheir functionality certainly has room to grow. True also for their vpn app. Apple mail caches their mail on desktop, amd spotlight is pretty good for that. Still, protonmail is good as a service,...Their functionality certainly has room to grow. True also for their vpn app. Apple mail caches their mail on desktop, amd spotlight is pretty good for that.
Still, protonmail is good as a service, and with drive and the vpn it’s an awesome deal.
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Comment on All the good email clients go to hell in ~tech
NoblePath Link ParentIf you’re a paid protonmail customer, on the mac (and presumably other desktops) there’s protonmail bridge. On mobile, you gotta use the protonmail app.If you’re a paid protonmail customer, on the mac (and presumably other desktops) there’s protonmail bridge. On mobile, you gotta use the protonmail app.
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Comment on The internet used to be ✨fun✨ in ~tech
NoblePath LinkI have been wanting to respond to this post for a minute, but haven't both been in front of my computer and remembered to at the same time :-/ I'm old. I've been on networks since...- Exemplary
I have been wanting to respond to this post for a minute, but haven't both been in front of my computer and remembered to at the same time :-/
I'm old. I've been on networks since arpa/fido/gopher/bbs days. I wasn't super informed in those days, so I couldn't tell you which network I was using (bbs were obviously over the phone), but I was on some kind of network that linked universities, govt, some businesses (including old services like compuserve and The Source, which would become AOL, and also probably The Well), and some really weird cats. I can tell you that was fun, a lot of fun. But when the web hit in the early 90s, it was a new game. It was a way new kind of fun. I was on some kind of WYSE terminal connected to I don't know what at the backend learning everything I could about HTML (using lynx as a browser), and then there was NCSA Mosaic and the next decade were a blur of drugs, cyberpunk, being way overpaid for tickling a few network tricks, rock and roll, women, The Grateful Dead, and The Matrix.
Part of the fun was my age, carefree salad days spent excessively and recklessly. But there was something really cool in the air, the web was something truly new and different. TV was the same probably in the early 60's (Arthur C. Clarke), VCRs/PCs in the 80s (Dick), Radio in the 10s (Lovecraft), but we had Gibson at we were fixing to really leave the planet by going inside. Websites were not just informational, they were art. People pushed the limits. My favorite example was a site called superpants.
Like @ewintr pointed out above, experience a library for the first time is not repeatable, until you find a museum, a chemistry lab, a computer lab (ahem). The internet has matured, and sadly, become infected with capitalisms worst traits. But some of its early charms persist, Tildes is a good as any bbs forum, better than a lot of newsgroups. It's not all nostalgia, though, those early times were filled with exuberance and hope, that somehow this new medium and sets of tools could really advance the needle on civilization. And it has, and does. Wikipedia has proven exceptionally useful in the dissemination of information that entrenched players would love to keep quiet. When decoupled from corporate controlled backbones, the nature of the internet allows for very robust networked communications. It's not as glamorous now, though, maybe kindofa shame, but also not nearly as elite, (or l33t), which is good progress. Regular folks can now benefit. My conceit has been that once empowered, regular folks would suddenly become elevated and effete and pursue with us the highest ideals of aesthetics and goodwill. Instead, they just want to get through the day, be reasonably well fed, and feel like their kids are safe. And good on them, the more I emulate that lifestyle, the more at peace I am. A few, however, mostly in places far worse than I have ever even visited (and I've been to East St. Louis), have taken these mundane applications and put them in the service of real change for better, the nobility of which is practically a fairy tale to me.
The early internet is gone, and so are my 20s (which I extended well into my 30s). I have realized my many limitations, and the extent which I was living in a fantasy life. There is no blame, much like Mr. Robot, my rich dissociative denial and imagination kept me alive through horrible circumstances. But when the circumstance abated, I did not release the defense mechanisms, and here we are. But in my 20s, and during the internet's early days, I could more easily ignore my limitations and focus on the fanstastical places I was going to go.
I still have utopian leanings, however. The technology is there to alleviate so much suffering, we just have to find some way to create a collective will. The old ways, unions and 20s progressivism, will not work today. There are too many disparities, too much focus on individualism. Some of that may need to be rolled back, but the variegations will persist and deserve celebration and inclusion. Democracy will not work, and manufactured persuasion (aka Public Relations, Marketing, and Advertising) cannot unite enough of us on enough stuff. No, there must be a new, simultaneous, spontaneous, and widespread recognition of commonalities, trust through desperation or exhaustion or surrender, release of the fear of insecurity, humility and cooperation. The ideal truism from the old days is still useful, repeat it wherever you can: from each, according to their ability, to each, according to their need.
I did not mean exactly to turn this into a mildly revolutionary manifesto, except maybe I did. This kind of random, unifying, perhaps too glittering meandering is exactly the kind of spirit that seemed to flow over the deep in the first seven days of the World Wide Web. Maybe there's nothing wrong with naivety, excitement, and nerdery, and that absence is what's most missing from those days to this.
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Comment on The internet used to be ✨fun✨ in ~tech
NoblePath Link ParentOf course if you were, ah, "enterprising," you could have these sorts of things for a reduced rate.Of course if you were, ah, "enterprising," you could have these sorts of things for a reduced rate.
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Comment on Residents in southern Illinois county to vote on non-binding referendum to separate state from Cook County in ~misc
NoblePath LinkI wonder if ADM would be pro or ‘gin? I think it would be an interesting experiment if noone could get hurt. Lots of folks around u-c would be upset. I’m also curious how the collar counties would...I wonder if ADM would be pro or ‘gin?
I think it would be an interesting experiment if noone could get hurt. Lots of folks around u-c would be upset.
I’m also curious how the collar counties would come down on this.
Still, the real bottom line as @updawg intimated, is there are real polarizations and real feelings connected to them. Somehow things have got to start flowing again.
This is nothing new though. I ran across this mid century gem the other day.
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Comment on Man sets himself on fire near courthouse where Donald Trump is on trial (gifted link) in ~news
NoblePath Link ParentI mean, he’s not wrong in a general way. His mistake is to think he is the first to discover these truths, and to think they are absolute. Another mistake is to think this is the only game in...I mean, he’s not wrong in a general way.
His mistake is to think he is the first to discover these truths, and to think they are absolute. Another mistake is to think this is the only game in town.
But I get it. People can be awful, and the only mechanism of justice in the world is …more people. Who can be awful. Despair is not irrational.
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Comment on Quentin Tarantino drops ‘The Movie Critic’ as his final film in ~movies
NoblePath LinkToo bad it wasn’t a movie based on the 90’s animated series with Jon Lovitz.Too bad it wasn’t a movie based on the 90’s animated series with Jon Lovitz.
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Comment on NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism in ~news
NoblePath Link ParentIt’s at least possible that that’s because their perspectives are outmoded and need to pass in history. The thing about progress is that it requires folks to be progressive. The folks in the...There's not really a place for them in the current republican party, and the left doesn't seem to want them either
It’s at least possible that that’s because their perspectives are outmoded and need to pass in history.
The thing about progress is that it requires folks to be progressive.
The folks in the middle meed to get more progressive, and the folks at the far right margin need to be seen and heard, soothed, and then shown why progress is better.
To relate it to tfa, this editor should be heard, and a realignment perhaps at nor to help those dragging to be heard, but their views don’t deserve equal weight becaus their approaches are leading us to a second dark ages filled with environmental calamity and economic and political disparity.
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Comment on NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism in ~news
NoblePath Link ParentThe problem with this approach is that bias is at least partly subjective and emotional, maybe even spiritual. It’s also dynamic and contextual. As such it’s hard to do any kind of meaningful and...The problem with this approach is that bias is at least partly subjective and emotional, maybe even spiritual. It’s also dynamic and contextual.
As such it’s hard to do any kind of meaningful and generalized statistical analysis that applies to more than the analysts own biases (at best).
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Comment on As I get older, I get more and more disillusioned with "activism", and I'm fine with this in ~talk
NoblePath LinkI used to have this sticker on my bus: Inner peace, world peace, with a silhouette of a meditator in zazen.I used to have this sticker on my bus:
Inner peace, world peace, with a silhouette of a meditator in zazen.
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Comment on As I get older, I get more and more disillusioned with "activism", and I'm fine with this in ~talk
NoblePath Link ParentFrom personal experience: masons and elks vary a lot by location. Elks began life as a drinking club and hasn’t progressed in many places. Rotary are more about business development, but can...From personal experience: masons and elks vary a lot by location. Elks began life as a drinking club and hasn’t progressed in many places. Rotary are more about business development, but can dongood. Kiwanis is usually awesome, but suffer old folks syndrome like you describe. Masons vary a lot. Many southern masons are basically kkk. Northern are better.
But you are very right at your basic. It’s these institutions, plus better churches, that will populate better governments and make for better societies.
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Comment on Is climate change driving the global rise in populism? If so ... how? If not ... what is? in ~enviro
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Comment on Is climate change driving the global rise in populism? If so ... how? If not ... what is? in ~enviro
NoblePath Link ParentI don’t know enough to say. Based on what I do know, yes, and…more. Like Hugo Chavez.I don’t know enough to say. Based on what I do know, yes, and…more. Like Hugo Chavez.
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Comment on Is climate change driving the global rise in populism? If so ... how? If not ... what is? in ~enviro
NoblePath LinkI’m having trouble with the label “populism.” In my mind, populism is what drives small-d democracy, the kind of grass roots self-organization that reclaims power from the exploitive elites and...I’m having trouble with the label “populism.” In my mind, populism is what drives small-d democracy, the kind of grass roots self-organization that reclaims power from the exploitive elites and distributes it to the populace (hence the name). Bernie Sanders was a populist, and a rational concern about climate change amd its consequences certainly drove his national rise <shakes fist at dnc>.
What you seem to be referring to is nationalism or maybe even tribalism. In the case of Trump amd maybe others, the nationalism wears a populist parka, and Trump may even believe he is returning power to regular folks on some level. Bit his rhetoricand the actions of his more ardent supporters are much more about our tribe, lords and serfs alike, vs their tribe.
To your greater thesis, yes climate change’s consequences are certainly contributing. The non-gouging drivers behind food price inflation include higher production costs due to climate changes, and many folks blame “them” and organize into “us” as a response.
Thanks for paying attention!
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Comment on Researcher calls out misuse of research in book on American white rural rage - suggests resentment over rage in ~misc
NoblePath Link ParentI know this a simple typo, but like so many things in life, the best come by serendipity. As such, I have made it today a life goal to sew division as an antidote to those who sow division. It’s...sewing division
I know this a simple typo, but like so many things in life, the best come by serendipity.
As such, I have made it today a life goal to sew division as an antidote to those who sow division.
It’s apropos this discussion, too, because it evokes a kind of rural adaptibility that’s in line with progressive ideal, mending instead of replacing.
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Comment on Scattered thoughts on the absurdity of existing in ~talk
NoblePath LinkSo, there's also this: https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=god+on+trial&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e17f9875,vid:tD7v9phroGM,st:0 This is God on Trial, based on Elie...So, there's also this:
This is God on Trial, based on Elie Wiesel's The Trial of God. I'm not sure what to say about it, but it's extremely well acted and directed and written and explores these issues with feeling.
You got to be random so I get to be too? And your post, and these ideas are so timely, because I'm in a really bleak place.
I have test scores that objectively prove I'm better at logic than 99.9% of people who care enough to take the tests. But it hasn't got me shit, really. The only reasonable conclusion I can reach is that the only thing that matters is personal satisfaction, however you define it for yourself, and that if you reach a point where you can no longer obtain a sufficient quantity of personal satisfaction, the only reasonable response is to kill yourself.
I was on the trail the other day, and I saw a butterfly being stung to death by yellow jackets. WTF kind of world is this? Life in nature is nasty, brutish, and short. The ultimate end for any of us is dinner, it's only a matter of when, how, and for whom. I see no reason to proceed.
And yet, here I am. As I state elsewhere, I have an undeniable and insurmountal preference for being. WTF is that? Where does that come from? Biological wiring? Electrochemical conditioning? Space Aliens? Whencever, it spells only one result: my life is not my own.
And so I suffer, sometimes in silence, sometimes in protest, sometimes with grim acceptance, sometimes in gritty resentment. And once in a while, the sun shines through and everything is so beautiful I think I'm going to evaporate.
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Comment on German state ditches Microsoft for Linux and LibreOffice in ~tech
NoblePath LinkGood on them. I hope they succeed where Munich fell short. This is not a knock on open source or Munich. The forces behind Microsoft are very powerful. And bureaucratic resistance to change is...Good on them. I hope they succeed where Munich fell short. This is not a knock on open source or Munich. The forces behind Microsoft are very powerful. And bureaucratic resistance to change is monumental, even when a majority inside want the change (or at least complain about the current circumstances).
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Comment on Scattered thoughts on the absurdity of existing in ~talk
NoblePath Link ParentWith regard to God, I believe you may have read meaning i to my answer which I did not intend, and overlooked the more subtle meaning that was there, but such is the nature of philosophical...With regard to God, I believe you may have read meaning i to my answer which I did not intend, and overlooked the more subtle meaning that was there, but such is the nature of philosophical discourse. I am not postmodern, however, I believe there are valuable truths to be lived, and beyond those which man himself assigns.
There is also a distinction between the practical and the philosophical. To be sure, on the practical plane, certain truths may be evaluated and segregated as necessary. For example, in no practical setting of which I am aware is it true that 1ml of water has a mass of 1kg.
The ineffable, however, I do not think can be excluded without that perfect knowledge (which I have not even seen a reliable suggestion that such is possible). And God is merely the ineffable with some added direction and intentionality. This ineffable is not approachable by reason alone, and not even the combination of thinking, emotion, pathos and desire can reach it. Room must be made for it, and the most subtle faculties employed to sense it. And, much like draba in February, it is usually overlooked.
I’m not quite the size round you are, also I’m on the taller side. But I do have a gut and narrow shoulders. Hickey Freeman’s budget label fits me well. If I had plenty of dough i’d go for the gianluca line of isaiah for suiting. Prana jeans also fit well Not sure if these are in germany although Isaiah is global surely.
Guyaberas and Katin for casual wear.