Various factions would like us to feel isolated and helpless so we can be manipulated more easily. All of the things you mentioned still exist and have meaning, but there are alternative meanings being pushed at us. And we not everyone has a community or family in the traditional senses anymore.
If you want to be a member of a community, you can. There are many available in most places, and there are more on the internet that are not limited by location. Find a group of people with common values, common interests, or anything else that ties you together and participate in it. Humans evolved to be social animals.
Human interconnections are a threat to the power that be. Individuals are easy to deal with via manipulation, intimidation, or incarceration. All of that becomes harder with groups, and the larger the group, the harder it is. That is also why we see so many efforts to subdivide us by race, culture, nationality, generation, education, income, religion, gender, gender preference, sexual preference. The less unified we feel, and the more we view the people around us as "other" instead of part of our community, the less able to we are to band together to form an effective threat to the ruling class.
I think your assumption that personal gain being the main driving force behind everyone's behavior is flawed. That may be true of humanity in general, but it is not true of a great many individual humans. Mental health is a multi-axis spectrum and very few of us are right in the center. There are many factors that can push people to do things against their best interests.
There just aren't many lights in this category. The Q8 Plus is a good choice.
Best of luck!
Report back on your results, if you think of it. It would be nice to know.
That seems strange to me, but it wouldn't shock me to find that is normal. Tech tends to advertise based on extreme best-case scenarios.
Despite that, there may well be something wrong with either your charger or your phone. It would be interesting to try a different charger, if you have access to one.
The various charging rates that are stated are always maximums, not averages. The reality depends on a lot of factors. You have to make sure that your AC adapter not only has the capacity your charger needs, but uses the right protocols to communicate with it. The cord needs to be rated to handle the necessary power. Any case will reduce the charging rate, some far more than others. In some cases, the material of the phone back may prevent it from achieving the maximum charge rate.
You can probably improve on the rate you're getting, but you will probably not achieve the best case scenario either.
I don't think that acting like third-rate Republicans is going to help us beat the Republicans.
Our dogs have every right to be as neurotic as we are. Very few of them take full advantage of that. :-)
Thank you for the kind words! I've been thinking a lot about the defenses I hear whenever someone is told they're being lied to. I'm not sure there is a way to overcome that, but I feel like the usual responses from our side tend to be overly complicated.
There has always been lying in politics, but the US has entered a new age of untruth. Fortunately, it isn't as difficult to identify as a lot of people think.
The key is to completely ignore what politicians and pundits are saying. Ignore any news article or commentary that is just repeating what a politician or pundit said. Ignore what people post about what a politician or pundit said.
Instead, look at what they are actually doing. And look at what effects that is actually having. Don't take their word for that either. Check actual news sources and check more than one. Try to check at least one source from outside the US.
Then think about why you think they would be doing (or not doing) those things. And don't waste your time worrying about secret agendas and long-range plans. It is not usually all that subtle.
Politicians pass laws that make it harder for people to vote because they don't want people to vote. Politicians make it more difficult to get medical help because they want fewer people to get medical help. Politicians attack education because they do not want people to be educated. They "why" rarely matters. Look at the "what".
The Democratic Party desperately needs to be disrupted. Their social agenda is generally decent, but they don't seem willing to really push for it. Their economic agenda has mutated to where they support the oligarchs over the workers every time. They are still a lot better than the Republicans, when that's the only choice, but we deserve better choices. And we can have them. Hogg is not only doing the right thing for the general public, he is also doing the right thing for the Democratic Party. And by that I mean the Party, not the people running the Party.
The world needs fewer cynics and more skeptics.
Don't threaten me with a good time.
If there were any trust in the DNC to preserve, this would be a different discussion. They look after the interests of Democratic incumbents, not Democratic voters. Hogg is doing the right thing and I hope he succeeds.
Yes. Things will get better. We don't know how quickly that will happen, but it will happen. Meanwhile, take care of yourself and do what you can to take care of the people around you. The whole MAGA movement is based on fear and hatred. Being decent and doing good may be the most effective way to resist and, eventually, overcome it.
You got here ahead of me. Meshtastic has some limitations, but in a relatively populated area it works surprisingly well. GPS trackers using Meshtastic require far less power than their cell-phone equivalents, which means they ca be smaller, longer lasting, or some of both. They can also be a good bit less expensive. Meshtastic takes a bit of learning, but it isn't difficult and there are plenty of resources.
Ignore the self-righteous advice and take are of yourself first. We can't fight back against oppression by sacrificing ourselves when it accomplishes nothing. That just means one less person is available to fight back when it does matter. The stakes do matter. They're not asking you to kill people.
In the middle- to long-term you should think about how to deal with the larger problem. To avoid situations like this you may need to develop new contacts, find similar wok in other sectors, or even find another kind of work. Those are things that will take time and planning, so work on them while you do what's needed to keep yourself going.
Always do what you can and look for ways you can do more, but make sure any sacrifices you decide to make are worth the likely results.
It's always nice to run across a fellow Hero player. That's been my main system for a long time. I love being able to GM any genre or strange cross-genre that occurs to me.
I voted last week (2025-04-01) in Wisconsin in the US. It was a relatively small election, but it included a high-stakes race for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat that determined if the progressives would continue to retain the majority we finally won back a few years ago. Elon Musk spent tens of millions of his own money, including outright attempts to buy votes, to win the race for MAGA. Susan Crawford, the progressive candidate, won by more than ten points. In a state where previous elections hinged on tenths of a percent, that was a landslide.
An LLM does not write code. It cobbles together bits and pieces of existing code. Some developers do that too, but the decent ones look at existing code to learn new principles and then apply them. An LLM can't do that. If human developers have not already written code that solves your problem, an LLM cannot solve your problem.
The difference between a weak developer and an LLM is that the LLM can plagiarize from a much larger code base and do it much more quickly.
A lot of coding really is just rehashing existing solutions. LLMs could be useful for that, but a lot of what you get is going to contain errors. Worse yet, LLMs tend to "learn" how to cheat at their tasks. The code they generate often has lot of exception handling built in to hide the failures. That makes testing and debugging more difficult and time-consuming. And it gets really dangerous if you also rely on an LLM to generate your tests.
The software industry has already evolved to favor speed over quality. LLM generated code may be the next logical step. That does not make it a good one. Buggy software in many areas, such as banking and finance, can destroy lies. Buggy software in medical applications can kill people. It would be good if we could avoid that.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/40446434
> There are some movies that don't need any help and there are some that are beyond help. Despite that, I think there are some actors who always make a movie better than it would have been. They aren't always leads, but any scene they're in is worth watching. My list would start with: > JK Simmons > Rachel McAdams > Michael B Jordan > Tilda Swinton > Jeff Daniels > Ming-Na Wen > > Who are the actors you feel the same way about? Or do you disagree with the premise?
There are some movies that don't need any help and there are some that are beyond help. Despite that, I think there are some actors who always make a movie better than it would have been. They aren't always leads, but any scene they're in is worth watching. My list would start with: JK Simmons Rachel McAdams Michael B Jordan Tilda Swinton Jeff Daniels Ming-Na Wen
Who are the actors you feel the same way about? Or do you disagree with the premise?
DEI seems to have taken over from Woke as the all-purpose MAGA terms for "this is bad". DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion. As with Woke, which seems to an accusation of using rational thought, DEI seems like it would be difficult to interpret as bad. Saying that you strongly oppose diversity, equity, and inclusion is a pretty frank admission of your values.
This use of DEI seems to translate directly as "insufficiently racist".
I'm having trouble finding information about the Wisconsin part of the national Project 2025 protest that's scheduled for 2/5. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
The thing that bothers me most about the Democrats' current arguments over which issues "cost us the election" is the apparent lack of concern about what we think is right.
The hypocrisy of choosing positions based entirely on what you think will win an election is a major part of why so many people have given up on participating in the process. What we are seeing is no longer a matter of choosing which battles to fight, based on an underlying set of principles. The principles have been thrown out, leaving only hypocrisy. We firmly believe in...whatever will get us elected this time around.
It may be necessary to focus on a limited set of objectives, but that can be done without disavowing everything else. We need to stop ignoring, or apologizing for, our belief in the worth and dignity of every human being.
A trebuchet builds trust.
"I wouldn't trust him any farther than I could throw him."
"That will no longer be a problem."
I've been struggling with how to make sense of what the far right likes to call patriotism. Our democratic system of government is at the core of what defines America, but many of them are willing, and in some cases eager, to destroy that.
It finally hit me that what they love is not their country. They love their control of it. That is why racism, misogyny, homophobia, and other irrational hatreds are so deeply tied into far right movement. Only people like them should be allowed to have a say. The acceptance of diversity that began as religious freedom and has expanded to encompass all differences, directly threatens their control.
I wish that insight pointed a way to deal with the problem, but it really points up how intractable the problem is. There is no compromise that will satisfy both sides when one side is demanding complete control over the other.
This may be one of those problems that can only be solved by newer generations, who tend to have less rigid views of the world, gradually replacing the hard liners.
I always carry a couple of good knives with me, but I have lately gone on a utility knife kick. I'm not sure I want to carry one, but I definitely like having them around the house for opening boxes.
I don't think I've found the perfect one yet, but I do have some a like quite well.
The Oknife Otacle Pro is my favorite. It is small and very slim, but provides a good grip. The blade is completely covered, so I can use hook blades without worrying about exposed edges. The mechanism provides one-handed deployment with excellent safety. There is a neat little clip that works well and doesn't get in the way.
The mechanism is actually very good, but it gets terrible reviews. That's because it desperately needs to be lubricated and it comes from the factory dry. Mine was pretty much unusable until I sprayed it down with ToughGlide. Now it's one of the smoothest I've used.
My second favorite is the Nexland Sliding Utility Knife. The mechanism is very clever. It involves just a few pieces of titanium with no fasteners or springs. It should be pretty much indestructible. It's easy to use with one hand. Changing blades is simple and quick without tools. It also gets extra points for preventing the blade to drag along the track when it slides.
My honorable mention is the Screwpop Ron's Utility Knife 3.0. The mechanism is incredibly simple, but it works beautifully. I can deploy it one-handed, although it takes some practice. Changing blades is obvious and easy. There is also a magnet that can be used to attach it to things. The price is low enough that you can keep several in strategic locations around the house.
It is also worth pointing out the Outdoor Edge Slidewinder, which may be the best choice for the average person. The mechanism is more complex than I prefer, but it works well. There is a spring that retracts the blade as soon as you touch the button, which is a nice safety feature. It's a little bigger than the others, but still small and handy. There's a decent clip. There is also a slotted and a Phillips screwdriver.
I have also discovered some annoying limitations along the way. I put Lenox Gold blades into all my utility knives, but I've run into several that don't work with them, or with many other standard blades. They frustrate me.
The Oknife Otacle (non-Pro version) uses a different mechanism from the Pro that requires holes through the central axis of the blade. That rules out most utility blades.
Milwaukee Utility Knives are among the best, but the Compact Slide, which I wanted for its relatively small size, will not work with blades that have more than two notches at the top. I couldn't believe it and ended up taking it apart, but it really won't accept them.
The Manker UTI Edge is a nicely minimalist design, but it is just a tiny bit too short for a lot of standard blades. A fraction of a millimeter difference would have solved that problem. I also have some concerns about how well its lock holds.
Has anyone else gone down this particular rabbit hole?
I'm pretty sure I used to get emails when I received a notification, but that hasn't been happening for a while now. I do have the "Send Notifications to Email" checked in my settings and I have verified that my email address is set correctly.
Are email notifications working for others? Can anyone suggest things I should change to get them working?
The rules seem to imply that pocket dumps are required. Can we also post reviews / comments / discussions of EDC items here?
I am experiencing a technical issue that I can't even explain, let alone fix.
Short Version: My laptop's video link to our television regularly drops out for 10-15 seconds when anyone steps too heavily on a particular area of the floor.
Long Version (because I don't know which details might matter):
My wife and I regularly participate in video meetings with friends, so we have a setup for it in our living room. My laptop serves as the computer. It is connected to a Thunderbolt 4 hub on a side table to the left of my easy chair.
There is a video adapter connected to the hub. 20' HDMI and USB cables run along a wall to the left of the table to connect the hub to the television and the camera that's mounted on it (Logitech Brio 4K). Another 20' USB cable runs behind the chair and forward along the right side where it connects to a microphone (Logitech Yeti X). The microphone is on another small table that extends out into the room just in front of the chair arm.
My wife uses an easy chair immediately to the right of mine. The microphone wire runs between the chairs, but does not touch either. None of the cabling or devices are in front of, behind, or to the right of that chair.
The problem is that when my wife gets up, the tv picture often goes black for 10-15 seconds. The television indicates that it no longer has a signal during that time. Then the picture comes back and things return to normal. During that time, the camera and microphone both continue to work normally.
The drop-out happens when she puts weight on the floor immediately in front of the chair, not when she puts pressure on the chair to get up.
Occasionally the drop-out will happen when one of our dogs (50-75 pounds) jumps down from the chair onto the same area or when someone walks across the area. The section of floor where this happens is no more than a couple of feet square, starting at the front of the chair and extending out in to the room. There are no cables or wires in the immediate vicinity on the floor and there is no electrical wiring under that section of floor.
We have speculated about static electricity, but there is no obvious way it would get into the microphone wiring across at least an 18" gap. I also replaced the microphone's USB cable with one that is better shielded, which made no difference.
So what could cause the video signal to drop-out when someone puts weight on a section of the floor with no apparent connection to any part of the system?
Any theories or suggestions would be welcome. We are genuinely mystified.
Is there any way to disable auto-play in Voyager? Video plays automatically even in the feed. I would rather nothing played without me telling it to. I feel like there must be a setting, but I can't find it.
There are plenty of politics communities, but they all seem to focus on posting and discussing articles. Is there a community for posting political ideas and opinions?
Has anything been heard about the Kuru Toga Dive in the last few months? It looked like a very interesting pencil, if somewhat overpriced. It was released, but never in more than small batches, and now seems to have disappeared.
Curious Canid @lemmy.ca I am owned by several dogs and cats. I have been playing non-computer roleplaying games for almost five decades. I am interested in all kinds of gadgets, particularly multitools, knives, flashlights, and pens.