HipPriest @ HipPriest @kbin.social

Posts

9

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296

Joined

2 yr. ago

They either go too far like Corbyn to ever get elected or they pussy out like this and bend over so much to appeal to middle-England voters they become Tories in all but name.

I mean ffs... Are they going to tax any rich people? Yes or no? Because that's generally what people want out of a Labour government.

I don't think the Pixies drastically changed their formula during their Kim Deal years or since they've been bringing out new music. The main difference in sound on their records is usually down to production.

I love the Pixies don't get me wrong!

I like the part where they point out that writers probably have more leverage than they think about having a say - but then maybe many writers don't consider the ebook side of things when thinking about getting their work published.

It's obvious that 'they' are out to demonise IA as something like Pirate Bay whereas it really, really isn't. Aside from the massive amount of obscure reference material, I found BBC documentaries on there from the 80s about some history which is otherwise unobtainable. I can understand if there's some legal points which need to be worked out between both sides in order to keep the site going... but that obviously isn't what the publishers are going for.

The Guardian and BBC for home news and then links here, Mastodon or wherever else seems interesting. I have Google News installed which is shit but points me to some good quality American or Australian sites. And if I switch my VPN to a different country that can be interesting although it means relying heavily on Google Translate

Ah I was just going to their website and it was refusing to load the page. But then when I tried it on Chrome it was fine.

I'll have a play around later, cheers

Reading Venemous Lumpsucker because it was in the news recently as winning an award. It's very funny, a satire on Corporate Business and climate change. It actually reminds me of when I read Stark by Ben Elton as a young teen in many ways - it's more inventive but there's a similar vibe (the world is helpless in the hands of corporate greed because corporate people just don't know what else to do).

2/3 of the way through and it's definitely easy to read and funny

Doesn't seem to play nicely with Firefox Android unfortunately. Which is ironic because Chrome on Android is one of the areas of Google I decided to experiment degoogling from just a week ago or so

I mean the article is specifically about Google search. Which might have gone downhill since whenever it first came out with the introduction of ads (sorry, 'Sponsored Results') but I'm not seeing significantly better competition for delivering search results. Everyone is still just aping the brand leader.

DuckDuckGo is obviously better for privacy for example but it doesn't seem to have any ambition except to deliver the same results as Google but without the ads and tracking which is ok but not a big enough draw except for people already concerned about privacy. Bing gets essentially the same results but if anything seems more spammy than Google with pop ups about making it or edge your default search engine or browser. It feels like other search engines just take Google search as something to copy and put their spin on it though.

I'd say search is one of the things Google is still getting right enough to earn its place as the leader. Some things it does well, some things it has badly declined on (someone above mentioned Google assistant hardly understanding anything anymore, when it used to be the best in this area too), but generally you can replace most Google things with programmes doing things their own way. Search engines just feel a bit like reskins to me

Possibly not lol! The character motivation obviously develops throughout the book (I forget his name), but I'd say the focus is on the extremely weird things he sees and what he has to do to survive. I don't remember there being much in the way of emotional development though.

I don't know how far you got before stopping. I think they are definitely well written books - but I definitely have to be in the right headspace to enjoy them

I never really believed in 'the one', but I met my wife when I was 27 and without being cheesy there was definitely something different between us from the get go compared to previous relationships (serious and otherwise) I'd had.

The definition of 'monogomy' is just 'being in a relationship with one person' though. What you're talking about is an idealised version of Romance which I personally don't buy into. It puts too much pressure on the idea of everything being perfect which nothing ever is.

I think the best thing is just to chill. Meet people you like. Meet people you don't like. There'll be fallow periods where you don't seem to be getting dates or anything for months or longer (my record - 3 long years...)

But whatever you do don't start looking up at statistics and things, because that does start to look incel. Do not become incel, or any of the other manosphere stuff. That's the best advice.

I like the first but it is very heavy on world building at the expense of anything else - I guess in some respects you could apply that to the series as a whole to an extent.

I haven't read the whole series btw, just guessing that from the ones I have read

I remember definitely that Firefox was the browser of choice in our house pre-Google. IE was always nasty to use and my Dad was always a tinkerer and worked with IT guys a lot so we had Firefox on PC for ages

(As a side note those same well meaning IT guys persuaded my Dad Linux was really easy to set up and use as a home PC for the whole family. Didn't end well)

Anyway, Firefox was trumping IE hands down as a family PC browser, I suppose I'm talking late 90s early naughts? Don't know exactly. But we would have been using Ask Jeeves still as our search engine before Google search launched and that made my Dad's eyes light up, because it was fast. And it was the same with Chrome when it came out. By then I'd moved out but like you say, they had the PR as the guys who were now changing things most.

And it wasn't all bs, because it was and in many ways is a very good browser. On the one hand there's definitely an element of people using what everyone else does but also, if it was a total crock of shit no one would use it. For me it's not even so much privacy but my tolerance for ads and need for a dark mode on mobile have got me back to Firefox on Android for now

I became very defensive over gammon when it became a slur - it's one of my favourite joints of meat to cook. Inexpensive and goes with just about anything too.

Also keeps in the fridge for yonks. Can't say that about chicken now can you, eh?

I can just see the riots on the streets now...

I can't remember specific titles but Usbourne books did tonnes of non fiction books on history, space and how the body works that I loved.

But the Horrible Histories series probably won hands down.

This is true in the UK as well - the right are still clinging to it like a comfort blanket while they're dying in the polls but it's clear that voters are more concerned (and have always been more concerned) with the cost of living crisis, housing and health.

It's the economy stupid...

You really would think that would go without saying wouldn't you, but no, grown adults have to actually be told by a judge that it is wrong and not 'bants' to get your bollocks out in public. When you've just heard some bar staff saying 'i hope no one gets their bollocks out tonight'.

FFS.

If you've not already read it, the Theranos expose Bad Blood is pretty gripping.

I found Millennium by Tom Holland a history on the formation of Europe fascinating

Martin Amis' non-fiction is also very readable, his collections of journalism and book reviews The War Against Cliché and The Moronic Inferno are very good.

Mostly they will only have a few rants about Reddit in their first month before they realise there's better things to find on here I think.

I came here from Reddit about a month ago or something. I didn't feel the need to post about Reddit particularly but there are communities for it and logic dictates you'd post there. Just like if you want to post about DIY you don't post in a Sci Fi community