a Catholic health care system
is this like where the doctors and nurses have to be of the religion, or does the hospital get to decide who gets treated using their own rules? or something else? can someone explain this?
either way, what the fuck?
google tries not to kill one of it’s products challenge (impossible)
the current solution for that would be similar to the current “sponsor block” plugins, here’s an example
crowdsourced start and endpoints for embedded sponsorships
something like this tool, but for future embedded google adverts
the “open source hackers” are always going to win this one, for a simple reason. if the data of the youtube video is handed to a user at any point, then the information it contains can be scrubbed and cleaned of ads. no exceptions.
if google somehow solves all ad-blocking techniques within browser, then new plugins will be developed on the operating system side to put a black square of pixels and selectively mute audio over the advert each time. if they solve that too? then people will hack the display signal going out at the graphics card level so that it is cleaned before it hits the monitor. if they beat that using some stupid encryption trick? well, then people will develop usb plugin tools that physically plug into the monitors at the display end, that artificially add the black boxes and audio mutes at the monitor display side.
if they beat that? someone, someone will jerry rig a literal black square of paper on some servos and wires, and physical audio switch to do the same thing, an actual, physical advert blocker. i’m sure once someone works that out, a mass produced version would be quite popular as a monitor attachment (in a timeline that gets so fucked that we would need this).
if that doesn’t work? like, google starts coding malware to seek and destroy physical adblockers? then close your eyes and mute your headphones for 30 seconds, lol. the only way google is solving that one is with hitsquads and armed drones to make viewers RESUME VIEWING
as long as a youtube video is available to access without restriction, then google cannot dictate how the consumer experiences that video. google cannot win this.
if you’re serious, then here’s two places i recommend to make a start on that train of thought
https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org should clue you in on which “advanced economies” might skew towards the life factors that interest you
and https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison-tool might help you narrow down which of these will be a better cultural fit
i’m aware there’s a lot of subjectivity in these two links but, it could help you make a start.
many people are great at saying “get me out of here” online, but not many people follow up that thought, and ask themselves “but where to?”
be one of those who answers the second question. start working on your escape today! 💪
yeah, i was watching him occasionally after the events of 7th october 2023. hasan was doing a react to some parent grieving that his kid was shot and killed, and the parent was saying “i’m glad my kid was shot because then i know she wasn’t taken hostage”
the obvious implication was that the parent was expressing melancholic relief of the knowledge that yes, his daughter won’t be tortured or worse.
instead, hasan takes that and states “see, he’s happy that his kid won’t have to suffer like the people in gaza” 😬
(not those exact words, before some clip chimp finds the exact phrase to try and score points. but it was definitely this sentiment)
it forced me to introspect and have a real “are we the baddies?” moment
haven’t tuned in since
he really has shit for brains huh? he’s seen the word “hostages” being used in the last month repeatedly, and now his brain has made the association
he never said this about them before 7th october 2023? what the fuck
yep i found this one out the hard way when applying for a job in the uk at currys (similar to best buy like in the op)
didn’t get the job of course, that’s fine, whatever, move on and go to next application
what i learnt afterwards though was that, they don’t hire for currys/best buy based on your actual understanding of tech. they hire on your ability to sell the items, and help customers engage in excess consumerism.
the main point being, i obviously wouldn’t sell anyone a $99 gold plated hdmi cable. because firstly, that’s unethical profiteering, and secondly, i know that a $5 would do the same job. i would point a customer to the $5 cable, it’s the correct choice. but this is why i am unhireable for this job.
currys, best buy, euronics, mediamarkt etc need to hire people that can sell the $99 cable. to do that, they counterintuitively have to hire people who don’t know enough about tech. reason being, if you don’t actually know about tech yourself, you will think that the gold cable is better, and you can then do a more convincing job of selling it. plausible deniability. apply this to every item in the store. you want someone who can push 8k tvs, beats headphones and smart fridges. not someone who will guide the consumer to what they actually need for their use case.
it’s the reason why you go into these stores and the staff don’t have a fucking clue about actual tech questions. they were hired precisely because they don’t have a clue.
you’re right, and i think that the thing that is being called out in the screenshot is not the money making per se, but the doom loop that everyone is forced to experience when trying to perform any basic information lookup using the internet in 2023. it goes something like this.
this doom loop has to stop. yes, people and businesses need to make money under the current economic system we live in. but it doesn’t have to be like this.
but you know something? we all know where this is going.
some ““visionary”” san fran tech bro startup will have the “genius” idea of offering an interface between journo websites and customers, by offering a one-stop subscription shop. pay the tech bros once, they grant you access to all sites.
not unlike how uber operates as an interface between taxi drivers and customers, or how airbnb offers an interface between short term lets and customers, or how amazon offers an interface between cheap plastic vendors and customers, or how netflix operates as an interface between media content and customers, or how…
…the wheel turns.
yeah this is exactly the point lol. 😅
it’s so hard to escape out of the walled ecosystems because so much of our content is already written in these places, and so even if fediverse grows exponentially, it will still take at least a decade of content creation for “free/libre” content to outpace the old silos.
but we have to start now, to get to that future.
this comment is aimed at those future “just passing through” visitors, who are still on the fence with regards to the fediverse.
any internet power user will know, and be able to tell you that the internet feels wrong as of late. everything that you try to use is slightly broken for some reason. why is it becoming harder to use basic services that we took for granted 5 years ago?
unfortunately, the internet is changing once again, and it’s time to pick a side.
you can side with big corpo, stay in their walled ecosystems, and embrace enshittification.
or, you can side with the fediverse, break out of your silo, and take control of your own means of content participation.
the choice is yours.
if you like following concepts or “things” (reddit-style), then try here: https://join-lemmy.org/
or, if you prefer following individuals or “trends” (twitter-style), then try here: https://joinmastodon.org/
i dont know if you’re from europe or not. if you are from europe, you should know better than to make that claim. we are not even close to finishing the cleaning up of UXO from the wars.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_rouge
https://www.horizon-europe.gouv.fr/identify-inspect-neutralise-unexploded-ordnance-uxo-sea-34207
Experts reckon it could take another 500 years to clean up the mess… …Even today (in Germany), more than 2,000 tonnes of unexploded munitions are dug up annually and all construction sites need to be certified as cleared of unexploded ordnance (UXO).
i do get where you’re coming from with your first statement, it’s just… maybe a bit strongly worded, and definitely, factually incorrect. bosnia is a prime example of a white country that is absolutely littered with UXO and mines. i’m not trying to downplay the severity of the UXO issue in southeast asia, just to make the point that white countries don’t have some magic intrinsic ability to clear mines faster.
i cant be bothered to research anymore, so i will guess that the UXO clearance rate is mostly a factor of time, and mostly a factor of the amount of initial UXO that was deployed. if anyone wants to follow up on that (because i’m lazy) then go ahead 😃
The so-called “spy clause” in the UK’s Online Safety Bill, which experts argued would have made end-to-end encryption all but impossible in the country, will no longer be enforced…
oh okay. so they’re still going to pass it into law anyway, and then pinky promise not to enforce it. right… 🤦
how do you spot a hexbear user? don’t worry, [he] will tell you 😅
california is the largest “sub-national” economy in the world. if california was a country, it would have the fifth largest economy. bigger than the uk, or bigger than india.
if i had to guess, the answer is “success breeds jealousy”
i don’t blame the devs, in the same way that you can’t blame a cog in a machine. it’s the machine that i’m complaining at here, not the devs
historically, big tech companies have exploited their dominant position to snuff out federated protocols in the past. why would they suddenly choose to take a sweet tone to fediverse/activitypub now?
meta has a few options here for Threads, i will list some routes:
the machine is obviously going to take option 3 here. i feel sorry for the devs, who know full well that what they make can and will be used in this way.
realistically, yes :(
opinion time: not everything has to be about fast/unsustainable growth, in the pursuit of profit. i would prefer that the fediverse grows organically, and entices quality users, posters and commenters to join based on the merits of the service, and not on it’s access to inflated VC budgets, huge advertising campaigns, and exploitation of a first-mover advantage.
facebook/meta will slay us, because we are a threat to it’s profit model. why are we even contemplating negotiations with a tiger while we have our head in it’s mouth? it beggars belief…
there is a very good chance that this project by meta is the thin end of the wedge
(edited to include “the blogpost”, link here)
it’s the same type of non-performative speech you see when any company says “we value our customer’s complaints”, or “we work hard to have a diverse and inclusive team”, as if by merely saying these things that it magically becomes true
ah but meta has cracked it this time; if they just say “we never sell your info” that means they don’t, right?