I’ve been using MATE since Gnome 3. I really liked the simplicity of Gnome 2 and was unable to adapt to their “new” way so I switched to MATE and it just clicked. I tried Gnome 3 a few times again but I just can’t.

As for why MATE instead of XFCE or others? Because I already used and tried XFCE in the past and prefered Gnome 2’s look and feel. In fact, I have been going out of my way for years to keep every app using GTK2 and my favourite theme because I like how it looks and feel, and Gnome 3 and GTK3 broke this. So MATE it was. They switched to GTK3 too eventually but it gave my time to adjust.

My only “complaints” about it are the file manager Caja, and the way you can list windows, which both feel very basic. I would like those two to get better.

I try and use different DE from time to time, from Fluxbox to E17, but I just go back to MATE. My favorite DE of all time was E16 but it took waaay too long for E17 to be functional and I ended up keeping MATE.

This reminds me of the efforts made against tobacco and for cleaner air in certain areas, but it also reminds me how we do this for other things too.

Radium toothpaste, lead paint and asbestos curtains.

So, as someone that sees cars as a significant source of pollution, from exhausts, brake pads and tires, I find it ironic that some places are banning outdoor smoking in public areas while it’s perfectly acceptable to drive a gas guzzler around and among those places.

Like, I’m so grateful nobody can smoke around me on that restaurant’s terrace, this way I can fully enjoy breathing the pollution from the thousand of cars around.

Today I learned that a giraffe in Greek is a spotted camel.

No one organism is more evolved than another

There might even be a belief that humans are somehow ‘more’ evolved than chimps, or any other life form, but this is simply not the case. Humans have had exactly the same amount of time to evolve since the beginning of life on earth as any other organism on earth.

https://www.earlham.ac.uk/articles/10-surprising-things-you-might-not-know-about-evolution

If you own your music, you can have it in a digital format and copy it somewhere else.

I’m an old millennial that started with dial-up and downloaded MP3s from IRC/Napster/Kazaa/torrents.

Eventually I started to buy what I could on CD then ripped them, then bought MP3s when possible. Otherwise I don’t mind using yt-dlp.

Those MP3s have been played by a portable CD player, then a Samsung MP3 player, then 3 or 4 phones. I’m still playing that collection on my actual phone, using Poweramp.

The device that plays the files may not last but you can certainly copy those elsewhere and do what you want with them, for as long as you want.

Before this week, Canada.

In Canada eyes and teeth are not considered “health” and thus is also not covered by universal healthcare.

It was up to the provinces and employers to implement whatever coverage they wanted for those. In my place, dental care is free if you are under 18, or if you live from government assistance. The only way to get healthcare for your teeth as an adult, is to have a dental plan at work. So a young adult working minimum wage in a convenience store doesn’t have dental insurance.

From personal experience, I didn’t have dental insurance between 18 and 30 because I had low wage jobs.

However this is going to change a bit soon, because the social-democrats just pushed a vote to expand dental insurance to everyone that needs it. It’s not universal yet but now people with low wage jobs will be covered.

[Foreign language]

Quite candidly, it’s not articles selling the spiel of tech bros that is going to help us. I’m one of those commenters and I also wish “Technology” was about technology instead of trying to sell the latest gadgetbahn or a solar road or self driving cars.

EDIT: It’s not technically about “helping us”, but more specifically about the kind of spiel those “articles” are trying to push. It may very well be about technology, but it’s misrepresented as something that could help us and save us in the future while in reality, it’s just marginally interesting, Think about how many articles there has been about bitcoins, NFTs, AI and crap like this, coming from techbros and their simps. That’s why you’ll see the sort of comments you complain about. It certainly is tech, but it’s more like tech they’re trying to hype, misrepresent and sell.

I love tech. I work in IT. But I can also smell BS and will not hesitate to point it out.

Being “anti car” is good for people that love cars. More public transit means less trafic, less congestion, less demand for gas and generally just more space for people that actually like to drive cars.

Plus, if some people don’t want to drive a car and just want to get places, maybe don’t get a car? There’s already safe and proven “technology” to do that. I understand the added safety bonus of “autonomous” cars but let’s be real, it’s not advertised as something to boost the safety of everyone around, it’s advertised as “autopilot” or even worse, “Full Self Driving”.

I am certainly anti car, but pointing out the flaws in “FSD” or “autonomous cars” and how it’s being falsely marketed to people is also on topic and is not exactly “inserting my views”. People can still love cars and use them, just don’t BS us with the “FSD” and “autonomous” spiel.

I know it’s not the answer you’re looking for but, what is safer for pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers, is to have less cars on the roads. Buses can move dozens of people with a single trained professional driver. Trains can move hundreds. It’s illogical to try to push for autonomous cars for individuals when we already have “self driving” technologies that are much much safer and much more efficient.

Not necessarily capitalist.

Left-libertarianism, also known as left-wing libertarianism, or social libertarianism, is a political philosophy and type of libertarianism that stresses both individual freedom and social equality. Left-libertarianism represents several related yet distinct approaches to political and social theory. Its classical usage refers to anti-authoritarian varieties of left-wing politics such as anarchism, especially social anarchism, communalism, and libertarian Marxism, collectively termed libertarian socialism.

Yeah. Libertarian is not only a thing for the right. There are libertarians on the left too.

Going above warp 10 is definitely not recommended.

The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that time travel is impossible.

Of course there is a detailed list of all the chairs that have appeared in Star Trek. I never thought I’d say this about chairs but… interesting.

I googled it a bit and apparently the micro usb cling is mostly because of cost and design. I thought the cost was about licensing fees but since there are indeed none for this connector, it seems to be about how USB-C is much more complex to implement on a circuit. So in order to simplify the circuitry and also save a few pennies on every device, we’re apparently stuck with micro usb for a while.

This sounds like FUD.

Fear, uncertainty and doubt (often shortened to FUD) is a manipulative propaganda tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics, polling and cults. FUD is generally a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or false information, and is a manifestation of the appeal to fear.

The line about the “warning” sounds exactly like like my old boss when he was selling LCD panels and telling people they had to clean their monitor with the special liquid he was selling at 200% markup because otherwise it would ruin their warranty. Or like some big box employee trying to sell you gold plated HDMI cables so the image can be better quality. Gotta buy the certified one because the cheapo could cause issues!

It’s an HDMI cable FFS! It probably has been made in the exact same plant than other HDMI cables, but without paying for the license.

There is nothing saying the cables don’t work. The article speculates that they may be faulty but it’s just that, speculation. It’s just that the manufacturer didn’t pay to have the HDMI logo/license. A logo or a license won’t make the cables faulty.

The fraud is not paying the license to the consortium, but the consumers should not really see anything wrong with it. It’s a digital signal. Even if the cable is poor quality, it either works, or not.

I guess maybe the only problem that could arise from this is when trying to watch DRM content on cables that are not properly licensed, there may be some sort of HDCP protection that will not work properly. Maaaaaybe.

So yes, it’s fraud, but not really towards the consumers. The manufacturer was committing fraud by making HDMI cables without paying the license. The cables should be fine but they had to write something about them, like “you know, maybe they will be poor quality or don’t work” to encourage people not to buy them. It’s about money, not the cables.

Oh, thanks for correcting. I thought it was why some manufacturers stuck with micro-usb.

It was warned that cables that have been manufactured without following HDMI standards and guidelines might not provide a good or consistent signals and might be poorly made. They might also have the potential to cause electrical fires.

So the cables are working and are not really “fake”, but more like counterfeit. It’s just that they didn’t pay for the stupid license, just like USB-C, and thus those cables are IlLeGaL.

Poor quality cables can be official too, as paying for the license may take money away from quality. The concerns can be understandable but it sounds more like FUD to make sure people keep buying the “official” and "legal’ cables.

All in all it’s just a question of laws and money for a stupid connector.

EDIT: See replies to my comment. USB-C is not licensed. It just costs more than micro.