GPS was life-changing. (Yes, I am that old.) It used to be necessary to find printed maps of wherever you were going, which wasn’t always easy. Then you had to figure out a route. The hardest part was often the last bit of the trip, since you weren’t likely to have a detailed map of your destination city. An if you got lost, figuring out where you were was sometimes quite difficult.

People tend to think of it as mostly affecting longer trips, but finding new addresses in a city was at least as much of an issue. When I lived in the bay area I had a Thomas guide that was 3/4" of an inch thick, just for finding my way around town.

If these idiots actually try it, we should stick their mirror where the sun don’t shine.

I would be happy to see it replaced by something better, but I don’t want it to disappear. Having any kind of reference for source reliability, even just as a reminder to think about it, helps provide perspective on political posts.

We live in an era where it has become normal to dump masses of bullshit online in the hope that sheer volume will convince people it’s true. Pointing out the credibility gap between NPR and Fox News is important.

Getting a university degree is essential for a lot of professions, but it should not be your only purpose in attending. It’s an opportunity expand yourself as a person while training for a job. Take some classes in non-technical areas that you know very little about. A few of them may lead to lifelong interests. Even if they don’t, they will give you a broader view of the world and the people in it.

Even if you end up loving your job, there is more to life than work.

I have a computer science degree and work as a developer and consultant. The most important things I learned in college were from some anthropology classes I took out of curiosity. Technical knowledge is not that hard to acquire. Gaining new perspectives on the world is a lot harder to come by. Take advantage of the opportunities.

This comment and response elevated this discussion. I’m still laughing.

I think I understand. When you talk about cylinders on top of the ring you’re referring to what are basically stripes inset into the surface of the ring. Do I have that right?

It sounds like you’re looking for something similar to this, with more rounded edges: https://i.etsystatic.com/icm/a6e7f9/662727769/icm_fullxfull.662727769_1ui1u9fyb0hwgk0ogkws.jpg?version=0

I had that one custom made for me by a maker on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/titaniumknights?ref=profile_header

I don’t know whether they could make what you need, but it is a place to start.

Best of luck!

Oh, yeah. Not only did they take it away from all Android users, they also killed the API that let other apps access it. I wrote an open-source tool that made Dark Sky data available to Wear OS watch faces. It worked beautifully for several years, until Apple killed it.

The worst of it is that was my second attempt. An earlier version of the same tool worked with Weather Underground data. Then IBM bought it, changed the API completely, and priced it so that only business could afford it.

I haven’t had the heart to try a third time.

Sorry, every once in a while I’m overcome with the need to whine about it.

Agreed. The death floof is one of the cutest things on the planet.

Energy pricing in Texas is managed for the benefit of the utilities, not their customers. Some of the people on non-fixed plans who got charged insane amounts just went bankrupt.

Texas is a nearly perfect example of how the Republicans think everything should work.

WearOS has a built-in media control that you can configure to pop up automatically when the phone is playing music or video. There are also multiple apps that act as remote controls for the phone’s camera. Mine also displays the camera view on the watch, which can be very handy.

The third-party media players often provide more detailed controls. They handle a broader range of formats (particularly VLC). And some of them perform better.

To be honest, though, the main reason I use third-party players is because I’m familiar with them. It’s similar to the advantages of using a third-party launcher. You have a lot more control over when and how you upgrade your UI experience.

And, on a side note, one of the best things about having a smartwatch is being able to control my phone’s media players without taking out my phone.

I use MX Player, PowerAmp, and VLC for various things.

You’re seeing only ideals and not reality. I’m all in favor of applying pressure toward better goals to both parties. That does not change the fact that a candidate of one of those two parties is going to win the election and run the country.

False equivalence is another problem with ignoring practical results in favor of pure ideology. There is a vast difference between Biden and Trump. It’s obvious from looking at what they’ve done already. It become even more stark if you pay attention to what Trump is saying he intends to do if re-elected. Trump genuinely wants to destroy our system of government, eliminate democracy, and rule as a dictator. He badly wants to persecute those who have offended him or who disagree with him. And he now has detailed plans for how to go about those things. When someone tells you who they are you should believe them.

Biden will run things the way he has been, which does not make me happy, but provides an opportunity for change within the system. How do you expect to enact progressive changes under a right-wing autocracy?

Even if your only concern is the Gaza genocide, Biden and Trump have significantly different positions. Biden has making a weak and unsuccessful attempts to rein in Israel. There is reasonable hope that he does have a limit for how far he’s willing to go in that direction, as evidenced by his temporary halting arms shipments. Trump has said that he supports what Israel is doing, but thinks they aren’t going far enough. He has, in the past, suggested using nuclear weapons to resolve situations like this.

It all comes back to false equivalence. We are not talking about two of the typical business-as-usual candidates. We are on the verge of becoming Nazi Germany. If you aren’t doing everything you can to prevent that, whatever efforts you make toward other goals are going become irrelevant.

Do you honestly think that Trump would be better? Have you read what he has to say about this subject?

I’m disgusted with Biden too, but sometimes choosing between the lesser of two evils is the responsible thing to do. Ethical choices are often the most difficult. One-topic voting is almost never ethical. The ultimate results do matter.

We need a similar bill that would send anyone convicted of unlawful activity in the US Capital since January 5th of 2021 to Siberia.

One of the worst things about depression is all the sneaky ways in which it reinforces itself. You can’t function at full capacity, which is a direct problem, but also makes you feel lazy. You sometimes don’t have the energy to deal with people, which isolates you and makes you feel like you’re offending them. You just plain feel awful and feel guilty about inflicting it on the people around you. It seems like everything hits you twice.

Therapy can help with both aspects, but I think it is particularly useful in helping you recognize and deal with the secondary parts of the problem.

Republican Legislators: We are strongly opposed to child labor.

Public: Finally.

Republican Legislators: So we are going to severely punish any children found doing it.

Public: Wait a minute…

Post Grape Nuts: USA

I am yet another fledditor. I think I looked at nearly all the alternatives and I liked the Fediverse the best.

I do miss the sheer volume of participation on reddit, but I that has been steadily improving. And the quality and tone of the conversations is generally much better.

Any forums with large numbers of participants is going to have certain problems. The difference is that reddit turned most of those problems into institutions while Lemmy provides better ways to deal with them and easier ways to avoid them.

Having worked in high tech for almost four decades, I have come to appreciate the advantages of not having everything controlled by a central authority. Sooner or later the leadership, however benevolent, will change into something repressive and exploitive. Once that happens, it will remain that way forever, because there is no financial or political incentive to move in that direction. Replacement has been the only thing that works, at least so far. The Fediverse provides an alternative to that cycle that seems viable.

It works quite well as a standalone. It was a prequel to the main Vorkosigan series, which is centered around the son of the main characters in Barrayar. The rest of the series is also well worth reading.