Right cause I think having both having access to normie content and giving normies access to fediverse content is a positive thing if we can balance out the power dynamic with meta. Blocking threads content would just defeat the purpose imo, it would prevent people from leaving threads for the fediverse because they wont be able to get the same content. If threads has it all and fediverse doesn’t, most people are just going to go to/stay at threads. It could backfire.

Maybe if instances could allow meta users to see their posts to pique their interest/gain exposure, but meta users have to join any other instance in order to interact? Kind of like an ad I guess but UI native and unpaid. Though I’m really not sure if the fediverse platform would even support such things in the first place, and if meta couldn’t just fire back with the same thing. It’s just the first thing that comes to mind.

The fediverse’s number one issues right now as I see it are accessibility and content density. I get the concerns people have with EEE but I also struggle not to see this as handling that last E (exterminate) ourselves just to spite meta. I want to join threads just to see what my friends and everyday people are posting, and I’d really like those people to join the fediverse so I can interact with them here. The only things keeping me away from threads however are privacy concerns and supporting meta, so being able to see the same content on a different instance might just be the best of both worlds.

I mean if you have a gift card then the money is already spent. Might as well get what was paid for rather than let them have the free money. Especially since she’s your wife and it will make her happy to share what is clearly a beloved part of her childhood with you.

As for your last point, remember, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. The only way to really consume ethically is to simply consume less. If that fails and you’re spending the money anyways, might as well do what brings the best value to you and yours so you can pass the savings on to what you do value. There are worse things than fringe homophobia that your dollar may be supporting at another shop which receives less media coverage than hot button issues like the identity politics that are always in the news. Don’t know where you prefer to shop but just the act of going so far out of your way supports oil companies, for example, in a way that it wouldn’t have otherwise. If you’re in an EV, that supports exploitative lithium mining by reducing battery life (however slight) and your local corrupt power monopolies when you charge it back up.

Just my unsolicited two cents, do with it what you will. It’s cope, to be sure, but sometimes you just have to cope with what you can’t change. Give me the serenity to accept what I can’t change, the courage to change what I can and knowing the difference and all that.

Mine has a single booth iirc but I’ve never seen it used and its past the intercom so the system definitely wouldn’t work the same if it was

If you put the right terms in a search bar chances are you’ll find the right one eventually. I doubt the sony support number is a very well kept secret.

You can take this picture in just about any city in the US too. NYT did a pretty good piece about it, gifted so y’all can read it: Can Removing Highways Fix America’s Cities? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/27/climate/us-cities-highway-removal.html?unlocked_article_code=1.60w.uuX5.Oo4CsHZXGv8Q&smid=nytcore-android-share

Agree. Excel is terribly inefficient if your goal is just storing data.

Pretty sure they’re joking just about the resemblance. cause blotter paper is flat…

On the other hand I was genuinely torn between the pixel 7 pro and the pixel 7a when I lost my Pixel 5 because I wanted the pro features but the smaller size of the 7a. Ended up getting the pro because the size wasn’t so far apart to make much of a difference, both were massive anyways compared to the 5.

But I bought second hand open box so maybe I’m not in the demographic that matters to Google.

man I just miss being able to type and reach all corners of the screen with one hand without having to be a contortionist or accidentally clicking on the one-handed keyboard that I never actually use because I’ve already resigned to always using two hands anyways

I’ve since realized that you can turn off the one handed keyboard completely but the fact that it has to exist at all still annoys me

I’m no media expert but I think that’s exactly why they do it

Never heard of stations before today, wish I got a chance to try it though. Looks like it came out just after they removed the radio feature from the main app. Damn…

I tried Pandora, I think for a year or two. It’s alright but after a while I started falling into the same artist bubbles I experienced with post-radio Spotify. It’s owned by Sirius which isn’t doing so well (and I can’t stand their marketing practices) so I can’t imagine they’ve got as much resources to devote as Spotify. The app is a little buggy and rudimentary but not completely lacking polish.

The behavior when your Internet drops out (like if you happen to go driving out in the sticks) leaves a lot to be desired, but you can save playlists so it’s not a huge deal. There’s this one live version of a song that just does not want to stay deleted from my playlist. Oh, and you can’t use it outside of North America without a VPN. It’s little stuff, it’s not experience-breaking for the most part.

I do like that you switch between different algorithms for a radio station. Something like “fan favorites”, “artist only”, “deep cuts”, maybe one or two more options. It’s overall not a bad alternative, the bad parts obviously stick in my head better than the good but I’d probably still be using it weren’t for my European friends all using Spotify and sharing songs/playlists with me like that.

Nah I’m not talking about stations, I’m talking about radio. It was like, the main feature of Spotify for a while.

The “radio” you can make nowadays isn’t a radio at all, it’s a static playlist and a lot of the times the playlist it generates is just 50% ripped from my listening history, resulting in artist bubbles that for me have proven impossible to escape. Same deal for the music they generate when a playlist ends. A bunch of playlists paired with an algorithm that doesn’t accept feedback simply cannot fill the role that was the original Spotify radio.

I remember when it was a literal radio feature in Spotify and it was this but the algorithm was decent and you could curate different stations.

Oh no, some troll on the internet thinks I’m the one with issues. What will I ever do.

Yeah they probably serve it to certain demographics like “men between 25 and 45” or something.

I’ve never gotten ads even close to what they describe but probably because I’m a woman and fall on the elder end of gen z. So I get God awful temu and tiktok ads and then what I assume is just served to the general populace like whatever latest child mower they’re calling a consumer truck these days.

The temu and tiktok ads that seem to be intentionally engineered to provoke extreme negative emotions such as discomfort and irritation, that force your attention on the screen by overloading your ears with so much noise that you feel compelled to take in some amount of visual information to ease the shock, and then tacking on hashtag slogans at the end; like “oddly satisfying” after a video of a fucking butcher knife cutting through colorful play sand or “shop like a billionaire” after yelling at me about cheap Chinese goods, both of which only serving as reminders of the current state of society at large and pushing me ever so closer to a state of blind rage; are what finally pushed me to install vanced on my android.

It’s psychological torture and it should be against international human rights law.

who can pay at least 3k for rent

So you are saying this type of development is so sought after that they are able to set rent at higher rates than the surrounding “parts” and still get enough tenants despite the “inconvenience”?

Also yeah according to the article, the nearby amenities include a grocery store. It’s not an apartment complex, it’s a walkable town.

This one :)

The Lively & Liveable Neighbourhoods that are illegal in Most of North America - Not Just Bikes: https://youtu.be/bnKIVX968PQ?si=7tIT7yD5iw_s5vUe

I’m not sure if American consumers “liked” them so much as they were pushed heavily by auto makers while they quietly phased out more practically sized vehicles like hatchbacks, station wagons, and a lot of sedans (other than those sedans that fetch a high price for their performance and appeal to an entirely different market; your corvettes, mustangs, etc.) That ‘light truck’ designation brings with it larger profit margins; the vehicle itself is bigger so the manufacturer can charge more for it, and then they have to obey fewer environmental regulations so development/manufacturing is cheaper in comparison to trying to meet the regulations for smaller vehicles.