the reality is that every Chinese company is ultimately controlled by the CCP.

Yes.

But in the same way that every US company is ultimately controlled by the US Government. And every EU company by them. And every other country by their own government.

Mostly tiktok scrolling. It’s got a bad rep, but there’s a huge amount of seriously talented people on there doing amazing and creative things. I’m a 50-something year old guy and it quickly figured out I like videos about mine explores and restoring vintage vehicles. Once you learn to downvote stuff you don’t like, it’s quick to learn and aside from the comment bots or obvious trolls (Typically pro-Russian or Pro-Trump, if there’s a difference) it’s generally a positive thing, in moderation.

I totally get your desire about avoiding socials and have experienced the mood swings it can bring too. That’s made me quite tuned into how the algorithms are steering me. For me (and everyone’s experience is different) - Facebook is mostly bland generic stuff but quite useful for local content - just avoid the drama llamas), and use an advert blocker. Reddit is mixed. I used to be on there a lot and contributed and modded a bunch of stuff, but quit for a year after spez screwed over the app people. I skim it a bit now, but don’t give it much mind. X is awful, won’t go near it. Lemmy is less of a shitpost zone than most but still has too few people to be significant. We’re all helping with that though.

Lemmy aside, I think most algs will figure you out pretty quick. If you get involved in nasty commenting, it’ll feed you more of that. If you do the odd positive thing (as I try to) then it can be less toxic - but with all things, remember why you’re there. The more you feed it, the bigger to you it becomes. Balance is important, and be aware of how stuff is affecting you.

Anyway, beyond TT, crosswords, some news sites and the occasional candy crush.

Good question though, I’m reading other comments as it’s harder to find stuff outside of the main channels now.

But then he’ll just pardon them - they all know they have a get of jail free card.

I was curious so I took a closer look at Sheltermanager and, honestly, I’m very impressed. They have a free demo on their site so you can show it off to people and see if there’s any interest.

And agree, self-hosting doesn’t sound like it would suit them or you, but you asked in an opensource thread and that is nearly always self-hosted. SM looks quite fairly priced for a hosted solution.

That’s their decision, but it’s very unlikely. Like much bespoke software that’s evolved over a long time, it was a pretty messy codebase, and also mostly in perl and was entirely written to their exact needs. It worked because of me, which was a curse because they were unable to find another person to support it after I left.

It’s a shame that doesn’t exist yet. I was in your position for a horse charity 25 years ago and couldn’t find anything either. I ended up writing them such a system, which grew and grew. Sadly it was owned by them and replaced a couple of years ago.

Is sheltermanager not suitable for self hosting? They claim to be open source

Thats’s a shame, I always considered brother one of the better makers of paper manglers.

Best answer.

Extra tip: You can combine the two last commands with: systemctl enable --now <unit name>.service

They’re not alone - they’re already on Russia’s side.

IKR? The EU legislation to require a common charging system is already making big improvements. Seeing so many things, not just phones, that are now chargable via USB C. So many electronic gadgets, like my shaver, screwdriver and others no longer coming with a wallwart adapter each to live in my drawers and jam them up. Benefits for everyone, apart from the occasional company (Apple) that locks in to a specialised charger for profit reasons.

This is genuinely good for safety.

Each will send their old or excess stock, or newly manufacturer weapons.

Some of the old stock may include weapons bought from the US previously, but it’s very unlikely Europeans will be buying new weapons and supplies from US to give to Ukraine. France, Germany Italy, Spain and the UK all have significant arms manufacturing ability and have ability to scale up quickly. (Reference)

Many European leaders (including business leaders) are extremely reticent to enter into new supply deals of any kind with the US given the recent trade volatility.

Still the linux sysadmin’s language of choice!

Laughs in perl

Interesting.

The EU & UK would consider that age discrimination and illegal. You can’t be forced to retire at a given age.

Strange that America uses it - especially given the age you allow your presidents to be.

More information: It’s been rolling out to Android 9+ users since November 2024 as a high priority update. Some users are reporting it installs when on battery and off wifi, unlike most apps.

App description on Play store: SafetyCore is a Google system service for Android 9+ devices. It provides the underlying technology for features like the upcoming Sensitive Content Warnings feature in Google Messages that helps users protect themselves when receiving potentially unwanted content. While SafetyCore started rolling out last year, the Sensitive Content Warnings feature in Google Messages is a separate, optional feature and will begin its gradual rollout in 2025. The processing for the Sensitive Content Warnings feature is done on-device and all of the images or specific results and warnings are private to the user.

Description by google Sensitive Content Warnings is an optional feature that blurs images that may contain nudity before viewing, and then prompts with a “speed bump” that contains help-finding resources and options, including to view the content. When the feature is enabled, and an image that may contain nudity is about to be sent or forwarded, it also provides a speed bump to remind users of the risks of sending nude imagery and preventing accidental shares. - https://9to5google.com/android-safetycore-app-what-is-it/

So looks like something that sends pictures from your messages (at least initially) to Google for an AI to check whether they’re “sensitive”. The app is 44mb, so too small to contain a useful ai and I don’t think this could happen on-phone, so it must require sending your on-phone data to Google?

They’re two very different things. One is supernatural one is simply unknown.

Statistically, yes, life on other planets probably exists in some form as there’s just so many. But whether they’ve contacted, visited or even known about us - I don’t think so. Conspiracists will think secrets are being hidden but that’s what makes them feel important.

Ghosts - nah. There’s no proof beyond human imagination.

Yes, on top of trumpet winsock.

It’s all so much better now.

Best is Framework in every regard. Works 100%, great Linux support, specify exactly what you want and it’s fully repairable. (They’re also by far the most satisfying machine to unbox, given you have to plug it all together yourself)

Lenovo and Dell are okay, in my experience. The odd thing but generally fair quality hardware and reasonably compatible. (Thinkpad quality isn’t what it used to be, so don’t pay a premium thinking it’ll last, Lenovo are trading on its past glories)

Avoid HP - shoddy flimsy things now, and with a lot of bespoke drivers (graphics and audio, plus function buttons in particular)

There’s quite a lot of random-branded Chinese laptops around now. I’ve no direct experience of them, but I imagine they’re exactly how you’d expect them to be. Cheap, tailored for the OS they ship with, but will probably work to some degree. Linux is past its initial hardware problems (and to be fair, hardware is problematic now)

There’s another thread that’s a few years old, but still contains some useful info - such as “Check the Arch Wiki”

The Baz Lurhman’s Sunscreen Song is correct in every way.