Not that we should have the contracts and control a country like that, but I’d like to think there could have been a win/win. Would have been nice to have a friendly and supported Iraq, on its way to healing some, at the end of the day.

Overall, a failure of US leadership on all fronts. Any positive results may have just been a bridge too far in the minds of politicians and rallying the public just not worth it for them. Silly.

Lord. The irony. Could have had a little US in Iraq after us essentially living there forever. Now it’s Chinatown

As I understand it, the $7.5k isn’t any EV, but EVs that were assembled/built primarily in the US. Many weren’t compliant with that legislation. Not out of spite or anything, but because manufacturing wasn’t quite ready to comply. That led to a number of vehicles sitting ineligible for the 7.5k break. As well as consumer confusion over which ones could be discounted. Overall, a transitional growing pain for a crappy industry that relies on monthly sales.

True. Though they have been stuck with 30 years of damage simply reverse too.

Sounds freaking sweet!

I just got one question. What is cruft?

I like filen.io pretty good so far

What a manipulation tactic though. Phase in the change at different times for different users.

Maybe one day they’ll have the ability to just roll out the shit internet for plebs and the shitter, but shinny, version for the rich.

What if someone gets left behind in the great ad war? Lol. A lone user who has never seen an ad on the Internet ever.

Grayjay has been really nice! Enjoying it so far.

Along with busting monopolies. Which the Biden admin is actually trying to tackle.

Not sure your age and I sincerely do not want to critique it either or come across as ageist, but I remember a world without YouTube and all this crap. We’re going to be ok if we don’t go to YouTube. Not trying to be flippant - really. I understand the monopolistic conundrum we find ourselves in.

This is where voting and advocating for real legal solutions comes in. Is that easy - no. However there has been progress in the EU and Warren/Cruz are sponsoring a digital rights bill too. If that fails, we keep pushing. It is possible and the encouraging part is that the more they (Google, fb, Amazon, etc.) reveal of their trap the easier it will be for us to pressure politicians.

Younger folks have allies in older non techy people too. Those folks feel bewildered by their phones, computers, etc. Politicians certainly listen to them and if they have their grandchildren agreeing with them that tech companies are crazy. I almost guarantee they’d agree. See Elizabeth Warren and Ted Cruz co-sponsorship as some evidence. Talk to folks y’all!

Also, your library has a lot of content if you are looking for documentaries.

Kind of sounds like you have tried nothing and you’re all out of ideas. Can’t say I blame you. Complacency and feelings of no way out is where they want you.

Spolier monopolies! No one changes until they are under pressure and feel trapped. They’re feeding the fire of their own undoing.

Hell yeah, brother 😎

Eh, don’t need YouTube that badly. I think we’ll collectively figure out video distribution without em just fine.

True. I’ve certainly scoped out blu ray players of a particular vintage for those reasons. Just crazy we have to reach back in time to attempt to get around a trap that the vast majority of consumers don’t see.

Just passively take it from you. Not saying physical is pointless at all, but physical discs and their players haven’t stood still technologically either. If anything, streaming and discs converged.

Simply considering the fragile nature of a disc and the parade of new formats puts a clock on your time with it.

I could very well be mistaken and please correct me if I am. I remember reading that canning a show before season 3 or so was a way of getting around union costs that kick in for a ‘longer’ running show. A very anti labor strategy designed to cash in quickly then drop it so Netflix wouldn’t have to share the wealth.

Aren’t physical 4k Blu-rays still DRMd? When every part of the chain is digital your physical disc is still only as good as the will of Sony or whoever really owns it.

Two cents on the headphone jack issue folks bring up all the time. The convenience of 3.5 mm is great and valid. Totally agree.

However, I use and own a lot of wired higher end headphones and a dongle DAC is just better audio quality than the 3.5mm jack. Let me explain.

3.5mm jacks means the phone’s on board DAC is doing the work and outputting an analog stereo signal. You are stuck with whatever, typically sub-par, DAC is built into your phone. Yes, some phones have better DACs than others, but it is a challenge to sort out and is often not a priority for most manufacturers.

With type C dongle you can escape your phone’s limitations and use dongles with audio features like fully balanced audio because the signal stays digital from your phone to the dongle. Personally, I’m a fan of 4.4 mm balanced connection, as most of my headphones will run balanced. This is something I could never do with 3.5mm alone.

DDHifi, XDUOO, ifi, etc makes some great ‘audiophile’ - dumb title but you know what I mean - DACs.

I often don’t hear this side of the issue discussed.

I think the dates are more relevant than the software. COVID pandemic was probably more impactful here than Linux.

Streaming has ultimately taught me how little I ‘need’ to watch since it trains you to really only seek out a couple things per service. I’ve also become very advertisment sensitive being blessed with tools to avoid that and companies honeymooning people for a while with fewer ads compared to what cable did.

Obviously, the dipshits are springing their ‘trap’ but I’m not bullish on the strategy of forcing consumers to suddenly tolerate a return of ads everywhere and always on entertainment. I just see folks running away again/further disconnecting from traditional media.