This is a terrific article. It’s well researched and cuts through the chaff Big Tech monopolies spew to obscure their propaganda. I especially enjoyed this part:

“Although these large technology companies may not be full state-owned, China’s socialist government ensures that they act in the interest of the country and the people, not simply wealthy shareholders.

The US system is exactly the opposite. Large corporations control the government, and create policy on behalf of wealthy shareholders.”

I wish I could believe this but too many of my family and friends have allowed themselves to be so badly propagandized by Fox and the like that they refuse to even consider voting for anyone but the christofascist death cult. They willingly suspend disbelief for their mindless satisfaction of “but I will never vote to be like California”, “socialism is evil”, etc. I believe they are irredeemable. Maybe I’m a bit too George Carlin nihilistic to think we survive this…or it allows me to cope.

Who are they kidding? These shit bags travel by private jet shitting on the rest of the world probably 60% of the time anyways. Like it matters where they “reside”. Just die or get guillotined already.

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Yet

Voluntary bachelorhood is bliss. More money, more time, more travel. No looming decades of childcare bills, healthcare bills, or the relatively high probability of maintenance payments til death.

70% cherry picking here. Uzbekistan is the way it is because of its remoteness and lack of exploitable natural resources not because of some state level benevolence. Look at what the Soviets did to Kazakhstan (RIP Aral Sea)…no matter how you spin it there is a huge chasm between the ideals of the USSR and the way its leaders exercised their power and authority.

A name is just a simple reference to a system composed of interrelated and essential OS components: Kernel, windowing system, networking tools, virtual memory, user interfaces, the list goes on…

Yes GNU is an essential suite of tools but so is X (or Wayland) and many other unnamed yet critical subsystems.

Now GPL licensing on the other hand, THAT is a foundational precept to FOSS that deserves sole credit back to a single project.

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Oh yes that’s much needed, thank you.

Who in FOSS hurt you?

Not sure whether this would meet you or anyone competent’s criteria for “good”, but here is mine:

• Syncthing my Calibre Library folder on my primary PC
• Mobius Sync to my iPhone
• Load books (saved in main folder by author name sortable by date modified) or news (they’re saved in “calibre” folder by publication name) to iOS Books app or PDF in native Files app

That way I load whatever I am currently reading.

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Oh yeah, and Kovid posts a tracker for most used news sources so you can see what works and what other people are enjoying. https://calibre-ebook.com/dynamic/recipe-usage

Just wanted to follow-up on my comment. I was thinking about it today, and I believe ProPublica or some professional journalist or grad school student should engage in a project to study the underlying factors that drive poor VA outcomes. I’m sure it’s been done, but it would be nice to see some more research.

I would be willing to bet there are significant correlation in terms of VA system health outcomes and a range of socioeconomic variables (demographics, voting patterns, etc.).

My hypothesis is that, just like most government outcomes, the most conservative areas also treat veterans the worst and disapprove a shockingly high percentage of disability claims. Having this information in the public domain might influence reforms at the worst-offending VA / VBA systems.

Also, if you like to view by covers, here is what it looks like in Cover Grid Layout!

I’m sorry to hear that. I think so many problems stem from the vast differences in quality of care between VA / VBA systems. If you get lucky, it seems amazing. If you are in a bad system, it’s a bureaucratic nightmare.

Same with all my extended family except maybe 2 people who will use the “both sides” BS to not vote. It’s very depressing.

Typical MS gaslighting and manipulation to subvert meaningful regulation.

It’s entertaining to me that our brand of monopolistic / oligarchic capitalism itself disincentivizes one-time costs that are greatly outweighed by the risk of future occurrences. Even when those one-time costs would result in greater stability and lower prices…and not even on that big of a time horizon. There is an army of developers that would be so motivated to work on a migration project like this. But then I guess execs couldn’t jet set around the world to hang out at the Crowdstrike F1 hospitality tent every weekend.