I use graphene OS and Magic Earth instead of Google maps. I only turn on location when navigating. GOS also surfaces app permissions in a more obvious and granular way so I tend to reject most permissions and wait to see if it breaks anything. I also try to use open source apps from F-Droid instead of the Google store. If I need an app on Google store, I use Aurora as my client so I can install apps anonymously.

There’s a number of additional steps I take. Although it seems like a lot, I still feel like I’m not doing everything I could. What really matters though is that I’m always making progress over time.

The degoogle sub is a good resource, as is the !privacy@lemmy.ml comm.

Here’s Mitt Romney and Anthony Blinken’s explanation for the ban’s passage:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mitt-romney-reveals-twisted-reason-why-congress-moved-to-ban-tiktok/ar-BB1lUzZi

TLDR:

Then Romney explained that the TikTok ban overwhelmingly passed both chambers of Congress because of the widespread Palestinian advocacy on the app.

I was at a tech conference recently, and the local city tech department was showing off the cameras all around the city. They were all tracking individual vehicles with computer vision, across town as the traffic moved from one camera to another.

I didn’t get a chance to ask them whether law enforcement used the data, but I’m pretty sure that’s a given.

Check out 404 media! I’m a big supporter of independent media, but there’s been a real lack of high quality, competent tech journalism for the last few years.

They launched in the last few months and I’ve been pretty impressed with their coverage so far.

Even their coverage though could be called at the intersection of current events <> technology. When I want pure tech news, I usually watch YouTube channels that specialize in related topics ( like Asionometry for silicon design or Dave2d for device reviews).

Silicon manufacturing is one of my obsessive interests. For anyone else interested in learning more, I’ve learned a lot from the Asianometry YouTube channels.

Do it! I just made the switch (using PopOS as my distro, AMD CPU, 1080ti GPU) and haven’t had much trouble with my extensive Steam collection. The biggest issue so far was Bioshock Infinite which actually runs native and I had to edit some configs for texture pools. SteamVR / Index has been a little unstable but seems to generally work (I don’t use it enough to be sure if it’s Linux or my hardware getting old).

SteamDB has been a excellent resource for checking compatibility and game specific tweaks.

I’ve heard of Boom Aerospace from the US, which is a little further along in their development process, although they are only super sonic.

Same for me, running for a few months and all my steam games work great. I had to install some extra software to run my Logitech mouse and get the scroll wheel to be more sensitive. Otherwise though it’s been a great experience so far.

Although I’m an IT professional, I really don’t want extra work when I’m sitting down to game. So POP! has been great overall for my use case, with the bonus of Linux for any coding projects I tackle otherwise.

It Takes Two! I played it with my partner and really enjoyed the story and very imaginative game play.

Same - I used this tool which worked great for that workflow:

http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover

From my understanding, unions require a vote from employees before being able to negotiate contracts with management. So if they want a few more people to come to a meeting, it’s probably because they need a sense of whether they’re gonna win that election and / or there is interest from more than a single employee.

Getting a union can be a long process, just to get to the bargaining table. Successful campaigns require a tireless dedication from at least one employee who wants to fight.

All worth it IMHO, and I’m heartened to hear about labor action for EMS staff. Best of luck in your efforts!

Same here, but apparently this isn’t even an isolated example:

https://youtu.be/fiD24uEvY1U?si=kqH-ixnhSvc4S_HG

(Video about their colonialism and exploitative monetary policy in the Saheel / Africa).

I can’t comment on the state of the German system, but agree with everything you said otherwise.

One of the worst parts is that in the absence of critical thought by doctors, it feels like the only choice I have as an individual is to try and figure things out myself. But God forbid I actually mention thinking deeply about the issue to a doctor - I’m immediately labeled non-compliant / hypochondriac. You can’t fucking win.

I’m going through a very similar thing except with blood clots and anticoagulants. I was in the hospital for 3 days for a pulmonary embolism, but the docs couldn’t figure out why. Instead, they just put me on the blood thinners for life.

This is a big bummer because I have a pretty active lifestyle (cycling, caving, scuba) and being on the meds means I can’t feel safe doing these things anymore.

I’m trying right now to talk to different doctors and see if there’s a way to safely stop the meds but I’m fighting against their flow charts that simply say this is the reality from now on.

As you may know, this is the entire premise of fall of civilizations podcast, which also did a great episode on the Assyrians:

https://podcastaddict.com/fall-of-civilizations-podcast/episode/124415257

I haven’t heard about Truth Social’s plans, but that wouldn’t surprise me.

I have however heard of this:

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/14/steve-mnuchin-tiktok-00146966

I’ve always heard it attributed (in a slightly different form) to Rahm Emmanuel, e.g. :

Never let a good crisis go to waste

Looks exactly like the British soldier demon dude from Netflix’s Locke & Key.