No it won’t. I’d never my money on anything supporting that fascist pig.

I think anonymity has a lot to do with it, but you certainly point out that there’s more than anonymity to factor in. I also agree that, especially in our problemed data sharing environment, having our data on public display would be troublesome (understatement of the year). My comments weren’t so much of a “we should do this,” as much as a point of the cost of fixing the problem. Fixing the problem would be worse than the problem itself, but not by much, since all of our data is collected anyway. I personally believe that social media should mostly be outlawed - but I’m old enough to remember a better world before it existed.

If they really, really want to fix 99.8% of the problems with hate speech (and many other issues), each user needs to agree to have their real name, home address, email address, and phone number available to the public, in their profile. While what I’ve just said is completely absurd, for almost everyone, it’s the anonymity that empowers people to say the absolute worst things.

Why don’t most people in the checkout line (queue) at the grocery store act the same way they do in a traffic jam on a roadway? Because they’re much more likely to be held personally accountable for their conduct. I wonder how much traffic would change, if our name, address and telephone numbers were required to be posted on all sides of our vehicles?

And look at them both, dwarfed by the 6 foot 9 inch first Lady! She should play basketball!

I’m in the US and have a 1970 Fiat 500. That little car can handle quite a few of my needs. I sometimes use it for work, when I only have estimates. Normally I drive a full size Ford E150 van.

I appreciate the Fiat because it’s so different from everything on the roads here, just fun to drive, (I’m 54, so at an age where things like lumbar support and other creature comforts are nice) and it’s just uncomfortable enough to make me really appreciate our more modern and larger vehicles (the For van, a Mercury Cougar convertible, a Dodge 2500 4x4, and a Volvo XC70).

The only real bad side is that between it’s age and the fact that they were never freaky imported into the US, parts aren’t readily available. The last time I used it for work, it broke down.

There were about 6 of us…you know, 5 making fun of me. We were offroading on trails in a wooded/forested area versus open mud/sand fields. As I was choosing directions on which trails to take, I used signals as was habit.

Predictability is so much more important than being nice. Just follow the rules.

I’ve been made fun of, signaling while offroading.

The way of the future…VCRs went away. DVDRs went away, replaced with DVRs and membership streaming, where you can “buy” a movie on Amazon Prime, but if they lose the rights to the movie, so do you - oh well. Your Tesla will brick, if Elon gets mad at you, and your video games will stop working if “the man” unplugs the server. Oh, and dont get caught pulling out your old dusty VCR to record the Super Bowl to watch later…thats a copyright violation. The oligarchs want to make sure the plebes eventually own nothing. If the masters can take it all away, the peasants will do what they’re told, be quiet about it, and smile when in sight of the masters.

“We have many values, but the most valuable value to us is profit, far and away. As a business pursuing profit above all else, supporting this administration, and always being ready and willing to bootlick, anywhere, anytime, at a moments notice, was thought to be our best shot at the highest profitability possible for our members. Unfortunately, like most of the supporters of trump, his administration, and his best-picked people, we’re left embarrassed, and holding a (figurative) bag of shit, with nothing to show for it except for smelly hands. Sorry. Can we get a do-over?”

I’d sure love to see Canada and the UK simply shut X down within their borders. There were some grumbling awhilemago, in the UK Parliament of naming Musk as an extremist, based on his ability to not only buy influence, but his ability through X to promote or censor speech as he likes, influencing elections, or even overthrowing governments.

I love how a billionaire “puppet master” can think so low of everyone, like nobody is intelligent to think for themselves, instead, relying on some unnamed “puppet master.” Yet he cannot name any alleged puppet master leading the over 1000 protests. What a freaking Muppet. Sorry - I don’t mean to insult the Muppets.

I’ve enjoyed Linux since Windows MEllennium Edition convinced me that I didn’t like paying a lot, in money and time, to be an unpaid product testing guinea pig. A work friend put Windows 2000 on that laptop when ME went bad. I used it until a got a blue screen of death one day, and switched to Linux. The 1st was a $230 ePC that could be had with Windows XP or XanderOS (a flavor of Linux). I chose the latter, and had a great time of it. I’ve since used Mint and Ubuntu.

The problem could be that, with all the advancements in technology just since 1970, all the medical advancements, all the added efficiencies at home and in the workplace, the immediate knowledge-availability of the internet, all the modern conveniences, and the ability to maintain distant relationships through social media, most of our lives haven’t really improved.

We are more rushed and harried than ever, life expectancy (in the US) has decreased, we’ve gone from 1 working adult in most families to 2 working adults (with more than 1 job each), income has gone down. Recreation has moved from wholesome outdoor activities to an obese population glued to various screens and gaming systems.

The “promise of the future” through technological advancement, has been a pretty big letdown. What’s AI going to bring? More loss of meaningful work? When will technology bring fewer working hours and more income - at the same time? When will technology solve hunger, famine, homelessness, mental health issues, and when will it start cleaning my freaking house and making me dinner?

When all the jobs are gone, how beneficial will our overlords be, when it comes to universal basic income? Most of the time, it seems that more bad comes from out advancements than good. It’s not that the advancements aren’t good, it’s that they’re immediately turned to wartime use considerations and profiteering for a very few.

Or use Amazon (I’m guilty), or shop at Walmart (sometimes guilty, but not often), or shop at Target, use Tiktok, use Facebook (reunion coordination only - but still guilty, I guess), use PayPal (very guilty), use LinkdIn, use Google (guilty).

It’s really difficult to live a modern life, without being guilty of using anything exploitative of something. Of course, all the things (and many more) mentioned above are made to make people reliant on them by design.

Amazon operated in the red for over 7 years, before turning any profit, often selling and shipping items for a lower cost than they purchased the items for. But after that 7 years, they’d driven much of their competition out of business. Now there are fewer choices with regard to finding some items, because Amazon drove everyone out of business. The cheaper prices on Amazon? Nothing like what they used to be - they don’t have to compete.

How many small towns have Walmart as virtually the only place to shop and/or the only employer?

It’s very important in our modern, separated society, for people to return to basics…get to know your neighbors, stick together, become friends, and help one another out. Reddit used to really drive me nuts, in the work-related subreddits, where everyone used to say, “Your co-workers are not your friends.” I wondered if many people ever looked past that, to ask if that’s how HR wants things. How do you ever achieve solidarity in the workplace, when you walk in with that attitude? I’ve certainly had my share of hated co-workers, but much more often, I have been friends with many of them. Co-workers are a great resource to vent, problem solve, find out what’s going on behind the scenes, and if there are problems - a great co-worker can be honest and let me know if I might be the problem, or not.

But, separated and isolated within our own little tribes/families, too busy working too many hours, for too little money, trying to keep up with too many financial obligations, is exactly how they get us exactly where they want us.

Bad headline…should read, “doesn’t care to do anything, with regard to getting him back.”

Soon to be seen on the battlefield: Reinforced, armored attack-Ladas, with turrets mounted on the roof.

If the US government believes if everyone is an asshole, nobody will be an asshole.

Oh, you can set up a dual boot system, so you don’t have to completely jump ship. They also have setups that run entirely on a thumb drive now.

I did dual boot for a little bit when I want into business 14 years ago. While I liked Linux, I wasn’t sure I could run a business without Windows, but soon discovered that everything would be just fine without Windows, and got rid of it.

I’m in my mid-50s. I play Warzone 2100 and BOS wars on my computer. I’ve has Steam for several years, and have a game there…I think it’s “World of Goo.” I like to stick to games that serve as stress relievers, and take no more than about an hour. Between owning a business, 2 teens, 3 schools, 4 sports, a wife, a house that would love to fall apart if I’d only let it, a lawn to mow, and 2 antique cars I love to keep driving, I don’t have much more time to let myself be sucked in to some of the really cool stuff I see.

I recently bought a replacement PS2 though…the old one broke, and I’m still in love with GTA Vice City. I usually just steal a cop car and do vigilante mode until I’m killed though.