Esme Povirk @madewokherd@computerfairi.es

Windows 11 has made the “clean Windows install” an oxymoron

Op-ed: PC makers used to need to bring their own add-on bloatware—no longer.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/windows-11-has-made-the-clean-windows-install-an-oxymoron/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

Heard the story of the girl throwing starfish into the ocean? A man watching her says "don't you know there are miles of beach and you can't make a difference?"

The girl bends down and scoops up another starfish and gently throws it into the ocean, turns to the man and says "it made a difference to that one".

I often think of this story when world events make me feel powerless. I can't help everyone, but I can help *someone*.

So... if anyone needs me to throw them into the sea, I'm here.

browsing in 2023 be like

Zoom updates terms of service to clarify that it won’t use your calls to train AI

Vague ToS previously implied that customer data could be used for AI training.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/zoom-updates-terms-of-service-to-clarify-that-it-wont-use-your-calls-to-train-ai/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

because in many people there is a terror about looking foolish, about making mistakes, about being visibly wrong, about being the idiot, about not knowing.

It feels vulnerable to many people to stand there and not understand a situation, or worse for people to see you dont understand. And fearing that can make you as fragile as glass because its inevitable, we all make mistakes all the time, and we all barely know anything compared to what is knowable out there. But worse still the mechanisms people lean on to hide ever admitting to making mistakes creates deep holes that can really cut you off from enjoying life.

in clown training there are two types of people when they make a mistake in front of people - those who can laugh at themselves and invite others to enjoy their misfortunate, and those who get embarrassed/angry/try to hide it.

Those people who can laugh at themselves, the skill they have is self-empathy in being a fallible human. They are comfortable knowing they are not perfect, they can find humour in messing up - which is a superpower. Messing up rolls off their back and people love them for it because it means they openly admit when they're wrong and dont see it as a problem, which means they apologise, they learn, they keep themselves open and they put their heart out there to find friendship, to find trust, to find love. They dont live in ivory towers. They can be silly, they can play, they can be foolish and enjoy things simply as they are.

back in the mid 00s the idea of "geek chic" became a thing, collectively people began to understand its ok to be nerdy about stuff you love, its ok to love the things you love and its ok for those things to not be mainstream, and its ok for them to be complicated or obscure. It was an overcoming of the 80s trope that nerds are the defacto losers of the story. Finally to be a nerd was loveable, it was to be true to who you were and to be proud of it - we all could recognise and accept the nerdy parts to ourselves.

The trouble is that the opposite of the nerd is the jock, ie the himbo, the bimbo. And we now are at the precipice of the worm turning where we collectively have to break down that preconception of stereotype at the other end of the axis, and nerds have to settle their grudges and recognise that intelligence and the cul-de-sac that is irony are not the be all and end all to existence - that there are other skillsets out there that are of equal value, that intelligence is not wisdom, that understanding does not equal empathy.

Yes we do have to go through the current counter revolution to find true balance of both nerd and bimbo in all of us.

https://artisans.coop/

oh pog artisans coop just launched. i hope its successful, #etsy has had it too good for too long.

Amazon gets “last rites” from FTC as antitrust complaint looks imminent

FTC's lawsuit is likely to be filed in federal court this month.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/08/amazons-final-talks-with-ftc-unlikely-to-thwart-antitrust-lawsuit/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

what helps people get comfortable on the command line? https://jvns.ca/blog/2023/08/08/what-helps-people-get-comfortable-on-the-command-line-/

Would love more stories of things that helped you in the last ~5 years!

(as usual, no need to reply if you don’t remember, or if you’ve been using the command line comfortably for 15 years — this question isn’t for you :) )