From c1fa9dfe6629ee49b3d1a689807b167c615fb55f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: dtb Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2022 23:16:22 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] 2022-12-20 --- homepage/blah/index.html | 106 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 106 insertions(+) diff --git a/homepage/blah/index.html b/homepage/blah/index.html index 140e747..2c8076d 100644 --- a/homepage/blah/index.html +++ b/homepage/blah/index.html @@ -16,6 +16,112 @@ ideas' witlessness; ideas' witnesses; ideas- +2022-12-20 + + I started studying Japanese again because WSJ and others from /g/bpg/ +are doing it. Went though ~300 JLPT N5 Anki cards today to refresh the stuff I +hadn't touched in a while. + I caved and have started (ab)using caffeine again as of last Saturday +(today is Tuesday. Do the math). Sigh... + + Here's a blog post I wrote for tebibyte.media/blog: +2022-12-15 + ++++ +title = "i hate smart phone" +date = "2022-12-15" +description = "some thoughts regarding the twenty first century" +license = "[UNLICENSE](https://unlicense.org/)" + +[taxonomies] +author = ["DTB"] +tags = ["opinion", "philosophy"] ++++ + + I hate smart phones with a burning passion that has caused my weak +willed hands to give up three to various bodies of water including a puddle +outside a mechanic's and a pond to which I walked through the forest. I don't +regret my actions except that I haven't killed more digital beasts. + My own current phone (until it too meets the fate of its brethren) is a +PINE64 PinePhone running postmarketOS, a Linux distribution intended to keep +good-enough smart phones running well past the expiration date on the box (or +on the manufacturer's website). Technically, though I bet most people don't +care, it's a security hazard to have an out-of-date smart phone; your banking, +personal, medical information is on there and it doesn't take too long to get +it out. Look at NSO Group and other wretched sub-scum that have evolved out of +leech law enforcement's taxpayer-funded searches of people's smart devices, +that made money because their product was good, because they could take the +data out of your cell phone like the mind flayer sucks at your brain, like Coca +Cola through a straw. Who even needs a crime scene indexed when you've Googled +"How do I kill my rapist?", when GPS and cell tower logs show you were the only +one at the scene of the crime, and when your slow descent into hell is +chronicled in your Camera Roll, and when Samsung stopped updating your phone a +year ago so all the police need to do is plug the black mirror into their +stylish plastic suitcase? The journalist documenting the dictatorship is +booking an airplane trip into a death trap if they forgot to make sure the +little version number in a menu in a menu in an app in the bottom right corner +of their home screen is high enough. I'm happy with postmarketOS's very regular +updates which are for now preventing my pocket gizmo's eternal submersion. + Why the hell are we keeping all our shit on a piece of glass? I +wouldn't trust my best friend with my nudes, why am I dumping them into a +device someone else made that I don't understand? What happened to paper? What +happened to Polaroids, to CDs, to e-mail and hard copies and for the love of +Allah what happened to cash? The PinePhone is slightly better for this. I can +call a dude that works on my phone's operating system ("Who are you? How did +you get this number?") and ask any questions I want ("It's 3:00 AM. I'm turning +my phone off.") or post in a forum and usually get an answer about what's safe +and what features will turn me into a gecko (usually Find My, sometimes +Auto Rotate). I don't even know how normal people deal with bugs in the system +or ghosts in the machine. I asked a friend. "Usually I just ask you." When you +run the "normal" phone operating systems, Android or iOS, you can't run your +own apps, which doesn't matter if all you do is TikTok and Instagram but I like +to solve my own problems which I'm forbidden to do unless I spend $2000 on a +MacBook and $100 on an Xcode license. That's iOS. Android development is free +but so godawfully slow and painful that I would probably rather be waterboarded +by someone in a clown costume, and even though you can run your own apps on +there you still can't take control of your phone by becoming system +administrator like on a normal Linux or Windows installation. You have to +"jailbreak" (iOS) or "root" (Android) your phone to have full control over it. +Why am I paying for a jail? Why am I storing all my stuff in a prison? Again, +postmarketOS is yours to control from the outset, not hiding any functionality +behind a subscription or preventing you from using your device however you want +(for better or for worse). postmarketOS supports full disk encryption with +Linux Unified Key Setup, the cutting edge of the file security field. It's very +nice. + But phones still suck, even my PinePhone, which is the best one I've +found. "There's an app for that" but it isn't available for my phone and no I +cannot fucking download your app, Dunkin' Donuts, to get that free coffee every +Thursday or whatever. God forbid I have to take money out of my savings account +like I do every once in a while because my shit job has miserable pay. I can +either use the app my bank publishes (only for Android and iOS, of course) or +go to an ATM, pay for the privilege, and hope I only have to use it two more +times that day because my bank limits ATM transactions because they were +targeted by hackers probably because their phones weren't updated. At this +point I just keep cash with me which is great except for the places that don't +take cash and instead take poker chips, ahem, numbers on a piece of plastic. +In this day and age having no social media means having no friends, which I +honestly do enjoy after the lengthy withdrawal because it's serene not having +to check everyone's Instagram story (else miss out on the Next New Thing) or +Facebook wall (else miss out on the Next New Gathering) or what have you. It is +for me worth having nothing to miss in exchange for never having that gnawing +fear of missing. I still have my phone number and on paper I have plenty of +friends in person who never call, never e-mail, never stop by, because they've +forgotten what life is like outside the app. Which I can live with, which is +unreasonable for any non-crazy person. But forgoing this rotten post-Capitalist +world of ad-soaked shitware takes a financial toll. How do you live on minimum +wage? Discounts. Download the Dunkin' Donuts app. Download the Starbucks app. +Even a god damn Home Depot app. I'm a Luddite for rejecting the last ten years +of technology? They say not having Android or iOS is self-torture but even +spending a little more of the little I have and taking a little more time of my +little left to engage with the analog pleasures of the world is in my mind much +more tolerable than the endless thoughtless suffering of the digital era and +casino-floor news cattle feed and disintegration of person from world. So I +suppose if I'm broke, I'm broke by choice, but it's a choice I never felt +comfortable making. + Better the screen in the puddle than my head under the water. Reason +died with the atom bomb. + + 2022-11-29 I think around the time of the last blah post I quit caffeine. I abused