As a white guy in the US South, it’s just… No. Don’t go there. Don’t even think it. You don’t want any part of that can of worms.

However, I remember hearing KRS One discussing the words usage a long time ago.

This video isn’t the discussion I remember, but it’s similar in content:

https://youtu.be/ZEYUd6VYriU

I have 6 domain renewal notices sitting in my Spam folder now.

Another recent one has been notices supposedly from my email provider saying it’s time to renew. That one almost got me.

I really wish GPG signing of emails had actually taken off. Would have solved this type of problem completely.

With the very big caveat that I’m 15 years out of date, you might see if OKCupid or Plenty O Fish are still around.

I would check for you but I’d rather not cause my wife to worry. I met her on OKCupid. If I remember correctly, searching was free but messages always were a paid service regardless of platform.

Probably a red Blackberry Pearl Flip. One of the last phones I had that wasn’t a featureless black slate covered in rubber.

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MusicBrainz is an open source database of music. ListenBrainz is an open source service that captures your listening habits, if you’ve configured your music player (or Spotify) to use the service. It’s similar in nature to last.fm’s scrobbling.

ListenBrainz has a feature where once a week it will build a pair of playlists for you. One is stuff it is pretty sure you will like (based off of what tracks you have favorited) and the other is more… experimental. Stuff it’s not so sure you’ll like but is similar to things you have listened to and liked in the past.

Something like that. Online exchanges generally take bank transfers. The peer to peer system is usually face to face (at least at first) and can be whatever currency exchange you agree to.

Professionals use Adobe software because it is what they know and because it is the standard. But there is no reason you need to use Photoshop unless you are working with a company that requires Photoshop.

Photoshop is just an advanced image editor made by Adobe. On Windows, Mac and Linux, GIMP is probably the most well known alternative to Photoshop. It can do roughly 99% of the things that Photoshop can do, and, more than likely, far more than you are ever likely to need. Even as a professional image editor or artist.

I’m sure that there are several options for iOS, but I don’t know them by name.

If I remember correctly, this one of the use cases why bitcoin was created in the first place. It’s not anonymous but it does solve the control problem.

The only other way I know if is cash via sneakernet. Also not completely anonymous, and it could get you labeled a drug dealer or distributor. Especially in the US.

As for how to get into bitcoin, you can mine it, but more feasibly, just start doing commerce in it. If you have a podcast or you stream, accept lightning boosts. Or you could sell off your old things for bitcoin. If you have some other business start accepting bitcoin as a form of payment.

If you need to convert a national currency to bitcoin there is a peer to peer network that accepts cash, as well as several online exchanges (ID usually required, at least in the US.

As a warning, once you step off the garden path you lose it’s protections, so buyer beware. The “Big Money” have a vested interest in minimizing how badly you can get screwed in their system. Such protections don’t exist it the alternative currency sphere regardless of which crypto currency you choose.

Recently, most of the music I’ve found has been something the Youtube algorithm has decided I need to listen to. Most recently it’s been the Andrew Sisters and before that it was SailNorth.

Other than that, ListenBrainz does a pretty good job of suggesting new music to listen to.

Can’t say that happens frequently enough for me to have a set thing to do.

The list of things that need to get done never seems to get shorter. So I’m usually working though my todo list. Recreation time has to be scheduled sadly.

Where I am, the sheriffs are elected and the police chiefs are (generally) appointed. Honestly, both get up to the same level of mischief. The problem isn’t how they get to the position, but rather accountability. There isn’t much. It’s a mismatch between the amount of power they hold and the responsibility to which they are held.

I’m no expert in the field, but under the right conditions, possibly. But that would also be incredibly unlikely. The oceans are so full of life that something would feed on the remains, and even if not it would be more likely to decompose than be preserved. Bacteria is everywhere, including in the ocean, and bacteria is a significant component in decomposition.

I believe the brine solution we use for preserving food is a much higher salt concentration than sea water.

Spite. Spite and rage.

I’ve bounced between a bunch of different ones. Each time I switched and moved the directory over the formatting and linking tended to break. In the end, I settled on just a raw hierarchical directory structure using raw markdown (using a basic text editor) for typed notes and whatever other relevant media (pictures, pdfs, whatever), and GoodNotes for handwritten notebooks with PDF backups saved to directory on my Nextcloud.

I don’t know, maybe my needs are odd but I’ve just never found a single application that could handle all of my note-taking and documentation needs. Everything is close, but frustratingly annoying in one missing feature or another. And all of them seemed damned slow compared to just opening up a file browser or a terminaland doing what I needed.

As for file syncing, Logseq was pretty easy to handle syncing for. I just put the logseq notes directory on my Nextcloud and Bob’s you’re uncle. Access on my desktop, laptop and mobile devices. Don’t have to use Nextcloud though, just something that would allow you to sync the directory between devices. Syncthing would probably work. Just don’t bounce between devices too fast. Causes conflicts you have to correct manually.

Gee! Who could have predicted that! /s

Personally, Iranians hacking a bunch of computer systems are probably the least of our worries now. Jim Salter posted an image that makes a good analogy. https://fosstodon.org/@jimsalter/114730060651034011

I just had to have our meter replaced while we were replacing the water line to our house. The tech who installed it said that the meter cost $5K to replace. Was very glad I didn’t have to pay for the new meter on top of the main water line.

Possibly. Probably even. It’s still irrelevant.

Nowadays, Apple is only really big for digital music if you are (or were) already really deep in their ecosystem. Not sure I’ve heard of any devices that play nice with their DRM in a while and last I had looked (admittedly many years ago) they did not have a compatible app for Android.

Apple music was bigger back 15 or 20 years ago for digital downloads due in large part to the iPod, though I occasionally hear of some odd band or another that only releases their stuff on iTunes.

And since this is a linux community, as a heads up, iTunes is only marginally functional, last I heard, in linux. Apparently it can’t detect connected devices. You’ll probably need a Windows or Mac system to run iTunes if you want to go that route.

For CDs, Amazon, ebay, or discogs. Digital music I usually get from the artist’s webstore if possible, otherwise I’ll buy it from Amazon or BandCamp.

One heads up, Buying and downloading digital music from Amazon is a pain in the butt if you have an Amazon Music subscription. Easy and straightforward though without.

Apple music is also possible but you have to burn the tracks to CD using itunes to move it out of Apple’s ecosystem.

I also hear good things about Tidal but I’ve never used them.