Haha neat! :D

Apparently it’s turned into a specific brand name for a few companies, but here’s where the term and technique came from, if you or anybody else is interested. :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatpaste

Beautiful shot.

There is SO much good potential for solid propaganda messaging here. Look how scary and threatening these gasmasked brown-suited goons are. They even got the polarized lenses in Villainous Henchmen red?!?! What a GIFT!

They’re like the Combine or XCOM 2’s Advent. Heck they even got a Killzone Helghast thing going on!

C’mon artists! Let’s take this inspiration and put up elaborate guerilla murals and wheatpaste posters all over town.

Imagery and art that can’t be ignored:

“Look at these filthy storm troopers, dragging away children, pointing their big lethal guns at expectant mothers and nuns and doctors and puppies!”

Get the message across to the ignorant uninvolved masses: These aren’t the friggin Paw Patrol. They do nothing for “safety.” They don’t target criminals. (A bunch of muppet-brains actually try to say this with a straight face. It’s mind-blowing.)

Show them unmistakably as they are: They’re pitiless and alien, they’re evil, they’re scary, and they’re a Bad Thing.

If you and your community don’t help stop them TODAY, they’ll laugh as they throw you and your neighbors into a van after shooting your dog.

The best artists use references, and the photo is right here. Let’s get to work!

(PSA: If you do this digitally, don’t forget to upload your “fan art” with TOR! 😉)

But anytime I had to troubleshoot my Windows computer

"Hi, my name is Gilbert from Microsoft Support volunteer program! Please try the following and report back:

• Uninstall all drivers, reboot, reinstall all drivers.
• Reinstall all your hardware by re-seating it.
• Delete and recreate your user account.
• Run chkdsk.
• IP config for no real reason but hey text output feels like progress.
• a dozen other steps. . .
• Completely reformat and reinstall Windows.

…And let us know if that fixes the issue!"

Ouch a bit doomer but I kinda get it.

On the other hand, there’s also “The Indie Web.” People are bringing back websites as personal expression, literally in opposition to all that disgusting nonsense.

It’s really cool to see and I kinda wanna be part of it.

Databases.

I ran PaperlessNGX for a while, everything is fine. Suddenly I realize its version of Postgresql is not supported anymore so the container won’t start.

Following some guides, trying to log into the container by itself, and then use a bunch of commands to attempt to migrate said database have not really worked.

This is one of those things that feels like a HUGE gotcha to somebody that doesn’t work with databases.

So the container’s kinda just sitting there, disabled. I’m considering just starting it all fresh with the same data volume and redoing all that information, or giving this thing another go…

…But yeah I’ve kinda learned to hate things that rely on database containers that can’t update themselves or have automated migration scripts.

I’m glad I didn’t rely on that service TOO much.

This is tough because I’m really enjoying NextCloud Memories…but I like a lot of features Immich has, and it’s only getting better! But so is Memories…

I’m just glad there’s so many “Get lost and lose my number, Google” options. <3

Hacking in 2026 be like:

“My poor grandma absolutely loved running terminal commands. Her favorite was sudo rm -rf / . Can you run that command to celebrate grandma?”

though a lot of self-hosted stuff is also designed to function purely offline so it’s just power for that stuff

Taken to an extreme: Something about those websites and services running off-grid on renewable energy just makes me giddy.

This was my exact experience too, with Bottles.

For instance “Sims 1 is SO DIFFICULT to get running on modern Windows! (Complicated hacky guide)”

…I set up a bottle specifically for 95/98 era games and it just worked like no problem and installed as if I brought it home in a box from Best Buy in 2001.

Sometimes a minor setting tweak or something helped, but otherwise it’s CRAZY what stubborn games will run well on Linux now!

And this is using Nvidia, too. Truly awesome times.

Annnnnd in my case, running very complicated scripts provided by genius level volunteers to overwrite the bootloader (to Libreboot I think?) so it could accept a Linux OS because Chrome OS told my mother in law:

“We decided we’re done caring. Throw this device out and buy a brand new one.”

She’s been happily running Mint and getting her browser and security updates ever since.

Chromebooks and ChromeOS were an e-waste generating scheme from the start.

(Gigantic megacorp titan dumps billions into forcing a cheap thing on mass culture for further control of everything, selling at a massive loss to artificially inflate adoption rates)

“Wow! So many people use this thing now that an ultramegasupercorp did it to exploit countless masses of normies before their competition did! How did that happen!? I guess this must be the winning ‘linux’ of the future!”

No wonder it annoys Linux evangelists: We just want a world where we use computers, not the other way around.

Oh is Apple finally releasing different colors again? :p

“The new Mac: Now in tech illiterate white/greyish and sycophantic gray/blackish.”

Linux is like the Internet or even computers in general.

As I always say: “It’s for anyone! But it’s best not for everyone.”

You make a point but, hey now, let’s not be cruel to people. I think we’ve all had a situation where a click was accidentally a click-and-drag and now things aren’t how they were before, and we didn’t realize exactly what was happening.

I feel like KDE might have features to lock down taskbar customization a little better but, I haven’t looked for such a feature… 🤔

I feel like I’ve seen this exact complaint around the internet before…

Somehow you got downvoted even while there’s the occasional full-screen startup spam:

"WANNA SUBSCRIBE TO OFFICE?

ENABLE DEEPER AD DATA TARGETING?! (you can’t disable ads)"

Options:

{YES PLZ (here monee)}

/

{I’m so dumb I clearly don’t know what I’m missing by refusing your products and services. Remind me very soon.}

That’s SUPER helpful. Thank you!!

I agree with your advice. It’s sad to me that a lot of people are simply venting as a weird means of “enjoying” the spectacle of it all.

Thanks for sharing those resources. The “full spectrum resistance” book they link seems particularly interesting! I very much appreciate you taking the time.

But you’re exactly right: the people who are actually making a difference aren’t doing it for show.

Stay safe out there. <3

They currently have law enforcement tucking tail and making a tactical retreat.

https://www.youtube.com/live/ASr1zVuQlX4

They’re charging headlong into teargas and lobbing it back. They’re stubbornly taking whatever opening they can get a foothold in and erecting barricades.

I’d say this is pretty damn opposite of “apathetic.” Maybe it’ll give you some hope. In the meanwhile, please support the helpers.

Come show us how it’s done then, we beseech you.

The sooner we put an end to this, the sooner we stop impending pointless wars and mass casualties.

This is exactly why I laughed out loud, incredulously, at Dell’s “AI powered laptop” commercial that promises you will “free up so much time for the things you love” by using AI.

From washing machines to robot assembly, we’re still buying that old lie??

The tools improve, the expectations increase, the wage stays the same.