You’ve made some really good points and I’ll be thinking on them in the days to come.
I don’t have much else to add, but I do want to say that I really appreciate the honest and nuanced discussion here.
At the end of the day, we don’t always have to always agree on every specific detail and these kinds of discussions allow us to explore our biases and will shape our collective responses. And that is good for the community as a whole…
While I feel we mostly are in agreement, I have a problem with the verbiage you use. Specifically the idea that the desired outcome is to force the population at large to “obey” protesters.
While no one should be forced to “obey” a protest, the disruption itself is often necessary to make the issues visible and impossible to ignore. It’s not about the right to be heard and obeyed, but about ensuring that the issues at hand cannot be easily dismissed or overlooked. Disruption, when done with purpose, has historically been a critical tool for marginalized groups to bring about the changes that polite appeals often fail to achieve.
Protests are largely only effective if they’re disruptive. That’s kind of the point… a protest you can easily ignore isn’t going to change anything.
And the point isn’t really to gain support, it’s to force change.
Edit: To expand on this, there are much more effective ways to gain support; mainly through community interaction, conversation and education. Which should be seen as separate action vs. protesting.
Edit 2: Upon re-reading my comment I would like to amend my statement that the point is to force “change”. While change is the desired outcome, the point of protests is to force awareness.
And here I am giving my pets human names like a weirdo: Brody (dog), Chad (dog), Sasha (cat) & Erin (cat)
Reality tv is hit or miss depending on popularity and how old it is. Retention plays a part is this too, but most Usenet providers worth subbing to have crazy long retention times.
I personally use Sonarr for tv and it’s stupid easy to use (once everything is set up!), you just search for your show and it knows when it airs and auto-grabs new episodes. You can also tell it to look for past seasons.
The whole “getting Usenet setup and running” is a little more complicated than I’d like to get into with this post, but you’ll need the following: a Usenet provider, an indexer (both of these will cost money but it’s not a lot and annual payments, or lifetime, is usually the way to go), a newsreader (I use SABnzbd), and a web app to track shows and initiate searches (I use Sonarr, as previously mentioned).
I’m sure someone else here can post a link to a good guide to getting started with Usenet if that’s the direction you want to go.
TLDR: it depends on the show
I know I’ll catch shit for this but I kinda don’t mind shorts. Sometimes I don’t have anything specific to watch and I just wanna waste 10 mins…
The content quality varies wildly and it doesn’t seem to have a very good algorithm but it succeeds in helping me burn 5-10 mins while I’m waiting on someone or something.
I think YouTube expects people to burn hours on it like TikTok but I don’t see that happening.
Before you get married and have kids, just do a bunch of shit. Fail a lot, figure out what you like and what you don’t.
I had like 30 jobs between 17 and 23. I was a roofer for a couple days at one point (I do project management now, as a comparison).
Just try stuff and take advantage of the fact that you’re young and you can say “I’m figuring things out”. It’s a lot harder to make that fly when you’re 30.
Prowlarr, Readarr, SABnzbd and Calibre work amazingly together. MAM and altHub accounts will cover you for 90% of books.
Libgen and similar sites are great but I like having everything in one place (Readarr) and being able to monitor authors and, with one click, have the book in my library.
Once it’s all set up it works very similar to Sonarr or Radarr (if you’re familiar)… the only thing to remember is that Readarr will not auto grab previous releases if the author is monitored; only new (future) releases.
If you want old stuff, you need to go into each author individually and select the books you want. This is actually the best way, seeing how many books have multiple releases and get compiled into anthologies and whatnot.
It’s a rougelike so you’ll die a lot… I think it’s really fun but it can be punishing. There is a ton to do and lots to explore though so if you can push through the difficulty curve it’s pretty rewarding.
Controls could be better but it’s not unplayable with a controller. Definitely made for KB+M though…
I grabbed a bunch of smaller games for my steamdeck that I’ve been wanting to try:
Noita - you’re a wizard in a rougelike physics sandbox environment
Super Meatboy - precision platformer ($1.25)
Cave Story+ - old Metroidvania platformer I never got around to finishing on console years ago
Fez - 2D/3D puzzle platformer
DIG - “Spelunky meets Enter the gungeon & Broforce” action rougelike platformer
Super Blood Hockey - old school arcade style hockey, pixel graphics (and has multiplayer split screen)
Binding of Isaac - never played it, gonna see what all the hype is about. Action rougelike
Tunic - old school LoZ style RPG
Pizza Tower - sonic the hedgehog on crack
Dave the Diver - dive, catch fish, sell fish in restaurant, buy better gear, dive, catch bigger fish, repeat…
Cursed to Golf - deck building rougelike with golf mechanics
Monster Sanctuary - 2D Pokémon platformer
Resident Evil 3 - cause it was $10 and I just finished 2
I already use ComicRack, but I wish there was a better digital comic media management program. A cleaner UI and easier to use (or “smarter”) scraping process would be amazing. I also wish there was a standardized way to embed metadata in CBR/CBZ files…
It’s just an archive, so I don’t see why there couldn’t be a hidden file the reader ignores that just holds the metadata… I’m sure there’s a reason it’s not handled that way, but still.
On a similar note, I love Calibre but it’s so ugly and clunky. If it wasn’t so good at what it does, I’d never use it for aesthetics alone.
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Probably not the answer you want… private trackers.
Probably not the answer you want… private trackers.
Grand Heft Auto - like Crazy Taxi but you are driving your obese aunt around town to run errands while taking shortcuts and avoiding weigh stations (which are in a town for some reason) Racing/puzzle mashup
While universities have a duty to maintain order and educate, they also have a responsibility to be spaces where free thought can challenge existing norms. Disruption, though uncomfortable, often serves as the catalyst for meaningful dialogue and progress. If protests were only allowed to occur within strict confines, they might lose their power to inspire the kind of reflection and change that has historically made educational institutions breeding grounds for progress.
Balancing the need for order with the need for protest is tricky, but history shows that sometimes, it’s the disruptions that push us all forward. In my opinion, those (often powerful) institutions should be tempering their response to these disruptions; rather than asking their student body to temper their actions.
There is no greater opportunity for the exploration and development of radical thought than by allowing students to be a part of that future history (should they choose to).