I know - it’s exhausting.

All social and news streams are absolutely being flooded by American politics right now. It’s mad and crazy stuff, but there’s only so much someone can take before it really starts to affect ones mental state.

And Lemmy partially started as a not-reddit, so I guess it’s normal that people come to vent.

So - positive stuff you can do!

Subscribe to more communities that do interest you. Leave less space for the other stuff to come in. You can also block communities from your main feed very easily if you’re being given stuff you don’t want from them.

Youtube (with adblock) is hardly affected (or if it is, I don’t see it). That brings lots of interesting and creative content.

Going out into the world if you’re able. Reconnecting with nature, and also being reminded that people, by and large, are usually nice to you if you’re nice to them.

And I’ve been picking up old games and playing them more. Escapism is not such a bad thing.

This sounded good and it says it reports global news, but every story on the front page is US centric?

Do you ever compare it to news outside of your region?

About ten separate sources. A little bit of right, a little bit of left, some national, some international. I find this really exposes the bias some sources put on stories, and after a while you can tell which source it is just by words used in the headline and even by what news they don’t report.

Some good suggestions in this thread, I’ll be adding some new feeds.

Mostly tiktok scrolling. It’s got a bad rep, but there’s a huge amount of seriously talented people on there doing amazing and creative things. I’m a 50-something year old guy and it quickly figured out I like videos about mine explores and restoring vintage vehicles. Once you learn to downvote stuff you don’t like, it’s quick to learn and aside from the comment bots or obvious trolls (Typically pro-Russian or Pro-Trump, if there’s a difference) it’s generally a positive thing, in moderation.

I totally get your desire about avoiding socials and have experienced the mood swings it can bring too. That’s made me quite tuned into how the algorithms are steering me. For me (and everyone’s experience is different) - Facebook is mostly bland generic stuff but quite useful for local content - just avoid the drama llamas), and use an advert blocker. Reddit is mixed. I used to be on there a lot and contributed and modded a bunch of stuff, but quit for a year after spez screwed over the app people. I skim it a bit now, but don’t give it much mind. X is awful, won’t go near it. Lemmy is less of a shitpost zone than most but still has too few people to be significant. We’re all helping with that though.

Lemmy aside, I think most algs will figure you out pretty quick. If you get involved in nasty commenting, it’ll feed you more of that. If you do the odd positive thing (as I try to) then it can be less toxic - but with all things, remember why you’re there. The more you feed it, the bigger to you it becomes. Balance is important, and be aware of how stuff is affecting you.

Anyway, beyond TT, crosswords, some news sites and the occasional candy crush.

Good question though, I’m reading other comments as it’s harder to find stuff outside of the main channels now.

Best answer.

Extra tip: You can combine the two last commands with: systemctl enable --now <unit name>.service

They’re two very different things. One is supernatural one is simply unknown.

Statistically, yes, life on other planets probably exists in some form as there’s just so many. But whether they’ve contacted, visited or even known about us - I don’t think so. Conspiracists will think secrets are being hidden but that’s what makes them feel important.

Ghosts - nah. There’s no proof beyond human imagination.

Best is Framework in every regard. Works 100%, great Linux support, specify exactly what you want and it’s fully repairable. (They’re also by far the most satisfying machine to unbox, given you have to plug it all together yourself)

Lenovo and Dell are okay, in my experience. The odd thing but generally fair quality hardware and reasonably compatible. (Thinkpad quality isn’t what it used to be, so don’t pay a premium thinking it’ll last, Lenovo are trading on its past glories)

Avoid HP - shoddy flimsy things now, and with a lot of bespoke drivers (graphics and audio, plus function buttons in particular)

There’s quite a lot of random-branded Chinese laptops around now. I’ve no direct experience of them, but I imagine they’re exactly how you’d expect them to be. Cheap, tailored for the OS they ship with, but will probably work to some degree. Linux is past its initial hardware problems (and to be fair, hardware is problematic now)

There’s another thread that’s a few years old, but still contains some useful info - such as “Check the Arch Wiki”

The Baz Lurhman’s Sunscreen Song is correct in every way.

That milk forms such a big part of western diets considering where it comes from.

Love what these guys are doing.

There’s also a mainboard case, so you don’t need the whole laptoppy thing at all if you don’t want to

https://frame.work/gb/en/products/cooler-master-mainboard-case

Centralised social media did, and is, doing extremely well by most metrics.

Such as censorship (everywhere). shadowbanning (X), ownership by an egomaniac slyster (X), blue badges (X), and being ganged up on (reddit). i’m ignoring platforms for addicts such as tiktok, youtube, and instagram.

You seem to be under the misapprehension that these large social media companies are operating for your benefit.

A strange notion to hold.

We tried centralization and doesn’t go well.

Well, no. Centralised social media did, and is, doing extremely well by most metrics.

We can build our ivory towers and feel happy and safe within them, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’re not missed and the above probably like that we’re not there pointing out its flaws.

Same goes for any storage.

I personally think it’s down to cost and planned obsolescence. The bearing is so soft, it’s clearly sacrificial. There’s a lot of dust from the eroded part, and the spindle was still as new. Even though the part is cheap and fitting it is quick, most people wouldn’t know how - and calling someone out to do it would cost more than half the price of a replacement dryer.

Can’t be heat - ball bearings, even just steel ones, are fitted to engines and car wheels. A dryer gets hot, but not that hot - and even if it did, ceramics are available. Same with diameter - if it’s too small you just increase the spinder size.

Why don’t they have proper ball-bearing bearings on the drum instead of just a bushing?

I had to replace mine last week. Okay, it’s been a decade of zero maintenance, and the part only cost a tenner, but still - if this was a decent bearing it would be fine.

I think it depends on your instance. I can, from lemmy.ml

Centralisation isn’t inherently bad. It has many benefits from a technical perspective. Remember that none of these social networks got popular through not offering people what they wanted, and the vast majority of people do not want biased or hate filled sites.

But centralisation does give a lot of power and influence to the few, and so far, they have all been found wanting when it comes to not being evil.

Yes.

Evidence suggests that X is a hate site run by a fascist.

Meta isn’t quite there yet, but heading in the same direction.

America is not the Western world.

It does, however, control a lot of the Western World’s media, and there’s a clear agenda to make people frightened.