greencactus

greencactus , 2 days ago

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c988jdxl02vo

greencactus , 2 days ago

I think we have a different view in Europe on it - Germany had a model of national military service until 2011 (with the option of civil service), the Nordic model includes military service etc. So it isn't completely unimaginable - we just have a different view on the topic.

greencactus , 1 day ago

Yes, exactly - it is the idea of "well, you can gain life experience and serve for the state". However, it is (rightfully IMO) criticized as just a cheap way of gaining labor forces. I think that German culture is generally more connected with respecting authorities, rules etc., so this attitude of " you need to return something to the community who raised you up" is still prevalent.

Since 2011 the service was not enforced anymore (but not abolished - in German it's called "ausgesetzt"), but now there is a debate again to reintroduce it in light of the war. I personally am highly skeptical of it, for the exact reasons you outlined. A year ago I have went through the process of refusing to serve in the military in a defense case. We have something here called Kriegsdienstverweigerung: you can refuse to be drafted and serve under arms if it is incompatible with your conscience. I am glad to have went through the process, but I wouldn't have done so if I were younger; in fact, I probably would've been absolutely okay with serving in the military. So instead of training people to shoot, I advocate for providing opportunities for people to learn medicine and science and stuff and leave war to professional soldiers, who aren't 18- or 19 year old enscripted boys. It is also widely known that lots of guys cheated their way out of serving (e.g. drinking a lot the evening prior, so they make a bad impression on the recruiting officer), so the system was weird anyways. So I think the current debate is between "Russia and China are a threat, we need to get ready to fight, let's pump up our military production" and "War is no option, our infrastructure is in a state of disrepair, we need to invest into schools and hospitals instead of arms, and drafting teenagers can't be the solution of the problem".

greencactus , 9 days ago

That changes my perspective on them a lot. Well, another lesson taken - don't jump too quickly onto conclusions.

greencactus , 20 days ago

It was a difficult wordle - I wouldn't have figured it our without my gf.

Spoiler: It is

Tap for spoiler

Cumin

greencactus , 1 month ago

Great meme :))

greencactus , 1 month ago

Gnome, hands now.
Before coming to Linux, I was an Apple user. I was a fan of their design philosophy - minimalism, clarity and simplicity. Well, I can't tolerate Apple as an enterprise, and there are also a lot of very weird design desicions which I discovered while using their devives - but the core principle is something I stand by.
Gnome in my opinion is exactly that - KISS, and all the options are really polished.

I've tried KDE as well, and have a lot of respect for the developers of it. But after using it for a few days, there are just a lot of inconsistencies in the KDE applications which don't make sense to me.

Gnome for the win!!!!!!!1!1!1!1!1!

greencactus , 1 month ago

Am I the only one who gets the feeling that this is kinda dystopic? Like come on, this just gets crazy. It amazes me that some people think this is an ethically acceptable way to earn money.

greencactus , 1 month ago

True, hood point. I remember to have read a study according to which a disproportionate amount of people at the top (aka CEOs) display narcissistic behavioral traits - so it can make sense to suspect the same applies to other personality disorders.
It just feels ahhh to me - that these people dont utilize their talents and itelligence to improve the world, but to build up ways to monetize every last bit of your time. Like come on :/

greencactus , 3 months ago

... And Fedora Silverblue. Perfect for tinkering. I love how I can always install apps and remove them at my leisure, without leaving traces ;)

greencactus , 4 months ago

RIP Simple mobile apps.
You were amazing while you lasted.

greencactus , 4 months ago

Yeee, I use the F-Droid version, so they're clean.

Still a shame though...

greencactus , 5 months ago

Yes, I agree. In the end, Reddit lives off its reputation, just like every social media platform.
Seriously, is there an effect that when you're long enough the CEO of a company, you begin making decisions where it is obvious that they will negatively impact the user base and thus long-term survivability of a company? Is there a term for that?

greencactus , 5 months ago

Yes, I agree. Just holy cactus, MacOS is just so bad these days. The inconsistency us driving me nuts.
Why do the windows you open with the "help" menus inside of apps have small buttons?
Why do some apps (e.g. Music) have a Search entry on the left side, and why do so have it on the left?
Why do we still have tons of icons for system apps (Photo Booth, I'm looking at you) who have been programmed in a time where there have been dinosaurs around and seem to have never changed?
... And so on. Like honestly, MacOS is so much better that Windows (which admittedly isn't hard), but when I open up my good ol' Fedora I dont have the feeling that I see a new shiny operating system, and when I click on a wrong button I am in the 1990-s again. Or 2050-s. Or God knows where.
Linux has its unique set of challenges, but I fully agree that the notion that "MacOS is better than the rest" just isn't true anymore. Maybe it was, when Linux distributions were worse and there was more money put into bugfixing OS releases. But not anymore.