I’m still pretty bad at navigating social situations, so bear that in mind, but I’ve found that there’s a difference between volunteering preferences vs being asked. If a group of people are chatting about all the things that they are doing with AI, then me saying something like “yeah, but AI sucks and it’s worthless, it’s unethical and hallucinates most of the time,” isn’t going to be well received. However, perhaps they’d ask how I’m using AI or such. I could mention that I don’t use AI anymore. Then if they ask me why not, then they’ve requested my honest opinion, and they need to be prepared to hear it. If they push back, then it’s like hey, you asked, did you only want me to tell you what you wanted to hear?

I’ll also say that people that dominate conversations and insult others that don’t agree with them drive me away very quickly, because that’s abusive or bullying behavior, even if they do it with a smile or joke. Other people seem to like that kind of behavior though, because they’re almost always popular for some reason.

Jokes aside, Pete Drake’s wonderful pedal steel on George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass has helped me enjoy a bit of country music.

Meanwhile commenter Ken’s on the prowl.

you could at least have linked instead to the business insider article this is ripping off.

The hypocrisy. Here’s that link https://www.businessinsider.com/cargo-thieves-stole-million-of-data-center-supplies-sheriff-says-2026-6

(I’ll mention though that the Vice article is better because the BI article is paywalled.)

Courts have unfortunately already decided it’s all legal, so it’s more of a personal ethical issue now.

Link appears to be dead

Ah so that’s how this ends…

I agree with you that online conversations are rare these days. Just my personal opinion but social media isn’t usually great for conversations. It’s better for shallow comments, drive-by’s, and echo chambers. Social media also tends to steer toward blind comments, so there is a lot of repetition. Forums seem to be better for conversations because there’s often a emphasis on reading the entire thread before commenting, there is more moderation, and also because they tend to accrue replies more slowly. However if a thread becomes too long then forums break down too, so nothing is perfect.

Thanks! I think I prefer startpage.com (which I only just learned about due to this thread) because it doesn’t redirect to google.com. But this is also good to know about just in case.

I’m trying to get real, specific examples.

Asking for unnecessary specifics and details is usually a sign not that the person wants to be helpful but that they disagree and are looking for ammunition to argue and feel superior. Ultimately the exchange becomes a waste of everyone’s time, as the person inevitably becomes rude, condescending and argumentative. Basically, some people online think they’re smarter than everyone else, or at least want to project that. They believe they have the only valid argument and they’re going to prove it to the world and probably think that they’ve won because they had the last word when in reality everyone left because they realized the person was not arguing in good faith. I’m not claiming you’re that type of person, but I suspect that’s why nobody is giving you specifics.

Wouldn’t have mentioned anything but you did ask.

I’ll have to try out !g, thanks a lot!

EDIT: Tried it and it just redirected to google.com. I was hoping it would have kept me on DDG for privacy and just presented a first page of results or something like that.

EDIT 2: Startpage is great! This will be my go-to when DDG doesn’t work out.

I had no idea what it was. When I saw the mention of US bans I decided it was safer not to search the term.

Gemini is already creeping me out with all the personal information Google is injecting into the AI context. So far I’ve seen my name, location and if I remember right, which vehicle I drive. Who knows what else is in there. I use DDG whenever I can, but sometimes a Google search is the only way to actually find something, so I see the Gemini junk as I’m scrolling down.

Is there any way to have that info deleted and no longer collected or used by Google? Or is that kind of thing only for the lucky people in Europe?

EDIT: Found it here: https://myactivity.google.com/product/gemini?hl=en-US

What’s ccp hacking? Afraid to search it.

Skydio, Skynet. Dammit Cameron, not again.

I reflexively downvote any comment that begins with “I mean”.

That’s why I’m here. No clue what I even did wrong. Wild guess is that it was from editing a post that contained a pastebin link to code I was asking a question about. But whatever the reason, this place is actually kinda nice. I did manage to revive a throwaway Reddit account I once made, so I guess I could go back, but haven’t really felt the need.

According to researchers of Christianity, Mary would have been around 12 to 14. And obviously there would have been a massive power imbalance between her and a deity. So by modern standards, Mary could not consent and was sexually abused. And then of course he left her to raise Jesus, his bastard child. All Christians essentially worship a child rapist. I’m not religious, but I like to think that god hasn’t returned because the other gods have him serving time.

Mental checks sound good in theory, but such things are actually counterproductive. People actively avoid getting help if they think they might get in trouble because of it. Also, mental health is not a scientific and solved field. It’s highly subjective. Your mental health requirement would almost certainly result in more deaths, including suicides, by people who were afraid to go to therapy.