Botree

Almost always digital on my tablet or phone these days (I have a Kindle too but just can’t get used to the display), but I’ll buy physical copies to keep and/or give away if I really like them.

I’m a huge fan of sci-fi and I do love myself some sci-fi horror, like those in Love, Death & Robots and the German series Dark, but even Dark is nowhere as dark as Black Mirror is. The difference being Black Mirror is entirely focused on showing you the darkest side of human nature. There are no redemptions in most of the stories. No typical hero journey, no light vs dark narrative; just shit going from bad to worse to nightmare fuel.

If there’s one thing you can take away from the entire series, it wouldn’t be “Technology is bad”, but “Humans are fucked up”.

…there’s an “AITA” bot

That’s ridiculous. Wonder if there’s a r/roastme bot somewhere.

I’ve watched White Christmas too after hearing so much about it, and that, my friend, was the final nail to the coffin for me. Anymore Black Mirror and I’m going to cry.

This episode made me stop watching Black Mirror for good. It was way too disturbing and I’m someone who doesn’t even flinch while watching horror.

Let’s face it. How many of us have actually contributed enough to any FOSS projects to demand for free and premium services. I personally would rather donate to a FOSS app instead of paying Sync, but it’s unfair to judge Sync for having ads and trackers when the option of removing them is there. There’s nothing wrong with any dev wanting to make a decent living or even more than that, as long as they don’t go overboard and are honest about it.

nods I used to sleep with the door shut and locked, and the home alarm on whenever I was out. That’s no longer true ever since the queen demanded that I do neither.

Just finished Death Stranding. It’s mostly great but somehow crashed a fair bit halfway through the game. No issues or whatsoever in early and late to end game.

Hmmm I’ve never used Fen so I’m not sure if it works without premium services, but it sounds like RD isn’t working. Did you check if the files that are showing are from RD? It’s highly unlikely that the latest John Wick only comes in 4K. I recommend trying Stremio + Torrentio + Real Debrid, the UI is just so much better and addons a lot easier to install than Kodi. Also I’m using my old laptop instead of Android boxes. It’s a lot faster plus it circumvents the issue of sharing Netflix with someone not from the same household.

This is the second time JSAUX backplate gets recommended here. I’m definitely checking it out. Thanks for that!

Thanks for the input. What do you think of something like this?

It used to be that everyone pays the same amount of money for entry into a game world, and the reward depends on how much we grind, but it’s becoming more and more like real life these days which is really sad.

• Universal access to healthcare, food, water, shelter, electricity, and education without cost.
• Prohibit the operation of businesses or investments in basic necessities mentioned in previous point.
• Non-essential amenities such as entertainment, fashion, travel, luxury goods etc continue to be available for purchase.
• A reasonable tax structure that ensures higher taxes for the rich.

Is that Communism? Is that too much to ask for?

Aussie here. They have the right to go through all your devices if they suspect you of smuggling or working or wanting to work illegally in Australia. They will read through all your private messages and have them translated if not in English. Even then I’ve never heard of airport security giving a rat’s ass about pirated stuff.

Totally is. Now we just need a volunteer to grow the community.

I don’t understand why they’d do another round of place at a time like this. Like wtf did they think would happen?

Your comment put a smile on my face. “Growing up” is such a huge lie isn’t it? I don’t remember ever crossing a line where I suddenly become an adult and stop being the child I was being crossing the line.

Are you (or were you) super into finances?

I am, or was, I don’t know anymore. But mostly to survive rather than wanting to be rich and successful. I’m free spirited by nature but circumstances made me this way. All my loved ones, while being great in many things, totally suck in managing their finances. It’s up to me to constantly watch over everything like a hawk so I won’t have to keep cleaning up their mess.

I think the grind culture as mentioned in comment below applies to most people though, not just those who are really into finances. We’re all driven by the fear of not being able to put food on the table, of falling sick and becoming a burden to our families.

I’m now in a pretty comfortable spot where I can just work part time and still pay off the loans comfortably. Maybe even retire a little earlier. But getting here has really taken its toll. Don’t get me wrong though, I’d still do the same even if I was given a second chance; not for myself but for my loved ones. But I’ll go through everything again with a different attitude, enjoy the journey more, have fewer expectations and be a little kinder to myself and others.

I knew something was wrong when I first noticed that I was feeling anxious for wanting to do something that I enjoy, and that the anxiety has been slowly killing off all of my interests. I’m so calculative that in order to prevent wasting 2hrs of my life watching a movie I wouldn’t enjoy, I’d spend hours browsing through the whole catalogue and going on IMDB to check out the rating for every single movie, then bookmark them and end up watching nothing.

The same thing for Spotify. Never happy with my choice of song. But when a good song comes up on the radio, I totally enjoy it.

I miss being spontaneous and going with the flow, and I’m working on “going back” like you too, by reminding myself to be contented and live more in the moment.

That’s a good piece of advice. I went from being a carefree teenager to a highly “efficient” grown-up who’s always asking how I can get more by doing less. I mean, that are obviously perks in setting goals and being time and money savvy, but in the process I’ve lost the child in me – the child who wonders and has multiple hobbies. I couldn’t even sit down to play a game without feeling like I was wasting my life away.

So yeah, like you say, fulfilling one’s responsibilities is important, but don’t go crazy chasing after the next shiny thing. It’s perfectly fine to want to do nothing and just enjoy ourselves sometime.