I’ve dumped FF for Zen and Waterfox.

Zen’s only downside is that it can’t play some DRM media like some sports websites. Waterfox can, so I use it for that.

I wonder if Waterfox allows this. It’s MOSTLY Firefox but without going down the AI trash route.

My Windows 10 PC’s only function at this point is to play FFXIV in my living room, so I’m not super worried about viruses or anything.

But maybe eventually I’ll switch to Linux on that box and do that weird set-up to get FFXIV running there.

I won’t be surprised if my data is caught up in that even though I deleted my account last year (after not using it really since it was bought out).

I don’t trust any of these companies to actually, really, for-real-this-time delete anything, ever.

“Hello?”

“Hey Dave…wait what’s that noise?”

“Oh that’s my washer and dryer going.”

“Can you move to the other room? I can’t hear you very well.”

“No, the call is on my washer.”

“WHAT?”

I think last night I hit HR38 or so, so I have played it about 40 hours.

And I will start by saying this my first Monster Hunter. I have zero old baggage or knowledge coming in (other than trying Rise for maybe an hour because it was free on PSN+ and that not clicking at all).

Performance: I fortunately have a 120hz VRR OLED, so the 40fps mode on my PS5 is pretty solid. It feels good. No, I will not be taking questions from PC zealots at this time - though I do feel bad for you guys that it sounds like there are some issues there they need to resolve. On console it’s pretty solid.

The game: I’m really enjoying it. Like I said, I don’t have any prior experience really coming in, so it’s all new to me. And after what felt like climbing a sheer cliffside of learning curve to understand how to just play the game, I’m vibing with most all of it now. It was really hard to adjust my brain to think that Square is NOT the attack button, but rather Circle and Triangle. But once that clicked finally, I’m Charge Blading and Bug Lancing all over the place. It’s fun.

I’ve read some complaints here and there about the wound system, but I like it. I like doing cool moves in the middle of a fight for big damage.

The worst part of the game is playing with others. Once you get it working it’s fun to play with friends. But just getting to that point is awful. I’m reminded of that meme of the three dragon heads where the two, serious ones on the left are the graphics and gameplay, and the derpy one on the right is multiplayer. I shouldn’t have to look up online how to do what I’d assume is a simple thing: play with my friends. No one knows what a lobby is versus a link party versus an environment link party versus a squad…It’s all too much shit up front to learn and untangle. It took my brothers and I about an hour to set up a game the first time we tried. It’s madness.

But overall, I’m still enjoying this game. I don’t care that it’s “easier” like I hear from some people. It’s fun. My sword and shield turns into a chainsaw. I’m having a good time.

I’ve never used TikTok other than seeing some posts a friend might share in a group chat. But I don’t think it’s for me.

I’ve tried Loops, and maybe the “swipe down for a new video of someone saying/doing something dumb” just isn’t my cup of tea. I dunno.

“But the algorithm knows what you like!” someone will say. I don’t want algorithms anymore, to be honest.

Hah, I JUST had a conversation with my boss about whether or not I was using the “new” outlook or the “old” outlook.

He’s apparently using the “old” outlook because there’s a toggle switch in the upper right of his window that says “try the new outlook!” and I don’t have that, meaning…I guess I’m using the “new” outlook?

Who knows at this point. It’s all trash.

eventually others will start doing do the same thing to further political goals that they agree with.

I, too, remember January 6.

You are right. I just checked out gimp.org, and…IS there a single image of the software on that site?

If they want new users, asking them to blindly download software without even a look or maybe a video of new features is not it.

Yeah, every time I have ever tried Gimp, attempting to do anything felt like someone had purposefully been contrarian and made every operation work in the hardest and most confusing way.

And someone may say, “well, you just have to learn it!” OK, sure. Or I can use something that makes much more sense from the jump like Affinity Photo. (Yes, I know you have to pay for it, but it’s worth it. Yes, I know not everyone has the money to do so.)

Your brain is a muscle, you have to use it.

It’s frustrating because “the consumer” doesn’t want manuals, yet car makers add all these things that keep people from paying attention to the road making it - in my opinion - too easy to get distracted. I like that I can’t hold my phone in my hand and drive because I need to shift.

Last summer I was in Ireland, and I was peeking in a few cars on parked on the side of the road just out of curiosity. Almost every one was a manual, it seemed like. It’s not that we COULDN’T have fun, manual cars here. But Americans are lazy.

I got in right before Subaru went that way and ended up with the best of both worlds: a touchscreen for CarPlay and knobs for…everything else. I still have knobs for the radio if need be.

Plus it’s a six speed manual (Crosstrek).

I get a flyer from the dealership every other week asking if I want to “upgrade.” Sorry, fellas, nothing you have is an upgrade to me. You can’t get a manual gearbox here any more.

Imagine using a Meta product. Woof.

America: produces more oil than ever before and more than basically every other country

GOP: that’s not enough!

It’s always funny to hear stuff about “leftists” ruining things when “rightists” 100% tried to overthrow our government - like physically broke in to the Capitol and tried to kill our leaders (while injuring dozens of police officers. “Back the blue” right? “Thin blue line!” Right?).

If the RIGHT can’t have it their way, they’ll literally try to overthrow a fair election. A bunch of spoiled brats trying to kill people because their (now felon - 34 counts!) president wasn’t re-elected. (EDIT: the original post was removed, and this paragraph was using their words. They called left leaning people spoiled brats, so I was just reframing that here.)

Oh no, am I mentioning January 6? You bet I am. The right has lost all credibility after that event. No amount of people throwing dog turds on teslas will be worse than that. (Also, why would anyone be defending the Nazi car guy?)

What’s really going to be funny is seeing the right blame the democrats in a few months (maybe a year) for how shitty everything is after this idiotic trump admin has gutted all public services. Somehow that’ll be the democrats’ fault to them.

Additionally, the guy who blew up the Tesla at the trump hotel was a trump supporter, via Wikipedia:

He [the guy who did it] additionally criticized Kamala Harris as a “DEI candidate”, expressing pleasure that the United States elected “a real president instead of Weekend at Bernie’s.” He argued that people should unite around Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to promote national hegemony.

And the lord god said, “Buyeth up all the real estate, and raise prices on your neighbors.”

At the courts still hold some power as a check and balance.

He wouldn’t be doing this otherwise.

Firefox and Mozilla to a larger extent may be going down the gutter soon. They have been angling towards AI shit, and then their new terms of service debacle this last week makes it clear they want to sell your data for ads.

I’ve moved from FF to Zen browser, which is a fork. And also Librewolf, another fork.